Cowboy Ciao, Scottsdale AZ

Our last dinner in Scottsdale was an eclectic, neighborhood joint located on Stetson Drive downtown. Funky decor that's a combination of Old West, Southwest and just plain odd, it's got that feel when you walk in that this might just turn out to be a fantastic experience. A feeling I got that first time we walked into Mustard's Grill in Napa...something interesting was about to happen.

We were seated after a few minute wait at a table near the front door. Surrounded by a mix of young and older patrons, the whole place was hard to read. Casual, definitely. The menu is unique with desserts listed first and people's comments sitting in the place of dish descriptions.

Jeff & Dana had eaten here once before and highly recommended the famous Stetson Chopped salad. We ordered two of them - they are prepared table side - to split amongst the four of us. It's unlike any chopped salad I've had before with corn, bacon, couscous, arugula, smoked salmon, asiago cheese, toasted pepitas, black currants and tossed with a buttermilk, basil pesto dressing.

This salad sounds like a car crash when you hear the description. When you eat it, it's downright heavenly. What a fabulous combination of flavors, textures and visual pop. It was really, really good. If I ever went back, I'd just order a whole one of these for myself and call it a night.



It's been long enough now that I'm not recalling what everyone had individually. I'm pretty sure there was an order of Koren style BBQ short ribs that made there way to the table and I know I went with the flat iron steak with sweet marinade, spaghetti squash, broccolini and a pan sauce made of butter, shallots, port and malbec.

My steak was blah. WHY, why do I keep ordering steaks in restaurants? 89% of the time they are truly and completely disappointing. This was the case again. I should have gone with one of the fan favorites like the mushroom pan fry or the pork chop. There wasn't a great dish around the table and everyone was left feeling like we were 0 for 2 after the dinner at Maestro's the night before.

Anywho...there was also a weird and very lengthy issue trying to order a bottle of wine. Twice being told the one selected was not available without the sommelier offering a different bottle of same or better quality for our troubles. Salad aside, this was a miss for me. Go for lunch, have the salad and maybe try dessert or the small plates.

Jenn's rating: 76
Zagat: 24-20-23

Hurricane Sandy Gone, Back to Food (RnR, Scottsdale, AZ)

Finishing the reviews of food experiences in Scottsdale, AZ last month - there's one more worth mentioning. We were looking for a place to hang out and catch the Giants game Sunday morning (how cool to be able to watch football at 10am?).

The bartender at our hotel suggested we try a place downtown called RnR. She said it was a sports bar with great breakfast burritos and tons of TVs.

Located on North Scottsdale Road, this two storied hang out is casual, loud and has lots and lots of open air seating to accommodate the huge Sunday crowds.

We were lucky enough to get a table on the downstairs patio and even luckier to find a great waiter happy to tune the closest TV to the Giants game (yay!).  With a breakfast menu served until 2pm and unlimited mimosas this is place to eat comfort food, wear your team colors and settle in for a three hour feast.

We ordered various egg dishes - I got the RnR BYOB Breakfast Burrito with ham, bacon, cheddard cheese and pepper jack. It was served with some of the best breakfast potatoes I've ever had.

Since it was more than a month ago, I'm not going to remember exactly what everyone else had...I think Alan tried the Breakfast Taco Plate with three tacos: potato & egg, chorizo & egg and bacon & egg. Dana ordered an egg white omelette with spinach, bacon and other fun stuff. I can't remember Jeff's dish...french toast?

Everything was pretty good - hearty and tasty with the potatoes being the standouts. We ordered drinks all morning long while watching the Giants win. And somewhere after halftime decided to get this beauty...

A monster sized cinnamon role dripping in icing. Oh, happiness! Really yummy and really decadent. It's served with a flaming firework candle to make the whole thing a little more over the top.

So if you're looking for a place to hang out and people watch, game watch, eat and drink I'd definitely recommend RnR.

PS. They put bacon in their Bloody Mary's.

Mastro's Ocean Club, Scottsdale AZ

On our first night in Scottsdale, after having flown in and golfed, was a tiring one. We decided as a group to just walk from our hotel, the Westin Kierland Golf & Spa Resort, over to the shops across the street to find a place for dinner. There are a lot of places to choose from and right in front was Mastro's Ocean Club. Jeff & Dana had eaten here before and thought it was pretty good.

It's a big place with a welcoming, warm decor; live music in the bar and dim lighting. The crowd spanned all ages but with very few kids present. Seemed more like a date night place than a family restaurant.

