rev:text
| - This was our first visit to the former Cellar 13. I didn't so much notice a change upstairs, but downstairs the cozy lounge ambiance is gone. The new space has tables and chairs and some banquette seating---there's a fair amount of space running down the middle, so it didn't feel snuggly at all. Because it was nippy and---to us---the music on the outdoor patio was loud, we chose to eat at one of those small tables. There was a goodly crowd outside and about a third of the table downstairs were filled.
Service was quite good. Food was okay. In no particular order, we had: vegetable taco, scallop under glass, shrimp and chorizo, tuna tetaki, and stuffed dates. DH was drinking the Jade Mountain Merlot (they only offered one merlot by the glass) and I had the Edna Valley Pinot Noir.
The stuffed date was a POW of flavor. We could have eaten a dozen of these. The scallop under glass (mind you, ONE scallop) was tasty, but was presented too quickly. Our server whisked off the glass cloche and the smoke dissipated before we could get a good sniff although there was a faint smokiness to the perfectly cooked scallop. The tuna tetaki was perfectly seared. Basically, we found everything to be tasty, but for the dates, sadly under-seasoned. (However, we have found this true of many restaurants in Carefree---they must ban salt at the town border!). DH finally did ask for and get a salt shaker.
So, we would return (although DH says we are bringing our salt grinder with us!), but we aren't going to fall over ourselves to do so. It's a good fall back for when we want something tasty and don't want to travel too far or be in the mix at a large eatery. It is a bit on the costy side---we each had one glass of wine and our tab was $78.00. I do miss relaxing back in a comfy chair and nibbling and drinking, but I guess that didn't work or Cellar 13 wouldn't have gone away.
|