Lunch at Postino in Phoenix

Yeah, I know. I'm Tucson Food Dude and I'm writing about a restaurant in Phoenix. I don't get hung up on labels. What I do get hung up on, though, is not taking an appropriate amount of pictures for things such as this. I'll do better next time and not just use a cropped picture of me really happy about getting beer.

So I'm not going to call this a review, because I'm not going back for a second meal. I would if I could, but it's a bit of a drive...

This lunch was immediately following the casting call for NFNS. BTW, I didn't get a callback from them, so I'm just going to assume that they misplaced my number (ah, the protected ego!).

Kristine's bro Jeff lives up there, so we called him up to see if he could recommend a place and meet us. He's the hippest CPA you could ever meet, so we knew he'd have a good spot in mind. His suggestion was Postino in the Arcadia area of Phoenix. I'm not entirely sure what Arcadia covers, but this place was close to 40th St & Camelback (full contact info below). It turned out to be a former post office (hence the name), with a light and airy feel. They call themselves a wine bar, but that doesn't mean that the food played second fiddle.

I was ready to blow off some steam when we got there, so I ordered one of the two beers on tap. I'm partial to an IPA, so I picked that without really knowing what it was. They were doing a special for lunch, offering a pitcher (which they characterized as 'small') for $5.00. I went with that. Turns out it wasn't that small, and I got about 2 1/2 pints out of it.... Jeff was jealous because he had to go back to work. The beer was from Odell, and it was fantastic. Amber coloring, creamy head, citrus and floral notes in the aroma, and hoppy without being ridiculous about it. My kind of beer.

They seem to specialize in panini, bruschetta, and salads for lunchtime (or maybe all the time). Kristine & I both went with the half panino/bowl of soup combo ($9.50). We both chose the proscuitto with brie sandwich and chicken artichoke florentine soup. She had her panino on foccacia, and I went with ciabatta.

The panini were described as: 'Prosciutto with triple cream brie, fig jam and arugula with balsamic vinegar and olive oil'. There wasn't a lot of arugula (in fact just a little pile in the middle, and I couldn't detect any balsamic at all. Nonetheless, the flavor combination in it was great. The sweet, earthy fig with the salty proscuitto and creamy brie was a major hit.

The soup wasn't quite as I expected. It was tasty, but none of the flavors really stood out. I expected a little more zip from the artichoke and maybe a bit more chicken (I only saw one or two pieces in my bowl). Next time, I'd definitely choose one of their salads instead of the soup.

Jeff let us know that they're really known for their bruschetta, which they have a very broad selection of. Next time I'm up that way, I'll check it out.

I should mention that the service we received was top-notch: friendly and attentive without hovering. I'll look forward to another meal there, and a chance to try out some of their extensive wine list.

Postino is located at 3939 E Campbell Ave. Their website is postinowinecafe.com, and they have full menus at the site. They have another location on Central as well.