(scene whooshing and chiming) - I am Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona."

The show where Arizona residents recommend their favorite restaurants.

Coming up, we have three guests who are passionate about their picks.

They've dined at all three and are ready to share their reviews with each other and with you right here on "Check, Please!

Arizona."

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Arizona" is supported by- - [Narrator] Ironwood Cancer and Research Centers.

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(upbeat music) - I'm Chef Mark Tarbell.

Welcome to "Check, Please!

Arizona."

In this episode, it's all in the family with restaurants run by relatives serving up Italian, Mexican, and all day dishes.

Let's meet our diners.

Ashley Flores works for a telemedicine company.

She's a fraternal twin who loves going to the gym and hanging out with her two rescue pups.

Joe Gregory works in geographic information system, so if you're lost, he's a good guy to ask for direction, and he plays a mean game of pickleball.

Kelli Donley Williams works in public health.

She's also an author of several novels.

She discovered her favorite spot on a taco tour for her husband's birthday.

This is Casa Corazon.

(upbeat Mexican music) - Casa Corazon, to me, is a place where you gather.

We have a tradition in Mexico, most of the important things happen in the kitchen.

The heart of the house is the kitchen.

Our dishes are from south Mexico, such as Oaxaca, Guerrero, and Puebla.

I'm originally from Sonora, but I was actually tired of the Sonoran food and Sinaloan food.

So when I traveled south Mexico, I fell in love with the southern flavor of Mexico.

If this is your first time here, I highly recommend you trying out the camarones culichi.

They're in a poblano sauce with cheese.

It's our house favorite.

Well, my favorite is the cochinita pibil.

We roast it overnight, wrapped in a banana leaf, and it's a long process, but it's a very flavorful, very tender meat.

From what I understand, this building, it was a house built back in the 1930s.

I told my youngest son, I told him, "You know what?

American people, their tradition is father and son, they rebuild a '67 Chevy.

So me and you are gonna do a restaurant."

All the rough work, me and my son did it and I was surprised, amazed myself how nice it turned out because nothing was planned.

We just did it as we went day-by-day.

Well, during the day it's very heartwarming.

It's just relaxing.

You see the lights come through the windows.

It's just very relaxing and enjoy lunch.

And then dinner, I think it's it's good for couples.

It's very romantic, I think, myself.

To me, when I see people, sometimes I'll just sit at the bar and when the servers hands over the dish, I wanna see their expression.

I want to see the first taste, when they smile, that's what makes me happy.

(upbeat Mexican music) - So, Kelli, you've been doing these taco tours for your husband for quite some time.

What keeps you coming back to Casa Corazon?

- It feels like a hidden gem.

The food is excellent, the service is great.

It's fresh, I love the environment.

Everything about it just feels like a special experience.

- So what do you start with?

- [Kelli] We always start with the salsa bar, and they bring out a big platter of chips and their bean dip, which is this creamy bean dip that's just lovely.

- So, Joe, what did you have to start?

- We also had the chips and salsa and it was interesting to try all those different salsas as well.

But I did really like the bean dip the best.

And then we had the stuffed peppers, that they were stuffed with cheese and shrimp, and they were wrapped in bacon.

They were really done well.

I thought it might be like a more jalapeno popper type thing, but it was more of a sweet pepper so it wasn't like too spicy or anything like that.

And you could really taste the shrimp in there.

- They have their roots in southern Mexico, in Oaxaca, but they also really have these fun interpretive things that are really more Americana, which is like bacon wrapped, which are done very well.

What did you have, Ashley?

- So, similar to Joe and Kelli, I also started out with the salsa bar and that was my favorite part of the experience.

I felt like it was so unique.

I loved being able to try all these different salsas.

I would come back to my table and I had all these little containers 'cause I wanted to absolutely try everything.

I have to say my two favorite salsas were the creamy and the serrano.

They're both this lovely green flavor.

I added that to everything.

It was absolutely delicious.

- Ooh- - So good.

- I love that.

And entrees for you, Kelli?

- I ordered the mole negro.

- Ooh.

- It was excellent.

It comes with a side of rice and pickled red onions, and it comes covered in sesame seeds.

It's a mix of sweet and savory.

It also comes with a side of homemade tortillas.

I ordered flour tortillas.

The tortillas at this restaurant are out of this world, homemade.

Both corn and flour are so good.

- Yeah.

- And the corn tortillas in particular, you can taste how fresh they are.

- [Mark] Yeah, you can really taste the masa.

- [Kelli] Excellent.

