Charles Choueiri is a media producer and closeted claw-game addict — well, was a closeted claw-game addict. Pushed by a good friend and inspired by the presentations at 2008’s Ignite Phoenix, the the one-night information-a-thon featuring folks from the creative, technical, and business communities presenting five-minute nuggets of idea-spreading goodness,…
The original Al’s Beef on Taylor Street in Chicago started serving up authentic Italian beef sandwiches 70 years ago. In addition to being named one of the best sandwiches in America by Esquire magazine, Al’s Beef has recently been featured on Travel Channel’s Food Wars (losing out to Windy City…
A good Italian beef sandwich is a delicious mess. The Italian beef sandwich at Al’s Beef in North Scottsdale is just a mess. The sandwich is a staple of Chicago cuisine, and the original Al’s Beef is a fixture in that city’s Little Italy neighborhood, but the fare at the…
A swanky pool party at a private Paradise Valley estate sounds like something we’d crash. Lucky for us the Liquid Pool Party, a fundraising event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, invites us to ditch the disguise and break out the bikini for the Valley’s premier pool party event of the…
“We had the Charlie Daniels Band out here for Bike Week,” says Chester’s Harley-Davidson’s Marketing Director, Andreanne Depape, “and that sat about 13,000 people.” That’s some party pad. Depape, who “moved to the front seat” in 1999 with a Road King Classic, now hosts a more manageable crowd of 300…
Culver’s, the blue-roofed home of the ButterBurger, is spicing up summer with the launch of a 3 Pepper Chipotle ButterBurger and an Ultimate ButterBurger Build-Off. While the Wisconsin-based chain has been shy about venturing into the ring of spicy food, they’ve come out swingin’ with the 3 Pepper Chipotle ButterBurger…
Oh, TV, how did you get so smart? Just when the temperature starts to rise on another fiery Phoenix summer, you go and give us a bunch of new and returning foodie shows to keep us safe from sunburn, hanging out with you in air-conditioned bliss. Plus, yesterday’s launch of…
How well do you know your favorite cookhouse contraptions? See if you can guess today’s gadget and check back next week for the answer, and to see if you’ve won a most-awesome prize. Here are a few shots at this week’s trickster, add yours to the comment box below: -…
A fetish prom in Scottsdale? Yes, mistress. At 8 p.m. Saturday, May 29, at the Venue of Scottsdale, Goth music, bondage wear, and body piercings give a kinky kick to the groin to traditional Scottsdale scenes of chic cocktail bars and dance clubs at the Third Annual Arizona Fetish Prom…
Arizona’s new anti-immigration law, SB 1070, has many folks hot and bothered — taking their outrage to the streets with sweat-inducing marches, candlelight vigils, and impassioned posters. With the flames of emotion ignited, even the most prudish of protesters has to admit to being just a little turned on, setting…
Beauty Lab: Cookin’ up good looks in nature’s pharmacy. Stupid showers. According to Kym Douglas and Cindy Pearlman, beauty experts and authors of The Beauty Cookbook, they’re one of the reasons (along with others, like doing dishes and pollution) our hands look like they’ve zapped one too many flying monkeys…
Nothing. No flashing “open” neon sign, no guideposts, no outdoor banners screaming, “Curt Schilling Loves Our Green Chile Burro!” or “Guy Fieri Got the Brush-Off Here!” For over 30 years, Rito’s Mexican Food has been hidden in an off-the-beaten-path neighborhood in Central Phoenix, with only in-the-know insiders able to track…
Chris Bianco bags burritos here for Pizzeria Bianco’s kitchen staff, America’s Taco Shop proprietor America Corrales does food swaps with the owner, Diners, Drive-ins and Dives’ Guy Fieri got blown off for an interview two years ago, and Sunset magazine named it as a Reader’s Choice for burritos in Arizona…
“I knew Westgate was the perfect venue for Bike Night since I walked the property four years ago, when the streets were still dirt,” says Barry Caraway, owner of cyclerides.com, a site promoting motorcycle events in the Valley. His premonition paid off. In its second season, the weekly Westgate Bike…
What’s the best strategy for chowing the most chicken wings in 11 minutes? According to Kevin Byrnes, General Manager of the Native New Yorker on Guadalupe Road and host of the restaurant’s two previous Battle of the Bone wing-eating contests, it’s simple: Breathe. “A lot of people go all gangbusters…
Way to go, Cheesecake Factory. Congratulations, California Pizza Chicken. Jabba the Hutt would be pleased. Along with P.F. Chang’s, Chevy’s, Bob Evan’s, Five Guys Burgers and Fries, and Outback Steakhouse, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) has named scale-tipping fare from these restaurants as “winners” of its…
Put on your best, undead face and join other flesh-eating fanatics as they mindlessly moan through downtown Phoenix at 7 p.m. Friday, May 28, at the 3rd Annual Phoenix Comicon Zombie Walk. Led by the Arizona Ghostbusters (who’ll be warning the living of the impending zombie apocalypse in their Ecto-AZ…
How well do you know your favorite cookhouse contraptions? See if you can guess today’s gadget and check back next week for the answer, and to see if you’ve won a most-awesome prize. Here are a few shots at this week’s trickster, add yours to the comment box below: -…
Like Chick-fil-A? Like free? Then this one’s for you. The Spicy Chicken Sandwich, Chick-fil-A’s first new sandwich since 1989 (hello product development – are you there?) will be offered free to customers via an online reservation before it officially launches on June 7. That’s right. Click for Chick. Want one?…
May, as National Burger Month, is officially sucking ass. No new burgers, high beef prices, a dehydrated disaster from Burger King called Fire-Grilled Ribs, and a boneless chicken brouhaha is making this holiday as senseless as the movement to retire Ronald McDonald. The boneless chicken bedlam, made infamous by KFC’s…
So last week, Andrew Zimmern goes on a quest for real Sonoran cuisine in Arizona on Bizarre Foods and hooks up with Chris Bianco, the wait-in-line-for-two-hours pizza guy of Pizzeria Bianco. Huh? What? Why? Were all the Mexican foodies in the Valley busy? Did Silvana Salcido Esparza, owner of Barrio…
Fast-food value menus and dollar deals. These days, you can’t swing a bag of burgers without hitting one. And when you’re hungry and have only a few dollars to spare, they may be your best bargain. But then again, maybe not. So far, Jack in the Box has avoided dollar-menu…
