Yelp has just announced plans to integrate health inspection information directly into restaurant reviews and they’re starting with New York City and San Francisco. According to their blog post, the new system will be called Local Inspector Value-entry Specification (LIVES) and was co-developed with the assistance of local heath authorities…
The 5 to 6-day cold snap that pushed Phoenix temperatures lower than those in Chicago and Boston is over, and today, it’s positively balmy outside. This morning’s low was a toasty 40 degrees in town. For most of us, handling the arctic weather required little more than piling on a…
It’s always time for wine, but a new year means it’s time for something new. Restaurants around the Valley often update their wine lists to reflect menu changes, a new culinary influence or simply a change to what is available seasonally. Changes might go unnoticed, so we wanted to suggest…
In early 2012, Chow Bella’s sister arts blog, Jackalope Ranch, began inviting creative types around town to write a manifesto — a personal list of 10 hard-and-fast rules of life or pieces of advice. Each manifesto was paired with a local designer who illustrated one lesson/rule in poster form. We…
While a jumbo tub of hot buttered popcorn is one of our most frequently indulged guilty pleasures, we think a good movie deserves a little better company than junk food. Try out our movie and meal pairings for yourself or feel free to suggest one of your own favorites in…
Legendary Valley chef Charleen Badman of FnB, her Scottsdale restaurant she owns with partner Pavle Milic, is no stranger to the spotlight. See also: Charleen Badman and Pavle Milic to Open FnB on Craftsman Court and Tastemakers 2012 – Charleen Badman So not surprisingly, the Arizona native and advocate for…
As a card-carrying member of the cocktail cognoscenti, you’ll want to know about this: Arizona’s second annual AZ Cocktail Week is coming — Saturday, February 16 through Friday, February 22 — and it promises to be an altogether intoxicating mix of festivities this year. See also: — 3 Hot (Literally)…
Milagro Grill is a new take on Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen from a new generation of Johnsons, the family who’s been running the Arizona-based chain of Mexican eats since Grandpa Woody Johnson and wife Victoria founded the family business in 1945. See also: – Angels Trumpet Ale House Nails Beer, Fails…
East Valley street food aficionados may have been missing their regular fix of late. If you made it out to last weekend’s Street Eats Food Truck Festival you know what we’re talking about. Well, Gilbert-ites, there’s hope for you yet. The Gilbert Food Truck Court will re-launch this Friday -…
The BBC is reporting that inspections of preformed hamburger patties sold at supermarkets throughout the UK and Ireland have turned up evidence of horse meat. Of the 27 products analyzed by the Food Safety Authority of Ireland, 10 contained horse DNA and 23 contained pig DNA. See Also: –Japanese Flying…
If Macayo’s Mexican Kitchen is the Valley’s popular party girl, than Milagro Grill is her sophisticated older sister. Inside her small, laid-back pad in Arcadia, she’s swapped out Macayo’s festive, bright surfaces for more refined textures of polished wood, brick, and metal under low lights; traded the booming dance tunes…
Recently, Guy Fieri has been in the spotlight, thanks to Pete Wells utterly destroying his new Times Square restaurant, Guy’s American Kitchen, in a New York Times review. But this week, the restaurateur and Food Network host has been quietly filming six Valley restaurants for the 14th season of his…
He’s not a grape geek per se, but local cartoonist Doug Pike knows a hell of a lot more about wine than the average recreational drinker. You might say he makes wine his business, given that he earns a nice chunk of change creating wine-centric cartoons for the likes of…
When temperatures in Phoenix are lower than they are in Anchorage, Alaska – you know it’s time for a drink. Fortunately, these three Phoenix based bars are serving up drinks both hot and heavy – perfect for the over 21 in need of a solution to the under 21 (well,…
When the temperatures turn arctic, there’s only one way to do the math: chilly = chili. And because cold snaps are few and far between here in the land of eternal sunshine, this is chili-eating weather as we seldom see it. See also: – 10 Favorite Soup & Sandwich Spots…
The news that Monsterland, the horror-themed restaurant, nightclub, and haunted house in downtown Mesa, was closing this Saturday, January 19, shocked many of its fans. But it seems no one was more saddened by the announcement than the employees. See also: – Mesa’s Monsterland Bar & Grill Closing Its Doors…
Everywhere I turn, there’s talk of the flu. Since I follow a bunch of natural health junkies on Pinterest, I can’t get away from it there either, with everyone pinning different home remedies. While I’ve managed to keep away from the illness so far, I decided to make a good-sized…
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. Last December, when Bizarre Foods host Andrew Zimmern called Yelp a “forum for uninformed morons”…
If you’ve been to the Cupcake Love-In or have munched on a sweet treat from Butter & Me in Scottsdale, you’ve seen and tasted what Kelly Garcia can do (she founded the event and owns the bakery). And recently, Garcia’s decided to add a little coffee to the mix. See…
When a 23-year-old researcher at MIT blacked out at a party and ended up in the hospital for slamming drinks down too quickly, he didn’t nurse his hangover with a homebrewed cure, he nursed it with engineering. What he came up with is Cheers, an ice cube embedded with enough…
Customers planning a cozy farm-to-table supper at Quiessence tonight will be frozen out, thanks to temperamental pipes and a water heater that just couldn’t hack the unusually cold weather. As reported on Facebook, the restaurant will be closed for business this evening so that problems related to the cold snap…
At this point halfway into January, we check in with intrepid contributor Zach Fowle, who’s made a commitment to go without alcohol for the first 31 days of the new year. Here’s his Drynuary update, by the numbers: See also: – Drynuary: Zach Fowle Vows to Give Up Beer for…
