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>>> There is no need to produce
food yourself to be sure they're
all natural.
Now there's open nature from
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A line of foods made with
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Open nature.
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>> Hello, I'm Robert McGrath,
and welcome to "Check, Please!
Arizona."
The show where people recommend
and talk about their favorite
restaurants.
This is how the show works.
Every week we have three new
guests.
Each recommends his or her
favorite spot and then the other
two go and check them out to see
what they think.
Joining us this week is business
executive Seth Fischer.
For him, food is not just about
the taste, the aroma, texture,
and flavors of the dish all play
a huge part.
He found a restaurant that
delivers all of this with
originality.
Our next guest is athletic
director Jonathan rickey.
He feels chain restaurants crowd
every street he passes.
He loves when he can find a true
family-owned, Arizona place to
dine.
Up first we have administrative
assistant Cynthia Ong.
Her belief is that food makes
life better, and she loves
sharing her enthusiasm for
cuisine with everyone she knows.
Her favorite place to dine
allows her to do just that.
It's soul cafe, located on east
pinnacle peak road, just east of
Scottsdale road in Scottsdale.
>> Breakfast is how I got
started.
I'm more known for my breakfast
than anything else.
I have three menus.
My dinner menu changes quite a
bit.
It's more American southwest,
kind of a new American.
New takes on old classics.
I have a southwest version of a
meat loaf, made with chipotle
ketchup, my most popular is
buttermilk fried chicken with
country gravy with make with
ground chicken.
Comfort food is a good way of
saying my food.
I hate to use that word, because
I don't want you to think I'm
serving traditional comfort
food.
Although I do.
But it's comfort food with a
twist.
Every recipe I came up with, I'm
here breakfast, lunch, and
dinner, but I have an incredible
crew, I could not do it without
them.
Here I wanted to be more like
soul.
More food for your soul with
art, music, I have live bands
that play during the week.
I want to have more fun with
dinner, so at night the
atmosphere is a little more fine
dining, fun, a lot more drinking
going on than during the day.
It gets really fun, exciting.
You can spend as little or as
much as you want, and it's
really has something for
everybody.
You feel like you're home.
It's a very I think warm
inviting environment.
>> Cynthia, this was your
choice.
What led you to choose this
particular restaurant for your
nomination?
>> It's in my neighborhood,
first of all, and we're always
looking for different places to
eat.
We went there first for
breakfast and it was just amazed
by it.
Couldn't stop going.
>> It was much larger I thought
on the inside than I thought it
was going to be.
Typically with restaurants in
strip malls you think it's going
to be small.
But it was a large area.
I couldn't believe how big.
>> It's very inviting, and it
makes you --
It's mysterious on the outside,
and when you go inside it's very
warm.
>> I found it to be a bit
mysterious on the inside as
well.
It was rather eclectic decor.
Weird lighting, disco ball kind
of things.
But beautiful.
>> There's a big red tree,
Christmas tree in there that my
son thought was the coolest
thing ever.
Is it Christmas?
No, it's just art.
>> They have string lights too.
And it makes you feel like
you're in a different place.
Like it takes you away from your
life and kind of makes you feel
like you've just stepped into
another zone.
Another life.
>> It was an interesting
balance, because you have the
bright lights and the different
eclectic as we were saying,
style.
But they also have the wood of
almost like a steakhouse.
A softer, lighter colored wood.
Just made it look very modern.
Though it says soul food, it's
not sausage links and things
like that.
It's comfort food more than soul
food I think.
I didn't see collard greens and
things like that.
So people don't get the wrong
impression.
>> Let's talk about food.
Jon, I want to start with you.
>> I had the ranch burger, and
it's the fried chicken on a
CHALLAH bun, and it has bacon
and cheese, and some ranch
dressing also.
And it was great.
When I first bit into it I fell
in love with it.
Don't think soak it in
buttermilk for like 24 hours
ahead of time?
It was wonderful.
It also came with fries, some
sweet potato and regular potato
fries, and those are pretty good
too.
And to start off with, we did
have pretzel nubs, and they had
a jalapeno cheese dip and also a
mustard.
I wasn't too keen on the
jalapeno cheese, it was runny
and not that great.
I thought.
But the deli mustard, it taste
as lot different than a normal
mustard that I've had before.
It was very good.
>> You had the same --
We had the same experience with
pretzel nubs.
We found the cheese sauce to be
runny and not very flavorful,
but the mustard, and the
pretzels were good, it was a big
basket, and the pretties else
were very warm and --
>> buttery.
>> Yeah.
>> I had those too.
>> We all sat around and had the
soul cookie at the end.
Kind of a half-baked cookie with
ice cream.
I think it was chocolate chip,
and it was gone in about two
minutes.
>> We also ordered the polenta
triangles, which came with
peppers and sausage, and a very
good MARiNARA.