My husband had a shrimp dish that is from Sinaloa, which I think the family has their roots in this.

And they said that that was their signature dish and it came in a creamy cheese sauce that was spectacular.

- [Mark] Oh, I love that.

Was it well-flavored?

Did it have a- - It was well-flavored.

Yes, it had green creamy serrano- - Oh, okay.

- Sauce on top with cheese and it was delicious.

- [Mark] And shrimp were grilled or... I didn't have that dish, so- - [Kelli] I believe they were grilled, yes.

- They were grilled.

So they really had a nice char on them.

Good.

Joe, what did you have for an entree?

- I had the taco platter.

So that's three tacos with rice and beans.

I had the red chili, shredded beef, the shrimp, and the al pastor tacos.

And they were all excellent.

- I love that al pastor.

I think that's one of their classics, right, Kelli?

It is.

It's what everyone likes.

- It's one of their signature tacos.

- Yeah.

So what stands out?

Which one was your favorite?

- Well, I always do love the shrimp, so that really stood out.

But the other two were really good too.

I really liked the grilled taco.

It had a different consistency than the other ones.

And it was a a little bit different flavor.

- [Mark] So what they do with that grilled taco with shredded beef is they kind of paint it in red sauce and then grill it.

So it's an interesting texture, right?

- [Joe] Yeah.

It seemed almost like it was fried, but it was I guess only grilled.

- Ashley, what'd you have for entree?

- So I also did the three taco plate that also came with rice and beans.

But I did the chicharron, the al pastor, and the Corazon taco.

I have to say I love them all.

My favorite was the chicharron 'cause it had a little bit of crunch.

It was so tender on the inside.

I absolutely loved it.

Can't go wrong.

- [Mark] So you love chicharron?

- Yes.

- I do too.

- My absolute favorite.

- Oh my gosh, it's hard, right?

You have a bowl of that stuff around- - Right.

- It's like it's over.

- Can't stop eating.

- Move the popcorn- - Right, bring it to me.

- That chicharron is... I can't say it elegantly, but it's fried, you know, basically pork skin, and so it's all the goodness.

It's like bacon without the bacon.

- Exactly.

- But it's fried and crispy.

- Right.

- It's pretty darn good.

- So good.

- Alright, let's talk about drinks.

Kelly, what'd you have?

- I had a Topo Chico lemonade and it was wonderful.

Bubbly, and it had fresh fruit on the rim and it was handmade.

It was great.

- [Mark] Fresh fruit in the rim, huh?

And they make it there in-house, don't they?

- They sure do.

- Is it tart, sweet?

- All of those.

- All of it?

I love it.

Joe, what did you have for drink?

- I also had the fresh squeezed lemonade, but I only had it with the still water, so maybe I need to go back and try it with the Topo Chico too.

- You got to.

Hey, Ashley, what'd you have?

- I ordered the prickly margarita and it was a beautiful pink color.

There was chamoy lining the rim with tajin, so you had a little bit of the sweetness, a little bit of the saltiness.

It was excellent.

Highly recommend everyone to try.

- So my favorite part of the meal, dessert.

So, Joe, what did you have for dessert?

- I had the flan.

It's a kind of combination of a creme brulee and flan.

So you bust through the caramelized sugar on the top and get through to the flan.

And it was kind of in a champagne glass, so you had to dig down to get- - [Mark] Oh, they made dig for the goods.

Made you dig for the goods.

- [Joe] And it was very creamy.

And it was very tasty.

- So, Kelli, what'd you have for dessert?

- We had a slice of the hibiscus cheesecake, and it had a ribbon of hibiscus jelly through the center of it.

It was bright pink and it had fresh fruit on top, and it was delicious.

It was unlike anything I'd ever had.

It was really nice.

- [Mark] So was it really sweet?

- [Kelli] It was more tart- - Oh, I like that.

- Yeah, it was great.

- [Mark] So it kind of balanced out the richness and the sugar?

- It did.

- And was it creamy textured or more like ricotta?

- [Kelli] It was more like ricotta.

- Yeah, Ashley?

- I wish I had ordered that dessert, it sounds so good.

I was still thinking about the salsa bar.

- So you went back to the salsa bar for dessert?

- Yes.

- We have to talk about the atmosphere here a little bit more.

Joe, you know, if you're talking to a friend from out of town and you were describing it, what would you say about it?

- [Joe] You could drive right by and not even notice it.

Well, at first when I came inside I was a little surprised.

'cause you kind of walk in through the kitchen, and, like, "Did we come in through the right door?"

