- [Announcer 1] And now an Arizona PBS Original Production.

(upbeat jazz music) "Check, Please!"

Arizona, is made possible by, Whitfill Nursery, proud to support Arizona PBS.

A valley tradition since 1946, over 200 acres of Arizona grown tree, citrus and farms.

Complete custom design and installation and Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

whitfillnursery.com.

- [Announcer 2] Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers, personalized cancer care through medical oncology, radiation oncology and radiology services.

Focusing on emotional, physical, and social support.

Outsmarting cancer, one patient at a time.

- [Announcer 2] Finding a local dentist can be difficult.

From basic cleanings and fillings to cosmetic procedures, even implants, bestdentalcareAZ.com can make finding a dentist in your neighborhood, simple.

More information at bestdentalcareAZ.com.

- [Announcer 1] Lawns By Les, a family owned business serving HOAs and commercial clients for 30 years, while working to improve the local community.

Proud to support eight Arizona PBS.

More information at lawnsbyles.com.

(upbeat 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 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 Libby Krajack.

She has a busy life running before and afterschool programs for kids.

How does she relax?

At a Phoenix restaurant that serves up plenty of classic comfort food.

Southern style, of course.

Up next, Chris Cardinal runs a software development company in Tempe and loves to network over lunch.

135 business lunches, last year alone.

His pick?

A restaurant that puts a modern twist on a French classic.

But first, Julie Branom.

She works in sales and lives in Phoenix.

Not one to sit still, she's ran eight marathons and last month hiked The Grand Canyon, rim to rim, in 11 hours.

Where does she go to refuel?

It's Otro Cafe.

You'll find it on north seventh street, just north of Bethany home road in Phoenix.

(upbeat music) (food sizzling) - At Otro Cafe, we want people to feel welcomed, and to feel, you know, that they can come in and relax with their families.

We're about the neighborhood.

We focus a little bit more on North Daniel food, Northern Mexico border town food.

So, you know, it's a little richer, but at the same time, we use a lot of fresh and local ingredients.

Morley is actually one of those dishes that, you know, everybody will tell you that their grandmother's recipe is better.

In Morley that we make here, comes from a recipe that me and my Nana made when I was a very young kid, I was probably around seven.

I was very mischievous as she would say.

And so she would get me in the kitchen and I would sit there and pick the chilies and watch her make and toast the chilies and make the sauce.

The sauce is actually pretty complicated because it has 27 ingredients.

The timing of the way you cook the Morley is very specific, as far as getting the right consistency and the right flavor profile.

Usually, they cook it in Mexico with Turkey.

We use chicken.

The chicken is actually cooked over Mesquite grill.

So, it gets a nice little smoky attribute to it.

(upbeat flamenco music) We do flamenco music on Wednesdays.

We do live music on Sundays.

A nice way to get people to chill and get an experience, that's outside their norm.

(upbeat flamenco music) - Julie, tell me a little bit about Otro.

- It's delicious.

I loved the atmosphere.

It's very welcoming whenever you walk in, and the food is just fabulous and it just happens the night I was there, they had flamenco dancing.

- Nice.

- To me, it feels like you're sitting at a little cafe in Mexico, to be honest with you.

They have this big door that they open and you could see the street from there and it's wonderful.

- It's a very urban, gets the city sounds.

- Yes.

Absolutely.

- There's a lot of local art on the walls and then it's kind of the open kitchen concept.

- Yep.

- So you can see right into the kitchen as they're cooking.

- Yeah.

- So what did you have to start?

- I started with guacamole and chips, but it's chunky guacamole, it's not that creamy, and it's got nice big chunks of avocado and a little bit of the cheese on top and it's got a nice after bite to it, just like their salsas do.

- The guac's really, really good.

I always have to ask for more chips.

(Libby laughs lightly) There's still guac.

- Yeah, we got two bowls of chips.

- Oh, well, and what did you have to start?

- We had the elote.

And it's really cool because they came out and sliced it right there for us and I loved that.

- Oh, nice.

- I was with my fiance and we just got one to share and I regret that we should've gotten two, I should have had my own.

It comes out in just a cob and it's slathered in mayo and spices and cheese and they just slice it right there for you and you can take a chip and you can eat it with a chip or you can just eat it with your fork, basically.

- Slathered in mayo, spices, and cheese.

It could be anything.

(everyone laughs lightly) I be eating that.

Delicious.

Yeah, sounds great.

- Oh, and actually it's roasted.

- Yeah.

