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Google recently released a new feature of their popular Google Maps application called My Maps. Essentially, it's a way to create customized Google Maps without any programming. In about 10 minutes, I was able to create a map of all Sushi restaurants in the Phoenix Metro area. Check it out:

Phoenix Metro Sushi Restaurants (Google Maps)

My recent visit to Sassi (irritating website alert) can be summed up in one simple sentence. Great surrounds, inconsistent food, and mediocre service. I had high hopes for Sassi, I really did, but I digress... You see, yesterday was my 8th wedding anniversary. Since we do so much cooking at home, Pere and I almost always go out to celebrate really special occassions. After last year's relatively uninspiring experience at T. Cooks, we decided we were going to go back to Kai, but unfortunately, they are closed until September for renovations. We were just about to book dinner at one of our other favorite spots, Vincent's on Camelback when I remembered that I had been meaning to try Sassi, a Southern Italian restaurant next to Pinnacle Peak in Scottsdale. Forgoing a sure thing at Vincent's, we made reservations for Sassi.

Not knowing how traffic was going to be, we left our place a little early and ended up arriving at Sassi about 20 minutes ahead of our 7pm reservation. It wasn't a problem at all as the place was huge and there were only a few other diners that we could see. The hostess greeted us warmly and lead us back to a large table for two in the garden terrace room, with a nice sunset view. At the time, there was only one other table occupied in our small dining room.

Our waiter came by with menus and asked if we would like water, as well as if we wanted anything from the bar. Their drink menu had a few interesting "martinis" on it, so we decided to sample. I chose a limoncello martini while pere went with the "Bella Berry". Both of us chose to have our martini's "slushy". Each drink came in a martini glass with three round snowballs. Think of this as an adult version of the snow cone. When the waiter arrived with our cocktails, he accidentally started pouring my drink into Pere's glass. This wouldn't have been a problem except Pere's drink had a different garnish, and her rim wasn't sugared. Instead of correcting the problem, the waiter simply said "ooops", changed shakers, and filled the rest of her glass with the correct drink. Both drinks were pretty good, although next time I would probably order sans the slush.

While we looked over the menu trying to decide what to order, our waiter returned with a basket of fresh breads and a bottle of olive oil for dipping. The basket contained several breads including a crusty loaf, olive, walnut, focaccia, and flat bread. All were quite good.

While we were enjoying our cocktails, the hostess showed back up with a party of four and sat them at the table right next to ours. Why she did this in a mostly empty restaurant, when we were practically the only other people there escapes me. To make matters worse, they were obnoxious - typical Scottsdale hipster wannabe's with too much money and not enough taste. Our waiter only compounded the issue when the other party was trying to decide on drinks and he pointed out that we were drinking the martini specials. This prompted a lot of staring and attempts at humor. Normally, this wouldn't have bothered me so much, but we specifically chose to come to Sassi because we wanted to celebrate our anniversary in a romantic, intimate setting, and let the staff know this in advance. Pere summed it up pretty well when she remarked that she really didn't appreciate the overly familiar attitude our waiter had. When you're dining at a place like Sassi, you expect a certain level of professionalism that just wasn't on display during our visit.

There were so many interesting items on the menu that Pere and I decided to share a few in order to have more variety. We started our meal off with Sassi's calamari. Not to be confused with it's deep fried cousin, Sassi's version is made from small squid slices, celery, spicy peperoncino oil, almonds, and lemon zest. We also tried the barbabietola, a small salad of wood roasted beets and mint dressed with Agrumato tangerine olive oil and 20 year old balsamic vinegar.

For a pasta course, we shared a bowl of the gnocchi al funghi. Pillowy ricotta gnocchi with a wild mushroom ragu and shaved pecorino romano. The pasta was perfectly cooked. The mushroom ragu was excellent as well. There was one small problem. For some reason, the pasta and the ragu just never came together. That is to say, the "sauce" just wouldn't stick to the pasta. It was like oil and water. It didn't ruin the dish, but it did detract.

To accompany our meal, we chose a bottle of 1999 Selvamaggio Villa La Selva, a Super-Tuscan Cabernet. The wine was dark ruby in color, and was fairly fruity, with a long finish. Being bottle aged for so long, I think the wine would have done better had it been decanted (my fault for not asking). Overall, we both enjoyed it.

