Cucina Rustica  7000 Hwy. 179, NW, Suite 126 A. • Sedona, AZ 86351 • (928) 284-3010 Sedona, Arizona

My wife and I went to Cucina Rustica on a Thursday night for a pre Valentine's Day dinner. I hate going out on really busy restaurant nights because I hate crowds and with that potentially slow/bad service and long waits. But even though it was a Thursday the place was hopping with a full dining room, crowded bar and a party of 70 veterinarians. Everything went like clockwork thanks to our server Amy and a couple of Johnny-on-the-spot bus people. So the service was great, the place looked great (just like a rustic Italian restaurant), and the food was great! This is by far one of the best restaurants in the Sedona area.

The place looked as great as ever. We were seated next to the fireplace and I wish the flame was turned up a little more, not just for look, but for a little heat too. The table was one of those along the wall with a bench seat built on the wall with chairs at the table facing the wall. So I sat facing the wall, which I didn't like. But I was facing my wife also, so that was good. These types of wall bench seats are a great, efficient use of space, but it doesn't give a lot of people (all those facing the wall) a feel for the restaurant. A mirror would have been nice to look into to see what's going on behind you. When another couple was seated next to us at a table for four, they sat next to each other against the wall looking out into the restaurant. It would have been crazy if they both sat facing the wall. Well anyway, its a simple fix, next time I'll just ask for a different table! Enough about the walls, onto the food!

An appetizer special of the night was Norwegian Smoked Salmon on Crostini. That was absolutely delicious! The crostini were still warm and not totally hard, which made it easy to soak up the balsamic vinegar and olive oil drizzled on the plate. The capers and roasted red peppers rounded out the taste, which was fantastic. I love the richness of smoked salmon and this was good! Next up were our salads. I traded up $2 to get a Caesar Salad and my wife got the house salad. Excellent Caesar Salad with lots of dressing, which I like, shaved Parmesan cheese, fresh cracked black pepper and croutons. The croutons were extremely hard, so I avoided eating them in fear of breaking a tooth. I gave one to my wife, who has super human teeth, and even she said they were hard. My wife's house salad was very tasty. Its interesting to have a Oriental flavored house salad in an Italian restaurant, but its very good, so why try to figure that one out?

Onto our entrees. Cioppino was a special of the night. I heard our waitress say "Lobster, shrimp, sea bass, mussels, clams and scallops", but I couldn't find my lobster. I thought one of my big shrimps was the lobster, but it was just a big shrimp. I'm use to my lobsters being bigger than my shrimps and I didn't see anything bigger than my shrimp. When I asked Amy, our server, about it, she said it was "slipper lobster". For $35 I thought I was going to get at least one big chunk of a lobster that would be bigger than a little finger, but that's the way it goes. Slipper lobster are in the lobster family and are tiny, probably smaller than the shrimp in my dish. So I probably ate it without even noticing. Pay attention next time!  So, how was the Cioppino you ask? It was great! The sauce was absolutely fantastic and there was a ton of seafood! My wife had the Linguine Angelica which is homemade linguine with prawns in a lemon, garlic, tomato. chardonnay sauce, which was very good. The prawn were gigantic! My wife couldn't finish it all and took the leftovers home. It was just as delicious the next day!

Now the dessert. We ordered the three layer chocolate mousse cake. When it was put down it front of us, it looked picture perfect. The top white layer, the middle milk chocolate layer and the bottom dark chocolate layer perfectly straight and aligned would make a Marine proud. The drizzle of chocolate sauce expertly drizzled. And a little whipped cream and the beautiful, little chocolate fans. It all looked so gorgeous, my wife and I actually thought it was made elsewhere by a machine maybe, but our waitress gave all the credit to the Cucina Rustica pastry chef. Bravo! It was beautiful and it tasted as good as it looked!

All in all a great meal by any standard. I highly recommend Cucina Rustica. I've had the Veal dishes before and they were great. Specials are good. Good wine list. We had an Arizona Stronghold "Nachice", a red wine blend. Its nice that local restaurants serve the local wines.Good looking restaurant. Lively bar area. Can't wait for warmer weather to sit out on their beautiful patio. Total cost for one appetizer, two salads, two entrees, one dessert and one bottle of wine ($40) was $134 plus a $27 tip brought the total to $161 which is average for a good meal in Sedona. Good food, good drinks and good times!

