Category: late night dining

Reservations now being taken for Shiv Supper Club

The finishing touches are being completed, and reservations are being taken for the new Shiv Supper Club set to open next Wednesday, May 14th. The new upscale dining experience and its after-hours lounge, The Dessert Room will be something the Scottsdale dining scene hasn’t seen in years and will be the new “place to see and be seen” from Riot Hospitality Group, owners of other Scottsdale area restaurants and nightclubs.

“Shiv was designed to be unforgettable,” says Ryan Hibbert, CEO of Riot Hospitality Group (RHG). “From the theatrics of the service to the music, lighting, and atmosphere, every moment is curated to surprise and excite. It’s not just dinner… It’s a night you’ll talk about long after it ends.”

Highlights of the kitchen and bar

The high energy restaurant will offer a menu that will highlight dishes from both land and sea from RHG’s Culinary Director Dustin Cooke in collaboration with Chef Jeff Mahin of Michelin starred restaurants Fat Duck, L20 and Nobu. Highlighs include…..

To Share:

  • White Soy Poke – A clean, vibrant start. Sashimi lightly dressed in white soy and citrus, balanced with subtle heat and crunch for a refreshing opening note.
  • Wild Truffle Carpaccio – Thin slices of beef tenderloin layered with aged parmesan, crispy oyster mushroom, arugula, garlic aioli, and truffle vinaigrette, an elegant construction of the world’s finest flavors.
  • Tableside Truffle Butter – Fresh-baked Parker House Rolls are elevated tableside with hand-shaved truffles folded into our house-made butter, served alongside hot honey for a savory-sweet finish.

Signature Seafood & Caviar Offerings:

  • Nuggets and Caviar – Comfort food best enjoyed with your pinky up: Crispy, golden chicken nuggets paired with caviar, served with accompaniments that elevate, surprise, and delight.
  • Lobster Caviar Dome – Crowned with premium caviar and gold leaf, presented on house-baked brioche toast and lobster-infused butter. This celebration of opulence will always be the envy of the table next to you.

Entrees:

  • White Shrimp Bolognese – A satisfying rendition of an Italian classic. We use shrimp and white wine so you can indulge without regret.
  • Scallop and Bisque – Seared to a golden crust, East Coast scallops are paired with a decadent lobster bisque crafted from our house caviar dome. The bisque is finished with cognac cream and fresh fennel for a layered experience.

Charcoal-Fired Steaks:

  • The all-too-common Scottsdale steak experience is mundane, but Shiv’s Waygu & Tallo beef program is disciplined by modern tradition and relentless innovation. Including a colossal Tomahawk steak presented table-side

Beverage Director Lindsi Mundy has created a cocktail program that will be pushing the boundaries of the cocktail industry. Each cocktail will have its own story and will be Instagram worthy.

  • The Cocktail Program:
  • Salt & Vinegar Martini – Vodka infused with salt & vinegar chips, pickle brine, dry vermouth, and pepperoncini, served with chips.
  • Well Dressed – A sophisticated mix of gin, vermouth, lemon olive oil, served with a side of salt & pepper popcorn.
  • Cry Baby – A warming blend of Buffalo Trace bourbon, lemon, maple cinnamon syrup and grapefruit.

The Dessert Room will offer late night sweet treats on Friday and Saturday nights starting at 10:00 p.m.

Signature desserts include:

  • Dessert Caviar Service – Fruit-based pearls over panna cotta with coconut crème fraîche and vanilla shortbread. This is a play on classic caviar service using dessert items.
  • Bananas Foster Baked Alaska – Flambéed table-side with banana-infused rum. This is presented as a table-side fire show with vanilla ice cream, banana, rum cake, meringue fire.
  • PB Cube – A glossy chocolate cube filled with peanut butter mousse and fudge brownie.

Reservations can be made at the Shiv’s website.

Ring in 2023 at these local restaurants

As we approach New Year’s Eve plans are being made about how to ring in 2023. These local restaurants are planning specially prepared dinners and as you can imagine reservations are necessary. Click on the restaurants link for more information and to make a reservation.