That was delicious.
The polenta was cooked
perfectly, the balance between
all the ingredients was
excellent.
The sausage, there were four
small thin slices of sausage, so
a little more sausage to balance
the plenty, but certainly a
hearty dish, and it was
delicious.
For an entry I ordered the
stuffed smothered rigatoni,
which was outstanding.
This was stuffed with cheese,
and had a pork VERDE sauce,
which had a very delicious spice
and it was just outstanding.
>> My wife did order the sea
scallops with dirty rice, which
I tried, and the scallops were
cooked perfectly, there was no
grit.
And the dirty rice was just a
combination of rice with
vegetables and things and spice,
and it just balanced extremely
well.
>> Did you have dessert as well?
>> We wanted to get the most out
of it, so not only did we have
the soul cookie, which was
delicious, we also did a rhubarb
pie.
It was served with vanilla ice
cream which was extremely creamy
and delicious, and the pie was
outstanding.
>> First I have to say their
menu changes constantly, because
of whatever is fresh.
And I've person there for
breakfast, lunch, and dinner,
but on this particular occasion
I went for dinner on a Saturday
night when they had the music,
and I ordered for the appetizer
a kale and orange segment salad,
and it was --
It had feta, and it had some
nuts and pine nuts, and it came
with an orange vinaigrette that
was perfect.
I also got the lamb chops with
an Israeli COUS COUS.
They were perfect on the inside,
and the COUS COUS had feta,
KALAMATA olives, and it was
amazing.
We had the pork belly with the
fig risotto.
Oh, it was so good.
>> Did you have dessert?
>> We did have dessert.
It was a pecan pie, but it was a
nut pie.
So it was in the form of a pecan
pie, but it had pine nuts in
there also.
It just was really good with a
big mound of homemade ice cream
and oozing all over the warm
pie.
>> If you would like to try soul
cafe, reservations are accepted
and the average tab for dinner
without drinks is $18.
>>> Up next is Cucina Tagliani.
Located on north 59th Avenue
and bell road in Glendale.
>> When you think about family
and food, the kitchen or the
CUCiNA is where you want to be.
And Cucina Tagliani, that's
where that came from.
We wanted to make a very family
friendly, casual Italian
restaurant.
We cook everything from scratch.
Every day.
Every sauce, soup, stock, and
dressing is made here every
morning.
We do everything the way they've
done it for the last couple
hundred years.
It's more Americanized Italian
food.
You really won't find meated
balls and chicken parmesean in
Italy, so it's more like
Chicago-New York.
The core menu will stay the
same, but the seasonal menu will
fluctuate.
We've added more sandwiches and
we've added some burgers and
wraps and some non-Italian foods
because we can't eat pasta every
night, but we want you to eat in
the restaurant every night.
By far the most popular item is
the chicken paramedic San.
We have a --
Parmesan.
We have a couple unique sauces
that you won't find anywhere
else, like our spicey sausage
rigatoni.
If we can give people in here
one time to taste the food,
they're hooked.
>> So Jon, this is your choice.
Can you explain to our audience
why you chose this particular
restaurant?
>> When you go into the place,
the decor is --
It looks like an Italian place,
very Tuscan, a lot of wine
bottles around, a lot of
greeneries and so forth.
>> When we walked in we saw the
same thing, the weathered brick
and things like that.
It did feel like an old world
Italian restaurant, which was
very nice.
>> I don't like sitting usually
in a table in the middle of the
room, I like a booth, but we sat
at a table and I was very
comfortable because of the
surroundings.
It enveloped you.
It was really nice.
>> And they had a bar area.
Bottles lining the walls.
>> It's a place I like because I
can go there with just my wife,
kind of a semi romantic place,
but also they can facilitate
large groups as well.
>> Exactly my thoughts.
I was looking around thinking,
this would be a great place for
an intimate date night dinner,
or to bring, because we saw
families around, and they were
having a great time too.
So it was very versatile.
>> And a very spacious
restaurant.
The interior was spacious, and
they did have the soft Italian
music to take you back.
>> Let's talk about the food.
>> For an appetizer we actually
had the bruschetta, and it
was --
I could not put it down.
It was so good.
And they --
Not to mention they bring out
this basket of breadsticks.
Oh, boy.
The breadsticks are amazing.
They're like wedges of French
bread, or Italian roll.
And it's butter, and garlic, and
herbs, and it's just --
If you can put those down and
move on to the bruschetta.
I also got the wedge salad, and
that was --
>> iceberg.
>> It was just --
It wasn't drenched in dressing,
it was really nice.
It was delicious of course.
And for my entree I created my
own pasta bowl, which you can
do, and I ended up getting the
tortellini with a lemon garlic
caper sauce, and it was
unbelievable.
