The Breadfruit

The Breadfruit fills two niches at once. The first gap is a culinary one. The Phoenix area has always lacked Caribbean restaurants. They've come and gone over the years, but with the exception of Irie in south Phoenix, few have gained much traction. The second niche is geographical. Currently, the Downtown dining renaissance in progress exists mostly in two areas: the heart of Downtown between Jefferson and Van Buren and the north end of Downtown near Roosevelt. Until recently, there have been few places to eat in the in-between zone surrounding the burgeoning ASU Downtown Campus.

The Breadfruit takes its name from the fruit of the same name, although actual breadfruit does not appear to be on the menu. Still, the name evokes Jamaican authenticity that is felt throughout the cooking. The restaurant is not a islands cliche in the style of the Bahama Breeze chain, which closed its Phoenix locations several years ago. Instead, it's a small, tidy, and unpretentious place occupying a one-story building along Pierce Street, just east of the Downtown Phoenix Public Market and roughly halfway between the Roosevelt / Central Avenue Station and the Van Buren / Central Avenue (northbound) and Van Buren / 1st Avenue (southbound) stations.

The menu is Jamaican with a healthful twist. Fried foods and red meat are deemphasized in favor of dishes based on fresh vegetables, fish, and chicken. For the most part, this approach succeeds. A plantain avocado spring roll (center photo below) matches its inventive filling with a chutney topping. As with many dishes at the Breadfruit, the portion is modest, but this starter works as a light and flavorful appetizer for two to share. Among the entrees, Escovitch fish pairs grilled tilapia with a vinegary sauce containing Scotch bonnet peppers and allspice berries. Since the sauce is served on the side, the spice level can be adjusted to individual preferences.

Speaking of spice, no Jamaican restaurant can succeed without good jerk, and the Breadfruit executes this style of cooking admirably with both shrimp (right photo below) and chicken. The dry heat of the Breadfruit's jerk dishes is paired nicely with roasted corn, roasted pineapple, and a sort of light coleslaw. A milder yet still satisfying level of spice is found in the vegetable, beef, and chicken patties. Unfortunately, flavor is lacking in the Breadfruit's Ital soup, which pairs al dente vegetables with an underpowered broth.

The menu at the Breadfruit is a little confusing, with occasionally insufficient or incorrect information about which items are a la carte and which sides go with main dishes. The ital soup, for example, is listed as coming with a side of bread, but that bread actually has to be purchased a la carte. Some items are paired with festivals, a sort of starch halfway between a bread stick and a biscuit, but it might be more straightforward for the restaurant just to offer a basket of them to each table. Until the Breadfruit perfects its menu, it's best to verify everything with the server.

The restaurant's dessert selection consists of two items: a sweet potato "pudding," which is really firm enough to be more like a bread pudding or cheesecake. It's restrained in its sweetness. For those who want something more sugary, the restaurant's other dessert pairs vanilla ice cream, Grape-nuts cereal, and cherry Jello. The mixture is far more successful than it might sound. Right now, beverages are limited to bottled iced teas and D&G Jamaican sodas, including grapefruit-flavored Ting, Kola Champagne, and ginger beer with a spicy kick. A liquor license may follow in the months to come.

108 E. Pierce St., Phoenix, AZ, 85004
(602) 267-1266

Reviews from Other Sites:


602 Much Good Food
Chow
Yelp

Delhi Palace

When Indian food was less common in the United States, the best place to look for it was almost always near a college campus. Delhi Palace, located just a block east of the University Drive / Rural Road station near the ASU Main Campus in Tempe, was not the first Indian restaurant to open in Phoenix. Nevertheless, since its founding in 1989, the restaurant has operated longer in the same location and under the same ownership than any other. These days, Delhi Palace faces a lot more competition -- not only in Tempe, but in strip malls throughout the metro area. From Bell Road to Chandler Boulevard, over two dozen Indian restaurants now exist in Phoenix and its suburbs.

Delhi Palace has responded to the competition by continuing to do what it has done well for nearly two decades: Offer crowd-pleasing northern Indian food with a familiar menu, moderate spice levels, typical Indian restaurant decor, and the nearly inevitable lunch buffet. All these qualities make Delhi Palace hard to distinguish from other Indian restaurants, but Delhi Palace still feels like an old friend not to be abandoned in the face of competition from newer rivals that specialize in the food of southern Indian or offer a more upscale bistro atmosphere.

Like almost all Indian restaurants, Delhi Palace offers a large selection of vegetarian dishes; however, Delhi Palace proves that meatless eating doesn't always equal light eating. Even those dishes that rely on legumes and vegetables for their bulk tend not to skimp on cream, paneer, or ghee, the elements that often make Indian restaurant food richer than its healthful image would suggest. Putting calorie counting aside, meatless favorites at Delhi Palace include aloo gobi, a mixture of potatoes and cauliflower, and chana masala, a stew of chick peas with ginger and fresh cilantro.

For those who prefer meat dishes, Delhi Palace has menu sections devoted to chicken, lamb, beef, and seafood. Beef is not always available at Indian restaurants, but there is no taboo against it here. The seafood dishes incorporate either shrimp of unnamed fish fillets. Both ingredients appear to be frozen, although that may not matter under the flavorful sauces common in dishes such as sag shrimp (right photo below), which incorporates crustaceans in a thick spinach puree.

Appetizers include a variety of fried treats, the most popular of which are probably the vegetable somosas (center photo below), stuffed pastries full of minced vegetables and peas. When the entrees come, most customers will probably want to augment their meals with a rice dish and one of nearly a dozen types of bread. The garlic naan is a good choice, but those looking for less fat and more fiber may prefer the roti, a tortilla-like bread made with whole wheat flour. For beverages, Delhi Palace offers several yogurt drinks, fruit juices, soda, beer, and wine.

