Arizona 2008 Official State Visitor's Guide - (Page 36) No Calorie Left Behind microbrews. We order the restaurant’s namesake, the Delux Burger. This urbane version of a time-honored comfort food consists of all-natural, grain-fed beef topped with Gruyère and blue cheeses, applewood-smoked bacon, caramelized onions and baby arugula, served on a lightly toasted baguette bun. Delux’s charismatic owner, Lenny Rosenburg, stops by. The respected restaurateur behind such established Arizona faves as Blue Burrito Grille and 5 & Diner, Rosenburg loves coming up with affordable, accessible and merry restaurant themes. About Delux, he says, “I built this concept around the best hamburger you can buy.” Alison and I agree – the Delux is without peer. We’re nearly out the door when Craig and Rosenburg usher us into the restaurant’s cool new take-out section, and then to a back office to see blueprints for the stunning new Delux Burger, planned for downtown Scottsdale in March 2008. We look obviously – but happily – sated, but Rosenburg catches us eyeing an artful display of cupcakes. We’re zooming up Interstate 17 toward Flagstaff, our hands covered in cream-cheese icing and red-velvetcupcake crumbs. dinner: Brix, in Flagstaff Our quest for a memorable Arizona dinner leads us to a relatively new, slightly out-of-the-way, restaurant called Brix. I hadn’t even heard of this place until I saw it anointed on Condé Nast Traveler’s 2007 “Hot List,” alongside just 36 other restaurants in the United States. We arrive with high expectations, and as we peruse the menu of upmarket, but still reasonably priced, wine and victuals, we begin to understand why food-hounds revere this place. Chef-proprietor Laura Chamberlin and co-restaurateurs Paul and Laura Moir favor sustainable, local ingredients – they buy hormonefree beef from Cedar River Farms south of Tucson, organic produce from McClendon’s Select outside Phoenix, and tangy chèvre from Black Mesa Ranch in Snowflake (“it comes from the happiest goats you’ll ever see in your life,” says Paul). The results are simply fabulous. We sample a panoply of smaller plates: a selection of creamy and crumbly artisanal cheeses with poached apricots and figs, rare-seared coriander-andchili-crusted ahi tuna with sesame soba noodles, a salad of juicy heirloom tomatoes and micro-basil, pillowy goat-cheese gnocchi in a light fennelsaffron stock. Every flavor combination works perfectly, and to a morsel, every bite tastes blessedly fresh. I ask soft-spoken co-proprietor Paul Moir if he and his partners debated opening such a sophisticated, discerning operation in an easy-going college town. “We chose Flagstaff specifically because there was a gap in the market – there wasn’t a restaurant here quite like it.” © Reds Restaurant at Sedona Rouge © Chef Ron Moler, Sedona Rouge Brix Diners ©FCVB 36 • A r i z o n A o f f i c i A l S tAt e V i S i t o r ’ S G u i d e
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