Yeah, I know. I'm Tucson Food Dude and I'm writing about a restaurant in Phoenix. I don't get hung up on labels. What I do get hung up on, though, is not taking an appropriate amount of pictures for things such as this. I'll do better next time and not just use a cropped picture of me really happy about getting beer.

So I'm not going to call this a review, because I'm not going back for a second meal. I would if I could, but it's a bit of a drive...

This lunch was immediately following the casting call for NFNS. BTW, I didn't get a callback from them, so I'm just going to assume that they misplaced my number (ah, the protected ego!).

Kristine's bro Jeff lives up there, so we called him up to see if he could recommend a place and meet us. He's the hippest CPA you could ever meet, so we knew he'd have a good spot in mind. His suggestion was Postino in the Arcadia area of Phoenix. I'm not entirely sure what Arcadia covers, but this place was close to 40th St & Camelback (full contact info below). It turned out to be a former post office (hence the name), with a light and airy feel. They call themselves a wine bar, but that doesn't mean that the food played second fiddle.

I was ready to blow off some steam when we got there, so I ordered one of the two beers on tap. I'm partial to an IPA, so I picked that without really knowing what it was. They were doing a special for lunch, offering a pitcher (which they characterized as 'small') for $5.00. I went with that. Turns out it wasn't that small, and I got about 2 1/2 pints out of it.... Jeff was jealous because he had to go back to work. The beer was from Odell, and it was fantastic. Amber coloring, creamy head, citrus and floral notes in the aroma, and hoppy without being ridiculous about it. My kind of beer.

They seem to specialize in panini, bruschetta, and salads for lunchtime (or maybe all the time). Kristine & I both went with the half panino/bowl of soup combo ($9.50). We both chose the proscuitto with brie sandwich and chicken artichoke florentine soup. She had her panino on foccacia, and I went with ciabatta.

The panini were described as: 'Prosciutto with triple cream brie, fig jam and arugula with balsamic vinegar and olive oil'. There wasn't a lot of arugula (in fact just a little pile in the middle, and I couldn't detect any balsamic at all. Nonetheless, the flavor combination in it was great. The sweet, earthy fig with the salty proscuitto and creamy brie was a major hit.

The soup wasn't quite as I expected. It was tasty, but none of the flavors really stood out. I expected a little more zip from the artichoke and maybe a bit more chicken (I only saw one or two pieces in my bowl). Next time, I'd definitely choose one of their salads instead of the soup.

Jeff let us know that they're really known for their bruschetta, which they have a very broad selection of. Next time I'm up that way, I'll check it out.

I should mention that the service we received was top-notch: friendly and attentive without hovering. I'll look forward to another meal there, and a chance to try out some of their extensive wine list.

Postino is located at 3939 E Campbell Ave. Their website is postinowinecafe.com, and they have full menus at the site. They have another location on Central as well.

I spent a good portion of my day on the University of Arizona campus yesterday. I was a little hungry and trying to figure out what restaurant to head to for lunch when I decided to just go to the student union to see what's changed since I graduated oh so many years ago.

Turns out a lot's changed. It's a whole new building, in fact. Louie's Lower Level is gone, The Cellar is still there, but the main attraction is now Dance Dance Revolution. The selection in the food court is a little different with the exception that On Deck Deli is still there: Burger King has replaced McD's, and there's now Chik-fil-a, Panda Express, Papa John's, and a place called IQ Fresh that does wraps and smoothies. I didn't make it upstairs to check out the cafeteria, but I hear that it's a bit different as well.

IQ Fresh had the most appeal to me. The concept and restaurant itself are acutally an outgrowth of a student project in the Business College. Kinda cool. They had a wide selection of smoothies with the usual add-ins (protein, vitamins, etc), and with yogurt or sherbet. You do your ordering on a piece of paper and then take that up to the counter. Pick your wrapper (whole wheat, chipotle, spinach, white, etc), and type of wrap. I went with the Thai Chicken Lettuce in whole wheat: grilled chicken, lettuce, carrot, cuke, and bean sprouts with a peanut sauce. I would have ordered extra of the sauce, as it was a little dry inside. Overall, it was very tasty. The standout of the meal, though, were the sweet potato fries. Very crispy outside, light and creamy inside, and not greasy at all. They were really, really good, and worth the trip there.

So where's that nostalgia that I mentioned? It sounds like everything's changed, right? Well, yes and no. It was being around all of the students that really did it. Thankfully, there weren't as many as during the semester, but still enough to cause a buzz everywhere. There was also a mix of college students, admin types, and middle/high school students there for summer programs. It was a lot of fun just being around that energy and excitement, and I was glad I went by there.

If you find yourself near campus around lunchtime, stop in at the student union for a bite. Even if you're not an alum, it's a great atmosphere for a little recharge.

I have lunch at 1702 on a pretty regular basis. One of the guys I work with and I have a theory about the place though: there’s an inverse relationship between the quality of the lunch slice and ‘normalcy’. When the place is pretty low-key and there are no glitches with the service, you get a fairly mediocre slice. When there’s crazy stuff going on all around, you can be pretty sure the pizza’s going to be awesome.

Take today, for example. I actually went with someone else, but the theory held up anyway. The place was swamped when we got there (and it was 1:15 – it shouldn’t have been that busy!), none of the empty tables had been bussed, there was only one waitress on when we got there, and it took forever to get our drinks. All of that’s forgivable because they were really hopping.

I always order my slices ‘crispy’, because they tend to pull them out of the oven too early and they’re room temp in the middle. The waitress didn’t know if that would be possible, but I convinced her that it would be. We pulled our utensils out of the empty six-pack holder, and both my fork and pizza cutter had been used and put back. That pretty much grossed me out, but I sent them back to the kitchen and got a clean set. After a really long time, the waitress came out to tell us the slices were in process. About 10 minutes after that, she came back and said that my slice had burned to black and they had to re-do it. When all was said and done, the pizza was really good. Too bad it took well over an hour for us to get out of there.

On the plus side, 1702 has one of the best beer selections in town. They’ve probably got 40 on tap, and Miller Lite isn’t one of them.

So go there for happy hour, and have a great beer. And if it’s weird in there, order a slice.

1702 is at 1702 E. Speedway. Their website is 1702az.com, but it appears to be down right now.