Welcome to Brunched, where Chow Bella samples local restaurants’ offerings for our favorite meal. Hey, you get to sleep in and eat breakfast — what’s not to like? See also: Two New Brunches Hit the Valley in October: Mastro’s Gets Its First (Bloody Mary Bar!), Lon’s Updates Theirs With Outdoor…
What does the cocktail enthusiast with no bartending experience need to know to make an awesome craft cocktail? Lynne Rossetto Kasper — the sonorous talk show host of NPR’s The Splendid Table asked that question of four of the Valley’s top mixologists at the Hotel Palomar last weekend, and she…
It’s October, which means Oktoberfest, which means we all have a semi-legit excuse for drinking copious amounts of beer and dancing the polka (sorry, there are no excuses for wearing dirndls or lederhosen). So it seems like a good time to re-visit two of the Valley’s longest running German restaurants…
Chefs Greg LaPrad and Tony Andiario at Quiessence have put a $37 goat meat special on the menu this week, and they’re doing it for a good cause. According to their recent email newsletter, goat dairies — which are in the business of making goat cheese from a mother goat’s…
The Spot: House of Tricks 114 E. 7th Street, Tempe, 480-968-1114 www.houseoftricks.com See also: — Tastemaker #57: Robin Trick — Cartwright’s: Happy Hour Report Card — Timo: Happy Hour Report Card Hours: Happy Hour is offered from 4 to 6 p.m. every day…
Want to have a little fun Cave Creek-style? Head to the town’s annual festival –2012 Taste of Cave Creek — held this coming Wednesday and Thursday nights (October 17 and 18) from 5 to 10 p.m. at Stagecoach Village (7100 E. Cave Creek Road). See also: — Chef Kevin Binkley…
Lynne Rossetto Kasper — longtime host of NPR’s James Beard Award-winning The Splendid Table — was in town over the weekend to help KJZZ with its pledge drive. When I mentioned to four different friends that I was interviewing her, I got the same excited (and clearly envious) response every…
If you’ve wandered the grounds of The Farm at South Mountain, you’ve probably spotted owner A.Wayne Smith scooting around on his mini tractor. As a landscape architect, he’s stayed very involved in the property he bought in 1983 and slowly transformed into a soothing pastoral retreat for frazzled urban dwellers…
If your Thanksgiving turkey was a turkey last year, stop blaming your cooking skills and consider the source: you’re probably buying a commercial bird, bred for rapid growth and big breasts (insert juvenile, mammary-related joke here), not taste or texture. See also: Thanksgiving Classics We Hate Tastemaker #11: Chrysa Robertson…
You think judging a taco contest sounds like a lark? Yeah, I thought so, too. But the AZ Taco Fest, held October 20-21 at Salt River Fields gets bigger and better every year (this is its third), and its founders-promoters-and-all-around-grunts Rick Phillips and David Tyda (a.k.a. the Eateraz boyz) want…
Ever wonder how new cocktails are created? On a recent Friday afternoon, I found out at J&G Steakhouse, where Belinda Chang, the six-month-new beverage director for Culinary Concepts Hospitality Group (a company in partnership with Starwood Hotels that uses menus created by Jean-Georges Vongerichten) had flown into town to shake…
The Spot: Cartwright’s Sonoran Ranch House, 6710 E. Cave Creek Road, Cave Creek, 480-488-8031, www.cartwrightssonoranranchhouse.com. See also: – Timo: Happy Hour Report Card – Citizen Public House: Happy Hour Report Card The Hours: Happy Hour is offered from 4:30 to 6:30 pm every day…
In 2004, Mireille Guiliano wrote a runaway hit called French Women Don’t Get Fat. It was a non-diet book that encouraged women to think of food as a source of pleasure, not guilt, and to eat whatever they liked — including bread and chocolate — but to eat it sensibly…
Good news for Franco-philes: Franco Fazzuoli — formerly of Franco’s Trattoria in Scottsdale and later, Franco’s Italian Caffé in Phoenix — has recently moved back to town and plans to open a new Franco’s Italian Caffé later this month in Scottsdale. See also: Upscale Italian Restaurant Coming To North Scottsdale…
This is part two of my interview with Aaron May, chef-partner of Praying Monk, Over Easy, The Lodge, Mabel’s on Main and May’s Counter in Tucson. If you missed part one, where May talks about whether he’s a chef, a restaurateur or a party boy — and what I learned…
Aaron May Praying Monk 7217 E. 1st Street, Scottsdale 480-398-3020 www.scottsdalemonk.com See also: — Celeb Chefs Matt Carter, Beau MacMillan and Aaron May Cooking Up Four-Course Brunch at Superstition Farm — Aaron May Heads Kitchen at Former Renegade Canteen, Now Called Renegade Tap + Kitchen — Tastemaker #76: Anthony Patafio…
Everybody tells the same story about how the chimichanga was invented: somebody accidentally dropped a meat-filled burrito into a fryer. And according to the publicity machine for Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen, that somebody was its founder Woody Johnson, who opened his first restaurant here in Phoenix in 1946 and made serendipitous…
Tonight — from 5 to 8 pm — Shauna Kupetz of JAM and Traci Zitzer of Urban Table Larder (a cool provisions store within JAM) are co-hosting their second Miller Market on 1st Street,, which Kupetz maintains is not a regular farmers market but rather a community event bringing art…
Esquire’s November issue hasn’t hit the stands yet, but Silvana Salcido Esparza, chef-owner of Barrio Queen and Barrio Cafe, is already celebrating the award Barrio Queen received from Esquire Magazine as one of the “Best New Restaurants in America.” See also: – — Silvana’s Changing It Up Again at Barrio…
The Spot: Timo, 8801 N. Central Avenue, Phoenix, 602-354-3846, www.timocentral.com. See also: Citizen Public House: Happy Hour Report Card Timo Fires Up Bread and Much More in Sunnyslope The Hours: Happy Hour is offered from 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday…
Never mind that the Fried Chicken Throwdown scheduled for Sunday, October 21 at Noca is very nearly sold out. The two contenders — in one corner, Charleen Badman of FnB, and in the other, a possibly reluctant Claudio Urciuoli of Noca — and their backup men (namely Eliot Wexler of…
This is part two of my interview with Cullen Campbell, chef-owner of Crudo. If you missed part one, where Campbell dishes about the catch-phrase he thinks is pointless and explains how he under-estimated his customers. See also: — Pete DeRuvo Dishes on the Phenomenal Chef Phoenix Lost to NYC and…
