The Duce
Located just a few blocks to the south of the Ballpark and arena, sits an amazing restaurant that is doing it a whole new way. Part store, part entertainment locale, and part creative eatery. A lot of the restaurant is filled with a boxing ring, but there is a beanbag toss area, Ping-Pong tables and even a spot for hula-hoop contests. The food is prepared in an old food truck wagon and they recommend you use a creative and clever name for them to call out when the food is ready to be picked up. They use a lot of Mason jars for the cooking as well as for beverages.
The hostess can give you a tour when you arrive which is a good recommendation, so that you can get the lay of the space. It has a lot of communal picnic table seating as well as high tops scattered about. There is even a party area that can be reserved near the kitchen. On the weekends there may even be a DJ spinning some new and older tunes to get you in the mood for fun. In one section there is a grandstand and a dessert bar. So enjoy the tour, but plan where you might want to sit during it.
We were in awe of so many of the creative dishes that we were happy to see some sampler options that could be ordered. We enjoyed a glass of water, which had a few options to choose from like the food. There was citrus water, cucumber water, and even mint water scattered around the restaurant. We decided to also enjoy some of their fresh brewed Iced Tea ($3). You could enjoy it regular or with the addition of fresh fruit for no additional cost and it has complimentary refills for that price as well.
We started with the Mac and Cheese muffin sampler ($15). This came with 12 mini muffins of their three different varieties. The first muffin was the traditional Mac and cheese muffin. These were featured on the Food Network television show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. It was very soft to the touch, but still held together in order to reach your mouth. The second was the bacon mac and cheese, the same recipe but with the addition of bacon. The third style was the spinach mac and cheese. Once again the same but instead of bacon, spinach was mixed in. Of the three, while the original was very tasty, the addition of the bacon added an extra little saltiness to the flavor that was very welcomed. But a word of caution, only order the sampler if there is a large group, it is a lot of food but a great value.
We then ordered The Duce salad ($5 pint jar, $10 quart jar). The Mason jar is filled with a mixture of Arugula and romaine lettuce, then mixed with Pine nuts, hearts of palm, Parmesan cheese and a Balsamic vinaigrette dressing. It was lightly dressed so that the lettuce mixture did not wilt but still had enough flavor to coat each item. We had the smaller pint jar since we were ordering other items as well, but the flavors were so tasty we could have finished the quart jar if we weren’t paying attention.
The next item was the Slider Sampler ($11). This features their Brisket, Chicken Sausage, and Meatball sliders all served together. The Brisket slider was the star of the trio. The meat was super tender and had a slightly sweet undertone to it. It had some sweet cooked onions layered on top as well as a crisp but soft slider bun. The chicken sausage and meatball were still full of flavor and very tasty but once you bite into the brisket one, it warps your brain and makes you crave it.
The last savory item was the Chicken Pot Pie jar ($8). This item has been in my dreams ever since this meal. It is just the perfect Pot Pie I may have ever eaten at a restaurant. The crust was so perfectly light and flakey, and the mixture on the inside was so full of amazing flavor. Full of roasted chicken, celery, and carrots it is so good it is bursting from the jar to grab you. I cannot envision returning to this place and not ordering one. It was extremely difficult to relinquish it so the rest of the table could have some. The creamy gravy that all the ingredients are playing in finishes it off, especially when you scrap the side of the jar to get all the components on your fork.
Thankfully we still had room for a bite of a sweet treat. Many of their sweet finishing items do take 20 minutes or so to cook, so it is a great time to allow some digestion and work off some of the food with a Hula-Hoop. We ordered the Caramel Apple Pie jar ($7). This is a sweet apple pie in a Mason jar. You can order it a la mode for an additional dollar, which I do recommend. The pie is perfectly flavored with just the right amount of sweetness, and the ice cream is added after it comes from the kitchen and back to the sweet bar. So when it comes to you the ice cream is just starting to melt into the pie. It would be a good size for one, but I felt perfect to share amongst two people.
This is a great place to escape for a time and have fun as well as some very tasty and reasonably priced food. All the games and areas allow for the young members in your group to burn off some energy and there is no additional cost to play the games. The music can be loud, but it is not overwhelming in the separate areas of the restaurant. But make sure to pay attention for the name you leave, as they call it out over the music and it can be difficult to hear if you are not paying attention. Also be as clever as possible with your name. So if you hear Dr. Bruce Banner your food is ready, look around because I may just be there ready to Hulk out on some food.
Location and Website – 525 S Central Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85004 http://theducephx.com