By Erin Forney, Guest Blogger, Foodies Like Us http://www.foodtrampdiaries.com

Top of the Rock is a beautiful fine dining restaurant located in Tempe at The Buttes resort by Marriot.  It is set high above everything else ground level, so the views are spectacular.  Top of the Rock will be a part of Restaurant Week 2010 this year and it would be the perfect place for a romantic three course dinner at a reasonable price.

Top of the Rock’s menu is as follows: one choice from each course for $39.00 per person.

Appetizer – Starter Options:

1. Sweet Potato Gnocchi with chorizo and wild mushrooms, smothered in a citrus buerre blanc

2. Pan Seared Ahi Tuna with pickled seaweed salad and a spicy wasabi cream sauce

3. Top of the Rock Signature Salad

Entree Options:

1.  Certified Angus Beef Medallions ~ Two 3 oz. Filet medallions pan seared to perfection, served with diners choice of Dianne, au poivre, or Oscar style on Yukon Gold mashed Potatoes with Blistered Asparagus, Baby Carrots, and Cippolini Onions

2.  Domestic Lamb ~ Two Lamb Racks grilled with savory garlic, and shallots, atop a creamy Truffle Mac-N-Cheese, Carnival Cauliflower, Baby Carrots and Blistered Asparagus, and smothered in their own mint au-jus

3.  Fresh from the Sea ~ for every day during Restaurant week, Chef James will bring in a different fresh fish prepared uniquely

Dessert Options:

1.  Trio of luscious flavored Crème Brule

2.  Louisiana style Bread Pudding, with Roasted Banana Gelato

3.  Delightful Trendy Tasting Ice Cream or Sorbet

My husband and I went last weekend to preview the menu and it was absolutely delicious. I can’t even pick one highlight because so many parts of it were outstanding. The sweet potato gnocchi will not disappoint, with small chunks of salty chorizo and wild mushrooms with the perfect amount of citrus buerre blanc to highlight the dimensions of flavor. It was definitely my favorite starter.

For the main course, I got the double rack of lamb and my husband got a grilled salmon filet from the “fresh from the sea” choice.  I always get my lamb cooked medium and it was perfectly cooked here.  The lamb comes with a mint au-jus which didn’t sound appetizing to me, so I asked for it on the side. The truffle mac n cheese that comes with the lamb is decadent and everything you would imagine truffle mac to be.  It was creamy and the truffle oil and truffle pieces just put it over the top…Delicious.  I had a bite of my husband’s fish and may have been even more excited to try the caramelized onion, bacon and potato hash that was lying underneath it.  I could not get over how perfect every single part of this meal was.

The only tiny disappointment I had was my tri colored “carnival cauliflower”.  Cauliflower is on of my favorite vegetables, especially when I’m at a restaurant.  For some reason the cauliflower I got that night tasted like smoky meat.  I noticed it was grilled, so maybe it was placed on a grill area that a steak had just been on? Either way, it didn’t really matter because every other bite I took of this meal was perfection.

Dessert was incredible of course. I was in love with the bread pudding. It had the perfect consistency and tasted the way bread pudding should, not dry by any means.  It had a yummy hot caramel sauce and banana gelato that paired perfect with every bite.  My husband really loved the trio of crème brulees; my favorite was the chocolate, and it reminded me of nutella for some reason — just delicious.

Top of the Rock is the perfect choice for restaurant week for the simple point of a great value.  The portions you will get are not by any means the fine dining standard, they were very large.  I had to give my husband a rack of my lamb or else I wouldn’t have had room to try dessert.  Besides the tremendous value, the service at Top of the Rock is impeccable and Chef James Hildebrand does everything he can to make sure every single diner is pleased with their meal and experience.

Top of the Rock

2000 Westcourt Way

Tempe, Arizona 85282-1098

602-225-9000

Open for dinner and Sunday Brunch

By Chris Schirm, Guest Blogger, Foodies Like Us

Foodies Like Us is proud to be the official blogger for Arizona Restaurant Week, taking place Saturday, September 18 through Sunday, September 26, 2010. This is the first in our series of reviews highlighting the participating restaurants. Stay tuned for more to come!

