Here are 3 new metro Phoenix restaurants to add to your must-try list in June

Among the multitude of restaurants that opened across metro Phoenix recently, three are already standing out. One serves multicourse dinners and brunches, another offers pan-African comfort food and the third is a celebrated chef's new, casual outpost where he makes deceptively simple dishes like sandwiches and pizza.

I finished a playful, fine dining meal with mushroom ice cream in Scottsdale, enjoyed nouveau Mediterranean at Epicenter Agritopia in Gilbert, and in the heart of downtown Phoenix in Heritage Square. I enjoyed African music almost as much as the shrimp moqueca and sorrel and pineapple cocktail.

Here’s a look at three newly opened metro Phoenix restaurants I recommend trying first.

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Course

You may not expect to find a fine dining restaurant in a strip mall and once you find it, you be surprised that you don't need to dress to the nines to enjoy the artful presentations.

Course offers, as the name implies, prix fixe 5- or 10-course dinners ($135/$190) and even a six-course brunch ($75) on Sundays.

Chef Cory Oppold is the master of subtlety in flavors. The dishes are elegant interpretations of comfort food. Think pizza or Caesar salad, the former reimagined as fennel dish with eggplant, squash and fava bean and the latter, made with romaine, Jidori chicken oysters, oyster mushroom and smoked oyster velouté. Oppold sets the tone from the amuse bouche — a sturgeon pie on my visit. Some highlights of the 10-course menu, which will change seasonally, included a sturgeon pie, made with sturgeon rillette, lemon creme fraiche and caviar and an unusual dessert. A candy cap mushroom and honey ice cream, created by Antonia Kane, was accented with crunchy, freeze-dried raspberries and chocolate pearls, served with a diminutive rhubarb jam-filled beignet that packed stupendous flavor.

Course is not a place you go for a single dish, but for an experience. And it certainly delivers.

Craving more details? Read the full first bite here.

Details: 7366 E. Shea Blvd., Suite 106, Scottsdale. 480-687-0491, courserestaurantaz.com.

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Latha

At this Heritage Square restaurant, co-owned by Evelia Davis and chef Digby Stridiron, if you only order one thing, make it the shrimp moqueca ($32).

With ingredients representing Haiti, Puerto Rico, Cuba and the southern United States, it's a flavorful celebration of the pan-African diaspora. Served in a shallow wooden bowl over creamy coconut rice grits, the rich moqueca comes with delicate, shredded plantains and roasted broccolini and is topped with pickled red onions, capers and olives and dollops of Cuban mojito sauce.

Order an Upendo ($16), a refreshing cocktail made with a float of ruby sorrel tea, yellow muddled pineapple and a Caribbean pineapple liqueur or, if you'd rather skip alcohol, the signature mocktail made with enroot, agave and lime is equally memorable.

Want the full Latha backstory? Read about it here.

Details: 628 E. Adams St., Phoenix. lathaphx.com.

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Source

Chef Claudio Urciuoli made a name for himself in Phoenix at the helm of Pa'la restaurants. Earlier this year, he struck out on his own to open Source, a casual, ingredient-focused Mediterranean restaurant in Gilbert with Chef Trevor Routman in the lead.

The bread here is a must. Everything from ciabatta to pizza crust and flat bread are made in-house and feature perfect crunchy exteriors and airy crumbs.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Controne chickpea hummus, which came speckled with green bits of parsley, tart and herbaceous North African chermoula, topped with za'atar and a pool of olive oil. The house-made warm flatbread, an Italian version of pita, also sprinkled with za'atar and sesame seeds, was an excellent vehicle for the dip.

The menu is short. You may only find two pizzas at a time, but no matter what they are, be sure to order one.

I tried and loved the capicollo pizza. The 10-inch pie was topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella, baby artichoke, oregano and capicollo — a dry-aged Italian salumi made from pork neck and shoulder. Pops of smokiness gave character to each bite. I would be remiss not to talk about the pizza crust — thin with an airy, crisp cornicione that manages to be light and satisfying at the same time, making this pizza miles apart from the heavy, greasy stuff.

But what about the salads? Read the full report here.

Details: 3150 E. Ray Road, Gilbert. eatatsource.com.

Reach the reporter at BAnooshahr@azcentral.com. Follow @banooshahr on Twitter.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New Phoenix restaurants to try now: Course, Latha, Source