FRANCINE Restaurant– Enjoy a French inspired menu with a Mediterranean twist for a five course meal with seating’s between 7 – 9 p.m. A DJ and champagne toast at midnight is included all for $225 per person. Go online or call 480-690-6180.

Phoenix City Grille– Dinner starts at 3 p.m. with specials and the regular menu.

Hearth ’61–  A four-course dinner with first seating at 6:30 p.m $159, $199 for a 9:30 reservation. Reservations can be made by calling 480-624-5458.

Zuzu– Join the party with noshing stations, drinks and more for $150, reserve a VIP table for two for $500 or rent out the Rosie Room for up to 16 people for $4,000. The evening starts at 8 p.m. and a DJ starts entertaining at 9. Call 480-421-7997 for reservations.

Keeler’s Neighborhood Steakhouse– The Fourth Annual New Year’s Eve Gala starts at 6 p.m. with dinner buffet, live music & more for $135+ per person. Phone reservations only by calling 602-374-4784.

Thirsty Lion Gastropub– All 4 Phoenix area location ring in 2023 special a la carte food and cocktails ranging from $8.95-$39.95.

Match Market & Bar– Dinner is served from 6 p.m.- 11 then join the “Come On Barbie Let’s Go Party New Year’s Eve Party” in the Found:RE Hotel. Barbie’s Food Truck will be there with food for purchase from 11 p.m. – 2 a.m. Reservations for dinner in Match can be made by calling 602-875-8080 and for Barbie’s Party click on the link above.

STK Steakhouse– An a la carte menu featuring Japanese Wagyu, caviar, Australian Wagyu and more is available starting on Friday, December 30th. On NYE enjoy a champagne toast at midnight, live DJ and weekend brunch on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Rusconi’s American Kitchen– Starting a 5 p.m. enjoy a three course prix-fixe menu from Executive Chef Michael Rusconi. Dinner is $90++ per person and reservations can be made online or by calling 480-403-0009.

Roaring Fork– A special Steak & Lobster dinner starts at 4 p.m. along with seasonal menus items available on only on NYE. Steak & Lobster is $68 and prices vary on other menu items. Call 480-947-0795 to make a reservation or go online.

Check out my podcast Pulling Corks & Forks: The Podcast with Sandy Wasserman to hear from those in our community. Please subscribe, like & comment.

Sips & Bites: News you can use from the Phoenix restaurant community

Quick sips & bites of news about what’s going on around the Phoenix restaurant community, breweries and wineries.

Pretzel Fest every Wednesday at Pedal Haus Brewery

The local brew pub with locations in downtown Phoenix, downtown Chandler and downtown Tempe couldn’t wait til Oktoberfest to feature their new Bavarian Board. Each board includes charcuterie meats, olives, a large Bavarian pretzel, beer cheese, maple butter, haus mustard and 2 beers for $16. Upgrade the beers to a Stein for $20 or a bottle of Haus wine for $25.

Hearth ’61 now offers a vegan tasting menu

Chef de Cuisine Alfred Muro has created a 4-course vegetable focused menu at the Mountain Shadows Resort’s signature restaurant. The menu consists of Celeriac Salad, Parsnip Confit with curry chickpea stew, a Roasted Portobello Mushroom with eggplant cous cous and a Strawberry Lemon Tart with ginger meringue. The menu is available all year long and is $89 plus tax & gratuity.

Society by EVO opening in Tempe

A new restaurant from Nick Neuman and his partners is coming to Tempe in February. The late night upscale dining experience restaurant is looking to hire 50 people and is having a hiring fair today, Friday January 28th from 12 noon til 4 p.m. at EVO on Goldwater Blvd. in Scottsdale. Interested applicants can also send Nick a resume to nickneuman@evoscottsdale.com. The restaurant will be in The Cornerstone at Rural and University and will be open from 4 p.m. – 2 a.m.

