There’s a new trend being tested in the Valley, inspired by the bellwether restaurant scene of New York and Los Angeles. It’s called communal dining, and it seeks to bring together people who are “passionate about food.” By the end of October, Michael DeMaria, chef-owner of Michael’s at the Citadel…
Lately it seems like there’s a Chinese restaurant on every street corner in the Valley. Even a recent National Restaurant Association study concludes that Chinese cuisine is so prevalent “it’s no longer considered ethnic.”Every neighborhood seems to have its own favorite Chinese gathering spot, pleasing its regulars with sweet-and-sour this…
One of the Valley’s premier suppliers of organic produce, Blue Sky Farms in Litchfield Park, has called it quits. The upscale operation was simply too expensive to handle, with rising transportation and labor costs, says owner David Vose. The final straw came when a hailstorm flattened the farm’s last lettuce…
I’m glad I brought my press materials on Ice Restaurant and Bar to dinner tonight. Otherwise, I might wonder why in the world I had decided this would be a nice place for a sophisticated meal. What made me think that Ice — a loud, obnoxious nightclub serving food one…
Ever since visiting Aloha Kitchen, the Valley’s only Hawaiian-theme restaurant, something has been puzzling me. Who in the world invented Kalua pig? And how much free time did he have? Consider this: A recipe from the Maui tourism board gives me no fewer than 36 steps to prepare this popular…
Could it be that Phoenix is finally becoming a town where restaurants can not only survive the summer, but also thrive? A recent rash of hot-weather expansions and grand openings suggests this might be the case. Now, let’s all get out there and eat, to support these brave restaurateurs and…
We’re all used to finding superfluous charges at car dealerships. We even pay ridiculous hotel room-service fees without blinking — “Operator charge of $2 per person,” reads the in-room menu of Las Vegas’ Bellagio. Plus mandatory gratuity, plus an additional tip to our room attendant.But we don’t expect to find…
For most businesses, as the adage goes, location is everything. If a shop isn’t easy to find, customers won’t bother to track it down. Unless the business is a restaurant, with really wonderful food. In that case, having a location that’s off the beaten path can actually be a plus…
Do you consider yourself a daredevil diner? Do you think you live on the edge with ethnic food, counting Asian, Middle Eastern, Caribbean and Third World foods among your ruminative repertoire? If so, you’re not alone. Ethnic cuisines are the hottest segment of today’s dining-out market, says the National Restaurant…
ZakeE’s chef-owner Sal Alqardahji is pleased that I’m making a complete pig of myself at lunch. I suppose there aren’t that many customers who order two appetizers, three or four entrees, salads and dessert for a noon repast, but my dining companion and I are really hungry, I tell him,…
Imagine you and a few of your friends — say, 3,000 of them — are looking for a good place to grab dinner out. Where would you go? If you live in Anthem, the decision is simple: Persimmon Bar & Grille at Anthem Golf and Country Club. There’s practically no…
It’s taken a while, but the Slow Food organization has finally come to metro Phoenix.Chrysa Kaufman, chef-owner of Scottsdale’s Rancho Pinot Grill, has formed a convivium (an Italian word meaning chapter) to promote the international group’s philosophy here in the Valley. What is Slow Food? The Italian-based organization’s manifesto reads…
I feel so ashamed. I’ve just read an interview with Peter Benchley, author of that ’70s sea shocker, Jaws. It seems he’s done a 180 on his view of great white sharks recently, discovering over the past decade that they are actually shy, scaredy-pants fish that only attack people they…
When you walk into the Arizona Bread Company at Scottsdale Road and Shea, you’ll most likely be yelled at. Loudly. But don’t flinch — it’s just the Soup Doctor reminding you to “eat more soup!” The Soup Doctor, you see, has the cure for whatever ails you, in the guise…
If I hear about one more “for the Soul” book, I think I’m going to scream. Not only is there that instigator of all the madness, Chicken Soup for the Soul, there’s now the baffling Chicken Soup for the Dental Soul and the completely inexcusable Chicken Soup for the Backstreet…
It had been too many years since I’d indulged in fondue — that fun and fatty composition of cheese, oil, broth, wine or chocolate heated to bubbling in a tabletop cauldron, then plunged with any variety of breads, fruit, vegetables, meats and cakes. So when my dining companion suggested a…
Tee Pee Tap Room, 602 East Lincoln Street, Phoenix, 602-340-8787. Hours: Lunch and dinner, daily, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. On game nights, restaurant remains open one hour after game ends. Downtown Phoenix dining hasn’t gotten much respect, historically. Not only has the restaurant quality traditionally been pretty weak, but…
Won’t some caring chef please come to Tony Makridis’ rescue and take over his long-awaited Cafestia coffee house, pastry shop and bar? The owner of Phoenix’s much-loved Greekfest has been teasing us for more than five years about the “any day now” opening of his Cafestia offshoot next door, but…
Some pretty funky history is happening in downtown Scottsdale these days. Since the opening of The Velvet Room in late March, the Old Town neighborhood has been jettisoned back to the 1940s and the “Golden Age of Jazz.” The supper-club concept has been reincarnated here, pairing the evening meal with…
Where do hospitality employees go for good food when they’re done with work? Many restaurants close at 11 p.m. on weekends. Nightclubs don’t kick patrons out until 1 a.m. And resorts never shut their doors. What’s a starving late-shift staffer to do? Keegan’s used to be the “in” spot for…
Chef Gregory Casale of Scottsdale’s Gregory’s Grill has corked his bring-your-own-wine policy. The three-year-old restaurant will be closed the month of July as Casale tours Napa Valley wineries and meets with local purveyors to select what he calls “an exclusive collection of world wines.” Gregory’s will reopen August 1 with…
Given perfect hindsight, most of us would have been a whole lot smarter when we were 12 years old. To this day, I dearly wish I had been. At this tender time of my life, I was living in Japan, land of gorgeous gardens, show-stopping fashion and some of the…
