Olive Garden Italian Restaurants

This Is What 2,000 Calories Actually Looks Like

You might know that the FDA recommends people consume on average around 2,000 calories a day. But what does 2,000 calories actually look like? This video lays it all bare, often depressingly so. See Also: --24 Legitimately Fascinating Facts About Beer --Study Concludes Sex Only Burns 21 Calories P ... More >>

Claudio Urciuoli on Nancy Silverton, Noma, and Italian Cooking

This is part two of my interview with Noca chef Claudio Urciuoli. If you missed Monday's interview, in which he dished about Olive Garden, truffle oil and the weirdest thing he ever ate (which pretty much tops everybody else's), read it here. See also: -- Noca Owner Eliot Wexler on Chef Claudio Ur ... More >>

Claudio Urciuoli on Olive Garden, Truffle Oil, and the Weirdest Thing He Ever Ate (Which Is Pretty Weird)

Claudio Urciuoli Noca 3118 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix 602-956-6622, restaurantnoca.com See also: -- Noca Re-Opens with New Look, New Breads and New Cocktail Program -- Noca Serves Up Wallet-Friendly Lunch with Nocawich This is part one of my interview with Claudio Urciuoli, the executive chef at ... More >>

Salty Sow in Phoenix Could Use Some Spice

When a new spot opens in town, we can't wait to check it out and let you know our initial impressions. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a full-blown review, but instead a peek inside restaurants that have just opened, sampling a few items, and satisfying curiosities (yours and ours). Rest ... More >>

Chow Bella's 9 Most Dramatic Moments in the National Food (and Drink) Scene in 2012

We'll soon be saying sayonara to 2012, and as media custom would have it, we're taking a look back at the culinary news that inspired us, enraged us, made us hungry or just gave us a good laugh. In the world of food and drink (and frankly, we don't care about much else here at Chow Bella), the most ... More >>

LongHorn Steakhouse Tries Arizona (Again): This Time in Mesa and With More Locations to Come

Darden Restaurants, Inc., the same company who owns and operates Red Lobster, Olive Garden, The Capital Grille, Seasons 52, and Eddie V's, is playing Santa this year in the form of steakhouse chain, LongHorn. See also: New Steakhouse Coming to Chandler Today, the casual American steakhouse that op ... More >>

Sonoran Lee's Liquid Dinner Puts Honey-Drizzled Biscuits and Roasted Parsnips in Your Beer

Beer: Lee's Liquid Dinner Brewery: Sonoran Brewing Co. Style: English Brown Ale ABV: 5 percent If we've learned anything from Sonoran's Chef Series beers so far, it's that the cooks tapped for these brews aren't afraid to get a little weird. First we had Jeremy Pacheco, who threw seven different i ... More >>

Texaz Grill's Bottomless Chicken Fried Steak Laughs in the Face of Olive Garden's Endless Salad and Breadsticks

An open letter (not really) from the bottomless chicken fried steak offer happening this Wednesday, October 15, through Friday, October 26, at Texaz Grill, the neighborhood bar and restaurant, in east Phoenix. Dear Endless Breaksticks and Salad from Olive Garden, Shhh. Do you hear that? Yes, the l ... More >>

15: Jim Cerreta Sr.

From now 'til we publish the 2012 edition of Best of Phoenix, New Times and Chow Bella present 100 Tastemakers -- Valley residents who make the cut in our culinary scene. Some you'll know; for others, it'll be a first introduction (but likely not the last). While you're here, check out our 100 Creat ... More >>

Noodle Knockout: North Fattoria Italiana vs. Olive Garden

Don't worry, you read that right. We put Sam Fox's brand new North up against Olive Garden. We thought it would be funny. We thought maybe Sam Fox's new Italian restaurant would prove to be comparable to corporate Italian beast Olive Garden. We thought that we could prove once and for all that no ... More >>

95: Eric Schaefer

From now 'til we publish the 2012 edition of Best of Phoenix, New Times and Chow Bella present 100 Tastemakers -- Valley residents who make the cut in our culinary scene. Some you'll know; for others, it'll be a first introduction (but likely not the last). While you're here, check out our 100 Creat ... More >>

This Week's Tastiest Links!

Message to co-workers: get your damn birthday cakes and homemade goodies out of my dieting face. - The Wall Street Journal To foie gras or not foie gras? Valley chefs, restaurateurs, and readers weigh in on the controversial issue. - Chow Bella Gene Simmons of KISS is going to open up a chain of r ... More >>

Eddie V's Prime Seafood and Wildfish Seafood Grille Sold to Parent Company of Olive Garden and Red Lobster for $59 Million

​Holy oceans, that's a lot of shellfish. ​Last week, Phoenix-based Eddie V's Prime Seafood, a luxury chain of eight restaurants in Arizona, California, and Texas with one location in the Scottsdale Quarter, and Wildfish Seafood Grille, Eddie's sister chain of three restaurants in the s ... More >>

Olive Garden's "Culinary Institute" in Tuscany: What the Hell is Happening Over There?

