Ocotillo
MEDJOUL DATES, SHEEP’S MILK RICOTTA, MARCONA ALMOND, HONEY
WARM BREAD PUDDING BOWL, FALL SPICED CREME, ROASTED APPLES
DRIED STRAWBERRY SCONE, VANILLA BUTTER, LOCAL HONEY, PECANS
IRON SKILLET PANCAKE, WARM FRUIT COMPOTE, POWDERED SUGAR, MAPLE SYRUP
Named after an indigenous plant of the Sonoran Desert and inhabiting a sprawling space that flows freely from indoors to outside and everywhere in between, it was for brunch on Saturday that I arrived at Ocotillo and with dining companions opting out last minute a four-top shrank to seating for one, a limited tasting to follow as the dining room quickly began to buzz.
Priced like a quick-casual concept with a menu steeped in American classics upgraded by fresh local farms, it was with service that hovered between aloof and overworked that a menu was presented and going entirely sweet in formulating a two-course foursome it was with mild amusement that I watched a woman flip out on the hostess regarding seating arrangements, a not-so-subtle reminder of one of the reasons I moved away from the city some 26 months before.
Brilliantly lit by the midday sun, music playing unobtrusively overhead while photographs of the desert decorated the walls, it was with water refilled infrequently that a short wait separated ordering from round-one, a long plate of dates stuffed with ricotta and almonds lent additional sweetness by honey while an enormous pancake arrived too-hot-to-eat in a cast-iron skillet, the toothsome crumb moist even before adding pure maple syrup or spreading the berries with a portion size large enough to feed four.
Joking with a different server than the one assigned my table that the pancake should come with a warning it was with part packaged for later that a brief break ensued, my waiter apparently also covering outdoor seats with the mimosa crowd now in full bloom, a member of the kitchen staff eventually presenting tableside with two plates and an apology, a nice gesture though certainly not necessary.
Admittedly well-sated, the pancake and dates having followed Doughnuts and Pastry elsewhere, it was with good fortune that both the pair of scones and bowl of pudding were far smaller than the items preceding them, the former far more “British” than those typically offered in America as fresh berries and “vanilla butter” not dissimilar to clotted cream helped temper the dryness, a problem certainly not encountered in buttery bread pudding sopping up the juice of sauteed and slowly melting aromatic cream.
http://www.ocotillophx.com/
