It's Arizona Restaurant Week!
From May 20-29, chefs and restaurants across the state will offer three-course, pre-fixe menus featuring some delectable pairings.
The idea is to get you out of the house to check out a new restaurant in your area or make it a dinner adventure and try a restaurant a little further away. Who knows, you may even find you have a taste for something you thought you didn't like.
If you haven't noticed, Arizonans food scene has been booming, growing and upgrading for a while. There's new restaurants popping up every month
Related: 5 new restaurants to try around the Valley
Related:7 new restaurants to try around the Valley
Each menu costs $33 or $44. There are over 100 restaurants across the state participating. You can view a complete list, here.
We asked three food writers in the Valley to give us their top 3 picks for Arizona Restaurant Week that you don't want to miss out on.
The most authentic Brazilian food in town. You must opt in for the feijoada; it's life changing. Be on the lookout for owner Phil; if he’s around ask him about the décor and getting him talking about his travels.
By far the most unique restaurant in town; no menus, you just let the kitchen know what you’re not keen on trying and they whip something you’ll be talking about for weeks!
One of the best values on the list at $44 per couple. Share an appetizer then you can each choose an entrée and share a dessert. I highly suggest the Palak Paneer for a great introduction if it’s your first Indian dinner.
CHRISTINA BARRUETA, WRITE ON RUBEE
Atlas Bistro is a favorite of mine, especially during Arizona Restaurant week when they offer their entire menu as a 3-course prix-fixe of $44. This includes three savory courses, perhaps starting with pristine albacore sashimi flown in from Fiji paired with watermelon, avocado, and mango relish, moving to a second course of braised artichokes with fennel marmalade, chorizo, and goat cheese, and finishing with Australian Wagyu hanger steak served with coins of fingerling potatoes, crispy broccolini and sweet beets. Since they source locally, you’ll also find fantastic vegetable choices such as falafel-stuffed squash blossoms with crimson lentils, roasted mushrooms, and harissa. If you are looking for creative, innovative dishes, this is your spot. And did I mention it is also BYOB?
Artizen at the beautiful Camby Hotel is helmed by Chef Dushyant Singh, one of my favorite Valley chefs. You’ll experience his globally-inspired cuisine with four courses for $44. If I was headed there, I might order his chilled spring pea soup with carrot purée, jumbo lump crab, and pepita lavash, the Artizen salad featuring Arizona-grown produce, citrus, and goat cheese, and the diver scallops with lobster-saffron emulsion, chorizo jam, and AZ dates. To finish? It would be hard to decide between lemon brulée pie with strawberries and rhubarb, or frozen chocolate mousse with fudge cake and hazelnut crumble.
This restaurant at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs is perched on top of Lookout Mountain and the cuisine lives up to the panoramic views. Chef Anthony DeMuro has created a modern menu with a focus on seasonality and colorful, flavorful dishes and Restaurant Week offers diners three choices from the regular nightly menu for $44. I’ve dined on sublime options such as lobster bisque with lemon zest cream, duck confit ravioli with sweet corn and spring peas, sea bass with saffron-parmesan risotto cake and peppadew pepper reduction, and milk chocolate and peanut butter cheesecake with banana ice cream.
While the menu hasn't been posted online, our recent visit to Okra leads us to believe that we won't be disappointed with Chef Cullen Campbell's Southern Fare. If our meal was any indication diners will be in for a treat!
Christopher's and Crush Lounge
Chef Christopher Gross' food is always amazing and his Restaurant Week offerings look the same! Not to mention, two words: Foie Gras! Anytime you see Foie Gras on a menu, you just need to go for it!
We have previously eaten at Beckett's Table during restaurant week and were excited to see the Beef Bourguinon Shepherd's Pie return to their Restaurant Week offerings! Also, chocolate dipped bacon s'mores? Yes please!
