The Guilty Pleasure: Poutine Where To Get It: Trader Joe’s, locations Valleywide Price: $3.99 What It Really Costs: Good news: Only 200 calories a serving. Bad news: One bag is almost six servings. I love the frozen food section at Trader Joe’s. There’s almost always an entrée or two from…
Many bartenders I know have cultivated a certain sense of authority. It makes sense to me that it happens naturally. We bartenders are often seen as fonts of information, whether it’s dating advice or a piece of trivia to settle a bet. Goodness knows I’ve certainly done quite a bit…
The Guilty Pleasure: Southwestern Chicken Fried Steak Where to Get It: Ranch House Grille, 56th Street and Thomas in Phoenix (or if you’re heading to Lake Powell, there’s another location just off Lake Powell Drive in Page) Price: Ten bucks, give or take What It Really Costs: After one of…
One thing about being behind the bar for as long as I have is that part of my mind is an overstuffed Rolodex full of drink recipes. Sometimes things get misfiled (there’s a slight chance I’ll make you a Negroni when you ask for an Americano), but I generally have…
The Guilty Pleasure: Turkey tacos and tostadas Where to Get It: Del Taco, locations Valleywide Price: $1.29 for the tacos, $1.89 for the tostada (at least where I got them) What It Really Costs: Oh, Del Taco, you sneaky bastards, you. Let’s face facts, friends. By now, you’ve likely blown…
This week at Last Call HQ has been… let’s go with “interesting”. I’ll spare you the details (except to ask, how did that fit down the drain to begin with?). Suffice to say, a libation sounds pretty damn good right about now. Something sophisticated sounds nice, but the thought of…
The Guilty Pleasure: Grilled Stuft Nacho Where To Get It: Taco Bell, locations everywhere Price: $1.29, are you out of your mind? What It Really Costs: You’re learning a new word today. I have to hand it to the R&D people at Taco Bell. It seems they have a nearly…
There must be something in the air this week. My escapades with my shiny new soda maker have continued. I remembered about shrub syrups, and proceeded to make a raspberry shrub out of simple ingredients around the house. The very next day, I arrived at work and there was a…
The Guilty Pleasure: Dutch salt licorice Where to Get It: Grocers with extensive European imports; I get mine at Lee Lee Price: Varies, about $3 to $5 for a shareable bag What It Really Costs: Raised eyebrows from your friends. I have more than a bit of a soft spot…
It’s the time of year when everyone’s talking about new beginnings. Around the bar, it means it’s time to roll up my sleeves and give everything a thorough deep-cleaning. It’s sticky work, but someone has to do it. While I was going through our stock, I noticed we somehow found…
The Guilty Pleasure: Fresh-Baked Buns on Six Dollar Thickburgers Where To Get It: Carl’s Jr. locations Valleywide Price: Five or six bucks What It Really Costs: These burgers hover around a thousand calories each. Good grief. Over the past year or two, the brass at Carl’s Jr. has made some…
I do love this time of year, but I’m secretly relieved that holiday madness is drawing to a close. (New Year’s Eve is looming on the horizon, but I’m choosing to not think about that yet.) This week, you almost got a recipe for Whiskey on the Rocks, but what’s…
The Guilty Pleasure: Bacon Portabella Melt on Brioche Where to Get It: Wendy’s, locations Valleywide Price: $4.69, give or take What It Really Costs: Welcome to Sodium City. Population: you. It’s a little odd to watch major food outlets synch up with each other. Quick-service restaurants don’t do anything on…
As the year draws to a close, it becomes ever easier to find a reason to break out the bubbly. Not that Last Call has ever needed a reason, mind you. My current excuse? There’s a new social club, Rose. Rabbit. Lie., opening in my favorite vacation haunt, The Cosmopolitan…
The Guilty Pleasure: Sonoran Hot Dogs Where to Get Them: Several places around town, mostly food carts and trucks in predominantly Hispanic parts of town. Price: Varies, but they’re usually around $3 What it Really Costs: Did you bring one of those Tide pens? These suckers are messy! It’s been…
My mind works in curious ways. I really should be writing about some warm winter drink this week. Granted, if you’ve been playing along at home, your egg nog from a few weeks ago should be ready to serve any day now, so there’s your winter cocktail for this week…
The Guilty Pleasure: Cinnabon Delights Where To Get It: Taco Bell, locations everywhere Price: $1.49 What It Really Costs: At 260 calories, you can do worse. Taco Bell seems to have found an unusual secret to success: Some of their most noteworthy products are cross-promotional efforts. I know a few…
Whew. Thanksgiving madness has finally settled down. I have about a month’s worth of leftovers squirreled away in my fridge, and my kitchen looks like a bomb went off in there. I don’t know about you, but I could use a restorative tonic. I’m not in the mood for a…
The Guilty Pleasure: Mass-market holiday novelties Where to Get Them: Your favorite grocery store, mostly Price: A few bucks. Easy impulse buy if you see them in the store. What They Really Cost: Like you needed another excuse to eat more this time of year. Now that it’s almost December…
The other night, I was out with some friends for dinner. Naturally, we gravitated toward the bar after our meal. At the particular dive where we went, the bartender has been slinging cocktails for a great many years. In fact, he was once the proprietor of the establishment but is…
I just looked at the calendar and realized that the time for wintry merrymaking is coming closer. While I’m staunchly against Christmas creeping forward every year (seriously, retailers, can we at least wait until after Halloween before putting up Christmas decorations?), there’s one piece of Yuletide cheer that is best…
The Guilty Pleasure: Pastrami Burrito Where To Get It: Burger Shoppe, 35th Avenue and Thomas Road Price: $6.79 What It Really Costs: One Grade A food coma. For whatever reason, I don’t make it out to the West Valley all that often. Once I get west of I-17, most of…
