Maize's Cafe & Bistro

A neighborhood bar and restaurant -- every neighborhood needs one, but not many are not lucky enough to have one. Until recently, that was the problem at Central and Camelback, a key intersection defining the area loosely known as Uptown Phoenix. Sure, there has long been an Applebee's in Uptown Plaza at the northeast corner. Anyone who has seen Applebee's advertising knows the restaurant uses a neighborhood appeal to define its brand, but without even discussing the food at Applebee's, it's hard to consider a central Phoenix restaurant truly "neighborhood" if it is an outpost of a large chain based in the Kansas City suburbs.

With a missed opportunity at the northeast corner of Central and Camelback, 2008 has brought a refreshing alternative in the form of Maizie's Cafe & Bistro, located just south of the Camelback / Central Avenue station and transit center. Maizie's occupies a ground floor retail space in the Landmark Towers, a condominium complex that has been part of the Phoenix skyline since 1963, when it opened as the Camelback Towers. A recent renovation gone wrong has resulted in turmoil among residents and the homeowners association, but the opening of Maizie's at ground level has been good news even as some homeowners' dreams have unraveled upstairs.

The food at Maizie's is hard to categorize. With an emphasis on burgers, salads, pizzas, and pastas, it's actually not that far removed from its chain competitor nearby, but the preparations show a lot more flair at Maizie's. Starters include a soup of the day. A recent Italian potato soup didn't seem obviously Italian, but was 100% delicious with a creamy texture, occasional potato chunks, and a smoky flavor. A ground beef and bean chili, available in both cups and bowls, is offered every day. There is a small house salad, but the emphasis here is on big salads that can serve as entrees. The ancho salmon salad is particularly good, with a nicely grilled, lightly spice piece of fish resting on a bed of spinach leaves interrupted by occasional slivers of jicama and carrot, wedges of tomato, and kernels of corn.

Entrees are all over the map in terms of original, although thankfully not quality. Expect some Southwestern creations, some Italian-influenced dishes, and a lots of sandwiches and burgers. Among the side dishes, the potato pancakes (right photo below), served with an unexpectedly savory apricot sauce, are good enough to function as an appetizer or even a child's entree. There's a limited menu of "late night grub," mostly cold appetizers and desserts, available from 10 until midnight every night except Sunday, when the restaurant closes at 4 PM. On Fridays and Saturdays, the full menu is available until 11 PM, providing a small bit of hope to frustrated diners forced to settle for Denny's when late night eating in on the schedule.

While Maizie's relies on the same menu for lunch and dinner all week long, there are some day-of-week specials that add variety and value. Early in the week, there are specials like a discounted burger night on Mondays. Regulars at the event often recommend the inside-out burgers, in which items that might normally top burgers are cooked inside the patty, delivering the same flavors as usual, but in a pleasingly different sequence. On weekends, there is a brunch menu in addition to the regular menu. The brunch menu features distinctive items such as a breakfast pizza (center photo below), an indulgent concoction with eggs and Italian sausage among its myriad toppings. One improvement to the brunch might be fresh-squeezed orange juice, a missing touch that would improve an already good mimosa.

Maizie's offers free wi-fi, although it's not immediately clear how important that feature is in such a sociable place. The restaurant seems more a place to meet friends for brunch than to work in isolation. The interior has a slightly industrial look in a fairly tight space. Outside, there's a patio with both shade and portable heaters. From there, diners can watch the trains pass by every few minutes. The exterior seating is probably the better choice for families dining with young children, although Maizie's staff are happy to provide a high chair at any table. For the adults, there's a full bar with signature cocktails, draft beer, and wine.

Despite the sometimes hazy identity of Uptown Phoenix and the recent troubles at the Landmark Towers, Maizie's is the type of place that is badly needed in established neighborhoods of Phoenix. Its occupancy of a ground-floor space in a multi-story building is an urbanist's dream, and the restaurant's food, while not necessarily groundbreaking, is reliably good. Applebee's may have been on the corner of Central and Camelback for years, but fortunately it hasn't cornered the market there. A short walk south to Maizie's shows what a real neighborhood restaurant looks like.