The Mexicano now serving lunch

The new restaurant from Joey Maggiore is now serving lunch 7 days a week starting at 11 a.m. The made from scratch Mexican cuisine restaurant in northeast Phoenix offers a build your own Michelada bar along with agave based cocktails to go along with your Guacamole and Salsa Ferris Wheel, tacos made with blue corn tortillas, lava rock fajitas and a three foot long quesadilla. On weekends rotating DJs play Latin music to enhance the vibrant atmosphere.

The Crepe Club celebrates National Crepe Day

Next Wednesday February 2nd get a free Nutella or Parisian (butter & sugar) crepe at the Scottsdale Fashion Square (in the food court) location from 9 – 11 a.m.

Don’t forget to check out my podcast Pulling Corks & Forks: The Podcast with Sandy Wasserman to hear from those in our community. Please subscribe, like & comment.

Peter Kasperski returns to the valley’s dining scene with Character

2020 brought many surprises good and bad to the valley’s dining scene. One of the biggest surprises was the return of restaurateur Peter Kasperski in December. He and valley mixologist Richie Moe III have again joined forces to open Character Distinctive Dining in the Roosevelt Arts District. The two have known each other for over 30 years going back to their days in Chicago when Moe’s father was Kasperski’s mentor.

Moe helped Kasperski open Cowboy Ciao in the 1990s then Kazmierz Wine Bar before they went their separate ways. Moe had gone on to open and run cocktail programs at Citizen Public House, The Gladly and Bourbon and Bones. Kasperski has been lying low the last few years plotting his next move since he closed Cowboy Ciao.

Photo courtesy of Modern Vision Media

Downtown Phoenix’s Character Distinctive Dining is a classic American dinner house with cuisines from around the world made using modern cooking techniques. Kasperski’s love for eclectic wines and Moe’s inventive cocktail list have also made their way downtown from Scottsdale. Some will see similarities with Cowboy Ciao especially the popular dinner events. One of those events is the monthly Somm Showdown with Peter Kasperski and a local wine sommelier go head to head picking the best pairings for a five-course dinner. The first Somm Showdown is Sunday January 24th 2021 with Synergy Fine Wines’ Steve Cannon. Seating is limited to 30 people and dinner is $90 ++ per person.

The pair are also opening Alias, a speakeasy, later this year out back of Character. Three nights a week Moe and Chef Justin “Red” Hauska will create mixology/gastronomy dinners pairing cocktails and food with science and surprises. After dinner starting at 9 p.m. Alias will become a craft cocktail bar until 2 a.m.

Character / Alias is at 218 E Portland St. Phoenix, AZ 85004. For more information check their website, Facebook and Instagram.

 

Plant based GuacStar Kitchen to open first location in Tempe

One of the biggest trends in 2019 was plant based foods and soon the first plant based restaurant in Arizona will open in Tempe. When GuacStar Kitchen and Cantina opens near ASU at University & Rural Roads it will be a one of a kind eating, drinking and entertaining restaurant.

Partners James Carlin, Tom Cerino, Randy Feldman, Suzanne Davis and Julie LaRussa look to re-define plant based restaurants with an upbeat and hip concept found in N.Y.C and L.A. “GuacStar’s goal is very simple – to show the masses that you don’t have to sacrifice your taste buds or your wallets by eating plant-based cuisine,” said Carlin, GuacStar co-owner. “Our mission is to make healthy food sexy and to create an exciting, unpretentious plant-based dining destination where the overall experience counts just as much as the food.”

Executive Chef Vincent Contreras has created plant based versions of classic Mexican cooking. The full-service restaurant will also have a beer, wine and cocktail program.

GuacStar Kitchen and Cantina will have a contemporary decor with soft lighting, raw materials and a warm, inviting atmosphere. The restaurant will be open for lunch, dinner, weekend brunch and late night dining.

GuacStar Kitchen and Cantina will be at the Cornerstone Mall at 930 E. University Dr. Tempe 85281.