Mediterranean is a relaxed atmosphere, which Arboleda delivers in the midst of the bustling urban shopping center Scottsdale Quarter. The restaurant’s indoor-outdoor design of open flow from patio to dining room is even more pronounced thanks to the indoor arches that create a courtyard effect.
“I lived nine years in Spain, and I wanted to give Arizona something different but that fits the environment,” says Björn Kock, who co-owns Arboleda with the brothers Mitchell and Steven Rosenthal. Matching their enthusiasm for Mediterranean cuisine, Executive Chef Evan Gotanda helped bring their vision to the table. Two visions, actually, for the different times of day: the relaxed dinner when guests may be looking to take their time over their repast, and the lunch with a slightly smaller menu that is sensitive — in both preparation and serving — to guests needing to get back to the office. (And the mixed-drink selection includes non-alcoholic choices as well.)
Gambas pil pil — an appetizer on the lunch menu and tapas for dinner — is bite-sized chunks of plump shrimp in a sizzling sauce that combines shrimp oil made in-house, chili garlic oil and olive oil, served with bread crisps for de rigueur dipping. Chicken grilled with the hot Portuguese spice peri peri has a version on the dinner menu and is served as a salad entrée at lunch. Cavatelli Carbonara, with house-made pasta and a sauce of smoked bacon and parmesan topped with an egg yolk that itself is thick and rich, is an exceptionally tasty lunch choice, benefitting in flavor and texture from the bacon’s 72-hour marinating process.
The menu will reflect seasonal changes — lunch more so than dinner, as Chef Gotanda explains he likes to “switch things up for the regulars” to keep the menu exciting.
Many ingredients are sourced locally, following extensive research into local farms and purveyors. “We want to build a relationship with the local farms; to know the people who make or grow the food,” says Kock, sharing, “That’s part of the fun.” It also means ensuring the sources they work with share their appreciation for quality, explains Chef Gotanda.
Other ingredients are imported from Europe — some, Kock was surprised to find, from sources they were unable to get for their San Francisco restaurants.
Ensuring that the wine list works with the food and atmosphere to all “speak the same language,” Kock notes that Arboleda’s wine list goes around the Mediterranean in its selection.
Misters and heaters allow the patio to be as welcoming as the interior through most of the year, but even through the hottest times of our summer, the restaurant is designed so that its feeling of openness is not lost, thanks to the sliding walls that are full-length window. Sections of the interior can also be closed off for individual events (with audio-visual equipment also provided).
For the experienced restaurateurs, this is their first foray into Arizona. And what they’ve found in our community as they developed Arboleda is, “The people here are just nice,” says Kock. Which is exactly what underlies the elevated experience they bring to life at Arboleda.
Gambas pil pil Red royal shrimp, garlic, chili oil and parsley $21 |
Chilled Wild Shrimp Salad Grilled little gems, asparagus, shaved radish and pea tendrils with Green Goddess dressing $24 |
Za’atar crusted tuna Seared rare tuna, artichoke hummus, roasted artichoke hearts, pickled mustard seeds, cilantro and EV olive oil $26 |
Did You Know: Careful sourcing, aiming for the best ingredient for the individual dish, combines local and imported. Chef Gotanda uses some shrimp, for example, from Argentina, and other from a source he was pleased to find more local.
Photos courtesy of Arboleda