By Steve Jansen Haji Baba remains, in my humble opinion, one of the best restaurants in the Phoenix area for several reasons. For one, it’s so freaking unassuming from the outside and even more so inside. Also, when you step inside, you feel like you’re hanging out abroad in an…
Notice the short cropped hair, the year-round uniform of board shorts and comfortable sandals. The perfectly tanned skin. The lack of sweat on his brow, even in 100-degree temperatures. Yes, you guessed it. Copper Star Coffee owner and master barista Bill Sandweg is one of those elusive creatures we rarely…
by Robrt L. Pela My copy of Beth Bailey McLean’s Modern Homemaker’s Cookbook is signed by the author, whom the cover jacket proudly proclaims is the director of Martha Logan Service. Just what exactly that means is as mysterious as is this peculiar recipe, one among many in yet another…
By Jonathan McNamara Someone ought to get in touch with the marketing department at Ska Brewing. Yes, that’s right. I used the word “ska” as in punk with a horn section, “Mirror in the Bathroom,” Reel Big Fish, etc. The marketing dilemma this brewery suffers begins with incorporating Ska into…
By Jay Bennett You don’t have to twist my arm to get me to dine on the cuisine of the Middle East. It’s, perhaps, my favorite ethnic food — and has been ever since I was a little kid eating dinner at the house of my Uncle Walid, a Syrian…
I admit it. I’m in love. It’s what I like to call a “culinary crush”; when you find a new local restaurant that you become completely obsessed with. Every time you’re hungry and don’t have plans, you turn to your crush, where you always know you’ll enjoy the experience. My…
New York. Chicago. Phoenix. All great pizza cities. Don’t laugh — you know it’s true. Here in the Valley of the Sun, we may not specialize in a certain style of pie, but an enterprising population of Big Apple and Windy City transplants means we can enjoy the best of…
You say pakora, I say samosa — and this time, I’m right. by Sarah Fenske My dearest pal in the whole world is Indian — she grew up in Mumbai, only coming to the U.S. for college. So I know a bit more about Indian food than, say, Thai or…
The thought of eating at Matt’s Big Breakfast is motivation not to sleep in, but The Roosevelt gives us plenty of reasons to stay up late. And just think — the mastermind behind it Matt Pool, burns the candle at both ends every day. How does downtown’s breakfast and bar…
By Wynter Holden I’ve always wondered what happens to imperfect foods. You know, like the accidental square Cheerio. I mean, we live in such a perfectionist society. Studies show that attractive people get more attention and earn more than average-looking people. So it’s only natural that better-looking foods end up…
By Michele Laudig Light rail construction has been a real asskicker for restaurants in the Central corridor, particularly those situated right along the future train route. Every time I drive past Fez and Durant’s and Pane Bianco, I cringe at the thought of how many potential customers may have been…
By Megan Irwin Fate’s House Dynamite dish with tofu — and in the way back, more tofu. I really love the tofu here. I love Fate for several reasons. I love that it serves Republic of Tea iced tea. I love that it played a huge role in making the…
by Amy Silverman The other day, I got upset with my mother because I found a can of diet Dr. Pepper in her fridge that had expired in 2005. “Look,” she said. “Your father and I grew up in the bomb shelter era — you know, back in the day…
By Wynter Holden Unlike the infamous “mouse shit chili” incident I blogged about in the inaugural What the Fork, sometimes I just get plain lucky when ordering an unidentifiable item at a restaurant. One case is Kataifi, an item I discovered on the menu at Razz’s Restaurant in North Scottsdale…
By Michele Laudig Do you remember what you were doing 15 years ago? Or, more precisely, do you remember what you were eating? Buca di Beppo, the Italian restaurant chain, is hoping to use nostalgia — for cheap prices, anyway — to spark customers’ interest in its 15th anniversary. The…
by Robrt L. Pela Do people use cookie cutters anymore? I have a big round box of them in my kitchen cupboard, but I never use the fucking things. I like to bake, but I don’t know that I’ve ever read a cookie recipe that included the direction, “Using a…
By Steve Jansen I risked my life for this. There was a point during yesterday’s monsoon that I thought my four-door sedan and I were about to be splattered on the median wall of the U.S. 60. During that moment, I wondered what would be written in my obit…
There’s so much wrong about this recipe, I hardly know where to begin. It’s from The Mike Douglas Cookbook, which in itself is enough to give one pause. I have a lot of peculiar celebrity cookbooks in my collection (my favorite: Candy Hits by ZaSu Pitts, which includes cookie recipes…
By Wynter Holden 38-year-old bar manager Amy Ziegler is a tall, slender, no-nonsense blonde who looks like she could do some serious damage to any boozehound who treats her like a Coyote Ugly babe. As a kid she dreamed of being a ballet dancer, but as she cockily points out…
By Jonathan McNamara I’ve been betrayed. Past experience and a few bumper stickers have lead me to believe that beer is liquid proof that the gods want us to be happy. Oh, how I have been living in naivety! I took a chance on a beer labeled with a chili…
By Michele Laudig burrata , that super creamy cheese that’s been cropping up all across town: Fine’s Cellar. It’s featured in a “burrata and tuna carpaccio caprese salad,” part of the “apertivo menu” (a.k.a. bar menu). The menu’s only available from 4 to 7 p.m., but it looks like it’ll…
By Jay Bennett On Saturday mornings, I like to head downtown to what is casually referred to as the farmers market, at Second and McKinley streets. It’s really called the Downtown Phoenix Public Market, a more suitable name than “farmers market” because, in my opinion, it’s way short on farmers…
