- [Narrator] And now an Arizona PBS Original Production.

- I'm Chef Mark Tarbell, welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona."

The show where Arizona residents recommend their favorite restaurants.

Coming up, we have guests from up north who are passionate about their picks.

They've dined at all three and are ready to share their reviews with each other and with you right here on "Check, Please!

Arizona."

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(slow music) - I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona."

In this episode, we're heading to the cool pines of Flagstaff.

Let's meet our diners.

Rhonda Mathis and her husband made the move to the Flagstaff area because they love the outdoors.

Rhonda spends time volunteering with a wildlife rehab.

She plans to put her broadcast journalism degree to good use on the show as she celebrates her pick, a fine dining restaurant in the downtown area.

Ara Lynn Nowack spends her days in the technical world of medical devices.

So when she needs her break, she crafts with her nieces or hikes in the forest with her two yellow labs and she always stops in at her favorite sandwich shop that has a unique twist.

But we start with our tour guide and geologist, Wayne Ranney.

Wayne's led tours in 90 countries around the world, including two of his favorites, Iceland and Argentina.

He's also traveled to the other down under, Antarctica.

When he is back on solid ground, Wayne finds comfort in a longtime fixture in Flagstaff.

This is MartAnne's Breakfast Palace.

(slow joyful music) - MartAnne's is a sweet little cafe, family-owned.

MartAnne's serves Mexican breakfast.

We have chilaquiles, we have rancheros, enchilada, egg.

A few other kind of specialty things that came along as years went by.

Our chilaquiles are fried corn tortilla chips, scrambled eggs, cheddar cheese mixed with Jack cheese, green onions, and your choice of sauce.

We serve homemade red chili sauce and homemade green chili sauce.

You also have the option of adding meats to those sauces.

Our decor is vibrant, eclectic, just fun.

(upbeat joyful music) My friend, who is now the artist in residence, Emma Gardner and I just created the space to include red walls, black and white checkered floors, multicolored, glittering chairs, and her artwork, which is, for me, is the main atmosphere of MartAnne's, is Emma art.

When I hear that MartAnne's is a must-eat, must-go-to restaurant in Flagstaff, Arizona, I feel so proud, I feel humbled and I just feel like honored to be sort of one of the people that's been able to bring MartAnne's along and incredibly proud of this restaurant.

(upbeat cheerful music) - So Wayne, you have been all over the world, tasted, I'm sure a bazillion foods.

Why did you pick MartAnne's?

- Well, MartAnne's is the one restaurant that my wife and I go to all the time, whether it be breakfast, lunch or dinner.

It started out strictly as a breakfast and lunch place, but we just love the food there.

It has a New Mexico style favorite and my wife and I really love that.

Something I've never done before is have an appetizer and I ordered the masa chips, they're delicious.

They're like tamale, but on the inside they have melted Oaxaca cheese.

- [Mark] Oh.

- And it came piping hot and it served with salsa and hot consomme and you dip the masa chips into the consomme or the salsa.

And it was really something, we had to be very careful.

The cheese would run out, it was so hot, it was just fabulous.

- What are your favorite dishes?

- Well, my favorite dish is the J.B.'s Volcano.

It's a very large dish.

We can always take stuff home with that dish and we like that part of it, that we can bring things home in a doggy bag.

- Oh yeah, now they also have some pretty great salsas there too.

- My wife judges a restaurant based on their salsas and she thinks MartAnne's has the best salsa in Flagstaff.

- Can you describe a little bit of J.B.'s Volcano for me?

What's it like?

What's in it?

- Well, the motto of this restaurant is that "This is The House That Chilaquiles Built."

So J.B.'s Volcano is a generous portion of chilaquiles, but they top it off with a medium, over medium egg and it has green chili and red chili.

And if you love the New Mexico flavors, this is the dish to order.

- Ara Lynn, what did you have?

- I had the El Remirez, it's with pork and instead of red sauce, I had the green chili sauce 'cause I really enjoy the Hatch green chiles.

And it was just the perfect amount of spice and I really enjoyed it.

- [Mark] So how was the sauce?

Was it super spicy or bold?

- It wasn't very spicy, but it was just enough for me.

I really enjoy spicy dishes, so I definitely ordered this and wanted it with the green chilies.

- You wanted a little kick.

What did you start with?

