Arizona Restaurant Week - Bloom
My Chick Poker gang LOVES Arizona Restaurant Week. It’s so fun to try out new and fancy places for a fixed price of $30 or $40. The bummer for this event, is that we only could get together for one meal. Some of them may try another this weekend but my calendar is fully booked (seriously, when will I learn that I can pass on a social engagement and not feel like I’m missing potentially the most fun ever?).
We all put in our favored selections and Angela made an executive decision to go to Bloom. None of us had been there and the menu looked really good. Really good to us for this event is that you actually have to choose for each course as opposed to wanting to try only one selection in each category.
I got there early (no traffic problems when you’re not on the freeway!) and had settled in to a wine flight before the next person got there. They have a nice wine list and the flights come out to 1 ½ glasses of wine at a very reasonable price.
The rest of the girls showed and Stacy and Beckey got flights while Chris got a Kiltlifter. Can’t go wrong with a Four Peaks selection.
We were ready to order but I made Stacey wait for Angela. Yeah, the person who picked the place and the time and made the reservation went to the wrong restaurant. Doh!
Our waiter was stellar, very pleasant and engaging. The staff were all attentive without being intrusive. And, we really appreciated the horseshoe shaped booth that let us all be comfy and still feel like we were in close proximity to each other. The restaurant was retro-mod and felt more cool than uppity.The only knock was that we had a long wait between the First and Second Courses.
Here’s their menu for the event:
Everyone enjoyed their First Courses. I got the brie and I thought the combination of the cheese with the cherries was sublime. I also liked the roasted garlic cloves that were served cold. Good enough to eat whole and soft enough to spread on the crisp bread.
We also managed to cover all four of the Second Courses. I think the winner was the chicken. So full of flavor and it looked gorgeous. I got the pork (bacon wrapped!) and it was good as was the parsnip puree but the celery/fennel salad was lacking in flavor. You couldn’t really taste fennel at all.
We split on the Third Course as well with three of us getting the doughnuts and two getting the butterscotch. The doughnuts were great as was the custard and jam. Unfortunately, I was so full that I only ate the doughnut holes (they served three along with three small doughnuts) and I thought I was going to burst. No wafer thin mint for me. I did taste the butterscotch and it was very Slippery Nipple tasting with just the right touch of salt to cut the sweet.
Stacey ended up taking home all of the leftover desserts and I’m sure she hid them from her kids so she could have them all to herself today.
We all agreed we would go back to Bloom. The decor, the service and the food were all quite good. Unfortunately, it’s geographically undesirable for most of the gang but not too bad for me. I’d be up for it again for sure, even on a weeknight with traffic.
We all put in our favored selections and Angela made an executive decision to go to Bloom. None of us had been there and the menu looked really good. Really good to us for this event is that you actually have to choose for each course as opposed to wanting to try only one selection in each category.
I got there early (no traffic problems when you’re not on the freeway!) and had settled in to a wine flight before the next person got there. They have a nice wine list and the flights come out to 1 ½ glasses of wine at a very reasonable price.
The rest of the girls showed and Stacy and Beckey got flights while Chris got a Kiltlifter. Can’t go wrong with a Four Peaks selection.
We were ready to order but I made Stacey wait for Angela. Yeah, the person who picked the place and the time and made the reservation went to the wrong restaurant. Doh!
Our waiter was stellar, very pleasant and engaging. The staff were all attentive without being intrusive. And, we really appreciated the horseshoe shaped booth that let us all be comfy and still feel like we were in close proximity to each other. The restaurant was retro-mod and felt more cool than uppity.The only knock was that we had a long wait between the First and Second Courses.
Here’s their menu for the event:
Everyone enjoyed their First Courses. I got the brie and I thought the combination of the cheese with the cherries was sublime. I also liked the roasted garlic cloves that were served cold. Good enough to eat whole and soft enough to spread on the crisp bread.
We also managed to cover all four of the Second Courses. I think the winner was the chicken. So full of flavor and it looked gorgeous. I got the pork (bacon wrapped!) and it was good as was the parsnip puree but the celery/fennel salad was lacking in flavor. You couldn’t really taste fennel at all.
We split on the Third Course as well with three of us getting the doughnuts and two getting the butterscotch. The doughnuts were great as was the custard and jam. Unfortunately, I was so full that I only ate the doughnut holes (they served three along with three small doughnuts) and I thought I was going to burst. No wafer thin mint for me. I did taste the butterscotch and it was very Slippery Nipple tasting with just the right touch of salt to cut the sweet.
Stacey ended up taking home all of the leftover desserts and I’m sure she hid them from her kids so she could have them all to herself today.
We all agreed we would go back to Bloom. The decor, the service and the food were all quite good. Unfortunately, it’s geographically undesirable for most of the gang but not too bad for me. I’d be up for it again for sure, even on a weeknight with traffic.
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