Deli lovers have had their noses pressed against the glass at Times Square Deli since late spring, awaiting its planned August opening. Inevitable delays resulted in a November 1 debut, and an even greater anticipation for what was described as a restaurant ambiance straight out of New York City.The ambiance…
I have lived here in the Valley of the Sun for just a few weeks now, having moved here from Texas, where I grew up and spent most of my life.As soon as I got here, I picked up the New Times and immediately turned to the Cafe section since…
It seems diners are tired of being taken to the cleaners when they order takeout. In an increasing trend across the Valley, tip jars are showing up on the counters of fast-food places, take-away pizza stores and self-service restaurants. And if the letters I’ve received lately are any indication, the…
It doesn’t have a sexy name going for it, or fine, polished looks.But there is something about bread pudding, a wholesome innocence that has made it the current darling of Valley chefs. When my parents were visiting in October, we ate at the types of places one goes to with…
The menu at Scottsdale’s Cowboy Ciao features this actual guest quote: “That mushroom dish is so good, I want to take off my clothes and roll in it!” While Cowboy Ciao’s management doesn’t encourage that kind of behavior, guests so inclined might soon be able to give it a try…
There must be an international siren song calling from the building next to the Circle K at 16th Street and Campbell. This unassuming little box lures in ethnic restaurants one after the other — most recently it was home to a spectacularly flawed Russian eatery, followed by a short-lived Chinese…
The holidays mean warm family gatherings highlighted by good food. That is, for those who know their way around a stove. But for all the busy people who have helped Arizona’s restaurant industry become the nation’s second-fastest growing, a stove is simply a place to store pizza boxes.Yet there’s no…
From sports to the creative arts to big business, it’s the ability to perform under pressure that separates the professionals from the amateurs. Yet it’s also been proven that without pressure, performance can often flag. If that theory holds true in the restaurant business, Caffe Portobello offers an excellent case…
Twisted Vine Ah, the chilly nip of the holiday season. This is the time of year when the covers of Gourmet and Bon Appetit tempt with mouth-watering photos of succulent turkeys, hearty soups and stews, and steaming mugs of cocoa to warm our souls as well as our mitts. But…
Jim Fiolek is a genial man with longish hair in a braid who does a very amusing pidgin English impression. He is the vice president of Zaca Mesa Winery in California, and he is also something of a guru. He is a guru not so much among wine snobs –…
The Valley’s restaurant industry suffered a significant loss November 4. Myron “Bubba” Stephenson, chef-owner of downtown Phoenix’s popular Caribbean and Creole restaurant Chez Bubba’s, passed away in his sleep that morning.Stephenson’s death resulted from coronary complications after he underwent a kidney transplant early last month. The surgery hoped to resolve…
The challenges of converting a former 42,000-square-foot supermarket into a 500-seat professional dinner theater in Mesa presented greater challenges than the Prather family had anticipated. Construction delays played havoc, but it looks like the soup is finally on at Broadway Palm Dinner Theatre-West, located at Brown and Higley. Gershwin’s Crazy…
In France, the only way to leave a restaurant with a doggy bag and the waiter’s respect is if the food you’re taking home is truly for your spoiled poodle. The protectors of French cuisine, and indeed waiters at snotty restaurants the world over, just do not appreciate leftovers. I…
Chef Mahmmud Jaafari has got a gem on his hands with Green Leaf Cafe, a casual little shop on 19th Avenue and Campbell in Phoenix. The place has been around for more than a decade, serving an ambitious menu of Persian cuisine accented by Mediterranean, Italian, American, Mexican, Cajun, vegetarian…
The kitchen is having some difficulty securing one of its specialties this week. My guess is that the chapulines are particularly feisty in cooler weather, making them harder to catch. Chapuline means grasshopper, and on some days the critters are available at Restaurant Oaxaca in north central Phoenix.It takes a…
It’s musical chairs of a most interesting kind between two restaurants with completely different concepts. Hapa Sushi Lounge’s star chef, Nobu Fukuda, is departing his award-winning adjunct of Restaurant Hapa to open an addition to Cowboy Ciao.This means that Restaurant Hapa, lavishly celebrated by local and national media for its…
The day was eerie. A slow drizzle of rain fell to earth like tears of those from above. The sky was a gray that made everything else look like a black-and-white photograph. Night was falling. I was anxious and leery about where I was heading.I could feel my heart racing…
Manhattan has Drew Nieporent and the Myriad Group, an enterprise that began in 1985 with a single restaurant, Montrachet. Today, Nieporent operates a virtual empire of some of New York’s best-loved eateries: Tribeca Grill, Rubicon, Nobu, Layla, TriBakery, HeartBeat, Icon and Pulse.The Valley has Tom and Chrysa Kaufman. While operating…
For the first time in 25 years, the Arizona Department of Health Services has updated its requirements for food safety in restaurants. While it took the agency three years to develop the new rules, the need for a few of the changes seems pretty obvious.At least one person on a…
Say your mother made casseroles. In particular, she made one with a funny name — “Mom’s Mish-Mash,” you called it — with condensed cream of mushroom soup. She was famous for it; she took it to church potlucks, she took it to PTA dinners, and all of the other mothers…
Done right, beef bourguignon should be a classic dish that cravings are made of, with economical beef chuck made glamorous from a roll in flour, a lusty browning in oil, and a deep pond of Burgundy, the wine deglazed and scraped up with good beef bits from the pan. Cooking…
In Sunny’s world, his favorite customers wait for their barbecued ribs, beef and chicken the longest. Tonight, it’s his sister Clara’s birthday and she’s been patient for over an hour.”I’m a lonely rascal,” explains Walter “Sunny” Gaines. This is hard to believe. As proprietor of Sunny’s Sunshine Bar-B-Que each Friday…
