Central Phoenix

Oct 18
0

Sochu House Restaurant Review

By | Uncategorized | No Comments

Guest Post by Scott Savage of The Joshua Collective blog.

Over the last several years, Central Phoenix has exploded with incredible local restaurants. And the list of new places for my wife and I to check out only keeps growing!

One of the local restaurants to open during that time period was Fate. We enjoyed a couple visits in 2007 and 2008 before Fate closed. (Now Bliss/ReBar occupy the same space on 5th Street and Garfield). The chef/owner behind Fate – Johnny Chu – went on to open Sens, an Asian tapas bar and recently he opened Sochu House.

Located on the southeast corner of Central and Thomas, Sochu House has received great reviews and we have heard several friends recommend it to us. A couple weekends ago, we headed down Central from our place in Uptown Phoenix for my wife’s birthday dinner and were more than impressed with the food, environment and service.

It seemed to us like Sochu House has two personalities – a bar and a restaurant. Late nights the bar also functions as a club with dancing and a DJ. The restaurant is somewhat separated by a wall at one point and a curtain at another. The setup worked for us, since it was pretty barren at 5:45 when we rolled in (hey, don’t hate – we’ve got a six-month old at home and wanted to actually sleep that night!).  We were promptly seated and had a great experience with our server. The DJ was already going in the bar, but the music wasn’t overpowering.

The menu is built around tapas, Asian-style. Tapas are small appetizers, designed for sharing with groups. As a result, if you’ve got a group of four to six people who are looking for a new dining experience in Central Phoenix, this menu is a match made in heaven.

We ordered two tapas – the Pork Pot Stickers and the PankoShrimp. The potstickers were our second favorite item of the evening and the shrimp tasted great as well. We found at least 10 tapas that caught our attention – we’ll be trying some of those next time!

All tapas are $5 during happy hour, which is 3-6pm daily. However, we learned that happy hour only applies to the bar area. So if you’re looking to go cheaper, make sure you get seated in that area. (I think there are small tables in the bar area). Otherwise, you’re paying full price.

After the tapas, we ordered two entrees to share. The Red Curry in a clay pot was amazing! I was sweating on my forehead and the back of my neck by the time we finished it off. (I would’ve loved a side of rice with this dish, but it was great anyway). The curry in a clay pot was our favorite item of the evening.

We also ordered the 7-spice chicken, even though our server told us it wasn’t super popular. I can see why – we wouldn’t order it again.

We ordered dessert – their specialty are Sweet Wontons. These wontons blended the taste of a New Orleans-style beignet with the lightness Southwestern sopapilla in a wonton package. Incredible taste! You get two in the dessert – great presentation. I could have eaten ten of these!

Overall, we were very pleased with our entire experience. We will be coming back and (obviously) we are sharing about experience with friends.

If you’re looking to get a taste of Sochu House without breaking the bank or needing a formal occasion, then try their lunch price-fixe menu. Start with soup or salad, choose from three entree options and wrap it up with one sweet wonton. All of that is $8 Monday thru Friday.

If you’re getting a little tired of Asian food at home or from Pei Wei takeout, a trip to Sochu House is exactly what you need.

Looking for more local options? Try Barrio Cafe.

Like what you see? Share the link! 

If YOU have a great local restaurant you’d like to review for OM Cafe, shoot me an email.

Scott Savage was born in Las Vegas, but he didn’t learn math in a casino. He moved to Phoenix because he couldn’t get enough sunny days! Four years ago, he became Dani’s husband, and six months ago, he became Wesley’s dad. Scott serves North Phoenix Baptist Church as the Minister to Young Adults and is passionate about the Gospel, the Church, and seeing both engage a diverse, global culture. He is addicted to iced coffee and loves Downtown Phoenix. You can keep up with his daily adventures by following him on Twitter (@scottesavage) and you can read his musings at www.thejoshuacollective.com. And no, he’s not related to Ben, Fred, Randy, or Michael Savage. But he is related to Pocahontas!