- Yeah.

- And then you go into the dining room, and in the dining room it's like kind of a rustic old kind of style, you know, with the brick, the exposed beams in the ceiling.

And it's a really, you know, a pleasant little place.

- And they have splashes of color here and there, right, Ashley, yeah?

- Yeah, I agree.

It was very warm, it was very inviting.

So bright inside.

The interior's gorgeous.

I felt so comfortable sitting there and it was a great experience.

I loved it.

- Yeah.

And the beams and that ceiling is really pretty.

The wood up there.

Yeah.

- And they have a nice patio.

- They do, that's right.

Such a great little family spot.

Okay, now it's time for pro tips and takeaways.

Kelli, it's your restaurant, what's your pro tip?

- They have a great happy hour and tacos are only $4.

- Whoo, $4 tacos!

I'm doing that, Kelli.

- My pro tip is to come hungry.

The portion sizes are very generous so you will have leftovers.

- Come hungry.

Joe?

- And after hearing about this, my pro tip is to try more of the salsas in the salsa bar other than just the two or three that I tried.

- If you want to try Casa Corazon, they're located in Phoenix on 16th Street south of Thomas.

An average meal costs $35 and they only take reservations Monday through Friday.

(upbeat music) Now to Joe's choice.

He's been going to his favorite restaurant for 20 years.

A family run Italian joint where they make you feel like part of their family.

This is Riga Tony's.

(mellow Italian music) - Riga Tony's is a conglomeration or an amalgamation of restaurants that I visited in Little Italy districts of Boston and New York when I was a young man.

And I was so inspired with what I saw.

What people will find on the menu is that, first of all, we make everything from scratch.

We are a scratch restaurant.

We make our own sauces, we make our own soups, we make our own dressings, and roll our own meatballs, and stuff our own manicottis.

And we are really famous for doing our own thing, making our own food.

Probably the most popular dish is the baked rigatoni.

We start out with a pan and we put olive oil and we toast some garlic, and then we had a mozzarella cream sauce and we toss the fresh pasta in it and mozzarella.

It's really an involved process.

So it's not like your traditional baked rigatoni, it's a specialty dish.

We serve every entree with our famous, at this point, antipasto salad.

And we've done that from the beginning because I was always frustrated that you had to pay extra.

I wanted everything to be included.

So we decided as a family style restaurant, we were gonna include that.

We celebrated our 31st anniversary, 1994 we opened up.

And I like to think that we are still successful because we constantly make incremental changes to our concept and our menu and our food and our recipes.

We're always striving to be a little bit better.

The guest experience, to me, especially a first time guest, when they walk in the front door, I really love the reaction where they go, "ah," where they go, "This is very familiar to me" because everybody's from someplace else here.

And it reminds them of their favorite Italian restaurant back home in some way, shape, or form.

And I love that.

I mean, that's what we want.

We want to make that connection.

(mellow Italian music) - So Joe, how did you find Riga Tony's?

- Well, this is a place I've been going to with my family, like you said, for 20 years.

This is basically the go-to for birthdays, for graduations.

We go there all the time.

It's a really great place for lunch, or you can get kind of the fancier dinners too.

- What'd you have for an appetizer?

- Well, usually we don't get an appetizer, but this was kind of a special occasion for this, so we got the Pizza Checca, and it has basically tomatoes and feta cheese on a pizza crust.

- Yeah, - It was very good.

I might wanna try it next time.

- I found it interesting using feta cheese on it.

He has fresh mozzarella too, and tomatoes like classic and has a thin crust.

But I was like, "Feta, I gotta try this."

That's good.

Did you like that little salty pop on it?

- We liked it quite a bit, yeah.

And actually we almost ate the whole thing.

It was a good thing and the crust was so chewy and soft, it was a really good combination.

- So, Kelli, what'd you have for an appetizer?

- We had the frizzled peppers.

- Ooh.

- Which were- - Ooh, I didn't have those.

- They were so good.

They were cherry peppers that were pickled and then deep fried and they were served with a dill ranch sauce on the side.

- Oh my God.

- So it was a bunch of different flavors at once, and they were excellent.

- Ashley, what'd you have for an appetizer?

- Our entrees came with an antipasto salad as well as ciabatta bread.

And I really enjoyed both because it was served family style.

So you had this big bowl of salad, this big plate of bread, you can dip the bread in the olive oil, the pepper.

We added red flakes to ours just for a little hint of spice.

And then the pasta salad was just so creamy.

