The Kitchen offers intense dining experience

The Kitchen (Credit: Jill Richards/azcentral.com)

Megan Finnerty
Metromix

I love hyperbole.

In fact, if you've ever met me, or been within earshot of me at a bar, this is one of the first things you'll notice. That, and my hair.

In casual conversation, I've been guilty since high school of using phrases like “the best ever,” “the most amazing thing” or “will change your life forever.” I love when things are best described as too-much, over-the-top or impressive.

And yet, even I was a little overwhelmed, and not in totally good way, by my recent experience at The Kitchen, the restaurant-wine bar-espresso bar-catering company-market-mish-mash located in the Shops at Gainey Ranch. (If you're thinking you have déjà vu, the Kitchen used to be called Dish. And judging from how little has been overhauled, it still could be.)

I should have known the experience would be, shall we say "intense," after perusing The Kitchen's Web site, as it's dotted with sentences such as “This is not a market…It's sharing the joy, bounty and experience of real food with real people. It's making the ordinary extraordinary, and the extraordinary to die for.” And my favorite: “This is not coffee…It's serenity with each sip.”

After reading all that, I was left wondering what public relations phrase generator all that came out of. I mean, I deeply doubt the coffee is an exercise in finding your true inner peace.

And when I actually went in for dinner, the jazz-hands kept coming. I was taken aback ever so slightly by the sheer number of counters in the place. It felt like I was eating at a particularly swank college cafeteria, with an espresso bar here, a wine bar there, a bistro bar there, a dining room way over there.

And the layout of all these all-in-one-place attractions inspires a similar feeling of whiplash as you snap your head around to take it all in, trying to decide what to eat, how to eat it, where to order it, and if you want any of it to-go. The space is pretty cavernous, with high ceilings and enough light to do dental surgery. There's no flow to the space, so diners and shoppers are left to just sort of wander through the maze of coolers, counters and tables heaped with brightly wrapped gourmet products.

My friend and I ordered our dinners—mine from the deli coolers, his from the bistro—and we both enjoyed them. We were particularly enamored that his fancy-pants beer was only $1.75 in a bottle from one of the many coolers.

Only his fries and their spiced ketchup were exclamation point-worthy, but that's still saying something. Everyone loves good fries.

And the wine selection is impressive, with more than 300 kinds of wine from all over the world, available to drink in-house or to-go.

But it still just felt like an AJ's Fine Foods putting on airs. So, if you're into that kind of thing, I'd recommend the chicken Waldorf salad and the house-made salted crostini slices with a beer.

Good to know: The wine bar hosts a happy hour from 3 to 6 p.m. daily where wine and small plates appetizers are discounted. And, Tuesdays are girlfriends night, where women can get 15 percent off bottles and glasses of wine to drink in the bar, and the corkage fee is waived.