KITCHEN DOORS {where we ate this month}
TACO CHELO Downtown Phoenix Roosevelt Row recently gained a new tenant, Taco Chelo. The adorably decorated Mexican cafe is packed on First Friday, but any night is a great night to enjoy the focused menu of street tacos, a few salads and sides, plus cocktails, wine and beer. The fish taco was my favorite. The lightly battered and fried piece of fish was complemented with cabbage, pickled onion, chile morita crema and pico de gallo. The barbacoa taco came in a close second. The tres leches dessert was also fabulous — it was creamy and cold and topped with orange, almonds, toasted coconut and whipped cream. — Lynette Carrington Photo: Karen Werner
THIRDSPACE Phoenix Your home is your first space, your work is your second space. This arty collective with a patio and full bar is your ThirdSpace, which it’s taken as its name. You’ll find salads, sandwiches and sides, many with a Latin flair. But the best deal in the house is their lunch bowls. Offered Monday through Friday, they’re a steal at $6.99. They’re served over rice, quinoa or greens and come with a drink. I’m a sucker for any kind of pork dish, so I picked the Cuban Pork Bowl, perfectly “mélanged” with pickled cabbage, avocado and orange habanero sauce. The 1940’s cottages surrounding the patio were once the residences of German POW officers. Now, brightly painted, they’re little boutiques, with offerings as cool and funky as the eats next door. — Judy Pearson
Photo: Thirdspace
TANZY RESTAURANT Scottsdale Tanzy Restaurant might be one of the best kept culinary secrets in the Valley. The gorgeous restaurant with soaring ceiling is adjacent to iPic Theaters in the Scottsdale Quarter, and the menu skews to Italian/Mediterranean fusion. We started with a wonderful yellowtail crudo that included radish, tangy grapefruit, micro cilantro, crispy shallots and a passion fruit splash. We chose entrées of cowboy cut bone-in rib eye and bone-in pork chop Milanese. The dessert selection was brought out on a customized dessert cart that was a fun, personalized dining experience and Tanzy’s house-infused liquors were a tasty departure from the expected. — Lynette Carrington Photo: Tanzy Restaurant
26 FRONTDOORS MEDIA | JUNE 2018
