By Michele Laudig The 43-year-old chef who fed many happy customers at Different Pointe of View and Convivo and other Valley restaurants passed away last week in Dallas, Texas, according to an obituary today. How incredibly sad…..
By Amy Silverman And now we bring you a Special Election Edition of Gross Out! For years, the west Phoenix restaurant Pho Bang has touted itself as John McCain’s favorite Vietnamese joint. So we decided to research health inspections at Pho Bang and see if we can recommend it. Um,…
By Benjamin Leatherman The three-course meal personified. Lady Luck’s been smiling at me lately. No, I didn’t win the Powerball jackpot, or experience some other windfall. It’s just that things have seemingly been going my way lately. Like yesterday, for instance, when I was doing a full-tilt boogie around the…
By Michele Laudig So have you checked out any of the local restaurants participating in Arizona Restaurant Week? The first annual event got started on Saturday, and everybody was talking about it over the weekend. But don’t forget — it continues through the rest of this week. Technically that’s four…
By Amy Silverman Okay, I’m back to the whole glove thing. I stand by my previously stated opinion: Gloved hands do not equal clean hands. Consider these notes from a recent county inspection at Steamers, the sorta-hoity-toity seafood restaurant at the Biltmore Fashion Park: EMPLOYEE BREADING FISH WITH GLOVES THEN…
Dieters, beware! I’m about to reveal the greatest lie in dieting history. It’s bigger than the DaVinci code. More annoying than Palin’s “Troopergate” fiasco. Worse than imagined weapons of mass destruction. Are you ready? Here goes. Salads are often the most fattening items on a restaurant’s menu, especially when it’s…
By Michele Laudig Now this is different: A dessert shop specializing in rice pudding. You heard me. It’s a new joint at The Promenade in Scottsdale (southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright) called Miami Rice Pudding Co., and they serve up rice pudding in more flavors that…
By Eddie Matney Chef Eddie Matney is the owner of Eddie’s House in Scottsdale…
By Wynter Holden This week, we’re hunting for the elusive creature known as “The Good Guy” — a grown man who doesn’t drink, party or leer at women even when they’re half-dressed. The kind of guy you can bring home to mom. Some say he’s just a myth, but, with…
By Eddie Matney Arizona-grown? Tacos? Menudo? Carne Asada? Nobody ever thinks wine. We insiders have a feeling that’s going to change. For the first time for this fine state, the wine coming out of here looks promising. And we hear Jerome is on the brink of another boom…this one will…
By Jonathan McNamara It’s a fond childhood memory based on a last minute solution from my dad. I was attending summer camp and had to pack a bagged lunch each day. To keep my food refrigerated in the traveling medium of a paper bag, pops would freeze boxed Minute Maid…
Editor’s note: The below letter from chef Eddie Matney is in response to restaurant critic Howard Seftel’s review of Eddie’s House, in yesterday’s Arizona Republic. Dear Howard, It was just a few months ago that we were both so excited to date again. But you’re right. You have changed. You…
By Jay Bennett Outside of scarfing down Jack in the Box or raiding the dollar menu at McDonald’s, it just doesn’t get any cheaper than this: For $10.38, the missus and I scored at Da Vang. That’s right. For $10.38, we enjoyed two entrees and an appetizer at this Vietnamese…
Dinner and a movie should be a no-brainer, but logistically, it’s not always as simple as it should be. Sometimes it takes some strategizing to get in, get fed, and get to the theater on time — especially when you’re seeing the hottest new film. And despite your best efforts,…
By Wynter Holden After a visit to the lovely Phoenix Public Market last Saturday (where I scored some awesome tomato garlic pasta, plum spread and fresh-baked cinnamon bread), the hubby and I made a pit stop in the shopping plaza 3701 East Indian School Rd to peruse the pathetic linen…
Poor little sandwiches … By Sarah Fenske It might sound weird to a normal person, but I stopped going to KFC because of the Pepsi. There are two types of fast food junkies in the world: Coke people and Pepsi people. Some time during college, I realized I was a…
By Amy Silverman Bad electricity karma, perhaps? The light in the women’s room was burned out when county restaurant inspectors visited Honey Bear’s BBQ on Van Buren Street on August 31, but that wasn’t the worst electrical failure. The place might not have passed muster to begin with: inspectors noted…
By Benjamin Leatherman Fresh Mint’s version of a balanced meal. To me, there are only two kinds of fake meat in this world: good or bad. By “bad,” I mean bland clumps of tofu (or a similar soy-based substance) which have been fashioned into a substance that vaguely resembles in…
By Eddie Matney If I had only $3 in my pocket, I’d indulge with two double cheeseburgers and a small Hi-C: $2.97 from McDonald’s. Why am I telling you this? In this blog, we’re going to talk about the good, the bad, and the cheap. The way I see it…helping…
by Robrt L. Pela This is a watercolor of the blue bowl I mix cake batter in. The painting is by my spouse, Mr. Grossman, who’s good at everything he does because he’s a Jew. The bowl was a wedding gift to my mother in 1946. It turns up in…
By Michele Laudig I’ve done plenty of drooling in print and on this blog about the charcuterie at Digestif, but now there’s somebody else hamming it up: The Wall Street Journal. They recently name-droped the Scottsdale restaurant as part of a national trend piece. Nice!…
By Michele Laudig I’ve been to enough spas around town to know that brownies are definitely *not* on the typical refreshment buffet. Usually, the offerings are along the lines of shiny ripe apples, herbal tea, and water with lemon and cucumber. Show up hungry, and your growling stomach will drown…
