Chris Bianco's cookbook isn't really a cookbook. It's more like spending the day with the James Beard-winning, Oprah-hailed, Jimmy Kimmel's fellow fly-fisherman chef who has stopped what he is doing to teach you how to cook something astounding in 15 minutes. There are recipes for pizza, for meatballs, for focaccia, for Sunday gravy, beets roasted with fig leaves, custard, and lemon cookies. There's also Chris in every recipe: a story, an inspiration, a family tale. The book is more than a book: It's a Chris Bianco omnibus, taking a willing participant through the Candy Land of his restaurants, creations, and motivations. And most of all, for us, it's a reminder of how lucky we are that the mastermind behind Pizzeria Bianco and many other local enterprises chose to come to Phoenix — and, ultimately, to stay.

Fusion cuisine is a popular concept in today's food scene, but we think Soundbite brings the idea to a whole new level. Part food truck, part mobile radio station, it brings together two longtime Valley favorites: Short Leash Hot Dogs and National Public Radio member station KJZZ-FM. Short Leash's gourmet creations get served near the front of the bright blue truck, while the back boasts a fully functional radio studio plus a pull-out stage area for live performances. You can find Soundbite set up at community happenings such as Short Leash's Wurst Festival Ever and Mesa Arts Center's Spark! After Dark festival, or try to catch them at one of their early-morning Coffee Brakes events, when they serve Press Coffee to the masses. It all sounds delicious to us.

Like all things indie and cool, we first discovered Olivia Girard's Le Dinersaur through Instagram. The self-taught baker began getting attention for her small-batch sandwich-making, delivering individual lunches around town via email and text ordering. Then, she upped her game with the sweet stuff: geometric pastries that carried as much appeal in front of the camera as they did on the palate. Among some of the more photographed and favorite are her hybrid churover (a churro popover) and her diamond-shaped, herb-infused shortbread. In keeping with the hipster vibe, Le Dinersaur pastries can only be found through pop-up parties at uber-trendy locations like Camelback Flowershop and The Darkroom or in the display cases of Instagram-minded cafes like Berdena's.

The number of food trucks on the streets of Phoenix these days means that it's pretty easy to find one when you want. The size of the gatherings can range from a single vehicle to dozens, like at the annual Street Eats festival. But our favorite place to be handed food through a side window is Food Truck Fridays, put on by Rad Food Trucks. Each week from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., a rotating assortment of trucks lines up in front of the Arizona Department of Corrections at 16th Avenue and Jefferson Street (insert prison-food joke here). There are about five to seven trucks each week, and choices often include Adam Allison's Left Coast Burrito Co., perennial favorite Q Up! Barbeque, Korean fusion eatery Hibachibot, and build-your-own-bowl joint The Wandering Donkey. If you're not within walking distance, there's plenty of free parking near the State Capitol, and there are a number of picnic tables for lunching al fresco. Check out Rad Food Trucks on their Instagram, @radfoodtrucks, for the weekly schedule.

Truly, we are living in the golden age of metro Phoenix food trucks. All around town at weekly events, workday stops, and annual festivals, aficionados of nearly every kind of cuisine can find a restaurant on wheels to suit their tastes. But there's no other food we'd rather eat out of a truck than the South American dishes served by husband-and-wife team Fabian and Julie Ocampo of Que Sazon. Fabian hails from Colombia, but the couple arrived in the Valley in 2014 via St. Louis, bringing their culinary prowess with them. There's nothing on the Que Sazon menu we don't love, from the arepas (think a South American cornmeal cake resting on a bed of hearty fare like chicken and mango or pork and chorizo) to the savory chicken empanadas. But our favorite dish is the El Duro bowl, a mouthwatering tangle of slow-roasted pork, black beans, and rice topped with spicy barbecue sauce, crispy plantain chips, and cotija cheese, which invariably comes with a warm smile and sincere thank you from Julie.

It would take an iron will to resist the surplus of delicious foods awaiting you at Mekong Plaza, the shopping and dining complex in Mesa that's home to the Mekong Supermarket and more than a dozen restaurants. You can easily make a day out of exploring the Asian snack bars, boba tea joints, noodle bars, and well-stocked Asian grocers at Mekong. You'll find everything from fragrant pho at unPhogettable, sous vide bowls at Kingo Bowl, dim sum brunch at Mekong Restaurant, delicious Chinese pastries at AA Ozzy Bakery, and boba tea in every flavor imaginable at Tea, Snow & Coffee. Bring your food-obsessed friend and prepare to stay awhile.

Kai, the marquee restaurant at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass Resort, is one of the most highly decorated restaurants in Arizona. It's currently the only AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five Star restaurant in the state, accolades it's earned for consistently high levels of service. But what really makes Kai an Arizona original is its menu, which weaves elements of Pima and Maricopa culture and tradition into an uncommon offering of Native American-influenced fare. Heirloom Arizona ingredients, game, and vegetables, sourced locally from the Gila River Indian Community, frequently make an appearance on the plate. The best overview is achieved through one of the restaurant's tasting menus, which feature dishes like mesquite-charred hahl soup, served with buffalo brisket cooked for 32 hours, and then wrapped in the softly spicy richness of I'itoi onions.

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High-end resort cooking is not often as clever or locally inspired as Weft & Warp Art Bar + Kitchen, the restaurant at the recently debuted Andaz Scottsdale Resort & Spa. Local flavors and ingredients accent many of the menu's fine dining staples, often to delightful effect. Simple but refined small-plate offerings include Arizona-grown Medjool dates, sliced and served with fresh cream and pistachio crumbles. Crow's Dairy goat cheese dumplings are rolled in dark onion ash and served on a rich, buttery tangle of spaghetti squash. And a Sonoran "risotto," made with local wheat berries, wild rice, and quinoa, is richly textured and surprisingly indulgent. Desserts take a local turn as well, including a dense chocolate mesquite tar, and a springy, moist olive oil cake featuring — what else? — locally sourced olive oil.

"Farm-to-table," like "organic" and "artisanal," is a food world buzz term that's been rendered almost meaningless by virtue of being overused. But farm-to-table is more than just a marketing cliché at Quiessence, the fine dining restaurant located at the end of a bucolic lane at The Farm at South Mountain in Phoenix. The menu incorporates ingredients plucked from around the neighborhood — it just so happens that the neighborhood in question encompasses a 10-acre working farm. The restaurant's tasting menu is the best way to sample what's in season at The Farm. Dishes feature cut herbs, edible flowers, and produce grown on-site or sourced from local purveyors. Arizona-raised beef frequently makes an appearance on the menu. If you take pleasure in local ingredients, especially those rooted in the earth mere hours before landing on your plate, Quiessence will provide.

We don't know if breakfast is actually the most important meal of the day, but if you eat it at Butterfield's it'll certainly be the most delicious. The longtime Scottsdale favorite is packed every Saturday and Sunday with hungry diners, so be prepared for a wait, but trust us, it's worth it. When you sit down, you'll get to choose from an extensive menu, including pancakes (try the Oreo Cookie S'mores Cake if you don't mind the sugar rush), scramblers (we like the Popeye Scramble, which comes loaded with bacon, onion, baby spinach, and jack cheese), omelets, French toast, skillets, and Benedicts. We also save room for the ultra-fresh-squeezed orange juice. There's lots to choose from on the lunch menu as well, but we tend to stick to the options on the a.m. side. It's the best reason we can think of to rise and shine.