Fall AZ Restaurant Week is now in full swing! Don’t fret however! You still have plenty of time to try out some of the best the Valley has to offer. We recently were invited to try out the Fall AZ Restaurant Week menu at St. Francis. Let us tell you, they aren’t holding back. St. Francis has some delicious offerings you won’t want to miss.
True to typical AZ Restaurant Week format, St. Francis’ menu consists of three courses for $33. Each diner gets an appetizer, entree, and dessert. In order to try more items, we each ordered something different for each course. We actually recommend this strategy to our friends (and anyone else who will listen) as well because it allows you to experience more of the restaurant.
Wood Oven Roasted Vegetable Salad
For our first course we ordered the Wood Oven Roasted Vegetable Salad (herbed creme fraiche, whole grain mustard vinaigrette, toasted walnuts, fresno chile) and the Herbed Shrimp Ceviche (citrus, cilantro, serrano chile, habanero, cucumber, avocado, house made tortilla chips). We opted for these starters as we tried the Crispy Okra the evening we had cocktails at St. Francis. Both appetizers were light (thankfully, given the amount of food we’d be consuming) and packed full of flavor. For us, the star of the salad was the butternut squash. We aren’t crazy about beets in general (we know we aren’t in the majority on this) but the butternut squash and herbed creme fraiche pairing was so amazing that it didn’t matter. We gobbled the whole salad right up. The ceviche had just the right amount of heat and the house made tortilla chips served with it were perfection!
Crispy White Fish
Up next was our entree course. We selected the Pork Belly Pozole Verde (garbanzo beans, cabbage, radish, herb broth, smoked corn chicos) and the Crispy White Fish (parsnip puree, baby cauliflower, prickly pear sauce, spinach, fine herbs). The pozole is not a traditional pozole. Its closer to a stew than soup. The use of garbanzo beans instead of hominy is an interesting change and actually works. The crispy fish (red snapper to be precise), stole the show for entrees. This skin on filet was absolutely killer. Paired with parsnips, bitter greens, and the sweet prickly pear sauce, this dish is an explosion of flavor. Have we mentioned we love crispy skinned fish?
We wrapped up our meal with the dessert course. We got one of each of the available desserts. The desserts being offered were a Pear Crostata (chai creme anglaise, toasted almonds, sweet cream gelato) and a Sticky Toffee Pudding (sweet cream gelato). The desserts were perfect split between the two of us. With the crostata, you have a warming fruit forward dessert and with the pudding you have a rich and decadent dessert. Both were out of this world delicious. Don’t ask us to pick which we liked more because they were equally fantastic. It would really boil down to whether you prefer fruit or not.
Sticky Toffee Pudding
If you are wondering where to go for Fall AZ Restaurant Week, St. Francis should definitely be on your list! Where have you been for this season’s Arizona Restaurant Week? What has been your favorite course? We want to hear all about it! Leave a comment below or use the hash tag #GeekEats!
St. Francis is located at: 111 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix, Az 85012
*The Geeks were given comped items to facilitate this write-up; Information about the menu items was provided to us, opinions are wholly our own. View our Disclosure Policy for more info.
