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

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Arizona" is made possible by Whitfill Nursery, proud to support Arizona PBS, a valley tradition since 1946.

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(jazz music) - I'm Chef Mark Tarbell and welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona", the show where people dine then dish.

This is how it works.

We asked three guests to each recommend their favorite restaurants.

They go to each one, eat, drink separately, of course, and then join us here to share their dining experiences.

Meet Lynette Carrington.

She's a native Arizonan and a writer.

Her recommendation, a restaurant that's putting a local twist on American classics.

And Nora Zelov.

She's a local business owner who loves great Mexican food.

And her pick, she says is one of the best taco shops in Phoenix.

And up first, Nate Skotak.

He's a server whose choice has been one of his favorites for years.

It's Matt's Big Breakfast and you'll find it on north first street, just south of east Roosevelt street in downtown Phoenix.

(upbeat rock music) - The interesting thing about breakfast is it's something that everyone has and everybody can relate to.

We serve breakfast classics.

We don't have this big, long fancy menu.

Breakfast, like you remember but using the best ingredients we know how to find.

For instance one of our specials, it's simple.

It's a chicken enchilada sausage.

Its made by shriners.

It's exactly that.

It's enchilada flavored chicken sausage.

We'll do that either with some sauteed fresh jalapenos or we'll do it with roasted Anaheim chilies, Cabot white cheddar cheese.

And we always do it with a tortilla that's the way to, kind of put a little variety in the menu 'cause we don't have a huge menu.

So you can get through it pretty quickly, if you're a regular.

We focus equally on ingredients and our menu is just delivering warm, friendly, kind of old-fashioned hospitality.

You'll definitely get a thank you or a goodbye when you leave.

And, people have a lot of choices where they can eat, but we literally have some customers eat with us almost every day.

When we opened almost 13 years ago, people would say, "Who's gonna go there for breakfast?"

And I'd be like, "I hope somebody will" and we were tiny but it was rougher down here.

Especially this kind of stretch of first street, didn't look a lot like it now.

And now people say, "You've got the best location in town."

For us to be kind of part of downtown, since it's a small part of the renaissance.

That's pretty exciting.

- Matt's big breakfast has a big reputation, so why did you choose this spot?

- When I was a first-year student in college, I was in a peer mentor group and the older student decided that a group was gonna try a different breakfast spot every month.

By the end of the semester, we all voted and decided that Matt's Big Breakfast is the best place to grab breakfast in downtown.

- This sounds like a club that should be continued by the way.

The bacon, bacon, bacon, bacon club.

So tell me a little bit about the atmosphere.

What do you feel like when you're walking in.

- Yeah you walk in and it's a packed house.

I've never seen it with an empty table.

Everyone's talking, there's a lot of conversation going on.

I rarely see people on their phones and people are focused on the food.

- Well, that's a big deal.

I mean, people often are the best type of entertainment and also energy for a place.

But also people not being on their phones, that's kind of unheard of.

Hmm I wonder why.

(Nathan chuckles) So what did you have to start with?

- I got their special, which is my go-to.

They had a three egg scramble, so scrambled eggs, Turkey sausage, pepper jack cheese, and then Anaheim chilies.

And it comes with a tortilla on the side and you gotta choose either either home fries or hash browns.

I always get their home fries.

I think they're really good.

(Jonathan chuckles) - Home fries are amazing.

- Yeah, they are, oh my gosh.

I'm addicted.

So yes I mean, having that tortilla on the side, you can kinda make your own roll up a little cleaner, a little cooler, a little bit Southwestern I love it.

Nora, what did you have?

- Well, I also had the special and we started though, even though it was breakfast, we had an appetizer, we had a pancake.

And it was amazing.

It was really buttery and delicious.

And then I had the special, which was the Chicken Enchilada, I believe.

And so it was the same kind of thing, like a three egg scrambled with cheese, but it also had this chicken sausage in it and it was delicious.

It also had the tortilla on the side.

So you could kind of make your own bite.

And I actually had the hash browns and I thought they were really good.

They had the really crisp outside and kind of not definitely not moist cause you don't want a moist hash brown in the middle, but it had that just the really crisp outside and the more potatoey inside.

So it was really good.

- Well, the trick is it's sorta like a brick what they do there.

And it's like this wonderful rectangular brick and it is crispy on the outside, but you do want a little of that creaminess inside.

