Road Tips

Chula Seafood - Scottsdale, AZ

I was back down in Scottsdale late last year for another round of company meetings.  My sister and brother-in-law who live in the area were in Italy when I was there in early September, so I didn't get a chance to see them on that visit.  They were, however, going to be home when I was there in December and after our meetings were over I lingered in the Valley of the Sun for an extra day to hang out with them and my other sister who has lived in Phoenix for over 40 years.  My brother-in-law and sister picked me up around noon at my hotel in Scottsdale and he started to drive south and west through the city.  As we pulled into the parking lot of a strip mall on the southern edge of Scottsdale, my brother-in-law said, "I thought we'd go to lunch at this little seafood place.  It's not much to look at, but the food is to die for."  Moments later, we pulled up in front of Chula Seafood.  

Chula Seafood actually got their start in San Diego a little over 10 years ago when Jim Heflin started a commercial boating business that would catch fish with a harpoon and hand-line rather than dragging nets across the ocean floor.  They specialized in swordfish, tuna, black sea bass and other high quality varieties of seafood which are handled carefully, chilled and never frozen, then sold wholesale mainly to restaurants up and down the California coast through Chula Seafood's distribution network.  

Chula Seafood got a reputation for having some of the finest quality seafood available.  And Jim Heflin's son, Jon, was living over in Phoenix when Chula Seafood started to get that reputation.  The younger Heflin realized that there wasn't a lot of places selling fresh seafood in the Phoenix area and he got the notion to start running back to San Diego to pick up fresh seafood from the Chula caught on his father's 68-foot boat - which was also named Chula (which is Spanish for pretty and can also mean sexy in Spanish slang) - and bring it back to Phoenix to sell.  

Jon Heflin enlisted the help of a friend of his, Hogan Jamison, to help out with bringing fish back to Phoenix from San Diego.  The two realized they needed to have some place to sell and distribute the seafood to restaurants around the valley.  They found a small spot in south Scottsdale off Hayden Road and it was more set up as a restaurant.  They thought if they could do both distribution and a restaurant they'd have to find someone to come in and run the kitchen.  They found that person in Juan Zamora.

Pictured at right - Jon Heflin, Juan Zamora and Hogan Jamison.  Photo courtesy Phoenix Business Journal.

Juan Zamora had been working in corporate kitchens as a teenager and he just found that path was not what he was wanting for a long term career path.  He then enrolled in Le Cordon Bleu's chef program in Scottsdale and graduated in 2012.  He interned at a restaurant in Phoenix and was looking to go to work for a restaurant group in the area when an old friend called him up and asked him if he'd like to be the sous chef at an established restaurant in Scottsdale by the name of Atlas.  Zamora jumped at the chance and went there instead.   

When Heflin and Jamison started to look for a chef for their new venture, they found Zamora in 2016.  Zamora left Atlas soon thereafter and helped develop the menus made with the fresh seafood trucked in from San Diego.  The three opened the Scottsdale location for Chula Seafood in 2017.  

Of course, word spread like a brush fire that this little place in Scottsdale may have had some of the best seafood around.  The restaurant concept was simple - offer different types of seafood dishes with nods to different types of cuisine.  They had Hawaiian-style poké, Thai noodle bowls, Mexican-style ceviche, and Japanese-style ponzu salads, as well as fresh seafood sandwiches and tacos.  Of course, fish could also be bought by the pound for people to enjoy at home, but most of their business centered around the restaurant.  Last year, Chula Seafood opened a second location, this time in the uptown area of Phoenix where they were able to expand the menu to include po' boy sandwiches, grilled oysters, fish and chips, and sashimi.

When we pulled up to Chula Seafood just off of Hayden Road on Roosevelt (see map), I didn't know what to expect.  But I knew it had to be good as my brother-in-law and sister have eaten in some of the most prestigious restaurants around the world.  (They have a collection of menus from some of their more memorable meals that my sister had matted and framed that they have on display in a hallway in their house.)  The strip mall was nothing special, in fact there was sort of a seedy looking bar a couple doors down from Chula Seafood - the kind with a heavy metal front door and no windows to see in or out of the place.  

But inside, it was a nice little place.  It wasn't all that big, but it had a series of booths and tables that seated probably 3 dozen people, max.  There were a couple tables out in front of the place for dining al fresco, but the strip mall atmosphere didn't make outside dining all that appealing

The front counter is where you order and it also has a cooler with their fresh fish for sale to the public on display.  My brother-in-law was making a beef bourguignon for dinner that evening or I would have glad sprung for some of the tuna they had on display.  It looked fabulous.