Fogo de Chao Restaurant Week Special: $10 off dinner and includes a choice from the dessert menu.  

Highlights of meal:
The whole experience of dining at Fogo de Chao can probably be best be described by the story of the 2009 Boise State Football team. The entire team came for the pre-game meal the night before the Fiesta Bowl. All told there were over 100 people and ended up putting down over 450lbs of meat in 90 minutes. However, unlike a Golden Corral or Old Country Buffet, Fogo de Chao gives its guests fine ambiance, fine dining cuts of meat, a phenomenal cold salad bar, and service that is exemplary.  The Scottsdale location seats up to 340 guests at spacious white linen table clothed tables, including two banquet rooms and a completely private wine table that has hosted celebrities the like of Charles Barkely and Rihanna.   

The salad bar is unlike any that I have seen or tasted. Its selection of beautiful cold dishes is a wonderful start to a great meal. If you do bring a date to Fogo de Chao, (rather than your best guy friend to have a man-date of epic gluttonous proportions that belongs in the sequel of “I Love You Man”), the salad bar is probably where she will spend most of her time.  If you want to make her happy, I would highly recommend tasting the hearts of palm, sun dried tomatoes, three-year aged parmesan reggiano, and the peppadews from South Africa. Word to the wise, I would limit the amount of salad bar that you actual try to eat, because the meat is definitely worth the wait.  

When you are ready for the meat to begin, you turn the circle on your table from red to green.  Here comes the meat!  The chefs or churrascos bring all of the 15 cuts of meat tableside and ask what temperature you would like to have and cut it directly on your plate.  One word of caution, I would think about what specific types of meat that you would really like to try before just saying yes to every meat that comes by the table.  Here are my top five cuts (cooked at medium rare): 1) Cordeiro (leg of lamb and lamb chops) — make sure to add the mint jelly; 2) Picanha (prime cut of top sirloin); 3) Filet mignon; 4) Ancho Beef (Prime Rib); and 5) Fraldinha (bottom cut Sirloin).

For all those that have actually dared to be able to limit themselves to just enough meat, the dessert menu in and of itself is enough to make anyone drool. I would highly recommend the Papaya Crème. Its creamy texture is just enough to take your swollen belly and transport you into a happy food coma.   

Any disappointments:
There were only three out of the 15 cuts of meat that I would pass on.  The lombo (a parmesan crusted pork loin), the Frango (bacon wrapped chicken breasts), and the linguica (cured pork sausage) are all pieces that I would give a pass.  The Lombo and Frango ended up really dry, while the Linguica is decent, but lacks a certain burst of flavor.  Although, to be fair when little ole Linguica is going up against the likes of lamb chops, filet mignon, prime rib and the house specialty picanha (a salt rubbed prime cut of top sirloin) it would need a miracle. The only other caution I would raise to Foodies Like Us followers is to watch out for the saltiness of the garlic roasted picanha and the Costela (beef ribs).  Finally, I would give everyone a heads-up that there is no such thing as a doggie bag at Fogo De Chao, so come starving and leave the skinny jeans at home.     

Best part of the value?
$39 for all you can eat salad bar, as much meat as you can possibly eat (or will eat until Thanksgiving) AND you get a desert afterwards. The value speaks for itself.  

Additional thoughts on service and ambiance:
What Fogo De Chao has done with their service is even more remarkable than the meal itself.  Everyone on the service staff (servers, bussers, and chefs) shares in the tips from the patrons.  So instead of having one waiter you have an entire staff responsible for your table.  Thus you have seamless teamwork that results in fantastic service throughout the entire meal.  No more, “Excuse me’s” or “Have you seen our server.” It works more like this: you think of what you want and then a server appears at your side asking, “What can we get for you?”. It’s as simple as that.

Name of Restaurant: Fogo de Chao
Hours of Operation:     Mon- Thurs 5:00-10:00, Fri-5:00pm-10:30pm,
Sat. 4:30pm-10:30, Sun. 4:00pm-9:00pm
Phone:  (480) 609.8866

Address: 6300 N. Scottsdale Rd., Scottsdale, AZ 85253
Website: http://www.fogodechao.com