We have enjoyed the Hush Public House in the past, so this weekend we tried the next-door neighbor that shares a kitchen, the Bar Cena. Formerly the two places were more open to each other, but recent remodeling restricts movement back and forth to a small door toward the back of the respective locations.
If you are a duo, you can reserve a table, but larger groups get low tables and comfy chairs and couches. Overall Bar Cena is a nice place to spend a little time, and the music is not so overwhelming as to interrupt normal conversation. Service was pleasant without being intrusive, including brief chats and visit from the bartender who generously topped up some glasses. We visited during the Power Hour, so our bill was less crushing than it could have been. Interestingly, our favorites tended towards the less expensive end of the bill.
We ordered a number of dishes to share, and here are some of our favorites, ranked in order of how much I liked them.
Desserts: Yes, the desserts are small, but they are also terrific. The Billionaire's Shortbread features rich caramel, chocolate ganache, and sea salt, and the shortbread itself is excellent. The picture shows two orders of the shortbread, so be aware that they are small. The Grateful Spoon vanilla gelato affogato is similarly rich and flavorful. The Negroni in the picture also got a thumbs up from my better half.
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The Crispy Potato Pave with duck fat, chives and rouille was perfectly baked - crunchy exterior and well-done interior of scalloped potatoes. Toothsome and just the right balance of hard and soft components.
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The Muffuleta Croquettes, aka "fancy cheese poppers", with olives, provolone, sesame seeds and fennel, are similarly baked to get the balance right between crunchy and smooth. The salad / garnish roughens up the taste buds, and the croquettes provide the requisite mouthfeel. Both this and the potato dish really were excellent in terms of execution from the kitchen.
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Rounding out the top four was the Marinated Cucumbers with Whipped Tofu. This was a wild mouthful of disparate tastes and textures that seems a little oversold, in that the waitress warned us about the chilies being hot. This wasn't at all too spicy, but it was sour and umami and cold and warm and crunchy and smooth all at once, so it really works over the tastebuds. The tofu is not "tempei" style, nor is it really "tahu" style, but I think it was a "tahu" style that received a strong whisking to make it even less of a solid and more of a liquid. My wife's opinion was that is was a silken tofu that was then whipped, so maybe that is the correct description.
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The restaurant is in one of the out-buildings / fingers of Thunderbird Center along Scottsdale Road, facing north, alongside Hush. If you are driving around looking for it, I recommend looking for the Hush signage, which is more easily visible.
14202 N Scottsdale Rd
#165
Scottsdale, AZ 85254
https://barcenascottsdale.com/
(Sorry about the photo orientation - I cannot seem to get pictures to display right-side up in this editor.)