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Here's what's going on at:

Cucina Rustica and Dahl & DiLuca - Antipasti Romantici - Fresh Florida Stone Crabs $34, Dungeness Crab Etroflee Stuffed Mushrooms $18, Gamberi Alla Vodka Con Bruschetta $12.50, Ostriche (Oysters) d'Orate $16, Zuppa e Insalata - Zuppa Aragosta $8.50, Insalata Pomodoro $12, Entrate - Valentino D'Amore Per Due (Chateabriand for two) $79.95, Mare e Cielo (Salmon, Scallops, Safron Risotto) $36, Vitello Alla Soprano $34, Agnello Ambrosia $36, Osso Buco Tradizione $36, Call 928-284-3010 to make reservations at Cucina Rustica www.cucinarustica.com, call 928-282-5219 to make reservations for Dahl & DiLuca www.dahlanddiluca.com

Pinon Bistro in Cottonwood is having their 10th annual wine dinner from Feb.10 through the 14th, which is Valentine's Day. Call 928-649-0234 for more info and to make reservations.

Mulligan's and the Village of Oak Creek Association are having a buffet dinner from 6pm to 9pm with a no-host bar starting at 5pm and will feature Mulligan's "Death by Chocolate" Desserts. Cost is just $25 per person. Music by Village Jazz Ensemble. Reservations are required. Reservation deadline is Friday, Feb. 12th. Call 284-3687 to make reservations.

Hog Wild Restaurant and Catering, 705 North Main Street, Cottonwood, Az., (928)639-3232, www.azhogwild.com

Just a quick note on two outstanding lunches I had recently. One was at Hog Wild in Cottonwood. Its located just before you get to Old Downtown Cottonwood. Its a Chicago style diner type place that has Italian Beefs and Chicago Style Hot Dogs among a ton of other delectable delights including burgers, ribs, pulled pork, beef brisket and pastrami sandwich. I had the Chicago style hot dogs and they were fabulous and authentic all the way down to the iridescent green relish, Vienna style hot dogs and poppy seed buns. Although not advertised as jumbo they were on the large side and two were quite a lot of food. And at just $6.75 for two with fries it was a good buy.The other two people with me also had hot dogs so I didn't see any of the other food being offered close up, but the burgers looked great! Next time, burgers, ribs and a hot pastrami on rye please! ****UPDATE!**** Actually, when I did go back, I had another hot dog, my wife had a beef sandwich and we all split a half slab of ribs and two sodas, $25. Everything was just fantastic! Especially the ribs! Absolutely fantastic! And the sweet potato fries were incredible! $8 for a beef sandwich though and $13 for a half slab of ribs! That's what I would pay in a sit down restaurant with waiters, real plates, silverware and glasses instead of Styrofoam cups! I'll stick to the hot dogs.The ribs were good though...

A few days later I ate at the Orion Bread Company in Old Downtown Cottonwood. My wife and I split the Mediterranean Sandwich with Turkey and hummus and it was absolutely delicious.Everything as fresh as it could be (including the bread)! The sandwich was $8 and splitting it was enough for the two of us. Lots of different types of bread on display (That happens a lot at bakeries). We bought a Minor's loaf. Looks good. Read the paper, caught up on the news, found a cheesecake cookbook, perused it, lounged around a bit, relaxed. Great sandwich. Nice! We'll be back!

Fournos - 3000 W. Hwy 89A, Sedona, Arizona 86336 (928)282-3331

Monday - 6pm to 8pm,   Thursday 6pm-8pm,   Friday and Saturday 6pm to 8:30pm

When you first walk into Fournos, you can't believe how small the restaurant is. I've had tours of restaurants in Paris and many of the old standbys have nice sized dining rooms with extremely tiny kitchens. You wonder how they are able to turn out the food for the size of the dining room. Here at Fournos, the whole restaurant could fit into one of those tiny French kitchens! But as Chef Ivan says, "Little restaurant, BIG flavors!"And both are certainly true.

