Superfish, 8668 East Shea, Scottsdale, 948-1313. Hours: 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m., seven days a week. Despite fervent wishes, some things are unlikely to change. Most of us know, for example, that we’ll never transform our bodies into sleek slabs of muscle. Genetics, eight hours a day in an office…

Crazy Ed’s Satisfied Frog, 6245 East Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek, 253-3746. Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. Barbecue joints come with primal thrills other restaurants simply can’t match. You don’t need much…

La Perla Cafe, 5912 West Glendale Avenue, Glendale, 939-7561. Hours: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 2 a.m.; Sunday, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Restaurant owners can spend thousands of dollars trying to give their places what they think…

Top of the Rock, the Buttes, 2000 Westcourt Way (48th Street and Broadway), Tempe, 225-9000. Hours: Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 11 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to midnight. When your mom says she’s found a great girl for you with lots of “personality,” you can be sure…

Nina L’Italiana Ristorante, 3625 East Bell Road, Phoenix, 482-6167. Hours: Dinner, Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. (Reopens Friday, September 3.) Several years ago, I caught a double bill featuring two flicks just at the end of their runs. The first movie was The Morning After, a Jane Fonda…

Majerle’s Sports Grill, 24 North Second Street, Phoenix, 253-9004. Hours: 11 a.m. to 1 a.m., seven days a week. It’s kickoff time. Yes, the football season starts soon. At my house, that also means it’s kick-out time. Surrounded by sneering, football-hating females who seem a lot more ferocious than the…

Eliana’s, 1627 North 24th Street, Phoenix, 225-2925. Hours: Tuesday through Sunday, 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. Life has a way of throwing cherished myths right back in your face. I’ve had a hard time coping with reality at least three times. First, I learned there was no tooth fairy. Later,…

Yamakasa, 9301 East Shea, Scottsdale, 860-5605. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. Some adult experiences are guaranteed to be unpleasant on the first attempt. What novice ever lighted up a cigarette, took a…

Christopher’s Bistro, 2398 East Camelback, Phoenix, 957-3214. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to close; Dinner, Sunday, 5 p.m. to close. Phoenix is a casual restaurant town. Leave it to status-conscious Los Angeles matrons to wrap themselves in furs, even if it’s 70 degrees outside. Let New…

Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Cafe, 808 East Jefferson, Phoenix, 262-9256. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Is there a cardiologist in the house? A week of down-home, Southern-style soul food has worked some serious damage on me. After all, just driving past these lairs…

Miro’s, 4025 East Chandler Boulevard, Phoenix, 759-6088. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.; Dinner, Monday through Friday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.; Saturday, 5:30 to 11 p.m. Out in the south Valley, beyond Ahwatukee and north of the Gila River Indian Reservation, the desert is particularly harsh…

Little Shanghai, 4017 East Indian School, Phoenix, 957-7666. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:15 a.m. to 2:15 p.m.; Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. My father liked to tell the story about the archaeological expedition on a dig in a remote, godforsaken location. One of the team…

Pion Grill, Regal McCormick Ranch, 7401 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 948-5050. Hours: Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m. Maybe it takes an outsider to appreciate just how distinctive, how unlike any other region, the Southwest is. I’ve lived here several…

Tasty Kabob, 1250 East Apache, Tempe, 966-0260. Summer Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Tuesday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and 5:30 to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 11:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. In the late 1970s, just before the shah’s fall, I spent two years in Iran working for…

Taste of India, 1609 East Bell Road, Phoenix, 788-3190. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. About the time most of our ancestors were running around in loincloths, scribbling on cave walls and throwing rocks at woolly mammoths,…

The Seafood Market and Restaurant, 1318 West Southern, Mesa, 890-0435. Hours: Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 2 to 8 p.m. People, like animals, have instincts to tell them when they ought to flee. When the saleslady says, “The…

Jetz, 7077 East Camelback, Scottsdale, 970-6001. Hours: 11 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. In the 50s, guys searched for “broads” in smoky clubs and coffee houses. The best pickup line? “Do you dig Jack Kerouac?” In the 60s, guys looked for “chicks” at sit-ins and happenings. The best…

Bistro La Chaumiäre, 6910 East Main, Scottsdale, 946-5115. Hours: 5 to 10 p.m., Monday through Saturday. No people on Earth care more about food than the French. They plan meals with the same attention to detail that the Joint Chiefs brought to the invasion of Iraq. And mealtimes in France…

Rosa’s Taco Shop, 328 East University, Mesa, 964-5451. Hours: Tuesday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Everyone knows there are only three conceivable reasons to venture out for Mexican food. Two of them are that it’s cheap. The other is that it’s filling. Some argue that tacos, enchiladas, chimichangas,…

RoxSand, 2594 East Camelback (Biltmore Fashion Park), Phoenix, 381-0444. Hours: Lunch and dinner, Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, lunch, noon to 4 p.m.; dinner, 5 to 9:30 p.m. In Hollywood, it’s called “high concept.” If you want to…

Malee’s on Main, 7131 East Main, Scottsdale, 947-6042. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Monday through Wednesday, 5 to 9:30 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 5 to 9 p.m. Eating, anthropologists tell us, has meaning far…

Eddie’s Grill, 4747 North Seventh Street, Phoenix, 241-1188. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Tuesday through Thursday, 5 p.m. to midnight; Friday and Saturday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m. In a woman, it’s always been the potent combination of beauty and brains. In a ballplayer,…