- I had the Enchilada Y Huevo and our server recommended the red sauce, which, I love a good red sauce.

And a lot of red sauces are very tomatoey, this red sauce just had the perfect spice and the perfect consistency and was so good.

It was a cheese enchilada and then a over medium egg on top of the enchilada.

- [Wayne] When I've had it, it is really deep.

And I do like those dark, dark enchilada sauces.

- [Mark] Yes.

- And they have one there.

- [Rhonda] Yes.

- [Wayne] Which is sort of dried pasito and the Hatch chile chiles instead of more tomato like.

- [Rhonda] Right.

- [Wayne] And that's what gives it the bold stuff.

- [Rhonda] Exactly.

- And what else, what did your guest have?

- My son, we're two peas in a pod.

He had the exact same thing and he loved it.

The portions are huge and they come with rice and beans and hash browns.

So again, like Wayne mentioned, there's always leftovers to take home.

- Did you have anything to drink when you were there this time or is there a drink that's a go-to for you and your wife?

- For me, what I really like is their fresh, squeezed carrot juice, which comes in a great big ball jar.

They didn't have it the morning that we were there, so I ordered instead, the dirty chai, and I ordered the hot version.

So it was like a hot cup of tea, but it was chai and it was delicious.

I think I'm gonna order it again when I go.

- Cool, what makes it dirty?

- The dirty part is that they put espresso in it and so you will leave the restaurant with a little bit of a buzz.

- A little lift in your step, I really like that.

(Ara Lynn and Rhonda chuckle) Ara Lynn, what did you have?

- I had the Horchata and like he said, it comes in a huge ball glass and it's just a generous portion of the Horchata and it was delicious.

- [Rhonda] I had the Horchata as well and I can't believe I was born and raised in Phoenix, Arizona and had never had Horchata.

- [Mark] Oh my God.

- [Rhonda] And it was delicious.

- And tell us about the atmosphere.

- Well, it's a very eclectic restaurant.

On the walls, they have these "Day of the Dead" themed paintings.

The walls are painted bright red and it always feels like it's festive in there.

The service is very great as well.

They really have professional waiters and waitresses there and one of the few places in Flagstaff that might have that kind of service for it.

And they take pride in their job and yeah-- - [Mark] Long-time server.

Some servers have been there, what, 20 years?

- [Rhonda] Yeah, our server had been there for 20 years.

- [Mark] That's right.

- [Mark] Yeah, it's insane.

- [Rhonda] Which says a lot about the restaurant.

- [Ara Lynn] Yeah.

- [Mark] And the owners and everything.

- [Rhonda] Yes.

- [Wayne] So I would say that the energy of the red walls is what struck me, has always struck me about that joint.

It's really awesome.

- Any takeaways?

- I would definitely say park on the street.

- Why is that?

- Well, I parked in an open lot and got my car booted, the tire booted.

And I had to pay a serious amount of money to get it, to get my car back.

- Oh, I am very sorry about that.

(all chuckle) But a very good tip.

- I think my tip would be to try the red enchilada sauce.

- [Mark] Oh yeah.

- It was really good.

- I agree with that.

Wayne, your place, what's your tip?

- I would have to say, it's not just a breakfast place anymore.

If you wanna go when it's a little bit less crowded, you can go for dinner and get the same thing.

They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner all day long.

- If you wanna try MartAnne's Breakfast Palace, they're at 112 East Route 66.

An average meal will cost $16 and they do take reservations.

(slow music) Our next restaurant is Ara Lynn's, nothing satisfies like a good sandwich, but that's not all her pick offer.

This is Proper Meats + Provisions.

(upbeat music) - Proper Meats + Provisions is a craft butcher shop and deli.

We focus on locally-sourced meats and products from around Arizona and the region.

For us, the reason why we chose Flagstaff was lifestyle.

We wanted to live in a smaller town.

We wanted to live in the mountains.

We frequent the outdoors as most people do in Flagstaff.

So the deli side of the business is a sandwich menu of 15 to 20 sandwiches, all scratch made in-house.

And we produce all of our own pastrami, roast beef, bacon, all the ingredients for the sandwiches here out of the meats that we source and butcher in the shop.

(upbeat music) We have a selection of sort of carefully curated retail products, all designed to fit together with the idea of meal planning from the shop.

So you can really come in and design an entire meal, grab a bottle of wine and head home to feed your family.