- It's roasted first, that's how they cook it and it's tender and delicious.

- And you can smell the roasting.

- Yes, you can.

- While you're at the restaurant, because they do roast a pork and probably from the corn as well.

- [Libby] Yeah.

You can smell it.

- Speaking of cooking, what'd you have next?

- I had the Inca salad with pulled pork, which is absolutely delicious.

It's quinoa with cranberries and some sunflower seeds and everything's tossed in a really light vinegarette.

Nothing overwhelming, as far as the dressing goes.

It's just all the flavors just melt together and it's delicious.

- I really love quinoa.

It's also very high in protein and for what you do.

- Correct.

Yes.

It's a fabulous meal.

- You're refueling.

You are refueling.

- I am refueling.

- Chris.

What'd you have next?

- I did the Pollo Asado, which is their roasted chicken that's served with, kind of like a garlic aioli.

That's really good, not quite any aioli.

It's a little bit of a different kind of sauce.

And they roast some really great vegetables, like cauliflower and pepper and zucchini, and they serve it with their homemade flour tortillas, which are just to die for, they're really, really good.

- Nothing better than homemade warm flour tortillas.

- It's so good.

Yeah.

That's another one I'm like, can I get a couple more of these too?

Because I need more for this.

(Mark laughs lightly) - Yes.

Round them up.

- Yep.

- Libby.

- I had the trio enchiladas and it came with a green sauce and Morley sauce and a red sauce and the Morley was to die for.

It was so rich and it had such a bold flavor.

It just, it was awesome.

- Thick and rich, did it have any sweetness to it?

- It did, cause it- - Because it can be all over the board.

- Yeah, it's sometimes can be better, but this was not better.

This was more of like a chocolatey sweetness to it, but it was very, it was very rich.

- Yeah.

- Our friends ordered the Malawi as well.

It was really good.

- Spicy?

- A little bit of kick to it.

- At the end.

- Yeah.

- Yep, at the end.

- But not overwhelming.

- No.

- That's with a lot of their things there.

- It's kind of surprising.

- It's the salsa or even the guacamole.

- It comes with it, yeah.

- Initially that you don't feel, you don't have any hot or spiciness and it's that afterburn.

- Yeah.

But it's a good afterburn.

- Yeah.

- You know, it heightens flavor in my opinion, and I think that chilies are often used, when they're used well, they're used that way.

They create boldness, a certain amount of energy, increases your adrenaline a little bit.

It's like eheheh.

- Right.

Yeah.

- The burst out the tequila.

I'm sorry.

(everyone laughing lightly) So, did you have any sides along that?

- I did not have any sides.

I just.

- It's just chips and salsa and guac.

- Yeah, just it.

- I did.

I had beans and saffron rice and the saffron rice was so good.

- Were they together?

But seriously it was so good.

It was two different sides.

Yeah.

It was beans and then the saffron rice.

- [Mark] Describe the beans.

The beans were typical with a little bit of cheese on them, but the saffron rice is what I was really into.

It was super, like buttery and it was just, it was really good.

- I'll (indistinct) next time.

It was really good.

Yeah, I'm really glad that that comes with it.

- Glad you went there.

- Yes.

- Speaking of going there, dessert.

Did you have any?

- I did.

I did.

I had the Mexican chocolate ice cream and it was good, but I expected something a little bit richer.

- So, more milk chocolate, like, is that what you're saying?

- It was more of like an ice chocolate, I would say.

- Okay.

- I was kind of hoping for a spicy milky, Mexican chocolate, yeah.

- All right.

What did you have?

- I had a prickly pear margarita.

(everyone laughing lightly) - I am liking it.

- I drank my dessert.

- Very good.

Well, you gotta hydrate.

- That's what I typically do.

- I had to hydrate.

- Yes, a little of that cactus juice.

Very nice and it was good, was it?

- It was good.

It was not sweet.

It had a tartness to it because I was very hesitant on having it, but I thought I'd try something I haven't had before, so.

- So yeah, usually, that prickly pear juice can be like red food coloring and corn syrup, I mean, when it's done right, it isn't.

I mean, it definitely has its own character.

- And this was done right.

Yes.

- Good, good.

Chris?

- So we were there with another couple, so we actually had two desserts, which I think is the way to go.

We had the flan, which is- - Or three.

- Yeah, or three.

The flan's lovely.

It's this really thick, dense custurd with just, you know, the Dulce de Leche kind of thing, right all over it.

And then the Qlime tart was fantastic.

Just right amount of bite.

Really, really good.

