439876 Mon Sep 10 11:21:39 -0700 2007 0 6 Southwest 0 2927211 The Mondrian Hotel in Scottsdale (formerly the James) has been entirely redesigned, including the new Asia de Cuba in place of Fiamma. We met 2 other couples there for dinner this weekend. As far as I could tell, the entire interior of the hotel and restaurant are almost entirely white. Very, very white. This place is aiming for hip, sexy, trendy, etc. There is a big, flat bed at the front entrance outside. Once inside you are struck with how monochromatic everything is. After walking the long lobby to the end, we entered the Red Bar for a pre-dinner cocktail. To my surprise, the Red Bar (yes, very red) was almost empty at 7pm on a Friday night. Without going into a long story, let me just say that the hotel (and restaurant to some degree) seem to hire very attractive waiters. Unfortunately, they are not the most skilled or customer driven. We sat for 5 minutes with no one asking if we wanted a drink. We ended up at another table, and again, no one came by for our order. I went to the bar myself (they were great at the bar), and then saw the whole thing happen again when our friends arrived. There were waitresses standing near the bar, or walking into the lobby. It wasn't busy at all, they just didn't seem to care. Now, my wife and I probably don't fit the mid-20's, model clientele they are shooting for, but we're no chopped liver when we go out. Every time we wanted to order something I literally had to flag down our waitress as she walked by. The Red Bar waitress uniforms consist of a lingerie. Bra, panties and a very sheer, see through robe. They pull it off fine (although my wife kept asking why the chubby bus boys were wearing black pants and shirts rather than their underwear). My impression is they hire women who look good in the uniform rather than those with experience. In any case, the bar started filling up as we left at 8 for our reservation, and I noticed it was pretty crowded when we left a couple of hours later. Asia de Cuba is just outside the bar and down a few stairs. It was not busy when we arrived at 8pm, and again I was surprised. The manager and two hostesses were very friendly, but they seemed to struggle with who would take us to which table. We finally began our walk into the restaurant, and again I was struck by how white everything was. However, it didn't look luxurious to me...more cheap. I kept being reminded of the old coffee shop at Caesar's Palace in Las Vegas. The room is big and square, with another smaller room toward the back. There are some curved booths throughout the main room, although each booth table also has regular chairs around half of it. I must say that others in our party liked the decor more than I. In any event, the hostess (who again was very attractive) brought us to the table, and then slowly seemed to realize it only sat four, not our needed six. She was dumbfounded. We stood there for quite some time waiting as she said I don't know why they would send you to this table. The table was certainly big enough, so I suggested we pull over a couple of chairs. She seemed to think that was a great idea, so we dragged over some chairs and sat. Things got better from there. Our waitress was bright, friendly and very helpful. The menu has appetizers and entrees, but every dish is oversized and made to be shared by the table. We settled on ordering 4 starters and 4 entrees, and then went through the large menu. We also ordred some cocktails and a bottle of wine (Joel Gott Zin $45). The wine list is mediocre at best and very expensive. I'd say the mark up is 3 1/2 to 4 times retail. Cocktails seemed to be about $12 each. We started with the appetizers. I can't remember the cost of each, but all were between $20 - $28. Tunapica was tuna tartare picadillo style with spanish olives, black currants, almonds and coconut, soy-lime vinaigrette, was delicious served stacked on fried wantons. Everyone really enjoyed this, and it was the favorite of some. The calamari salad 'asia de cuba' with crispy calamari with chayote, hearts of palm, banana, cashews, chicory and radicchio-sesame orange dressing came served on a huge pile of greens. This was also delicious. Next came the lobster and shiitake gyoza with crisp chorizo, picante lobster broth, tomato concasse, crisp shallots. Again, very good. Last we had the pan-seared jumbo sea scallops with sweet and sour plantains and habanero corn crema. These were new to the menu and excellent. The oversized servings were perfect for sharing everything for six people. Oh, they also dropped off an order of their "noodle box" which was kind of a huge ravioli type pouch filled with something really good. We didn't know what it was at first, but we knew we hadn't ordered it. After a few seconds we decided to try it anyway, and when our waitress stopped by we mentioned we hadn't ordered it, but it was really great. Amazingly she didn't put it on the bill even though we expected her to, and we told her so after receiving the check. The food just comes out of the kitchen as it is ready, but they do seem to bring the appetizers before the entrees start. For entrees (these all between $25 and $59) we tried the miso cured alaskan butterfish with cuban black bean and edamame salad and tempura shisito peppers. I had read this is their specialty. The flavors were very delicate, and the fish was cooked perfectly, but I think it got lost with all the other dishes. I liked it, but it wasn't anyone's favorite. The grilled chipotle glazed strip steak with gingered chickpea fries and calabaza melon slaw was very flavorful and cooked well. The beef was a little bit chewy, but not to the point of ruining the dish. The coconut and mustard seed sustainable Chilean seabass with crab and corn flan is also new to the menu and delicious. The fish was cooked perfectly and the corn flan was very interesting. We also had a rack of lamb that came out cut into 4 double chops. This was excellent and a favorite entree for many. For sides we added the plantain fried rice with avocado salad (awesome) and the wok asian and caribbean vegetables (I think both were around $10-12). We all agreed the appetizers stole the show, and we we would probably order more of them next time and less entrees. We shared one dessert, a semi-frio they called it ($13) It was a very cold piece of cream cheese type "cake" with fruit and very sour watermelon sherbert in a small glass. It was a great ending. Noise level has been a big discussion on here of late, so I paid special attention to the music and noise level. They play somewhat loud music, but I was always able to hear everyone at our large, round table for 6. In the middle of dinner, I actually heard the music volume go up, which seemed silly to me, but I'm sure they are shooting for a certain atmosphere. Even with the louder level though, I asked everyone at the table what they thought of the noise level. Everyone thought it was fine and they were able to hear each other. Others may not find it accomodating. The bill, including one bottle of wine and three cocktails (not counting the drinks in the Red Bar) was $396 plus tip. This is an expensive restaurant, but the food was very good and everyone had a great time. The food and atmosphere definately mingle at Asia de Cuba, and you probably need to be ready for this type of place if you're going to have a good time. This is not Binkley's or Ranch Pinot. Overall, we had a lot of fun (even if it was partly just laughing at some of the decor). Barry Mon Sep 10 11:21:39 -0700 2007 11411 barry