Mexico Dependent

The desserts are mediocre. Instead of triumphant endings to our meals, we were offered passionless desserts that gave us no reason to stick around for coffee.

The expected deep-fried ice cream was passable -- a croquet-ball-size sphere of vanilla ice cream, coated with undefinable crushed nuts, on a puddle of warm chocolate sauce. Despite the doughy coating, you can't go too far wrong with the basic blending of vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. Think of it as an inoffensive novelty for visitors from back East.

Lokey

Margaritaville: ¡Cantina! del Pedregal is a good sipping spot.

Location Info

Map

El Pedregal Festival Marketplace

34505 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85266

Category: Retail

Region: North Scottsdale

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The same can be said of the Key lime pie. Heaped with bland whipped cream, the small slice of pie lacked any tartness. The next day, I looked at my notes but found I only had a vague recollection of the item. As a pie, it lacked all personality.

The flan, long the obligatory staple of Valley Mexican restaurants, revealed a lapse of attention in the Cantina kitchen. Instead of the usual smooth custard texture, the flan was slightly curdled, resulting in a lumpy, granular texture to the pudding.

Menu collector that I am, I dug out a Cantina menu from almost four years ago. Comparing the two, it's interesting to see that most of the prices had not changed. How many other eateries in the Valley can make that claim?

I just wish the food was more consistent. On one of my visits, I surprised a coyote on the far edge of the parking lot. If the culinary gurus at The Boulders did some fine-tuning at the Cantina, they could have an impressive eatery on their hands -- one that would have us all howling at the moon with every serving.