Halibut crudo – an elegant composition of rosy fish flesh, grapefruit, orange, pickled red Fresno chiles, pickled fennel, snipped scallions and fennel fronds – has the restrained elegance that is a hallmark of both crudo and sushi.

Served with a sliced baguette, they perform nicely as gateway oysters for people too squeamish to slurp them raw – not as rich or gloppy as Rockefellers, but still plenty decadent, offering up a hint of heat. hot-sauce-infused butter and covered with a partial melt of Grana Padano (Parmesan’s country cousin), are also delectable. Ruggiero’s grilled Blue Point oysters, splashed with Cutino Sauce Co. One of the most compelling is a plate of crab-laced hush puppies, egg-shaped and rather large as hush puppies go, served piping hot and ultra-crunchy with a drape of slivered green onion and a side of sweet corn remoulade to echo the cornmeal in the batter. If that prediction seems a bit premature, consider the arsenal of edible arguments. Even in its infancy, Hush seems polished and self-assured, a restaurant destined for a long and happy run, and in the short term, the definite front-runner for the best new restaurant of 2019. Nothing is organized by category, although appetizers land near the top, entrées and desserts at the bottom – another small detail that reflects a pervasive “no sweat” attitude. A short, frequently tweaked cocktail menu fuels the conviviality, as does a 20-item list of something-for-everybody share plates ranging from crowd-friendly hummus and grilled meats to edgier crudo and protein-based mousses. Like all good “public houses” – that retro-chic genre of upscale food pubs – the place is jeans-casual and noisy, owing to hard surfaces, blaring indie rock and the general din of people having a good time. The two friends have dreamed for years of opening a restaurant together, Barber’s mom urging them all the while to “keep it on the hush” until their plan could come to fruition. Ruggiero cooked at FnB and Chelsea’s Kitchen, to name two, while Barber put in a long stint at Zinc Bistro, where he met Ruggiero a decade ago.

on, filled with hard-core foodies and well-wishers, some of whom know chef-owner Dom Ruggiero and his front-of-the-house bartending partner Charles Barber from their previous culinary jobs around town. Open just over a month as of this writing, it’s reliably packed from 5 p.m. Trust me, you’re not going to want to keep quiet about Hush Public House, a dimly lit stiletto of a restaurant – not much more than a bar, really – tucked inside an unprepossessing strip mall in North Scottsdale. Moore Form admirably meets function in North Scottsdale, where two local restaurant vets have stealthily opened the Valley’s best new restaurant of 2019 – so far.

Hush public house