- [Narrator] And now an Arizona PBS original production.

- I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona."

The show where Arizona residents recommend their favorite restaurants.

Coming up, we have guests who are passionate about their picks.

They've dined at all three and ready to share their reviews with each other and with you, right here on "Check, Please!

Arizona."

(bright jazzy music) - [Announcer] Support comes from Copenhagen, featuring contemporary furniture from around the world.

Copenhagen is dedicated to providing comfort, craftsmanship, and customer service.

Located at copenhagenliving.com.

- [Announcer] Hospice of the Valley, medical, social, and spiritual care for patients nearing end of life and support for their families.

A Not-For-Profit community hospice, HOV.org.

(bright jazzy music) - I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona."

In this episode, we're enjoying a Mexican staple, Cajun cuisine and a twist on modern cuisine.

Let's meet our diners.

Janet Wilson makes ceramics for a living and she just returned from Europe where she lived out a dream watching the Tour de France.

Brittany Hudson is a lawyer with a busy government job who just had her first baby.

When she and her husband need a date night, it's all about the spice found at an iconic Cajun joint.

But first, Brent Kleinmann's worn a lot of hats, a wine and liquor salesman, lawyer, and now college professor.

He says his pick belongs at the head of the class.

This is First & Last.

(bright jazzy music) - The biggest thing about First & Last is it's nice food for nice people.

We serve food seasonally.

We change the menu every week and the weather here in Arizona kind of tells you what to eat.

We always have three to four pastas that we love and work very hard towards keeping those seasonal.

We have steaks, we have chicken, ribs, quail, salads, appetizers, and some crudos.

The best dish that would describe me, I would say is our tuna tartare.

This is our signature dish, almost like a Nicoise salad.

It's a lot of different paths and places I've pulled from all of it to make that dish and it's still on the menu 'cause it's just, it's the best thing I've done since I've been here.

I would say the space is something that you really have to be here to understand.

People come in and say, "Oh, I didn't know that Phoenix had buildings like this."

And thank goodness it does still.

We have a small patio and we have what was considered our main dining on the main floor.

And that includes the bar and kind of a long shotgun environment.

But also we have an upstairs, what we call the basket that has these beautiful stairs that really, you can sit over a top of the restaurant and look down.

And we see all kinds of people that enjoy that space.

First & Last is named from my wife and I.

We were a young and in love couple, which we still are.

We used to text each other because I always told her that she was the first thing I thought of when I woke up in the morning and the last thing I thought of when I went to bed.

So we used to text first and last, but it's also this place.

This will always be, no matter if we open other restaurants or what, this will always be my restaurant and this will always be that matters.

- So Brent, there's so many restaurants downtown.

Why did you pick First & Last?

- My wife and I walked through that neighborhood all the time off Roosevelt and we saw them.

We met the husband and wife chefs and basically put a countdown clock on our calendar that for the grand opening we were going to be there.

- I'm blown away by this talent that's in this kitchen.

So what do you like to have when you go there?

What do you start with?

- Well, what's so neat about it is the menu changes so often.

So you can't go in there and have the same meal month after month after month.

And it makes a regular place a new adventure all the time.

This last stop we had the tomato tartine.

- [Mark] Tomato tartine.

- [Brent] The pastry was so flaky.

I mean, you would take a bite of it and you could just feel it melting in your mouth and it touch a spice to it.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- [Brent] So it had this flavor.

It didn't burn your mouth by any stretch of the imagination, but it had that pepper and just a little something to it that made it so enjoyable.

- Tomato tartine.

- Yes.

- So Brittany, what did you have when you started?

- My husband came and it was actually my birthday, so we went on my birthday.

- Oh wow.

Belated happy birthday.

- Yes, thank you.

And we started off with the jalapeno cheddar cornbread, which was really good.

- Oh, I had that too.

- So buttery.

- It was.

- [Mark] With that whipped butter with it.

- Very buttery, very just sweet and had a hint of spice, but not a lot.

It was really good.

- And what did you have when you started, Janet?

- Yeah, so I also had the jalapeno cornbread and that was amazing.

