Voltaire Restaurant, Scottsdale

Sure Voltaire French Restaurant’s executive chef David Antonelli worked in several New York eateries, but he really got his skills in the kitchen from his uncle. That family spirit must have been impressed upon the chef, because today Antonelli keeps his restaurant a family affair, running the eatery together with wife Lydia and father Martin. Together, they produce a menu of fine French-style cuisine that follows the classic formula of meat, sauce, and side. Proteins can include veal, mussels, and fine cuts of steak. Lydia recommends le poulet en croute, a chicken breast with cream of spinach baked inside a puff pastry. The recipe was created especially for her by her husband, and it is not coincidental that the pastry serves as an excellent hiding place for diamonds.

The restaurant’s servers aren’t slouches either. The highly skilled staff adds to the restaurant’s appeal by boning freshly baked fish or flambéing desserts tableside. The skill and preparation put into the menu have not gone unnoticed, earning Voltaire French Restaurant the U.S. Commerce Association’s Best of Scottsdale in the French Restaurants category for five years running.