An Ode to the One Good Thing to Eat at Red Lobster

The Guilty Pleasure: Cheddar Bay Biscuits Where To Get It: Red Lobster, locations Valleywide The Price: Complimentary with your entrée order, $7.50-$26 What It Really Costs: Only 150 calories each. Good luck eating just four. If there’s one thing that we food-crazed folk have in common, it’s disdain for casual…

Wine Distribution 101

Have you been searching for your favorite wine and can’t find it anywhere? It often comes down to how wine is distributed in the United States. In short, politics, laws, and distribution. In most cases, wine needs to be “picked up” by a distributor to be sold legally to retailers…

5 Things to Eat and Drink in Houston

This time of year, conversations at Chow Bella staff meetings tend to turn to who’s eaten what and where. With the summer travel season in full swing, we bring you Food Tours, our writers’ suggestions of what to eat and drink out of town. Though Houston is better known as…

Chefs, What Are Your Favorite Road Trip Snacks?

Welcome to Chow Bella’s Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you’d like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. Part of the fun of road trips is packing up the jalopy with food to…

Juicy Battle: Juice Core vs. Original ChopShop Co.

Green vegetable juice is not consumed so that one can revel in the flavors of muddled kale and raw ginger, rather it is preferred for the health benefits. Juice Core and Original ChopShop Co. each recently opened in Old Town Scottsdale so this was an, um, natural battle. Juicing is…

Move Over, Cronut™. Here Comes The Crookie.

Oh, what’s that? You’re sick of hearing about impossible-to-get, creme-filled croissant/doughnut hybrids? Well, good news! The next must-have pastry mash up has arrived courtesy of Toronto bakery, Clafouti Patisserie & Café. Meet, the Crookie…

Otro Café in Phoenix: Happy Hour Report Card

The Spot: Otro Cafe 6035 North Seventh Street 602-266-0831 www.otrocafe.com See Also: – CLOSING: 31-Year-Old Guerrero’s Mexican Food in Tempe on July 31 – Roka Akor in Paradise Valley: Happy Hour Report Card – Mexico City Memories at Chef Doug Robson’s Otro Cafe in Phoenix…

CLOSED: Citizen Espresso Bar in Phoenix

Summer in Phoenix isn’t just rough on restaurants; coffee houses struggle, too. And as of last week, one of them has permanently shut its doors. Citizen Espresso Bar, located on Central Avenue just south of Camelback, opened its doors last February in the former home of Lola Coffee. The java…

Don’t Do the Table Tap Anywhere Near Eric Schaefer

Introducing “Schaefer,” in which Eric Schaefer — a local guy with a big (but discerning) appetite and a sense of humor to match — takes on the Phoenix food scene. Everyone has an annoying tendency. It’s human nature. I annoy you. You annoy me, often more than I annoy you…

10 Things to Eat and Drink in Manhattan

This time of year, conversations at Chow Bella meetings tend to turn to who’s eaten what — where. With the summer travel season in full swing, we bring you Food Tours, our writers’ suggestions of what to eat and drink out of town. We will freely admit that we get…

Free App: Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything

In celebration of the fifth anniversary of the Apple App store, the company is giving away five games and five apps for a limited time. The list of popular apps available right now at no cost includes a download of the iPhone or iPad app for Mark Bittman’s famous kitchen…

Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Give a F*** (NSFW)

If you thought healthy, plant-based eating was for sissies, Thug Kitchen is here to change your mind. The website offers lots of F-bomb-laden advice to “help your narrow dietary-minded ass explore some fucking options so that you can look and feel like a fucking champ.”…