This evening I present to you the third part of the Azul saga. You can find part 1 here and part 2 here. Go ahead and read them. I'll wait.

Caught up? Good. Before I go on to describe the events of the evening, I'll point out that the entire meal was courtesy of the house. Rest assured that if there were things that weren't good I would say that even if we didn't pay for the meal.

One more piece of housekeeping: Kristine & I were a little self-conscious about the whole setup. We were having a hard time balancing wanting to try multiple things on the menu and being worried about the running up a huge tab since we weren't paying for it. Sigh. Maybe next time it won't be so awkward, but this time it was a little.

We arrived for our reservation and were seated right away close to a corner by the windows overlooking the pool area. Our server, Alex, came over fairly quickly for our drink orders. I ordered a glass of the French Maid cabernet and Kristine ordered.... the Spanish Guitar cab/tempranillo? It may not have been called Spanish Guitar, but it was a cab/temp blend. When Alex brought out the wine, he also brought out rustic bread with garlic infused olive oil and a sundried tomato tapenade. Normally, I'm not a big fan of olives, but the tapenade was mild and I really found myself enjoying it.

For our next first course, we ordered the charcuterie for two (pictured up top - $15). This appetizer consisted of ample portions of breseola, speck alto, an herbed goat cheese, piave, olives, pickled vegetables and a couple of breadsticks. Everything was good (I particularly enjoyed the breseola), but the presentation was a little bit lacking. We both agreed that next time we'd probably skip the charcuterie and go with hot appetizers.

We ordered two entrees that sounded good to both of us with the intention of sharing both. We selected the scallop di stagione ($23), which was described as 'seared scallops over sundried tomato and caramelized fennel risotto with toasted pignoli dandelion greens pesto'. When the dish arrived, I was a little disappointed by the way it looked on the plate. It seemed as though it was plated in a hurry without much thought to the final appearance.

As far as taste went, though, it was a success. The scallops were nicely cooked and very lightly seasoned. The risotto was very good, with the rich flavor of the roasted fennel very much at the forefront. All of the components of the dish were nicely executed, but Kristine and I both felt like they could have been tied together a little better.

For me, the real hit of the evening was the special. Jumbo prawns with pearl onions in a lobster cardinal sauce, served with a paella risotto cake (~$27). The head-on prawns were beautifully cooked (and yes, I sucked the heads), the sauce was creamy with a little bit of spice and chunks of lobster, and the paella risotto cake reminded me of a crabcake, but with more delicate flavors. The only thing I could possibly fault would again be the presentation. The whole dish was basically orange/red, but I frankly didn't care because it was so good. Oh, and the wine pairing we did with this one was great. We had a Geode Chardonnay from Santa Barbara, which had great honey & tropical fruit notes that were a nice counterpoint to the rich spicing of the lobster cardinal.

Ok, finally about dessert. In the menu available online, they had listed a chili spiced chocolate torte with chocolate mint sauce and hazelnut gelato. It looks like they reworked that into a chocolate lava cake with hazelnut sauce and hazelnut gelato (~$10). Although I was looking forward to the chocolate/chile combination, the dessert we had was great (especially the hazelnut gelato).

The service from Alex was very attentive without being obtrusive or hover-y (not a word, I know). And when we had the one awkward moment of the evening (when he brought us the check!), he very graciously went off to investigate, coming back to let us know things were sorted out a few minutes later.

So the summary:
Very good food (though presentation slightly off), and very good service make Azul a place that we'll definitely go back to.

So tonight was the big grand opening of the new Azul Restaurant Lounge in the lobby of the Westin La Paloma.

I was looking forward to checking them out, so Kristine & I set out to see what they had going on. The invitation said that we could expect, "...a contemporary, upscale cocktail and dining experience surrounded by dramatic blue lighting, deep lounge music, and the truly instinctive, personal service you have come to expect."

Cool, yo. It sounded hip and swanky - kinda like me (ok, not so much). I like the Westin La Paloma, and so I was thinking it was going to be good time.

Now here's the disclaimer. I was a little cranky with a few things when we were getting ready to leave, but it all worked out and there was a happy ending. Just bear with me.

Kristine started off with her favorite microbrew (ok, it was really a Bud Light, but she's too sweet to hold that against her), and I ordered the China Blue Martini, thinking that I would keep to the blue theme. The martini was Beefeater gin, St. Germain ginger liqueur (who knew they make a ginger liqueur??), blue curacao, and candied ginger in place of the olive. It was served in an individual cocktail shaker, and overall was tasty - a little on the sweet side, but I was expecting that.

