Gud Fud Restaurant Series: Bloom – Scottsdale, AZ

Ryan    Uncategorized     American Cusine

So I wanted to make the food stuff part of it’s own page, but after the new layout, I’m kinda switching it up a bit. Hopefully you SEM peeps won’t get too pissed that there is a little bit of personality here. Same goes for you foodies. Search marketing is a fun and interesting thing! Even though I’m kinda pissed at it 98% of the time.

Bloom – Scottsdale, AZ

• Date: August 11, 2009
• Website: www.foxrestaurantconcepts.com
• Appetizer: Smoked Salmon, warm potato galette, cool chive crème fraîche
• Entree: Aged New York, Crimini mushroom, cipollini onion & Parm. potato
• Vino: Flight #6, Progressive Whites – see below
• Dessert: Bars of Sin
• Rating: 4.5/5

Andrea and I dined at Bloom in Scottsdale last week for my 26th birthday. Ugh, I can’t believe I’m 26 now. Any ways, having been to Bloom a few other times in the past, I knew it was the place where I wanted to celebrate the dreaded occasion. (Actually, I like birthdays, and I don’t mind that I’m getting older) Tuesday was the night however, so I wasn’t expecting a huge crowd… nonetheless, I made a reservation. Thank God I did.

The restaurant was a lot busier then I thought, especially for a Tuesday. No matter, I like to see good restaurants filled with people. But not overly full. I don’t want to see an hour’s worth of people standing outside waiting for their table. Not the case on Tuesday.

Andrea has this thing for quick service in bad restaurants, and slow service at good restaurants. Say for example, Olive Garden… we better get our drinks, and salad within the first 10 minutes or she’s going to get mad. At Bloom however, if our waiter wants our entrees within the first 30 minutes… you know what I mean. Needless to say, we both get a cocktail to start hopefully a wonderfully delicious evening. Hers: Gin Fizz, His: Sapphire Martini, straight up, w/ a twist… it’s the usual.

After a pleasant ‘kampai!,’ we decide to order the smoked salmon to start. Now being from the Pacific North West, we’ve had our fair share of smoked salmon, some better then others, so we pretty much know what we like when it comes to the smoky treat. At Bloom however, we were treated to an almost ‘lox’ish’ kind of smoked salmon. Bright pink and wet, this smoked salmon sat comfortably atop small portions of crunchy potato gallete, with creme fraîche, and a few mixed greens to top it off. Delicious. The briny and smokey fish mixed with the crunchy potato was pretty freaking amazing. Mix that with the freshness of the creme fraîche, and you have a glorious treat. (Sorry I didn’t take a picture)

As we savored our appetizer, Andrea and I ordered our entrees. Hers: Market Fish (I don’t recall what the actual fish was, but it was a white fish), cooked similar to a seared tuna, sitting atop a corn puree, paired with spinach. His: Aged New York Steak atop a Parmesan potato, paired with Crimini mushrooms and cipollini onions.

For a drink selection, we also decided to split the #6 Wine Flight – Progressive Whites, which included a ’07 Martin Cadox (Albarino), a ’06 Chateau Monfort – Vouvray AC, and finally the ’07 Abazzia Di Novacella (Kerner).

Our entrees were both delicious. Andrea’s fish was cooked rare, like a seared tuna, but tasted very fresh and somewhat complex, all at the same time. I didn’t taste the corn puree, but she said it was an interesting compliment to the delicately prepared fish and vegetables. (As a side note, Andrea wanted the risotto the most after our last visit to Bloom where we found the risotto to be excellent and very creamy) My New York was cooked Medium Rare, and had a delicious demi glaze drizzled over the meat as well as the Parmesan potatoes. Our wines, while not paired to our specific entrees were all very good as well, but I think Andrea and I both enjoyed the sweetness of the Albarino, and the complexity of the Kerner the most. All three were excellent however.

All in all, my birthday dinner was very good. We finished the night off with the Bars of Sin and an espresso. (I tried drinking the coffee through a brown sugar cube.. which ended up with me pretty much eating the sugar cube) The Bars of Sin were really good as well. Not quite as dense as a flourless chocolate cake, but still very rich and almost creamy like.

If I was to rate this restaurant, it’d go something like this…

• Ambiance: 5/5
• Service: 4/5
• Food: 4/5
• Drinks: 4/5
• Selection: 5/5
• My Honest Opinion: 4.5/5