We found a seat near the front counter at a high-top table and the menu was on the wall near our table.   As I pointed out earlier, chef Juan Zamora has fashioned a menu that pays homage to a group of Mexican, Pacific and Asian seafood cuisines.  They have a seared albacore tuna sandwich that I considered for a moment, as well as their daily special, a pastrami-smoked salmon sandwich.  That seemed to be a popular choice as I heard other people ordering that at the counter.  Chula Seafood also offered a chef's choice platter of sashimi, as well as a smoked fish platter - both of which could easily feed two people and possibly three.  And every day (Chula Seafood is open Tuesday thru Saturday), they have oysters for $2 bucks each.  Chula Seafood used to be a "bring-your-own-bottle" establishment, but they now offer craft beers and wine by the glass.  

My sister and brother-in-law usually get the fresh fish bowls when they come to Chula Seafood and that's what they were going to get that day.  I thought I'd follow suit and get something along those lines, as well.  I ordered the spicy tuna bowl.  It featured yellowfin tuna that was spiced up - sushi style.  The chunks of tuna were mixed in with some wonderful shishito peppers that had a bit of a char to them.  They were spicy, but not burn your face off hot.  Added in the bowl was some massago roe, chopped daikon, as well as chopped bok choy.  Avocado chunks, sliced picked mushrooms and chopped nori seaweed finished the mix.  It was topped with a spicy yuzu kosho sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds.  All of that was served on a bed of rice.  I can't even begin to describe the flavors that I encountered as I picked through the bowl with chopsticks.  The spicy tuna was just outstanding on its own, but everything else just enhanced the total flavors that went on in the bowl.  

My sister got the Mexican-style ceviche bowl.  It featured fresh whitefish seafood marinated in lime juice, then mixed with sesame sumac quinoa, jalapeños, chopped red onion, radish slices, corn nuts, pickled squash and drizzled with an avocado mousse.   The ceviche alone looked outstanding, but with everything else that went with it, I could almost imagine the multiple taste sensations that bowl had.  

My brother-in-law opted for the Hawaiian poké bowl that consisted of chunks of yellowfin tuna, shredded cucumbers, chopped radish, pineapple chunks, chopped onions, edamame beans, chopped macadamia nuts, ginger and garlic, then topped with a soy sauce and sesame seeds.  It, too, was served on a bed of white rice.  The deep red color of the fresh tuna just popped out in the bowl.  It looked similar to the fresh tuna filets on display in the case.  Now, I've had poké before (we have a store near our house that has fresh poké and I'll buy a quarter pound of it from time to time to nibble on), but nothing I've had since our trips to Hawaii looked as fresh or as appealing as the poké my brother-in-law had.  

I was just blown away by the offerings at Chula Seafood in Scottsdale.  (I know it's a crappy photo of the front of the place, but it was the only angle that wasn't obstructed at the time.)  All the seafood served is sustainable and harpooned or hand-line caught eliminating the deep sea netting some companies will do and subsequently throwing a lot of fish they caught - and won't use - away.  I have to say my spicy tuna bowl was simply outstanding.  The flavors that were packed into that little styrofoam bowl were just absolutely fabulous.  Chula Seafood's Scottsdale location is a little hole-in-the-wall while I understand the Phoenix location at N. Central and Camelback is a little nicer - and bigger.  But don't let the size of the place or its location in south Scottsdale stop you from going in.  You'll completely forget about everything else once you dig into the fresh seafood at Chula Seafood.  

Cocina Madrigal - Phoenix

I was down in Phoenix earlier this year for a meeting and afterward I was able to get together with one of my two sisters who live in the Valley of the Sun.  I hadn't been to Phoenix in years - nearly 17 years, to be exact - and my sister asked me where I'd like to go for dinner.  Mexican food in Phoenix was always a favorite of mine when I would visit there years ago.  My sister turned me on to a number of good - and truly authentic - Mexican restaurants over the years and I told her to take me to some good Mexican place.  She had heard about a place on the south side of Phoenix situated west of the airport and she suggested we meet at Cocina Madrigal for dinner that evening.  

Leo Madrigal was born in Oaxaca, Mexico and as a teenager he worked in restaurants in Mexico City.  He learned how to cook both the Qaxacan - well known for their cheese, chocolate and molé sauces - and the more urban Mexico City-style cuisines before heading to Houston in the early 80's to work in restaurants there.  In 1988, Madrigal moved to Phoenix to start a family and he eventually became involved in the first Ruth's Chris Steakhouse in Scottsdale. 