Hanover Signs​Poor Olive Garden. First the Italian food chain got tagged for accidentally serving a child sangria ("Mom, dis Kool-Aid makes my sgetti bwurry!"), now it's the target of recent internet buzz with tales of what really goes on at its infamous Tuscan cooking school. You can almost hea ... More >>

Christopher Nicosia of Sassi

Keyon Fareghi​The sprawling Italian style villa that is Sassi looks like something out of a movie. You almost expect an old-school, mustached Italian proprietor to swing the door wide open and welcome you in with a kiss on either cheek. Come to find out, the guy who runs thing ... More >>

Arrowheart, What Are You Eating?

Sara Robinson​Sara Robinson What'd you eat for dinner last night? I had a 6-inch turkey sub from Subway, Sara-style! Favorite food: During the week, I eat healthy, but on weekends I eat my favorite food, which is the breadsticks from Olive Garden and Orange Chicken from Panda Express. Least favo ... More >>

Seasons 52 at Biltmore Fashion Park Gets You Slim Again

Rockaroke, Suns Viewing Party, Domo, Deathface, and Other Memorial Day Weekend Thrills

Expect to see this kinda scene at the Sail Inn in Tempe tonight during rockaroke.​The Yucca Tap's loss is the Sail Inn's gain. In case you're not up on the comings and goings of the Valley's music scene, local legends the Zen Lunatics packed up their popular -- and award-winning -- rockaroke nigh ... More >>

Ryan Avery, What Are You Eating?

​Ryan Avery The performance artist will be featured with Father's Day at The Real Coachella Saturday, April 24 at The Trunk Space at 8 p.m. What'd you eat for dinner last night? I went to Olive Garden to visit some of my family. I ate the cheese ravioli with alfredo sauce on it. It was the chees ... More >>

Battle of the Bruschetta

For a starter that appears on practically every restaurant menu, from Olive Garden to Postino, bruschetta (broo-SKETTA) is a remarkably appealing -- and mispronounced -- dish. The concept is simple: toast a slice of crusty bread and top it with pretty much whatever sounds fr ... More >>

Cooking School Secrets: Time for the Real World

Classes are over. Finally. Not sure how other classes do it, but we went out with a bang (or should I say blaze). One of the students started a fire in the restaurant as he was preparing to make crepes suzette at the next to last service. True to form for our particular class. No doubt the instruc ... More >>

Jimmy Buffett Killed Vacation

Jimmy Buffett Killed Vacationing

Dear and the Headlights: Phoenix's Great Hope?

Martin CizmarDear and the Headlights at Tinest Bar in TexasOf all the Arizona bands at SxSW, no one had a higher profile than Dear and the Headlights. They played five shows over the course of the five-day festival, including headlining the I Heart AZ showcase and the same official showcase at Spiro ... More >>

Miracle at St. Anna: Spike Lee’s WWII Drama Is an Epic Bore

Letters From the Issue of Thursday, September 6, 2007

Pox Populi

Odds are against the few good bites

Spice War

Not just mad about it

This Week's Day-by-Day Picks

Bada Bomb

An offer you can refuse

Fiamma Fantabulous

At the James' restaurant, the pastries are hot, but the pasta's not

Mediocre Mangia

Sauce lacks sass

Volare, Oh No!

Pronto relies on its reputation more so than its fare for success

BEST NEIGHBORHOOD ITALIAN

Giuseppe's Italian Kitchen

Torte Reform

Big Fat Greek Tragedy

Film knockoff is awash in Mediterranean mediocrity

Will to Power

Mr. Ferrell comes into his glory in Old School

West Side Sorry

Northwest Valley eateries come up short

Readers' Choices

Unsung Heroes, Pasta and Pizza

Small wonders greet adventurous diners in Tempe.

Animal House

ZooFari nothing to be wild about this year

Best Italian Restaurant

Maria's When in Naples
7000 East Shea, Scottsdale
480-991-6887

Where's the Haggis?

"Ethnic Cleansing" in the Valley

Italian Nice

Ego System

Second Helpings

The Nature of the Bistro

OH, MY ACHING CAMELBACK:

COME AND 'GHETTI IT

ME STARVIN', YOU CHAIN