Month: April 2012

When we returned to Scottsdale (after spending two years in Austin), we were told that one of the best new foodie destinations to open up in our absence was FnB. We sampled their sandwiches and their deliciously tart Lemonade from Farmer’s market but had never actually been to the restaurant. Well, a few Fridays ago, we FINALLY got to go.

As usual, we had done our research on the place beforehand and knew that there was a “rotating” menu but that there were some “must eats” – including the falafels, the braised leeks, the jidori chicken, and butterscotch pudding. We confirmed these “must orders” with our server. Here’s a picture of him with Anya.

Indeed, our research results were confirmed. In addition to that, our server recommended the broccoli. While we waited for our food to arrive, Karsen went around the small restaurant to take pictures. Here are pictures of the restaurant.

FnB is is well known for its wine. In fact, they specialize in AZ wines – the by the glass wines are all from AZ wineries. Here are some pictures of the wine and wine refrigerator.

While everything on the menu looked appetizing, we ordered just their signature items. Here is a picture of the menu:

Mommy and Papa ordered alcoholic drinks – one was a mojito and the other was a Long Island Iced Tea.  (Hint:Do not try until of age!!!!!!!!)

The first dish to arrive was the falafels. These were absolutely delicious. The falafels are perfectly fried and fluffy. Mommy and Papa said that traditional falafels come with a tahini sauce (made of sesame). These falafels came with a different kind of sauce with olives. Anya calls this tahini with a twist.

The falafels were so delicious that we ordered seconds of them! Really MMMMM!!!

If you go to FnB, make sure to get falafels or you will regret it.

The next dish to arrive were the Braised Leeks. The Braised Leeks are topped with a runny poached egg. The chef recommends “spreading the love” – that is spilling the yolk all over the Braised Ribs. This was expertly done by our server. In fact, we took a video of this:

MOVIE OF SAUCE ON LEEKS
The leeks were pan-seared and were very delicious. Even though Mommy thought everything else was good, she thought the leeks were a little bit soggy. Everyone loved the sauce that came with the leeks.

The Jidori Chicken and Broccoli arrived at the same time. The broccoli dish was exceptional – the broccoli was cooked but still crunchy. The best thing about it is that it had a kick to it – the chef added chili flakes. Anyway, we polished that dish up and have since started making our broccoli at home that way. We recommend you do the same.

The Jidori chicken is their specialty. And we have to admit, none of us are big chicken fans. BUT we were very impressed. The chicken was flavorful and tender. And mommy just loved the bread that came with the chicken. She sopped it up with all of our extra bread. If you are chicken fans, this will be your FAVORITE dish of all time.

And of course, we had to have dessert. FnB is famous for their butterscotch pudding. Both of us love butterscotch so were going to each get our own cup. Our server told us that one cup is enough for all four of us. And he was right. The pudding is very rich. It is topped with a nutmeg whipped cream. Here is a picture of it.

Papa does not like butterscotch so he ordered their citrus cake. Here is a picture of that cake.

Of course, we had to try both desserts so that we could write about it. The cake was light, fluffy and not too sweet. It was absolutely delicious. The pudding met all of our expectations and was very creamy. It is a very simple dessert but was done very well.

We would most certainly return to FnB.
As usual our ratings are from 1-5 smiley faces.

Here are the ratings:(drum roll please)
😀 😀 😀 😀 😀 since both Karsen and I agree (and that almost never happens!).

Special thanks to our server!

As some of you know (from my previous post), I, Karsen, got to go to NYC without Anya. During my visit, I was able to see Jeremy Lin and the Knicks, the Spiderman musical, and The Museum of Natural History. In addition to that, I was spoiled by the delicious food that NYC has to offer (keep looking – I’ll be posting some of the most delicious food including Sushi Gari, Gray’s papaya, Papaya King, Momofuku’s Milkbar desserts, Flushing restaurants, an amazing Brooklyn Brunch place, among others). Anyway, my last dinner in NYC was at this amazing Portuguese Fusion restaurant called Aldea. It has one Michelin Star.

This is an unassuming (assume was one of my spelling words) place. Here’s the sign outside the restaurant:

It’s a small restaurant but serves food with BIG taste. Here are pictures of the atmosphere. I’d describe it as calming and peaceful.

In fact, we dined here with Eric Jojo. He had a long day at work as a lawyer.  This is his calm and serene look after arriving at Aldea.

This is a picture of the talented and young chef.  His name is Chef Georges Mendes.  Because he has already achieved michelin status, I was surprised at how young he was.

We had a nice server and ordered drinks first. Mommy ordered wine and I ordered fresh lemonade. This is what they looked like.

We decided that we wanted to order the Chef’s tasting menu. Mommy didn’t want the venison so they made an exception for her and served her the Arroz de Pato (which is a duck confit and rice dish).

Of course, like all fancy restaurants, this one came with different fresh-made breads and amuse bouches.  The next four pictures are of the different kinds of breads that were offered.  I liked the olive bread.

This was the platter of bread we had to choose from and the other pictures are of individual breads.

The first amuse bouche was the pina colada bites.  It was sweet and as you would expect, tasted like a combination of pineapple and coconut.  Popo, you would love this!! 

The second set of amuse bouches included pistachio soup crostini, Salted cod bacalao (a traditional portuguese dish), and Oysters in ginger sauce.

This is the pistachio soup crostini. The soup was creamy and the pistachio is a nice unexpected touch.

This is the Salted Cod Bacalao. I popped the bacalao in my mouth and it was an explosion of flavors!

This is the Oysters in Ginger. The sauces in the oyster were spicy and had a touch of saltiness (like sea salt)

Believe me, our bouches were amused!! And all of this came before our first course.

For our first course, we Rhode Island Sea Urchin and Littleneck Clams. Chef Georges Mendes came out to serve us and to tell us that the clams were absolutely fresh! They were, of course delicious. The sea urchin (known as uni in sushi restaurants) was melt in your mouth.

Our second course was the cured foie gras with pear puree and maple syrup.

We had the foie gras with little bits of toast. The sweetness of the pear puree and maple syrup went very well with the foie.

Our third course was the whole milk ricotta gnocchi. This was mommy’s favorite dish of all. It came with the most delicious blacktruffle, brown butter, poultry jus. I think that must be mommy’s favorite combination for sauces. She can’t get enough of that.

The fourth course was the venison loin (for Eric jojo and me). And mommy had the arroz de pato.

This was the dish I liked least because the meat is chewy for me.  I want to clarify that it was not over- or under-cooked.  I am a lazy eater and like melt in your mouth meats (i.e. foie gras, pork belly, braised ribs). In fact, I wound up eating mommy’s rice and duck confit dish. That was delicious.

Our next course was really a palate cleanser. It was a Lemongrass gelee with passionfruit granita. This was very refreshing.

Our final course was the ginger parfait with brown sugar ice cream and pomegranate pearls.

Just when we thought we were done with dessert, we were treated to another set of desserts.

This was donuts with three different sauces – caramel, chocolate, and caramel peanut butter.

These donuts were the best of all the desserts. All of us liked the donuts better than the ginger parfait. We were told by our server that this is their signature dessert. Of all of the dipping sauces, I liked the caramel sauce best, but the others were still very good.

I rate it 5 smiley faces. It was DELICIOUS!!

😀 😀 😀 😀 😀

I recommend that everyone dine here.  Chef Mendes is sure to have another michelin star soon!!!