- [Nora] Yeah.

- Let the starch of the potatoes come through and bond it together.

So, Lynnete.

- Oh my gosh, we had a couple of things.

I was lucky enough to be able to take my son who is also a foodie.

I had just like Nate, I had their special, which was a three egg scramble.

Mine was a little different than yours.

It had roasted pork and local organic spinach and some cheese, some Fontina cheese.

It was so fantastic.

Can we talk about these home fries?

- These home fries are so incredible.

- I wish I had them now.

(all laugh) I did enjoy the hash brown, though.

- You need to order some.

These were perfectly seasoned, they weren't mushy.

They were just wonderful.

I had a side of the sourdough toast with the house-made blueberry preserves and their preserves, I wasn't sure if you knew, they're available for sale upfront and we grabbed a jar and bought those, and headed home and everybody just raved about the preserves.

But I have to say that Matt's Big Breakfast probably has one of the best breakfast in town.

Just fantastic.

- Well, Ernie's Matt's wife and she's been making those preserves, which were her grandma's recipe.

And she's shared that little tattered piece of paper with me that she covets the words of her grandma's.

So it has that sort of authentic feel to it.

It's a downtown staple.

What's it feel like to you when you walk in there?

- What's really interesting is that there's such a diversity of people.

There is a little bit of everybody down there and truly everyone wants to be there.

They're very excited.

It's a very hip, very urban, fun place to be.

And once you're inside, it's like a well-oiled machine.

Everybody knows what they're doing.

They know exactly where they need to be, when they need to be there.

And the service is just flawless, it's wonderful.

- They were super friendly.

They just really were.

They wanted to come and talk to you and see how you were doing.

And everybody was talking about what was going on and just how your day was going.

- So warm and friendly.

Did you have anything to drink?

I know they have some special... - I didn't, but my son went with us too and he had their Strawberry Lemonade.

They make this with their preserves that you were talking about.

So they have, I think it's fresh homemade lemonade.

And then they put their homemade preserves in it.

You could get blueberry or strawberry or just the lemonade.

I think those are the three flavors and they mix the preserves in it.

It was to die for.

Delicious, just fresh and flavorful and just really good.

- I don't know this for certain, but I bet the way that was discovered, that strawberry lemonade, was in the kitchen.

- Oh totally.

- I bet someone was going, "I think this should work well together."

And they started drinking it.

And Matt walked by and said, "What's that?"

And tasted it and be like, "Yummy".

If you would like to try Matt's Big Breakfast, reservations are not accepted.

And the average tab for breakfast or lunch is $14 without drinks.

(jazz music) Up next, Nora's choice.

It's La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop.

You'll find it on North 16th street, just north of East McDowell road in Phoenix.

(upbeat music) - My wife and me we decide that we should open a small restaurant and introduce to the people in Arizona our dishes, our traditional dishes.

So we create a combination with her family recipes and my family recipes.

So we have La Santisima.

Mexican cuisine, it has more tradition, it's a combination from Spain, from the Aztec and the Mayans.

We have the Cochinita Pibil that we make with banana leaves.

This dish take 12 hours, slow cook on the oven.

Those kind of dishes it's hard to find in North America.

And one of the main things is the salsa.

So if a restaurant or even a taco without a salsa is not a taco and is not a good taco.

So we decide to create the Salsa Bar.

We have around 15 to 18 salsa.

From peanut, chipotle, aconcole, sesame.

Don't forget the strawberry salsa.

That's one of our really best ones.

La Santisima means, it's like the dead.

Like a day of the dead.

It's a date when we go to the cemetery to visit our ancestors.

That's when we prepare the best dishes that they used to like.

That's why we decide to put La Santisima because we said "We're gonna prepare our best dishes every day for our community in Arizona."

- So Nora, how did you find this place?

- There are so many Mexican choices in the valley, and so we've gone to lots and lots of them and we just really feel like this one stands out.

It has a unique flavor for Mexican food.

You really wouldn't think much until you see this huge mosaic, a day of the dead lady.

It's just really cool on the side of the building.

And they have this beautiful wooden door in the front.

- Well I can tell you.

For me, I drove by like three times.

My chef friends have told me about this place, but the sign is like a dark red or something.

I'm like, where is this place?

Lucky for GPS.

