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| - What a lovely surprise located in...well...Surprise! Mr. Hottie and I decided to have dinner somewhere different. The plan was left to me so I decided to head out to Surprise. I have heard some rumblings of a new bistro out there so I hopped on Yelp to look it up. I made a reservation for 8pm and headed out the door.
When we arrived we were immediately struck by the nice decor and cool music. We were greeted warmly and had to wait only a few moments to be seated. We got a nice dimly lit corner table, perfect. We surveyed the patrons, while the website does say the attire is casual, I wouldn't suggest coming in shorts and a t-shirt. Those who did, didn't look like they belonged. Maybe shorts and a polo? Maybe.
Anyway, onto our visit. Our hostess seated us and asked us if we had been there before. We responded no and she went on to thank us for our visit and welcome us to the bistro. What was cool about her greeting was that it wasn't like she was running through a script in her mind, it was actually a genuine welcome! No dead behind the eyes Scottsdale hostess here! Our waitress, Jessica was friendly and bubbly. She usually worked the lunch shift so she was a tad shaky on dinner service but we were forgiving. She was doing a great job and trying really hard to make sure we were happy.
We started out with a martini. Mr. Hottie had a "Stuffed Goose" which is Grey Goose with stuffed blue cheese olives. I had the Valentino, a pomegranate martini. We both enjoyed our cocktails. We also ordered a 2004 petit syrah to go with our dinner.
Ahh.. dinner. Let's start with the appetizer. (Tree hugger/PETA member beware)
We ordered the foie gras. The plate was very unceremoniously dropped onto our table by a food runner. She didn't even announce what the food was, just sort of plopped it in front of us and said "There ya go!". Not kidding. Oh well, a minor hiccup. While I was expecting a nice seared piece of duck liver, we got something more in the line of pate. It came with hunks of toast and a compote of apple and figs. It was still VERY delicious. Not as savory as a seared piece of liver, it was still very yummy and I will get it again.
We also shared a beet and goat cheese salad. I grew up thinking that I detested beets. They came out of a can, and they tasted like pennies. WRONG. I actually got coaxed into trying beets again and they were so yummy! The goat cheese with the beets were great! The bed of arugula was a little much for me, but that's a personal choice.
Mmm Dinner...We both ordered something from the Chef's entrees of the day. Don't be sad when you see the small dinner menu. The chef adds about 3-4 entrees onto that. Mr. Hottie ordered the thick cut pork chop topped with an apple and bacon mixture, and on the side was broccolini and curried cauliflower, talk about savory and spicy (not HOT but just full of flavor). The pork chop was perfectly cooked, if you like your pork chop well done. It wasn't too dry and the meat was moist and tender. The curried cauliflower was crisp and fresh, not at all mushy. I had the duck breast with sticky rice, cabbage rolls and a slice of roasted pineapple on the bottom. It was DIVINE. The duck breast was juicy and delicious. All the flavors ran together in harmony. The cabbage rolls were just that, a small egg roll filled with cabbage. Sounds simple right? Wrong, the cabbage was so good. It was very well seasoned and the roll wasn't greasy at all. The ONLY thing I would have changed is that the ball of sticky rice was CRUNCHY on the outside. I don't know if that was the intention of the chef, but being a sticky rice/ any rice eater, it came off as though the rice had been left out to dry. Other than that, heaven.
We took our time with our dinner, sat, drank wine, and surveyed the area again. The chef had made an appearance at the table next to us. I understand that one of the gentlemen at at the table was from France and that is where the Chef is from. So she made a very friendly visit. As our dinner lulled and the restaurant emptied a bit, we were hoping the chef would stop by to say hello as she was blowing out candles around us, but she left us alone with our wine. Oh well, maybe next time I'll grab her. After all there was a lot of hand holding and goo goo eyes going on at our table. Maybe she didn't want to interrupt. We did get visits from the Chefs Hunky Husband who was very courteous, and the Hostess came by again to make sure our visit was going well. Talk about great service!
Vogue Bistro is a breath of fresh air in an area riddled with chain establishments. I suggest restaurant owners take notice and maybe form a restaurant row or something. Wouldn't that be cool!
I have a feeling that Vogue Bistro will be on my list of places to go whenever I'm way out west. This place was fantastic and a must try!
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