We ordered two of the 50% off appetizers (check their website for some good specials http://www.azullapaloma.com): the pan-seared zucchini galette (homemade zucchini cakes, pine nuts, feta, tomato, and cherry pepper salad, with tzatziki and lemon) and the calamari fritto (tomatoes, roasted garlic, parsley finished with white balsamic honey reduction with spicy cherry pepper sauce). Kris enjoyed the zucchini, and I thought it was fine (don't tell anyone, but I'm not a huge fan of feta, so I knew it wasn't going to be my favorite thing ever). Calamari is something like our litmus test, though. We have it pretty much anywhere new that we go, so we opted for that here. I thought the flavor of the sauce was good, although not quite what I was expecting from the description. The texture of the breading was a little gooey, which I could see with it being in a reduced sauce, but the squid itself was rubbery. Kristine didn't think it was as overdone as I did, but I stand by it being too chewy.

About me being cranky - all the servers appeared to be women, and they were all wearing black cocktail dresses. There were quite a few who were circulating around the tables with drink samples and what looked like raffle tickets. They skipped over us every single time they came around. It was like we weren't even there. My pet peeve as far as service goes is being ignored, and we were totally being ignored - which was hard, considering that we were sitting in the exact middle of the lounge. Grrr.

As we were getting ready to head out, Bill, the general manager, came over to us and asked what we thought. I'm pretty sure our friends from Many Hats sent him our way, since he referred to me as 'that food guy'.*

I told him that I had mixed feelings about things and explained why. It turns out that the young women who were ignoring us actually work for one of the alcohol companies and not Azul or Westin. It's too bad that they were wearing basically the same thing as the waitstaff, because it tainted our feelings towards the actual Azul servers (who were doing a fine job). They needed a logo or something to set them apart...

Final thoughts: when we got there, we didn't get the whole blue lighting thing. As it got a little darker, though, the effect was a lot better. The 'deep lounge music' was cool - sort of thumping bass and the occasional horn. And stuff. Look, I'm not a music guy - I'm a food guy.

I'm really happy that Bill came over to chat with us. If he hadn't we would have left unhappy instead of walking away with a generally positive experience as far as Azul goes. I think we may have just had an unfortunate batch of the squid, and I'm pretty sure we'll give them another shot. Or two.

If we're hip and trendy enough, that is.

-TFD
* I'll admit it. I kinda liked being pointed out as 'that food guy'.

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.

How's that for a non-specific blog posting title? I don't really have anything startling to report, but wanted to do a quick update.

I just did my second post at Circle of Food on the difference between baking powder and baking soda. Did you know that baking powder is baking soda plus an acid and a filler? Well if you didn't, you do now. My first post was on a subject near and dear to my heart: beer. I guess that's actually a lot nearer and dearer to my liver, but who's going to call me out on that? It's funny, but I'm enjoying the blogging and the tweeting. If you would have asked me six months ago, I probably would have said I wasn't really interested in either.

My honey and I have had a couple of food/beverage outings of note. We went to Vistas at the Tucson Hilton East and it was just plain weird. The bar didn't have a wine list, the bartender didn't seem to have a good grasp on what she was doing, and the restaurant was deserted when we arrived. A couple of people showed up for dinner before we finished our wine, but it was still kind of odd. But we seem to thrive on those kinds of things, so it's all good.

We also went to Ric's Cafe for dinner. As a member of Tucson Originals, they have a $20.09 special that we wanted to try out. Their offering is all-you-can-eat baby back ribs served with mashed potatoes and a squash medley. It also came with a pint of Fat Tire, which was just fine with me. The ribs were a little tough, a little fatty (they were trimmed sort of oddly), and the sauce was put on after they were cooked. I know that some places do that, but I like them to cook at least a little bit with the sauce on. But they were ok, as was the veg. The mashed potatoes were really good, though. They had a nice garlic kick to them, which I enjoyed. As for the AYCE part of the dinner, I didn't manage to eat more than the full rack they brough out initially. I really wanted to order more (because I like to maximize those kinds of things), but didn't have the room.

Let's see, what else? The girls took me to Beyond Bread for Father's Day lunch and it was fabulous as usual. They made me a scrapbook of pictures of when they were very young - it was just too sweet.

That was followed up two hours later with Father's Day dinner with KW's family at Zona 78. You might guess that I wasn't hungry, and you'd be right. By the time we were paying the bill, I was starting to want a little something to nibble on. Figures.

So I think that kinda sums things up for the last week or two. There'll be more to come soon!

-TFD