Local Artist/Farmer Matt Moore Exhibits at Sundance

A watched pot may never boil, but lettuce will grow before your eyes — in Matt Moore’s world, anyway. Moore’s oddly enchanting videos of vegetables literally coming to life will be shown at the Sundance Frontier, a companion to the better-known film festival coming up later this month. Over on…

Breakfast at Harlow’s Cafe in Tempe

There’s nothing fancy about Harlow’s. Or wait, maybe there is. On a recent visit, we noticed chandeliers hanging from the ceiling — not so unusual for a restaurant, except that this longtime wood-paneled Tempe breakfast spot also sports a prominent sign warning patrons to leave their guns outside, and other…

Fairytale Brownies in Bite-Sized Morsels — a Dream Come True

We know there are those of you out there who strongly believe that pie is the next big thing, and we see the signs, sure, but we’re also betting on the brownie. On a recent trip to ABC Baking in Phoenix, we couldn’t help but notice the prominent display of brownie-making and…

Bakerella Sweetens the Day with Snow Pops

​It’s not likely to snow any time soon in these parts — and the holidays are long gone — but if you’re still fighting the post-Xmas blues, like we are, check out the cavitity-inducing sweetness over at www.bakerella.com, a super-cute blog we just discovered. Talk about eye candy. And hey,…

She Sees Demons

The overwhelming concern, when it comes to juvenile corrections and mental illness, is that kids are being jailed for petty crimes caused by behavior related to pre-existing mental illness. But sometimes a kid commits a serious crime — and then cracks. That appears to be what happened to a 16-year-old…

Curl Up with a Good Blog: Posie Gets Cozy

Word has come in from family in Denver that the temperature’s in the single digits. We’d swear it’s that cold here. We even have the long johns out, and we’re taking a vow to stay indoors til spring. Looking to curl up with good blog? Let us recommend one of our…

Pita Jungle Has a Kids Menu — Who Knew?!

Don’t get us wrong. We love Pita Jungle. Adore it. Consider it a civic treasure (treasures, actually, as new locations continue to pop up around our metropolis). We even like to take our kids there, though it’s admittedly a little pricey with no kids menu, an omission we noted when we…

Stuffing Showdown: Weight Watchers Stuffing with Sage and Chives

​From now ’til Thanksgiving, we’ll be sharing various stuffing recipes — all tested and taste-tested first-hand by Chow Bella contributors. On Thanksgiving Day, our “celebrity judge,” New Times food critic Michele Laudig, will weigh in with her favorite of the lot. All year, we dream about stuffing. The crunchy, onion-y…

6 Things Wait Staff Should Know When Waiting on Families

​Last week’s 10 Things to Know If You’re Dining Out struck a nerve with readers — and, we’ll admit, with Chow Bella’s administration. Particularly the part about dining out with children. Sure, yes, absolutely, no doubt about it — it’s gotta suck to wait on people and their screaming, drooling, demanding,…

Beach Bites: The Fortune Cookie Chronicles

So, you’ve read Julie & Julia and all of Ruth Reichl’s books, but you’re hungry for more? Fear not, summer reader. We’ve got a week’s worth of book recommendations for you, all food-related in one way or another, starting today with The Fortune Cookie Chronicles by Jennifer 8. Lee. Speaking of…

Richardson’s, RIP

As the remains of one of our favorite Phoenix restaurants smolder, we are thinking back to good times had at Richardson’s. This place was (and hopefully will soon be again) an institution in a town with far too few. For evidence, we reached into the not-so-way-back machine for this gem,…

Follow Michele Laudig on Twitter

We eat. We tweet. New Times food critic Michele Laudig is working all the angles for you, Phoenix — including Twitter, where you can follow her cravings. She’s easy to find: @michelelaudig.  We’ve been on Twitter for a while now, and in between the tweets about Iran and Mark Sanford’s…

Summer Guide: Get Toasted

Get toasted, Phoenix. And we’re not talking about the backs of your legs on pleather seats after your car’s roasted in the sun for an hour in the Safeway parking lot. We mean cocktails — serious cocktails. In our latest guide to summer in this godforsaken city (well, godforsaken from…