Exploring downtown Phoenix

 Some restaurants will entice you with a rich buttery flavor, while others lure you in with their sweet tantalizing desserts, but Steve's Greenhouse Grill brings you in with the freshness of their ingredients.  Located in the center of downtown Phoenix at Adams and Central, this tavern not only has bar and patio but also surprisingly more dining area than expected.  This is a casual dining so as their website says "If you have reservations, you're in the wrong place".  Of course we are always excited when the answer to our drink question is..."we serve Coke products".  We were even more excited when the Coke comes in a large enough glass that you will not need a refill during your meal.  We started off with the "Chipotle Chicken and Green Chili Quesedilla".  Marinated diced breast of chicken layered with cheese, diced green chiles and tomatoes served with sour cream and salsa.  Wow! to finally bite into a quesedilla that was fresher than homemade.  There was no heavy oil or processed food after taste.  The serving size is large enough to share with two people but you may find yourselves fighting over the last piece.  The tortilla was lightly grilled.  The green chili and cheese were a nice compliment to the mouthwatering marinated chicken.

The menu consisted of a larger variety of grilled sandwiches and burgers (even ostrich) as well as a small section of other entrees such as steaks and pasta.  The one sandwich that caught my eye was the "Drunken Chicken Sandwich".  The first thing that came to my mind was "Foghorn Leghorn" sitting on my plate chugging a bottle of tequila.  In reality, it was a tequila and lime marinated chicken, grilled then topped with pepperjack cheese and ranch dressing.  It was served on a wheat bun with the regular burger toppings such as lettuce, onion, tomato and a spear of dill pickle.  My first bite was a fiesta for my taste buds.  I almost expected the tang of the tequila lime marinade to overpower the taste of the entire sandwich but the spice of the pepper jack cheese soon made me forget about the tang.  The fire ran rampant through my mouth with a kick that was later soothed by the creamy ranch dressing.  If you like Buffalo Wings, you will like this sandwich.  I enjoyed it for the roller coaster of flavors it provided.

Patti opted for my second choice which was the Monterey Chicken Sandwich.   A fresh grilled chicken breast topped with bacon, imported Swiss cheese, and guacamole served on a whole wheat bun with all the other regular fixings.  She expected it to be dry so asked for a side of mayo but was pleasantly surprised that she did not need it.  (Instead we used the mayo to make fry sauce for Frank's french fries).  The sandwich was incredibly fresh without any heavy over tastes of sauces.  Our server talked her into ordering the Grill's potatoes rather than french fries when he said they were grilled with garlic and onions.  The potatoes could have used more garlic and seasonings but were a nice change of pace and when it comes to garlic we believe you can never have enough.

As I have stated before I don't normally like to order desserts from restaurants but for fun we looked at the menu and this one literally jumped out at us.  It is called "Chocolate Monkey".  The main ingredient that sold me was "sliced bananas, deep fried, rolled in cinnamon and sugar".  MMMMMMmmmmmm, can't go wrong with deep fried bananas.  So it is three egg rolls filled with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and sliced bananas which are then deep fried and served with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  The whole thing is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Even if your stomach is full from your sandwich, you can't stop yourself from eating this dessert.  I am almost afraid to tell you have delicious this is for fear you may not invite me to share it with you when you go.  Because there is no way I will be sharing this the next time I go. 

I must say that the dessert was my highlight of the evening.  The most discouraging thing about coming to Steve's Greenhouse Grill, is trying to find a parking spot.  But after this dessert, I am glad we did end up parking a couple blocks away.  There are some treasures to be found in downtown Phoenix.  This is one of them.  If you haven't at least tried fried banana before, try it now.