JULY 2017 18 | FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM Whether you hop over to the San Diego area for a weekend, week or month, one of our favorite post-beach chill spots is Coronado Brewing Company. The Coronado Island and Imperial Beach locations have a full menu and the Mission Bay location offers brews. Some favorite apps: the calamari strips and the three-piece buffalo tenders with heat choices. Brews on tap range from Seacoast Pilsner (pairs well with ahi tuna dishes) to Belgium-style Orange Ave. Wit (my favorite) to a deeper flavored Mermaid’s Red. Lots of options abound: tacos, salads, burgers, sandwiches, flatbreads and pastas. All made fresh to order. A kids menu and breakfast menu make it easy to drop by on the weekends. Coronado Brewing also gives back to its community, so, they’re Frontdoors approved! — Andrea Tyler Evans CORONADO BREWING COMPANY San Diego The most interesting fact about Blaze’s executive chef, Bradford Kent, is that he once worked for the Department of Defense as a food scientist specializing in natural preservations of foods and technologies for military rations. While at the DoD in the 1990s he worked on food technology for 2020. These days, he hopscotches around the globe in search of divine ingredients. Kent’s diligence pays off in the pies served up by Blaze. He IS the pizza whisperer – emphasizing the importance of the fermentation process. Blaze’s interactive kitchen format lets guests create their own pie. The fresh (never frozen) dough is made from scratch. The fire deck ovens cook pies in 180 seconds. In the assembly line, I went with a sausage, red peppers, sautéed onions, mozzarella and red sauce pie, which was light, fresh and extremely tasty. — Mike Saucier BLAZE Phoenix I was not very familiar with Eastern European cuisine but after my experience with Sonata’s it is now on my radar. I started with the Kepta Duona, which I was told is an Eastern Europe specialty. The appetizer consists of crisped rye bread, tossed in duck fat aioli and covered in Havarti cheese — good, but a bit heavy. I moved on to the chicken shashlik, a skewer of chicken and vegetables nearly as long of my table and sauces like tabbouleh, hummus, tomato and cucumber tapenade and their house fancy sauce. The chicken was amazing, and I could eat it every day with the hummus and tabbouleh. At the insistence of the incredible staff, I conceded to finishing my meal with Spurgos “Varškes” - a Lithuanian curd cheese donut that’s a lot better than the name suggests. I was also pleasantly surprised by Sonata’s terrific atmosphere — a patio and enormous main dining room ornately decorated with chandeliers, plush couches and leather chairs and a wall of wooden stump ends. — Jamie Killin SONATA’S RESTAURANT North Scottsdale Photo Credit: Mike Saucier Photo Credit: Andrea Tyler Evans Photo Credit: Kris Mocny {where we ate this month} KITCHEN DOORS

JULY 2017 FRONTDOORSMEDIA .COM | 19 KITCHEN DOORS CONTINUED Tucked into the magnificently renovated lobby of the iconic Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel is a saloon so well-designed, so warm and inviting that to call it a saloon seems like an insult. Dust Cutter is no swinging-doors, swill-serving watering hole. It’s a modern, urban saloon that has taken the best of the beautiful west and distilled it in a ruggedly handsome room that will be sure to win its share of national and local accolades. The name, like the design elements, was well conceived. When the west was wild, after a day of riding the desert trails, a cowboy would saunter into a saloon for a shot of something strong to cut the dust and lift his mood. Hence, Dust Cutter. While there’s no longer a need to cut the dust, the weary denizens traversing our urban desert can find comfort on the bar stools mimicking lug nuts and under light fixtures made of salvaged old bridge parts. A feature wall, The Cabinet of Cocktail Curiosities, pays homage to mixologists of yore with a display of vintage barware and collectibles. It all works extremely well, making it an ideal spot to show off to a visiting friend or relative – cool, contemporary cowboy minus the bravado. The menu is inspired by the Sonoran Desert, courtesy of Dust Cutter’s executive chef Josh Murray. Among the choices: mesquite tree pods are ground to create waffles; chicken served with Copper City bourbon syrup; and avocado fries with chiltepin pepper. The same Sonoran theme carries over to the drinks, via lead mixologist Tony Escalante. His concoctions are infused with desert shrubs and syrups. One fun thing: when the clock strikes 6 p.m., Monday through Thursday, locals and hotel guests can partake in the complimentary “Discovery Hour” in Dust Cutter. With their own cocktail recipe or inspiration of the day, a bartender will fill an old-fashioned punch bowl with the libation and welcome all to clink glasses to the discovery of new flavors and perhaps, new friends. Dust Cutter is not just another hip, cowboy-themed bar in a hotel. It simultaneously elevates and disrupts that whole genre. It’s in a league of its own. — Mike Saucier Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel Dust Cutter