What is your favorite restaurant in Scottsdale?

I'll second Carlsbad Tavern. Very cool fun place, and one of the few restaurants around that has that old, 1980s Arizonan/Mexican dessert treat known as fried ice cream. Some of the dishes are pretty spicy, like the carne adovada.

Cornish Pasty Co is one of our more distinct places around - very interesting menu, from Scottish eggs to curry pasties to the chocolate bread and butter pudding, which is one of the best dessert around. And I'm willing to bet you don't have a pasty restaurant in your hometown. Decent beers and cocktails, too.

Pig & Pickle, on the other hand, changed the way I cook and eat. It's one of the very places ever in recorded history where I'll eat anything the chefs feel like serving me, even if it's and ingredient I ordinarily don't like. I've swiped a bunch of their ideas for my own recipes. They also have the best cocktails, and that's coming from a guy who ordinarily doesn't like them much. Oh, and you can actually get a glass of mead there - that's pretty unusual. The menu rotates often, but has a few mainstays.

And this next one isn't in Scottsdale, but it's close: Cafe Lalibela serves Ethiopian food. The only better Ethiopian food I had was in Brussels - and that's only because that place served a fish-in-coconut sauce sort of dish, and I can't resist coconut. Try a vegetarian platter and some of the various wats (you'll need two people to handle the veggie platter and a pair of wats).

For a fancy night out Sel Restaurant "Sel Restaurant" is a great option, food is great.

If you want to eat more a relax italian style Pizzeria Bianco  is the best. Finally a more healthier option Flower Child. Lush Burger are also very good!

If you want an upscale dinner, try The Mission  It is adjacent to an old adobe mission chapel and the food is excellent  (save room for the Pumpkin Bread Pudding, you won't regret it).      I also like Daily Dose Old Town Bar & Grill; they have a nice variety of interesting menu items.  Another fun place is Carlsbad Tavern which is full of photos and funny cave related signs and posters, and lots of bats.  Good food.  We are old cavers so we love the atmosphere there.  For a different ethnic style try Persian Room Fine Dining which has authentic Persian food in a gorgeous atmosphere.  

If you're looking for some spicy North Indian food, try Tandoori Times. Try Inchin Bamboo for some indo-chinese fusion. Some other good options are True Foods Kitchen Scottsdale Quarter for some healthy/organic options. 

Grassroots Kitchen & Tap

The Mission