The flavor was so tangy.

We loved both of those.

- [Mark] Yeah, a little antipasto, which means "before the meal."

- Right.

- Joe, what did you have for an entree?

- I had the Tour of Riga Tony, so I wanted to be able to, you know, review multiple different dishes.

So that has four different things.

There's a chicken Parmesan, baked lasagna, Italian sausage, and fettucine alfredo.

- What was your favorite of the four?

- [Joe] Probably this time it was the Italian sausage.

But I do go back and forth with the baked lasagna every time.

It's a little bit different lasagna than most places have.

It's a little bit more saucy, so it's not just one of these like really thick lasagnas.

It has a lot of sauce in between the noodles,.

- Sauce in between the noodles, it also has sliced meatballs.

It has sausage and sliced meatballs.

I found it very interesting.

It was really good.

And of course chicken Parm, my favorite.

Always loved that.

Kelli, your entree?

- I had a small margarita pizza, which was okay.

But my husband's meal was excellent.

He had the Chianti short ribs.

- Oh.

- Which came on a bed of garlic mashed potatoes, and they were out of this world.

- So what made the ribs good?

- [Kelli] There was a complexity to the sauce.

They were cooked just perfectly and it was like a really nice pot roast.

In combination with the mashed potatoes, it was just warm and comforting.

- Yeah.

Well, short rib is warm and comforting.

- And I also wanted to point out the salad that Ashley mentioned that came ahead of time was really good.

It had salami, pepperoncini, olives, it was great.

- [Mark] Yeah.

So, Ashley, what'd you have for an entree?

- So, similar to Joe, I also wanted to try a little bit of everything.

So I ordered the Tour of Riga Tony and then you get four different options.

So I did the chicken picatta, the baked manicotti, the spaghetti marinara, and the Italian sausage.

My favorite was probably the Italian sausage.

It had that nice crisp every time you bit into it, but it was juicy on the inside.

Honestly, you can't go wrong with any of the options.

- [Mark] I didn't have that.

I love Italian sausage.

Was it a little spicy?

- It was a little bit spicy, but I love spice, so- - I love spicy.

- It was great.

I'm like, "Add more spice, please."

- Spoonful of pepper, please.

- Right?

Just can eat that.

So good.

- Awesome.

Well, Ashley, you were the only one that had dessert.

What'd you have?

- So I ordered the two homemade cannolis, and it was amazing.

It was crispy on the outside, light and fluffy, creamy on the inside.

The ends had pistachio pieces, so you had a little bit of a crunch, a little bit of that smooth creaminess.

I highly recommend.

- Cool.

So this is your place.

We need to know about the ambience a little bit.

Tell me what you think.

- It's a real family place.

There's plenty of seating on the inside and outside.

They have a lot of different decorations.

Kind of more East Coast fishing kind of decorations on a lot of the places.

They have a big wall of pictures they call The Italian Hall of Fame.

It'll have like Fonzi or, like, actors and different things on there.

- That's really cool.

So, Kelli, what'd you think of the atmosphere?

- It felt like you were eating in someone's home.

We had reservations.

We were greeted very warmly.

We were immediately shown to our table.

It really felt like we were sitting in someone's living room when we got there.

And it was just warm and homey.

It was lovely.

- Yeah, warm and homey.

Ashley?

- I agree.

I felt like the atmosphere was so inviting.

It was very family oriented.

It had that fun Italian feel.

There was paintings on the wall, pictures, black and white flooring, red tones.

I just felt like it was great to bring your family in.

Great portion sizes too.

- Overall a great place.

So, Joe, this is your place.

What's your pro tip?

- So they have a lunch special during the weekdays.

It's one per day, but on the weekends you can choose all five and get whichever- - No way!

- One you want.

- That's really cool.

So weekend lunch specials.

Any of 'em.

That's cool.

Kelli?

- I would say don't fill up on the salad and bread because the meal is so delicious.

- Yeah.

Hard not to, right?

- Right.

- [Mark] Oh, I love salad and bread.

Ashley?

- I would say order the Tour of Riga Tony, that way you can have a little bit of everything.

- I love that.

Tour of Riga Tony, I think that's what I wanted to do.

I will do that next time.

If you want to try Riga Tony's, it's in Tempe near McClintock and Warner.

An average meal will cost $26 and they do take reservations.

(upbeat music) And now Ashley's pick.

Her aunt brought her here to this Cave Creek gem a few years ago and now she's hooked.

This is Local Jonny's Tavern and Cafe.

