![]() ![]() Step through the front door of Nic's Italian Steak and Crab House and you are transported to the atmosphere of the great East Coast Steak & Italian restaurants- polished brass, rich dark woods, plush green upholstery, and a 40’ long mahogany bar that could be a Hollywood movie set. Paired with our delectable kitchen creations, come see why our High Desert terroir is some of the best in the world! Try our lovely French Bistro menu crafted especially for our 100% Arizona wine. Trip Advisor Excellence Award winner 2018 & 2019 - "Best Lunch" 2018 Cottonwood/Camp Verde Journal “Peoples Choice” Award, C.C.Culinary Chili Contest 2018, Best BBQ 2019 Readers' Choice Verde Independent News, & Best BBQ 2019 - Kudos MagazineĬonvience Store with Beer, Wine, Snacks, Souvenirs, Hand Scooped Ice Cream and much more.ĭrinks and pastries only at the walk-up windowĬome and check us out in our beautiful Old Town Cottonwood Tasting Room grab a seat at the bar, on our cozy lounge seating, or hang out on our shaded, dog-friendly patio. Where your friends are!Ģ021 Verde Valley’s Best: American Restaurant, Best Lunch, Best Burger and Best BBQ. Legendary smoked meats, burgers, salads and cocktails. You’re gonna have to come check it out.Arizona Stronghold Vineyard’s tasting room offers wine tasting daily in a comfortable and relaxed atmosphere, grilled, gourmet skewers, delicious tapas and dessert, a beautiful outdoor garden-patio.Ĭasual, comfortable BBQ Grill with full bar & large outdoor patio. Or if you just want to come and hang out, we have these bread baskets, and we make our own bread and preserves. The ragú, you go with something like the Tarzan red. For the bruschetta with the pesto, I like going with the malvasia bianca. What food and wine pairings would you recommend at Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room & Osteria?Īll the dishes on the menu go specifically with the Merkin wine … maybe a rosé for a charcuterie board. And then behind where they’re making pasta is the walk-in, and it has a glass window, so you can see all the produce, you can see the meat hanging. ![]() And downstairs, they produce the pastas, mix the bread, all that type of stuff. So someone’s making pasta there – they’re making the raw pasta, they’re not finishing the dishes. There are actually seats at the pasta bar. All the equipment … like I said, he gave me free rein and put things together.Ĭan people see the pasta being made in the kitchen from the dining room? The mixers I wanted, the pasta extruder I wanted, anything that I wanted. ![]() He asked me what I needed, and we made it happen. He basically gave me free rein, so that’s what we did. He keeps me on my toes, and makes me better. What’s it like working with Maynard James Keenan? The flour for the pasta that’s coming is Arizona-grown the wheat is milled at Hayden Flour Mills. We have Merkin orchard, as well, which produces plum, apricot, peaches, pomegranate, three kinds of figs, almonds, apples, all that stuff. We have our own greenhouse on one of our vineyards, and we’re adding two more greenhouses to another vineyard. I’m getting my hands on the prosciutto that’s going to be local, and produce is local - down in Phoenix, I’ll mess with Blue Sky Farms, McClendon's Farms, or Pinnacle Farms. The meats and cheeses, right now, I’m importing those from Italy. In that one, I do a prosciutto and sage cream sauce. And another one I really like and that’s going well is just a regular, traditional gnocchi. And the pasta is a prickly pear and wine – that’s what I put in the pasta, so the is a pink-ish color. This one has heavy cream and mascarpone, white pepper. And the cheese, it’s not like your regular Velveeta or Kraft or whatever. ![]() The signature is the Merkin Mac and Cheese. What are some of your favorite pasta dishes on the menu? On the morning of the osteria’s opening on December 2, we caught up with Smith to talk about the pasta standouts on the Italian menu, what it’s like working for Keenan, and wine pairings. Multi-platinum-selling musician turned Arizona winemaker Maynard James Keenan picked him to lead the culinary team at his new concept, Merkin Vineyards Tasting Room and Osteria in Cottonwood. After eating at Asylum Restaurant in Jerome several times when Smith was chef there, For Chef Chris Smith, cooking in a couple of kitchens in an Arizona art colony and small town turned into a big opportunity. ![]()
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