So what did you think about the approach atmosphere or anything like that?

- It's small and I thought in a way that sort of lent to the excitement and the authenticity about it and the whole theme of DIA de Los Muertos that they have going on there is carried throughout where they have all the artwork and some statues and things like that.

- So, what did you think Nathan?

- It's really small and close together, yet it's gourmet.

And there's a bar there.

It provides a really nice atmosphere.

There's is a Salsa Bar that anyone can walk up and use.

- And they have like 12 salsa.

Did you do start with any of that?

- Definitely.

(laughs) - Nora I think you wanna take over.

- They have like 20 salsas, not 12.

I think it's 20 or over.

And let's just talk about that salsa bar, okay?

- Right.

- It is the star of the show, I think.

I mean, that's my favorite thing.

You walk in, you sit down and you just, I head right to the salsa bar and just gather up tons salsa.

I get probably like 10 different kinds.

I know it's pretty bad.

Sit down at the table and wait for them to bring me the chips.

(everyone laughs) And if they take too long, I just start drinking the salsa.

(Nathan laughs) - They like yours here.

(everyone laughs) - We particularly like the Pecan Salsa because it was a little bit thicker and we really enjoyed that nutty flavor.

And just the fact that it was so different.

- Well, pecans have a wonderful creaminess inside, but a very, almost bitter quality to the outer skin.

And so it adds that contrast of almost like tannin with red wine.

It dries your mouth out, it is the same effect that tannin dryness combined with the creaminess and then of course, a little spice, why not eat it on a chip.

- Its perfect with to mix with the other salsas too, because of that exact thing, you get the spicy with the other salsas and then you get that creamy with the pecan salsa.

Its so good.

- Really good.

- Great.

Well, let's just stop there.

I mean, let's just go right and we'll see.

What else did you have, Nathan?

- So I got their, Mayan Cochinita Pibil Burrito and the slow roasted pork was amazing.

Just melted in your mouth.

It was really flavorful, not too spicy, at least for me.

And it was paired with achiote rojo sauce, and then it had beans and rice as well in the burrito.

Did anybody have their actual guacamole?

- We did for their appetizer.

- I think they had cranberries in there.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

You'll find that in Mexico, they'll add pomegranate seeds, cranberries or something really the contrast of sweet with the creaminess and hot, it really works very well.

So, what did you have Nora?

- I had their special Burro.

So the La Santisima Special Burro and I had it with steak.

You can choose your meat.

The burrito itself has just so many things in it.

Lots of vegetables, roasted poblano, huge chunks of roasted garlic, corn, rice.

And I believe that they grill that because you get that Mexican cheese that's been grilled.

And so it turns a little brown and it's just really creamy.

And then you get a chunk of garlic in there.

It's just, oh, so delicious.

- I ordered the Taco Trio.

I think with any good Mexican restaurant, I judge it by the tacos.

I don't know about you, but that's what I do.

And my trio consisted of a Baja shark, the tiger shrimp, and also the barbacoa, which was fantastic.

This Baja shark was really interesting because it had cabbage and it had cilantro and salsa and it's just slightly crunchy and it's served with rice and beans.

And it was just so indicative of if you were down in Mexico, this is probably what you would find down on the coast.

It's just absolutely wonderful.

I loved it.

- Very street taco theme, I think.

- I think so.

I think so too.

And one of the other things that I loved, you had mentioned, they have great drinks there.

They have this really nice bar and I was looking through their drink selection and I saw a great fruit margarita, a very generously sized glass, and it had a really beautiful slice of pink grapefruit on top.

And it was just so wonderful, just perfectly tart, perfectly sweet.

And I noticed as I was leaving, there were probably about five or six other guests that also had that same drink.

So, obviously it's popular.

- Delicious.

- Wonderful.

Nora, did you have some of the drink?

- I did.

I had a margarita.

It was the Mamasita one with mango.

So delicious.

But I have to go back to your tacos because we have to gather in, and say this quietly, because if the cardiologists in the valley hear about this, they're going to stop it and do this thing where if you can order the tacos protein style.

Did any of you do this?

- [All] No.

- Okay.

So my husband had the Gaucho Taco protein style and what they do is instead of the tortilla, they enrolled your taco in Mexican cheese and then they grill it and then they put avocado on top of that and pickled onions.

- Is that legal?

- I know, I don't think so.

