Blue Agave - Scottsdale

We took advantage of a 50% off offer advertised while we watched Inglorious Basterds at Cine Capri. We were hungry, so we went over to Blue Agave for lunch. The restaurant was nearly empty, but the hostess was still detached, vacuous and rude. We had plenty of time to linger over our menus and notice the multiple typos. We debated on whether or not a bunch of menu errors said anything about the quality of the restaurant. To me, it means a lack of pride and/or attention to detail. So we got a basket of chips and a teensy serving of mediocre salsa. We ordered some drinks, and waited. For. . .ever. Finally our waiter comes by and tells us, by way of apology, that the bartender is an idiot and that he had to make our drinks himself. Ok. I ordered the fish tacos; Husband had the spinach enchiladas. The presentation on the fish tacos was really lovely. They were rolled, and served with a Oaxaca dipping sauce, which was pretty much sweet-and-sour sauce. The tacos tasted ok, but super cabbage-y. Husband's spinach tacos were banal. All in all, it was pretty bland food, crappy service, and super pricey.

Crust - Scottsdale

M2 and I stopped for lunch at Crust last week, and the pizza was pretty good, but I never got around to posting. But we all went out tonight to celebrate the first day of summer camp, and it was definitely a post-worthy experience. So M2 got a slice of pepperoni, which has super thick crust and yummy sauce. I had the mac and cheese, hearty but heavy; I couldn't eat but a third of it. Husband had some weird flat triangle pizza which was pretty much an oddly shaped thin crust pizza, but good. M1 had his heart set on meatball sliders. When the extremely nice waitress told us they were out of meatballs, an exhausted and worn out M1 couldn't hide his disappointment. Our hearts collectively broke when a tear rolled down his cheek. Seriously, it was horrifying. Normally I'm the one who's all, "suck it up and eat" but it was just so. freaking. sad. We asked for more time to decide.
Super nice waitress came back a few minutes later and said they could produce some meatballs if we wouldn't mind waiting 20 minutes. We readily agreed, and ordered the tomato tartar with cannellini beans, which was a very cute pesto bruschetta to share while we waited. A plum-tea-ni helped with the wait, though it was kind of sweet and viscous, in a cough-syrupy way. They key lime martini was better. So anyway, the food was good, so far my favorite thing is just a good old slice of cheese pizza. Also, broken record here, but they give to Upromise, and that will always get me in the door.

South Beach - Scottsdale

So we always drive by South Beach, and I never get excited about going there because I think of the South Beach diet and I'm not really sure what's on that diet, but it's probably not nachos and martinis and mashed potatoes, so- eww. But they seem to have a cool patio, and they give to Upromise, which is always cool, so we gave it a try tonight.
No diet food here, that's for sure. We got some special-ordered vegetarian sushi to start. Somehow, when we ask for vegetarian sushi, we are often offered stuff with imitaion crab, which is, of course, made out of other dead animals, just cheaper ones. I don't have a problem which cheap dead animals, but obviously it won't meet Vege-Husbandtarian's needs, so he was explicit about what we wanted, and we got a very yummy avocado asparagus carrot pickle yummy roll. Kid wanted to try pickled ginger dipped in soy sauce. He won't be trying it again. Anyway, it was all very good, if a little big to fit in my mouth without making a mess.
We sampled the Black and Blue mojito, very fruity, but not too sweet, pleasant. Husband had something with passion fruit in it, which was good but cloying. Kid ordered spaghetti and meatballs, with a side of mashed potatoes, and he was pleased. The kid portion was really big, too big for most kids. Husband and I split the La Villa pizza. I actually ordered the Bella pizza, but the waiter heard wrong, and just got so excited about the La Villa pizza that I didn't have the heart to correct him. It was better than a pizza with eggplant on top should be.
We finished off the night with a vanilla-pineapple mojito, which was like drinking a bridal shower. I ordered a "pomegranate grove" which was pomegranate grody to the max.
Overall, we'd be back again, order the special sushi again, and the pizza, but probably different drinks, and skip the kid's meal and just share everything.