For an entree, Pere selected the Pesce al Cartoccio. In this case, the fish was salmon and was prepared by steaming in a paper bag with lemon, sage, ginger, and scallions. The presentation of the dish was very nice. Unfortunately, the filet was awfully thin and came out a bit overcooked. It was also overly lemony. We really liked the concept of the dish, but unfortunately, the execution just wasn't there.

The only other entree on the menu that really caught my eye was the stravaganza di agnello. The menu described the dish as Browns Orchard naturally raised lamb served three ways with local ratatouille. When the dish arrived, the "three ways" were a lamb chop, lamb rib, and shredded lamb mixed in with the ratatouille. The lamb chop was extremely flavorful, although a bit salty. The lamb rib was mostly fat, but still had good flavor. The shredded lamb with the ratatouille was good, but didn't stand out.

We declined dessert as we were both stuffed by this point. Our waiter wouldn't hear of it, though, and brought out an order of custard with fresh strawberries for us to share - on the house.

All-in-all, our meal at Sassi didn't live up to my expectations. That isn't to say that I'd never eat there again, but I think they still have a long way to go before I'd consider them a really great restaurant. In the meantime, I'm more likely to pay a return visit for happy-hour and either dine at the bar, or perhaps try the patio and make a meal of the excellent antipasti.

Last night, I met up for dinner with two other local Phoenix food bloggers, Seth Chadwick (Phoenix Feast) and JK Grence (What The Jester Had For Dinner) at Los Sombreros in Scottsdale. Mario from I am Jack's Brain was supposed to join us too, but was unfortunately unable to make it. I had never met Seth or JK before, but have read their blogs and thought it would be fun to get together and chat about food.

I've been to Los Sombreros several times before as it's one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it's not the typical tacos, burritos, and combo plates smothered in cheese. The food at Los Sombreros exposes you to many of the flavors of Mexico that you just don't get at your local taco stand our burrito shop, let alone the mass of corporate Mexican chains that seem to be everywhere these days.

I got to the restaurant about 15 minutes early. I wasn't sure how traffic was going to be, so I left a bit early. Good thing as when I arrived, the place was packed and the wait for a table was going to be about 40 minutes. I bellied up to the bar and ordered a margarita - rocks with salt to sip while I waited for the other guys. Since I had never met them before, I had no real idea what they looked like other than a general description of Seth from an email. Luckily, the description was enough as we were pretty quick to recognize each other when he arrived. Seth and JK already knew each other, so we didn't have to repeat the whole exercise when JK arrived a few minutes later. Within another ten minutes or so, we were ready to be seated.

I normally order the guacamole at Los Sombreros as it's about as fresh as it gets and bursting with the flavors of avocado, cilantro and lime. I didn't order it on this visit, though, as I planned to have dessert and I knew there was no way I would be able to do an appetizer, entree and dessert.

While we looked over the menu, our waitress brought out a basket of chips with two salsas. One was a chipotle, and the other was your standard variety. Both are made fresh at the restaurant. I particularly liked the chipotle as it had a nice smokey quality.

Both JK and I went straight for the entrees while Seth ordered a jicama and orange salad to start. I had a taste of his salad, and it was really nice. The jicama was cut in french fry-sized pieces and had a nice chili-lime dressing. I can definitely see myself ordering the salad on a future visit.

I had a hard time deciding between the lamb adobo and the Guajillo short ribs. Since I had ordered the lamb adobo in the past, I decided to go with the short ribs this time. They were prepared by braising them in Negro Modelo and served with a red chili sauce. All entrees come with home made tortillas, and a choice of black beans, refried beans, rice, and seasonal vegetables. You get to pick two, so I chose the black beans and vegetables.

The short ribs were huge. There were actually two ribs in my serving, making me wonder whether or not I'd be able to finish them. The meat was very tender and flavorful. The red chili sauce was mild and well balanced against the meat. My only complaint about the ribs was that there was a little too much fat. It wasn't a big deal to cut around, but I would have preferred they been trimmed a bit more.

For dessert, all three of us ordered the daily special - pumpkin seed praline ice cream. I've had their flan and their chocolate tamales before, both excellent desserts, so I figured the ice cream sounded interesting enough. When the ice cream was brought out, I was pretty excited. It looked really good. Unfortunately, there was way too much praline in the mix, and the majority of it was slightly burned. Seth and JK had the same issue with theirs. It's unfortunate because the few bites that didn't have too much praline were really good. If it sounds like I'm making excuses for Los Sombreros, I'm not. Just about everything they do, they do well. I've been there enough times now that there are the occasional execution issues (like the ice cream), but on a whole, it's an excellent Mexican restaurant that shouldn't be missed.