It was moist.

It was, I mean, that we could've made a meal just by that, you know, with that alone.

Moist and yeah, the butter.

Oh yeah.

I mean, we could've just eaten the butter.

I mean, forget about the cornbread.

We could, I mean, it was just really, really very good.

We also had something else that was really unique.

We had this peaches and burrata.

- Oh yeah.

- [Janet] It was interesting.

I had never had that before, but it had, it was something with smoke that was on top of it and it was just different flavors that were in there.

It was just really very, very good.

- And in so many restaurants like this, I mean, you guys talked about the portions.

I mean, it's, you get real portions that the chef-driven restaurant like this where the appetizers could be a meal.

It's amazing 'cause usually you have like one bite, two bite, and then it's like, okay.

But this was like, incredible appetizers.

- Okay, Brent.

Center of the plate, entrees.

What did you have?

(all chuckling) - They had just changed the menu and they just added ribs.

And I was like, "Oh, I haven't had good ribs in a couple of days."

(all laughing) So I had to go and try the ribs and they were out of this world.

- [Mark] You know, if someone's bold enough to put ribs on.

- Absolutely.

- On a restaurant, especially the style and class of that restaurant, amazing.

- [Brent] And they fell right off the bone.

I mean, it was like just so tender.

- Yeah, Janet, you had the lobster puttanesca, didn't you?

- Yes, yes.

And it was wonderful.

I mean, it was, you can, and I don't eat a lot, so I ended up taking some of that home as well and it was still crisp.

I mean the, you can crunch on the lobster and it was just, it popped.

It was great.

- Yeah, I loved it.

- It was just, yeah, it was such good flavors.

Yeah.

- [Brittany] I actually had the same thing.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- [Brittany] A spicy lobster puttanesca.

A lot of lobster, a lot of vegetables.

And it was really, I echo the sentiments.

The pasta seemed really fresh.

Like they make their own pasta there.

- Yes.

- But it wasn't very spicy.

I thought it was going to be a lot spicier, but it wasn't very spicy, but it was really good.

- It can be bold, you know?

- Yeah.

- That's another way, you know, it doesn't have to be spicy like in a traditional Southwest sense.

It's usually more of a big, bold flavor.

It's not so much, you know, Southwest heat.

- [Brittany] But delicious.

Everybody at my table had some of mine.

- All right, desserts.

We're gonna jump right in.

Brent, your place?

- Desserts, we had the creme caramel.

It's so smooth, you get the caramel flavor in there.

And other restaurants used the creme brulee with that crispy top.

This is just soft and buttery and keeps me in shape.

(all laughing) - You know the other, I love creme caramel.

So what did you have, Brittany?

- Well, since it was my birthday.

- [Mark] Okay.

- The waiters brought me out a tiramisu.

- Yeah.

- That was on the menu.

And while I really love tiramisu, I could taste a lot of dark, darker chocolate maybe?

- [Mark] Yes, so it had a bitterness to it.

- It had a very strong bitterness to it.

So I would say it wasn't my favorite, but it was, we still ate it.

- Yes.

- And it was great (laughs) to have it on my birthday.

- Well, interestingly enough, chocolate historically has always been a bitter profile.

And also that has coffee, which has bitterness too.

So it could have been the chocolate on top.

- That's true.

- Janet, what did you have?

- We didn't have any dessert because we were just stuffed over.

- You were stuffed, yeah.

Your dessert was the cocktails.

They have a great cocktail program.

Really clever.

Yeah.

Brent, what'd you have?

- [Brent] Well, we had two different cocktails.

We had the Jets on Jupiter and also the Lady Liz.

And the Lady Liz is a gin-based drink and the Jets on Jupiter was bourbon.

- [Mark] Okay.

- [Brent] Which is my personal favorite.

- I'm not a big drinker.

- Okay.

- But I did have a mocktail actually.

They were able to make me a mocktail.

Both my husband and I had the Peachy Keen.

- Oh.

- Mocktail.

And it had a very, very peachy.

But you could taste the spritz and then they had some peach bites in there.

- Oh, little chunks.