- One of my favorite.

Creamy a little bit too?

- Oh yeah.

(indistinct chatter) - A tart tort?

- Yeah.

(everyone chuckling) - If you would like to try Otro Cafe, reservations are accepted.

The average tab for dinner is $16 without drinks.

(upbeat dramatic music) Up next is Chris's choice.

It's Crêpe Bar.

You'll find it on south Rural road, just north of east Elliott road in Tempe.

(upbeat music) (food sizzling) - I do wake up a lot of times thinking of Crêpes.

So yeah, maybe I do dream of crêpes.

You know, I fell in love with them on a trip in Paris.

Having my first crêpes, I thought it was a coolest experience ever and I started researching crêpes and I saw that there wasn't a lot done to them.

I love them because I can do so many different things with them and breakfast just to, you know, happens to be my favorite meal of the day and crêpes was a perfect vessel for me to tell like a culinary story.

I look at the classics, like what you see in classic draperies.

And I look at that and I just look at how we can make it more modern, more progressive and a little bit more adventurous and playful.

One of our crêpes are called The First Time and it was based on the trip to Paris.

It was a straight Nutella.

And I didn't know what Nutella was and I was just, it was fascinating to me.

One of the newest crêpes sat on the menu that really makes me proud is The Hummus Crêpes.

We do chickpeas three ways.

We do a hummus and then we do a chickpeas crêpe, and then we do flash chickpeas.

So it's chickpea three ways and it symbolizes how much I love what we do because it kind of like, encourages dynasty with our hands.

So, they're involved in it as much as we are, when we prepare it and as much as our farmers are, you know, harvesting the ingredients.

The biggest surprise for me since we've opened is the culture.

Just the support and the excitement that we get from the community, it's been a big surprise.

Everybody that plays a part in creating this breakfast and lunch place that I'm really proud of.

(somber music) - So Chris, tell me about Crêpe Bar.

- So, Crêpe Bar is kind of a very interesting space.

It actually, the chef started with a food truck, years and years ago and kind of set down roots in the strip mall.

And it's again, sort of the urban kind of loft vibe.

- [Libby] I wasn't expecting it to be as industrial as it was.

And I thought that it would be like, more like a sit-down restaurant, but it's really, if you think about it, it's called crepe bar, when you think about that.

- It's not a French cafe with lacey curtains.

- No, it is not.

- No, no.

That's actually represented in the chef.

He has tattoos all over.

And so the art kind of mirrors his own aesthetic, I think.

- And what did you think, Julie?

- I walked in, as soon as they opened, they opened at seven, and I was greeted instantly with a smile and a hello and a good morning.

So I mean, that was perfect.

- Yeah.

- Well, greeting's everything.

- It is.

It is.

That was the first impression.

- They make the difference in an experience for sure.

- Exactly.

- Sounds warm.

Wonderful?

- It was.

- What did you have to start?

- I had a Tahini Chicken Crip.

- [Mark] Well, that's different.

They've married a couple of different disciplines.

- It was amazing.

I will have to say when I found out I was going to be visiting this restaurant, I was a little like, oh boy, here we go, a crêpe.

My memory of crêpes are not memorable.

And I was pleasantly surprised.

The flavors were amazing.

Not anything that I would ever dream up.

- Well, I think we, in this country, think of crepes as sweet mostly, and they really, - Right.

are more often savory and of course, the French did have a lot of influence in that part of the world where Tahini is from.

So at one point, so they're there with their travels and whatnot.

We'll leave it at whatnot.

Chris?

(Julie laughing indistinctly) - So to start with, they brought out some granola, and it's kind of a nice little thing that they do, is they bring out different treats that the chef's been working on that day, which at a restaurant that serves crêpes for basically eight bucks, you don't expect to see little baby dishes coming out and it's whatever he's worked on.

So, one time I was there, and he actually brought out a single sweet potato chip under a dome of glass and there was smoke inside of it.

- Oh.

- That's when he pulled it up, the smoke lofted out, (Julie laughing lightly) and I'm like, where am I?

This is amazing.

- The mad scientist.

- It's like a gastro pubs sort of experience.

- Wow.

- And then, yeah.

So, we did the granola to start with, and it's homemade granola.

It's some of the best granola, I think Libby mentioned.

Took Home two bags.

- I mentioned.

Yeah.

- Libby took home a bag.

It's so good.

- It's so good.

They has- - Is there anything left?

- I do not, I do not.

I'm sorry.

- Come on.

You're bragging on it.

- Next time.