4750 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ, 85012 Map
(602) 274-2828
http://www.maiziescafe.com/

unPhogettable

With current economic conditions as challenging as they are, empty big boxes, the ghosts of retailers past, are beginning to crowd the landscape. Often, abandoned big boxes become magnets for blight, but a few lucky ones are salvaged and reused in unexpected ways. In late 2008, the site of an old Target store in west Mesa, approximately a quarter mile west of the Sycamore / Main light rail station, was reborn as Mekong Plaza, a shopping center targeting the large southeast Asian community along the Dobson Corridor. The centerpiece of Mekong Plaza is a huge supermarket, but that grocery is surrounded by a constellation of small businesses and restaurants, all seemingly geared toward shoppers of Vietnamese or other east Asian heritage.

Mekong Plaza already has over half a dozen restaurants already open or on the way, but the most obvious place to start exploring a Vietnamese-oriented shopping center is its inevitable pho restaurant. Over the past two decades, the popular rice noodle soup has crossed into the mainstream with fans of all ethnicities clamoring to enjoy huge bowls of noodles in a flavorful beef broth and an assortment of do-it-yourself garnishes. There are now so many pho-terias around that restaurateurs have resorted to clever monikers in order to attract attention. unPhogettable, named more for the soup rather than the Nat King Cole classic, is Mekong Plaza’s entry into the corny name game.

The restaurant has two entrances, one facing the parking lot and the other facing the interior corridor of the shopping center. Both lead to small, neat dining room. It’s not upscale, but it’s not shabby either. There are some interesting prints on the walls, high ceilings above, and stylish light fixtures descending toward the tables. There’s even a small counter facing toward the supermarket that is ideal for solo diners. The menu of starters is fairly limited. There are no crepes as at some other Vietnamese places – just chicken wings, soft spring rolls (also sometimes known as summer rolls), and egg rolls. The spring rolls are unusually meaty. Expect generous slices of meat and a multitude of shrimp in each one. The egg rolls are smaller and have a ground meat filling rather than slices. Meatless spring rolls and egg rolls made with tofu are also available in a vegetarian section of the menu.

After that limited range of starters, the choices broaden immensely. Obviously, big bowls of soup play a lead role here. There are 16 varieties of pho, ranging from straightforward models with brisket, meatballs, or chicken to everything-but-the-kitchen-sink soups combining multiple cuts of beef with tripe and tendon. A meatless (although not vegetarian due to the beef broth) pho comes with tofu and a generous assortment of vegetables. Other types of soup represented include mi, with egg noodles instead of the more familiar rice variety, and an impressive range of regional specialty soups, many incorporating seafood. All soups, regardless of noodle type, come with the familiar plate of bean sprouts, cilantro, jalapenos, and lime wedges. In addition, the usual lineup of sauces -- sriracha, chili with garlic, and hoisin – grace every table.

While these condiments are all standard issue at every pho joint in town, the staff at unPhogettable seem unusually helpful in offering guidance about the optimal way in which to augment the restaurant’s food. The gracious proprietor gently discourages the uninitiated diner’s approach of throwing every last condiment into the soup bowl. Instead, he offers guidance about adding herbs judiciously while also mixing hoisin and sriracha with a little lime juice on the side to create an optimal dipping sauce for the pieces of meat or tofu floating in the soup. Similar guidance is available for any of the non-soup dishes on the menu, including those that pair grilled meat and rice.

Beverages are limited to the non-alcoholic variety, although the restaurant allows customers to BYOB from the adjacent Mekong Supermarket. Among the beverages offered, the freshly prepared orange juice, limeade, and lemonade are all good options. Fountain sodas, jasmine tea, and bottled water are also available. The desserts are all of the variety that come in a glass – red beans with coconut milk, tropical fruits with Jello, etc. They’re all relatively light, satisfying, and a good end to a flavor-intense meal. There’s no French colonial influence in the way of pastries, though.

Interestingly, unPhogettable has a twin restaurant in, of all places, Virginia Beach. Reportedly, the pair are run by two branches of the same family on opposite coasts. Family is an important concept here because the restaurant does a nice job of catering to young customers. A kid’s menu with small portions of several menu items is available, along with high chairs. The atmosphere is casual and the service friendly and quick, making unPhogettable a workable place for a meal before, during, or after a Mekong Plaza shopping expedition.

