Dining Guide from p 39 cheddar grits and a cold roasted vegetable salad — but the meat is straightforward and top-tier. When you finally get to the counter, you speak first with your meat man, ordering your chopped brisket, or pulled pork, or turkey breast, or the like-butter beef ribs (only on Fridays and Saturdays). Then it’s on to sides and add-ons like slices of white bread. Spot the blue-and-yellow Midcentury Modern sign off University Drive or Seventh Street, and you know you’ll soon be in barbecue heaven. 4301 E. University Dr.; 602-437-1177; littlemissbbq.com. ($$) Quiessence Restaurant: Occasionally, Phoenix diners may find themselves seeking a little break from the desert. In such times, Quiessence, found among the 10-acre pecan groves at the Farm at South Mountain, is a wonderful option. Thanks to the lush foothills and farmland of southern Phoenix, as well as the scenic patio attached to this historic home restaurant, Quies- sence may be one of the Valley’s most picturesque eateries. It’s also one of our better restaurants. Co-owner and Executive Chef Dustin Christofolo’s menu of New American cuisine has earned itself four diamonds from AAA, and the wine list has an award of excellence from Wine Spectator. Quiessence offers a leisurely paced dinner, a callback to the several-hour meals of yesteryear. Diners have come to expect a seasonally changing menu of locally sourced meat and from-the-farm additions like vegetables, eggs, herbs, and edible flowers. Special dinners, markets, classes, and the neighboring Soil & Seed Garden also serve to keep things fresh around here. 6106 S. 32nd St.; 602-276-0601; quiessencerestaurant.com. ($$$) CHANDLER/AHWATUKEE Kai: Those wishing to experience the finest of what the So- noran Desert has to offer — the native saguaro fruit and wolfberries, the tepary beans and wild sumac — would be wise to throw down for an upscale evening at Kai Restaurant. For nearly two decades, Kai has taken the best of what the Gila River Community can grow and forage (the tribe owns the restaurant, which is on its grounds) and put those quintessential Sonoran ingredients through global, fine-dining filters. Cactus key lime pie. Buffalo steak with saguaro syrup. Posole with Ramona Farms corn. Wolfberry vinegar. Chiltepin froth. A circus of beautiful desert ingredients carried to new places. These days, Chef Ryan Swanson is leading Kai’s efforts. Swanson’s congenial, soft-spoken nature might, at first blush, seem at odds with his ferocious passion for this kind of innovative, deeply Arizonan cooking. His process for developing new dishes is arduous, often taking weeks and weeks of expensive revisions and taste-testings. But what emerges is a menu reading like a hike through the creosote-fragrant desert. Kai remains as intimate a place-rooted experience as you’ll find in metro Phoenix, and, even after all these years, is a thoughtful and thrilling place to eat. 5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd., Chandler; 602-225-0100; wildhorsepass.com. ($$$$) St. Amand Kitchen & Cocktails: You’ll find a European-themed menu with Arizona and American touches at St. Amand Kitchen & Cocktails, located in the Ocotillo district in south Chandler. The name is a nod to the patron saint of winemaking, beer brewing, and bartending, which creates a kind of self-imposed pressure on the drink program here. Good thing it holds up. Head bartender Ruben Gaeta’s house-crafted cocktails, like the Rhubarb Paloma, Peach Caipirinha, and the Vanilla Rosa, make a strong impression. But the food, overseen by Execu- tive Chef Ramon Rice, also rises to the occasion, with options like octopus, bright and spicy sea scallops, street tacos, deviled eggs, New Zealand grass-fed lamb meatballs, and a next-level dish of cauliflower mac and cheese. The specials menu is where Rice gets to play around, and if on your visit it mentions anything about lobster risotto or burnt cheesecake, order those immediately. Soft live music often accompanies the food and drink here — and, depending on where you’re seated, so might a mural view of the great St. Amand himself. 3990 S. Alma School Rd., Chandler; 480-782-5550; stamandaz.com. ($$$) 40 Sushi Nakano: This sushi place appears pretty straightforward from the parking lot — strip-mall suite neighboring a Trader Joe’s, blinking sushi sign in the window, a narrow, gently lit dining room. But inside Sushi Nakano in Ahwatukee, there is magic. Start with the appetizers. Edamame arrives salty and steaming. The fried mackerel is like an upscale fish stick. The Okinawa soba is to die for. But the fresh sushi, nigiri, and sashimi options deserve top billing here; we recommend spending some time exploring that section of the menu. Seating options are equally split between tables and the sushi bar, and both have their rewards — tables provide intimacy, while the bar offers a glimpse of the sushi chef at work. This is the debut establish- ment of Leo Nakano, son of Hirofumi Nakano, the owner of north Scottsdale’s Hiro Sushi, where Leo got his start. 4025 E. Chandler Blvd.; 602-603-2129; sushinakano.com. ($$) JUNE 24TH – JUNE 30TH, 2021 PHOENIX NEW TIMES | MUSIC | CAFE | FILM | CULTURE | NIGHT+DAY | FEATURE | NEWS | OPINION | FEEDBACK | CONTENTS | phoenixnewtimes.com