In 1998, Z'Tejas Southwestern Grill - which was based in Austin, TX - put their first location in Phoenix and hired Madrigal to be their corporate chef.  He developed a number of popular dishes for the restaurant, but after a number of years he moved on to being a menu consultant for a handful of restaurants including Hopdaddy, Eddie V's, Salty Sow, and Taco Guild.  

In 2015, the owners of the Z'Tejas Southwestern Grill filed for bankruptcy protection.  An ownership group out of Austin bought the restaurants - the ones that were still open, that is - and one of the first things they did was to hire Leo Madrigal back as their executive chef.  Madrigal helped stabilize the kitchens at Z'Tejas, but he was really looking at doing something else - something on his own.  

Pictured at right - Leo Madrigal.  Photo courtesy Cocina Madrigal.

Madrigal had lived in South Phoenix since 2002.  He liked it in South Phoenix, but he felt that the area was lacking in what he would call eclectic Mexican dishes.  He decided to start looking for a building to buy, but much of the real estate was too high for his budget.  However, a small restaurant space that was very close to his home became available and he grabbed the property.  The building was nearly 70 years old and needed some updating, but after renovations and getting things in order, Cocina Madrigal opened in June of 2018.  

I was staying at a hotel near Sky Harbor Airport and I got an Uber to take me over to Cocina Madrigal which was located a couple miles away.  As we were driving along E. Broadway, I noticed that there was a lot of police activity and some rather sketchy areas.  Passing a couple cop cars who had some guys handcuffed, my Uber driver told me, "Yeah, unfortunately, you see that a lot around here."  As we turned up S. 16th Street, I saw the sign for Cocina Madrigal on the left.  (see map)  The place looked, well, it didn't really look like an eclectic Mexican restaurant like my sister said it would be.  Getting out of the Uber, I thought to myself, "Good god, what has she gotten me into now?"

But upon entering Cocina Madrigal, I found a lively and pleasant place.  The dining room wasn't all that large, but it had a nice slate tile floor, plenty of lighting and it was very clean.  My sister had put in a reservation for us for 7 p.m., but she hadn't arrived yet.  

After checking in with the hostess, I went to the bar to wait for my sister to show up.  The bar area was a little darker than the dining room and also had a number of tables in the stucco-walled room.  I was greeted by a gregarious bartender who invited me to have a seat at the bar.  I ordered a Dos Equis Ambar that they had on tap.  It wasn't long before my sister showed up and we made it to our table in the dining room.  

We were greeted by our server for the evening, Eduardo, a tall, affable man with a big smile and a quick laugh.  I normally don't take pictures of my servers, but Eduardo was aces all night long.  He was excellent with his descriptions and explanations all night long.  He was a great guy.  He looked at me and said, "You look like you're the kind of guy who needs a top notch margarita."  I asked if he had one with Herradura and Cointreau sitting back at the bar with my name on it, and he laughed and said, "A man who knows how to drink a real margarita!"  My sister got one, as well.

Eduardo dropped off a couple menus for us to look through.  He gave a quick explanation on the food at Cocina Madrigal - everything was made fresh and from scratch.  It wasn't an extensive menu - just two pages, front and back - at least not like you'd find at most Mexican restaurants.  But many of the items sounded very interesting.  

While our drinks were getting made, a basket of chips with two different types of salsa was brought to the table by Eduardo.  "This is our house salsa," he said as he pointed to the larger of the two tubs in the basket.  "This one is our habanero salsa," as he pointed to the smaller of the two tubs.  "It's got a pretty good kick," he warned.  And it did.  Thankfully, I still had some of my beer left to help take the sting off of my tongue from the habanero salsa.

We also got some of Cocina Madrigal's guacamole.  It was made fresh with chunks of red onion, tomatoes, jalapeño, fresh lime juice and cilantro mixed in with the avocado.  With the fresh corn chips that were with the salsa, the guac was a great start to the meal.  And it helped cool down my mouth which was still raging somewhat from the bit of the habanero salsa that I tried.

One of the things on the menu that I wanted to try was the Hatch green chile pork appetizer.  It featured chunks of slow-roasted pork mixed in with Hatch chiles, cilantro, jalapeños, and garlic, all of which was topped with a jack cheese.  Fresh made flour tortillas came with it.  It was, in a word, incredible.  There were so many flavors just popping out of the mixture that were so unbelievable.  I could have just had that for my dinner that night, but there were so many other things that I wanted to try 

My sister was gung-ho about getting the wild mushroom enchilada.  It featured three wild mushrooms chopped, cooked and mixed in with jack cheese, rolled up in a corn tortilla and topped with sour cream, an avocado-tomato relish, and an ancho mole sauce.  It came with black beans and rice on the side.  She thought it was fabulous.  We were sharing food back and forth all night and she gave me a bite of it.  After tasting the wild mushroom enchilada, I had to wholeheartedly agree with her.  

