Okay, so you can’t really do lunch at Sushi Roku at The W Scottsdale for less than $10, but you can get a lot of bang for your buck with a $10 Express Bento Box, which is nearly a square-foot of Japanese food.
Curious passersby peered in the floor to ceiling windows of Seasons 52 at Biltmore Fashion Park this past Saturday for a better look at the five-course lunch, complete with wine pairings, previewing the location’s opening a week from today, Oct. 25. The plan is to serve up tasty seasonal fare that won’t spoil your diet: No dish has more than 475 calories – desserts included.
If you think vegans can’t bake, Rikki Cupcake is going to make you think again. The vegan of two-and-half years is the mastermind behind the devious-sounding and diet-defying blog Seitanic Vegan Heathen and the vegan cupcakes at Ahwatukee’s Pomegranate Café. Go, try, become a believer.
Nothing says autumn like pumpkins, pecan pie, and cranberries… so we threw them all together. If one’s good, three’s better, right?! We adapted a downeast Maine pumpkin bread recipe to make grab-and-go Pumpking Pecan Craisin Muffins to start each day of fall right (unless you gobble them all down in one sitting…).
Ever wonder how we make it through Best Of Phoenix season? This is your answer: A bad habit of sugar, butter, and caffeine in the mornings at our desks. Can you blame us? Go ahead and name our vice. We know you know it… Where Am I Eating?
Signature cocktails don’t always have to do in your wallet, and the good people at Zuma Grille & Lounge make sure they don’t by always having carafe of Zuma Juice on standby for, get this, $3 a glass.
Chef Chrysa Robertson of Rancho Pinot says she’s dying to use Tuscan kale in her dishes this autumn. Lucky for us, she’s willing to share. Today, Robertson tells us how to make a fall-appropriate Grilled Butternut-Kale Salad, so you know what to do with all that kale once it starts showing up at farmers’ markets by the truckload.
Chef Chrysa Robertson of Rancho Pinot is a true Italian chef; why, you ask? “I always make way too much food!” Robertson laughs. Today she tells us about her first nerve-racking Italian feast, sweetbreads and all; her embarrassing fryer oil incident three days into a job, and the one addictive snack that always does her in. A lifelong cook, Robertson’s had her fair share of restaurant disasters and tough lessons, but she’s got a bone to pick with parents of poor eaters.
Often the food that’s easy on your wallet isn’t easy on your body. Today, we seek out an ultra-healthy lunch at Pomegranate Café, without breaking out $10 budget. Everything is raw, vegan, or vegetarian, meaning it’s packed full of essential vitamins and nutrients – a far cry from our fried food indulgences of late.
When Chef Chrysa Robertson decided to launch lunch at her restaurant Rancho Pinot, her restaurateur friends thought she had lost her mind. Not so, says Robertson. Her inspiration: The economy. Her vision: Keep it simple, do it well, and it just might work.
What started out as a less than stellar homemade-Christmas-gift attempt at truffle making grew into the passion and livelihood of the entrepreneurial Lou Mirabella and his wife, Denise, of Chocofin Chocolatiers.
Tequila is tricky, and let’s face it, we’ve all had our tequila terror stories: that night your don’t remember, the salt burn on your hand, the horrific hangover that leaves you in the fetal position on the cold, hard, bathroom floor until 4 p.m. the next day. We’ve heard it all, but Danielle Griffin, the Tequila Goddess of La Hacienda at The Fairmont Princess assures us tequila can be tasty, fun and regret-free.
Goat cheese, endive lettuce, and (dare we say it?) raisins sandwiched between two thick slices of fresh baked bread. We couldn’t resist long enough to even take a photo, hence the two big bites outta the second half. Add on mixed spring greens and an iced green tea and you have our lunch. We probably should’ve bitten our tongues. You totally have us pegged, don’t you? Well then, go ahead and take a guess… Where am I eating?
With the Arizona Taco Festival right around the corner, we figure you might be in need of a cool refreshment to quell the heat after that chili-eating competition, and nothing goes better with Mexican food than tequila, right?! We hit up the tequila bar at the The Mission in search of something other than our fallback margarita and grabbed the much buzzed about Tequila Mojito.
Sushi Chef Rick “Koji” Hashimoto, above right, and Kitchen Chef Kazuto “Kaz” Kishino of Hana Japanese Eatery team up to serve both fish two ways: raw or cooked. Today they dish up Rainbow Carpaccio from the sushi bar and Tai Ishi Yaki steamed table-side.
Born, raised, educated and trained in Japan, Chef Kazuto “Kaz” Kishino, the man running the behind-the-scenes show in the kitchen of Hana Japanese Eatery, is about as old school as it gets in Japanese cooking. Kaz is a man of few words and little English, but Lori Hashimoto plays translator to unveil the secrets to making high-brow tempura, the reason Kaz loves his knives, and his movie-star aspirations and kitchen-cupboard realities.
Ten to the third power brings Cupcake Love-In’s “peace, love, and cupcakes” to Hotel Valley Ho from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Oct. 10. Shell out $10 in advance ($15 day of), and you’ll get to scarf down cupcakes from 30 different bakeries, cupcakeries, restaurants and pastry chefs.
Donna Gabrilson and Stacey Barnes, the mother-daughter masterminds behind GoodyTwos deviously delicious toffee, are whipping up a host of other ways to indulge in their seven highly addictive toffees. At GoodyTwos Toffee Company, the only thing better than toffee is toffee AND something else. Today, they share the recipe for Crème de la Crunch Carrot Cupcakes with white chocolate cream cheese frosting.
We ventured up to Fountain Hills to see if the rumors of real New York style bagels were true, and we confirmed it: DJ’s Bagel Café is an authentic, East Coast bagelry.
Chef Rick “Koji” Hashimoto rocks and rolls as he prepares sushi at Hana Japanese Eatery, dressed to the nines and showing off his skills. Today, we pick Koji’s brain about his sushi technique, the brown bag lunches he couldn’t escape, the best bone-removal method and if any deadly catches will be hitting the sushi boat decks and Hana’s any time soon.
Rico’s American Grill opened this weekend adjacent to the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort boasting classic American fare with a Southwest twist and keeping hush-hush the fact its executive chef is still TBD.
We ate like royalty (minus the royal treatment) with some of the Valley’s finest Sunday afternoon at Dine Out with the Chefs at Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts.
