Tinderbox Kitchen

Before this past Thirsday night, the closest I had been to a Valentine's Day date, was me and one of my very best friends going to chinese buffet together instead of with boys as College Freshmen. We got semi-dressed up, we put on makeup and we headed out for a great dinner. The night ended with us splitting a small bottle of Smirnoff and watching girly show. As I mentioned yesterday, Valentine's Day, isn't a big deal for us. It has nothing to do with the commercialism or any of the other anti-V-day sentiments that are out there. We just don't make a big deal about. In the 4.5 years we have been together, we had never gone out on a Valentine's Day.

Since the rest of the country is looking for a great time on February 14th, many restaurants offer deals and specials for the night. One of our favorite local haunts was offering a special and Berkeley decided this year we were going to go out on Valentine's Day! After an unfortunate experience with our original place, we changed our plans for the evening and ended up at Tinderbox Kitchen.

Located in the Southside area on San Francisco Street here in Flagstaff, Tinderbox Kitchen advertises "American Comfort Food... Redefined" and they deliver. We started with "The Board". It is the housemade charcuterie plate served with artisan cheeses, chutney, and "other goodies". Our board featured a duck ham, venison keilbasa, duck liver pate, country terrine, a soft milk cheese, housemade cracker, chutney, olives and sweet pickles, and a stone ground mustard. It was a great spread of delicious meats, cheeses and goodies that set the pace for the rest of the dinner.

Berkeley went the Sirloin Tip Filet medium rare with original mashers, mushroom ragout, watercress and house steak sauce. Berkeley was beyond impressed! He devoured that steak. It had a nice sear on the outside and was cooked perfectly on the inside. Also served with the steak were house made salt and vinegar chips. They had a great saltiness and the familiar tart of vinegar. The chips finished with a slight sweetness since malt vinegar was used. The mashers were a perfect side.

I went with the Seared Sea Scallops. They were beautiful large scallops cooked perfectly and served over a cauliflower fondue with fried butternut squash. I was blown away. The fondue sauce was mild and provided a great complementary flavor to the scallops. The side of fried cauliflower and butternut squash was delicious and filling without being too much.

We were so very happy with our dinner and drinks. We are excited to go back and try more entrees from their menu as well as heading over to their "cocktail lounge" The Annex for more bar style food. We highly recommend Tinderbox Kitchen. The food was amazing and the staff and service was exceptional. Even for a typically busy night in the service industry they were great about making sure our needs were met without being overbearing.