Phoenician – Out with the Old in with the New Restaurant
–
Posh Mary Elaine’s serves its last supper
Arizona Resorts/ Arizona Travel Deals / Arizona Golf / Spas in AZ
Steakhouse to replace restaurant at Phoenician
On the last twinkling night in the foie-gras-studded era of Mary Elaine’s, the Valley’s most illustrious restaurant for nearly 20 years, the pianist played Over the Rainbow at sunset, and the whole room seemed to sigh.
The manager talked about how he would never get to wear his tuxedo again. The wait-staff captain shook his head and muttered something about McDonald’s. Chef Frank Belosic planned to abscond with one of the purse stools.
Saturday marked the end of the restaurant and the finale to a more elegant way of life, when handbags and dinner, too, belonged on a pedestal.
For almost two decades, in a chandelier-covered room, the staff of Mary Elaine’s poured lobster bisque and Krug champagne until feet no longer touched the floor.
They won three James Beard awards, oversaw a parade of perfect marriage proposals and refolded the napkin each time guests left the table. For this, they asked that you put on your manners and dress up for dinner, and for this, they’ve been left behind.
A generation later, dinner means louder music, khakis and a couple of hours, maybe. To that crowd, being 20 years old means it’s time for a makeover, at least. In October, the J&G Steakhouse will open at the Phoenician in Mary Elaine’s stead.
Named for and decorated by Mary Elaine Keating, wife of Phoenician founder Charles H Keating Jr., the restaurant opened in 1988 to turned-up-noses and persnickety reviews.
By 1990, Chef Alex Stratta was at the helm and these were the most glamorous tables in the Valley, a post they held until recently when crowds dropped off and guests found themselves bored with the gilt-edged room.
“A small tragedy,” said Mike Weidner, 63, who summoned a jacket and tie on Saturday and came for “the wake.” Weidner sat by the window with his wife, at the same table they’ve always loved, where the same waiter brought them asparagus risotto and veal loin.
“Phoenix is losing a treasure,” he said, then turned to watch the planes coming and going over the city, their lights ever changing the view.
At a two-top near the kitchen, Danny Salome and little Sophia, age 6, settled in for dessert. They’d just come from a daddy-daughter dance at church; Sophia wore a glittery green dress and flowers in her hair.
“I wanted to show her the restaurant where I proposed to her mom,” said Salome, 41.
Sophia: “I would have said yes, too.”
All night, while guests nibbled on $125 tasting menus and ruddy rack of lamb, those who had history at Mary Elaine’s came to say goodbye. Former sous-chefs and managers swept in, and legendary pianist Nancy Gee, too. The two hostesses who married the two sommeliers were on hand. Guest Judith Wolf put on black earrings and black clothes to mourn the end of “perfection,” she said.
There was a woman wearing jeans drawing scorn in one corner and a man who had the heart to put on a white dinner jacket in another, complete with white tie, fringed scarf and all, and you had to love him for it.
Even Mary Elaine came by about a month ago, the guest of grandchildren who wanted to fete her namesake one last time. She wore a red dress, took pictures, and thanked everyone for doing such nice things with her name.
With a resigned sigh, Bobbie Aidem popped in for one last cocktail on Saturday. She’s happy enough just to be here for one last night, with a kind friend. “I get by on a couple of dictums,” Aidem, 75, said, “and one of them is ‘Nothing is forever.’ “
Back in the kitchen, where the cooks were coddling $44 duck breasts, waiter Thomas Ray found a corner and a plate of foie gras. He’s the only one who’s been here since the beginning. He was 29. He watched Phoenician builder Charles Keating throw a knife into the ceiling, next to the chandelier, and tell the staff to leave it there, to get people talking. Now 48, Ray has waited on John Travolta and Dick Clark, and tonight he’s wondering about the last song.
“Time to Say Goodbye, really?” he says to pianist Lisa Addeo, who has appeared in search of bread.
“It is not a sad song,” insists Addeo, 45. “It’s about going forward with hope. ‘Con Te Partiro’ – it means ‘I’ll go with you.’ “
She heads to the dining room to sing, tears in her eyes, and the revelers dance one last time to classical music in a quiet bar with a perfect view.
At 10:56 p.m., the chefs are plating the last supper like sacrament: one lamb, one bass, one scallop, and three steaks, which bodes well, perhaps for the steakhouse to come.
They draw careful lines with sauces and spices, and stack the meat just so.
Jason Paterno, a cook, is the last to touch the plates, wiping off a drop of water in order to send out perfection.
“Aaah, that’s it, that’s all she wrote,” he says, and the kitchen erupts in applause. The cooks take pictures of the final plates.
“All good things gotta come to an end,” Paterno says.
They pause to honor a culinary tradition: dumping a wicked culinary concoction over the departing executive chef. In this case Chef Belosic gets a bath of fish juice, mirepoix and arugula puree. And salt and pepper, of course.
In the end, Belosic offers a toast: “To a great run, Mary Elaine’s, best food in town. Thank you, guys. Here’s to life.”
“To life,” they say, and turn back to work.
There are dishes to be done and Wedgwood to be stacked, and the pans in the kitchen clatter busily.
It’s the echo of good kitchen sounds, of merry meals and very happy mouths.
Now if they could just finally update the Spa…we are waiting…
Sorry, comments for this entry are closed at this time.