So that's why we're talking quiet.

- It sounds dangerous in a good way.

I like that.

- It is.

It's so good.

My favorite thing is avocado cheese and everything cheese, bacon.

So desserts.

Did you try the Flam?

- I did not try to flam here.

Did any of you two try out the dessert?

- I did.

- Tell us.

- It was this huge plate with this flan in the middle, drizzled with caramel and nuts.

And it was just delicious.

I mean, we literally looked at the plate.

(everyone laughs) They only had one left.

And so we had to share between three of us, this flan, and I swear, we were almost going to blows over it.

It was delicious.

- I think we must've been there right after you, because they were out of flan.

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon when we were finishing up.

And that's the only dessert on the menu, it's the flan.

And we were kind of disappointed because again, I think flan is just, it's that traditional Mexican dessert.

So, it gives us a reason to go back.

- Yes.

- Right definitely.

- Now before we go, we have to talk about their Horchata.

Did anybody else have the Horchata?

- Yes.

- Okay.

Maybe you can describe it though, because it's so good.

- Oh, it was just so creamy and it had fresh berries.

- It's unique, right?

They put cinnamon in it, they put seasonal fruit in it.

So it's almost like sangria where you're kind of taking your fork and you're trying to pick out all the pieces of, they put pecans in there.

And so you're trying to pick out all the nuts and the fruit.

Oh it's so good.

- If you would like to try La Santisima Gourmet Taco Shop, reservations are not accepted.

And the average tab for dinner is $14 without drinks.

(salsa music) And finally, Lynette's pick.

It's The Market by Jennifer's on east Indian school road on north 36th street in Phoenix.

(upbeat music) - After working under Mark Tarbell, which I would work for for the rest of my life, but I had a knee injury.

I didn't think I was going to be able to continue to line cook.

So that's when I started Jennifer's Catering.

I'd never thought I'd be back in the restaurant world.

But my clients, which was extremely flattering, would tease me like, "Oh, we have to have a party so we can have your food."

So I think I became weak one day and we decided to do The Market.

I want people to feel like they're part of something that has a bit of elegance, but it's also comfortable.

I want you to be able to come into The Market in your yoga pants to a tuxedo if you're going to the opera.

We switch out our menu twice a year because I want to be able to use as many local ingredients as we can.

And obviously what's in season.

My favorite dish that we've been doing right now at The Market is our Pork chop.

We do it with a little bit of mashed potatoes, but just a nice light mash on it.

And, the flavors come all together between the flavor of the protein, to the crispiness of the bacon and the celery.

And then that little bit of acid, which we do a lemon Nage at the end of it.

We're also able to do these fantastic winemakers dinners, which winemakers from all over the world come in and I pair the food with them.

And it's just such an incredible experience.

I just think that here at The Market, there's so many opportunities that happen, that don't happen everywhere else.

Because it's things that I would like to do.

So I think that I want everyone around me to want to do the same things, but it's worked out really well to have people come in here and just enjoy and learn and gather.

- Besides Jennifer's lovely shining personality, why did you pick this place?

- I've had the chance to dine at Jennifer's probably five or six times.

And every time I go, the food is outstanding and it's not just one thing.

It's everything.

And it's such a beautiful restaurant.

It's urban and it's fun, but it makes you feel like you're dining at your friend's house.

- I couldn't agree more.

I felt like I was almost at my own house.

They were just so friendly and so polite and just very sweet and wanting you to have the best time.

Just really.

- So sort of a Yes Attitude.

I do like that.

That's a great premise for a restaurant.

- The ambience was really great.

It was kind of rustic with exposed beams, but beautiful chandeliers, so kind of rustic chic and just really, really pretty.

- We started off our dish or our meal with a cast iron skillet.

It's a meat trio of meatballs and they're made from beef and veal and pork, and they're just crisp, ever so slightly around the outside.

And then they go swimming in a Roma tomato sauce and served with a side of noble bread.

- It's delicious.

We had the bread plate.

And so again, just a variety of different breads.

And my sons could not get a... We were fighting over the bread, but we also had the Pozole Verde.

It was filled with just melt in your mouth pork and hominy and just delicious spices.

And they gave you the toppings and all that to put on top.

Delicious.

- So we started out with the charcuterie board.

- Ooh yum.

- Yeah.

there was assortments and meats and all of them are good, but the ones that stood out to me were the prosciutto.

