Sel

Sel brings the old-fashioned pleasures of white-tablecloth dining to a quiet section of Old Town Scottsdale. The centerpiece of chef Branden Levine’s small yet sophisticated restaurant is a prix-fixe menu replete with classical French technique and standard-bearer dishes like filet mignon served with Bordelaise sauce. The menu changes every two weeks, but you are likely to find delicious first-course offerings like modern takes on panisse, the classic French fritter, or perhaps a marlin crudo embellished with white truffle-squid ink vinaigrette. Filet mignon is reliably good, but chef Levine’s knack for balancing flavors really shines when he incorporates vaguely exotic ingredients like matsutake mushrooms and beluga lentils into a single dish. If you really want to get spendy, you can augment your multicourse meal with a “supplement” dish like foie gras or caviar.