Fine Foods, Spirits & Specialty >>

• Readers' Choice
  Best Bakery Paradise Bakery several Valley locations More >>
• Best Place To Fulfill Your Apple-a-day Quota
  Candy's Apples
  Whoever coined the phrase "an apple a day keeps the doctor away" never considered the sinful creations that Candy's turns out. Candy's starts with immense, hand-selected Granny Smith apples of unparalleled crunch and flavor. Then it mounds this gift of nature with various combinations of... More >>
• Best Middle Eastern Grocery
  Yusef's Middle Eastern Restaurant, Grocery and Deli
  If Yusef's doesn't have it, you don't need it. That's our thought, anyway, after browsing through hundreds of Middle Eastern and North African items stocked on the shelves of this delightful shop. All the basics are covered: powdered sumac, Turkish coffee, teas, zaatar (thyme and sesame seeds... More >>
• Best Soft Drink Selection
  Pop the Soda Shop
  Pop rocks! And nowhere in town will you find a wider selection of the bottled bubbly (non-alcoholic variety) than at this fizz fanatic's paradise, a soda supermarket that stocks hundreds of hard-to-find carbonated potables. Specializing in regional and imported sweetened swills you either... More >>
• Best Cookies
  Fat Cat Cookies
  Maybe your house was filled with the smell of fresh-baked chocolate-chip cookies every week when you were a kid. Or maybe your mom's idea of making cookies was opening a package of Chips Ahoy!. Whether you're reliving your childhood or compensating for it, you'll want to drop in on Fat Cat... More >>
• Best Lemonade
  Jamba Juice
  How can something so simple go so wrong so often? Phoenix is a veritable citrus mecca, yet drinks bearing no trace of lemon get passed off as lemonade here every day. And don't get us started on how people have served us Crystal Light with a straight face, as if we wouldn't know the difference.... More >>
• Best Italian Grocery
  Guido's Chicago Meat and Deli
  It's not often that we break into tears at the sight of food. But as soon as we walk into Guido's, our hearts swell, and our eyes well up at what must be the closest thing to heaven on Earth for real (or wanna-be) Italians. How could we not grow misty over San Marzano tomatoes? Overwhelmed by... More >>
• Best Produce
  Guadalupe Farmer's Market
  The name is deceptive: This is a shop with regular hours, not a weekend event. For cooks who despair of finding exotica like in-season cherries for less than $7 a pound, or for those who have heard tell of mythical eggplants that come in colors other than purple but have never actually witnessed... More >>
• Best Organic Produce
  Boxed Greens
  Short of manning your own farm, you won't find a better, more reliable way to get organics than with the home delivery service of Boxed Greens. This company cuts out the middleman, so the just-picked treasures come right to our door, guaranteed by 7 a.m. This certified organic produce is grown... More >>
• Best Gourmet Market
  Trader Joe's
  Gourmet grub doesn't have to be expensive. This we learned at Trader Joe's, an amazing emporium of more than 800 upscale items for remarkably palatable prices. We love the freshness, and the variety of product, too. TJ's shelves -- and now ours, too -- are stocked with delicious things like... More >>
• Best Gourmet Shopping On The Cheap
  Vincent Guerithault on Camelback Farmer's Market
  Saturdays, fall through spring, take on special meaning for gourmets who are looking to score some extra-special treasures for just a few shekels. Perhaps it's a bottle of little-known boutique wine, an obscure blue-veined cheese, artisan breads or organic produce. We find them here, all crafted... More >>
• Best Wine Shop
  Sportsman's Fine Wines and Spirits
  Sportsman's has won our Best of Phoenix so many years now that some might think we own stock in this popular wine shop. Nothing could be further from the truth. What is true is that Sportsman's continues to surprise and delight with the breadth of its selection, expertise of knowledge, and... More >>
• Best Cheese Selection
  Duck and Decanter
  When we say, "Pass the cheese, please," it's no easy proposition. It takes several trips to cart over the more than 60 varieties the Duck brings in from around the world. This is a virtual tour of the classiest cheeses from France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Switzerland, England, Belgium, and, of... More >>
• Best Baguette
  Arizona Bread Company
  Many of the specialty breads here are wonderful -- the olive bread is a standout -- but if a bakery's all-important baguette doesn't deliver, then all the chocolate-cherry loaves in the world don't make up for the failure. The simple baguettes at Arizona Bread Company -- and the slightly larger... More >>