I told Eduardo that I sort of wanted to try a little bit of everything on the menu, but I knew I would be limited.  I couldn't believe how great the pork and green chiles appetizer was and he suggested getting the barbacoa green chile enchilada.  He said that two normally come with the meal, but he could get me one and pro-rate the cost down.  The enchilada was filled with chunks of tender beef and topped with their great green chile sauce and shredded jack cheese.  It was delicious. 

I also got a couple tacos that my sister and I shared.   One was the tropical fish taco that was topped with chopped mango, a salsa picante, and a coconut cabbage mix.  The taste of that taco was unbelievable.  There were so many flavors popping in my mouth that I almost forgot it was a fish taco.  

The other taco was one of their signature items on their menu - the beef tenderloin taco.  Once again, Eduardo was accommodating enough to allow us to get one each rather than the three taco that normally come as a meal.  The beef tenderloin is marinated in a chipotle/pomegranate mixture grilled and served with fried Mexican peppers and crumbled gorgonzola cheese.  I was just shaking my head in amazement with the taste sensations I was experiencing.  

The meal we had at Cocina Madrigal was certainly a great experience.  Everything about the place - the food, the margaritas, the service from Eduardo - was top notch.  My sister still raves about the wild mushroom enchiladas when we talk from time to time.  I couldn't say enough about the great pork green chile appetizer and the barbacoa beef green chile enchilada that I had.  Cocina Madrigal may not be much to look at from the outside, but you can be guaranteed that the food inside would be worth the stop.

 

Via Delosantos - Phoenix

I was in Phoenix for business three years ago and I met up one evening with my sister, Cindy White, who is the owner of Estelle, a small manufacturer of high quality, hand woven ribbon sweaters for women based in Phoenix.

Cindy White

She asked me what I wanted for dinner and I didn't hesitate.  "Mexican.  Authentic Mexican."  She said she was going to take me to a place that wasn't too far from her shop in central Phoenix, Via Delosantos.

Via Delosantos is a funky little restaurant on North Central Ave. (see map) in a not so nice section of Phoenix.  It was safe enough directly around the restaurant, but you wouldn't want to venture too far in any direction away from the place. 

Via Delosantos may be funky looking on the outside, but it's a Mexican fiesta on the inside.  There are colored hanging lights all around the dining rooms and bar area.  There's Mexican baskets, sombreros and pinatas hanging around the joint, too. 

One of the first things that caught my eye was the amount of tequila they had to offer.  I found out that they over 200 different types of tequila to choose from!  They also had over 20 different types of Mexican beers, too.

Cindy and I both got a margarita with our chips and salsa.  Man, I was torn as what to get.  Everything looked so good on the menu.  And the smell in the place was just heavenly.

I opted for the shredded beef enchilada and just because I'm a sucker for pork tacos, I got one of those on the side.  I ordered a Sol beer and I was in heaven!

Cindy told me that Via Delosantos continually wins the Phoenix area "Best of" categories for their food and tequila.  I've eaten in a number of good little Mexican restaurants during my many visits to Phoenix, but none of them made as big of impression on me as Via Delosantos.  I'd go back in a heartbeat!

Phoenix Inn - Phoenix

I was in Phoenix for business about three years ago and I was traveling with a colleague from Seattle, Matthew Silberstein.  We were going to spend the night out in one of the SE suburbs of Phoenix, but Matthew said, "Hey, I know a place we can stay here in Phoenix.  It's cheap and the rooms are European style suites." 

So he directed me to a place off of 24th St. and near the Biltmore Fashion Park and south of Camelback Road.  We came to this place called The Phoenix Inn and it was a nice little hotel.  The lobby was large and inviting, the staff was attentive (Matthew had stayed at this place many times before) and they gave us rooms on the third floor.

I walked into my room and looked around - it was a suite!  And it WAS like a European suite, at that.  A couple of small rooms and then a bedroom with attached bath.  I called Matthew and said, "We paid HOW MUCH for these rooms?"

Matthew said, "$90 bucks. All the rooms are suites here." 

Well, I didn't know it until about a year ago, but the Phoenix Inn is actually a small chain of hotels that are primarily in the northwest - in Washington and Oregon.  I thought the Phoenix Inn was named after, well, Phoenix.  Hence, the Phoenix Inn. 

And all the rooms at a Phoenix Inn are suites.  They're comfortable, they're roomy and, above all, they're relatively cheap! 

I'd stay there again.  It was nice and nice surprise, at that...