The Mill Avenue area surely must be approaching a critical mass of frozen dessert purveyors. As of a couple of weeks ago, on the short quarter-mile strip there are now six shops exclusively offering chilly sweets. Of the six, half of them offer hand-scooped ice cream sandwiched between fresh-baked cookies. With…
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. A few weeks ago, we were alerted to the fact…
Honey bees are one of nature’s best examples of keeping it local. Most bees travel no more than two miles to pollenate, and are even more perfectly content if there’s a lemon tree a few yards away. The end result? Honey that tastes of lemon zest, which you spread on toast…
Last year — in some sort of wacky, sugar-fueled, lost-our-mind moment — we made candy conversation hearts from scratch. And they actually worked. (You can see the post and recipe here.) So now the question: What sort of Valentine confection would we tackle this year? Macarons are way too hard, sugar…
In 2011, when I wrote about the Valley’s year in food trucks, Brad Moore, founder and president of the Phoenix Street Food Coalition and owner of the gourmet mobile hotdog eatery Short Leash Hotdogs (which he owns with wife Kat), told me the popularity of food trucks in Phoenix has…
Over the past two days we’ve brought you the highlights of our time with pastry chef Linda Schneider of 21 Cakes. If you haven’t made it out to the shop since it open last August, the elegant confections and beautiful space in which to enjoy them will make the drive…
The connection between hot dogs and dogs, the lovable tongue-wagging pets, is thought to have come from newspaper cartoons by T.A. Dorgan around the 1900’s, which portrayed talking frankfurters, also known as “dachshund sausages,” because of their shape. No matter the origin of the name, hot dogs have fast become…
You might already know Tamara Reynolds. She’s one of the “talking heads” from The Cooking Channel show Unique Eats. We also recently read Pen & Fork’s report of another Cooking Channel show tentatively titled Married with Dishes. She’s also connected to the Valley in that she once lived here and…
Chow Bella did it. We succumbed to the most addictive website to hit the internet scene since Stumble Upon. We are now on Pinterest. Never heard of Pinterest? You’re missing out (or lucky, we’re not exactly sure yet). It’s this really great site that lets you organize, categorize, and share all the…
The Spot: Yard House, 9401 W. Westgate Blvd., Glendale, (623) 872-3900. www.yardhouse.com The Hours: 3 to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 p.m. to close Sunday through Thursday The Details: Discounts on most drinks, like $2 off wine by the glass and well drinks for only $4.25-4.75, plus pints for $3.50-$5…
Jennifer Woods Glenn Wagner, Vice President of Sales – Retail Division for Sogno Toscano While doing some evening mall errands at Scottsdale Fashion Square earlier this month, we noticed an olive oil kiosk named “Olive Oil Boutique.” At first we weren’t too excited; this appeared to be just another mobile retail space…
Maizie’s Cafe and Bistro — on Central Avenue just south of Camelback, right on the light rail — serves up not only an “attitude adjustment” hour(s), but a decent lunch special as well. You guessed it–it’s all under $10. This small cafe can be easily missed, but stepping inside is quite…
On the heels of its fourth anniversary this month, Humble Pie, the locally-owned pizza chain with three locations (Hilton Village, Desert Ridge, and Central Phoenix), has announced it will open a fourth restaurant in Scottsdale’s Kierland Village in mid-February. The largest of all the locations, the coming-soon Humble Pie, at…
Lately, in this In Season series, we’re taking a look at what I take home from Crooked Sky Farms each week and see what I’ve done with my CSA share, or part share. This week I’m using that extra bag of greens (spinach would be great here) and frozen or…
This week we bring you Pastry Chef Linda Schneider of 21 Cakes, the gourmet cupcake and macron bakery in Scottsdale. Yesterday she told us about her childhood baking with her grandmother and explained the difference between a macron and a macaroon. Today, we ask her advice for new bakers and…
From hiring ex-Noca chef Chris Curtiss to run his new NoRTH location in Arcadia last November, to taking over the Oakville Grocery Co. space at CityScape in October to open Chloe’s Corner with co-owner Ashly Young last week, restaurateur Sam Fox has been a busy boy indeed — and just…
Many of us in the Valley consider Over Easy, restaurateur Aaron May’s concept of breakfast eats with some unique twists (with locations in Arcadia and North Scottsdale), our neighborhood go-to spot for a.m. goodness. Now, it looks like Travel + Leisure, the travel magazine and website based in New York…
Hold onto your dental work, Phoenix. It’s that time again. Caramelpalooza 2012 will take place Friday, March 2, at Smeeks candy shop in central Phoenix, from 7 p.m. til the caramel runs out. And we’re looking for chefs interested in participating in this year’s third-annual caramel tasting, co-sponsored by Smeeks…
They’re back! Richie Moe, Kris Korf, and Chef Bernie from Citizen Public House are bringing back their popular cocktail dinners and they’re starting with our favorite agave booze, tequila! Join CPH and crew Tuesday, January 31st for the “Southern of the Border” dinner featuring handcrafted cocktails from Moe and Korf…
Oftentimes, a meal out of the house isn’t complete without dessert – not just any dessert, but one that’s so good you’ll never forget it, one that will make guest appearances in your dreams for the rest of your life. To help satisfy your sweet tooth, we’re offering up our 10 of our favorite desserts in the Valley.
Beer: Elsie’s Irish Coffee Milk StoutBrewery: Papago BrewingStyle: Milk StoutABV: 5.5 percent A few days before each holiday visit to my parents’ house, my dad will call me up under the guise of checking in before I visit. We’ll chat about the trip, what we have planned, how packing is…
In this week’s Chef Chat we satisfy our sweet tooth by sitting down to chat with pastry chef Linda Schneider of 21 Cakes in Scottsdale. Schneider, a classically trained chef and cupcake master, grew up baking with her grandmother and mother. Today family recipes like her grandmother’s chocolate cake live…
