Most modern art is wholly unintelligible unless you are privy to the critical theory behind the work. So argues Tom Wolfe in a wry essay on an abstract expressionist painting called The Painted Word. Explanations are so essential to the appreciation of this type of art, writes Wolfe, that art patrons might be better served if galleries reversed the normal order of things and mounted huge canvas-size critical analyses alongside postcard-size paintings.
It is impossible to avoid such a reflection when considering KousKooz, an ambitious new restaurant enterprise that clearly sees itself as something more than an attractive place to gather and dine. KousKooz is--using a word liberally laced throughout its press kit--a "concept." In fact, the press kit is a concept in itself: So thick, so pedantic and so full of self-masturbatory history that I do not know whether to appear at this restaurant for a meal, a massage or a friggin' midterm.
The key part of the "concept" is something the restaurant calls Ameriterranean cuisine. I'm going to try to knock off about twenty pages of the KousKooz press material and get this down to one sentence here. Ameriterranean cuisine is what results when traditional Mediterranean ingredients and dishes, especially those of North Africa and the Middle East, are cooked in a manner acceptable to Americans willing to shell out up to $50 apiece for dinner. Great. Let's eat.
First though, and I know you are not expecting to read this considering the rough opening tone of this review, let me go on record as saying that I am deeply impressed by this restaurant and sincerely hope it thrives. I am impressed because its food is imaginative and great tasting, and because its ambiance is as attractive, as finely integrated and as every bit full of energy as those enterprises catering to a similar sense of chic in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Chicago. In fact, everything about KousKooz successfully comes off as "leading edge," a rare achievement for perennially five-years-behind Phoenix. My real concern is that the KousKooz ownership team might easily be lured into trading a sincere service perspective for the fame of hip conceptual complexity. I am not saying that a menu must be based on the taste of burgers, but this is still Phoenix and one dares not lose sight of the taste of the burghers. My admonition to KousKooz management is to keep asking the question: "What if we gave a great restaurant and nobody came?"
It's hard to start in on specifics, but let's begin where I do with a trip to the bathroom. This may be the best-smelling men's room I've ever visited, thanks to general cleanliness and a touch of spicy potpourri, and I cannot too strongly commend the attention to this detail. My guest is equally enthusiastic about the ladies' room, which delights her with a display of fresh flowers on the vanity and Nat King Cole on the piped-in tape.
As we await service, our perusal of the dining room reveals an environment of many conspicuous and subtle treasures. A windowed working kitchen dominates one wall of the dining room, a thoughtful way to embrace and display the major activity of the restaurant without impinging on the comfort of guests. The dining room itself is a sprawling collection of mood stations, ranging from semi-intimate where the room tapers toward the rear, to semi-exhibitionistic where some novel mid-room high-back banquettes dominate the decor, to semicasual where seating flows out onto an outdoor patio by a courtyard pool. What most appeals amidst the abundant usage of contemporary decoration, commissioned neon art and smoked mirrors is the level of design restraint and refinement. The restaurant manages to keep its "guard" up before too much "avant." As a result, the total effect is classy rather than clashy.
I might easily go on for several additional paragraphs about the custom-designed service-staff uniforms, the lovely and unique table-top appointments and a slew of in-the-works dining features, including a gazebo-cum-tapas bar and a wine cellar-cum-formal function room, but it's already far past the point that the writer should be serving up some food impressions.
Since we're all hungry for details, I'm just going to overlook the conceptual where I can. For example, I won't worry about the fact that the restaurant calls its bread foccacia, even though I've a good deal of experience with this hearth-baked product and have never seen anything like the KousKooz version. I'm just going to let it satisfy me that this herb-rich loaf is entirely exquisite, especially when dipped in the garlic and sesame seed-laced extra virgin olive oil that is served alongside.
Just how talented this culinary staff is becomes immediately apparent with our first appetizer, Baked Goat Cheese. As pretty as the proverbial picture, this florid presentation of melted cheese, broth-simmered black beans, sauteed tomato-mint salsa, fresh lemon peel and hot-red-pepper strips, all bordered by toasted pita chips, is so stylish that it's almost intimidating. One bite rapidly dispels any notion that this is a look-but-don't-taste temptation, however, as the combination of flavors and textures blooms magnificently in the mouth.
Our second appetizer, Mo' Rockin Shrimp, is also memorable, although the term that most aptly describes the flavor action of this dish is "explosive." Served on a pretty hand-painted fish platter and accompanied with a skewer of honey dough fritters, these beer-simmered shrimp are served with a fiery chermoula-based sauce that you probably should avoid getting on your hands, much less eat. Chermoula, according to the section of the KousKooz press kit entitled "The Magic of Spice," is a Moroccan seasoning combination of "chopped onions, coriander, garlic, parsley, sweet and hot red peppers and saffron." Not necessarily, I think, in that order.