(upbeat music) - Local Jonny's is your favorite spot, serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

We're a neighborhood place.

You know, we're the place that everybody kind of comes in Cave Creek to join up.

You know, the morning, I mean, it's where everybody wants to come and have a cup of coffee and hang out.

So it's like a family gathering almost, you know?

That's what it feels like in here.

For the evening, when we have some music here on Friday, Saturday nights, it's a fun time.

I'd have to say on the breakfast menu, people go crazy for the Flat Tire burrito.

We have our Jonny's Famous Pancakes, a little bit of granola in there and blueberries.

It's fantastic, we sell a bunch of those.

Our lunch and dinner menu, we sell a bunch of burgers and, you know, we always have specials going on here too.

So you can always come in and try something new.

I'll tell you, if I'm picking off the menu, I'm gonna pick our burgers for sure.

My wife Lauren and I, we both own the place here, and it is absolutely fantastic having somebody that you trust and love that you can run the place with.

I used to work here as a kid.

I mean, I was a 19-year-old, 20-year-old barista here when it was Cave Creek Coffee Company, and I've just kind of grown up in this building.

It was an opportunity to take over this restaurant that I worked in as a kid and I just absolutely had to jump on that.

I named it Local Jonny's because when we first started talking about this place, I thought to myself, "It needs to be something about local.

I want to support local musicians.

Our coffee roaster's local."

And I think it was my wife that said, "Well, what about just Local Jonny's?"

And I was like, "Sold.

I'll take it."

That's the best part is being part of the community, feeding the community, talking with everybody every day here.

It's fantastic.

I love being a part of this community and everybody has really taken care of us here and we like to do the same.

(upbeat music) - So, Ashley, this is your place.

What do you love about it?

- So, I love Local Jonny's 'cause it's right in the heart of the Cave Creek community.

You feel that Western flair, it's so cozy, it's comforting, it's very relaxed.

You can go in, stop for a coffee, stop for some breakfast, some lunch.

It's just a great relaxing environment to be in.

- [Mark] Yeah, it's a great environment.

And Cape Creek's just so fun.

- It's beautiful.

- So fun.

- So fun.

- Yeah.

I know you didn't have an appetizer.

What's your go-to?

- So my go-to is the sriracha Turkey sandwich.

I ordered fried potato wedges with it as well.

And I love that sandwich 'cause it's the perfect amount of heat.

You have a little bit of spice from the sriracha, but the turkey's so tender, so it offsets that heat.

- [Mark] Ooh.

- [Ashley] I enjoy the coffee.

I always get that whenever I go.

It's my absolute favorite.

- [Mark] Well, they're famous for their coffee.

- Yeah.

- People love their coffee.

- Yeah, absolutely.

I personally really like the ice cold brew coffee for me.

I added cinnamon, honey and whole milk.

So you have a little bit of that sweetness, that creaminess from the milk.

It's just so smooth.

And I enjoy it on a nice hot day.

- So, Joe, what'd you start with?

- We started with the Brussels.

That was like grilled Brussels sprouts, that had cranberries and bacon in there, so another theme of bacon- - Sweet, smoke, and spice.

- In everything that I've had.

- Sweet, smoke, and spice.

- Those are very good.

I wanted to really try it because that was one of their specials and it was worth it.

In addition to the Brussels, we also had the carnitas tacos, which are three tacos, pretty good size for an appetizer.

And they were plated nicely.

- [Mark] And so substantial, right?

And were they soft or corn?

- [Joe] They were soft tacos.

The meat was very moist.

It wasn't dry or anything and it was flavorful.

- Good, good.

What did you have to start?

- We had chips and salsa.

- Yeah.

- And the salsa was fantastic.

Homemade, chunky, almost like a pico de gallo.

And we sat out on the patio and I can't say enough, the vibe is like a diner meets a great patio space.

And the patio was dog friendly and it was just a beautiful way to spend an afternoon.

- What'd you have for your entree?

- I had the cubano and it was okay, but- - Can I ask what was in it?

'Cause cubanos are interesting.

They were really brought here, rather recently, from Cuba to Florida.

And there's two kinds, the Tampa style and the Miami style.

But what did that have in it?

'Cause I did not have it.

- [Kelli] My cubano was grilled sourdough with pulled pork and ham.

- Okay.

- But it did not have mustard or pickle.

- [Mark] Okay, 'cause that would be the Miami style with mustard and pickle.

- Right.

Which is what I was expecting.

- Yeah.

- So it was a good sandwich.

