Kirk and Cathy are too busy resting or working, so today Ed (from Yuma) is busy writing.
MIM
The Musical Instrument Museum is a marvelous new Museum sitting out in the desert just off the 101 outerbelt northwest of Scottsdale: 
In the Main Lobby, a large display features the motto of the Museum, pictures of people making music, and screens showing music making in action: 
When you enter the museum, you are given headphones. Whenever you come up to a screen, the headphones let you listen to whatever music, whichever instruments are being played on the screen.
While there are areas devoted to Arizona music, famous musicians (like Elvis, Pablo Casals, âKingâ Sonny Adé), mechanical music, and special exhibits, most of the Museum is organized geographically. On our previous visit to MIM, Tina and I explored African and European music and were amazed by the range and depth of the presentations.
On this visit, we began with the Asian area â which like Asia itself â is huge. To give you a specific example of how the museum works, look at this picture of traditional Korean bells and gongs: 
These amazingly large devices are modern versions of traditional temple instruments. The screen between them shows similar bells and pyeongyeong being played.
Just to the right of those, is an area that shows instruments from Korean Court music and folk music: 
While many of the instruments in the museum are modern versions, you can see that some of them are historical. The museum explains and dates all items, so you don't confuse something made in 2009 with something made in 1009. On the screens, you can see several different short clips of the instruments being used in performance.
I was especially taken with these old Tibetan horns, which were so large that I couldn't get all of them in one photo: 
After a morning wondering through Asia, we were hungry, and fortunately the MIM has a nice eatery, Café Allegro, which tries to use fresh, local, organic ingredients whenever possible.
I had the marinated chicken salad: 
The chicken had a pleasant lime/cilantro marinade, the lettuces were very fresh, the chunks of tomato extremely flavorful, and the cauliflower, pepper, and zucchini added nice contrast. Sad to say, I don't remember the tomato vinaigrette (?) but I do remember really enjoying the salad.
Tina ordered the chicken breast sandwich: 
She liked the pesto sauce and the freshness of the veggies. And the lightly battered sweet potato fries were excellent, flavorful and crunchy.
All in all we had a very good time at the Musical Instrument Museum.
MIM, 4725 E. Mayo Blvd, Phoenix AZ 85050, (480) 478-6000.
Tratto
For dinner that evening, we had reservations at Tratto, also known as Tratto Bianco because it is owned and operated by pizza superstar Chris Bianco. After we returned from the long weekend, we found a story in the New York Times about him, the health struggles that forced him away from flour and ovens, and the opening of his latest restaurants. Worth reading.
On a previous visit to Phoenix, Tina and I had lunch at Pane Bianco, his sandwich shop in central Phoenix, so we were eager to try his latest venture. He opened a new Pizza Bianco in the Town & Country Center in Phoenix, and right next to it a trattoria, connected by two food preparation areas. This one on the pizza side: 
this one on the Tratto side: 
Tina and I began our meal with a delightful vermouth cocktail: 
which gave us time to look over the simple one-page menu: 
and to enjoy the complimentary pecans, walnuts, green olives, and cheese: 
Let me apologize for some of the photos in this post. I forgot to do an exterior shot, and the restaurant was packed (we arrived before 5:30) so this is the only interior shot I can use: 
If you are interested in looking at the interior/exterior, I recommend the Tratto website.
Also, as evening wore on, the ambient light decreased, so some pics are substandard â even by my standards.
Anyway, back to the food. We started with a salad â lemon cucumber, celery root, parsley, and red onion with a pleasant mild creamy vinaigrette: 
Interesting and subtle. It's amazing how much taste parsley can have when it is not overwhelmed by other ingredients.
The bread, I love good bread and this was superb. A crunchy crust with a slight charred flavor reflecting a super hot oven; the crumb was excellent as well: 
To accompany the dinner, we selected a Renato Ratti Nebbiolo (2014). While made from the same grape and from the same general area as a Barolo, this wine was fruity and not overpowering, going well with all our courses: 
The next dish tasted a whole lot better than it looks in this picture: 
The pasta, four long and thick candeles, had a nice firm chew, but the real hero of the dish was the pork Genovese sauce. The slow cooked onion based sauce was full of rich and tender braised pork. A real treat, something I've never had before, but something down-home and comforting nonetheless.
The lamb was one of the two mains that we ordered: 
Again, much better than the picture. Braised leg of lamb had been placed in an extremely hot oven to sear the exterior, adding another dimension to the overall flavor. The large chunks of meat were fork tender and tasty. The fennel and radicchio added some texture and contrasts, and I'm sure the anchovy/lemon sauce contributed also.
The other main was a small chicken with a honey/chimayo chili glaze seared in one of those hot ovens: 
It was extremely moist and wonderfully flavored. Since we had ordered so much food we went into a triage mode and saved most of this great chicken for our next night's dinner in Yuma. Day-old and cold, it was still great chicken.
As a side dish we had large slices of zucchini â again showing the effects of the oven â served with squash blossoms and mint: 
It was okay.
The dinner concluded with a pear poached in port with a small scoop of Gorgonzola on the side: 
It was a simple classic conclusion to our Tratto meal. While not everything was amazing, I was impressed by the quality of ingredients, the excellent service, and the food that felt 100% "authentic" and very innovative at the same time. Tina and I left full and smiling.
Tratto Bianco, 4743 N. 20th St. at Town & Country, Phoenix AZ 85016, (602) 296-7761
Really friendly folks, a nice selection. I got the Missus a French Press and I got an Americano before we hit the road.
I'm sure you know if foie gras is on the menu, we'd be ordering it, even with a $20 supplement. The fois gras was nicely seared, the interior nice and smooth, rich, earthy, though the roasted and compressed apple was perhaps a bit on the sweeter end of the spectrum for us.
