Cycle

This review is for the bar only.
I had a date last week and was looking for a local bar to grab drinks at. I called Cycle on Wednesday and was told they would be open until at least midnight on Friday, and the guy was very nice. Friday arrives, and I take my date there, and when we enter the bar, the bartender makes a gas face and says they are closed for the night. I told her that I called just two days earlier and she just stared at me. No attempt at fixing anything, nada. One drunken patron at the bar yelled to open the bar back up, but I was over it. Well done cycle.

I was here for the weekend that Joel L. was the chef. I was greeted at the door by the hostess for the weekend, Marianne, and seated promptly. I still had to wait for Kirti D., so I ordered my drink and it came right away.
She got her drink right away, too, but it had lipstick on the glass. Ew.
There were pre-​printed menus on the table of the meal. It was a fixed price meal, but there were a couple appetizers you could get while waiting for the rest of the food.
I had poutine, made with tater tots, watermelon gazpacho, walleye, flank steak, and strawberry-​rhubard pie. I hadn’t had rhubarb in a dozen years and was soooo excited! All of the food was amazing, but the poutine is something I am still thinking about, and it was over a week ago!
It wasn’t easy to find, because I didn’t realize it was in the Lexington Hotel. For some reason, I thought it was a free-​standing building. The décor is pretty cool, though. The walls and pillars are covered in chalkboards and there is chalk everywhere for you to go draw whatever the heck it is you want to draw. It’s a pretty open space, which I like. Oh, and the booths are huge. I’m a booth girl. Why are so many booths red? I wonder.
Even though the food was amazing, the place loses stars because of the THREE glasses that came out with lipstick on the rims. Three. I know lipstick is hard to wash off, but if I am paying $ 50 for dinner (without drinks), I should get clean glasses. For only a dozen patrons, our service for drinks should have been quicker.
I will definitely go back, as I am an avid fan of several local chefs. I love the pop-​up concept and being able to try new chefs’ food without leaving the Downtown/​CenPho area.

Writing a review for Cycle is tricky. While the space is the same every night, the person running the kitchen changes. So I’ll start with the space. The restaurant is on the first floor of the Lexington Hotel downtown. The building is undergoing renovations bit by bit, and my understanding is that they’ll be closing the restaurant soon for that remodel. Therefore, it’s probably irrelevant that I like the slightly shabby quality of the space – the walls are covered in graffiti, much of it done by chalk-​wielding diners. The round tables and semi-​circular banquettes make for cozier dining than the high tables with stools. The lighting is dim but not annoyingly so. The small adjacent bar, where the bartenders all seem to be women, is just okay, but since no one goes to Cycle for the bar, that’s fine.
My first encounter was for Another Night with Lola (presented by MF Tasty). I adore Spanish food, and my bar was set pretty high by dining at Jose Andres’s restaurants in DC. So trust me when I say that the tapas that evening at Cycle were fantastic. The sangria could have been better, but every dish that my group ordered was practically licked clean.
Because of that great experience, I looked forward to seeing what else Cycle would do and kept an eye on the calendar.
My second visit, just this past weekend, was for the «Posh Noodles and Noshes» Japanese Street Food event, with Posh chef Josh Hebert. I’m not expert on Japanese cuisine, but I’ve eaten a lot of it over the years, and I don’t just mean sushi. I’m particularly fond of noodle dishes – ramen, somen, soba, udon, etc. So I was pretty excited about the meal.
Well, it was pretty awful. Of the four dishes I tried, only one was worth reordering. The worst of the meal was the duck gyoza – tough, dried-​out filling in grease-​soaked wrappers. Seriously, they were so oily that they were practically see-​through. The ramen with mushroom broth was a huge disappointment – the noodles tasted too floury and the broth was utterly forgettable. Remember when I said earlier that we licked the plates clean on the first visit? This time, we didn’t finish a single dish. Alas.
I would expect my feelings about the food to vary with each visiting chef, but I was really surprised by how *bad* the food was the second time around. When I told a friend in the local restaurant industry about our meal that night, he said, «Oh, my god. You have no idea how nasty that kitchen is that they’re working in.» Yikes.
At this point, there are only two more pop-​ups scheduled for Cycle, and while Joel LaTondress’s menu has me intrigued (especially the tater tot poutine LOL!) I can’t say that I’ll be back until after the renovation. I don’t expect that the restaurant will become anything spectacular, but I’m curious to see what they do with the space.