And it came with a side salad with their homemade lemon vinegarette dressing.

- Okay.

- And the dressing was spectacular.

- What did your husband have?

- He had the Flat Tire burrito, breakfast burrito.

- Ooh.

- And that was really good.

And it also came with a different type of salsa from the chips and salsa.

It was a roasted red chili and it was great.

It had eggs and cheese and sausage.

- Oh good.

- And it was great.

- [Mark] So it's like a loaded burrito?

- Right.

- Nice, nice.

Joe, what'd you have for an entree?

- I had the club sandwich.

Very tasty, it was a chicken club sandwich with bacon on it and avocado.

My wife had the hamburger, the Jonny's Burger, and so we tried the two different fries with each of those two and we were doing a little taste test- - What were the two fries?

- One was the potato wedges, and there was a string string fry- - Oh, okay.

- With some cheese on it.

Yeah, yeah.

- I think those were the Parm fries, right?

- Parm fries, right.

- Parmesan fries, yeah.

Which did you like?

- [Joe] I liked the potato wedges a little bit more.

Sometimes those can be... At some restaurants they can be a little bit too big, or, you know, not quite right, but these were done really well.

- You like bacon, it seems.

- I do.

- Like, everything you've talked about has had a bacon or shrimp theme.

So, Kelli, what'd you have to drink?

- [Kelli] I had iced tea.

I wish I had known about the coffee.

I'm a big coffee fan and I didn't know, but the iced tea was actually really great too.

- Oh, cool.

Coffee, iced tea.

- Yeah.

- Joe, anything for you?

- I had the spike lemonade.

It was really good.

You could taste, like, the fresh lemon in there and you couldn't really tell that there was alcohol, so you could have had four or five.

(all laughing) - All right, let's talk about atmosphere.

We talked about a little bit, Ashley.

- Yeah, as soon as you walk in, you can honestly feel that it's a very relaxed environment.

It has that wood finishings, that furniture.

It's a little bit of a country or Western flair, so you kind of feel like you're in a whole new world as soon as you enter.

There's a couch set automatically to your right, so you can just hang out, grab a cup of coffee, relax, a small little gift shop to your left, so if you wanna buy any postcards or anything that reminds you of Arizona, they have that option as well.

But it's very comforting, it's easygoing.

It's a great place to hang out on a Sunday.

- Joe, what'd you think of the atmosphere?

- Yeah, it was almost a resort style kind of atmosphere.

You know, it's all very relaxed and you just go in there and, you know, just kind of chill out.

I did like the wall that had the race bibs on them down over by the restrooms.

- Oh, that's really cool.

I'm gonna check that out next time.

Cool.

Kelli, what'd you think of the atmosphere?

- It seemed like to me a great weekend hangout for people who are going hiking.

Lots of people that had their families and their dogs.

And there were lots of people who it seemed like had taken their motorcycles out for the afternoon and that's where they were going for lunch.

- [Mark] Biking's big in Cave Creek.

- Right.

- Especially on weekends.

- That's right.

- Biking and hiking.

- That's true.

- Ashley, so this is your place.

What's your pro tip?

- So my pro tip is to get there earlier if you're going on a Sunday.

It's a very popular place because of the breakfast, so there's a parking a little bit lower down, so there is more options if you run out of room up top.

So definitely get there early if you're going on a Sunday.

- Kelli, your pro tip?

- [Kelli] I would say sit on the patio.

- Okay.

- Yeah.

- Sit on the patio, listen to the bikes.

Joe, your pro tip?

- I'd say make a whole day of it.

Go up to Cave Creek.

There's all kinds of art galleries, all kinds of different things to take a look at.

And, you know, you can check out this restaurant and probably three or four more during the day.

- If you wanna try Local Jonny's Tavern and Cafe, it's located in the heart of Cave Creek, off Cave Creek Road.

An average meal is about $20 and they do take reservations.

I wanna thank Ashley, Kelli, and Joe for joining me at the table.

And thank you for joining us for "Check, Please!

Arizona."

If you'd like to share your favorite restaurant, head to our website, azpbs.org/checkplease, and nominate your must eat at spot.

Who knows, you could be joining me at the table.

And be a part of the foodie conversation in Arizona on Facebook and Instagram using #checkpleaseAZ.

Join us next time when three new guests make their recommendations right here on "Check, Please!

Arizona."

I'm Chef Mark Tarbell, have a delicious life.

- [Narrator] "Check, Please!

Arizona" is supported by- (upbeat music) (upbeat music continues)