Virtù Honest Craft is a mediterranean restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale, Phoenix.
Virtù Honest Craft in Scottsdale is Gio Osso's Mediterranean room behind the Bespoke Inn, a courtyard kitchen with an early James Beard new-restaurant nod.
Signature dishes: Crispy-skin branzino, Handmade pasta, Caper brown butter
Must order: The crispy-skin branzino with caper-infused brown butter, a fixture on Osso's changing menu.
Tip: The fig-tree courtyard is the seat to request; the tasting menu is the deepest way into Osso's cooking.
Address: 3701 N Marshall Way, Scottsdale, AZ 85251, Phoenix
Cafe Monarch in Old Town Scottsdale is a family-run tasting-menu room on a string-lit alley, serving a changing eight-course menu of small, refined plates.
Signature: Eight-course tasting, Four-course prix fixe, Seasonal plates
Order: The chef's eight-course tasting, the deepest version of the kitchen's seasonal cooking.
Tip: The candlelit back alley is the seat to book; the menu is prix fixe only, no a la carte.
Mowry & Cotton at The Phoenician resort is a relaxed Scottsdale steak-and-cocktail room, plating grilled mains and smoked drinks in a luxe poolside setting.
Signature: Smoked cocktails, Grilled steaks, Wood-fired plates
Order: A grilled steak alongside one of the bar's signature smoked cocktails.
Tip: Set inside The Phoenician on Camelback Road; the resort patio is the seat in cool months.
Quiessence at The Farm at South Mountain is Dustin Christofolo's seasonal tasting room, plating produce picked hours earlier from the on-site garden.
Signature: Tasting menu, Garden vegetables, Seasonal mains
Order: The weekly tasting menu, built around whatever the garden cut that morning.
Tip: Set on a working farm off 32nd Street; the drive and garden walk are part of the evening, book the patio in cool months.
Different Pointe of View sits 1,800 feet up at the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort, a AAA Four Diamond room pairing American cooking with a wide skyline view.
Signature: Tasting menu, Wine pairings, Mountaintop views
Order: The multi-course tasting with wine pairings, timed for sunset over the city lights.
Tip: Request a window or terrace table at dusk; the room is on North 7th Street, well north of downtown.
Cafe Monarch in Old Town Scottsdale is a family-run tasting-menu room on a string-lit alley, serving a changing eight-course menu of small, refined plates.
Signature: Eight-course tasting, Four-course prix fixe, Seasonal plates
Order: The chef's eight-course tasting, the deepest version of the kitchen's seasonal cooking.
Tip: The candlelit back alley is the seat to book; the menu is prix fixe only, no a la carte.
Steak 44 on North 44th Street is the Mastro brothers' modern Phoenix steakhouse, a high-energy room of prime cuts, raw-bar seafood and a deep wine list.
Signature: Prime steaks, Fresh seafood, Tableside service
Order: A dry-aged prime cut and a tower from the raw bar to start.
Tip: The bar fills early and loud; book the dining room for a quieter night, valet only at peak.
Mowry & Cotton at The Phoenician resort is a relaxed Scottsdale steak-and-cocktail room, plating grilled mains and smoked drinks in a luxe poolside setting.
Signature: Smoked cocktails, Grilled steaks, Wood-fired plates
Order: A grilled steak alongside one of the bar's signature smoked cocktails.
Tip: Set inside The Phoenician on Camelback Road; the resort patio is the seat in cool months.
Tarbell's on Camelback Road is Mark Tarbell's long-running Biltmore-area room, a New American kitchen with a wood oven and a deep wine program.
Signature: Wood-oven dishes, Seasonal mains, Deep wine list
Order: Whatever comes out of the wood oven, paired from Tarbell's own wine store next door.
Tip: Tarbell's the Tavern wine bar sits a couple of doors down at 3209 Camelback for a lighter night.
