Karina Bland
The Arizona Republic
Sep. 4 2007 4:28 pm
The kids love Peter Piper Pizza and Chuck E. Cheese's, but they're not exactly the kind of places Mom and Dad want to repeatedly visit. Nor are these places where parents can typically find adult beverages. Here are 10 places where the food's good, there's something to amuse the children and alcohol is served:
Rock Bottom Brewery
14205 S. 50th St., Phoenix, (480) 598-1300; 7640 W. Bell Road, Glendale, (623) 878-8822; 21001 N. Tatum Blvd., Phoenix, (480) 513-9125; 8668 E. Shea Blvd., Scottsdale, (480) 998-7777.
Details: www.rockbottom.com
You can't take your kids into a bar but no one blinks if you bring them to a brewery. Kids can make their own pizza at the table and then carry it back to the kitchen to cook it. Grown-ups, don't miss the ale-battered, alder-smoked salmon served over seasoned fries with slaw, malt vinegar and homemade remoulade sauce. While you wait, point out the workings of the grain mill, brew kettle, fermenting vat and beer tanks. Consider it a science lesson.
KOBE Japanese Steak House Teppan & Sushi
1125 W. Elliot Road, Tempe
Details: (480) 753-1811 or www.kobeteppan.com
It's a dinner and a show rolled into one at KOBE as Japanese chefs prepare your meal right in front of you on a Teppanyaki table. Kids squeal as skilled chefs slice, dice and flip the food right on to their plates and ooh-and-aah over the flaming volcano of onions. If there are kids at the communal table, the chefs shape the pile of fried rice into a bunny or Mickey Mouse as it cooks.
Rustler's Rooste
8383 S. 48th St., Phoenix
Details: (602) 431-6474 or www.rustlersrooste.com
Kids can slide right in to the dining room at Rustler's Rooste on a double-wide, built-in slide and then order up steaks, burgers, chicken and ribs, while listening to live country music that will get their toes tapping under the table. The view of the city from the Rooste is lovely. Legend says this site atop a butte in the foothills of South Mountain was a hideout for cattle rustlers.
Carlsbad Tavern
3313 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale
Details: (480) 970-8164 or www.carlsbadtavern.com
Inside Carlsbad Tavern, bats hang from the ceiling above cozy booths. But the best place to sit with the kids is outside, where rock walls tower up around diners and a waterfall streams into a pond. The splashing drowns out any noise your kids could possibly make.
Adult fare is spicy new-Mexican - with a crab-stuffed poblano served with a smoked cascabell and yellow bell cream sauce that's to break a diet for - and a selection of lip-smacking margaritas that will have you puzzling over which one to pick. For the kids, there's the usual burgers, chicken tenders and grilled cheese, all served with french fries.
Chevys Fresh Mex
7700 W. Arrowhead Towne Center, Glendale, (623) 979-0055; 2650 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, (602) 955-6677; 1335 S. Alma School Road, Mesa, (480) 833-1300
Details: www.chevys.com
Kids can watch fresh tortillas being rolled off the conveyor belt, while Mom sips mango margaritas and Dad takes his pick from a list of Mexican beers. Kiddie fare includes flautas, quesadillas, chicken bites, tacos, burritos and cheeseburgers. All kid meals include french fries, sweet corn tomalito, fruit and a sugar-dipped ice cream cone. Kids get a sombrero to keep on their birthdays.
Bada Boom! Pasta Room
4855 E. Warner Road, Phoenix, (480) 763-BOOM; 4151 N. Marshall Way, Scottsdale, (480) 214-BOOM
Details: www.badaboomaz.com
Kids can sit back and be served butter pasta or spaghetti or do the work themselves, building their own pizza with a trayful of dough, sauce, cheese and other ingredients. Get the pepperoni because there's plenty so they can nibble while they work. Family-style dinners also are available for takeout, feeding four to six people and running $20 for spaghetti with marinara sauce or $25 for the fettuccini carbonara. The dinners come with salad and bread sticks.
Farelli's Cinema Supper Club
14202 N. Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
Details: (480) 905-7200 or www.cinemasupperclub.com
Not enough time for both dinner and a movie with the kids? Do both at the same time. Kids can eat pasta marinara or cheese pizza while their grown-ups enjoy filet mignon bordelaise with a house made mushroom demi glace and grilled salmon dressed in a lime molasses glaze and served on a bed of greens. Diners sit at tables and chairs and watch first-run, full-length movies while they eat. Movie tickets are $8 per person and are included on the bill with dinner and drinks. The wine list features Sonoma Cutrer Chardonnay and Row 11 Pinot Noir. Call for reservations.
The Melting Pot
3626 E. Ray Road, Phoenix, (480) 704-9206; 8620 N. Hayden Road, Scottsdale, (480) 607-1799; 7401 N. La Cholla Blvd., No. 109, Tucson, 1-(520)-575-6358
Details: www.meltingpot.com
If children are big enough to keep their fingers out of the fire, they are big enough for fondue. Let the kids spear bread cubes and cut veggies and dip them into a traditional cheese fondue of Gruyère and Emmenthaler Swiss cheeses, white wine, garlic, nutmeg, lemon and Kirschwasser, followed by a selection of chunks of steak, shrimp, chicken and fish that they cook themselves.
End the night with a dessert fondue of milk chocolate topped with marshmallow cream, flambéed and garnished with crushed graham crackers. After all that food, they're bound to fall asleep in the car on the way home.
T.G.I. Friday's
15 Arizona locations, including Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Glendale, Bullhead City, Tucson and Flagstaff
Details: www.fridays.com
There's no better place to play never-ending rounds of I Spy than in T.G.I. Friday's with the restaurants' amazing array of stuff - celebrity pictures, fishing gear, antiques - hanging on the walls and stacked on high shelves. The kids won't be able to take their eyes off it as they chow down on burgers, pizza, chicken fingers - do chickens have fingers? - spaghetti or a half rack of barbecue pork ribs. Forgo the fries and choose carrots and Ranch dressing or Mandarin oranges for a more healthful meal.
Organ Stop Pizza
1149 E. Southern Ave., Mesa
Details: (480) 813-5700 or www.organstoppizza.com
Go for a pizza and stay for the show featuring the Mighty Wurlitzer Organ, the largest Wurlitzer theater organ in the world boasting nearly 6,000 pipes. The organ was built for the Denver Theatre and installed in 1927. It was used regularly until the early 1930s with the advent of the talking picture and the Depression. Listen while the family eats pizza, salad, pasta, sandwiches and, for dessert, ice cream. A pitcher of beer tempers a couple hours of organ music.
