(bright music) - I am Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check Please!

Arizona."

The show where Arizona foodies recommend their favorite restaurants.

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

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

Arizona."

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Arizona" is supported by - [Narrator 2] Copenhagen.

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(upbeat music) I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check Please!

Arizona."

In this episode, we're heading to the cool pines of Flagstaff.

Let's meet our diners.

John Pizzo is a behavioral health professional.

He met his wife at an Eddy Muddy concert.

Years later, he proposed to her with an assist from Eddy himself.

Mark Murphy is a retired fire captain.

He lives on a 15 acre ranch with his wife, where they designed and built their own home.

They love spending time with their four adult sons and a menagerie of animals.

But up first is Evan Luthye.

Evan is in car sales, but his true passion is in the theater.

He's on the local theater board and acts in plays, and when the curtain closes, he enjoys dining at one of the most talked about restaurants in Arizona.

This is Atria.

(bright music) - I am Maribel Silva and I'm the chef de cuisine at Atria.

I would describe Atria as somewhere that really tries to like capture the locality, working with fresh produce and stuff, trying to do something different up here in Arizona.

Everything from duck to pork to venison, fresh pastas made daily, really trying to keep that wide variety for anybody who's looking for something a little bit different.

I always recommend to people, especially sitting at the chefs counter, try a little bit from every section.

Our food is definitely meant to be shared.

I think the thing that sets our cocktail program apart is that we're always changing it, trying to use seasonal ingredients, fresh produce, vegetables, berries, if we can.

I think when you come to Atria, you're gonna walk in and you're gonna see all the really soft colors.

It's gonna feel very, like, warm and welcoming.

You're also gonna be able to probably tell, most people will be like, this is a woman driven restaurant, very feminine.

The food is very soft and just people come in and they're like, everything is so elegant, everything's so beautiful.

Chef Rochelle, chef owner, also one of my best friends.

I've known her for about 20 years, been cooking together since we were 18.

I feel like we compliment each other nicely.

She's constantly pushing me to do better, be better, stay focused.

There's really isn't anything better than working with somebody that you enjoy.

Two reasons that she named the restaurant, Atria.

One of the vessels that pumps blood through your heart is just the heart of the kitchen, and then short for Atrium, which is just kind of like a warm, welcoming place where you can come, lots of colors, lots of greenery.

I definitely want people to come in and just be like blown away by the fact that they're getting flavors and things that they haven't seen here in Arizona.

We just hope that we meet those expectations because the food is different, and you're gonna get just a different experience.

- So Evan, I know Rochelle, Chef Rochelle really well.

How did you find Atria?

- So I used to be in the beer business, and so there aren't too many restaurants in the state that I'm not pretty well acquainted with.

And so I first gotta try her cuisine when she was at Fat Ox in Scottsdale.

And so when I heard that she was opening up a concept in Flagstaff, I got very excited, and have been going since they opened.

- Yeah, amazing, isn't she?

So do you go there often?

- As often as I can afford.

It is a little bit on the pricey side, but most special occasions, my family likes to go.

- Good, so what is your go-to there?

- You know, there was a while where we didn't have a lot of oyster options in Flagstaff.

Imagine that.

But this is one of a couple that we have currently, and they always have two or three preparations, and so we always start with oysters.

- So I know I love oysters by the way, and she does 'em.

I had 'em hot and cold, I think when I was there.

- [Evan] Had 'em both ways, beautiful preparation.

Just very bright, paired nicely with the braininess of the oyster.

And I think I preferred that to the warm, but the warm was excellent too, with a little bit of, I think it was chorizo in there.

- I think you had the beef tar tar, right?

- We did.

My wife's not a, she'd never had beef tar tar before, I'd had it several times.

I thought it was great.

The ziti sauce was really good with it, I thought.

I was like, this is good, I liked it.

- She not so much a fan, but me, I enjoyed it.

- You like raw meat, (John laughing) you're like a fireman, you're a cowboy.

John, what did you have for appetizers?