Because --
Oh, I added asparagus too, and
it was light, and with the
asparagus it made me feel like I
was eating a little healthy.
It was very good.
And then for dessert I ended up
having the can't decide.
They actually have a can't
decide dessert, which includes a
chocolate mascarpone cake, it
was all melt in your mouth.
Delicious.
It also had the TiRAMiSU.
And then it had this other
cheesecake which was obviously
very, very good.
>> We started off with having
the artichoke dip.
It came out.
It wasn't very high in art
chokes, but it's baked in a
little dish of its own, and it
comes with some of the
bruschetta bread or toast with
that, and also some pitas with
that.
I thought it was very good.
Then I had the --
I wanted to try something
different so I triked the
chicken dynamante.
And it's PENNE pasta and chicken
and a green chili spicey sauce
as well as some fresh
vegetables.
And it was pretty good.
I don't think would I get that
again.
It just --
It didn't feel Italian enough to
me.
I know --
My friend I took with me, he had
the mamma's plate.
And it had veal, it had
fettucini Alfredo, and lasagna.
And I had some of his, and first
of all it was huge.
I don't know --
>> yeah, we got that too.
>> It was huge.
We then went to dessert, and we
ordered the leaning tower of
Pisa.
It was a big chunk of SPUMONi
ice cream, and then the
chocolate mascarpone cake on
top, and a scoop of vanilla ice
cream on top.
And they put a little chocolate
sauce around it, and lean it
just a bit so it looks like the
leaning tower of Pisa.
Oh, my goodness.
>> Our experience on the
appetizer and entree weren't as
positive, unfortunately.
For an appetizer we ordered the
calamari fritti.
The calamari was heavily deep
fried to the point you couldn't
taste the flavor of the
calamari.
And we ended up --
My wife and I didn't like it,
gave it to the kids and these
kids won't eat seafood, ate all
of it.
So they were OK with it.
For my entree I ordered the
chicken saltimbocca.
A chicken breast pounded so it
was thin, rolled with cheese
center, a bread crumb topping,
and they had it sliced up over
an angel hair pasta with
MARiNARA, unfortunately the
chicken was tough, the PROCUTTE
was thin and not much flavor,
and the angel hair was
overcooked and the sauce was
pretty much drowned in the
sauce.
Did not suit my palate.
The waitress was over
immediately and said, is it OK,
I said not so much.
And she said, let me switch it
off.
So I went to the build your own
and got a rig Tony with some
goat cheese and sun dried
tomatoes and meat sauce and that
was very good.
What really saved the night was
the chocolate mascarpone cake,
they served with fresh
strawberries, and that hit the
table.
Everyone was full because the
portion sizes were large and it
was devoured.
>> If you would like to try
Cucina Tagliani, reservations
are accepted, and the average
tab for dinner without drinks is
>>> Our next restaurant is
ground control, located on north
Litchfield road just south of
camelback road in Goodyear.
>> The coffee is what instigated
all of this.
Our concept was just coffee
house and a wine bar.
More of a community centric
environment where you didn't
have to have a full meal, you
could just sit and hang out.
We've tried to stay true to our
roots, which was fresh food and
making all of our own sauces and
salad dressings.
Keeping things really fresh,
made to order.
There's nothing we do that is
made ahead of time.
In the beginning we were limited
to pan pin I and salads and
cheese boards, and it was a
bigger space, we've been able to
expand.
We have pizzas, salmon, we have
some pork chops.
We typically rotate our menu
every three to four months.
We do it seasonally.
Right now we have 400 bottles of
different wines.
We have craft beers, 24 on draft
as well as 50 by the bottle.
We call ourselves a fusion
bistro, and we strive to bring
very fresh flavor and not shy
away from flavor.
We're not trying to dumb
anything down.
We call it fun dining.
We like fun food, we like it to
change, we like it to be
creative.
We don't push wi-fi, we don't
push TVs or sports bars.
We want people to come here and
talk with people that they
didn't know before.
We just want people to feel
relaxed and just happy, and like
they've had a really good
experience.
>> Describe the restaurant and
what led to you choose this
restaurant for our panel.
>> What originally led us was
with the beer.
We drank the beer first and then
they also had pizza, and they
brought on a brick oven pizza.
Being from Chicago, pizza is
very important within my life.
That was another thing that led
us in there.
>> Beer and pizza.
Pretty much sums it up.
>> But they go so far beyond
that.
>> I'm talking about you.
>> For me, yeah.
Those are my comfort foods.
>> When you first walk in you
see the gelato counter, and they
make their own, so it's really
cute.
You go past there and into the
restaurant, and you can clearly
see it's definitely for beer and
wine connoisseurs.
>> On one of the walls they have
a huge rack of wines, and I
don't know how many are in
there, probably four or 500, it
was a lot.