Mar 24
0

Windsor and St. Francis Local Phoenix, AZ Brunch Review

By | Kid Friendly, Local Restaurants | One Comment

Sometimes the parents at this house just need a break from cooking breakfast for our kids on Saturday morning. I want a break because I feel like I am carrying a huge bowling ball, strike that, a sand-filled yoga ball on my frontside. Robert needs a break because he’s been doing all the jobs I usually do but can’t because I am too huge right now to do them. So, how cool is it that the past two weekends we discovered we had gift cards (woohoo!) to two great local Central Phoenix restaurants, Windsor and St. Francis? We decided to use the cards for Saturday brunch with the kids.

We started with Windsor last weekend and followed with St. Francis today. I confess, last weekend, I fell down on the job with photos so I didn’t get pics of our Windsor breakfast. However, the menu items we chose were almost the same so pics from St. Francis will have to suffice today.

First of all, both Windsor and St. Francis try to make their menu kid friendly in the brunch hour and both succeed pretty well. Here’s what we ate.

Robert’s Eggs Benedict at St. Francis

My “American Style” breakfast at St. Francis

The kids’ gigantic pancake at St. Francis.

So, here’s a breakdown of the two restaurants.

Service: Both St. Francis and Windsor’s staffs are always very friendly and attentive. If your glass is empty, it won’t be for long. I’m always impressed that both of these establishments manage to hire people with great service oriented attitudes. They are also very kind to the kids when we bring them and take the time to address them directly. We were seated immediately at both restaurants but both took about 15 minutes to serve food. St. Francis offers a toybox for waiting kids while Windsor provides crayons and paper.

Atmosphere: Both St. Francis and Windsor have outdoor and indoor seating. By the time we arrived at Windsor last weekend, it was hopping so we sat inside in a booth. Patrons are friendly and excited about their food and usually talking animatedly so it’s a little more like eating in your favorite upscale pub. Fun energy, great for people watching (unless you’re watching your own kids!).

St. Francis has great architectural lines inside and a beautiful patio outside. The way seating is set up lends itself to a little quieter, more grown up dining experience.

Food: St. Francis and Windsor offer some similar breakfasts like pancakes, biscuits and gravy and Eggs Benedict but they are different.

St. Francis offers more options that you might want to enjoy with a cup of coffee, like scones, breads and cinnamon rolls. I was VERY tempted to get the cinnamon roll with caramel sauce. Sadly, the giant baby sharing my belly space right now didn’t even allow me room to finish my breakfast. So, next time! While St. Francis only lists Mimosas and Bloody Mary’s on their menu, I heard another patron getting the rundown on other spirited drink options.

Windsor offers a big plate of fresh donut holes that the kids loved and a bowl of quinoa and steel cut oatmeal with brown sugar, nuts, dried fruit & vanilla mascarpone that sounds enticing. Also, for those who like a little spirit with their meals (hey, it’s ALMOST noon at brunch time!), they offer a full selection of delicious sounding cocktails with ingredients like organic peaches, blackberries, cucumber and grapefruit – though not in the same drink. Also available? Their well-known $5 beer pitchers like Dales Pale ale and great local beer, Four Peaks’ Kiltlifter.

The kids liked Windsor better. While it might have had to do with their getting a little plate of hot, fresh donut holes with jelly and creme (so good!) after their breakfast, they said they liked Windsor’s pancakes better. The pancake at St. Francis is giant and filled with chocolate chips but doesn’t have much syrup on it. When we asked for more, our server returned with what appeared to be a thimble sized container of more. What can I say? Our kids like to see the syrup on their plate!

Prices: Though St. Francis offers “free” brunch for the kids, their prices are higher in general. We ordered more food at Windsor and paid less for our meal. Definitely something you notice when you’re eating out with kids. If there was any difference in quality, it was not noticeable. Also, I noticed drink prices at Windsor are about $4 less per drink than St. Francis.

However, both are great local restaurants that I recommend highly. If you’re going out for brunch this weekend, skip the chain restaurants and go support one of these terrific local spots!

Parking: Both restaurants use valet so plan for that though you might be able to park your own car at St. Francis if you get there right as they open.

Hours and information:

Windsor‘s brunch is 9am-1pm Saturday and Sunday. Windsor’s website.