An interesting concept that didn’t end up being what I hoped for.
I was pretty excited to try the Posh Noodles & Noshes Japanese street food as prepared by Josh Hebert. I love Japanese food and was looking forward to the dishes that are not readily available in Phoenix. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by both the venue and the food.
The location inside the Lexington Hotel has definitely seen better days. An attempt has been made to create a temporary generic space with chalkboard walls and butcher paper topped tables. However, it came across as worn and dingy.
Our waitress was not familiar with the menu or drink offerings (‘I didn’t work here last night’) but was friendly and did find out answers from other staff. Foolishly thinking that we would love each and every dish and take home a lot to enjoy the next day, we tried a large assortment. An expensive mistake.
Duck Gyoza w/​Ponzu — I prefer steamed gyoza over the fried presentation here. Also, these had the tiniest, greasy portion of filling I have ever seen.
Homemade Tofu w/​Ginger, Scallion, Cherry Blossom — this was good, with a sweet, dessert-​like flavor but a somewhat runny texture.
Okonomiyaki — this ‘Japanese pizza’ was among the better items. However, the texture of the ingredients was strange — i.e. full slices of bacon rather than smaller bite-​sized pieces made greasier than it needed to be and messy to eat
Tako Yaki — again, a strange texture with awkward large chunks of octopus surrounded by ‘breading’ that fell apart easily
The ramen dishes (Miso Ramen w/​Pork, Goma Ramen w/​Pork and Shitake Mushroom Rames) were small, and more or less indistinguishable from one another. We left most of them behind, deciding not to take anything with us.
The dessert, Green Tea Pot de Crème was a nice finish but did not make me feel better overall about the $ 100+ meal.

Sometimes when I’m out dining, I take note of the things I like and commit them to memory so that I can order them the next time I am out. Sometimes the food is OK and I don’t really pay much attention either way. And very rarely am I so excited about what I am eating that I don’t really think about anything else. I am in the moment. Gabriel Bertaccini’s family inspired menu for Cycle fell into the third category. If you asked me about the meal, I’d tell you the textures and colors were perfect, the flavors, amazing. Unfortunately, I could not tell you what was in it but it was delicious.
After the first experience, I went back for the 7 course Hey Joe! Filipino street food Saturday. A vastly different experience from my first round with Bertaccini’s menu– this was street food+, not fine dining. The plating was a little awkward and the portions huge for a seven course meal– this can be a positive or a negative. I was not a huge fan of the sautéed snout, ear, and jowl. The flavors were there but the chewy texture did not appeal to me. My favorite was the last course, Filipino Flan with Candied Pork Cheek Bacon. Bacon+ Flan = perfect finish to an excellent meal.

Let down.
I don’t know if this review should be going towards Cycle itself — or the chef/​menu of the particular weekend that I went. Its tricky.
We had reservations here on Friday night at 6:30 and this place was totally dead — it was a nearly sold-​out event too! It feels weird being at a restaurant with only 2 other parties on a Friday…
Cycle has a decent bar menu (with both bottle + tap beer) and a happy hour that lasts until 8pm where drinks are $ 1 off. My cocktail was nice and strong.
We went for the Jeff Kraus «Experience» menu because a chef finally offered some decent vegetarian choices… but we were not very impressed by it. For an appetizer we received what amounted to 3 slices of tomato on toast (for $ 7). The vegetarian soy sloppy joe was pretty tasty but I could have done with less salt.
I will try Cycle again if they have another menu that I am interested in before they close in a few months.

The idea and concept are great… but the atmosphere is not appealing and non inspiring to be honest. The food is average… but I guess this being a downtown establishment… shouldn’t expect much. The fact that it is connected to the Lexington hotel… it is really just like any other average «hotel» restaurant. I heard it is closing or moving maybe… and quite honestly I am not surprised. I do wish them good luck because again the concept is great… but it needs great improvement to its overall atmosphere and appeal. Eat, Drink, and be Merry my Friends!!!

Hugo Vino at Cycle was an amazing experience. Where to begin, but with the starters. The roasted beet salad was excellent, as was the bruscetta. The short rib was so good, I can’t stop wishing for more! The shrimp was really good, too. And dessert, yum! Goat cheese cheesecake — OMG! and strawberries with marscapone cheese, light and delicious. We are praying Hugo Vino returns REALLY SOON!!!