- Yeah, we went for Wine Wednesday.

We chose the Beaujolais, but they had a smaller charcuterie board with, you know, thinly sliced salami, type of brei, spice nuts, some marinated olives.

So paired with the wine, that was fantastic.

- So what did you have for entrees?

- So we went for my mother-in-law's birthday.

And so we were actually able to try a lot of different dishes and we had the special, which is always gonna be a cut of stake.

My highlight was the Iberico Pluma.

It was just very well prepared.

It had some stone fruit that we couldn't quite put our finger on.

We were thinking it might be a golden plum, but with some maple and some mustard seed.

And it was just- - I remember it.

- [Evan] A very, very, very interesting preparation that just paired well with- - So it's pork.

- Yeah, so Iberico pork, which is super special from Spain, on the border of Portugal.

Great cut of meat.

So Mark, what did you have for an entree?

- I had the branzino.

The artichoke and everything, was wonderful.

My wife and I are also fans of artichoke, so any kind of preparation with that is really good.

There's a lot of flavors in there.

There's a lot of flavors that were going on in it.

And the crispiness of the edges was really, kind of nice.

And you know, the fish itself was very well presented, even with that kind of crispy skin on the edge.

And then the staff paired a really great wine for me with it and so I was appreciative of that.

- [Mark Tarbell] What did you have for entrees?

- [John] We had the slow smoked organic chicken, the half portion.

And it was poultry perfection.

It was so well cooked.

The accoutrements really stood out for that dish, the pancetta, the mustard.

- It was sort of, like a sweet sour thing, right?

Really interesting.

- Yeah, you wanted it on every bite of that chicken.

And just the, you know, the smoked flavors and the seasonings came out, it was tender.

It was really good.

- And you said half portion and you're right, it was a half a chicken.

- Yeah.

- I mean we brought that baby home.

It's like it was a serious portion and that was lunch the next day.

So you had talked about it was a celebration for you.

Did you have dessert for your celebration?

- Oh, we sure did.

And the preparation and the presentation is really what makes it stand out.

We had both a pavlova, which was, it was like a sphere of meringue with the pavlova inside.

And I don't know how how they do that, but it was just a really fun presentation.

And the key lime pie was actually a lime shaped, custard filled sort of pastry, and it was on like a bed of greenery and I don't know, it was really fun presentation.

- Yeah.

You're shaking your heads.

Okay, who's going next?

John, Mark?

- Oh, well, I had the rum cake and you know, I'm a sucker for desserts anyway, make them, and it was delicious.

Absolutely delicious.

The texture on it was kind of a mix between that from the edge, soft and good spongy all the way in to the deep, you know, molassesy kind of component to it.

It was really good.

- Awesome.

- What did you have?

- I didn't have dessert.

I'm learning, I shouldn't have missed out.

- Yeah, so your list- There was sorrow in your eyes.

That's what I was looking, we're talking about this.

They do have a good wine, great wine program.

Who wants to go first?

- To tie into the dessert thing.

- Sure.

- You know, I asked for a pairing, (indistinct) for that, to go along with that.

And I was surprised that they didn't already have one.

Like, this is what's going to present well with that.

And that's kinda my only negative note for them.

It's like you'd think that that would be there and it wasn't.

- We had the Beaujolais, it was a recommendation.

It was refreshing.

There's some citrus notes, and the Beaujolais was really tasty.

- So Evan, did you have any drinks?

- One of my favorites in a long time, it's called The Last American Summer.

- Ah.

- And so it tasted like a root beer float.

It was served up and it had a whole egg in it.

I'm always a sucker for a egg white in a drink to really kind of build the body and bring kind of a creamy sort of texture to it.

But they used a whole egg, and there was rum and whiskey, and I mean, it just tasted - Wow.

- like a root beer float, it was really good.

- All right, let's talk about decor.

I mean, we haven't touched on this yet.

- The whole experience stood out for us.

The atmosphere, you know, it could be intimidating, fine dining, but it was still comfortable.