Bombay Spice - Phoenix

We were in the mood for something new tonight, and found ourselves at Bombay Spice in Phoenix. We were looking for light, fresh, reasonably healthy food. We started with the Sauce Sampler, which is pretty much what it sounds like, all their different sauces with a couple pieces of the chapatti (when a whole wheat tortilla and a pita fall in love and have a baby) The mint sauce wasn't too spectacular, but the curry sauce was nice. The hot sauce was pretty spicy and the others weren't very notable. Kid ordered a mango yogurt smoothie, a bribe for open-mindedness for rest of the meal, and it was delicious but heavy. He also ordered the chicken lentil soup, which was very thick and not super appealing. Husband had the chickpea ceviche, which was cool, light and tasty. I had a wrap, which chicken curry in half and chicken tikka masala in the other. Both were a bit dry, and not heavily flavored, but good overall,and would have been even better if I had chosen a better sauce to accompany the dish. All of the entrees are 500 calories or fewer, but the wrap was so much more food than I could ever consume at one sitting. One big surprise- a fantastic margarita. Who would have guessed? So I get that it's not the most authentic of Indian food, but I grow weary of hearing "authentic" take a higher priority than "good" or "healthful." We'll be back, but maybe with different entree selections.

Sweet Republic - Scottsdale

What's Father's Day weekend without a nod to Husband's sweet tooth? We capped off the night with a quick trip to Sweet Republic, a ridiculously delicious ice cream shop. We've been a few times, but I always get the same thing- no need to mess with perfection. I get the Salted Butter Caramel ice cream with extra caramel sauce on top. Husband likes their more exotic flavors, like Lime Basil, Honey Bleu Cheese and Pear Ginger (tastes like you're eating cold Chinese food for dessert) The kids like th watermelon ice cream and the rocky road. All of the ice cream is fresh, made with real ingredients (no HFCS here). The service is friendly and quick, and they're not stingy with the samples. They even indulged my request for a plastic spoon instead of a wooden one- I always think I'm going to get splinters in my mouth.

Humble Pie - Scottsdale

Husband and I had lunch today at Humble Pie in Scottsdale. We split a large caesar salad, with very nice sourdough croutons that were crisp, but not too hard that they exploded into crouton shrapnel when stabbed with a fork. The dressing was light but tangy, and a little bit of celery kept it from getting too heavy. We split the margherita pizza, which was quite good. The crust was thin but chewy, the basil very fresh, the sauce slightly sweet and the mozzarella just cheesy enough. A sea salt grinder on the table let us add just a little bit of salt, which brought everything together. I had the Humble Punch to drink, which was a very light, mild drink, like an agua fresca, almost. We'd go back again as long as it was just us - there was a party with some young kids, and it wasn't a great place for kids.

Burger Joint - Scottsdale

So I had planned to meet my mom and sister at the Apple Cafe, and when I got their "Um, I can't find it. . " phone calls, I thought they were just crazy. So I pulled in to the parking lot, and sure enough, it wasn't there, but The Burger Joint was in its place. The menu was nearly identical, except it was missing the cool stuffed potatoes that Apple Cafe used to have. I asked the cashier if they still gave to Upromise, but no one there seemed to know. So it'll be a surprise, I guess. Anyway, my sister and I both ordered the EZ burger, hers with beef, mine with turkey. The EZ burger has buffalo sauce, lettuce, cucumber and tomato and a decent-sized glob of tzatziki. Heavenly. The tzatziki wasn't runny, wasn't too tart, just the absolute perfect balance for the buffalo sauce. I'm not crazy about potato salad or cole slaw that come with the burgers, so I substituted sweet potato fries. They were really really ugly, but tasted pretty good. All of their burgers can be made with beef, turkey, grilled chicken or veggie patties, so I'll be bringing Husband back soon. There are a few specialty burgers, like the EZ burger, but you can build your own from a long list of toppings. One downside; the service was so so so very slow. Sister was on her lunch break, and by the time she got her food, she had to scarf down half of it and run. So I wouldn't go if I were pressed for time.