RUBEE TUESDAY: Phoenix Dish Fest, Arboleda, Paso Robles Cab Camp, Arizona Cocktail Week
A weekly feature, I publish Rubee Tuesday on Tuesdays as a photo recap of my recent drinking and dining adventures. You can see past Rubee Tuesdays HERE.
The team at Weft & Warp is always a Dish Fest favorite (L-R: Beverage manager Sergio Campos, executive pastry chef Morgan Malzahn, and executive chef Dushyant Singh)
March 5: Another great year at PHOENIX magazine’s Phoenix Dish Fest, one of the city’s most popular food festivals. In fact, it has been so successful that Dish Fest will be expanding to two days in 2024. Click here for a video Reel.
March 6-9: The next day, I was off to Paso Robles, California to cover Paso Cab Camp for The SOMM Journal.
I’ll be sharing more photos under my Travel section and video Reels on Instagram (Here’s one of our beautiful hotel, the Allegretto Vineyard Resort).
EDITED 6/1/2023: Here’s the link to my seven-page spread in the June/July issue of SOMM Journal.
DAOU Family Estates in Paso Robles
March 9: Arboleda (Scottsdale Quarter). Upon landing in Phoenix at dinner time, my husband picked me up and we decided to check out a new restaurant I’ve been hearing so much about. Arboleda, which means grove in Spanish, celebrates Mediterranean dishes spanning the cuisines of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, and Morocco. We not only loved the delicious hummus and lobster spaghetti, but check out the pan con tomate with WorldClass Cinco Jotas jamón Ibérico de bellota (the world-famous melt-in-your-mouth ham made from Iberian pigs fed on acorns and cured in centuries-old cellars in Jabugo, Spain). We already have plans to return before the end of the month to explore more of the menu.
March 12: The 11th annual Arizona Cocktail Weekend took place March 10-13, and I’ve attended the festivities since its debut. This year, I made Sunday my main day with two events. First, we kicked off our evening at Pa’La with a Roxx Vodka event featuring live music and a delicious signature cocktail called the Esmeralda, created by GM Gilles Kolakowski.
We were also treated to delicious bites such as hamachi topped with WorldClass caviar, shrimp with ginger-chile koshu and togarashi, and wood-grilled WorldClass octopus with saffron, Chimayo chile, artichokes, Controne beans and Steadfast Farm daikon radish salad. You can see more on my video Reel here.
Top Bars at The Croft: Once again, award-winning bars from around the country were gathered downtown, such as New York’s Clover Club and Double Chicken Please, NOLA’s Jewel of the South,Chicago’s Three Dots and a Dash and Portland’s Palomar, to name a few. International pop-ups included Amaro Bar and Coupette from London, Analogue from Singapore, Penicillin from Hong Kong, Handshake Bar from Mexico City, and more.
Executive chef Rochelle Daniel of Atria, Christina Barrueta, and Atria chef Maribel Silva
You can see more of Top Bars (my favorite AZ Cocktail Weekend event!) on my video Reel.
March 13: Tarbell’s (Central Phoenix). A friend was visiting from Massachusetts, so we had to bring him to one of our favorites! Pictures below: Mylk Punch (clarified punch with pineapple, aloe, black English tea, citrus and spice) and my decadent cacio e pepe with Perigord black truffles.
Check back next week as I share photo recaps of a Spanish wine dinner at Prime at Gila River Casino Resort, Dirty Dough cookie shop, Little Pickle, Second Story Liquor Bar, a First Date with Fairmont Phoenix Hotel and Residences, STK’s new rooftop deck, and a ZD wine tasting at Trevor’s Liquors.
And follow along on my Instagram for this week’s visits to: Vecina, ZuZu at Hotel Valley Ho, Pa’la Downtown, Eden Bar and Blue Hound Kitchen at Hotel Palomar, and Anhelo for a special scholarship wine dinner.