And again, not intimidating, and really well decorated.

- My wife called it Modern Kitchen.

- Modern Kitchen, I love that term.

- Yeah, they have four distinct places.

You know, the chef's table, the front of the house is very bright and open, and then they have more of a traditional dining area and then, the bar has a very kind of old school, homey, you know, dark wood sort of feel.

- Yeah.

I think it was one of those restaurants for me, when I walk in, there's a beautiful simplicity to it, but as you're sitting there, you'll see the complexity both in the tones and the textures.

Very well done, very tastefully done.

So now we do takeaways or pro tips.

It's your restaurant, Evan.

- I think these folks kind of took my pro tip is when, Wine Wednesdays, a bottle of wine at your charcuterie board is a good way to start off.

Reservations recommended for sure.

- Mark, pro tip.

- Don't go there thinking you're not gonna walk away under a certain dollar amount.

- Okay.

- Because the food is so good that you're gonna want to enjoy it.

- It's fine dining.

- Absolutely.

And you know, we've been to many and throughout the country and this stacks up with them.

- I agree.

John.

- Ask questions.

The staff were so responsive.

You know, there were items that we weren't familiar, and they explained it really well, they provided their recommendations, some pairing recommendations, and we learned a lot.

We enjoyed the food and we learned a lot.

- Oh, good.

If you wanna try Atria, you'll find it at 103 North Leroux Street.

An average meal costs $70 and reservations are highly recommended.

(upbeat music) Next is Mark's choice.

When he heads into town, Mark likes to relax with a cold beer and delicious food.

He finds his favorite combo at a family owned brewery.

This is Lumberyard Brewing Company.

- Lumberyard Brewing Company is a brewery, a restaurant, tap room located in downtown Flagstaff.

So Lumberyard is family owned.

We actually started 30 years ago with Beaver Street Brewery.

My parents opened it up back in 1994.

It's actually the longest standing operating brewery in Arizona now.

So we have burgers, we have nachos, we have wings, we have a little bit for everything, but we like to kind of elevate it in a way that it's not just something that you can get at any bar, any restaurant, we wanna make it uniquely Lumberyard.

It's something that you have to come here and that you can only get here.

The Irish egg rolls were actually from our very original chef.

You have the corn beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, carrots all together in an egg roll.

Our banana pudding is something that people will come just in for the banana pudding.

It's just a very good classic banana pudding.

You don't see it a lot in Arizona, but it's just rich and creamy.

We serve it in a mason jar, so you get a little bit of that nostalgia.

We really try to have a lot of beers for everyone here at Lumberyard.

We like to have something light so people enjoy light beers.

We like to have a dark beer on, such as our Pumphouse Porter.

And then we also are really known for our IPAs.

We have a lot of award-winning beers.

My personal favorite beer is our Hazy Angel IPA.

It's not too hoppy or bitter, it's just really refreshing.

Our ambiance and atmosphere is very lumberyard, it's very industrial.

You know, we're very lively, very casual.

You know, we have a really large, patio beer garden as we call it, but faces the downtown Flagstaff and also the San Francisco Peaks.

But it's really a fun place if you're meeting friends or just going out with a family, just have a nice casual dinner, have a beer, have a burger.

It's just a really nice, fun place to be.

- So Mark, how did you first find Lumberyard?

- It was one of those lunchtime things, like, the wife and I went into town.

We just kind of traipsed upon it, this is several years ago, and we've been kind of going back for lunches predominantly ever since.

- What are your go-to items?

- So my go-to is the Vietnamese burger.

We almost always get the Irish egg rolls.

- Yes.

- You can sit at the bar, eat nothing but Irish egg rolls and drink their beer all day long.

- What's unique about the Irish egg rolls?

- You know, being Irish guy, corn beef and cabbage is kind of on, you know, a pallet staple.

It's just that, it's like, okay, St Patty's day all over, you know?

- [Mark Tarbell] But in a little pocket.

