2010 CRITICS' PICKS - NIGHTLIFE & CLUBS
Critics' Picks: Best New Bar
May 26th 2010
The name is an homage to former tenant Mabel Murphy's, the Green Bay Packers sports bar that filled the space for decades. But Chef Aaron May and crew have revamped it as a mid-20th- century New York watering hole with red brick, dark-walnut accents, red-velvet curtains and antique furniture. Clever touches include library shelves against one wall (behind which is a secret 15-seat dining room), old-fashioned-style toilets and Art Deco wallpaper in the bathrooms.
The drinks all are Prohibition-era, or should be (don't order a Red Bull and vodka). And May is so confident in his bartenders' cocktail-mixing prowess that he has launched Stump the Chef on Tuesdays, when guests are invited to name their favorite cocktail and see whether Mabel's can make it right.
CHOW BELLA: New in Scottsdale
By Michele Laudig, February 3rd 2010
Chef Aaron May says he was "being cat and mouse about it," but his new gastropub Mabel's on Main opened quietly a week ago, in the Old Town Scottsdale space that used to house Mabel Murphy's (7018 E. Main).
Right now, there are a dozen "gourmet bar snacky" menu items -- braised pork belly with homemade cracklings is May's current fave.
He's also doing duck breast with duck confit, a house-ground beef burger with Kennebec fries, oysters Rockefeller, shrimp cocktail, and deviled eggs with caviar. There's no lunch service, but May says he plans to eventually add Saturday and Sunday brunch. Mabel's on Main is open from 5 p.m. until close (lately, 11 p.m.), Tuesday through Saturday.
WHAT AARON MAY'S NEW RESTAURANT LACKS IN
CULINARY CHOPS IT MAKES UP FOR IN VISUAL APPEAL —
IF YOU'RE HUNGRY FOR EYE CANDY.
By Carey Sweet, Issue: May 2010, Page 149
You could certainly go to Mabel's on Main to eat. Chef/owner Aaron May opened his speakeasy-style restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale early this year for that purpose, creating a menu of continental classics like Rockefeller-style oysters ($12), shrimp cocktail ($9) and tangy Swedish meatballs ($4), alongside more contemporary bites like glazed pork belly ($7) and foie gras torchon ($13).
You'd enjoy your dinner well enough — a mix-and-match grazing experience that might begin with deviled eggs ($8), the whites a bit dry and rubbery but redeemed by their creamy, piped yolk interiors and salty caps of caviar. May knows how to cook — we discovered that with his late, great Sol y Sombra and Autostrada restaurants.
Although you likely would be surrounded by masses of customers — the spot, in the space that was the sports bar Mabel Murphy's, is enormously popular, with lines snaking out the door — you'd probably be eating alone. Because first and foremost, Mabel's is a bar, and May's original plans to establish it as a supper club have dissolved in a sea of Mad Men-esque cocktails (all $11), pulse-pounding music and an eye-candy clientele so delicious to watch that you won't be hungry for anything else.
True, you could get there pre-madhouse, say, before 9 p.m., and enjoy a decent burger and crisp-edged, mealy-hot-inside Kennebec fries ($14). The foie gras torchon is fine, sweetened with blood orange and paired with toasted brioche ($13), while bluefin tuna carpaccio is reliably fresh, zipped with yuzu and a scattering of mache ($12).
You'd also be able to appreciate Mabel's luscious decor, the tiny space positively oozing sex appeal through its weathered brick walls, ornate wallpaper and polished wood wainscoting that cocoons black leather booths, tufted leather wingchairs and Victorian sofas under glittering chandeliers.
Except food isn't the star here after all, not in the dazzling glow of gorgeous night-clubbers knocking back Sazeracs of VS Cognac, Ri(1) Whiskey, simple syrup, and Peychaud's and Angostura bitters. Day boat scallops coated in gremolata ($15) aren't any better or worse than they are anywhere else, and it's the same with ordinary chicken "lollipops" dunked in Maytag blue cheese ($7).
May says he's still tinkering with the tiny menu, which he loftily calls "a contemporary slant on mid-century fare and tasty renditions of seasonal menu items, reflecting the classics of a bygone era."
But the menu is not what really matters at Mabel's. Instead, it's a beautifully put-together space packed with beautifully put-together people sipping beautifully put-together cocktails. And you know? That can be appetizing enough.
944 Picks
by Rosemary Liversedge, January 2010
Experience the cocktail and food culture of the '50s and '60s at Mabel's on Main in Scottsdale — where owner/chef Aaron May has created a place that seems to be a transplant from a time of martini lunches and the cocktail hour. May captures this essence, which he refers to as "old world flair," with hand-selected items such as the century-aged fireplace relocated from a long-standing residence in Phoenix. The speakeasy-style backdoor entrance leads to a vintage dining room of antique furniture, rich leather and woods to complement the classic dishes of the era. "It was a little more special to go out [back then] because people didn't go out everyday. It was more of an event," says May. People took extra care in going out and in turn the dishes and cocktails took a little longer to prepare, he adds. At Mabel's, hard-to-find scotches and aged wines balance classic items such as deviled eggs with caviar, Oysters Rockefeller and Veal Oscar. The restaurant will feature a raw food bar and a private dining room for intimate celebrations complete with a secret entrance and a one-way mirror to view the rest of the dining area. May describes Mabel's as a bit cosmopolitan, where men and women can put their cocktail dresses and retro suits to use, but can still wear whatever is comfortable.
