Feast - A Delicious Dining Experience in Tucson

Feast is a restaurant that I pass by constantly, but have never thought twice about. Feast kind of blends into the small business and obnoxious signage chaos that is Speedway, so I would probably never gone there without the urging of a friend.

And it would have been a mistake to have never experienced Feast.

The friend I dined with is always happy to patronize Feast, as they have a particular wine she can find nowhere in Tucson. Also, they have imaginative vegetarian dishes that she enjoys. Because I am an omnivore who doesn't really care for odd culinary pairings and unnecessarily fancy fare, I decided to check out Feast's website ahead of time to make sure there was something I was interested in eating. Initially, the Riesling Chicken sounded good, so I gave my blessing for going to Feast for dinner.

It's not the biggest dining room, but we didn't feel crowded at our table for two. The decor is simple with lovely lighting fixtures, but the light above our head was pointed a little too directly at our faces, causing us to move our chairs to avoid squinting throughout our meal. We briefly debated whether the walls were crimson or mauve (a wandering chef was happy to settle our bet; I won), and immediately ordered a bottle of my friend's favorite wine. One of the nice things about Feast is that they will re-cork your bottle for you, should you not desire to drink the whole thing with dinner. I hear that they usually charge for this service, so we were pleased to note that there was no re-corking fee on our bill.

The Feast menu is varied, with plenty of entrees for vegetarians and carnivores alike. We started our dining experience with mixed green salads with the creamy roasted shallot dressing, and it was remarkable. I practically licked my plate, that dressing was so delicious. The mixed greens were uncommonly fresh and crisp, and that dressing... oh, that dressing, tossed with the salad, almost like a Caesar... At $3.75 for this generously-portioned starter salad, I'm tempted to come every day. I would be lying if I said that that salad has not taken up a great deal of my food fantasy time lately. My mouth literally waters when I think of it.

Though I had initially thought I would be ordering the Riesling Chicken, I dared myself to branch out and try something new. I ordered the Lamb Stew ($16), because I've never had lamb before. The menu describes it as "slow-cooked lamb with tomatoes, fresh spinach and arugula, garnished with butternut squash jam," it didn't mention that the stew broth has a lovely spicy kick. The lamb was tender, plentiful, and flavorful, and the broth was delicious. I was not a fan of the butternut squash jam, however, and a sizable amount of it was piled atop the dish. It was far too sweet to be paired with the heat of the dish. Admittedly, I'm not a fan of sweet and savory pairings, but I tolerate them when they're not obnoxious. This was one of those occasions where I had to remove the sweet element to enjoy the rest. I would have enjoyed a slightly less-sweet version of the butternut squash. As far as portion size, the entree was generous, but not oversized enough to merit a takeout bag. I finished it all, not wanting to waste any.

My dining companion had the Roasted Beet Cake ($13.75), described as a "savory cake of roasted beets, caramelized onions and garlic, served over sauteed spinach with braised fennel, red wine syrup and goat cheese lumpia." It was definitely not something that interested me, even though I love beets, but my friend enjoyed every last bit of it. I tried a small bite and couldn't taste much. My palette was a little tainted by the spiciness of my stew, however.

Unbelievably, we still had room for dessert ( we really have a hard time passing up dessert, my friend and I), so we asked what the ice cream flavor was that day. Feast prepares its own unique flavors of ice cream, and my friend tells me that it's something they're renowned for. We were very disappointed to hear that they were out of ice cream (though our waitress was cruel enough to tell us what delicious flavor we'd missed out on), so we asked for a couple Chocolate Truffle Cookies (priced at an amazing 60 cents each). The waitress returned to advise us that they were also out of those, but she must have felt badly for us with our ice cream deprivation, because she said that they kitchen would be happy to bake us a couple cookies if we were game to wait a few minutes. Oh, we were game, all right. The warm-from-the-oven cookies were delightful and the perfectly portioned dessert after a good-sized meal.

Service at Feast was excellent. Our waitress was friendly, helpful, obliging, and always there when we wanted her, and never there when we didn't. I'd be more than happy to return to Feast, though I might skip an entree altogether and just get that amazing salad, and maybe some homemade ice cream and cookies. They do owe me some ice cream, after all.