#1050 - Greasewood Flat, Scottsdale, AZ - 3/24/2010

Greasewood Flat is something else.  It's technically in Scottsdale, but not before you drive away from the clusters of night clubs and golf courses, out through the desert to a 120-year-old bunkhouse that used to be the main stagecoach stop between Fort McDowell and Phoenix.

The center is a large open area with rows of picnic tables and lots of fire pits blazing away.  The bar is the basics and the food is burgers and chili (don't go hungry -- you'll get that way during the comically long wait for food).  But the reason to go is for the (largely authentic) old west setting.

Greasewood also has live music (country of course) and dancing, and is popular with both the biker crowd and families.  There's lots of stuff to look at, a great desert sunset view, and the communal arrangement of picnic tables is conducive to striking up conversations.

27500 N Alma School Pkwy., Scottsdale, AZ 85250 - (480) 585-9430
greasewoodflat.net - culinaryfool - azcentral - yelp - newtimes

#1049 - Culinary Dropout, Scottsdale, AZ - 3/24/2010

Another nice place in the Sam Fox chain, like Olive & Ivy, and my second favorite cocktails in the Phoenix area after Jade Bar.  Had a nice Smashed Irishman (Jameson, lemon juice, honey, reduced Guiness, and mint) and a good cocktail and bar chat with bartender Sean.

7135 E Camelback Rd., Ste 125, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 - (480) 970-1700
foxrc.com - azcentral - yelp

#1048 - Olive & Ivy, Scottsdale, AZ - 3/24/2010

Don't be put off by Olive & Ivy's location at the edge of a mall -- it's got a large, sunny, and highly comfortable patio on the banks of a canal.  The emphasis is on wine, but there are some decent cocktails.  And while this blog is about the bars not the restaurants, I can't go without mentioning that the food was excellent from start to finish.  (In my case this was their standard focaccia bread and pesto, a bruschetta with crescenza cheese and fig preserves, and a chicken curry salad.) Service was efficient and quite friendly.

O&I is one of several Fox restaurants in the area, and from my sample of them, these tend to be very good.

7135 E. Camelback Rd., Ste. 195, Scottsdale, AZ 85251 - (480) 751-2200
foxrc.com - chowhound - yelp - metromix - azcentral