- [Mark Murphy] In a little pocket, you know.

- Deep fried.

- I love deep fried.

I love that mustard sauce that goes along way with that.

- Evan, you nailed it.

It is a deep fried Reuben.

- Both the sauces are good, but the mustard is just the perfect pairing.

- Yeah.

- So Evan, you're nodding your head a lot.

So are you John, but Evan, you've had the Irish egg rolls.

- I've had almost everything.

- Okay.

- Actually, when I first moved to Flagstaff, almost a decade ago, I worked at Lumberyard.

- Oh, okay.

- And so I'm very, very familiar with the menu and the family that owns it.

But yeah, Irish egg rolls are a go-to.

I think the mac and cheese balls are their most popular item, which is also something you gotta grab a little deep fried.

Ball mac and cheese with a sweet Thai chili sauce that goes really well with those.

- We tried several things.

We had the Irish egg rolls again.

- He's speechless.

(John and Mark laughing) Can't even say Irish egg rolls.

- He's just thinking about- - You can tell.

- It's two cultures blended together.

- Yeah, yeah.

That along with the Southwest popper dip.

But the Irish egg rolls, - What is that?

I did not have that.

- [John] I believe they're homemade tortilla chips.

And the dip is cream cheese and cheese mix with poblanos jalapenos.

- Yeah.

- And it's cheesy, but it's got some kick.

- So what else did you have?

- We had the, it was a special at the time, but they're a Greek burger.

- Oh.

- So it's a patty with hero meat, tzatziki, tomatoes, cucumber on a really tasty roll, and garlic Parmesan fries along with it.

It was really tasty.

- Evan.

- So I wanted to try something new since I am familiar with the menu pretty well.

And I tried the smoke and berry burger, which was the most expensive burger on the menu and for good reason.

It had pork belly and it was literally six inches high.

There was no trying to actually handle that thing than to saw it down, but it was, great combo of flavors.

- Oh, that's great.

So it had pork belly.

And what made it smoke and berry?

What was?

- [Evan] So I think the pork belly is the smoke portion, but then it had a kind of a berry jam.

- Berry jam.

- As a part.

- [Mark Tarbell] You're shaking your head, you've had it?

- Yeah, I've had it.

I'm a pork belly guy.

- Yeah.

- [Mark Murphy] You know, a lot of different ways to prepare it and I kind of dig it.

So I've had it.

- So tell me more about the Vietnamese burger.

I had it, for the first time, but you had it a lot, right?

- Yeah.

And for me, for my palate, so I can continue eating, I pull some of the jalapenos off of it, but man, it's crisp.

The slaw that they put across the top of it is just wonderful.

It's a good lunchtime thing for me 'cause it's not stupid heavy where you have to like, okay, I'm not gonna eat the rest of the week kind of thing.

- Evan, did you have dessert?

- I did.

We took home banana pudding 'cause it served in a mason jar.

And I was there with my mom, and my 10 month old.

And you know, there's a running clock when you have a 10 month old on a patio.

And so we figured we'd enjoy the banana pudding once we made it home.

- Well, you're laughing, Mark.

You got a story about this?

- Oh, yeah.

So we've consistently grabbed the, told the staff, okay, we're gonna order the pudding so.

Well, do you want 'em now?

No, we're gonna take 'em home.

And we go home and we eat 'em at home.

'cause we, I wouldn't say we overeat, It's just the food is rich and it's good, and you just, you're topped off.

- So what is it like?

- Oh.

It is quintessential American comfort food in a jar.

It's regular pudding, chunks of banana in it.

It's good.

- Didn't have room for dessert.

I did squeeze in a Flagstaff IPA.

Again, it was a beautiful Flagstaff day.

So the big portion burgers, tasty beer, not room for dessert.

- So what makes it Flagstaff IPA?

Was it pretty hoppy?

Was it foamy, good acidity?

What?

- Yeah, you know, the Lumberyard brewery has a great beer selection from their brewery.