- Actual chunks of peach.

It was actually really good.

- Now it's time for final takeaways and pro tips.

So it can be one sentence, one word, and it's your restaurant.

Brent, what do you have for us?

- I say work with your servers and bartenders there because they will craft an experience for you.

If you tell 'em what you're having for dinner, they're gonna suggest a wine, a drink, and they know what they're talking about.

They pair things phenomenally.

- Just stay with the appetizer.

You can probably get four different appetizers, be full and get a chance to sample all these different things.

- So I would say make a reservation because it is tiny and there are a lot of people that frequent it.

So make a reservation and you'll be just fine.

- Cool.

If you wanna try First & Last, they're located near 3rd Avenue and Roosevelt.

The average meal costs $55 and they do take reservations.

(bright jazzy music) Our next pick is Brittany's, a restaurant serving up honest to goodness Louisiana flavors along with a side of rich history.

This is Baby Kay's Cajun Kitchen.

(upbeat music) - Baby Kay's is a Cajun themed restaurant.

We've been in the valley since '89.

Cajun food is based from Louisiana and it's soul food.

A little spicy, flavorful.

The menu consists of jambalaya, gumbo, a lot of catfish, red beans and rice, some wings, good side dishes.

It's all homemade food.

Our bread pudding is homemade here.

It's filled with coconut, pecans, raisins, cinnamon, nutmeg and it's topped with a hot bourbon sauce.

For first timers, I would recommend the Cajun combo.

It comes with your choice of gumbo and with some jambalaya and crawfish etouffee and your choice of a side.

So you can get all three popular dishes in one.

It looks like a restaurant from Louisiana.

It's colorful.

We have great paintings on the walls.

We also have entertainment Tuesday through Saturday and they play blues music.

They make it kind of really fun.

Baby Kay opened the restaurant because she didn't see any Cajun restaurants, so she decided to open up a restaurant.

She was the cook and it was a hit.

We found out it was for sale.

My sister and I went into Baby Kay's.

We tried the food, loved the ambiance.

The place was full of happy people and that's when we decided to buy it.

We still have customers from 1989 that come visit us.

It brings great pride and accomplishment to look around a busy full restaurant and everybody's happy.

It just feels like that we really gave it our best shot and pulled it off.

- So Brittany, why did you choose this iconic place?

- (chuckles) Well, my husband and I love food and we love trying different restaurants here in Arizona.

So we decided to try Baby Kay's.

It was right down the street from our wedding venue when we were getting married.

And so we decided to try it one day and we fell in love with it.

It's delicious Cajun food.

Whenever we want Cajun food, that's where we go.

- What's your favorite go-to thing there?

- So our go-to appetizer and that's what we always start with, are the Lulu Sweet and Spicy Tabasco wings.

- Yep.

- And we love those.

They're very crunchy.

They have that sweet and spicy sauce on them and they came out piping hot.

I could barely eat them the first time they came out.

I actually burned the roof of my mouth.

(all laughing) - Are are you sure?

Now wait a minute.

Are you sure that wasn't the Tabasco?

I mean, come on.

Now that stuff is- - I can do spicy.

I'm a spicy girl.

- [Mark] Okay, good.

I like it.

I like it.

- My husband and I, we also shared Lulu's wings as well and yeah, it was, it was really very good.

It was hot as well.

No, not the spice hot, it was just the temperature hot.

Yeah, but it was really very good.

- Brent, what did you have?

- Well, we started off with the appetizer combo 'cause we really couldn't decide.

The appetizer combo had the crab cake, had the shrimp remoulade and the shrimp cocktail.

And it just gave us all a little taste of everything, which was delicious.

And the sauces with each one were made perfectly.

- I like you.

You didn't know what to order, so I'll take it all.

(all laughing) - Thank you very much.

- Thank you.

You talked about the tradition here.

It is a long tradition, 1989.

Louisiana family.

You know, they came in the Romeros.

There's a Kay, it was Grandma Kay.

It was her recipes and her desire.

So they're carrying on this tradition well down there.

- Yeah.

- All right, entrees.

