RUBEE TUESDAY, July 12-18: Tanzy, SumoMaya, Blue Hound, Bitter and Twisted, VomFASS, The Camby

A recently-launched feature, Rubee Tuesday is a recap of my week's adventures in dining and drinking in and around Phoenix.  

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SumoMaya's Billionaire Roll with wagyu, snowcrab, asparagus, truffle aioli, and gold flake

Wednesday, July 13. I haven't been to Tanzy in a while, and we had a great reminder of how good it is when we took a Tanzygram Teach class, saw a movie at iPic, and returned for dinner. Click on the photo below for a detailed recap.  

Thursday, July 14. What took me so long to get to SumoMaya? It's a beautiful restaurant with fantastic food (I especially love Chef Roberto Madrid's Peruvian accents) and excellent cocktails.  For details and photos on our first visit, click on the picture below.

Sumo tiradito with hamachi, passionfruit sauce, lemon sorbet, dulce de leche and choclo

Saturday, July 16.  Noah Momyer is the new head bartender at Blue Hound by way of Seattle and he's mixing and shaking things up with his creative libation list. Look for a recap and photos to post next week on some of his stellar cocktails, along with a sampling of Chef Sean Currid's recent menu additions.  

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On Top of Mont Blanc: Bulldog gin, walnut liqueur, blackberry liqueur, and lemon bitters

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Fried green tomatoes with spicy remoulade and jumbo lump crab

And since we were right across the street, we popped in to Bitter and Twisted for a Negroni nightcap and a bonus - Ross let me know that I could still get a HighSpirited cupcake!  This week's special was theOld Fashioned cupcake with cherry vanilla velvet cake stuffed with Four Roses bourbon pastry cream and frosted with bourbon and  orange  buttercream.

Monday, July 18.  I attended a media event at VomFASS in Scottsdale and felt like a kid in a candy store! It was full of treats to drink, eat, and cook with, including vinegars, oils, condiments, pastas, liqueurs, wine and spirits (be sure to check out their cask-aged selection).  Click this link for a detailed recap and more photos. 

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Monday, July 18.  I was also invited to a special Chef's Roll competition at The Camby Hotel.  Chef Dushyant Singh of The Camby and Chef Jeremy McMillan of Bourbon Steak pulled out all the stops.  

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Che Dushyant Singh

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Chef Jeremy McMillan

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We started with Bee's Knees at a welcome reception before taking our seats to watch the chefs in action.   Both a People's Choice and judges' scores were tallied.  Congratulations to Chef Dushyant for the win! He will be traveling to San Diego for the Rock'n Chef Final.  More information can be found at this link. 

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Check back for next week's Rubee Tuesday as I visit Market Street Kitchen, Barrio Cafe Gran Reserva, Crudo, and Dillon's KC BBQ.

Click this link for last week's recap. http://www.writeonrubee.com/diningout/2016/rubee-tuesday-july-5

Tanzy Scottsdale and Tanzygram Teach

Every other Wednesday, Tanzy at Scottsdale Quarter hosts "Tanzygram Teach" led by social media expert Robert Dube, and I was invited to attend the July 13th class.  I'm always looking for Instagram photo tips so I didn't hesitate to say yes. 

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Our group met in a private dining room, where Robert introduced himself and explained how the class was set up. Smaller tapas-sized items would be brought out first to photograph, and then we would be served full dishes to share with our fellow students. Our fun and informative class covered guidelines and tips for Instagram including lighting, camera angles, and editing apps (Robert recommends snapseed). "When you see the picture, you should be able to taste the food," said Robert, "and my goal is to help you get there."

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Robert Dube

Our tantalizing array of photo subjects included orecchiette pasta with turkey sausage, meatballs with pomodoro and whipped ricotta, Italian shrimp and grits, cheese and charcuterie, branzino with Israeli couscous, spinach, and roasted tomatoes, and scallops with brussels sprouts and pancetta.

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Shrimp with mushrooms, pork belly and polenta

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Parma Board: prosciutto, salami, coppa, buffalo mozzarella, gorgonzola dolce

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Branzino with Israeli couscous and fennel puree

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Scallop with brussels sprouts and pancetta

What a great idea! It's a lot of fun, and if you have't been Tanzy, it's also a delicious introduction to their menu.  We all learned new tips and met friendly like-minded food fans.  The next Tanzygram Teach will be held on July 27th.  For more information, visit this link.  

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After such a tasty glimpse of Tanzy's Italian cuisine, we were looking forward to our dinner later that evening. Tanzy is located at iPic Theater, so our plans after class included a movie. We watched Central Intelligence in our Premium Plus recliners with complimentary popcorn and sipped on cocktails  (Negronis for me, martinis for my husand) from Tanzy's bar before returning for our dinner reservation.  

We ordered some of our favorites from the class such as the gulf shrimp and grits with maitake mushrooms, confit pork belly, rich veal pan jus and creamy polenta, tender pork meatballs crowned with whipped ricotta, and the wonderful orecchiette with housemade turkey sausage, Swiss chard, thyme and fennel pollen. We rounded out our meal with new-to-us dishes such as cast iron crispy polenta topped with sweet tomato jam, mascarpone, and peppery arugula, the soup of the day, a velvety carrot bisque, a and a juicy grilled 10-oz filet mignon. Too full for dessert - next time! 

Crispy polenta with tomato jam, mascarpone, and arugula

Creamy carrot bisque

Caesar salad

Pork meatballs with ground pork, prosciutto and mortadella with pomodoro sauce and whipped ricotta

Orecchiette with housemade turkey sausage, wilted Swiss chard, thyme and fennel pollen

Shrimp with maitake mushrooms, confit pork belly, polenta, and veal pan jus

Grilled filetwith haricot vert, roasted fingerling potatoes, and red wine sauce

Dinner was such a feast, we've already made plans to return to bring mom and dad for a movie and dinner. We also had friendly and knowledgeable service from Josh and Jacob. Tanzygram Teach with dinner and a show - a perfect visit!

Tanzy Scottsdale is located at 15257 N Scottsdale Rd, Scottsdale, AZ 85254.  Phone 480-483-3255.

I received a complimentary media invitation.