Road Trip – Zuzu Revisited and Grabbing a Beer from Craft 64 (Scottsdale)

Back in January, we took JJ for his first road trip of the year. The Missus really wanted to take him to Sedona. Well, I figured we’d stop for a couple of nights in Scottsdale again. The Hotel Valley Ho is very dog friendly and the Missus really enjoyed the restaurant there; Zuzu.

The weather was much more pleasant this time around. On our previous trip, which was during the month of March, Phoenix was experiencing record heat! This time, JJ really enjoyed walking around old town Scottsdale.

And we decided on an early dinner at Zuzu.

I settled in with a nice, stiff Old Fashioned.

The Missus enjoyed the Cauliflower the last time….it was replaced by Romanesco ($14).

We find it interesting that the combination of fromage blanc and Thai Basil works well together. Though the capers were a bit too much for the dish. Still, this was our favorite dish of the meal.

If there’s one thing I want right away after leaving the state of California, it’s foie gras. So, I just needed to order the Beef Cheek and Foie Gras Gyoza ($22) from the Chef’s Special menu.

Well, this was a bit of a disappointment. The wrappers were plasticky and brittle, the chili crunch overwhelmed the dish. We could barely make out the offal-ly-savory flavor of the foie gras, the beef cheeks was really stringy. It was perhaps a too “over-the-top” dish?

We got 2 Short Rib Empanadas ($5 each).

The Chimichurri was very oily and bland…I like a lot of garlic and good sharp tones in my chimichurri and it was missing here. The crust of the empanada was much more crumbly and delicate than I was used to.

The filling was tasty, but a bit on the dry side.

Of course we had to get our favorite dish from our last visit; the Terra Heritage Wagyu Beef Carpaccio, which is amazingly, still just $21!

While still a bargain, this was not as good as what we’d had previously. The beef was room temp, so it lacked that refreshing edge. It also had a metallic taste to it. Loved all the Grana Padano which added some milky-savory-saltiness to the dish and the pumpernickel crumble added textural contrast. Not enough Dijonnaise this time around and we missed the anise tones of caraway which was missing this time around. Kind of a bummer since we really loved this dish last time.

Oh well, at least the service was nice, the price with my cocktail and the Missus’s wine was under $100 before tip! And our dinner the following night was a winnah!

ZuZu (In Hotel Valley Ho)
6850 E Main St.
Scottsdale, AZ 85251

After dinner, the Missus wanted some time to relax, so “Da Boyz” had to find something to do. Well, there’s a Brew Pub – Pizza place less than a block away from the hotel named Craft 64. I walked over and the place has a nice back patio….and it wasn’t super busy so JJ and I got a table on the patio.