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.

Leftovers

After dinner here with Susan & Rich we had leftover fresh mozzarella sitting nicely in tupperware & water that we didn't want to go bad. Last night we finished up a tomato with another round of Caprese salad, olive oil and balsamic vinegar but that didn't quite polish off the cheese.

So tonight we marinated boneless chicken breast in Wegmans Lemon & Garlic sauce and grilled it along side bell peppers (only red, orange and yellow - the green ones don't like me very much) tossed with garlic powder and olive oil. When the chicken and peppers come off the grill, layer on leftover fresh mozzarella on the chicken and top with the peppers. The heat from the chicken and peppers melts the cheese...yummy! Served with a simple Caesar salad of Romaine lettuce, bacon bits, Parmesan cheese and croutons.

Grilling in the Rain

This past Friday was supposed to be a day spent poolside, in the sun and water, with the Lahey family. Connor would be all set with his spanking new floatie and swimsuit and we'd be chilling with a few bottles of Rose while soaking up the rays. But I guess no one told Mother Nature to turn off the torrential downpours and turn on the sun.

We moved to plan B. This entailed sitting inside while drinking many bottles of fermented grapes and eating more produce than any four humans can typically consume (thank you S&R for sharing this week's CSA bounty). Personally, I had too much fun to miss the sunshine all that much.

I'm counting on Alan / Susan / Rich to post the wines we drank while I talk food. We started off the same way we start off most evenings of entertainment...cheese & bubbly. The cheese was a mild, milky brie & a Piave from Wegmans with a fresh baguette and a bowl full of my favorite summer addiction, Veggie Stix from Costco. We noshed for a while in between admiring Connor's unique ability to roll from Point A to Point B with fantastic precision and determination. Apparently, he's spurred on by the need to get to any and all electronics! Such a super cutie!!

We moved onto and polished off a second incredible bottle of champagne and dove straight into a Rose while noshing on an interlude course of fresh mozzarella & Jersey tomatoes. Yummy! The special Balsamic vinegar and the just picked basil added that extra something...love a good Caprese salad! With a nice buzz on, we prepped for dinner.

The evening's menu included grilled baby squash wrapped in prosciutto, grilled scallions, Saratoga steaks from Flannery's in California, wild mushroom & Parmesan risotto and a salad of red & green leafy lettuce, onion, English cucumber and cherry tomatoes with feta cheese. Since we cooked all of this ourselves, I'd usually be a little more gentle on my critiques...but for the sake of the blog, I'll try and be as unbiased as possible. The baby squash was without a doubt THE BEST squash I've ever had. I don't usually like squash - but this was perfect. The crispness of the prosciutto added the right blend of saltiness to the soft, buttery texture of the squash. So awesome....must try that again. I also couldn't stop eating the grilled scallions. Who knew? So fabulous and a great flavor note when eaten with bites of steak.

The salad was wonderful because it was so fresh and crisp. I didn't add Feta to mine but loved the Greek feta yogurt dressing that S&R brought as an accompaniment. Nor did I realize how much I liked English cucumbers...less seeds and crunchy. I thought the raw onions gave the whole thing a nice zing and offset the sweetness of the tomatoes perfectly.

The risotto I made had the correct balance of creamy but still al dente that I was shooting for...but I was disappointed in the overall flavor. I've made risotto a bunch of times and can usually get more depth of flavor and woodiness when using mushrooms then I did this time. I think buying the prepackaged mushroom blend from Wegmans in lieu of the individual mushrooms from Delicious Orchards was a mistake. Not bad, but not memorable. I also forgot to add in peas and missed the splash of color they give the final dish.

Finally on to the steaks. This Saratoga cut is something new we've tried once before and I really like the cut. It's got the tenderness of a fillet with the flavor profile closer to a rib eye. The size of the steaks were nice ~ I didn't feel like I was eating so much I needed to take a Crestor. But alas, tonight these were overcooked. Grilling in the rain is a challenge, I'm told and I think it played a part. Unlike the first time Alan grilled Saratoga steaks, all red and perfect in the middle, these tended more towards medium and lost a little of their flair along the process. We'll need to try again!

To wrap up the evening we had a chocolate fudge and New York style cheesecake and more wine. Great fun, great food and of course, incredible friends! Can't wait to do it again.

Grilled Romaine Lettuce Leaves

Copied with permission of Nancy Anderson from her Facebook post...


Grilled Romaine Lettuce Leaves
A couple of years ago we visited the Outer Banks, NC and sampled the grilled romaine lettuce appetizers. They were delicious, different and had a nutty flavor. It didn’t seem too difficult to copy the recipe so we tried it at home and the results were great. There are a number of variations but I wanted to stick with the one that I remembered. It is very easy to include grilled romaine to your other barbecue favorites. 


This quick recipe is:
Wash as many whole romaine leaves as you will need and baste them with a mixture of lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill the leaves for about 2 minutes per side or until they are wilted and a bit crunchy on the ends.. Remove leaves from grill and top them with a mixture of crumbled blue cheese and chopped pecans or walnuts. Drizzle with raspberry vinaigrette dressing and enjoy!