I really enjoyed meeting Seth and JK, and chatting about food for two hours while we had some of the best Mexican food Arizona has to offer. I'm sure this won't be our last get together...

Last night, Pere and I had dinner at the Salt Cellar in Scottsdale, before heading off to see the touring Cirque du Soleil show Corteo. Because the show started at 8, we figured we would need to do an early dinner, sometime around 5:30. Normally I don't like doing dinner out that early, but we didn't really have a choice as we needed to be at the show by 7:30.

The Salt Cellar is one of those places I've been meaning to go to for years yet never seem to make it to. It's considered by many to be the best place for fresh seafood in the Phoenix area. What really makes it unique, though, is the fact that the restaurant is located entirely underground. From the street, you would hardly know that it's there. There's only a small building with the entrance door and a stove pipe sticking up from the ground that give the location away.

When we arrived, there were already a few people at the bar, presumably for the happy hour (5-7) specials. We were seated almost immediately in one of the many small dining rooms. I'm not sure how many there are in the place, but the dining room we were seated in was very intimate - only 6 small tables in the room. Our waitress was very friendly and went into great detail about all of the menu items, including the special board which had about a dozen daily specials.

While we tried to decide on entrees, we went ahead and ordered a half-dozen oysters on the half-shell along with a bucket of steamers. I also ordered a bottle of David Bruce (2003) Pinot Noir. David Bruce makes on of my favorite Pinot Noir's, so I couldn't pass it up even though it may be a little heavy for seafood. In the meantime, our waitress brought by a bread basket with slices of three different breads, an olive bread, a sesame loaf, and a piece of sourdough. The sourdough had a perfectly crispy crust with a nice chewy inside, as did the sesame. Pere and I were both less than thrilled with the olive bread, though as the olives seemed to have all pulled to the same spot in the slice making it a little too briny.

The oysters were the first appetizer to arrive. They were decent sized and smelled very fresh. We had them with a squeeze of lemon, shot of Tabasco, and a little cocktail sauce - just enough to enhance the flavor without totally killing off the taste. I thought they were great, but a little pricey at $12.95 for 6. Just as we finished the oysters, the bucket of clams arrived. One think I found a bit odd. The clams were completely dry, as if they had been baked and not steamed. It didn't really matter, though, because they tasted great, especially with the drawn butter and a squeeze of lemon. All of the clams they served us were open, which was good. I can't stand when a restaurant brings out clams or mussels and a bunch of them are dead (haven't opened).

For entrees, I went with the "small" baked stuffed lobster while Pere chose the salmon wellington. The small lobster was actually 1 1/4 pounds. It was stuffed with a mixture of king crab and scallops and topped with a Ritz cracker crust. Accompanying the lobster were sauteed vegetables and a lemon and pecan wild rice. When the entrees arrived, our waitress explained that they crack all crabs and lobsters table side. She then proceeded to remove the claws from my lobster and crack them using a combination of a clean cloth napkin and a cracker. In about 30 seconds, she had cracked both claws and all of the knuckles, each with a satisfying crunch that told me the lobster hadn't been frozen for 6 months then overcooked in a pot of boiling water. She obviously had a lot of practice. The lobster also tasted great. The meat was done just right - not at all overcooked. The Ritz cracker crust was tasty as well, but I would have been just as happy with the naked lobster. I'm a bit mixed on the stuffing of king crab and scallops. While I thought the crab was good, I found the scallops (there were three) a bit mushy. All in all, though, I was very happy with my lobster. I was so full after eating it, though, that I only had a fork-full of the rice and vegetables. That's okay, though. Who really goes to a seafooder and has any interest in the vegetables and rice?

Pere's salmon wellington turned out to be a huge hunk of salmon wrapped in spinach, then topped with mushrooms (it didn't look like duxelles) and wrapped in pastry. She thought it was ok, but it didn't live up to her expectations. We both thought that the quality of the seafood at the Salt Cellar was quite good, but the prices were a little higher than they should have been to be considered a good value. I do plan on going back for their happy hour, though. They run a lot of specials at the bar during happy hour, and that seems like a much more reasonable way to get decent fresh seafood without breaking the bank.

