A $185 seat at Shinji Kurita's omakase temple gives you more than a meal. It's a ticket to a culinary event, a spectacle. Kurita sharpens his knife on the whetstone, whirls chopsticks and pinches food with surgical precision, hand-sculpts blocks of sushi rice with the whole-body movements of a ballerina, and gently brushes immaculate fish with soy-sake reduction and places it before you. Kohada nigiri drips a few dark drops onto its plate before vanishing into your mouth. The fish is incredibly fresh. Even the rice seems to burst with perfect fragrance. The shad is excellent. The eel, too. The eggplant with bonito shavings rocks. Shit, you'll actually even see fresh wasabi root. Kurita is our undisputed sushi king.

Housed in a wing of the Galvanize co-working space downtown, Kaizen doesn't look like a sushi restaurant. And yet, it's handily the best sushi restaurant to have plugged in its rice cooker since the pandemic began. Chef Gustavo Munoz prepares traditional Japanese sushi (maki, sashimi, etc.) but also raw-fish dishes that straddle Japan and the Americas. They're as brilliant as they are unlikely. Highlights include a scallop number, pearly coins of bivalve bathed in an electric dark green yuzu-and-serrano-charged aguachile, and a Peruvian-Japanese tiradito with similar brightness but much more creamy oomph. Critically, eel, snapper, and other simple nigiri taste clean and fresh. This is your new spot for sushi downtown.

Early in the pandemic, Osaka native Yusuke Kuroda was laid off from his job at the reputed American Japanese chain Nobu. He resettled in Arizona, where he opened Origami Ramen Bar in Ahwatukee, putting his learnings from Nobu and cooking in Japan into long-simmered bowls of noodle soup. For rich miso ramen, the simmering of chicken and pork bones lasts 12 hours. A blend of miso pastes from Hokkaido lends even more depth. One slurp, and a wild flavor landscape of umami comes to life, incredible in its intensity and subtleties. His other ramens are also exceptional, including a paitan that is pretty much chicken soup to the seventh power.

From 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily, it's a feeding frenzy at Chandler's Phoenix Palace. That's when dim sum is served. During those five hours, a steady offering of delectable Cantonese dishes is wheeled around the dining area's many tables in a kind of ballet performance of culinary hospitality. With so many choices, it takes no effort to litter your table with used plates as you taste savory dishes like spare ribs, steamed and baked barbecue buns, sesame balls, Chinese broccoli, roast duck, crispy pork, and soy sauce chow mein. And don't worry, there's plenty to satisfy your sweet tooth: Creamy buns stuffed with a rich custard and sesame balls filled with sugar and red bean paste are heady, confectionary delights.

These fluffy bao steamed in a Chandler restaurant and at events all over the Valley often are more than bao. They are bao with cute, hilarious, amazing faces. Hello Kitty. Baby Yoda. An Angry Bird with arched eyebrows, all but challenging you to eat him. Mr. Bird, you are doomed, because even the tofu bao here is stellar. Indonesian immigrant Anna Heinback is behind the bao. Though they look new-school, they are steamed in bamboo containers the old-school way. Her char siu (Cantonese-style barbecue pork) and chicken teriyaki make for great munching when walking around a farmers' market or festival.

What if we told you that one of the greatest grilled meats in our carne asada wonderland is an Armenian kabob? Believe it. Kabob Grill N Go owners Tony and Hasmik Chilingaryan grill flank steak, pork ribs, chicken wings, and the sausage-shaped minced-meat skewer known as koobideh. You can order a skewer. You can throw down and get a whole platter with rice and more. Much of what the Chilingaryans cook is displayed in a glass case. Just one look and a quick soulful smell of the grill, and you'll be a new regular.

We used to have a friend named Dino, but we stopped speaking to him when he said he didn't like the gingerbread men at Barb's Bakery, which has been serving Phoenix for decades. We don't need negativity like that in our life. What we do need is one of those spicy, warm cookies from Barb's, and we need one every week. Also a half-dozen of Barb's butter cookies, iced just so and perfect with a glass of cold milk. Barb's Orange Dreamsicle cupcake is the best thing we've ever tasted, next to her made-from-scratch cinnamon roll, sticky with sweet icing and nearly big enough for two. Except we don't like to share our stash from Barb's. Get your own.

A lot of people seem to think "You can't even tell it's gluten-free!" is the highest compliment you can pay a gluten-free baked good. We're here to tell you: It's not enough for us that our gluten-free goodies pass as "regular" treats. They had better be delicious, too. Sweet Dee's never fails to live up to our standards; each day, its lineup of pastries includes a number of outstanding gluten-free options. We've tried the butterscotch chip brownie, moist and rich; a tart, smooth lemon bar; and exquisite macarons in flavors like matcha and dark chocolate pomegranate. Also gluten-free are Dee's Nuts (LOL), the bakery's mini doughnuts. Sweet Dee's food menu, which offers light fare like quiche, avocado toast, sandwiches, and salads, also notes that any menu item can be made sans gluten. All in all, Sweet Dee's is where we go for pastries with none of the gluten and all of the flavor.

If you're lucky enough to get to Essence Bakery just as the pastries have come out of the oven, you'll smell the chocolate croissant before you taste it. The first bite will stop you in your tracks. Although we're talking about a pastry made with butter and stuffed with chocolate, Chef Eugenia Theodosopoulos' pastry is exceptionally airy and flaky. You may have to take a couple of bites to uncover the rich, dark chocolate nestled within the pastry, but your teeth, and soon your fingers, will eventually discover the utter softness within. Before too long, you'll have devoured the whole thing, leaving only pastry flakes on your shirt and butter and chocolate smeared on your fingertips. You may as well order another — this little bit of pastry heaven only costs $4.

It's not unusual for a bakery to make an excellent kalamata olive loaf, which Arizona Bread Company certainly does, all chewy and stuffed with olives and sprinkled with cheeses. And there are several local bakeries that offer a really good round raisin challah, too (though none half so dense and tasty as Arizona Bread's). But can someone please help us find a tastier, more perfect loaf of Italian rosemary bread than the one baked at this longtime Valley favorite? No, never mind. You can't do it; we've tried and failed to find one we like more. Don't take our word for it — try this aromatic, crusty loaf yourself. And while you're there, don't miss an opportunity to take home a hunk of Arizona Bread's dark honey wheat bread, or to try their Paris-perfect baguette, with its hard, crisp outside and chewy, soft inside.