After making a mental note to come back to try such appetizers as Ahi Tuna and Sirloin Tartare, Fried Graham and Polenta Calamari, and Barbecued Seafood Pizza, my guest and I pass on to a consideration of entrees. While we contemplate the likes of Paella, Baked Salmon in Grape Leaves, Grilled Lemon Garlic Chicken and a Grilled Twenty-Ounce Wichita Rib Eye, we get into our dinner salads. These have a particularly nice texture, thanks to the generous use of jicama, cucumbers and radishes, and a fresh garden taste, thanks to a generous dusting of chopped mint, a herb used in copious amounts in this restaurant.
Although I write this a month after our visit, my guest remains loyal to her conviction that the restaurant's grilled swordfish is "the best fish" she's "ever eaten." Dabbed in some chunky cucumber yogurt sauce, the small piece of firm flavorful fish I am able to wean from her plate does indeed strike me as delicious. Perhaps the highlight of the presentation, though, is a generous garnish of the steamed Mediterranean grain couscous, presented delightfully light and dry and rendered here with a fascinating depth of citrus and seed flavors.
When I point out to our waiter that the menu description of the swordfish promises tabouleh, a cracked-wheat salad, rather than couscous, he responds that the kitchen is still doing some fine tuning of the plate presentations. In the same breath, however, he also suggests that we should try this dish and promptly fetches a complimentary portion from the kitchen. I am minted out by this point, so the domination of this herb in the tabouleh is less than thrilling, but I am very appreciative of the polished service gesture.
My own entree order, Ameriterranean Stew, is not at all what I expect, and, boy, am I glad. This flat-plate presentation is dominated by a superbly succulent lamb shank dressed with slices of beef and pork, all lavishly coated with a garbanzo-studded tomato gravy. Additionally garnished with crusty morsels of oven-roasted potatoes, squash and leeks, the dish is unequivocally fabulous.
Although our consumption has already cruised by the indecent level, my guest and I hardly flinch as we acknowledge the need for some cheesecake and creme brulee. The latter is served beautifully in a chocolate-glazed cookie crust, but the creme is really far more rich than flavorful. The curdy cheesecake, on the other hand, merits a rave, particularly for its delicious brittle pistachio and cinnamon crust.
About the only other information I'm tempted to share at this point is identification of the folks who deserve the credit for this effort. I hope that my gesture in refraining from such divulgence (it's not really a secret, of course, as the restaurant's advertising amply attests) is taken as a sincere reminder to these folks to keep the bonfire of their vanity at a manageable level. Despite occasional evidence to the contrary, the time-tested way to make chermoula-moolah in this business is to let the food speak for itself and to allow the customer, not the chef, to be the star.
What a concept.
The chef-partner at KousKooz first made his local reputation at Steamers, and I thought it might be interesting to see how this upscale seafood emporium is faring with a new captain at the culinary helm.
The good news is that Steamers still turns out a mighty fine fillet. My guest at KousKooz may eternally swear by her swordfish, but I will forever counter with the hickory-smoked Alaskan King Salmon I am served at Steamers. Although I do not care much for the almost ferociously sweet tomatillo sauce with which it is paired, I've never been served a more appealing--thick, tender, fresh, flavorful--piece of fish.
I am also very favorably impressed by an appetizer order of Salmon with Spinach Pasta. The cambozola (Camembert plus Gorgonzola) sauce served with this item is extremely rich and delicious. An intelligent decision to cook the salmon in chunks rather than strips assures that the fish retains its tenderness, and the dish is in all ways a winner.
My guest and I are less impressed by a Maryland Jumbo Lump Crab Cake, which seems to have a very high proportion of breading to crab and is served with a tartar sauce that tastes curiously like potato chip dip. An order of Baked New England Scrod is garnished wonderfully with bay scallops and weirdly with Ritz crackers. The presentation is not terribly distinguished, but there's nothing wrong with the quality of the scrod.
Now the really interesting part of this experience comes during the salad course. As you may well imagine, a restaurant critic has to listen to everyone else's analyses of restaurants. I am commenting to my guest that it is puzzling that I hear so much criticism of Steamers, almost invariably related to matters other than culinary quality, when I dive down for my last bit of lettuce and discover a large bug drowned in my salad bowl.
"Oooh, you can see its eyes," remarks our waiter, as he hurries off to show the plate to a manager. I might have overlooked the whole incident, but I lose all sympathy for the restaurant when the manager fails to acknowledge personally this nauseating faux pas. She simply lets the waiter take the heat.
"She says you can have a free dessert or something," is exactly what the waiter tells us.
Fine. If the manager has something more important to do than graciously represent her restaurant, then so do I. KousKooz, 4747 North Seventh Street, Phoenix. 241-1188. Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Monday through Friday; Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., Monday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m., Friday and Saturday; available for private parties on Sunday. Steamers, 2576 East Camelback, Phoenix. 956-3631. Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., seven days a week; Dinner, 5 to 11 p.m., Monday through Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m., Sunday
