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| - As I have commented previously, this is my favorite seafood restaurant in Phoenix. The restaurant itself was constructed from the ground up, not a redo of a previously failed restaurant. Decor and furnishings are fresh and attractive; silverware substantial, with cloth napkins. The bar stools - upholstered wrought iron -require a body builder to pick up and move.
When you enter the restaurant, the minerally, briny aroma of fresh seafood lets you know you are coming into a sea food restaurant. The first time I came here, my companion commented; "reminds you of San Francisco and Maine, doesn't it?" She was correct.
The restaurant has a food and beverage "happy hour" from 11-7 on Monday through Saturday featuring a variety of fresh oysters, giant shrimp (my favorite oxymoron), crab, and lobster, as well as a short list of cooked/prepared foods all at half the menu price. Additionally, a bubbly, a red, and a white are featured at $6 each; along with a variety of signature cocktails.
I've now had occasion to visit this restaurant more than a dozen times in the past 90 days. The bar area is jam packed from 4-7 most afternoons; with all bar stools and tables occupied, and a waiting line hovering. The restaurant tends to fill up by 6:30 PM.
Extensive lunch and dinner menus, and wine lists are available - expect $50 per person (before gratuity) for dinner at a minimum. I have yet to to escape lunch or cocktail hour for less than $50 per person (before gratuity) - but in fairness that includes a couple of glasses of the featured bubbly.
Take a look at Buck & Rider's Reserve Wine List if a special treat fits your budget. With about 30 wines generally available, the Reserve List features wines that are often no longer available in the retail market. An example - the 2011 Joseph Phelps "Insignia", a cab dominant red blend that sold for approximately $180 when it was released. Difficult to find today; on-line resellers list it but most often it is a bait and switch and they try to talk you into a different wine or a different vintage. The only retailer I found carrying this exact wine locally had four bottles and a price point of $290. So B&R's $380 wine list price is not out of line. I found two excellent White Burgundies on this list: a 2013 Puligny-Montrachet ($175); and a 2012 Puligny-Montrachet ($250);
With 4-6 oyster choices daily, I personally recommend a mixed dozen ($18 happy hour), a shrimp or six ($9 happy hour), a flute or two of Cava ($6 each happy hour); steak tartare ($9 happy hour) with a glass of cab; and a stem of brut rose for dessert (check $75 before gratuity) - Uber - and a nap.
Service can be a bit brusque when extremely busy, but I generally find it to be anticipatory and superb with staff trained to make food and wine pairing recommendations from the well curated wine list - both by the glass and bottle. The General Manager - Laura - comes across as a consummate professional; welcoming and congenial, but clearly missing nothing that goes on in her restaurant.
If one is dining alone, and so inclined, But & Rider seems to attract a clientele that is representative of the Biltmore/Arcadia neighborhood wherein it is located - intelligent and attractive.
[The toughest job in this restaurant is the "oyster shucker". Send a $5/10 bill in his/her direction.]
En joy.
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