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| - During my visit to Phoenix, I had to find a good steakhouse after my traumatic experience at the Stockyards (where you too can dine on abject mediocrity for $130! woohoo!!). I spent a fair amount more at J&G, and it was worth every penny.
I started with the chilled lobster, served with lemon aioli and some greens (not sure exactly, watercress?). The lobster (half of a ~1.25-lb lobster) retained its flavor - no frozen seafood here. The lemon aioli complemented the lobster without overwhelming it. I didn't care for the greens, but I think they were more a garnish.
We got two courses of appetizers. After a couple of split lobsters, I got the foie gras terrine and my friend got the calamari. The foie gras was served with a raspberry sauce, which was neither too tart nor too sweet, a good balance for the savory richness of the foie. Normally, calamari is nothing special, probably because 99% of restaurants just throw frozen calamari into a fryer. Don't ask me where they got fresh squid in the middle of the desert, but this calamari was so tender that it had to be fresh. The breading with perfect, light and crispy, not a hint of oiliness.
For an entrée, we split the A5 Kobe, a six-ounce cut of authentic Japanese Kobe. I thought for sure we'd order something else after the Kobe (come on, two guys splitting six ounces of steak??), but it was so rich and flavorful and gobsmacked-amazing that we were completely satisfied. J&G serves the real McCoy, which means it can't be cheap, but $125 for the Kobe steak plus sides of hen-of-the-woods mushrooms and greens is, IMHO, an excellent value.
For dessert, my friend had the pepper/pistachio ice cream, and I had the salted butterscotch flan. The pepper/pistachio had a very delicate flavor, not a very strong pistachio taste, but the more he ate, the more he liked it (the serving was a generous three scoops). I loved the flan, a salty+sweet butterscotch pudding basically.
Service was first rate (I actually got seconds of the butterscotch flan and swore the server to secrecy - she played along, very fun and funny). The timing of the courses was perfect, and plates were cleared quickly and so subtly you almost didn't notice. The ambience is typical urban upscale, nicely done. There is an outdoor terrace, and even from the inside there are floor-to-ceiling windows for what is probably a terrific view at sunset. After dark, not much to see really. But in the end, you go to a restaurant for the food, and J&G delivered in grand fashion. Everything was made from fresh, quality ingredients, prepared and cooked by a staff that clearly knows what to do in a kitchen. I can't wait to go back to J&G.
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