Buck & Rider: AZ restaurant boasts fresh seafood and serious charm

Buck & Rider 
LGO Hospitality’s latest restaurant boasts fresh seafood and some serious charm.

By Andrew Leach

The brains behind eateries including Le Grande Orange Pizzeria and Grocery, Chelsea’s Kitchen, Ingo, and Ingo’s Tasty Food, LGO Hospitality’s newest restaurant, Buck & Rider, is inspired by a house in a beach town in Australia and gets its name from a fisherman’s term for mating crabs.

This trendy seafood centric restaurant is located near the intersection of 44th Street and Camelback on the site of the former Havana Café. Housed in a newly constructed building with sweeping views of Camelback Mountain from the patio, and an industrial chic interior, complete with metal support beams that allow the open kitchen to be front and center, it’s a hip space for professionals to sidle up to the center bar for after work cocktails. Serious charm exudes from the comfortable leather banquettes and open spaces.

During our visit, we sampled two items from the provisions (aka starters) portion of the menu in addition to an order of the fresh pull-apart dinner rolls ($7). First up was the green chili crab chowder soup special ($9) and the pan roasted PEI (Prince Edward Island) mussels ($17). The mussels are cooked in a white wine and nduja broth. Nduja is a spicy pork salume originally from Calabria in Italy. It’s composed of pork combined with roasted peppers and made into a spreadable substance often used to spice up sauces. The broth definitely had the extra kick that you’d expect from something that has nduja included. It was served in a large bowl and had two rustic, grilled pieces of sourdough bread on the side. The mussels were steamed perfectly and when mixed with the broth had an extra level of flavor.

The green chili crab chowder was an amazing bowl of soup. It had just the right balance of heat and flavor. The richness of the cream-based soup, mixed with the sweet and spicy green chili, and accentuated by the full and meaty flavor of the fresh crab was spot on. If you’re lucky enough to dine on a day this special is available, I highly recommend ordering a bowl.

The pull-apart dinner rolls were delicious as well. They came served in a cast iron skillet and are dusted with sea salt. The buttery dough was warm and delightful.

The entrees came next. Ordered on this visit: the sushi grade ahi tuna burger ($16), the B & R filet mignon ($32), and the surf & turf ($39). The ahi tuna burger was prepared with sushi-grade tuna prepared as a burger patty and served on a homemade bun with avocado and lettuce. It’s available with a spicy mayonnaise as well, but with the avocado it’s creamy enough. The tuna has tremendous flavor on its own, but the homemade roll and the avocado rounded out the dish. It was served with an order of homemade French fries.

The B & R filet mignon was a tender piece of Angus beef grilled perfectly and served on top of a creamy, and rich with flavor, celery root purée. When taking a bite with the purée and the beef, it brought a taste of perfection. The accompanying vegetable was fresh sautéed haricot vert, which was perfect with the celery root and filet mignon.

Be prepared, you can order the surf and turn with a twist. Ordinarily it’s filet mignon served with a grilled lobster tail, but we asked if their pan seared scallops could be swapped out for the lobster and they were happy to oblige the request. It was the same excellent cut of beef prepared as well as the other but with the addition of the perfectly seared scallops and a fresh portion of broccoli rabe.

We still had room in our bellies for dessert, but just barely. The server described the desserts so eloquently that we ordered two––a slice of lemon meringue pie ($8) and a slice of banana cream pie ($8). The banana cream pie featured a graham cracker shell with a banana cream pudding and caramelized slices of bananas with whip cream on the
side. It had good flavor, but the pudding lost some of its rich banana flavor when
paired with the fresh banana slices.

On the other hand, the lemon meringue was a blue ribbon winner. Fresh, light meringue topped a tart and bright lemon custard. The crust was the same as the banana cream pie, but this combination was a different flavor combination altogether. Make sure to leave room for a slice of this made in-house dessert.

The servers and staff were tremendously helpful and polite, not to mention
knowledgeable. Our server, a recent transplant from Massachusetts, was kind and accommodating with our substitutions and subtractions. The kitchen staff also deserves a round of applause for not only serving outstanding food, but for allowing the changes and not losiSECTION: taste/DINE

HED: Buck & Rider
DEK: LGO Hospitality’s latest restaurant boasts fresh seafood and some serious charm.

By Andrew Leach

Bio & photo for Andrew Leach: Andrew Leach is a local Realtor who loves dining out. A New Jersey native, Arizona’s been his home for over 20 years.

