Metro Brasserie brings longing to relocate

Metro Brasserie (Credit: Courtesy Bridges Media Group)

Recently, I thought about relocating to Scottsdale.

See, I live in central Phoenix and I love it for many reasons involving big, mature trees; the Murphy Bridle Path; and my  proximity to Nordstrom's outlet, Last Chance.

But now that Metro Brasserie and Bar has moved in where Food Bar used to be at SouthBridge, it makes me want to look for a place in Old Town.

The bar and restaurant serves breakfast, lunch and dinner in a bistro setting that's simple, affectless and has plenty of seating - things sometimes hard to find in the Scottsdale Waterfront. There's new tile, a full bar and a raw bar. The coffee bar is gone, and now the servers wear blue-and-white, windowpane-check button-ups. They look sharp.

I also enjoy the fact that the menu features a seven-drink selection of "Hangover Cocktails." This tells me it knows its audience.

That, and it serves its champagne cocktails by the half-carafe.

But I already drive to Old Town for weekend breakfasts, so it's not the opportunity to get a little hair of the dog in an incredibly classy place that has me thinking about calling my Realtor girlfriends. Nor is it the Fruits de Mer section of the menu that reads Plateau Royal, a selection of oysters, clams, shrimp cocktail, lobster, crab maison and crab legs, all for $99.

No. The first reason is because I am smitten with the fact that such a chic little spot serves food until 2 a.m. Real food. There's Steak Frites, $19; Croque Monsieur, ou Madame, $13; two kinds of burgers, $9 or $12; a salad of roasted beets, $9; and a dish simply called shrimp and grits, $15, about which I can only wonder.

The wine list is 40 bottles long, with only 11 by the glass and two by the half-carafe, but that's just as well, because I would only order cocktails here.

Because they're awesome.

And they are at the heart of my newly found desire for a location change. The cocktails are $10, the champagne ones are $12 and they all have an old-fashioned air about them. They are bringing back old-school ingredients such as whipped egg whites, oregat syrup and Creme de Violette. They are making a strong case for the retro Ramos Gin Fizz, the L'Amande Pastis and the Aviation Cocktail. They are making themselves a destination for esoteric drinks, for the kinds of cocktails a generation or two of us didn't even know existed. And it's thrilling.

My new favorite is the Ramos Gin Fizz, in the Hangover Cocktails section. It's a mix of Gin 209, lemon and lime juices, orange flower water, vanilla extract, cream and egg white. This is shaken for four minutes. Yes, four. And then topped with soda, served tall over ice. It's floral and fizzy and tastes like waking up in a citrus grove on a cool spring morning when the trees just start to blossom.

And who wouldn't want all that?

This being Scottsdale, the menu also includes Red Bull, sugar-free and regular, as well as two sizes of Voss, still and sparkling, because, as I mentioned, this place knows it's audience.

Oh, and while Metro's subtle take on the Corpse Reviver is the best I've had in town (the amerena cherries are a revelation), I think I will, in fact, stay in my cute little condo. ... The people who run AZ 88 opened Hanny's in downtown Phoenix on Friday.