>> That's probably their decor.
Just the listing of the beers
and wines.
>> the bar play as centerpiece
because it was 24 beers on tap.
>> Very urban decor, and leather
seating, and it is --
It's a wide-open loft like
space.
And they have a couple of nice
intimate booths.
>> Let's get over to the food
side of the equation.
Cynthia, I'll start with you
this time.
>> For the appetizer we had the
trio hummus, but unfortunately
they only had the one.
But the one hummus we did have
was very good.
And they had this pita flat
bread type thing that they
quartered, and that was great on
its own.
But with the hummus it was also
very good.
We actually ordered another
appetizer that was the beer nosh
plate, which had cheeses, and it
had on olives, it was just a
nice mixture of different
things.
Probably would have been better
with beer.
But I had a nice --
I had an iced tea, but it was
still good.
>> The nosh plate is our go-to.
We dot wine nosh plate, that has
walnuts, three types of cheese,
and a bunch of different dried
fruits and goes perfectly with
the wine.
>> It was very good.
For my entree I had a chicken
salad that had cranberries, and
there were a couple things that
weren't on there that said it
was supposed to be on there like
cheese, and some walnuts and
things, but the dressing was
freshly made, and that was
really good.
For December certain I ended up
having the cookie dough with
gelato on top.
Half baked.
Oh, wow.
You can tell, we had the
STRATA --
I don't want to botch it up.
Something ice cream, that was on
top of the macadamia nut cookie
that was Helane Fronek baked.
>> Stracciatella?
>> Yes.
Stracciatella.
And it was just melted all
together.
Very delicious.
Always have room for that.
>> I did for my entree I did the
brick oven pizza.
From Chicago, they use the sauce
is very similar to --
It's got that flavor, it's a
sweet tomato, crushed plum
tomatoes they use, so it's not
just like a regular canned
sauce.
And then the pepperoni that they
put on it is a thinly sliced,
it's not like little circles,
but it's a thinly sliced, so it
coats the pizza, so it gives it
excellent balance, it's cooked
in the brick oven so you get
this chewy, delicious crust, and
it's outstanding.
>> I'm not going to even ask if
you had anything else to eat,
because --
>> I did the gelato of course.
>> Did you, OK?
>> So they have probably 20
varieties of gelato and they're
all handmade, and excellent.
And I did a combination, an
Italian kiss, a blend of
chocolate and hazel nut.
And it was ridiculous.
Delicious.
>> We got the garlic and
Parmesan fries.
And they were fabulous.
That was great.
We couldn't really taste the
garlic as much, but that was OK.
We could taste the Parmesan, and
they had this AOiLi dipping
sauce, that was homemade, it was
wonderful.
So we had that.
And wow, that was a great start
to what we were going to do that
night.
For our main entrees, I got the
triple-double pizza.
It's hot and sweet sausage, with
pepperONCiNis, and green and red
peppers, kind of mixed around.
And the first thing I noticed,
it came out perfect, it was
crunchy on the bottom,
everything had blended together,
I loved the sauce.
Like you mentioned.
And there was almost like whole
tomatoes in the sauce.
And you could tell it was real.
That was wonderful.
We decided to have gelato,
because walking in, the gelato
looked fabulous.
So I had a butter pecan gelato
and we had this little cup, and
it was a mound of gelato.
The greatest thing I've ever
seen in my life.
It was beautiful.
>> Few would like to try ground
control, reservations are not
accepted, and the average tab
for dinner without drinks is
>>> That's it for another show.
Don't forget to visit our
website, where you can catch all
of our reviews and even nominate
your favorite restaurant.
We just might invite you to be
on the show.
On the go, check us out on your
mobile phone.
I want to thank my guests this
week, Jon, Cynthia, and Seth.
Join us next time when three new
guests will recommend their
favorite spots right here on
"Check, Please! Arizona."
I'm Robert McGrath.
And I'll see you then.
Cheers.
>>> "Check, Please! Arizona" was
made possible by --
>> there is no need to produce
food yourself to be sure they're
all natural.
Now there's open nature from
Safeway.
A line of foods made with
natural ingredients.
Open nature.
Only at Safeway.
>>> Best dental care AZ
identifies selected dental
offices in the Phoenix metro
area, providing services from
basic cleanings and fillings, to
advanced cosmetic procedures.
More information at
bestdentalcare AZ.com.
>>> Lawns by less.
A family-owned business serving
HOAs and commercial clients
for 30 years.
While working to improve the
local community.
Proud to support eight.
Arizona PBS.
More information at
lawnsbyless.com.
>>> Ironwood cancer and research
centers.
Providing treatment options
through research trials, genetic
testing, and personalized
counseling.
Focused on emotional, physical,
and social support.
Outsmarting cancer, one patient
at a time.
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