The Gladly
Smoked Mozzarella Fondue cherry wood smoked pork butt, toasted country bread, Korean pear
Hillbilly Egg Roll featuring Little Miss BBQ Porchetta
Coffee
Banana Creme Jar vanilla pudding, bananas, salted caramel, whipped cream, peanut butter cookies
Tres Leches Rum Cake – salted vanilla bean pineapple, coconut streusel
Chocolate Chess Pie – chicory ice cream, salted pecan praline sauce
Impressed by the cooking and vibe at Citizen Public House during a prior visit and an outspoken believer that Tracy Dempsey’s desserts may be an even better reason to visit Phoenix than Pizzeria Bianco I could not help but stop by The Gladly during a trip to the city I used to call home, and although the pseudo-upscale environment and a scraggly server who kept calling me “bud” weren’t exactly ideal the food remains competent, particularly anything and everything sweet.
Located on East Camelback, the two tiered space with large windows that look out onto nothing but a patio and parking lot occupying a large footprint within one of several nondescript business parks, entry to The Gladly sees guests greeted promptly at the hostess stand and quickly ushered to a teensy two top a menu was presented, the first “bud” quick to follow as water was poured while mixed drinks were deferred.
Perusing the carte, some interesting items like duck meatloaf joining the “signature” chopped salad, but opting for only two appetizers as I’d just finished dinner down the road at Okra it was with another quick “sounds good, bud” that the waiter disappeared, back-servers left to do the heavy lifting thereafter with water refills frequent and empty plates quickly cleared.
Starting with a fondue that has apparently become a Gladly ‘must-order’ of sorts and following up the smoky cheese, sausage, fruit and dried bread with an overpriced $12 eggroll whose greasy skin did not do justice to Porchetta made by a highly acclaimed local Barbeque spot, it was with locally roasted coffee refreshing the palate that a short wait passed by, desserts soon delivered to a table now quite dark besides candlelight but thankfully more than enough to justify their costs and thereby rectifying the night.
Quite literally a menu that looked written for me, half of my favorite “styles” of dessert represented in the distinctive style of a Chef I truly miss from my mere 15 months in town, one would be hard-pressed to find a single flaw in any of Tracy’s trio, the rum soaked cake finding levity in its pina colada fruit and streusel topping while the dark chocolate chess was bold and well textured, the Banana Pudding upstaging anything served down south in terms of taste as well as complexity, potentially the best Originals creation tasted to date and a very early contender for one of 2016’s best.
http://www.thegladly.com/
