What Are Three Cooking Skills Everyone Should Know?

Even if you consider yourself a good cook, turn on nearly any TV food show these days and chances are someone will be showing you something new, turning you on to a different cooking technique, or flatly declaring you “don’t belong in the kitchen” unless you know how to perform…

Herb Box’s LaDawn Driscoll: Caramelpalooza Candymakers 2013

As the chefs competing in Smeeks and Chow Bella’s fourth annual Caramelpalooza — coming 7 p.m. Friday, April 5, at UNION — get out the candy thermometers, we’ve got our pens ready to introduce you to the faces behind the caramel. LaDawn Driscoll might be a newcomer to the Caramelpalooza…

Processing Chickens in Arcadia with Caroline Van Slyke

It was a beautiful Saturday morning in Phoenix, the kind of morning when posh couples with Suri-like children sip espresso at La Grande Orange and the fit triathletes of Phoenix have been up for hours enjoying the weather and getting in their weekly miles. I was at Boho Farm and…

Make a 3D Gummy Bear Version of Yourself

A Japanese hackerspace/coffee shop, Fab Cafe, is offering patrons the chance to cast their likeness in fruit gummy bear just in time for White Day, a Japanese reverse Valentine’s Day. Because nothing could possibly be more romantic than presenting the women in your life with an edible cast of yourself…

Old World Brewery: The Old World Must’ve Been Messed Up

A word often flung around the beer-rating websites on which I sometimes dwell is homerism. The term has a broad definition, but most basically it means support for a local brewery that goes beyond what said brewery deserves. It’s most often used by people from states outside a certain brewery’s…

Churn’s Monica Castillo: Caramelpalooza Candymakers 2013

As the chefs competing in Smeeks and Chow Bella’s fourth annual Caramelpalooza — coming 7 p.m. Friday, April 5, at UNION — get out the candy thermometers, we’ve got our pens ready to introduce you to the faces behind the caramel. For someone so sweet, you might be surprised to…

Sunnyslope’s Spoke & Wheel Off to a Wobbly Start

When a new spot opens in town, we can’t wait to check it out and let you know our initial impressions. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a full-blown review, but instead a peek inside restaurants that have just opened, sampling a few items, and satisfying curiosities (yours…

Like a Kid in a Mexican Candy Store

There are 23 reasons I avoid the Mexican grocery store when my inner pig-tailed child is having a craving: $23 of tangy, chile-spiked, salty and only occasionally sweet Mexican candy overflowing from my shopping basket as my inner child does a twirl in her patent leather Mary Janes. Let’s just…

February Restaurant Openings and Closings in Metro Phoenix

February saw at least one shocking closure as Old Town Whiskey shuttered rather abruptly to make room for me event space in The Saguro hotel. It also saw a number of new faces, including a bakery that sells sweet hand pies and the timely arrival of a Chicago mainstay. See…

CLOSED: Chick Rotisserie & Wine Bar in Arcadia

Looks like Chick has lost what was left of its pluck — permanently. See also: – Jose Garces’ Old Town Whiskey in Scottsdale Shutters to Become Hotel Event Space – Distrito Gets Neutered: From Colorful and Lively to Brown and Boring, This Makeover Ain’t Makin’ Sense The second concept from…

11 Best Pizza Spots in Metro Phoenix

As a restaurant town, Phoenix still gets a bum rap: too many chains, too few ethnic, no restaurant-rich urban core, and no famous equivalent to Philly’s cheesesteak or Chicago’s hot dog to call our own. But there’s one thing we do have in abundance, and it’s great pizza. Seriously, we…

Korean Kids Get Kicked Out of McDonald’s for $250 Fry Fracas

McDonald’s locations in Japan and South Korea recently dramatically reduced the cost of a large order of fries. The result? French fry parties where hordes of teenagers descend on the golden arches with cash and a desire to create some low-grade mayhem. See Also: –In-N-Out Burger, McDonald’s Fries and a…

Top Five Phoenix Food Stories of the Week

Every week, there’s a cornucopia of Phoenix food news, features, and reviews to report here at Chow Bella. If you’re like most people, you probably just don’t have the time to get to all of it. So, here’s a recap of some of the top stories from the week that…

Paradise Melts Food Truck Is Up and Running: Where to Find It

Earlier this month, we shared the news that the Valley’s homegrown grilled cheese mobile was under new ownership and getting geared up to hit the road again. And it didn’t take long — lucky for those melted-cheese fanatics out there — for the new owners to get things ready to…

Blood and Sand Cocktail Is a Perfect Intro to Scotch

This week for Last Call, I’m venturing into sacred ground. To be specific, I’m sharing my favorite cocktail that involves scotch. I know, I just sent a bunch of scotch purists running for the smelling salts. For those folks, the only adornment that scotch ever needs is a couple of…

Use Salt to Clean and Restore Your Cast Iron Skillet

I’ve been a very bad cast iron skillet owner. Without getting into too many details, I’m putting it out there that this classic piece of kitchen equipment has been left in the oven while cookies were baking, washed in soapy water, and just left to rot and rust for who…