Eddie's House - Scottsdale
Tuesday, November 11, 2008 at 03:50PM I don’t even know what to say about Eddie’s House. It has been two weeks since we ate there and I still have not been able to come up with any cohesive thoughts for a review. Granted, I had not heard many positive things prior to experience there but I felt compelled to try it anyway. After all, Eddie has anointed himself as our local “celebrity chef,” with regular gigs on television and a recurring (and totally confounding) column on Chow Bella, the New Times food blog.
This is, by no means, a comprehensive review but I’ll share my initial reactions. I ordered the Caesar Salad and Chermoula Roasted Chilean Sea Bass.
Some quick thoughts:
Caesar Salad – The alleged “olive tapenade” had absolutely no flavor at all, and the salad as a whole lacked any sort of Caesar Salad flavor. No garlic, no anchovies, no saltiness….nada.
Chermoula Roasted Chilean Sea Bass – Chermoula is a Moroccan-inspired marinade that is supposed to add flavor and depth, but in this case it did neither. The portion size said “guppy” - - not “sea bass.” The fish, while cooked well, had no flavor enhancement whatsoever and was sitting in a puddle of liquid from the broccolini. Speaking of which, the broccolini was supposed to have a “candied lemon” preparation but I could detect nothing of the sort. It tasted like plain broccolini that I would steam at home.
Some final thoughts to this otherwise lifeless and depressing mini-review:
- The room itself is very pleasant, but our experience was ruined by a heavy odor of smoke. We wondered if we were just seated in a poorly ventilated area of the room, as the smoke was so prevalent that my eyes had started to water and my wife’s throat hurt. When the bill came, someone mentioned to the server that he would need to go to the dry cleaner to get the smell out of his clothes. Her response was “oh, yeah, sorry about that. The grease trap on the grill caught fire…someone was supposed to have cleaned it out but didn’t.” Huh??
- If you model your persona as a “celebrity chef” (even if just a local one) you better deliver. I’m always willing to cut a restaurant a break for having an off-night, but our experience mimicked what I have heard from so many other people. I guess I should have listened, but I really wanted to give Eddie the benefit of the doubt.
All in all, this was one of the weaker dining experiences I have had lately. Maybe that location is truly cursed. Sadly, I was really looking forward to the evening because we were with some friends who we don’t get to see that often and I’m just sorry that the meal wasn’t better. Maybe Eddie should stick to fly fishing.
I’ll let you know if the dry cleaners can get the smoke out.
>Eddie’s House
>7042 East Indian School Road
>480-946-1622
Reader Comments (2)
Self proclaimed usually means that they have a high ego more than anything else. I know I wont be going here from what I have read here.
I think a great place to review would be Ninetta's. I have been going there for years now and the food is awsome.
I had a similar disappointing experience. Thought the menu was interesting but execution wasn't---maybe they need Gordon to visit!