The glossy travel poster on the wall boasts tropical forest, sandy beach and blue ocean. “El Salvador–en el corazon de America” it announces. Below the poster is a 1989 calendar illustrated with a map of Central America. We are not visiting some covert CIA recruitment office. It is a Saturday,…
Consider it a dress rehearsal. On the night a dining accomplice and I check out the Theater Terrace Cafe in the Hyatt Regency Hotel Phoenix, we are neither going to nor coming from a play at the Herberger Theater. No, it is early evening and we are cultural lowbrows. All…
Think a couple of waiters singing “Happy Birthday to You” is effusive? This is only the beginning at Greektown. On the night we stop in for observation, there is singing; there is the presentation of the traditional lit dessert; there is even a personal serenade by Greektown’s owner, Gregory Vassiliov…
I don’t own fur and I don’t use aerosol. Why, then, would I ever eat alligator fajitas? This is the question I ask myself when the waiter at Los Mayas announces today’s luncheon special. “Alligator?” I query tentatively. “Like, real alligator?” “Yes, ma’am,” our waiter replies solemnly. “It’s real.” Alligator…
Here’s a little anecdote about tapas: A few years ago I attended a writing conference in Santa Fe. One morning two women acquaintances announced–I thought–that they’d gone to a topless bar the previous night. I couldn’t believe my ears. A topless bar? These women were cultured Ivy Leaguers from Manhattan…
With this issue, Penelope Corcoran joins the staff of New Times as restaurant critic. Penelope has eaten all over the world from western Europe to the Caribbean and Mexico, and specializes in finding restaurants off the beaten track. A former advertising account executive, she worked with General Foods, M&M/Mars, and…
Kowabunga! (or Big 4 Goes to the Beach) must have been an awful lot of fun to dream up. Following on the heels of the group’s other high-concept restaurants, like Ed Debevic’s pseudo-Fifties diner and Steamers’ display-kitchen fish cookery, this restaurant is a send-up of the beach culture of California…
“Darling,” whispers my companion. Alas, the endearment is intended not for me but for the restaurant in which we are dining, Annie’s Steak & Pasta Company. This pretty little place looks a bit like a country-lodge sitting room and serves a cuisine reminiscent of the old-fashioned steak-and-spaghetti houses of Omaha,…
I’m with a friend in the new Hollywood Deli & Bar and our sandwich platters are brought to the table. As promised–both by the friend and several other informants who have recommended this place–the sandwiches are deli-Goliaths, each a mouth-wide mound of meaty magnificence. I’m enjoying the sight when I…
Well-meaning people sometimes open rotten restaurants. Addressing here a specific instance of this phenomenon fills me with angst, because I am well- aware of the financial exposure of the people involved. Restaurants demand top-heavy capital expenditure. You have to buy all the stoves and all the tables and all the…
Prior to the Eighties, the desert dining scene might best be characterized by its cheap (but delectable) chimichanga chow and its pretty (but indigestible) resort restaurant ambiance. Even as late as 1979-1/2, high-tone Valley victualizing often meant the likes of generic Veal Oscar and canned vegetables, albeit served in beautiful…
Although various people have encouraged me to partake of Japanese fast food, a real ambivalence about raw fish, skepticism about fast food in general and, yes, perhaps a little jingoistic jaundice have conspired to keep me away from speedy sushi at low, low prices. Now I must admit that I’ve…
A deceptively pretty red relish, it bears a resemblance to Mexican salsa. The waiter calls it chile paste, but that’s like using the word warm to describe a conflagration. One meltdown mouthful and you’re reaching for the pickled jalapenos for relief. Even as your saliva turns to napalm, however, secondary…
Of all the places I’ve yet reviewed for New Times, today’s establishment is the one that least requires the quibbles and qualifications inherent in the nature of criticism. Quite simply, the Arizona Biltmore’s Orangerie is a wonderful restaurant. Okay, okay, okay. I can’t yet vouch for its consistency. And a…
First off, let’s understand that this is not about hating kids. Surely and sadly the world does have its miscreants who loathe the little ones. But this is not a defense of such benighted and tragic intolerance. What this is about, in part, is an adult love of dining out,…
Louie Jones has been a force on the Phoenix fine-dining scene for what seems like forever. Previous associations with such posh and prestigious places as The Orangerie, La Champagne, La Reserve, Etienne’s, Les Jardins, and Cafe de Perouges have earned Jones a reputation as the most recognizable restaurant host in…
Angelo Ianuzzi has opened another restaurant in the Valley and this provokes a deep urge to exhume the past. Isn’t this the guy who so brazenly fingered the tastes of the locals before lighting out for the ever-so-cultured California coast? He’s back?!?! Italians have a word for this. They call…
William V. Bidwill seemed lost. The Phoenix Cardinals’ owner strolled forlornly about the shiny new press box at Sun Devil Stadium. He wore an expression of extreme melancholy. Bidwill’s press box sits so high an occasional visitor might think he was looking out the window on a flight into Sky…
Dammit, but after all these years Durant’s is once again trendy! Talk to dinner-house owners these days and they will report that among the current deities of the dining crowd are the familiar, the simple and any food subjected to the culinary process of hardwood cooking. As one New York…
Riazzi’s Italian Garden and Red Devil are practically the same restaurant, so I’m going to write about them that way. While naturally there are some distinguishing characteristics to these two unaffiliated businesses, there are just not deep-down-in-the-dente differences. The core concept of each is inexpensive Italian cuisine, and the restaurants…
Amy Johnson, the general manager of the Tony Roma’s restaurant in Scottsdale, reports that there are five major categories of customers who use the restaurant’s delivery service. In descending order of total orders generated, they are: Childless double-income couples who have worked hard all day and who just don’t want…
Delivery dining has its own code of ordering etiquette. Here are some of the experts’ insights: If at all possible, anticipate your desire for a delivered meal. Call up the restaurant as early as possible, place your order and set up a delivery time. You’ll be doing both yourself and…