We almost never stay in and cook for special occasions. We do so much cooking at home most nights of the week that when a special occasion such as a birthday or anniversary does come around, the last thing we want to do is undertake a massive cooking project with all the associated prep and cleanup.

Since our 7th wedding anniversary was on a Monday this year (it was actually back in August, I just didn't realize I had written up this review and never posted it), and we didn't want to celebrate on a different night, it made finding a restaurant a bit challenging. Of all the available choices, T. Cooks at the Royal Palms Spa and Resort in Scottsdale sounded the most promising.

I'd heard a lot about T. Cooks in the past, so I was looking forward to trying them out. The dining room itself was very nicely designed. Rustic yet still upscale. My only complaint here is where we were seated. Given the place's reputation for romantic atmosphere, we were slightly dismayed to be seated in the center of the dining room. Given that we had called a few weeks in advance for a reservation, I would have expected a better table.

The menu was Mediterranean influenced. We started our meal with a half bottle of Chandon sparkling wine. I'm particularly fond of half bottles as they allow you to try several different wines in a single meal without having to slug down an entire bottle. Since Arizona still doesn't allow you to take home partially consumed bottles, half bottles are still the best option when you only have two people dining.

For an appetizer, we decided to split the foie gras terrine with confit and grilled scallion salad. Pere ordered the English pea soup with crème fraîche and caviar while I opted for the lobster carrot bisque with caraway bread stick and crème fraiche.

Pere chose the seared scallops with basil scented gratin and sweet corn emulsion . I can't say that anything on the menu really jumped out at me. In the end, I decided to go with the Sterling Silver pork tenderloin with brandy cream, which was fairly unremarkable. I actually chose the pork more for the side dish that came with it - an apple-garlic tart. The apple tart was good, and I was surprised just how well the apple and garlic paired.

When I had called T. Cooks to make the reservation, they asked if we were celebrating a special occasion. I told them we were celebrating our seventh anniversary. When we arrived at the restaurant, our waiter congratulated us on the milestone. It was a small touch, but it's extras like that that can elevate a dining experience.

Although we were both stuffed after our meals, we had to order desert. I had heard that T. Cooks was known for the presentation of their deserts. We went ahead and split a poached pear. When it arrived, it was truly architectural, sitting on a bed of marscapone with a cookie "wing" sticking out of the side and a spun sugar halo. The pastry chef had also written "Happy Seventh Anniversary" in chocolate around the rim of the plate. A nice finishing touch for the evening.

Ever since Pere started working in North Scottsdale, we decided that it would help break up the week and her long commute if I came up once a week after work to meet for dinner. Although that was the plan, it's now been almost a year since she took the job, and I've only driven up after work to meet her a hand full of times. Realizing this last week, I set about trying to change that. Since Pere works right next to Kierland Commons, I figured somewhere around there would be a good place to start. After looking over the options, we agreed to meet at North. North is a corporate run restaurant that's part of Fox Restaurant Concepts, and specializes in Northern Italian inspired fare.

After work, I shot up the 101 and made it there without much hassle. Parking wasn't a problem, which it can often be at Kierland Commons. We didn't have any problem getting in without a reservation, which is always a hit or miss thing on a busy Thursday night. The place itself has a bustling urban feel to it. The layout is open, with tall ceilings and lots of hard surfaces, facing a partially open kitchen to the side. My only complaint here is the noise level. With all of the hard surfaces, and wide open design, noise gets amplified. The place wasn't full, but if it had been, I could see how conversation could become a problem.

Once seated, our waitress stopped by and introduced herself. Moments after she left, a small plate of olives was dropped off at the table along with a loaf of bread and an orange colored butter. The green olives were nice, with a hint of fresh lemon flavor. The bread was also nice - freshly baked with a crispy crust. We started off with an order of the crisp calamari with baby arugula and grilled lemons. The calamari was fried with a tempura batter that gave it a nice and light taste. Coupled with the grilled lemon, it was very good. For our entrees, Pere opted for strozzapreti (screw shaped) pasta with mushrooms, wilted spinach, toasted pine nuts and parmesan cheese. The dish was well executed with the pasta perfectly al dente, not at all mushy. I was in the mood for something light, so I got the Alaskan Halibut with eggplant and white leeks. It was also very good. The fish was a thick, decent sized portion that was cooked just right. It had a good, mild flavor that was accented with a little grilled cherry tomato and balsamic vinegar underneath. The eggplant and white leeks were also good, but a bit overcooked in my opinion. We also split an order of creamy polenta. This polenta was made with white cornmeal as opposed to the yellow variety that's more common. It was combined with quite a bit of cream and a hint or parmesan cheese. It was fantastic!