It has like, all kinds of different nuts and dried fruit and cranberries.

- There was salt to it.

- Yeah.

Like something, it was just.

My mom and I were like, please tell me that they sell this.

And the lady's like, oh, we do.

And I'm like, yes, two of them, wrap it up.

- Do you cream it or did you have milk on it?

- When I took it home, I had it with Greek yogurt.

- Sometimes I've been there, they've served it with little, tiny little beaker of milk, and you can pour it over.

- Okay.

- It's a lot of fun.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- I'd go heavy cream, but I'm just like, (everyone chuckles) I just go right for it, you know, I've stopped apologizing.

- Why not?

- So what did you have for your next course, Libby?

- I went with my mom, my dad and my fiance.

Well, okay, so my dad has been making crêpes my whole life, but we are Croatian and we call them Palinkes and we make them completely different than the French make them.

So we were like, really pumped to go here.

We were so excited.

When I was a kid, my dad used to make buckwheat pancakes, and when we moved from Pittsburgh to here, we couldn't find any buckwheat mix.

So they had a buckwheat crêpe, that they had, and it was buckwheat and lemon curd and some almonds.

As soon as I took a bite of it, I felt like, I was transferred back to being a 10 year old girl, eating those pancakes, honestly.

- That's cool.

- So my memories of crepes have always been positive and awesome, like I've loved, we love crêpes.

My whole family does.

So getting that buckwheat one, oh, it was so good.

The lemon curd and a little bit of honey and some roasted almonds, I don't know what kind of almonds they were, but they were amazing, fantastic.

It was just fantastic.

- I love how food can bring you back.

- Yeah.

Right.

- You can taste memories and just bring you back somewhere.

It sounds like you did.

- Yep.

It totally did.

- Awesome.

Chris?

- My main course was what they call the Grand Prix and it's this fantastic, bizarre concoction.

I think it's a maple crepe and then they serve it with essentially two over easy eggs on top.

And then there's actually pork belly and pork crackling served on the plate.

And then they use like a little bit of coffee as well.

It's this crazy combination.

- That sounds so- - It's just like, I would, (everyone chuckling) I don't want to say this cause it's a horrible thing to say to compare it to a McGriddle.

(everyone chuckling) - Oh, that's terrible.

- But it's the flavor of, it's the flavor of Naples, but egg and bacon and it's so, it's like the best version of a McGriddle, you could ever imagine.

- That seems savory.

But it really doesn't do it justice, frankly.

(indistinctive chatter) - A few crackling and pork belly.

- It used to be available only at a certain time and I'd always get there after 11 and I'd always be like, do you have one for me?

But now they've started to bring them, there's still limited availability because he gets his pork belly, I think, from Queen Creek and he only gets one delivery and then he's got to manage how much he has, but it's absolutely incredible.

- And dessert, Chris?

- For dessert, my wife ended up, picking up the Arizona Honey Crêpe.

So it was basically honey and then I think, the same almonds and pistachios kind of, this candied almond on them.

And they have this just that local honey and his crepe batter and it was completely delicious.

- Julie.

What'd you have?

- Well, I'm going to say I drank my dessert again.

(everyone chuckling loudly) - I'm liking this.

I'm liking this.

- I had a vanilla, a salted caramel latte, iced.

- [Libby] That's what I had.

- [Julie] Yeah, it was delicious.

I don't usually drink the coffee, fruit-fruit drinks, and it was not sweet, like crazy, - No, it wasn't at all.

like my teeth are gonna fall out sweet and a really great espresso, I mean.

- [Libby] Super strong, which I love.

it was.

- [Julie] It was, it was.

It wasn't all just syrup.

- [Libby] Right.

It was not at all.

- You could really taste the espresso in it.

I'm like, yay.

- They take their coffee pretty seriously.

- Yeah, you can tell.

- You can tell.

- [Mark] And they take all their ingredient?

- Yes, they do.

They do.

- Yeah.

- If you would like to try Crêpe Bar, reservations are not accepted.

The average tab for breakfast or lunch is $12 without drinks.

(somber music) Up next, Libby's recommendation, Southern Rail.

You'll find it on west Camelback road between north central avenue and seventh avenue in Phoenix.

(upbeat music) - For me, Southern food really comes from a soulful place.

It's layering flavors, cooking things for long periods of time, letting letting it cook on the stove for hours.

And that to me is very attractive, very passionate cooking.

Southern Rails name really came about for two reasons.

One, we wanted to use influences from the south in our food, but we also were positioned right on the light rail.

