After several years of attending The Best of the Fest event, I can pretty much guarantee that by the end of the evening, I’ll be nodding off, stuffed to the gills with hors d’oeuvres, an ultra-rich five-course dinner, and lots and lots of wine. Not so in 2002. Dozing? No…
Okay, so it’s a little late. By almost a year. But Iguana Lounge, the intriguing-sounding creation of Spyros Scocos, has finally opened on the former site of the old Greyhound Bus Station at Fifth Street and College in Tempe. This after an original scheduled debut of last August. But hey,…
There’s no language barrier at Yasha From Russia. Despite the deli owner’s heavy Russian accent, I understand quite clearly what he means when he orders me to “get out.” There’s been a spate of Eastern European restaurants cropping up in the West Valley lately, and in most places, I’ve found…
The waitress is trying to explain blinchik. “Have you ever been to IHOP?” she asks. “They’ve got something like it on their menu. Except ours isn’t sweet.” Could she be right? Am I to believe that, alongside pigs in a blanket, omelets and French toast, the fabled pancake chain has…
There’s another migration occurring Valleywide: commuters suddenly crisscrossing the city as never before, savoring our newly (finally) completed freeways. The convenience is great, but I wonder what folks will be missing if they abandon our surface streets for speed. It’d be easy to take I-17 to Thunderbird, and head east…
French food has never been characterized as ultra-healthful, but Christopher Gross is giving it a shot at his Christopher’s Fermier Brasserie in Biltmore Fashion Park. He’s teamed with Kronos Optimal Health Centre and created new nutrient-dense recipes designed to help his clientele have longer, happier lives. The Phoenix-based Centre provides…
Sprghzz. That’s an actual quote. It’s all I can muster after filling my mouth with phik khing, a dish that looks like timid vegetables in a friendly brown sauce. But this sauce is sneaky, so thick with infernal Thai pepper that my eyes are watering. Yeah, the menu warns that…
The burning question of the evening involves cocktails. One pal in my group of revelers has decided that the best drink is the Italian ice-lemon, a liquid candy concoction of lemon gelato, Ketel One Citroen, Triple Sec, sweet and sour, and lemon juice in a sugared-rim martini glass. The other…
How do you start an e-mail war? Within the restaurant community, it’s pretty simple: give Scottsdale bartender and gossipmonger Robert Stempkowski access to the Internet. The tidbit he sent me was basic, about a chef departing a restaurant. Yet it quickly evolved into an electronic barrage of insults directed at…
Some people wander through their lives, wondering why they’re here and what to do with themselves. Others are so clear about their purpose on this Earth it’s almost frightening. Marcus Ridgeway knows why he’s here, and it’s to make ice cream. Not just any ice cream, but frozen custard, which…
It’s been almost two years since the Bistro 24 that Valley Francophiles knew and loved took a turn for the boring. A new chef had arrived in the spring of 2000, and attempted to bring a simplified, more relaxed dining experience to the classically inspired French restaurant that is the…
When I was 16, I met a handsome guy with a perfect shiny black pompadour who told me his name was Alan Conti. Three weeks later he confessed that his real name was Alan Waldman. He was Jewish, not Italian, and had been afraid I wouldn’t go out with him…
It’s finally happened. After almost 15 years of living in Scottsdale, I’ve become one of them. Not a yuppie, not yet, though I’ve decided that conspicuous consumption isn’t necessarily a filthy term, but a pretty cool way of life. Here I sit in a fabulous bistro at north Scottsdale yuppie-haven…
I’ve heard of a disturbing movement toward making soul food healthful. There are recipes circulating from a group of Phoenix cooks who are adapting traditional recipes to make them lower in fat and less sweet. These people are crafting mustard greens and black-eyed peas with smoked turkey instead of salt…
Have we had our last nibble of Sir Charles’ excellent Texas-style ribs? The award-winning shop has closed, barely a year into its latest location at 23rd Street and Bell. I thought something was up when I read a notice of owner Charles Taylor’s filing for bankruptcy about a month ago…
Cooking has taken Scottsdale-based chef Zipora Einav everywhere — just about. After stints serving as in-home chef for celebrities like Pierce Brosnan, Cybill Shepherd and Seal in Los Angeles, she was ready to take her show on the road. She became Mariah Carey’s personal chef on the Rainbow Tour in…
Here’s how I feel about fast food: if I wanted to eat something prepared more for speed than taste, I’d eat my own lousy cooking. I admit it, when I’m home and excessively lazy, I can justify a meal of microwave popcorn (one buttery kernel for me, two for the…
Picture this: Director Sam Pillsbury is shooting a Western-style movie in New Zealand and, as the gunslinger crashes through the saloon doors, he’s not shootin’ blanks. The weapons he draws from his holsters make loud pops as he uncorks them — a coupla bottles of Dos Cabezas 1998 Sauvignon Blanc…
If I were ruler of our local restaurant industry, these would be my proclamations: What We Need: A creative, attractive, fresh and substantial Sunday brunch buffet, served in quietly elegant surroundings for less than $25 per person, anywhere in the Valley. What We Don’t Need: Another boring, bargain Sunday brunch…
A person could have starved to death living at Scottsdale’s Desert Ridge since it opened in 1995. Sure, developers built gajillions of gorgeous homes in the upscale master-planned community, but nary a decent restaurant. It only took seven years for a good place to move in. In December, Desert Ridge…
On a recent trip to Europe, I was replenishing my depleted stocks of the familiar by, I’m sorry to say, visiting an American fast-food restaurant, when it suddenly occurred to me that something was not quite right. It is true that they serve a selection of beers in most European…
After being closed for a month, The Phoenician’s Windows on the Green has reopened with a new decor and a new menu. In a surprising — and entirely refreshing — promotion, the new menu is being introduced with reduced prices through April 1. Savings average 10 percent, which adds up,…