The menu is mostly seafood, of course and looked great. We decided to order a bunch of different appetizer sized dishes in lieu of entrees. To start off with Alan got the Escargot. I chose the Dungeness Crab Cocktail. Jeff ordered the Lobster cocktail. Dana ordered as many dishes as we did but for some reason, they didn't bring out one for her during the first round which always feels a bit awkward.

My crab cocktail had large chunks of Dungeness served with lemon, creamy tartar sauce and a cocktail sauce and was fresh and chilled and tasted exactly as expected; quite good. Jeff's lobster looked pretty good though he had the added step of needing to de-shell his before digging in. Alan's escargot was hot, buttery and with lots of garlic. Also good. The bread, by the way, was served warm with a wide variety of types in the basket.

Second round...Alan ordered the Boston clam chowder; Jeff & Dana ordered lobster bisque and I got the Ocean Club iceberg wedge with bacon, tomato and ranch dressing. I tried Alan's chowder and thought it was lacking any distinguishing flavor. My salad was pretty basic but that's one of my favorite combinations so I was happy.

For the last round...Alan got the beef carpaccio served on an enormous plate with mixed greens in the middle, shaved parmesan and drizzled balsamic. Looked pretty but didn't measure up to the likes of say the carpaccio at Todd English's Olives in Las Vegas. Jeff ordered the seared Ahi tuna. Dana ordered a crab cake and I got the steamed mussels. The mussels were a bit on the bland side. Having just had fantastic mussels at the Mussel Bar in Atlantic City with a broth you wanted to slop up with spoon & bread, this one missed the mark. Once again everything was pretty good, just got great. Dana's salt & vinegar fries showed up around this time as well with good flavor but being a very thin shoestring variety she wasn't loving the combination.

The price tag for dinner was hefty leaving us feeling like the price to quality ratio was off. Next time I think we'll skip Mastro's and try one of the other restaurants in the immediate area.

Jenn's Rating: 76
Zagat: 26-25-25

Phil's Grill at Grayhawk GC, Scottsdale, AZ

We are just back from a long weekend in Scottsdale - golfing, eating and hanging out with Jeff & Dana. The weather was hot, the landscape stark and beautiful and the golf challenging due to their annual overseeding happening this time of year.

Alan and I basically landed, dropped our luggage off at the hotel and drove over to Grayhawk Golf Club to catch up with Jeff, have lunch and make a 1:30pm tee time on Talon. Phil's Grill is the restaurant & bar homage to their PGA Tour ambassador, Phil Mickelson. Photos of him, articles and memorabilia are displayed tastefully but in force all over the dining room along with TVs tuned to the golf channel (plus one showing the baseball game). Leather chairs, a hardwood bar and a comfortable feel overall this looked like a great place to begin our Scottsdale experience.


Jeff was already there, sharing a table with Dell, whom he'd just met that morning as they were paired up together in a morning tee time. Dell (awesomely nice guy, so happy to meet him) had already ordered as we were skimming the menu and placing our order. The Navajo corn chowder he was eating smelled so good it's a miracle I didn't ask him for a bite! He said it had great flavor with a strong kick.

For lunch Alan ordered the Southwestern Chicken wrap in a tomato basil tortilla with seasoned chicken, lettuce, tomato, bacon, cheddar cheese and chipolte mayo served with fries. Not a bad sandwich but a bit on the plain side and while originally thinking it was too hot to order something served warm , he wished he'd ordered the burger.

Jeff ordered the Prime Rib sandwich with pepper jack cheese, au jus and creamy horseradish and fries. The beef was very thinly sliced and layered into a long kaiser roll. Jeff said it was really good.

I ordered the Barn Burger with lettuce, tomatoes and jack cheese...and fries. This is the first time I've ever gotten a burger that was shaped more or less rectangle served on a long, also rectangle shaped kaiser style bun. The cheese was a wonderfully melted mess lathered all over and into the bun. I added my normal ketchup, mayo and mustard and bit it. HOLY COW...what a good burger!! A really, really good burger. I highly recommend the burger!!

While we were waiting on our lunches, Dell's entree arrived which looked so good I'm going to note it here as well. He got the Southwestern Caesar with blackened salmon and tortilla strips. I never wanted to eat a stranger's food so badly as I did Dell's lunch. If we go back, I'm getting that salad...and a burger.