So yeah, it has some hoppy notes to it and yeah, I'll have IPA selectively.

The Lumberyard IPA is one of my favorites.

It's just refreshing, summer day on the patio.

- So Evan, you're a beer guy.

What did you have for your beer?

- So I had the Sunseeker Watermelon Sour.

It was a, you know, special seasonal beer.

And I like sours, I like big, bold flavors, and it was nice and tart, and very fresh, and watermelon forward, and perfect patio sipper.

- Mark, this is your place.

So what would be the one thing that you need to tell people that's important?

- It's busy.

They're popular.

I recommend lunch because of that.

We go midweek lunches.

If you're wanting that kind of food and you're doing that, just understand that you're gonna wait, - Well, it's right in downtown Flagstaff.

So tour the area, you can walk, and do some shopping, and visit other places, and the Lumberyard's there for your lunch, and a great in between when you're visiting Flagstaff and certainly for our locals.

- So do a walkabout.

It's charming there too.

- It's a nice walkabout.

- Yeah.

- Evan, pro tip.

- Gotta have the beer.

I mean, they have a lot of World Beer Cup medals, a lot of great American beer festival medals and because they have just perfect, two spec traditional beers.

And so you gotta have those.

You got 'em on the patio if it's in season or the beautiful view of the peaks.

- So award-winning beer, excellent.

If you want to try Lumberyard Brewing Company, it's located at 5 South San Francisco Street.

An average meal is about 20 bucks and they do not take reservations.

(upbeat music) Our last restaurant recommendation comes from John.

He likes dining at places that are not the same old, same old.

So he was thrilled to find this tiki inspired joint owned by two brothers.

This is Tiki Grill.

(bright music) - Tiki Grill is just a laid back, chilled place to come get really good food.

I say chef-driven, comfort food.

People think Tiki, they a lot of times associate with Hawaiian.

I think you can kind of take tiki flavors from the Caribbean, from Hawaii, from Louisiana, from the Carolinas and just kind of bring them all together.

We have all different types of tacos, wings, burgers, anything comfort food.

I try to work with everybody in any kind of specialized diet, even beyond gluten free and vegetarian.

The vibe inside Tiki Grill is pretty laid back, comfortable setting, just kind of beachy atmosphere.

Even though we're in this kind of indescript strip mall to kind of, wow, you walk in and you're like, oh, okay, I wasn't expecting that here In a good way.

I've done fine dining most of my career.

Resorts, country clubs, white tablecloth restaurants and I just hit a point where I was ready to do all that level of service and food quality, but just in a chill setting.

I say board shorts and flip flops, and hoodies when you need 'em 'cause you need 'em at 7,000 feet sometimes.

I work with my brother every day.

He and I prepare every meal that goes out of the Tiki kitchen.

It's great, it's a true family owned and operated little joint and we love it.

I want our guest experience to be excellent.

I want them to leave here feeling like they kind of stepped out of their everyday routine, comfortable, ate some great food, had some great social time while they were here, and just feel good when they walk out our door and glad they they came here.

- So John, what do you like most about Tiki Grill?

- It's been around for a few years now, but when it first came to Flagstaff, it was unique to the other restaurant offerings we had.

You know, it's a tropical theme, so that draws you in, a diverse menu.

It's the intent of the owners, you know.

And the menus, they're promoting, like a laid back chill setting.

And that's just what it is.

And what stands out is that the owner's always out talking to the guests, welcoming people and making sure everything is good.

And if there's not, they say, if you're not satisfied, let us know.

- That is cool and they mean it.

So your place, I'm sure you have some, some go-tos and things you like most.

- Yeah.

As an appetizer, they have a dry rubbed wing and I'm a big chicken wing fan, but that's different.

I like a little of the more kick in my sauces.

We have the garlic Parmesan, dry rubbed wing.

And you know, their crispy wings and that flavoring really comes through.

- So Mark, what did you eat?

- I had the pork belly crab cake burger and some ratatouille.

And I gotta tell you, I'm a ratatouille taster.