We've got a butcher case up front and a butcher actually working in the shop.

And the reason why we did that is because, we're not trying to shelter anybody from what we do in the shop, we butcher our animals here.

We do as much whole animal butchery as we can.

The ethos behind it again, was really that local sourcing, bringing the meat that's raised in Arizona into the shop.

(upbeat music) The one thing that we talked about that I absolutely wanted to see on this menu was a pastrami sandwich worthy of any of them that you can find in the country.

The thing that sets the pastrami apart, again, is the attention to detail.

You know, the process of making the pastrami takes seven to 10 days for us and we're very meticulous about how it's done and we're very meticulous about the bread that we source for it and everything that goes on.

There was one guy that came in and said he was sitting in a bar in Brooklyn and he was talking about going to Flagstaff and the guy next to him said, "If you're going to Flagstaff, "you have to go to Proper Meats "because it's as good as any pastrami "you're gonna get in New York."

And to me, that's the best compliment that I can get.

(upbeat music) - So, Ara Lynn, why did you pick Proper Meats + Provisions?

- I love this place.

I go there for lunch all the time and it's fantastic.

It's a butchery, you can get deli meat, you can get frozen pot pies.

The French Dip is just fantastic.

It's very tender, roast beef and it has the best bread, very fresh bread.

And I love the Au Jus sauce, so I like to dip my sandwich into something.

And I just really love this Au Jus sauce, it's not salty at all and it has bits of pieces of roast beef in it, it's delicious.

- [Mark] Oh, so it's like a real Au Jus, it's not just clear broth?

- [Ara Lynn] Yes, for sure.

- [Mark] It's got beef in it.

- [Ara Lynn] Yes.

- [Mark] That's cool.

- And I got their house-made potato chips, they're delicious.

- So tell me about the atmosphere a little bit.

This is your pick, so what draws you to the atmosphere?

- I like that there's never really a wait and you can just step right in and usually, you can get a table right away and it's a great place to go for after work and have happy hour.

They have local beer on tap and you can also just grab something from the butchery and take it home, some sausage and cook it at home.

- So what did you have for your meal?

- I had the Muffuletta Sandwich.

It was delicious.

It comes on focaccia bread that was just light and airy.

It has three different meats on it, mortadella, capocollo and salami.

And you know, they have their own butcher case there.

So their meats are just such high quality meats.

And it had a really tasty olive tapenade spread on the focaccia, very delicious.

Everything just super fresh.

- Wayne, what did you have when you were there?

- Well, I ordered an appetizer and I did see the special piece of paper and I said, "Oh, I've gotta try the tomato basil soup."

- [Mark] Oh.

- [Wayne] And it's tomato basil and garlic.

And it was fantastic, it was a very large bowl of soup.

But what was interesting about it is that there were four slices of toasted sourdough bread from the Noble Bakery in Phoenix.

- [Mark] Wow.

- And I could have ordered just the slices of sourdough bread, they were beautifully toasted.

They came out really, really warm.

And together with the soup, it was really a nice way to start the meal.

For a sandwich, I had the Reuben.

And very interesting why I ordered that.

When I went into the restaurant, I saw two people sitting at one of the outdoor tables and what they had on their plate looked fabulous.

And I said, "What did you order?"

And they both said, "The Reuben."

And then they looked at me and said, "The best Reuben in town."

- Cool.

- So I think it was set for me that I would order the Reuben.

And it was very nice as well.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- And it came with the fresh cooked potato chips and a dill pickle.

The dill pickle, I would give four out of five.

It was just not quite as crunchy as I would've liked.

- Okay, Rhonda, any takeaway tips?

- I think my pro-tip would be to make sure you ask about the daily specials because we didn't see the paper with the daily specials until after we had placed our order and paid.

So maybe if you don't see that right up-front, ask.

And they had quite a few daily specials for the day.

- Wayne, any takeaways for you?

- Well, the one disappointment about this place was just how loud the music was being played.

And I thought to myself, "I wouldn't want to go there "if I wanted to have a conversation with somebody."

So I would say try to go at a time when it's maybe not too busy, but the food is outstanding.

And you know, one of the things you could do, is order food there and then go right next door at the Mead House that they have right next door.

And they allow you to bring the food in.

And people do that often.

- Ara Lynn, anything else you wanna add?

- I would definitely recommend getting frozen pot pies.

