Old Fashioned at Carry On
2 N. Central Ave., #101 Airplane-themed cocktail bar Carry On has been a hot ticket since it opened in mid-November. Amid the continuing buzz, its beverage director Jax Donahue was named a James Beard Award semifinalist in the category of Outstanding Professional in Cocktail Service. He's the mastermind behind the bar's creative cocktails, such as the Old Fashioned, a sip that's anything but old school. The traditionally simple cocktail is jazzed up at Carry On, and features bourbon, brown butter, sage, balsamic, wormwood, demerara, bitters and saline. The result is a deep, rich, bitter and earthy sip served in a rocks glass over a single, large cube. Sipped inside the retro plane, the booze-forward drink grounds you as you take to the skies.
After a meal at All Pierogi, make sure to stop by the market to buy caramel cookies to take home.
Tirion Boan
Caramel Cookies at All Pierogi
1245 W. Baseline Road, #101-103, MesaFor many, the main attraction at Mesa's All Pieogi is in the name. And while this restaurant and market serves over a dozen different flavors of the delicious dumplings, make sure you don't skip the sweets. Packaged to-go in, varieties of freshly baked pastries and cookies surround the market's cash register. The simply labeled "Caramel Cookies" are a standout treat. Also known as Oreshki, these sandwich cookies are comprised of two semi-circular shortbread cookies filled with a whipped caramel filling, which when assembled, resemble walnuts. The delicate shortbread melts in your mouth and tastes of salted butter. Sweet caramel rounds out the round cookies which are delicious eaten whole, split in two or dunked in a warm cup of coffee.
Lamb and Grits at Santo Arcadia
4418 E. Osborn Road Another recently named James Beard Award semifinalist – this time for Best New Restaurant – is Santo Arcadia. Located on a narrow stretch of Osborn Road, this high-end neighborhood eatery is helmed by Valley heavy hitters Nadia Holguin, Armando Hernandez and Roberto Centeno. On a recent visit, every dish to hit the table could have made this list. But one stood out for its uniqueness. The restaurant's cuisine focuses mostly on elevated takes on Mexican dishes. But a touch of the South got in the mix with the lamb and cheesy grits. A tender hunk of bone-in lamb balances delicately on textured grits. On top of that, sits a nest of shredded cucumber salad. The three components together blend rich and creamy, tender and fragrant, and cool and fresh. A perfect bite includes a little of everything, topped with a drizzle of the bright green salsa served on the side.
Persepshen's scratch-made, local and sustainable menu changes regularly. Pan-seared wild scallops atop a Japanese pancake were a standout during a recent visit.
Sara Crocker
Pan-seared Wild Scallops at Persepshen
4700 N. Central Ave. The menu name for this dish may highlight its stellar, wild-caught mollusks, but it hides the celebration of vegetables that anchor this outstanding dish from Persepshen. The kitchen focuses on scratch-made everything, using local, organic produce and sustainably raised meat and seafood. Because of that, the menu changes regularly. So run, don't walk to try this dish in case it departs. The foundation of the plate is a large Japanese pancake. Bits of cabbage, broccoli, onion and carrot are cooked down in a pan, yielding a crisp, roasted exterior. The light char tones down some of the vegetables' natural sweetness. Umami from a yakitori sauce, aioli and shreds of seaweed are layered one atop another. Skewer a piece of pickled ginger and orange zest for a bright pop of contrast. We'd happily devour the pancake and its toppings alone, but the jewels in the crown that take the dish over the top are three delicate, expertly cooked sweet-briny U-10 scallops.
The Dinersaur's dessert selection includes slices of key lime pie with a well-balanced, sweet-tart custard, creamy mascarpone whip and a sandy graham cracker crust.
Sara Crocker
Key Lime Pie at The Dinersaur
1339 W. Thomas Road
This Encanto-area bake shop makes an array of mouthwatering treats including nostalgic iced oatmeal cookies, scoops of decadent tres leches cake and playful brontosaurus-shaped chocolate banana bread. The Dinersaur does all things dessert well (along with some equally tasty, savory sandwiches and soups). Its key lime pie celebrates the citrus with a deft hand. The custard is tart, but won't make you pucker. Mascarpone cream is piped on top, forming a dreamy dairy cloud that isn't too rich. The graham cracker crust is an excellent foil to the delicate dessert, crisp and sandy. We appreciated that the edges are a bit thicker, adding more texture as we, very quickly, devoured this slice of pie.