Like, if somebody's got it, I wanna taste it.

- That's right.

- And their ratatouille is really, really good.

It's definitely outside the norm.

Ratatouille sometimes can be very straightforward and bland and- - Yeah.

- And this was not.

- Like summer squash, not enough flavor- - Sometimes.

- Yeah.

- Exactly.

- Not this one.

- Exactly.

- [Mark Murphy] And the pork belly really evened out the crab in that burger, you know.

You would never have thought put pork belly in with crab, but it really worked out in the you know, fat's flavor.

So it really, really- - [Mark Tarbell] And you're a pork belly expert too.

- Yeah, yeah.

- It sounds like it's a lot richer than it is with crab cake and pork belly and cheese.

But it doesn't come off that rich.

It feels very well rounded.

- Cool.

Evan, what did you have?

- In addition to the crab pork belly, I had some blackened fish.

I was hoping to have the rainbow trout.

I'm from Colorado, and they had it on special, and you'll see that too often, but unfortunately it was later at night and I missed out, but just the blackened fish bites were perfectly prepared, very well seasoned, tender.

- I also have to say I had cheese curd.

You know, every time I see that, 'cause I've been in Wisconsin a few times, and it's like everywhere.

- Yeah.

- [Mark Tarbell] Like, you go to a gas station, they have 17 variants of cheese curd.

So I went there and I love it.

You know this 'cause.

Anyway, so I had it and they were wonderful.

- That speaks to the diversity of the menu 'cause you go from cheese curds and what I had was the ahi poke tacos, the yellow fin tuna marinated in the soy.

Really, all the ingredients, you know, are packing a punch.

It had avocado wasabi, mayo, dry slaw.

There's a lot of flavors going into those tacos so.

- Yeah.

- You can get a little bit of everything at that menu.

- I was surprised to have that and I had the ahi poke taco too and it was delicious.

It was great.

So what did you have to drink?

- [Mark Murphy] So I had dark and stormy, pretty straightforward, traditional.

My wife had the Painkiller.

And I remember, the nutmeg on it, was kind of this nice little twist to it.

You wouldn't normally get nutmeg on a tropical drink, but it was really cool.

- So you had one too, you're nodding.

- Well, I stole some drinks from my wife, the Painkiller that she had.

I had a IPA from Dark Sky Brewing., For being a counter service, casual place, they have really nice cocktails.

- Yeah.

So Painkiller's got a little coconut, a little orange juice, a little nutmeg like you said, and of course, it has a little rum.

Shaken, not stirred.

So dessert.

They do have desserts there.

I had dessert, but I'm gonna go around the horn here.

Did you have any?

- I've gotta work on my dessert game.

Didn't have any in this one.

- Okay.

- So Mark, did you have dessert?

- Yeah, I had the Ooey-gooey butter bar.

And it is as advertised.

Very buttery.

I mean, not over the top with the butter flavor, but it's definitely prevalent.

And gooey is, is the way.

I mean, it's decadent.

- We also had the Ooey-gooey bars and they had a vanilla, a chocolate and a red velvet.

And so we tried to red velvet.

- So you had all four?

- And the chocolate.

We should have, but this time it was just my wife and 10 month old.

And so we thought two was probably good.

- And your excuse is, for not having all four?

So now we'll do the pro tip or take away.

John, your place.

- Bring friends and try a bunch of items because they offer a lot of variety.

- It is a place you would never think to go to.

It is tucked back in this old strip mall and we passed by it a thousand times, we passed by it once, but it is definitely on the, should be on your to-do list to look for.

- I'd say go earlier in the day 'cause we went for dinner and missed out on some specials we would've liked to try because they are that fresh and special.

- If you want to get your chill on and try Tiki Grill, it's located at 1509 South Milton.

And average meal costs $24 and they do not take reservations.

I wanna thank Evan, John and Mark for joining me at the table.

And thank you for joining us on "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 social media 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.

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Arizona" is supported by.

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