We gotta go to entrees.

- You can't not have gumbo.

- Yeah.

- So we had gumbo and we also had the red beans and rice.

They were fresh and it was so seasoned where as much as you love to throw some Tabasco on everything, it really didn't need it.

That's a sign of really good Cajun food where they've got the spice right where you don't have to douse it with hot sauce.

- So Janet, what did you have for entrees?

- I couldn't decide on what I wanted.

So I had a half po boy, which was oyster and also had the crawfish etouffee.

Quite frankly, I think I would've rather have had just the crawfish etouffee because that was really, really good.

It just had nice flavors.

It's not very spicy and it's just the crawfish is just it.

It has got a nice crunch to it as well, so it's just great flavors.

- Etouffee is one of those classics that actually is the anchor to most Cajun food.

And that is a Cajun dish is the holy trinity.

Does anyone know what that is?

The test is on right now.

(all chuckling) It is onion, celery, and bell pepper.

That's the holy trinity in Cajun foods.

So Brittany?

- We actually, I couldn't decide.

So we actually had seafood gumbo, a cup of that which came with hot garlic bread.

And then I had the catfish basket and shrimp basket and we had some oysters in there as well.

And that came with french fries and very good, just very flavorful.

Everything was piping hot.

Everything was very delicious.

And big portions, I couldn't even finish it all.

- Yeah, that is one thing about that.

It is great portions.

You can definitely take some home.

- The coleslaw, the green olive coleslaw.

- Oh yeah!

- That was good!

- Tell me about that.

- Yeah.

- There's something special about it 'cause I'm not a huge coleslaw person, but I remembered that from way back and I was like, "Please be the same."

And it was delicious 'cause that just the cuts of the olive in there is so flavorful and it gives coleslaw just a different taste.

I'm not sure what it is, but it's like I could eat a bowl of that.

- Wonderful.

- Definitely.

- Brittany?

- Good.

- Did you have any dessert for your second birthday?

- Actually we did, we did.

(laughs) - The wedding cake.

- Yes, right.

- Oh sorry.

The wedding cake.

Yes.

Thank you very much.

Thank you.

- We did, so I had the sweet potato pie, which is one of my all time favorite desserts.

And while it wasn't like my grandmother's sweet potato pie, it was still really good.

The little lighter crust, not as crunchy, lighter at the top.

Sweet, but not as- - More pudding like?

- Yeah.

- Instead of.

- More pudding like.

But really good.

I ate it all.

- Janet, what did you have for sweet treats?

- We ended up sharing a key lime pie.

So we definitely like that.

I mean it was, it was just right.

It was, it wasn't very thick, you know, or dense or anything like that.

But it had nice flavors.

What key lime pie should taste like.

- Yeah, what it should be.

- Yeah.

- Well, we had to finish also with the key lime pie.

And it was, we were just so excited.

The portion of it was huge and between two people went away much faster than it should have.

(all laughing) - So that means it was good.

- It was delicious.

- It's your restaurant, Brittany, what do people need to know?

- My pro tip would be, again, I would always say make a reservation because it's a little tiny in there and people were waiting for tables.

And also there's a guy who plays music in there, blues music, so that was really interesting.

- [Mark] Thank you for bringing that up.

- [Brittany] Yes.

- [Mark] I was so impressed by not only the tone, but the level.

- [Brittany] Yes.

- [Mark] Live music on Saturdays and it really is high quality.

- We also went on a Saturday and we were lucky we got a table and we got to enjoy, yeah, the blues music.

And it's not loud, so it's nice in the background, but it adds to the ambiance.

- [Mark] Totally.

- I'm gonna hit the cocktail side of the restaurant.

I mean, get something New Orleans in your drinks because they've got the hurricanes, they've got the Abita beer.

Go and kind of transform yourself into a little Cajun night.

- If you want to try Baby Kay's Cajun Kitchen, they're located on Dobson Road just south of Baseline in Mesa.

An average meal will cost about 20 bucks and they do take reservations.

(bright jazzy music) Our last restaurant slot belongs to Janet.