66 S. Dobson Rd., #140, Mesa, AZ, 85202 Map
(480) 835-2289

House of Tricks

Almost every college campus has certain predictable restaurant types within a few blocks' walk. There's always a cheap burger-and-brew place, several "ethnic" restaurants, and at least one place with a charmingly alternative vibe and a mainly vegetarian menu. What missing from the list? There's also usually a restaurant that caters more to the faculty than the students. Said restaurant is usually also a place to go to with the parents when they visit campus. Arizona State University's version of this restaurant has long been the House of Tricks.

The House of Tricks has been around for more than two decades in a cottage on Seventh Street just north of the campus and three blocks from the Veterans Way / College Avenue light rail station. A second historic home next door was incorporated into the restaurant in 1994, expanding the restaurant's seating; however, on any given day, most customers are probably on the patio. House of Tricks is one of those rare restaurants at which the outdoor seating probably exceeds the number of chairs inside. That's possible because the restaurant's patio is one of the nicest in the metro area. Abundant mature trees provide plenty of shade in the summer, and fireplaces add a touch of warmth during those bone-chilling Phoenix winters.

The menu at Tricks is hard to pin down in terms of any specific national or cultural origin. It's a little bit Mediterranean, a little bit French, and a little Southwestern. This not really a place for a plain old burger and fries, but it's not a temple to extreme foodie adventurism either. Instead, the food takes aim at its target clientele of educated diners who have probably had at least some experience with international travel. Overall, there's a sense of balance in the menu with a quiche of the day, a stereotypically feminine dish if we are to believe the popular book from 1982, matched against several hearty red meat dishes. Of course, there's a whole range of options in between with emphasis on fish, poultry, and vegetarian dishes.

Among the starters on the lunch menu, the Mediterranean tapas platter stands out for its flavor and variety. It's not all that different from the vegetarian combo platter offered at Phoenicia next door, but with a little more refinement and a more manageable portion size. The assemblage of feta, dolmas, ratatouille, hummus, tabouleh, cucumber salad, and pieces of flatbread is easily shared among a few friends, but it also makes an effective light entree for one. Other good choices include the warm goat cheese cake, which matches creamy chevre with both a tomato salsa and an olive tepanade, and the winter squash ravioli, another appetizer that can double as a small entree. At dinner, the food gets a little heartier, with first plates incorporating burrata, foie gras, scallops, and other more substantial ingredients depending on the season.

The entrees are where the lunch and dinner menus diverge even more. At lunch, expect big salads (albeit with more of a gourmet touch than Elaine Benes' favorite lunch), creative sandwiches, and some full-fledged main dishes, with nothing costing more than $15. The salmon flatbread sandwich is exemplary, with perfectly cooked fresh fish combined with light citrus and cilantro flavors in crisp bread. Lunch at Tricks may not be quite the bargain as at the nearby Chuckbox, but it's generally a better buy than the restaurant's attractive looks would suggest. Dinner entrees generally fall into the $20 - $30 range with some daily specials coming in at the high end. Expect lots of fresh fish, some pasta, but also a deft touch with beef and lamb.

The House of Tricks matches its eclectic menu with a diverse beverage selection. The wine list is truly global with unexpected offerings like sparkling wines from New Zealand and pinot grigio from Argentina. The reds leans toward pinot noirs, generally a good match for the salmon dishes always on the menu, but also include less familiar malbecs and tempranillos. There are always over two dozen selections by the glass, and since many are esoteric, the detailed descriptions on the wine list are helpful. The beer selection is also impressive. 8th Street Ale from nearby Four Peaks is the most local choice. It's matched with more exotic trappist ales and lambics from Belgium. Of course, there's Bud Light for anyone wanting to play it safe.

Service at Tricks is always friendly and usually responsive. The staff usually seem more prompt at lunch than at dinner and and more attentive outside than in. In other words, the patio at noon is the best place for a one-hour meal; eating inside at dinner may be better for a leisurely, romantic experience. Because Tricks is a sort of quiet oasis from the youthful energy of the nearby college scene, it's not an obvious choice for dining with young children. Still, the patio has a casual feel and would probably be okay for kids old enough to enjoy a good meal but too young to get into ASU.

114 E. 7th St., Tempe, AZ, 85281 | Map
(480) 968-1114
http://www.houseoftricks.com