St. Francis‘ website says they serve brunch on Sunday from 10:30 am -1:30 pm but they serve brunch on Saturday too. Info at  St. Francis website.

St. Francis on Urbanspoon

Sep 02
0

Windsor Restaurant Review

By | Local Restaurants | No Comments

Rob and I, like most parents we know, are on a budget. So, date nights when we actually go out for dinner are a special event.  When we do go out, we choose local restaurants.  We love meeting our neighbors and supporting the local economy. According to Local First Arizona, when we spend $100 at local businesses, $73 stays in the state. When we spend the same amount at a big box store, only $43 stays in state. It’s a painless way to invest in our own communites.

Don’t know any good local businesses? No problem! Over the next few months, I’m going to share with you some of my favorite local spots and introduce some friends who also love to shop local.

This week’s choice is Windsor Restaurant. Here are some of my favorite things about this restaurant.

Food: Craig DeMarco, owner of Postinos, opened Windsor earlier this year. So you know right off the bat that the service and the food are top notch. I’m always impressed with the servers at both Postinos and Windsor (and that’s saying a lot). They are friendly and efficient without ever making you feel rushed. The menu includes a variety of foods from burgers, salads and chicken sandwiches to a halibut sandwich and the porkwich  (Ahhhh….mouthwatering!).

The Halibut Sandwich

The Halibut Sandwich. My friend ate this the other night. My pregnant taste buds weren’t in the mood for fish but she loved it!

My favorite dish at Windsor is the grain salad, which sports a panoply of cooked grains like quinoa, pearled barley and kamut as well as veggies like carrots, beets and squash, topped with ricotta and an orange dressing. I fantasize about this salad when I haven’t been in a while.

The grain salad. This is a half portion. My friend and I split it. Never liked beets till I tasted this!

If you’re into spirits, they have a full bar and offer happy hour daily from 11-5. Cocktails or pitchers of beer are only $5.

My friend ordered the No. 11 – gin, blackberry and lemon. It looked very refreshing. Isn’t that fresh blackberry beautiful?

Local sources: As much as possible, Windsor sources their ingredients from locally owned businesses. Suppliers include Willie Itule, MJ Bread & Avalon gourmet, Mount Hope (spices) and Tenderbelly. Tenderbelly recently moved their processing operation from AZ to Iowa due to supply needs but they still get a thumbs up from me because they only use hogs that have been raised on good food and no antibiotics.

Kid friendly: When the weather is cool enough to sit on the patio, I’d say this restaurant is “older” children friendly (no booster seats or high chairs). The menu includes small hamburgers and little corn dog poppers. We actually took Destructo Girl (2yo) when they first opened this spring and while they were super sweet about accommodating her, they aren’t actually set up for small people. Thankfully, we were outside and she spent her spare moments dancing out of the way. Kids who can sit quietly in their own chairs (5 & up) are fine. That’s ok with us. We like going there for dates anyway. Still, the staff gets five stars from me for being so cool about it.

Elegant bar seating

Ambience: Windsor relies on the combination of exposed brick, retro style lights and dark wood to create a cool, upscale winebar.

Have some fun picking out some old favorites.

I know it might be hard to imagine right now (if the heat has fried your brain like it has mine) but most of the year, sitting on the patio is a lovely experience. The greenery and strings of white lights give Windor’s enclosed patio a comfortable, relaxed feel. And, they have misters! I love the touches of wood surrounding the seating area.

Cool patio seating            

Parking: Windsor is on Central and has limited parking so, like Postinos, they offer valet. It’s really the easiest option so bring a few extra bucks and save yourself a ticket. There’s no parking in the neighborhood.

Bonus: If you have room for dessert, stroll next door to Churn, the attached ice cream shop. They have delicious homemade style ice cream and even offer ice cream sandwiches. More on them in another post.

That’s it for today. Windsor is located on the southeast corner of Oregon and Central just a bit north of Camelback. If you’re going out this weekend, try some great local food and meet a few of your neighbors.

                  Phoenix, AZ 85013

http://windsoraz.com 
Windsor on Urbanspoon