Easterners come to live in the Valley for a variety of reasons. Indeed, the metro area is beginning to split at the seams, the air to curdle and the pavement to crack under the strain of all the people from the East, and elsewhere, who found so many good reasons…
Arisoo, 3002 North Arizona Avenue, Chandler, 4806325655. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 10 p.m. I’m a Seoul man. Despite the explosion of Asian ethnic restaurants in the Valley, you can still count the number of Korean restaurants here on one…
Future Shock: Remember the movie Soylent Green? It’s set in the nightmarish future, a time of Malthusian misery and want. Everyone’s hungry — there’s almost nothing we’d call food available. Instead, folks are nourished by “soylent green.” The movie’s shocking finale: It turns out that soylent green is made from…
Tal’s, 13610 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 480-348-0086. Hours: Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 5:30 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m.; closed Sunday. When is disappointment the keenest? The moment you realize your wildest dreams will never come true? No. People get on with their lives even though…
Gregorian Enchantment: What’s the best restaurant in town? There’s no indisputable answer. But right now, after a memorable revisit, my list of top contenders would have to include Gregory’s Grill. Gregory Casale, a young chef with a very promising future, calls his fare “new world cuisine.” I wouldn’t. I’d say…
Fleming’s Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar, 6333 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 4805968265. Hours: Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Move over, Morton’s. Move over, Ruth’s Chris. Move over, Don & Charlie’s. Move over, Harris’. Move over, Grill at the TPC. The list of topnotch Valley steak houses…
Jinxed?: I don’t know what it is about this particular restaurant space, at 7373 Scottsdale Civic Center Mall. I’m talking about the storefront next to Pepin, and downstairs from Backstage. Maybe a long-ago Hohokam shaman put a hex on it. Maybe somebody blasphemed on the property. Maybe it’s just plain…
Four Peaks Brewing Company, 1340 East Eighth Street, Tempe, 480-303-9967. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 1 to 11 p.m. In spring, the poet says, “a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love.” But once spring turns to summer, just about everyone’s…
The Write Stuff: The name of the restaurant and the name of the unhappy customer don’t matter. What does matter is how the aggrieved party expressed his annoyance. And how the restaurant responded. Here is an edited version of the correspondence: Dear [Owner], I have enjoyed your establishment for years,…
Kona Grill, 7014 East Camelback (Scottsdale Fashion Square), Scottsdale, 480-429-1100. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to midnight; Dinner, Sunday, 5 to 10:30 p.m. Empires don’t spring up overnight. Rome wasn’t built in a day: It took centuries of…
What’s New: Sometimes it seems like no one has had an original restaurant idea in the Valley since the Hohokam fished ahi tuna out of the Salt River and brushed on a teriyaki glaze. I don’t know what to think of Edward’s, but no one can accuse this new place…
The sun was coming up when I finished reading Thomas Harris’ Hannibal, the sequel to The Silence of the Lambs and Red Dragon. The third leg of his trilogy of wildly popular psycho-thrillers featuring the supergenius, psychologist and cannibalistic serial killer Dr. Hannibal Lecter is a crazy and maddeningly uneven…
Mastro’s Steakhouse, 8852 East Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale, 480-585-9500. Hours: Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Once upon a time, one of the country’s largest stockyards flourished in the heart of Phoenix. Huge herds of cattle roamed in lots just a few miles from today’s downtown. Nobody…
Out and About: This is the time of year when it seems as if I am personally keeping the Valley’s restaurants in business. That’s because I’m in the midst of my annual Best of Phoenix odyssey, which keeps me out six nights a week. Here are some random observations on…
Whole Foods Market, 5120 South Rural, Tempe, 480-456-1400. Hours: 8 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Now is the summer of our discontent. It’s the time of year that APS and water-park operators live for, and everyone else dies from. Despite the strenuous efforts of the chamber of…
Summer in the City: This is the time of year when tourists disappear and locals stay home and plant themselves in front of their air-conditioning vents. That makes it tough for restaurants to put fannies in their seats. So several are offering summer specials to lure us out. * The…
Buca di Beppoed: Readers may recall the food fight in New Times’ letters section several weeks ago over my review of Buca di Beppo. Some correspondents bashed me; others sided with me. Let’s give the final word to Lane Schmiesing, Buca di Beppo’s vice president of marketing, whom I invited…
Barmouche, 3131 East Camelback, Phoenix, 602-956-6900. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Dinner, Saturday, 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.; Sunday, 5 to 10 p.m. Mark Tarbell’s eponymous restaurant, Tarbell’s, has been an “in” spot ever since it opened almost five years ago. Despite the…
Billy and Clyde’s, 5035 West McDowell (Crossroads Chevron), Phoenix, 602-272-5852. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Some day, after digging up a prehistoric site, trained archaeologists will scratch their heads,…
Don’t Read This: Today’s Jeopardy! answer: Benedict Arnold, Alger Hiss, Anthony Bourdain. The correct question: Name three people who betrayed important secrets. Everyone knows about Arnold and Hiss. And in the restaurant world, everyone is finding out about Bourdain. A longtime New York chef, Bourdain recently did the unthinkable in…
Eat Beat: You don’t need much incentive to eat at Restaurant Hapa (6204 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale, 480-998-8220), one of this town’s very best restaurants. I recently revisited and had a marvelous dinner: fiery squid salad, gilded with papaya and litchi nuts in a chile lemongrass sauce; superb, miso-marinated Chilean…
Milton’s, 3159 East Lincoln, Phoenix, 602-667-7644. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. I’ve had a letter on my desk for about a week now from a very unhappy diner. She’s fed up with the restaurant scene in…
