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| - On a trip where I ate at some very nice and upmarket restaurants, I looked back at my notes on Quiessence and found it hard to decide on its Yelp star rating. The quality of the food almost took it down to 3 stars but in the end, their attempt to be really interested and concerned about the provenance of their produce raised it to 4 stars. I felt that I could really taste the difference with the quality of the ingredients used.
The restaurant itself has a really rural feel to it despite being minutes from metropolitan Phoenix. The long driveway off the main road seems like a step into another world and the long walk from the car park to the low rise restaurant adds to the distinct impression that you're in the country. The interesting history of the restaurant and its associated projects on the grounds are explained in the menu. There is a changing daily menu and the use of fresh local produce is commendable.
Unfortunately, for me personally, it just all felt a little sterile and there wasn't much atmosphere in the place. Unlike some over-posh city establishments, I had expected more of a buzz and hubbub in this quaint restaurant but it was almost the opposite. The staff were efficient enough but lacked the true warmth of natural hosts. There was also the amusing view of them bringing in all the dishes from the kitchen which must have been in another building as they were carrying plates in from outside. This became especially interesting when it started raining.
I started with a board of charcuterie and cheese, which was almost the best course as you could taste the top class ingredients in their pure form. I was interested to taste a pluot for the first time, which was a cross between a plum and an apricot.
The next course of squash salad was average and not very exciting.
Perhaps the worst dish of the evening was cheese pasta with sausage that just had the wrong balance of ingredients. Too heavy for my liking.
However, the next course of steelhead with heirloom tomatoes was much better with perfectly cooked fish accompanied by some super sweet mis-shapen (yay!) tomatoes.
Unfortunately, this was followed by braised lamb that had unfortunately been over-seasoned.
The most spectacular course of the evening was the amazing dessert board. There was melon carpaccio with strawberry, goat's cheesecake, lemon cream, crumb cake, a cookie and truffles.
It's a real shame as I had really wanted to like Quiessence before I dined there but the overwhelming feeling as I left was that it could have been so much better.
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