Food & Drink

From about October 2010 to March 2011 the best jerk chicken sandwich in Arizona was made by Charlie Blonkenfeld. Monster-size and jam-packed with chunks of chicken, shredded cabbage, scallions, fresh basil, and a flippin’ fried banana slice piled high in a poppy seed bun, the only place to score one…

For those in the Southeast Valley looking to score a.m. eats like cheddar jalapeño biscuits and gravy, caramelized banana and pecan brioche French toast, or battered and fried breakfast sausages on sticks, your mornings just got a little sunnier. See also: Aaron May Dishes On Being a Chef, a Restaurateur…

Looking for something to put in your mouth this weekend? We’ve got you covered. Check out what’s on our plate. See also: – Pie Social 2012: All the Sweet Details – Biltmore’s Central Bistro Announces Grand Opening Date (It’s This Sunday!) Human Rights Campaign’s COOK Phoenix The Human Rights Campaign’s…

If you’re a devout cocktail devotee, you’ve surely heard of Fernet Branca, the in-your-face Italian liqueur that makes its cousin Campari look like a cherry lollipop by comparison. There’s bitter, and then there’s Big Boy bitter. That’s Fernet Branca, an acquired taste that aficionados like to say you’ll have to…

It takes a steady hand and a little nerve to hack into the armor-like skin on a butternut squash. Luckily, the skin is the only thing hard about butternut squash.

Nobody really knows who invented the Reuben sandwich (but we’d put flowers on his grave if we did). Some say it was Reuben Kulakofsky of Omaha, Nebraska, who served it at late-night poker games at the Blackstone Hotel. Others swear it was invented by a cook at Reuben’s Restaurant in…

“I was desperate for the food I was accustomed to,” Walter Bergamaschi says on why he and wife Marti decided to open Dolce Vita Italian Grocer in east Mesa. “Ninety-nine percent of what we sell and use here is imported from Italy. The other 1 percent,” he jokes, “is the…

Another busy month for the Phoenix restaurant scene. We bid farewell to some excellent Peruvian joint but said hello to a new Ethiopian restaurant. See Also: – –September Openings and Closings We’re also excited to see the soda fountain making a comeback even if we’re also losing one of our…

Dolce Vita Italian Grocer is what happens when gelato makers turn their attention to Italy’s more savory food. Where pastas are equally as luscious, cheeses and cured meats just as intensely flavorful, and sandwiches as deserving of slow and thoughtful roll-over-the-tongue tastes as the Italian sweet treat — minus the…

The construction is finally finished in the former home of Zen32, at 32nd Street and Camelback Road, in the Biltmore Neighborhood. And at 5 p.m., Sunday, November 4, Central Bistro, the modern restaurant featuring flavors from Italy, France, and Spain, opens its doors after nearly nine months of remodeling and…

We’ve spent the last year in the laboratory putting Phoenix under the microscope to reveal hundreds of specimens of the best culture, outdoor adventures, shopping, dining, and nightlife the city has to offer. And we’re finally ready to publish our results. Nerd alert! Now presenting Scientific Phoenix. It’s officially farmers…

What do you call long tubes of bread baked in special cylindrical pans, sliced open to add fillings, then covered back up and cooked? Edgy, yo. And if you’re Carole Meyer, one-of-a-kind. Meyer is the owner of Zookz, the just-opened sandwich shop in front of the Landmark Residential Tower on…

Pie Social’s just around the corner and if you’re wondering about the savory options to counteract the inevitable excess of sweet, don’t worry, we’ve got you covered. Let us present Old Dixie’s Southern Kitchen. From Northern California to Nashville, New Orleans and Phoenix, Michael Babcock has been around the block…

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. Miss a question? Go here. Screams. Blood. Gore. No, it’s not your favorite spooky movie…