Email Author Penelope Corcoran

1991 Stories by Penelope Corcoran

• GUEST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT

  published December 25, 1991

  Today is Christmas. I'm no Scrooge. Instead of putting some poor restaurant through the ringer today, I thought I'd share with you some of the... More >>

• LADY SLINGS THE BLEUS

  published December 18, 1991

  When you contemplate eating at a French restaurant, do you fret about what to wear? Do you fear some snooty waiter will allow you to... More >>

• BEAUTY AND THE BISTRO

  published December 11, 1991

  For someone who doesn't live in Scottsdale, I spend a lot of time eating there. This is not due to some covert community preference on my part. It... More >>

• YIPPIE-TI-

  published December 4, 1991

  The sawdust has been swept from the floor, the menu refined, the necktie scissors stored away. Just as country music reinvented itself with a new... More >>

• THE PEOPLE'S FOOD COURT

  published November 27, 1991

  For retailers, the day after Thanksgiving is, quite simply, the biggest day of the year. The frenzied climax of a season of preparation. A dreaded... More >>

• MIRACLE MILES

  published November 20, 1991

  THE AUTOM COMPANY occupies a simple storefront with large windows. Unassuming. Like the old-fashioned office supply store that adjoins it on North... More >>

• FLASH IN THE PANS

  published November 20, 1991

  Blame it on Wolfgang Puck. The California restaurateur is the one responsible for creating America's voracious appetite for fancy pizza.... More >>

• BEYOND A REGIONAL DOUBT

  published November 13, 1991

  Is Southwestern cuisine passe? Are pine nuts, jicama and black beans yesterday's ingredients? Do those of us who live here even care? In... More >>

• MAHAL SHEBANG

  published November 6, 1991

  In other cities, it is not unusual for East-Indian restaurants to cluster together. In New York, for instance, good, inexpensive Indian food is... More >>

• STATE OF HEAT

  published October 30, 1991

  When cowboy-movie star Tom Mix "bought the farm" in a fatal 1940 car accident, he also left a farm behind--thousands of acres of grazing land... More >>

• OUT WITH THE INN CROWD

  published October 23, 1991

  For years I've been hearing about Sedona. The red rocks. The vortexes. The shopping. And, yes, the restaurants. Cozy L'Auberge de Sedona has long... More >>

• PIZZA MEET YOU

  published October 16, 1991

  In honor of Columbus Day, a holiday that has been appropriated by Italian Americans, I thought I'd investigate a couple of spaghetti houses with... More >>

• POLKA SPOTS

  published October 9, 1991

  The party's over--Oktoberfest, that is. So where does one go to score sauerkraut and bratwurst once the street vendors have disappeared? Where can... More >>

• EAT YOUR ART OUT

  published October 2, 1991

  As much as I like Gabriel's, it is a restaurant that raises a few small, niggling questions. Who is Gabriel, for instance? Why is its menu shaped... More >>

• HANOI AND HER SIZZLERS

  published September 25, 1991

  Here's a concept that signals the beginning of a new decade. A Vietnamese restaurant that is a) part of an international chain, b) pleasant and... More >>

• PASTRAMI DEAREST

  published September 18, 1991

  As I write this, I am noshing on half of an obscenely huge sandwich, leftovers from "research" conducted earlier in the day. This has been the... More >>

• MAGNETIC POLES

  published September 11, 1991

  Phoenix is not Chicago. Nor is it Buffalo or Minneapolis or Milwaukee. We just don't have the large communities of Eastern... More >>

• TO SEAR, WITH LOVE

  published August 28, 1991

  The question I'm most frequently asked--after "What's your favorite restaurant?"--is "Where's the best place to eat Thai food in Phoenix?" Until... More >>

• PASTA PRO BUONO

  published August 14, 1991

  I'm happy. I have found two restaurants I like. Both are Italian. Both are trattorias. Both are places to inscribe in your... More >>

• ILLUSIONS OF GRANDMA

  published August 7, 1991

  For those of you who have already tossed out that freebie Hallmark calendar you pocketed last December, August 8 is Grandparents' Day. Which... More >>

• LEGGO MY ECO

  published July 31, 1991

  In the center of the buffet table, water drips from an ice sculpture reading "BIO 2." Behind the chafing dishes and metal trays, staff... More >>

• COAST BUSTERS

  published July 24, 1991

  I haven't visited San Diego in a long time, not since I was a little girl. The zoo is what I remember most about the trip, the children's... More >>

• PADDY MELT

  published July 17, 1991

  If you wait long enough, it will come. This is my overriding feeling about Phoenix. Case in point: Korean restaurants. ... More >>

• GRECIAN FORMULA

  published July 10, 1991

  I didn't touch the pizza. I swear. I merely utter the word "sexaholic" during the course of conversation and kerplunk, our gorgeous... More >>

• WITH SIX, YOU GET CHIMI

  published July 3, 1991

  Ah, the Fourth of July. A time to celebrate our independence, our history, our united state of ethnic diversity. What better way to... More >>