And then there was kind of a spicy salami that kind of had a kick to it at the end.

I was really impressed with that.

And then it was paired with a violet mustard.

I've never had anything like that before.

And it actually went really well for me and then a garlic aioli sauce.

- Yeah, I think it's Soppressata.

I had that as a spicy Soppressata.

Really good.

Sort of like salami.

- Salami?

- Yeah, really, really good.

Well, how about entrees?

- My entree was a Ricotta Gnocchi with roasted pork and spinach and mushroom in this wonderful vodka tomato coulis sauce.

And it was just, almost like their take on a comfort food possibly.

And I thought it was really tasty, really nice combination of flavors.

- I love that vodka tomato sauce is making a comeback.

It's a real 70s thing.

It's wonderful, but also ricotta what it adds to Gnocchi.

'Cause Gnocchi can be a little bit spongy, a little bit rubbery, sometimes the nature of it.

But when you put all the ricotta in it, it's because of the texture of ricotta, which expands it and makes the texture a lot more pillowy.

And that's really a nice feature there.

Very nice.

- My son had the Gnocchi too, the Ricotta Gnocchi and he loved it.

I mean, we were all fighting over the Gnocchi too.

- You all are fighting over food in your family.

- You know what?

We like food and we get serious about it.

- Its a good thing.

- I know.

It was really good.

And I had the Yellow Fin Niçoise salad.

I remember the green beans were so crisp and delicious and all of the greenery was so fresh, just really good.

- I chose the Ricotta Gnocchi as well.

And like you said, it's comfort food almost.

And it was kind of rainy outside that morning and the sauce, there was a lot of sauce and it was almost like a soup.

They give you a spoon with this and it was perfect for that rainy weather.

And there was the roasted pork in there, and there was enough to compliment the dish, but not too much to steal the show away from the Gnocchi - Nathan has a pork theme going on.

- I fight, he eats meat.

(everyone laughs) - So desserts.

She is known for desserts.

- Yes.

And we had a fantastic dessert.

It just so happens that my son had his 14th birthday and they brought to the table, a bread pudding done with a little bit of Nutella and a blade banana on top.

The Nutella, it's almost like infused into the bread pudding, so it doesn't overpower the dish.

And of course the blade bananas were warm and just slightly crispy on top.

It was just a wonderful, wonderful way to end the meal.

- We had the same thing, but I also tried the Blue cheese Cheesecake and it was interesting.

I like a sweet dessert and it wasn't very sweet.

They had preserves over it and the blue cheese was pretty prominent.

I love blue cheese.

That more like a cheese plate.

So if you're more French and you want a cheese plate at the end, I think you should definitely go with that.

- Well, I don't know where she got this, but there is a very traditional combination, food combination of blue cheese and Sauternes, which is a dessert wine from France, from Bordeaux area.

Or you can do blue cheese in port wine, which is a sweet wine from the Portugal.

- That makes sense.

- But I think, I imagine that's where she was going with it to try to bring up that sort of classic combination of flavors.

Yeah so it'd be great if you like that savory more.

I like more savory style dessert so.

- It was very good.

It just wasn't what I expected it in a dessert.

- Yes.

Oh yeah yeah.

Totally unexpected.

Of course.

I'm glad you ordered it though.

- Yeah it was interesting.

- It's cool.

Daring.

It's good.

- Nathan.

So I had the Beignets.

Shared that with my table, had trouble sharing it, like Nora does with my table.

They were kind of different from your traditional Beignets.

They were more of like a gourmet donut hole and they were really crispy on the outside with a cinnamon sugar coating, but you're digging the inside and such same fluffy consistency that you want from a Beignets.

And it had a little citrus tone to it.

- Well, I love New Orleans and I love Beignets, but I really like donut holes.

(everyone laughs) If you would like to try The Market by Jennifer's, reservations are accepted.

And the average tab for dinner is $42 without drinks.

Thanks to Lynette, Nora and Nathan for sharing their picks.

And don't forget, you can share yours too.

Go to azpbs.org/checkplease, and nominate your favorite spot.

And we may just invite you to be on the show.

You can also be part of the foodie conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

#checkpleaseaz.

Join us next time when three new guests bring us three new restaurants right here on "Check Please!

Arizona".

I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Have a delicious life.

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(funky music)