This family owned eatery is all about the cherished tamale.

And whatever filling you pick, you'll definitely taste the love.

This is the Tamale Store.

(upbeat music) - The Tamale Store is absolutely a restaurant, you know, but it's not just a restaurant.

We like to think of it more as a factory and a marketplace.

My mom came up with the recipe for the tamales.

She would drive around with her truck around the city, finding people to sell to.

It was kind of like slow humble beginnings.

But after 15 years, this is where we are.

The different kinds of tamales that we offer go from pork to beef to chicken.

For the vegetarian, I think the most popular is the hatch green chili and jack cheese.

We always do different seasonal dessert tamales.

We do a lot of different kinds of tamales here.

You know, I think we have about 16 or 17 different kinds on the menu daily.

It's like the Willy Wonka of tamales.

(laughs) Yeah.

I think the most important thing to know when you order here is that the tamales are huge, you know, so a lot of people come here and they're like, "Oh, gimme six tamales.

"I'm gonna sit down and eat 'em now."

No one can finish six of ours because they're half a pound each, you know?

So I always tell people that they're very big.

So be careful how many you order.

My mom took a couple years in her kitchen to really figure out what the best way to make a tamale was.

And she broke a lot of traditions trying to figure it out.

We're not using a lard or different kind of preservatives.

The tamales texture comes out a lot better, a lot smoother.

- One, two, three!

- Tamale.

- I never wanted to work with my family and it was the same with my sisters.

You know, they all grew up and they all had their aspirations and their dreams and what they wanted to do in their career.

But we saw the passion that my mom had for what she was doing.

And once we became part of that and we started sharing that, it kind of, it was almost like an infection that spread to us too, you know?

And we couldn't stop enjoying it.

And so working with my sisters and my mom has definitely been one of the hardest things in my life.

But it's also been one of the most rewarding things in my life.

(bright music) - So Janet, tamales are one of those things that may just strike people right at the heart.

Why did you pick this place?

And tell me about their tamales.

- Oh, sure.

So aside from the fact that they are practically down the block from us, I call them one of the best cheap eats, ethnic cheap eats.

The tamales are fabulous.

They're fluffy, filled.

- And they're vegan.

- And they're vegan.

- And they're fluffy, by the way.

And vegan, I'm gonna say it again.

(all chuckling) So what's your go-to?

So what do you love to eat there?

What's your favorite?

Since you go there all the time.

- Yeah, so a lot of it is I go to the mercado because I have a fabulous mercado and you're able to take frozen tamales back with you.

So that's great.

But then when we go there, the tamale is hatch and jack is one of our favorites.

- Oh.

- We have lots of favorites.

It's like picking your best child, you know?

(all chuckling) Which of all the six children you have, which one do you like best?

Well, okay, sorry.

- But the hatch and jack.

- Yeah.

- [Mark] I see you all nodding and I mean, Brent, you had that one?

- Yeah.

- Tell me about how it tastes.

- It didn't have the spice I thought it was going to, but it was, it was flavorful.

The word I think we've used today is bold.

- [Mark] Yes.

- But it was a big mental shift for me because I came to Arizona and tamales came to Christmas and it was like my next door neighbor when I first moved in, started December 1st making tamales every day in our kitchen.

But having them in different times of the year was a really new experience for me.

So I had to get over that mental block of saying, "I can have a tamale when it's not the holidays "and I can still enjoy it."

(all laughing) - Wow, an epiphany!

- It really was.

- The world opened up to me.

I can eat tamales every day.

(all laughing) What did you have, Brittany?

- So I am actually not a tamale person.

I've had a tamale.

- Wait, are you now?

- I actually am.

I think I am.

(laughs) I've had many tamales before and they've never really done it for me.

But going to the Tamale Store, I actually started off with the nacho mamas nachos and I love nachos and those were delicious.

- [Mark] Yeah.

- Super filling, a lot of toppings on there.

- [Mark] What kind of toppings did they put on them?

- [Brittany] My goodness.

Beans, I think I had chicken, cheese, sour cream, just- - Oh wow, they loaded it up.

- All of it.

