I don’t know why, but I find near-disasters thrilling. I’ll never forget one dinner at Beef Eaters in Phoenix — not because of the mediocre prime rib, but because of a candle that exploded on my table. It had burned down into the foil-wrapped holder and I discovered the stuff…
Max & Myrl’s Chill Pad, a funky little Caribbean gem at Central and Thomas, has closed because of the death of its chef-owner, Bert Sylvester. Sylvester, 51, suffered a ruptured aortic aneurysm New Year’s Eve. It’s been a rough few months for the Valley’s Caribbean chefs — in November, Myron…
When I first moved to Arizona a decade ago, I’d been crying for two months. I didn’t want to leave home but my husband’s job called. Back in Philly, we had a life filled with family, friends and food. And since we worked in the arts, we were always meeting…
So now it looks like the government may require warning labels on pretzels: “May cause choking and/or fainting.” Thanks, President Bush.If pretzels do require warnings, then one of the safest places in town to consume them is at Walker’s Cafe in downtown Phoenix. Some of the restaurant’s most loyal fans…
It wasn’t turning out to be a very good day for Wilbur. That morning, he’d been happily snuffling in the dirt, his pale pink skin caked with mud, just the way he liked it. By that evening, he was being lowered into a deep pit, his skin the next day…
Hoping to make enough money to keep working on a book project, I reluctantly accepted a job in the redwood forests of California last summer, knowing only that it would pay well and it meant working at a private club. I traveled 14 hours to Guerneville, California, in Sonoma County,…
In Italian, grazie means thank you. In Valley of the Sun-speak, it means an exciting new cafe. Grazie Pizzeria and Wine Bar is the latest addition to an ever-impressive collection of interesting new restaurants calling metro Phoenix home. Most people probably haven’t heard of it yet. Many people, upon discovering…
Mag’s Ham Bun, one of the Valley’s original restaurants and the namesake for a group of Scottsdale movers and shakers, has closed. El Camino Mexican restaurant has taken over the small shop in the Windmill Plaza on the southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Shea Boulevard.Mag’s became well-known in the…
The uproar continues at DG’s Metropolitan Deli & Grille, the forever-unfinished cafe in the former Munch-a-Bagel spot on Seventh Street near Camelback. After tinkering with the place for many months, revamping menus, renovating space and expanding, the owners finally introduced their concept in October. By December, the restaurant was closed…
My dining companion is joking that the new Sapporo reminds her so much of P.F. Chang’s that if someone were to put that eatery’s trademark entry monument horses on wheels and roll them in front of the place, diners might never know the difference. It’s true that the two enterprises…
Not everyone can add arrow retrieval and blood-and-mud touchups to a résumé, but Phoenix College Art and Photography department chairman Roman Reyes can now list these skills on his.Reyes had the opportunity to work on a special-effects team for eight months in New Zealand on the set of the Lord…
The year 2001 was a significant one for several of our Valley restaurateurs — in some cases leaving memories they’d likely rather forget.March: Legendary restaurateur Norman Fierros closed his highly popular Norman’s Arizona, after it was seized by the Arizona Department of Revenue for non-payment of back taxes. With more…
The story of Rancho de Tia Rosa, a handout compiled by owners Dennis and Lizabeth Sirrine, spans six pages, single-spaced. While the restaurant just opened last spring, its lore supposedly goes all the way back to the turn of the 20th century, when Pancho Villa rode into colonial Juárez, Mexico,…
My tablemates can’t get over dessert. It’s been the topic of conversation for the past 45 minutes, the oohing, the aahing, the veritable drooling over the chocolate cake, the cream pie, the fruit bars. Any moment now, I’m sure the group will spasm, collapsing under the table with arms and…
Among the things that have changed since September 11 — television programming, color schemes — the phenomenon most widely suffered has been seen in our nation’s airports: namely, an increased reliance on airport food.Not long ago, you could get by on a bag of peanuts. Barring peanuts, you would get…
There’s a naked man hammering nails just outside the door of the restaurant. I can see him through the glass pane, working in happy rhythm as he repairs a damaged windowsill. Up, down, up, down, his hammer rises and strikes; tick-tock, tick-tock, his penis rocks, keeping the beat like a…
According to Jane Mitchell, I’ve been “sucked into the Christmas-tree vortex.” And Jane ought to know. She and her family have been selling Christmas trees for more than half a century here in Phoenix. Tim Mitchell Christmas Trees has been a holiday staple in the Valley since 1950, and remains…
Look out, Lalibela. For the first time since it opened almost five years ago, the little restaurant should be peering over its shoulder at competition for the Ethiopian dining market. About two months back, Blue Nile Cafe debuted just a few blocks away at Rural Road and University Drive.Cafe Lalibela…
In preparing for my lunch with Phoenix-based lyric baritone Jeremy Aye, I asked friends if there was anything they wanted to know about opera but were afraid to ask. For many of these clods, their knowledge of opera is limited to “Mighty Mouse” cartoons, and all of their questions seemed…
Restaurateur Karen Firestone may be new to the business, but she isn’t afraid to make a statement. First, there’s the name of her place — Cafe ah Pwah. She once took exception when I wrote that it sounds kind of Hawaiian. It also sounds kind of silly, here in the…
Chocofin Chocolatier has been providing its handmade chocolates to the Valley’s top resorts for the past three years. Now, the purveyor of artisan European confections has opened a retail shop in Fountain Hills.These aren’t just any candies, but masterpieces of all-natural ingredients so special that they’re sold by the piece…
Well, whack me over the head with a lamb chop. Just when I think I’ve seen everything possible on a restaurant menu, something new sneaks up and surprises me. And not because a dish is simply bizarre — those are unfortunately too frequent — but because even though something sounds…
