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| - I'm here often - usually for coffee. So while I recognize I've got a little 'local bias' in me, I have no problem noting things I don't love.
Liberty Market is a just a great joint. It really deserves credit for planting the first flag in the name of the blossoming downtown Gilbert foodie movement.
My kids used to tell me they liked going to Liberty because their bathrooms were awesome. They're right of course, but the food is pretty good too. :)
To the coffee... Like many others I am sure, I can rate my liveliness (if not likeability) each day on a scale of 'BC / AC' - Before Coffee / After Coffee. Liberty definitely has the best coffee bar in the area - and their stock brew is Portland's Stumptown! You can't go wrong with any of the coffee bar choices, but the Ca Phe (Vietnamese) and Cortadito / Cortado (Cuban micro) are favorites, as is the simple French Press.
Liberty always has a super assortment of pastries to choose from, should thy tooth be feeling sweeter than thy coffee. They do a great job of keeping some favorites while always adding new treats to try. I don't have a big sweet tooth, but I've enjoyed the innovative griddled bread pudding and like their bisuity scones - especially vanilla with coffee. My kids go bonkers for the Salt River Bars.
The pizza is on par overall with Grimaldi's, which the only pizza@chain I really love. I'd rate them pretty equally because Liberty has more specialty choices. To me, the crust at Liberty (and Grimaldi's) is spot-on perfect and they use fresh mozzarella to boot. The perfect pizza crust should be chewy, with a crunchy, crusty tooth. Also, you shouldn't have to wait 5-10 mintues for an inch thick of liquid hot magma cheese to cool before you dig in and then later wonder whether you'll be able to digest it - which is a problem with typical pizza place pizza. A real pizza is spectacular right out of the fiery, burning furnace and thrown on your table. That first 5-10 (10 is pushing it) is the window when a pizza is more than just a 'pizza.' It becomes more and more mundane after 5 minutes.
Don't Yelp-punch me if you're from the Midwest and are screaming about Lou Malnati's or the like. That is a savory pie. It can be very delicious. But it isn't pizza.
Hey, I didn't make the Rules della Pizza.
Naples did.
The sandwiches at Liberty are very good. My favorites are the Farmer Press and the Turkey Brie. However, the cold-case sides feel 'hit or miss' in my opinion (since Liberty has high standards). My advice is to find one you like and keep going back to that well. The burgers are outstanding, although I only eat a couple a year. Liberty always has some really creative specialty burgers that are worth checking out if you are a carnivore.
The fish dinners, especially the specials, are worth their price. Gourmet restaurant quality with great sides (I can never get enough cauliflower mash) and special sauces.
I used to have some gripes about Liberty breakfast - not that it was bad, just that you had few alternatives to biscuits and greasy potatoes. I think the Liberty Potatoes have way too much cheese, but I'm sure some may disagree. It used to bug me you could not get eggs made to order - but they appear to have changed that policy. In fact, I had over-easy eggs (opposed to sunnies) yesterday.....
....which brings me to ending this review with my favorite item on the current menu - the chilaquiles. They are absolutely fantastic. Salsa pequin, one of the salsas they pour over the dish, is one of my favorite Mexican salsas (tomatoes and tomatillos both, for a tangy and earthy spice). Liberty does the chilaquiles as well as they can be done, period.
The net-net recap - Liberty is a great choice for almost any taste. It gets a 5 star review from me in part for that - but also for having some items that nobody nearby really does better - coffee, pizza, fish - and now chilaquiles. :)
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