I grew up in a household that was extremely self-sufficient. As soon as you were old enough (tall enough) to open the fridge, or reach the controls for the washer, you were on your own. Ever since I could touch those washer knobs, I’ve been doing my own laundry —…
Sometimes the best meal is just a little bit of wine, a little bit of cheese, and some good company. When I’m in the mood for that, I’ll raid the AJ’s cheese department to put together a nice plate of fromage. To go with it, I’ll seek out a great…
For this week’s Forking, Colin Redding illustrates the joys of celebrating Valentine’s Day with a tasty dish called Steak Au Poivre in addition to some other whacky holiday antics. Take a look at the recipe after the jump:…
Cafe Carumba! in Old Town Scottsdale serves seriously tasty comfort foods, from hearty breakfast fare to Southwest specialties like Chicken Oaxaca and Habenero Braised Ribs. But while you’re downing that Mercado Chicken Chili, don’t look up — because while the eats are stellar, the decor suffers from Multiple Personality Disorder. Seriously,…
Every week I bring a new soda in the break room to review for Pop Culture and every week I get the same complaints from our tasting panel: It’s too sweet… I need to brush my teeth… My cavities are aching… I’m slipping in to a diabetic coma.This week we’re…
Please say you’ve had a Sprinkles cupcake. If you haven’t — and you live in metropolitan Phoenix — by all means, get in your car and head to one of the cupcake boutique’s few outposts, luckily located in Scottsdale on the northeast corner of Scottsdale and Camelback roads. It’s worth…
Hot wings are pretty typical happy hour fare, but here’s something out of left field: spicy frog legs. They just started serving them for happy hour at House of Tricks in Tempe. In case you’ve never tried frog legs before, the comparison to chicken is a fair one. Tricks jazzes…
Happy hour at downtown Tempe’s Caffe Boa already has a reputation for being a great after-work destination, but there’s a weekly promo that sounds extra delicious: Tasting Tuesdays. From 5 to 7 p.m. every Tuesday, you can taste up to four different wines for five bucks. That’s totally a deal,…
In a thriving economy, we’d call Scottsdale restaurateur Peter Kasperski’s grand plans to expand one of his eateries (Sea Saw) and open three brand-new ones (Mexican Standoff, Shell Shock, Confection) “ambitious.” Reeeally ambitious. These days, as the SouthBridge spaces for his unopened businesses sit dark (oh god, the rent!), the…
Do you remember Beef Eaters? The old-school steak and seafood restaurant that closed several years ago and still sits vacant on Camelback Road? I drove by the other day on the way to Target, and noticed signs of life — looked like there was some kind of construction going on…
Tanya Cruise is a trickle-down casualty of our piss-poor economy. With her boom years in car sales gone bust, she’s waiting tables, tending bar, and learning the tricks of a new trade. “I was pulling down 7K a month,” says Cruise, 26, shifting her career story in reverse while she…
Eat it raw. Cookie dough, I mean. You can also eat sunny side up eggs, make chocolate mousse at home and pull out the Caesar salad dressing recipe you stashed away because it included a raw egg. Pasteurized shell eggs can be eaten raw. The process used on them guarantees…
It’s been months in the making — surely more months than chef Wade Moises originally planned on when he and business partner/sous chef Nicholas Gentry left their gigs at Sassi, the swanky north Scottsdale fine dining spot, last June. But after finally getting the green light from the city last week,…
Nothing says “packed lunch” more than rolled-up fruit leather. It’s cute, it’s portable, and what’s great about making it from scratch is that you can guarantee that it’s actually made from fruit. What you find in the grocery store could be more accurately described as sugary, pectin-filled fruit candy. Screw…
To be sure, every visit to Fine’s Cellar ends up an impromptu wine dinner, but every Wednesday this month, the Old Town Scottsdale restaurant is doing something extra special: Chef’s Table dinners. Executive chef Cullen Campbell creates four courses tailored to each week’s featured winery. This week, Bonaccorsi Pinot Noir is in the spotlight…
Calabria Italian Grocery and Deli at the corner of 3rd Avenue and Roosevelt in Phoenix sure looks cool — but that was apparently not enough for county restaurant inspectors, who gave the deli a “No Award” rating (the lowest possible) last month. Without the health violations, this is the kind…
AriZona Green Tea is one of the most popular pre-made teas, so when we heard the company made a new Green Tea Energy Drink, we figured we’d give it a try, despite our reservations about how strange a “lightly carbonated” green tea might taste. Looks like: The can is black,…
We are in the habit of taking beer suggestions from friends. Taking someone’s word on a beer can be a dangerous proposition, but much like America’s slow transition to thinking of sushi as something appetizing and not as something that could potentially be a hot bed for dining free from…
We love reading about ourselves, don’t we? How else to explain the Facebook “25 Random Things About Me” phenomenon? That’s why I thought you’d be intrigued by the results of a recent study of Phoenix and Scottsdale diners, conducted by Knoodle, a local marketing agency. Through surveys of 98 local…
You know the post-holiday lull is finally over when there are almost — almost — too many things going on. Not a bad thing, especially when you like a few eating options. Today through Sunday, celebrate the Year of the Ox at Phoenix Chinese Week’s Culture and Cuisine Festival. The…
Ben Hershberger, master baker at The Phoenician, has spent 25 years traveling, perfecting his craft, and picking up a trick or two, like his super-secret 200-year-old yeast culture. When he’s not enticing diners with exotic and artisinal bread at one of The Phoenician’s fancy pants eateries, he’s turning out an…
Are you watching Top Chef? (No spoiler in this blog, fyi…) I thought the latest challenge — the one where the chefs got to eat at Le Bernardin, then had to figure out how to recreate the dishes themselves — was the best one yet. I bet the contestants were…