Arg, I tried to get photos of these dishes from the restaurant but got no response. The photos the writer took aren’t great, but I’m hoping you can fix them up a bit and make this look swanky. : ) Meanwhile, it’s probably best if we move the Tutti Santi ad from this feature and put it in the dining guide.

The brains behind eateries including Le Grande Orange Pizzeria and Grocery, Chelsea’s Kitchen, Ingo, and Ingo’s Tasty Food, LGO Hospitality’s newest restaurant, Buck & Rider, is inspired by a house in a beach town in Australia and gets its name from a fisherman’s term for mating crabs.

This trendy seafood centric restaurant is located near the intersection of 44th Street and Camelback on the site of the former Havana Café. Housed in a newly constructed building with sweeping views of Camelback Mountain from the patio, and an industrial chic interior, complete with metal support beams that allow the open kitchen to be front and center, it’s a hip space for professionals to sidle up to the center bar for after work cocktails. Serious charm exudes from the comfortable leather banquettes and open spaces.

During our visit, we sampled two items from the provisions (aka starters) portion of the menu in addition to an order of the fresh pull-apart dinner rolls ($7). First up was the green chili crab chowder soup special ($9) and the pan roasted PEI (Prince Edward Island) mussels ($17). The mussels are cooked in a white wine and nduja broth. Nduja is a spicy pork salume originally from Calabria in Italy. It’s composed of pork combined with roasted peppers and made into a spreadable substance often used to spice up sauces. The broth definitely had the extra kick that you’d expect from something that has nduja included. It was served in a large bowl and had two rustic, grilled pieces of sourdough bread on the side. The mussels were steamed perfectly and when mixed with the broth had an extra level of flavor.

The green chili crab chowder was an amazing bowl of soup. It had just the right balance of heat and flavor. The richness of the cream-based soup, mixed with the sweet and spicy green chili, and accentuated by the full and meaty flavor of the fresh crab was spot on. If you’re lucky enough to dine on a day this special is available, I highly recommend ordering a bowl.

The pull-apart dinner rolls were delicious as well. They came served in a cast iron skillet and are dusted with sea salt. The buttery dough was warm and delightful.

The entrees came next. Ordered on this visit: the sushi grade ahi tuna burger ($16), the B & R filet mignon ($32), and the surf & turf ($39). The ahi tuna burger was prepared with sushi-grade tuna prepared as a burger patty and served on a homemade bun with avocado and lettuce. It’s available with a spicy mayonnaise as well, but with the avocado it’s creamy enough. The tuna has tremendous flavor on its own, but the homemade roll and the avocado rounded out the dish. It was served with an order of homemade French fries.

The B & R filet mignon was a tender piece of Angus beef grilled perfectly and served on top of a creamy, and rich with flavor, celery root purée. When taking a bite with the purée and the beef, it brought a taste of perfection. The accompanying vegetable was fresh sautéed haricot vert, which was perfect with the celery root and filet mignon.

Be prepared, you can order the surf and turn with a twist. Ordinarily it’s filet mignon served with a grilled lobster tail, but we asked if their pan seared scallops could be swapped out for the lobster and they were happy to oblige the request. It was the same excellent cut of beef prepared as well as the other but with the addition of the perfectly seared scallops and a fresh portion of broccoli rabe.

We still had room in our bellies for dessert, but just barely. The server described the desserts so eloquently that we ordered two––a slice of lemon meringue pie ($8) and a slice of banana cream pie ($8). The banana cream pie featured a graham cracker shell with a banana cream pudding and caramelized slices of bananas with whip cream on the
side. It had good flavor, but the pudding lost some of its rich banana flavor when
paired with the fresh banana slices.

On the other hand, the lemon meringue was a blue ribbon winner. Fresh, light meringue topped a tart and bright lemon custard. The crust was the same as the banana cream pie, but this combination was a different flavor combination altogether. Make sure to leave room for a slice of this made in-house dessert.

The servers and staff were tremendously helpful and polite, not to mention
knowledgeable. Our server, a recent transplant from Massachusetts, was kind and accommodating with our substitutions and subtractions. The kitchen staff also deserves a round of applause for not only serving outstanding food, but for allowing the changes and not losing one bit of the exceptional standards for which I’m sure they will be known for. The seafood is flown in daily, so I’m excited to revisit and try some oysters.

BOX

IF YOU GO

Buck & Rider
Buckandrider.com
(602) 346-0110
4225 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix

ng one bit of the exceptional standards for which I’m sure they will be known for. The seafood is flown in daily, so I’m excited to revisit and try some oysters.

BOX

IF YOU GO

Buck & Rider
Buckandrider.com
(602) 346-0110
4225 E. Camelback Rd., Phoenix