Pavle Milic, co-owner of FnB restaurant in Scottsdale, Arizona (photos Ron Bernthal)
By Ron Bernthal
When Emily Milic, co-owner of the newly relocated FnB restaurant in Scottsdale’s Old Town, asked me to remove my coat before going to my table for dinner, “because it was a tight squeeze,” I wasn’t sure what she meant. FnB is an intimate and friendly place with only about 12 tables, but there seemed to be plenty of room for people, and heavy coats, on this cold, winter Arizona night.
Then Emily led me past the cozy front bar and into the restaurant’s tiny open kitchen, which faced a full dining room, as all the diners stared at the single gentleman who was given a seat in the kitchen. It so happened that a local friend who made the reservation had requested this special table for me (no extra charge). I sat at a small, white tablecloth-covered café table raised up on a little platform, sharing the space with noted Southwest chef and co-owner Charleen Badman and her assistant, along with a food cooler, a four-burner stove-top, a hot mesquite charcoal and wood-burning oven, and dozens of plastic bins and farm cartons filled with root vegetables, fruit, brown eggs, and assorted spices. Every few minutes a rack of lamb riblets went into the oven, a tray of fish was taken out of the cooler, strawberries were expertly sliced, and friendly banter and jokes flew around the small kitchen as if it was a private comedy club. It was the best seat in the house.
Pavle Milic, Emily’s husband, calls it the Sinatra Table. “Everyone in the dining room now thinks you own the restaurant, or you’re a VIP,” he said, joking, after I maneuvered myself into the small space between the sink and the prep table. Pavle said he could even squeeze another three people around the table, although I wasn’t sure if he was still joking.
White tablecloth chef”s table at FnB can sit one or two and is located in the tiny kitchen, where dinner guests get close-up views of meal prep’s, their own and all the other customer meals as well.
With Pavle handling the front of the house and sommelier duties, and making quick visits to the kitchen to see if I was enjoying the ambiance (I was, tremendously), I watched chef Charleen Badman prepare farm-to-table appetizers like beet falafel and marinated greens, hand-pulled mozzarella with leeks gribiche, or roasted carrots and parsnips with dates, honey and rosemary. My main dish, corvina with pomegranate, persimmon freekah (a healthy Middle Eastern cereal), and chermoula (a North African spice), was truly amazing. Desert was chocolate soufflé with a scoop of ginger ice cream on the side. Food & Wine magazine named Ms. Badman’s braised leeks with mozzarella and fried egg one of the ten best restaurant dishes in the country. Although it wasn’t on the menu during my visit, everything else I ate could have won the same award.
FnB chef and co-owner Charleen Badman in the tiny kitchen where she produces locally sourced, fresh and organic cuisine
Pavle Milic, who was born in Colombia and raised in New York City, and chef Badman, have been running FnB for five years, and the new location, on a quiet Old Town plaza near Scottsdale’s art gallery district, offers an ever-changing menu sourced from local farmers and ranchers, with a great selection of high-altitude Arizona wines. The dinner menu includes a mouth-watering array of small plates and just four entrees, all tasty, aromatic, most organic, and rarely the same two nights in a row. Ask for the Sinatra table when making reservations; it’s a VIP experience without costing extra to reserve.
Frank Sinatra always got the best table in the house.
FnB Restaurant
7125 E 5th Avenue, #31
Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Tel: 480-284-4777
www.fnbrestaurant.com