So we thought, what a great kind of combination.

And also we really find romance in this connection between the train system from LA, all the way to Charleston.

And that's really the kind of food that we wanted to focus on.

We really try to interject the Southern flavors in the Southern styles and the Southern methods of cooking, pretty much on every dish or any chance we can.

One of my favorite dishes is our Gumbo and it's definitely a signature at Southern rail.

If you're creating food from New Orleans and from the south, you have to have Gumbo on the menu.

So this Gumbo is andouille and smoked chicken.

It's depth and rich of flavors with a dark rue.

It's just that warm comforting bowl of soup or, you know, of gumbo that you want on a rainy day.

One of the things I discovered when I was traveling through the south is that every meal you eat almost instantly created a memory in you.

And I think that's really important for people to walk away from Southern Railway, this, I want them to be like, stunned by that flavor, or to have that in their memory bank of tastes.

(upbeat drum music) - Libby?

What brings you back?

- Well, Southern Rail is, when you first see it, it's kind of interesting cause it's attached to a bookstore.

So when you first walk in, you're not sure it's like, which way Southern Rail would go, this way or this way.

But once you get in there, you can smell it, and you could see the awesome patio.

It's all to your left.

- So smelling what?

So, what are the major tones coming out of the aromas?

- The barbecue, roasted, season's just, Southern.

- Southern.

Yes.

- [Chris] A lot of smoky kind of thing.

(Libby clicks tongue) - Yes, totally to a T. - And it's right there on Camelback.

- Yep.

- So at the train station, - [Chris] They integrated the kind of real theme into the decor really well.

- Yeah.

- [Julie] Kind of makes you feel you're in, somewhat of a train station.

- Yeah, yeah.

- [Chris] It's very nice buildup for that.

- That with Southern aromas.

- Right.

- Southern aromas, yes.

(everyone chuckles) - It smells a lot better than a normal train station.

- Yes, definitely.

(everyone chuckles) - That wouldn't be too difficult.

So Julie, what'd you have for your starters?

- I started out with Dirty Rice Balls and the Antipasto Salad, which was- - Describe that.

What was in it?

- That was delicious.

I thought I was going to get like cheese and sausage and it came out as a salad and it's this huge mound of mixed greens, tomatoes, salami, and cheese, and some light dressing.

It was really delicious.

You could almost make that as a meal.

Huge.

- I was just going to say it sounds like it.

- Yeah.

- Chris, what did you have?

- Oh, we did the fried green tomatoes.

- Okay.

- Once again, kind of Southern specialty.

- You gotta do it.

- We also did their deviled eggs.

So just, kind of just this tiny little special, but they bring them out with this little chip in them and for deviled eggs, they're really, really good.

- On the fried green tomatoes, was a thin crust?

- Yes, a thin cross kind of a thin, almost like a corn meal, I guess, sort of bread.

- It's really classic.

- [Chris] Yeah.

- We had roasted cauliflower and that's actually our first time having that.

And it will definitely not be my last.

- Our guests had the same and it's so good.

- Kind of changes you, right?

(Chris laughs lightly) - As soon as it came out, I was like, oh my gosh, I can just smell, I couldn't wait to eat it as soon as it came out, yeah.

- [Mark] And what did you have to follow that up?

- [Libby] We actually got the BLT salad.

It's chopped BLT salad and it has the swirl of barbecue sauce and it's a cola barbecue sauce.

- Ooh.

- Oh.

- And it's so good that they actually bring me a little side so I could dip my French fries into it.

- Oh, special treatment there for Libby.

(everyone chuckles) So cola beating it, So it's a little bit on the richer side, right?

- It is.

It's like a sweet tomato based and it's fantastic.

It's phenomenal.

- Sounds amazing.

- It does.

- Julie, what'd you have next?

- I had the Broccoli Cauliflower Rice and Leak Casserole.

- Wow.

- And it came out piping hot in a cast iron dish with looked like bread crumbs on top and melted cheese and candied walnuts.

It was absolutely delicious.

- Sounds delicious.

- It was.

It was packed with flavor.

- Yeah, with the candied walnuts, sometimes you can roll a little bit of spice in there with, was there any or it was straight up sweet?

- Yes, yes.

It was a sweet twist.

- Yeah.

Sort of a little bit of a pop.

- Uh huh.

- Did you have anything else with that?

- [Julie] I had Macaroni and Cheese.

- Woo, it's so good there.

- It's more of a comfort food and that was, I ate it all.

I ate all of it.

