During his decadelong run at Cowboy Ciao, chef Bernie Kantak showed that he wasn’t afraid to zag while everyone else was zigging. Now, as an independent restaurant owner, he’s just as bold and imaginative.

While the name Citizen Public House suggests a gastropub where raucous diners hoist tankards of beer and gnaw on giant mutton chops, this downtown Scottsdale spot is actually a sleek, sophisticated, restaurant that could hold its own in any big-city setting.

Usually, chefs who develop even a single signature dish can count on cementing their reputation. Kantak has come up with several.

Among the standouts is the appetizer pork-belly pastrami, a clever spin on the pastrami sandwich. Here, Kantak applies a pastrami rub to the pork belly, turns the rye bread into rye spaetzle and makes “sauerkraut” out of shaved brussels sprouts.

Then there’s the lamb burger, served on wonderful Balkan bread called lepinja that’s lined with tzatziki, a Greek yogurt-cucumber sauce. And there’s also Kantak’s marvelous chopped salad, a much-imitated, never-duplicated triumph from his Cowboy Ciao days. It’s as fun to look at as it is to eat: colorful rows of smoked salmon, pearl couscous, arugula, currants, dried corn, Asiago cheese, marinated tomatoes and pumpkin seeds bathed in pesto-buttermilk dressing.

And we still haven’t discussed first-rate main dishes, such as short ribs with cherry barbecue sauce; and scallops with bacon and grits.

CPH boasts one of the Valley’s best cocktail programs. After a few sips of a classic like the Negroni or Sazerac, you may come to believe that these are the good old days.

Source: azcentral