Last Night at AZ Wine & Dine: Balsamic-Braised Short Ribs, Salted Caramel Chocolate Lollipops, and Much More

Desserts from T. Cook's, Lon's, and Little America Hotel

District American Kitchen was another restaurant that hit the bullseye with its smart, distinctive choices. Shreiner's bacon-wrapped dates stuffed with chive cream cheese were a simple, incredibly delicious way to go. When it feels like you can only muster one last bite, that's a bite many will risk. Since most of the food at the event was heavy and there was a notable lack of vegetables, it was refreshing to have a light option: tepary bean hummus with lavosh chips and organic carrots. Lastly, they had bags of "cracker jack" caramel corn and cashews to take with. If only every dessert had been available to-go.

It's no surprise that T. Cook's also brought outstanding selections. The pork belly was good, although it didn't have as much flavor as expected from the za'taar seasoning. Most of the flavor came from the harissa and cauliflower. What really made T. Cook's shine was the milk chocolate panna cotta with caramel sauce. It had a very silky texture, was packed with flavor, and was simply addictive.

Doubletree Resort's selections

Deseo also served tender pork belly. It was very spicy, but the steamed yucca and garlic it was served with helped to tame the heat. Different Pointe of View had perfectly cooked scallops on top of quinoa, black avocado puree, and roasted piquillo pepper pesto. While I preferred the flavors of Doubletree Resort's scallop, which was slightly overcooked but came with a sweet pea puree and microgreens, making it bright and fresh. Both restaurants also served great desserts. Doubletree served signature chocolate chip cookies that were very crispy, and I want the recipe. Different Pointe of View had beautiful presentation on their dessert, a nutty chocolatey treat of some kind. The smooth texture made it indulgent and easy to eat, and the chocolate was well balanced.

Different Pointe of View

As previously stated, there were quite a few sliders and small sandwiches. Bourbon Steak had the best one, a prime beef short rib slider with horseradish slaw, apple, and celery. The little sandwich was bursting with juicy flavor and represented a fancier version of a comfort food classic. Renaissance Phoenix Downtown served a Conchinita pibil slider. While delicious, it was hard to eat because the bolio rolls were too big compared to the amount of filling, which supposedly was Duroc pork cheeks with pickled cabbage. However, the most disappointing slider came from Relish Burger Bistro. The "cowboy style" Kobe beef sliders were overpowered by spicy horseradish, and that stole the show from the high quality meat. They also had salmon burgers with avocado and arugula, but I didn't snag one of those.