(flickr) Chelsea's Kitchen is up on 40th and Camelback. It is part of the group of restaurants that includes La Grande Orange, Postino's and Radio Milano. The food is good and well priced. It's main attraction is that it has a huge patio. It looks like it used to be a house which was on the corner of the canal. Consequently parking is tough and the valet's pile cars up in tight rows that suffocate what little asphalt there is around the restaurant.

The patio stretches outside from the bar and there is a smaller patio in the front of the building as well. Inside is pretty plush with several booths and big comfortable seating. When I went there last week with a contractor we sat out in the patio. It was a bit chilly and I huddled close to a heating lamp. We went there on Friday with friends, as one of our friend's is off to Denver for a job, and we all packed into a soft and leathery booth.

The place was packed on a Friday night. We ended up waiting an hour for a table. Fortunately their bar is open and there are thin and long bar height tables to lean or rest drinks on. Unlike Blanco in Scottsdale which has no mechanism to occupy people that are waiting for a table [fail]. So the wait wasn't that bad, but we were starving by the time we did sit down at Chelsea's. We wolfed down the chips and guacamole.

Due to hunger pangs, and surviving on granola (muesli) and protein bars at work all day courtesy of production patch issues, I ordered a burger. It was pretty nice. Others had burgers, rotisserie chicken and salad garnished with steak.

Chelsea's is a nice restaurant and one that is worthy of wider rotation. Of that group of restaurants on 40th I think Postino's remains my favorite.