1130

In 2004, Scottish band Franz Ferdinand created a sensation with its self-titled debut album. A year-and-a-half later, the band returned with a good but not great follow-up, ironically titled "You Could Have It So Much Better." The title captures the essence of many sequels: It's nice to see an encore from a good act, but it's seldom quite the same as the first time around. Moving from music to food, the people behind Sam's Cafe, the Arizona Center's longest enduring restaurant, have attempted a sequel with 1130 the Restaurant, named for the suite number it occupies rather than its hours of business. 1130 feels a lot like Franz Ferdinand's second album. It's a solid, inoffensive choice for anyone looking for a meal at the Arizona Center, but it's hard to escape the conclusion that the restaurant's customers could indeed "have it so much better" if 1130 sharpened its focus.

1130 occupies a prime spot in the Arizona Center, located roughly halfway between the Van Buren / Central Avenue (northbound) and Van Buren / 1st Avenue (southbound) stations and the 3rd St. / Washington (westbound) and the 3rd St. / Jefferson (eastbound) stations. It's at the east end near the parking garage and sees a lot of pedestrian traffic. The restaurant has a stylish look both inside and outside. Near the main entrance, there are couches and lounge-style seating. Inside, a bar divides two different dining rooms. There's additional outdoor seating on a L-shaped patio. The furnishings are contemporary and brick and wood interiors keep the place looking current.

The look promises a little more than it delivers. The sofas outside suggest the ideal venue for casual noshing on small plates and wine by the glass. Unfortunately, these couches are often used merely as a waiting area, and the appetizer menu emphasizes fairly heavy items that seem at odds with casual patio dining. The starters are an amalgam of the slightly adventurous (mussels ) and the familiar (calamari and chicken wings). Some of the first courses show real promise in their execution; the calamari blends sweet and spicy tastes in a presentation dappled with sliced banana peppers, and a simple green salad accentuated with pecans is surprisingly effective. Still, most here does not fit with the restaurant's stated emphasis on health-conscious preparations. Maybe the idea is for customers to indulge in appetizers and then make up for doing so with lighter entrees.

The main dishes are a blend of American, Italian, and Southwestern influences. Most dishes are well prepared; what lacks is any sense of adventure. The fish, for example, is all farmed; tilapia and Altantic salmon predominate. Those species are generally fine for anyone seeing fish as aquatic chicken, but offering a market fish would allow the kitchen to experiment with bolder flavors. Likewise, many of the pasta dishes use angel hair, often seen as the noodle of least resistance due to its near-instantaneous cooking time.

The kitchen seems more focused when it comes to steaks and burgers. The former can be paired with four different sauces ranging from bleu cheese to a mushroom mole. The latter come in half a dozen varieties: four beef, and one each turkey and portabello mushrooms. All come on a whole wheat bun with a choice of hand-cut, skin-on fries or vegetable slaw. Those wholesome buns are a nice alternative to the "honey cheese toast" that comes with most entrees. If there is anything that exemplifies the lack of spark at 1130, it's the bread. The "honey cheese toast," really just a piece of baguette with gooey melted cheese on top, doesn't seem to go with much of anything on the menu. Paired with cheesy Italian-American entrees like chicken parmesan, it seems like overkill; matched with lighter dishes like citrus tilapia, it seems incongruous. If 1130 wants to allow its kitchen to shine, a real breadbasket stocked with something from MJ or Simply Bread would be the place to start.

Desserts show some flair. A strawberry shortcake for two combines a crisp biscuit with rum-soaked berries. Beverage selection is serviceable but tame. 1130 could learn a lot from District across the street about interesting draft beer selections. Service is similar to Sam's Cafe in terms of being consistently polite but occasionally uncoordinated. Don't be surprised to see runners attempt to deliver food to the wrong table or ask the always annoying "Who gets the chicken piccata?" question. 1130 is not as obviously child-friendly as Sam's, which offers a separate kid's menu, but there are high chairs available.

At this point, 1130 is a place offering good food at reasonable prices but little more. Maybe it's the location at the Arizona Center, a development that always seems to want to play it safe for conventioneers and suburbanites attending Downtown events, or maybe it's the lack of a clear theme like its older brother Sam's Cafe. Interestingly, Franz Ferdinand's third album "Tonight" is getting mostly favorable reviews for taking more risks and having a clearer focus than the "all things to everyone" approach of the band's second album. Can the folks behind Sam's Cafe and 1130 learn from the Scottish band's experience?

455 N 3rd St., #1130, Phoenix, AZ, 85004 | Map
(602) 368-3046
http://www.1130therestaurant.com/