By Michele Laudig
It seems like everybody's looking forward to Labor Day weekend, but now there's something to look forward to after the big holiday: restaurant openings! For some reason it feels like the whole city starts to wake up in September, even though the heat isn't going anywhere.
W Scottsdale, Sushi Roku will open on Friday, September 5, with executive chef Tim Fields, formerly of The Boulders Resort, presiding in the kitchen.
premium homemade tofu three ways (with white truffles; caviar and lemon oil; and scallions with sesame oil), to yakiniku short ribs and grilled jidori chicken with shiitake. Sixty- and eighty-dollar omakase meals will also be offered.
The sleek 6,000-square-foot restaurant restaurant, an offshoot of the L.A. original, promises to be a dramatic environment, with teak wood floors and ceiling, moody lighting, and an elliptical sushi bar. A variety of specialty cocktails and 22 different sakes should make things even more interesting.
Camelback Inn will unveil a new contemporary Southwestern eatery, Rita's Kitchen, as well as a new lobby watering hole called R Bar. Both will be located in the newly renovated main lodge, which is also making a debut.
Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, Rita's Kitchen will be the kind of place you could go for a "spa burrito," pecan-studded waffle, or a filling buffet (actually, make that two buffets, one more healthful, and the other more indulgent. Lunch will feature sandwiches, salads, and apps with a Southwestern spin, like Baja-style shrimp cocktail. In the evening, they'll swap out sandwiches for grilled entrees, from carne asada tampiquena to fish of the day.
Laurent Tourondel's BLT Steak will also be opening at Camelback Inn, but not until October 9. Stay tuned for more details.