They have smaller ones or larger ones for family and then they also have dog food occasionally.

- Cool.

- Where it's like the leftovers from-- - Do they make it there?

- Yeah, the leftovers from the butchery.

Highly recommend any kind of cheesesteak or even the French Dip for sure.

- [Mark] Philly, is it?

I hear it's amazing.

- [Ara Lynn] It is, it's amazing.

- [Mark] I'm gonna have that next time I go.

- [Ara Lynn] Yes.

- [Mark] Amazing, I've heard it's better than Philly.

- [Ara Lynn] Cheesesteak.

Yes, and this, that's the whole reason why I went there.

'Cause all my friends kept telling me, "You have to go get the cheesesteak."

But I had to do the French Dip.

I just want to split my sandwich or something.

- One more reason to love Arizona.

We have better Philly cheesesteak in Flagstaff than they do in Philly.

- Yes, everyone says that.

(chuckles) - If you wanna try Proper Meats + Provisions, they are located at 110 East Route 66.

An average meal will cost $20 and they do not take reservations.

(slow music) Our last restaurant spot belongs to Rhonda.

Her place offers everything, from Surf to Turf, in a comfortable and cozy atmosphere.

This is Josephine's.

- Josephine's is a, it's a fine dining restaurant, but we have a very casual feel.

The building itself is on the National Historic Register.

It's the crescent bungalow style.

It's got the coffered ceilings inside, the cast fireplace, the expansive porches, sash windows, and wainscot.

The building itself is made with indigenous materials.

So like the flooring was originally the pine that's here, the stone, which is actually the foundation of the building, is the Malapai Rock.

And actually we have a beautiful wine cellar.

(slow music) Fine dining is a little bit different here in Flagstaff because Flagstaff, let's face it, is a little bit more casual.

And I think people from Phoenix come up here to enjoy that.

We have a beautiful outdoor patio, which we really emphasize.

We've got two fireplaces, real cozy, comfortable, you know, at night.

It's just really well, beautifully lit.

I named the restaurant after my mother.

My mother passed away about five years before I opened the restaurant.

She always instilled an entrepreneurial spirit to be independent.

And so I just kind of wanted to kind of honor her spirit in that way.

- My name is Manny Ramirez and I'm a chef at Josephine's.

So the most popular dishes are, is the Diablo Shrimp Mac and Cheese, and the Chicken Saltimbocca and the short ribs.

I love the place.

So I feel like everybody's family here.

That guest is really nice to me.

They love my food, it made me feel good.

Like my job is like, I like to make people happy.

- I never wanted to have a stuffy restaurant.

I want people to come here, be able to sit back and relax and feel like they can just casually have a good time.

(slow music) - So Rhonda, you go here a lot, why did you pick this restaurant and what did you have when you were there?

- It's a special occasion place for myself and my husband.

And the last two times we've gone for special occasions.

I have fallen in love with the French Onion Braised Short Ribs.

The meat is just so tender and juicy and the sauce that it's cooked in or the meat broth is, it's just really, really delicious.

- [Mark] So it's somewhere between a thick like gravy and a thin Au Jus?

- [Rhonda] Exactly.

- [Mark] Is that the?

- [Rhonda] Exactly, it's thicker than an Au Jus, but not quite as dense as a gravy.

Just a really nice compliment to the meat.

- And what is that served with?

- That is served with a Gruyere Risotto that my son fell in love with.

In fact, he's trying to duplicate the recipe.

He's my resident foodie in the family.

It's also served with steamed vegetables that were delicious, there, I think there was some squash and asparagus that were part of the steamed vegetables.

Very, complimented the meal nicely.

- Yeah, what did you start with?

- We had the calamari and it was a Anaheim Corn Meal Dusted Calamari.

Very, very light batter on it so you could really taste the calamari.

- So Ara Lynn, so what did you have to start with?

- I had the Baklava Baked Brie, it's served warm and it's served some crackers, but it's wrapped in this phyllo dough and it's warm and gooey inside.

- [Mark] Oh.

- [Ara Lynn] And you just break right into it.

But the best part is this orange honey that drizzled on top with pistachios.

- [Mark] Oh, that sounds amazing.

- [Wayne] Nice.

- So what did you move on to?

What was your entree?

- I also had the braised short ribs with the crispy French onion on the top.

And it was really, the compliment to the food was great.

The French onions being crispy with the meat with this gravy on top.