Delhi Palace serves its lunch buffet every day from 11 AM until 2:30 PM. Dinner is served every day except Tuesday from 5 PM until 10 PM. Despite the somewhat forbidding decor (All the windows are covered, creating a fairly dark dining room.), the staff are friendly, service is efficient, and the food arrives promptly. Delhi Palace may be only one of many stars in the Indian restaurant galaxy these days, but it still shines steadily in the international restaurant cluster at University and Rural.

933 E. University Dr., #103, Tempe, AZ, 85281
(480) 921-2200

Reviews from Other Sites:


Chow
Yelp

Mai Island Grill

Phoenix and its suburbs are home to one of the largest communities of Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders on the U.S. mainland. Despite this population, restaurants serving island cuisine have come and gone over the years without a lot of stability. Mai Island Grill, a small place just north of the ASU Main Campus in Tempe and three short blocks from the Veterans Way / College Avenue Station, has been a lot more stable than others. Judging by the steady stream of customers cramming the small restaurant each day at lunch, it seems likely to stay around for a while longer.

Walking down Forest Avenue at noon, it's easier to notice Mai by scent than by sight. The aroma from the grill in enticing and more than makes up for the little signs on the storefront. The restaurant is small and casual. Customers order at a tiny counter and on busy days the line can stretch out toward the front door. There are just four tables inside the restaurant, five tables outside, and a counter with a handful of stools. Food is generally picked up at the counter, although staff will often bring food to customers who have chosen an outdoor table.

The menu is short and simple, but manages to span the myriad influences on Hawaiian cuisine. A Filipino influence shows up in the lumpia, or spring rolls, which are available in both pork and vegetable varieties, and in the adobo, a flavorful stew made with marinated meat -- either chicken or pork. Most customers opt for grilled meat or fish, however. Grilled chicken (center photo below) comes in marinated strips that retain their flavor and moisture during a quick grilling. Grilled mahi-mahi and salmon (right photo below) come as fillets and also turn out cooked just right on the grill. Red meat options include grilled beef and short ribs. All of the meats are served as plate lunches with a bed of crispy lettuce and a scoop each of white rice and macaroni salad, a common Hawaiian side dish.

There's not a lot of greenery on the menu at Mai Island Grill, but those who prefer a meatless dish can order a hearty tofu salad. There are also Japanese-inspired dishes such as katsu chicken and tonkatsu pork. Of course, no Hawaiian restaurant is complete without some Spam on the menu, and Mai fulfills its quota with Spam musubi, a snack that approximates canned meat sushi. The most exotic item on the menu is probably the loco moco, which combines a hamburger patty with rice, fried eggs, and gravy.

Beverages at Mai are limited to canned sodas, juices, and iced teas. There is a self-service water station next to the condiments, however. Customers can set their mouths ablaze with Sriracha and then extinguish the fire immediately. Despite the fast food atmosphere, Mai is staffed by nice people who are happy to explain the more esoteric menu items and guide newcomers to Hawaiian food. Mai Island Grill accepts only one form of payment: cash.

705 S. Forest Ave., Tempe, AZ, 85281
(480) 966-6533

Reviews from Other Sites:

Yelp

The Nile Cafe

Most Middle Eastern restaurants in the Phoenix area follow a certain template: They're likely to be Lebanese in ownership and menu, and they're likely to be located in Tempe. The Nile Cafe breaks the rules with Egyptian owners and a location in the Artisan Village development at the north end of Downtown Phoenix, just under half a mile east of the Roosevelt / Central Avenue Station.

The Nile Cafe's menu is a little unusual. It lists five different types of hummus, but none of the other popular Middle Eastern spreads such as baba ghanoush or labne. The hummus varieties, including original, roasted bell pepper, artichoke, cilantro jalapeno, and sun-dried tomato, are all good but seem a little pricey at $6.75 for a small serving and $9.75 for a larger one. Fortunately, it's seldom necessary to pay for hummus because the restaurant usually provides an assortment with pita bread as a complimentary appetizer.

The soups include chicken curry and lentil (center photo below). The latter is thick with bits of spaghetti within. The salads include tabouleh (right photo below) and a Greek salad. The tabouleh is particularly good. It has a more even ratio of bulghur to parsley than at many restaurants and taste is light on the salt and enhanced by fresh lime juice. Entree are limited to five sandwiches and an equal number of sides and a-la-carte items. Shawarma is available in both chicken and beef varieties, as well as a mixed option known as the "Kingdom Shawarma sandwich." Other sandwiches include howashi, a type of seasoned ground beef, and falafel.

In the Egyptian tradition, the restaurant's falafel is made from fava beans instead of the chick peas more common in Israeli falafel. The fava beans produce a slightly sour taste, rather than the normal combination of chick pea nuttiness and cumin. The falafel balls are fresh from the fryer and have just the right texture, but the Nile Cafe's version may still be an acquired taste for some customers.

The drink selections are limited to canned sodas, bottle water, and sports drinks in a cooler in the small dining room. There are also several smoothies listed on the menu, but the fruit juices typically found in Middle Eastern restaurants don't appear to be available. The Nile Cafe does not have a liquor license.

At this time, the Nile Cafe is a small operation. There are less than a dozen tables packed closely in the tiny dining room and two tables outside in front of the restaurant. The outdoor seating is not well shaded and probably a viable option only in the cooler months. The restaurant currently serves only until 3 PM with the exception of First Fridays. The owner has mentioned adding longer hours at the same time that a second location opens in Papago Plaza in southern Scottsdale.

610 E. Roosevelt St., #152, Phoenix, AZ, 85004
(602) 595-4643

Reviews from Other Sites:

AZ Central
Yelp