It took my living in Phoenix nearly four years and countless trips up and down 24th Street to stop at the Mexican restaurant with the goofy/charming hand-painted sign that depicts a blue parrot and the words “Asi Es La Vida.” The two-story building just north of Osborn Road looks just…
Adam Aponte loves P.F. Chang’s. A lot. In fact, he and a friend took off Thursday night on a cross-country road trip to eat their way through seven different P.F. Chang’s China Bistro’s, in seven different cities from Phoenix to Boston, over the next two weeks. “And I plan on…
In a bit of culinary news that’s something of a departure from our typical coverage here at Chow Bella, we must share the latest dining chapter at the county jail. You know, home of the green baloney sandwich. Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio today issued a press release announcing…
Dumpings, rice congee and chicken feet; there’s nothing not to love about dim sum. Admittedly, we weren’t up on the best Valley location to go for this Chinese delicacy. Luckily this week’s cafe column has the answer: Great Wall Hong Kong Cuisine. Food Critic Michele Laudig on Great Wall Hong…
If you really want to make a statement while cooking for that special someone, then dress the part. Professional cooks wear a smock and a fancy hat, mostly because of hygiene requirements rather than an attempt to impress eaters. At home, it’s okay to be more relaxed. You don’t want…
Summer travel season has arrived. It seems everyone’s starting to leave town, talk about their vacation plans, or post quirky Facebook updates from far-off places. Me? I’m looking forward to an overdue jaunt to New York City, but it can’t come soon enough. And in the meantime, a good friend…
This afternoon, the City of Phoenix Planning and Zoning Committee has a scheduled hearing on the establishment, through rezoning, of the controversial Jackson Street Entertainment District — ground zero for those five new Bernie Kantak restaurants I mentioned yesterday. And it looks like a protest is in the works, too. I found…
You can find a kitchen towel just about everywhere nowadays. The cheap and obvious place to purchase is your local supermarket or Target store. Keep in mind, the local places are going to have cheap weave towels that usually have a tacky floral print or lame color scheme. You can…
Just got the skinny from chef Joshua Hebert that Posh is rolling out a special $35, four-course prix fixe dinner that will be available all summer long, from 5 to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. If you’re not familiar with Posh, go back and read my review from February. The…
Former Cowboy Ciao chef Bernie Kantak and his business partners have finalized a deal to open not one, not two, but five new restaurants downtown, reports the Republic today. The concepts will be Southwestern, Southern, steakhouse, Latin, and wine bar, and will be located at 1st Street and Jackson, at the heart…
Sure we prefer fresh pasta over the dried stuff, but we always imagined chefs slaving away for hours rolling dough and cutting semolina spirals with crazy thousand-dollar pasta makers. Little did we know that making noodles is literally easier than pie… In this week’s Meal Ticket dining newsletter, Chef Payton…
Classes are over. Finally. Not sure how other classes do it, but we went out with a bang (or should I say blaze). One of the students started a fire in the restaurant as he was preparing to make crepes suzette at the next to last service. True to form…
“Why doesn’t somebody open a _____ in Central Phoenix?” Fill in that blank for any kind of stylish indie business (especially anything food- and beverage-related), and I’ve wondered it aloud. For all the interesting things going on in CenPho these days, there’s still room for plenty more. Literally a day…
Last night, a dozen local bartenders gathered at Scottsdale’s fashion-forward CANAL restaurant for an Iron Chef style competition which tested their cocktail making prowess. A few of the culinary scene’s big names were also there, including chef James Porter and emcee Dave Johnson, head of the wine and spirits program at Sol y Sombra. When Johnson showed…
Tonight’s meal could also be called “the dinner so nice, we made it twice.” The recipe is clipped from this month’s Gourmet magazine. You can also find it at Epicurious. The “pearls” in the title refer to a spherical semolina-based pasta known as Israeli couscous. Unlike its Moroccan counterpart, Israeli…
Fans of chef Nobuo Fukuda and his sophisticated contemporary Japanese cooking were treated to an all-you-can-eat splurge this past weekend, with a two-night cocktail party-style dinner at Sea Saw. It was the restaurant’s final hurrah before Fukuda goes indie (visit his website, www.nobuofukuda.com, to keep up with him while he’s…
Another week has come and gone leaving us to ponder the upcoming events that will shape our lives and, more importantly, our dinners out. But before we move on, let’s have one last look at the blog posts from this week: Monday Night Martha: Dr Pepper Brownies Closed for Business:…
I’m a sucker for limited time offers. Given the choice, I’ll always take first edition books. Even though I consider Game Stop to be a video game company bent on the destruction of the planet, I’ll preorder the latest title if I know it’ll come with some freebies. But limited…
For week two of our Summer Beer Quest, we spoke with Gordon Biersch Brew Master Dieter Foerstner about his favorite brews during the hotter months. He admitted to us that he prefers “yellow, fizzy beers” and recommended a few including the Gordon Biersch Hefeweizen which we thought was pretty darn…
This part of Arizona’s growing season, though somewhat curtailed by heat, is a fun, quirky treasure hunt, too, because every local ag-head is harvesting a unique mix of produce. But colorful fresh peppers are a constant at the moment, just about everywhere you look. Carl Seacat enjoys introducing us to…
Tangy non-fat frozen yogurt, a trend spawned by food-savvy South Koreans, has flourished here for a couple of years, but I’ve always found it odd that some of the big-name fro-yo companies (Pinkberry, for example) haven’t entered the Arizona market. We have a five-month-long summer and they hesitate to bring us frozen desserts?…
Although the French Open preempted this morning’s episode of Live! with Regis and Kelly on the local TV affiliate, Joe Johnston’s Gilbert restaurant, Joe’s Real BBQ, still got national airtime for the TV show’s Ultimate Hometown Grill-Off. The good news? Joe’s made it to the next round in the Best Brisket category,…