Our fearless Critical Mass organizer arranged with Cycle for us to end our May ride at that establishment. I was excited, because Cycle purports to be a pro-​bicycle bar/​restaurant. We rolled up, all excited. There were ample bike racks for our nearly 100 riders. However, when we entered the hotel, we were brusquely directed to the bar entrance. Having been to the restaurant before, I wandered out to check the dining room. I was immediately turned back at the entrance and told the dining room was «reservations only.»
Well, the bar has maybe 5 tables, and there were nearly 100 riders. People who have just completed a 10-​mile+ bike ride want to eat, drink, and be seated, not stand 5 deep in a bar line and then stand around holding their drinks. We were not even sure we’d be able to order food. We left almost immediately and went across the street to Portlands. Right after we’d ordered, we saw another group of bikers headed to Carly’s.
It’s not like Cycle didn’t know we were coming. If you know 100 people are coming to your venue, don’t you think you’d prepare to welcome them and encourage them to spend freely? Lame.

I LOVE this concept. It brings folks into downtown Phoenix for a food adventure, and the pop-​up style and quick-​changing chefs mean you can stop by once a week and have a different experience every time.
I stopped by during Chef Gio Osso’s Italian weekend. The food was delicious, adventurous, and homemade, and the drinks were creative and intense. We started with the polpette ai tre, a trio of yummy meatballs that each brought something different to the table. We then shared the garganelli con sugo di salsiccia, a homemade pasta dish with sausage ragu that was AMAZING. We rounded out the night by trying BOTH desserts, one Italian donut stuffed with nutella and one croissant stuffed with homemade gelato and whipped cream. I LOVED my experience at Cycle. The waiters were fun and helpful, and the atmosphere is creative, with chalkboard walls and paper table clothes for coloring! I will definitely be back to sample some other chefs at Cycle. This is one pop-​up I wish would stick around, so get there before it’s gone for good!

Cycle is a pop-​up restaurant in the Lexington that offers local chefs the chance to take over the kitchen for a weekend and serve some of their food in a small venue. I really like the concept, so I was hoping to really like the reality.
We headed out for Chef Gio Osso’s Italian dinner on April 30^th. The food was really great. The drinks, which were crafted by a local mixologist to pair with the night’s menu, were also fantastic. Since the menu won’t be available again, I feel like it’s pointless to review the specifics.
What I will review is the atmosphere… it’s kind of like a little food cave. They’ve painted all of the walls black with chalkboard paint and encourage the patrons to draw on the walls with chalk. 5 stars for giving me something to do while I wait for my food.
The only thing weird about the place is the MUSIC! I’m not sure about you, but rustic Italian cuisine doesn’t make me think of TLC, Vanilla Ice, Will Smith, or the numerous other throwback «hits» that we were treated to during our meal. But, if you like to Get Jiggy with it during your dinner, I think you’ve found your Nirvana. :)
That being said, I’ll be back. Maybe I’ll just bring my Ipod.

So far so good! It is a fun experiment that will only continue until the renovation begins, but that being said the mixologist that are there weekly can stir up some potent concoctions that will delight.
Check it out before it is gone.

I love the whole concept of Cycle and Jeff Kraus and his crew hit it out of the ballpark tonight with Experience. I started with the Tiramisu martini which was somehow even more fabulous than it sounds. Luscious and creamy, they (yes, plural) went down too easy.
For a starter I had the frog leg lollies which would change the mind of any one turned off by frog legs. I could eat those everyday. Perfectly crunchy with just the right amount of sauce and nestled in a pillow of bleu cheese foam– seriously, how could you not like that? I plucked each delicious little morsel of meat off that froggy femur with delight.
My first amuse bouche arrived– a prosseco rimmed in pepper– with a lightness that really helped to set up my next course, the «Not a Frisee aux Lardon». The peppery arugula and perfectly poached egg was highlighted by the crunchy, salty bits of pig’s ear. I scooped up every last bite with the brioche.
Another amuse of peach sorbet and basil was a nice palate cleanser. Dessert was a difficult choice between the skillet cookie with wild turkey crème or the nitro sundae. I went with the nitro sundae and could not have been more pleased. A truly beautiful dish, the crack of the perfect chocolate sphere revealed a gorgeous custard. The crystallized strawberries, caramel, almonds and chantilly finished this dish off with the perfect ratio of crunch and cream. I hear Jeff is looking for a brick-​and mortar place. Even in this tough market, I have no doubt he’ll succeed.