El Norteño is the Jekyll and Hyde of Mexican restaurants. By day, the popular joint courts business types and office workers craving authentic Mexican food at a good price. On weekend nights, the place transforms itself into a true Mexican street scene, enlivening the corner of Seventh Avenue and Roosevelt…
Yaffa, ,
Japon-ese! Hideji Moritoki — Sensei to his friends — is showing off a large “Techniques Car Club” logo etched on his back to a handful of ink aficionados at a tattoo vendor’s booth inside the 25th Annual Arizona Lowrider Super Show. Another tat of a winged Virgin Mary on his…
Virgins in Guadalupe are getting scarce. That’s not a slam on the sexual mores in the tiny Yaqui Indian enclave tucked between Tempe and Phoenix, but a simple statement of fact: Someone keeps stealing paintings of the Virgen de Guadalupe from their place on Baseline Road, and it’s not much…
The sky is rumbling, in that deep, dark voice. Which, in the language of the Valley, means monsoon season has arrived. The thunder is teasing that soon rain will explode on our heads in such big fat drops that we’ll be drenched within seconds. We have roiling clouds in purple,…
Ron Cortez has a bean on his shoulder, one that he picked up as a toddler in a coffee plantation in Costa Rica where he was born and, he likes to point out, conceived. In other words, Cortez has coffee in his veins, and he thinks the rest of us…
Fibber Magees, see, is an Irish restaurant and pub. It celebrates the Celtic concept of “craic” (pronounced “crack”), meaning a fun, down-to-earth experience. Like any proper pub, it’s smoky and loud, thundering with live music on weekends, and pouring huge amounts of draught beer, like Harp, Guinness and Bass. It’s…
Chef Johnny Chu stops by our table for a visit. He was impressed by the quantity of food my party ordered, he says, and wants to see what in the world we’re about. There are just two of us for this sunny weekday lunch, but we’ve loaded up every inch…
A recent column on Mexican ballplayers led us to another field of dreams with another set of sun-baked jugadores still chasing the glory days of their youth. If Mexicans are a minority in this country, however, these athletes come from a people that’s a minority south of the border. Yaqui…
We pointed out a few weeks ago that you’ll not only find Mexicans behind the seafood counter at 99 Ranch Market at the Chinese Cultural Center, but that some days most of the customers in the Asian grocery store are speaking Spanish too. Turns out it’s just one of many…
Perhaps it’s not fair of me to be so disappointed with Café Citron. It could be that I’m too jealous of one of my friends, he being a very lucky guy with an adorable new villa in Provence, that magical, picturesque region of southern France. He’s spending the summer there,…
A couple of weeks ago, Chicago Cubs manager Dusty Baker made some startling observations about black and Latino baseball players and high temperatures. And speaking of heat, did Baker ever feel it. A lot of gnashing of teeth over whether Baker’s comments were racist followed his claim that minority ballplayers…
When I first looked up the Italian definition of “sugo,” the translation I got was “gravy.” Which is curious, because Sugo, the latest hot fashionable bistro in Old Town Scottsdale’s art gallery and nightclub district, serves pasta. As in high-end spaghetti, and nothing but, except for a few salads and…
El Portal is just a little place south of the tracks, a Mexican eatery known for its good soups and straightforward Sonoran fare. But step inside, and you realize why it’s known for a lot more than its food. Last week, on a random visit, we sat down while just…
A friend of mine has a curious pastime. He likes to go out with a large group of friends to pricey restaurants, and, when the bill arrives, play what he calls “credit card roulette.” All the guys in his gang put their AmEx Platinums in a pile, their waiter shuffles…
Two-month-old Hoffman’s at 57th looks so wonderland adorable, I want to bring everyone I know to show it off as if it were my own private cafe. Imagine, in the heart of historic Glendale, there’s a place hidden off a strip of well-weathered antique shops seemingly culled from a romantic…
It’s Thursday night at Kahlua’s Bar & Grill in Glendale, and Luis Avilés, a 26-year-old from Sonora, makes like he’s the next Latin superstar. Every night of the week is Mexican karaoke night at the joint on 51st Avenue north of Camelback Road, and Thursdays the place is packed. Tonight,…
My friends and I were driving around Los Angeles the other weekend, in search of, what else, food. It’s mucky hot in Phoenix these days, I hadn’t seen these pals in a while, and any chance I get to explore eating outside my Valley borders, I need nothing more to…
Known more for its cocido (beef stew), machaca and green salsa, Pitic Restaurant in south Phoenix on Wednesdays transforms into Mexican fight night. Last week, rows of chairs circled a makeshift stage that was surrounded by a chain link fence — it looked like the night’s action was going to…
My brain hurts. I’ve been trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Normally, such a decision would be no big deal: I’ve always been a carefree grazer, eating whatever I want whenever I want, virtually never falling into a three-squares-a-day routine. I snack on small bits of this…
Walking into El Sol Mexican Café & Bakery in Chandler, you don’t get the feeling that the panederia was born in the streets. The place is slightly upscale, and the walls are painted in bright yellows, blues and greens and adorned with iguanas and suns. But humble beginnings is exactly…
My sister Elisabeth was wearing a tee shirt imprinted with the phrase “Breakfast of Champions.” It was a cute thing, appliquéd with cartoons of classic early morning fare given human qualities: a smiling glass of orange juice; a beaming platter of bacon, eggs and potatoes; a dancing pitcher of milk;…
