The classic way to end a Thanksgiving meal is with a slice of pie. Or, let’s be honest, a slice of every single pie that was brought to the party. Make sure there’s plenty to go around by pre-ordering one of these 10 delicious desserts for your holiday table. Of…
Halloween weekend is coming up, and you don’t need a costume to get in on the sugar-fueled action. Here are the top places in the Phoenix area to stock up on Halloween treats, check out special menus, and join in on some beer-centric celebrations. Plus, we’ll give you a the…
The Mac & Cheese Throwdown is less than a month away, and that means it’s time to buy your ticket. Seriously, this event has been known to sell out early. So if you’re tired of powdered cheese packets from the boring blue box, you’d better lay down your $22 ASAP…
Chandler-based Nutwhats is one of the few start-to-finish chocolate makers in Arizona, and the confectioners use it to make unique candies called Scribbles. The company’s uncommonly shaped, magnificently buttery, nutty brittle treats are now available in sweet-savory flavors like Salted Almond Scribble, finished with a drizzle of chocolate, and Green…
This summer, local frozen confection fave Gelato Spot has been hosting its 1st Annual Local Chef Flavor Competition, inviting restaurant professionals in the Phoenix metro area to create something that captures their culinary point of view. Twelve chefs were split into three groups and battled head-to-head in June, July and…
Summer is coming to an end, and while the rest of the country is in mourning, we’re celebrating. Now begins the time when the Valley of the Sun comes to life, and now that we can actually stand to be in that sunshine, our favorite season is finally kicking off…
You have less than a week to take part in the championship round of The Gelato Spot’s Local Chef Flavor Competition. At the beginning of the summer, 12 Phoenix-area chefs created unique gelatos, which were split into three groups and pit against one another throughout June, July, and August. Get…
Americans are known for their deep-fried food fetish, and bizarre new concepts crop up at state fairs every year, like fried Cadbury crème eggs, mac ‘n’ cheese, and Coca-Cola. But the United States isn’t the only country that enjoys covering everything in batter and sticking it in the deep fryer…
You’re headed to your go-to section of the grocery store: the cookie aisle, ice cream freezer, or snack section. As you grab a container of your favorite food, greasy potato chips or chocolaty brownies, your mind starts to drift off to the moment when you get home, sit down on…
Brews to Benefit, a monthly happy hour that supports local and national charities, will be taking over Hula’s Modern Tiki on Thursday, September 5. In line with the restaurant’s theme, the featured craft beers will be brewed by Kona Brewing Co. From 6 to 8 p.m., patrons can get 4…
Chocolate is healthy — potentially lowering blood pressure, reducing risk of heart disease, and staving off dementia, research shows — but only in small quantities. It’s recommended to eat less than 3 ounces of dark chocolate per day because it is so calorie-dense and high in saturated fat. However, a…
Cronuts™ have been dominating food news all summer, and New Yorkers are still lining up in the wee hours of the morning to get a taste when the bakery opens at 8 a.m., a trend that — with the promise of a fig-mascarpone variety in September — isn’t likely to…
By now you know that the world’s rarest and most expensive coffee is picked from the feces of palm civets, or toddy cats. Coffee berries are part of the Southeastern Asian animal’s diet, and after the beans are excreted, they’re collected, fermented, and roasted to make Kopi Luwak, which sells…
If you thought the bacon trend had peaked long ago, turns out you’re wrong. But it actually may have happened one week ago in Chicago with the opening of a restaurant that serves sandwiches that are topped with different types of bacon, including Chinese bacon, chicken liver-bacon banh mi spread,…
The Phoenix dining scene has its fair share of hip, casual restaurants with refined taste — Windsor, Tuck Shop, and The Parlor, to name a few — and soon enough Nook will open its door in Arcadia with hopes to be on that list. First, they need to gather a…
Only five years ago, now-commonplace ice cream flavors like sweet corn or craft beer would have caught anyone off guard. But with the introduction of bacon to the dessert course a few years ago, the line separating sweet and savory was forever demolished. These 10 ice creameries craft artisanal versions…
Nothing says summer like the flavor of fresh, vine-ripened tomatoes, but you might not be expecting to eat the fruit-once-mistaken-for-a-vegetable for dessert. You can try an unusually sweet twist on the classic pairing of tomato soup and grilled cheese at Urban Cookies Bakeshop, available today through Sunday, August 18. The…
As author of Chow Bella’s “Dessert First” column, I tasted my share of sweet in this city. (To say photographer Dayvid LeMmon and I enjoyed the research is an understatement.) What follows is the absolute best of the best. Restaurants change their dessert menus on a regular basis — seasonally…
Editor’s note: We had so much fun over on Chow Bella, pitting New Yorker-turned-Phoenician Nina Gruber against Phoenician-turned-New Yorker Dominique Chatterjee against each other on the topic of food that we decided to do it again — and this time, we’re talking about culture. Today we share Chatterjee’s view of…
Don’t feel like doing the grilling this July 4th? Get a healthy buzz of all-American pride by supporting a local business. One of these 11 metro Phoenix establishments will be happy to help you put together the perfect feast of food and beer. A couple of restaurants offer a spectacular…
Tired of the boring ol’ cookbook format with lists of ingredients to measure, cut-and-dried directions to follow to the letter, and not nearly enough pictures? So is Katie Shelly, author of Picture Cook: See. Make Eat. to be released in October. See also: – Pickled Jalapeños: Homemade Spice Straight Out…
In the past few years, the selection of readily available chocolate has grown considerably beyond Hershey’s and Ghiradelli to include artisanal bars sourced both nationwide and globally. Thanks to a few homegrown companies like family-operated Stone Grindz, you can even get chocolate that has been transformed from cacao bean to…