We were seated at our table in the middle of the dining area and I could clearly see the  kitchen with Chef Ivan working, which is a good thing. I always like to see what I can of a restaurant's kitchen. There were some tables that could not see the kitchen, so if you're not into that you can get away from it. Chef Ivan must work in stealth mode most of the time because you hardly hear any sounds from the kitchen over the softly playing music. The dining room is decorated beautifully with artwork displayed on walls painted in rich, soothing colors. Everything looked impressive, except for the paper napkins which I thought were out of place especially since all the entrees were in the mid to high 20 dollar range and one of the specials was $35 (Bone-in Rib Eye). So, a McDonald's type paper napkin was not expected. I know linen service is expensive, but they do sell a more upscale paper napkin that would fit in better with the level of quality and price displayed at this restaurant.

We were given a taste of the featured wine of the night which was nice and unexpected. It was a red wine from Australia that was quite good, but my wife was set on a couple of wines on the wine list that she wanted to have us try so we got those instead. We were then given warm bread and herbed garlic olive oil for dipping. Great with the wine. Very enjoyable. We placed our order which starts out with the special appetizer of the night, a Appetizer Trilogy of Baked Cherry Stone Clams with Garlic, Butter, Basil and Panko Bread Crumbs, a House Made Sausage Stromboli with Fresh Mozzarella and Caramelized Maui Onion and Chilled New Zealand Calamari Salad with Lemon Rosemary Syrup. I also ordered a bowl of Lobster Bisque with Porcini Mushroom Essence which came out first and was split in the kitchen for my wife and I to share without having to pass the bowl around the table. But my wife couldn't eat all hers, so I was passed the bowl anyway! The Bisque was fabulous! Rich and creamy and full of lobster flavor with that hint of mushroom. Next came our Appetizer Trilogy which was beautifully plated. I thought the cold, perfectly seasoned, giant Calamari Rings were fabulous. My wife prefers deep fried Calamari, so I got most of these.The Baked Clams were on the small side, as are Cherry Stone Clams, but they had so much breadcrumbs on them, I found it hard to find the actual clam itself. But there was lots of garlic and butter involved, so that was OK by me. My wife doesn't like clams, so I got most of them also. So the third part of the appetizer is homemade Stromboli Italian Sausage in Puff Pastry.Guess what? My wife doesn't like Italian Sausage! But she tried some of this and, low and behold, she liked it! The accompanying tomato sauce was cold and perfect. However, we found the puff pastry to be a little tough and doughy on the inside (it was rolled up into a tube and served cut on the bias which makes an impressive, tall display, but the part that was on the inside did not get crisp).We finished everything by the way, except for some of the puff pastry, so it was definitely good.

Caesar Salads came with your entree. Romaine and dressing (sorry, not enough dressing on mine), but no garlic croutons or extra grated cheese. The greens were fresh and crisp and the dressing was good. I can get along without any extra grated cheese, but no garlic croutons! Anyway, they were complimentary, so I'll stop complaining.

Next up is our entrees. I ordered the Prime Beef Brisket with Garlic Chocolate Jalapeno sauce, baby artichokes, roasted Peruvian potatoes and organic spinach and my wife ordered the Slow Braised Kurabuto Pork Osso Buco with creamy cognac apple parmigiano orzo. I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the Beef Brisket. First off, it was visually stunning and you know we start eating with our eyes. It looked like a beautiful, colorful painting by a renowned artist (Chef Ivan!). So, it was delicious before I even took a bite! And when I did take a bite, I was in heaven! The flavors were incredible. The beef was so tender, I was cutting it with my fork. With every bite, I got a new taste sensation. Just an incredible dish! My wife was enjoying her Osso Bucco, but I could see by the look on her face she had way too much food. I had a taste and I thought the addition of the green olives was a wildly nice touch. We took the rest home and enjoyed that dish the next day, because we wanted to save room for dessert!

For dessert we had the Belgian Chocolate Tiramisu with Bailey's Chocolate Syrup and Fresh Raspberry Sauce and the Warm Apple Crisp with Citrus Infusion and Fresh Whipped Cream. I highly recommend the Tiramisu. I'm a sucker for chocolate and so is my wife. Nice flavors. If you're in the mood for a fruity kind of pie, the Apple Crisp is for you.

Well, let's sum it all up. Our bill was around $115 without the tip. That's two glasses of wine, a bowl of soup, one appetizer, two small Caesar salads, two entrees and two desserts. So I would put this kind of on the high side for a meal in Sedona. But, they deliver! The food is definitely a step up above the competition. You're not going to eat here two or three times a week, but if you're going out for something special, with or without friends, Fournos should be on your short list of places to go.