Since we're heading to Sonoma for a long weekend next month, I've been on a kick to try wines from Healdsburg, the main area we're planning to visit. It just so happens that North had a 2003 Old Vine Zinfandel from Seghesio, a vineyard located there. It turns out that this Zin was really good. It had a high alcohol content at 15.3%, but you really wouldn't know if from the taste. It had a concentrated berry flavor, with a nice balance of acid and tannin. I loved it. We're definitely going to visit the vineyard while were on our trip.

We were both stuffed by the time we finished our meals, so neither of us had room for desert. All in all, our experience with North was good, and I'd definitely visit again as there were several other dishes I wouldn't mind trying.

Last week, Pere and I were up in North Scottsdale looking at sinks for our upcoming kitchen remodel. Since we finished around dinner time, we decided to try for something further North than we tend to go. We headed up to Market Street at DC Ranch, an upscale dining/shopping "village" located in the foothills of the McDowell Mountains.

We decided to give Blue Wasabi Sushi & Martini Bar a try. Generally, I'm not very big on overly trendy sushi bars. The valley has plenty of them. They tend to be over priced, loud, and produce only mediocre sushi at best.

The first thing I noticed about Blue Wasabi is that it' strikingly small. The restaurant consists on a long sushi bar with a number of bar stools, and a few additional tables in two otherwise cramped spaces. In all, there's seating for about 30 people or so. Luckily, there's also outdoor seating with another half dozen tables. We opted to sit outside, since the weather was still bearable.

We started off with drinks and a seaweed salad. Pere ordered a Mello Jello from their menu of interesting house martinis. It was pretty tasty, as was the Junmai-Ginjo sake I ordered. The seaweed salad was very good, and made for a nice start to the meal.

Blue Wasabi sets itself apart from both the more traditional and other trendy sushi restaurants in the area by offering a number of signature sushi rolls with corny names such as the Jeff Spicoli roll, the Gordon Gecko, and the Eating Nemo. If you are looking for traditional sushi, then this is not the place for you, but that's the point. Blue Wasabi uses a good number of non traditional ingredients (such as BBQ Fritos, chicken, and steak) in its signature rolls, many of which seem to work pretty well.

From the signature line, Pere and I ordered the Red Hot Chili Pepper Roll (spicy tuna with big eye tuna on top), and the Surf and Turf Roll (lobster and cucumber with seared beef tenderloin on top). Both rolls were good, and generously sized (10 pieces instead of the usual 6 or 8).

In addition to the two signature rolls, we also ordered a shrimp tempura roll, a caterpillar roll, flying fish roe, and freshwater eel. One thing about Blue Wasabi - the menu is entirely in English. No Japanese names here... All of the sushi we ordered was decent, except for the caterpillar roll, which is usually one of our favorites. In this case, the avocado was way over ripe, and a bit slimy. Minor pickiness here, but the shrimp tempura roll could have been a bit better. It was bland compared to what I'm used to as far as shrimp tempura rolls go.

Besides the signature rolls, Blue Wasabi's other trademark is their blue wasabi. Instead of the green food coloring we're all used to with our horseradish, Blue wasabi uses a deep blue dye in their wasabi. I thought it looked weird, but Pere was totally put off by it. We kept worrying that we would drop a piece on us and end up with a nice big blue stain! Worse, when mixed with soy sauce, because it was already so dark, it became impossible to tell how much had actually been added.

Prior to going to Blue Wasabi, I read one review that claimed it had the best sushi in the Valley. In fact, the reviewer claimed it was the best sushi outside of Japan. While it was decent, I would hardly place it at either of those levels. The best sushi I've had in the valley so far has been the magic made at Shimogamo in Chandler. And outside of Japan? Well in that case, I can name off a half dozen or so places that easily top Blue Wasabi.

All in all, our experience at Blue Wasabi was good, but I don't see myself making the drive that far north when better options exist closer to home. If I do make it back, though, there are several martinis, and a few more signature rolls I'd like to give a try.