Best Place to Eat at the Bar 2014 | Citizen Public House | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best Place to Eat at the Bar

Citizen Public House

Tirion Boan

Whether it's for happy hour, late-night eats, or a casual dinner, Citizen Public House's bar makes a great place to enjoy a meal. We have many fond memories of nights that either started or ended with a drink and a small bite at this Scottsdale spot. Part of the draw is the fact that the four-sided bar is located in the center of the restaurant's dining room. The prime location lets you feel like you're in on all the action without forcing you to mess with fussy white tablecloths and a full-blown dinner. We also love Citizen's friendly bartenders, who make great cocktails and equally great conversation. Plus, the bar is where we usually enjoy Citizen's ever-changing late-night menu, served Thursday through Saturday until 1:30 a.m. There's no better way to end the evening than with a good drink and a bowl of bacon fat heirloom popcorn.

Best Bar for Day Drinking

Dick's Hideaway

Patricia Escarcega

Sometimes, after a night of drinking, the only thing that will cure a hangover is hair of the dog. Hey, we're not judging. We just want you to do it right. With a full menu of New Mexican fare, you're sure to find something full of flavor and with just the right amount of kick to bring you back to life. However, if that doesn't work, you can switch to something a little stronger. The special house Bloody Mary ought to do the trick. The devilishly spicy housemade tomato base is as important as the vodka it's mixed with if you're looking for something to make you feel better. Plus, the beer chaser helps you wash down this miraculous, albeit hellacious, cocktail.

Best Wine List

Vintage 95

Over at Vintage 95, the name says it all — it's pretty much all about the wine. Sure, the cozy, swanky Chandler lounge serves lunch, dinner, and Sunday brunch, but for the Southeast Valley's wine connoisseurs, this spot is the ideal place to geek out. With a 13-page list of wines sold both by the bottle and by the glass, there's a lot to peruse. Do you go for a bottle of Arizona Stronghold or a glass of Roux Père & Fils' Chardonnay? It might take you a while to mull over the full list, but immersing yourself in the selection of local, domestic, and international wines in red, white, and rosé definitely is an adventure worth exploring.

Best Place for After-Dinner Drinks

Hanny's

Lauren Cusimano

Downtown Phoenix has come a long way. Just look at Hanny's. This former midcentury department store turned destination for a late-night dinner and drinks keeps the curfew-breaking crowd classy till at least 1 a.m. every night with handcrafted cocktails that cater to the classics, freshly sliced prosciutto charcuterie boards and sandwiches, a resident DJ, subtle art installations, and mirrored dressing rooms renovated into restrooms — in truth, they're better suited for Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory than drunken night dwellers with poor depth perception. Regardless, insomnia never seemed so enticing.

Best Place to Sober Up

Gus' New York Pizza Lounge

It's 2:05 a.m. and your feet are starting to ache as you stumble out of the bar. Going home right away just isn't an option, as the idea of getting in a vehicle is making you nauseated. The only logical option is to head to Gus', a 24-hour pizza joint conveniently located smack in the middle of the Old Town bar scene. At any and all hours of the night, you'll find this restaurant packed with well-dressed diners looking for something starchy. Okay, it's not the best pizza you've ever had, but it's not horrible — and it's cheap. One slice is enough to make the room stop spinning.

Best Hangover Breakfast

Snooze, an AM Eatery

Snooze

A good hangover meal needs to be starchy or greasy. That's why we love Snooze, an AM Eatery after a night of boozing. For starch-seekers, there's a selection of pancakes that ranges in flavor from the mildly unexpected sweet potato to truly unique pineapple upside-down cake. Is alcohol still clouding making it hard to decide? No matter, just go for the three-pancake flight. Greasier options include the Sandwich I Am on a fresh pretzel roll or the housemade corned beef hash, both of which will settle your churning stomach. The only downside to this hangover-recovery option is that there's usually a wait. The upside? Free coffee and games to keep you entertained — and awake.

Best Food Blog

Cucumbers and Limes (cucumberandlimes.tumblr.com)

What's not to love about someone who calls out food blogs for being "the endless repetition of one superstar's chef recipe, regurgitated straight from the page of the latest high-priced hardcover cookbook"? Nothing. That's what. And that's exactly why we love Cucumbers and Limes, the food-centric blog of local chef Minerva Rincon. In the past year, she's tackled a variety of topics ranging from David Chang's recipe for pickled mustard seeds (Rincon offered her own version in place of the chef's, of course) to the proper way to eat a Mexican papaya. She even took to the blogosphere to defend the honor of her often-overlooked East Valley neighborhood and to tell us how to infuse mezcal with fruit. Talk about useful knowledge! We love that we never know exactly what we'll find on Rincon's online home, but we know it will delicious, informative, and fun.

Best Local Food Publication

Edible Phoenix

Foodies and professional chefs and people who just love to eat have come to rely on Edible Phoenix, a quarterly publication promoting the abundance of good food in the Valley. A printed and online celebration of farmers, food nuts, chefs, and restaurant owners, this colorful culinary mag makes our mouths water. Getting to know the people who grow and cook our food has never been so enjoyable, and getting to peek into their worlds by way of their recipes, frequently published in Edible's pages, is a real plus. News on the best farmers markets, reviews of just-opened diners, and lots of good writing about great food makes us hungry for more Edible Phoenix.

Best Stories About Wine and Food

Stay True Radio

You probably know at least one or two things about Pavle Milic. One could be that he's part of the dynamic duo that runs Scottsdale's FnB. The other is that he is one of the biggest advocates of Arizona-made wine. What you might not know is that he also is co-founder of My AZ Now Radio, where he hosts his podcast, Stay True Radio. The show is a lot about local wine, with guests like Sam Pillsbury, Maynard James Keenan, and Todd Bostock. However, since it began airing in September 2013, Milic also has talked shop with a cicerone, a tattoo artist, a gallery owner, and a chicken farmer. If you want to learn a little more about the local food and beverage scene, Milic's Stay True Radio show is the way to go.

Best Menu

Second Story Liquor Bar

Lauren Saria

Second Story Liquor Bar owner Tommy Plato says his chic new restaurant aims to tell a story. And he's not kidding. Everything from the servers' Mad Men-inspired duds to the restaurant's website ties into his storytelling theme. That even includes Chef Josh Bracher's cuisine, which is organized into acts on the restaurant's seasonal menu. You'll start your dinner with a selection from the Intro category, before moving along to heartier fare in the Prologue, Plot, and Finale segments of the carte du jour. What's more, each time Bracher switches things up, the new menu constitutes an "episode" of Second Story's show. If the food and drinks weren't so good, we'd have to roll our eyes at how seriously this restaurant takes its dramatic theme.

Best Of Phoenix®

Best Of

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