- Yeah.

- You don't have to be embarrassed about that.

(Julie chuckling) It's all good.

- I carbed it up for dinner.

- 11 Hours in grand canyon, you need a lot of cheese.

- You need the carbs, for sure - And Chris what'd you have next?

- I had fried chicken, which was really good, it was very moist, nicely put together dish.

I think it could use just a little bit more salt, but aside from that, it's very tasty.

And then it's served with mashed potatoes.

And then my wife had the smoked chicken and biscuits, which is, again, very good.

The smokiness is almost a little too smoky.

But aside from that, just a really good comfort, almost like a stew.

It's served instead of it being, you know, like poured over a biscuit, it's served more like in a bowl.

And then we also got the cornbread biscuits.

- [Mark] Tell me about those.

- [Chris] So, those are really good.

They're kind of more of the sweet style of corn bread, which is what I prefer.

And again, when you're talking Southern cooking, that's what you expect with kind of fried chicken and mashed potatoes.

- Right, with corn bread.

- It's a little bit gooey.

- Yeah.

- Have to dry.

- Yeah, yeah.

(everyone chuckles) - There's are really very good - Any drinks of note?

I mean they have a great wine program there, with good cocktail mixology.

- Yeah.

- [Mark] What'd you have Julie?

- I had a Hush Puppy Hush, I think it was called.

It's a gin based drink.

It came in a martini glass.

It has grapefruit and lemon juice.

I'm all about the, love the fresh juices, and just some bitters in it.

I think some orange bitter, it was really good.

- [Mark] Luckily Light Rail is right next door.

- I know, right.

(Chris chuckles) - There you go.

So Libby, did you not have the best dessert or what?

- I think I did.

It was really great.

I had the Banana Pudding with a ginger snap cookie on top and at the bottom, they had a bottom layer of ginger snaps, and it was fabulous.

- Fabulous.

- That's insane.

- It was rich and creamy and the ginger snap on top, dip it in and eat it.

I got a tear.

I got a tear.

(everyone chuckles) That's all I'm saying.

- Perfect.

Perfect.

- How about you Julie?

- Well, mine was a toss up between banana pudding and red velvet cake.

- Which again, classic southern cuisine.

- Exactly, I mean, so I got the red velvet cake and I'm thinking I'm just gonna get a square piece of cake.

No, it comes out, (everyone chuckles) and it is round and layered.

So it looks like I'm having two Red Velvet ding-dongs.

on top of one another, (everyone chuckles) as a layer cake.

- That's fine.

- And it's just got a little bit of the icing or frosting on top and it's in between the two and it was.

- How can you top Red Velvet ding-dongs, that's all I'm saying.

I know, seriously.

- Chris, can you?

- We did the beignets.

- Yeah, those are fabulous.

- It's just powdered sugar everywhere.

- Yeah.

- Yeah.

- And it's just that they're hot.

- It's getting on your hand.

- It's hot and fresh.

- On your beard, just everywhere.

- Yeah.

- As soon as you bite into them, it just goes all over.

But very, very good.

- Yeah, well, beignets are just little doughy balls of wonderfulness.

- Yeah.

- If you would like to try Southern Rail, reservations are accepted and the average tab for dinner is $34 without drinks.

(somber piano music) Thanks to Libby, Julie and Chris for sharing their picks.

And don't forget, you can share yours to go to azpbs.org/checkplease and nominate your favorite spot.

We just may invite you on the show.

Be a part of the foodie conversation on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, #CHECKPLEASEAZ.

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

Arizona, I am chef Mark Tarbell.

Have a delicious life.

- [Announcer 1] "Check, Please!"

Arizona, was made possible by, Lawns By Les, a family owned business serving HOAs and commercial clients while working to improve the local community.

Proud to support eight Arizona PBS.

Enhancing Arizona landscape since 1982.

- [Announcer 2] Finding a local dentist can be difficult.

From basic cleanings and fillings to cosmetic procedures, even implants, bestdentalcareAZ.com can make finding a dentist in your neighborhood, simple.

More information at bestdentalcareAZ.com.

- [Announcer 2] Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers, providing personalized treatment options through research trials, genetic testing and counseling, focused on emotional, physical, and social support.

Outsmarting cancer, one patient at a time.

- [Announcer 1] Whitfill Nursery, proud to support Arizona PBS.

A valley tradition since 1946, over 200 acres of Arizona grown tree, citrus and farms.

Complete custom design and installation and Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

Whitfillnursery.com.

(somber drum music)