So I had the same thing as her.

And I had similar experience with the Gruyere Risotto was very good.

- What did your guest have?

- [Ara Lynn] She had the Bacon Wrapped Filet Mignon.

- [Mark] Did you have a chance to taste it?

- [Ara Lynn] Yeah, I did, it was really good.

She cooked it medium and that's how I like it.

So it was delicious.

- My wife and I went a little bit overboard.

We had appetizer, entree, and dessert.

And we started with the fried green tomatoes that came with queso panela.

These green tomatoes were very lightly breaded.

One of the green tomatoes, it comes with four slices of green tomatoes.

One of them may have been a little bit too green, just a little bit too hard, but what a delicious way to start a meal with that appetizer.

And then I ordered the spicy fried chicken sandwich and this chicken breast that came on the sandwich, I had three bites before I finally got to the brioche bun.

It was just hanging over the side and it came with some very nice accompaniments.

It came with a chicken curry soup.

- Oh.

- And it came with jicama slaw.

- [Mark] Oh, nice.

- And I loved it, it was a fantastic meal.

It cost a little bit much, a little bit pricey for lunch in Flagstaff but-- - [Mark] Yeah.

- Very, very nice meal.

And we love Josephine's and we usually go there on special occasions.

- Cool, so Rhonda, what did you have for dessert?

- We had a couple different desserts.

My brother had the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee and he enjoyed it, it had the nice crispy top on it.

And then my son and I shared the Peach Crisp and the Peach Crisp, it was really good.

It didn't have a lot of crisp on top of it, which is the part that I really like.

But it was also served hot with dulce de leche ice cream, which the ice cream was phenomenal.

- Ara Lynn, what did you have for dessert?

- I had the Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, and my friend had the Chocolate Bourbon Pie.

I was really disappointed with the creme brulee.

It was kind of like cottage cheese inside.

It didn't have that creamy texture that I was expecting.

- Well, that could be, I mean, you had a fairly good one.

You said it was really good and your brother liked it.

It could be that it was broken, like when it was cooking it, instead of holding together, it curdled.

And that can sometimes happen.

So tell me about the chocolate pecan bourbon, yummy.

- It had a big dollop of vanilla ice cream on top, and it was very creamy.

I'm not a big pecan fan, but I really did like it, the pecans weren't, you know, too hard and they weren't too soft.

- So Wayne, what did you have for dessert?

- Well, my wife and I ordered the Zeppoles and it was unbelievable.

My wife ordered it, I had no idea what we were getting.

And they were these donut balls, but they're filled with ricotta cheese and drizzled with a vanilla sauce.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- And I actually had to eat them when I was on my way to a river trip.

So we took them as a takeout and I was in the truck eating these things and I went, "Oh my God, these are delicious."

They were piping hot still after I left the restaurant.

- Oh, fantastic.

- Yeah.

- Man, that's a good way to start a river trip.

- Yes.

- 'Cause you're gonna need good food like that in the river.

And Rhonda, what did you think of the atmosphere?

- I love Josephine's, especially on a cold Winter's day in Flagstaff.

You walk in, they have a fireplace and we had a table right by the fireplace.

So it's like going to a good friend or family member's cozy home and they also happen to be great cooks.

- Oh, that's good.

Good friend to have.

- Yes.

- Wayne, what did you think of the decor?

- It's an old historic house in downtown Flagstaff and there's many, many little rooms, so you could go there and maybe eat four or five times and be in a different place every time you go.

- I do love that about Josephine's.

- Yeah.

- It's really cool.

If you want to try Josephine's, it's at 503 North Humphreys in historic downtown Flagstaff.

An average meal will cost about $40 and they do take reservations.

I wanna thank Rhonda, Ara Lynn and you, Wayne, for joining me at the table.

And thank you for joining "Check, Please!

Arizona."

If you'd like to share your favorite restaurant, head to our website, azpbs.org/checkplease and nominate your must eat at spot.

Who knows?

You could be joining me at the table.

Be a part of the foodie conversation in Arizona on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, using #checkpleaseaz.

Join us next time when three new guests make their recommendations right here on "Check, Please!

Arizona."

I'm Chef Mark Tarbell and have pine tree dreams.

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They encourage you to talk to your doctor, get recommended screenings and don't forget your flu vaccine.

More information at albertsons or safeway.com.

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