Every topping that you can imagine.

- Yeah.

- I also did have the hatch.

I tried a little bit of the hatch and jack.

- And jack.

- Yeah.

- Delicious.

- Well, Hatch chilies are seasonal and they're from Hatch, New Mexico.

Seasonally, they can be bold or they can be spicy, but they generally are not terribly spicy.

They're green chili and they're usually roasted, which knocks down a little bit of it.

Kind of creates some sweetness when you kind of roast things and smoke 'em.

So that's the Hatch.

I had that too, by the way.

It was delicious.

(all chuckling) Hatch and jack.

So anyone else have a different?

Did you have the mole one or?

- As a matter of fact, yes.

- You did?

- I did.

Yeah, chicken mole.

So that was wonderful.

The sauce is really, really very good.

You can taste the hint of the chocolate in the mole.

It's not sweet, but it's just, it's beautiful.

It just pairs up really well with the chicken because the chicken's actually been marinated as well in the mole sauce.

So it's really wonderful.

- Yeah.

- And they make an excellent Mexican street corn.

- Oh yes.

- They do, yes.

- I had that and I think the neatest thing about the place is they serve everything to go containers.

- [Janet] There's reason for that.

- [Brent] And use the lids off on the side.

I mean, which is genius 'cause I mean, there's no way you're finishing it all.

- Yep.

- So it's like, just gimme a lid, pop it on and home and I'm ready to go.

- The mercado, what did you think of that?

- We actually went in there and it was closed at the time.

- Okay.

- It was dark in there.

But I walked around and it was really interesting.

You could get a frozen tamale or a frozen dessert tamale and they had their sides in there.

It was really interesting.

- [Mark] And Mexican specialty items, things like that.

- It's really nice.

- That was really nice.

- I bought a T-shirt.

I bought a T-shirt.

I'm gonna admit.

I'm gonna, I almost wore it today.

(all laughing) So this is the time for the one word, one sentence takeaway pro tip.

We're gonna start with you, Janet.

It's your restaurant.

- They change their menu constantly.

So if you go in the earlier time, part of the time, you'll actually have more selection to pick from for both her tamales as well as her sides.

- [Mark] Okay.

- [Janet] Later on in the day, they drop off.

- Get in early, early bird gets the tamale.

All right.

- Absolutely.

(laughs) - Brittany?

- I would say like me, even if you're not a big tamale person, go and try a tamale or go try the other things that they have in there.

It's really delicious and I think I now think I am a tamale.

- You're a convert.

- I'm a convert.

(laughs) - From Chicago to Tamale, I love it.

- Yes!

(laughs) - I'd push their doble plate.

I mean, it gives you two different tamales.

Go with someone and get four different tamales.

Try 'em.

The variety that they offer there is second to none.

And most Mexican restaurants, they have one, maybe two styles of tamales.

- [Mark] Yes.

- Here you're talking six, eight, nine different ones every day.

- It's awesome.

- Yeah.

- If you want to try the Tamale Store, they're located in Phoenix on Cave Creek Road just south of Greenway.

An average meal is $16 and they do not take reservations.

I want to thank you, Brittany, Janet, and Brent for joining me at the table.

And thank you for joining us for "Check, Please!

Arizona."

If you'd like to share your favorite restaurant, head to our website, azpbs.org/checkplease and nominate your must eat at spot.

Who knows?

You could be joining me at the table.

Be a part of the foodie conversation in Arizona on Facebook and Instagram using #checkpleaseAZ.

Join us next time when three new guests make their recommendations right here on "Check, Please!

Arizona."

I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Have a delicious life.

- [Announcer] Whitfill Nursery, proud to support eight Arizona PBS, a Valley tradition since 1946.

Over 200 acres of Arizona grown trees, citrus and palms, complete custom design and installation.

And Whitfill Nursery still does the digging.

Whitfillnursery.com.

- [Announcer] Tomorrow's technology today and much more is used to treat cancer at Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers always looking to find more, more time, more life.

Ironwood Cancer & Research Centers outsmarting cancer, one patient at a time.

(bright jazzy music)