By Jonathan McNamara Even the great Hindu sage Valmiki surely could not have predicted that when he penned life into Hanuman, the monkey god in the Hindu epic The Ramayana, the character would end up on a bottle of beer. Yet that’s exactly what seems to have happened as an…
By Wynter Holden The rule in my house is that the person with the crappiest day gets to make the decision about what to do that evening. My roommate “A” finalized a bad breakup last Thursday, so dinner was definitely her call. My fingers were crossed for something healthy, and…
Call me a shopaholic. I didn’t realize I had a thing for grocery stores until I sat down to write this column, reflecting on how strolling the aisles of brightly lit supermarkets has been such a relaxing pastime over the years. As a kid, I had fun shopping with my…
Fuzzy photo; yummy shrimp by Sarah Fenske It’d been miserably hot and I felt like my brain was fried. I needed a pick-me-up. So of course I chose Zest. This stand-alone restaurant, at 16th Street and Indian School, is practically my favorite place in all of Phoenix. I love those…
By Michele Laudig The latest installment of Meal Ticket — New Times’ weekly dining newsletter, out tomorrow — highlights Cuban flavors around town, where to go for a lavish five-course meal, and which local restaurants are offering special deals on dinner and wine. If you haven’t signed up for Meal…
By Wynter Holden While hunting for rum raisin ice pops (yum!) in the nearest Food City today, I stumbled on something in the spice aisle that made me raise an eyebrow. Two, actually. There in the loose tea section was a package of small flowers and leaves labeled “Arnica -…
by Amy Silverman I’m going to be brutally honest here. If they’d given the AIMS test when I was in school, that’s where I’d be today — in school. And if Maricopa County’s restaurant inspectors came to my own kitchen, I’d fail that test, too. But I’m damn glad we’ve…
By Michele Laudig Ah, the perks of summer in AZ. Order three courses off of Bourbon Steak’s regular menu, and I promise you won’t come in at under $55 a person. But for that price, you can get a three-course tasting menu at the swanky Fairmont Scottsdale steakhouse — as…
By Megan Irwin The Green “Soynami” and peanut tofu = my favorite summer snack. By now, faithful readers should know plenty about Green, the Valley’s best (and, um, only) place to get vegan comfort food. I’ve been trying to write about less well known veggie-friendly restaurants, but I have to…
By Wynter Holden Recently, a boba-loving girlfriend recommended the durian shake at Lee’s Sandwiches in Chandler. Great, I thought, but what the heck is a durian? I didn’t know what I was getting myself into. The durian is a prickly fruit that’s native to Southeast Asia and has a rather…
By Paul Rubin We didn’t get three steps inside James Porter’s wonderful Tapino Kitchen Wine Bar last Thursday night when a woman asked, “Are you slow foodies, or just foodies?” Since I hadn’t eaten since breakfast, I responded, “I guess you could say I’m a hungry.” The occasion was Tapino’s…
By Michele Laudig Oregano’s seems to draw a crowd at even the most unlikely times of day — I don’t think I’ve ever been to one without at least a little bit of a wait. a home-grown Arizona restaurant chain with eight locations around the state and three more in…
By Steve Jansen One of my favorite drives in town, which I enjoyed yesterday afternoon, is Main Street Mesa. Despite gentrification and the encroachment of light rail, the old drag’s retro glory still remains intact. Many of the ‘60s era roadside motels are open for business. There’s the diveiest dive…
by Robrt L. Pela A lot of my favorite kitchen stuff came from my mother. Mom appears never to have purchased a single kitchen item herself; point to any implement specific to food prep in her kitchen, and she’ll tell you who gave it to her as wedding or bridal…
By Jonathan McNamara As the headline suggests, you’ve just stumbled into a new Chow Bella segment focused on the gods’ proof that they want us to be happy: beer. Keep checking back each week for reviews of the sudsy stuff. This week’s brew: Oak Creek Brewing Co.’s Nut Brown Ale…
by Robrt L. Pela What is it about Fifties cookbooks and the word “Fluff,” anyway? You can open practically any cookbook published during the middle of the last century and find a half-dozen recipes with the words “Fluffy” or “Fluff” in their titles. My favorite is Fried Cornmeal Fluff, which…
By Wynter Holden California native Steve Delaney, who’s worked behind the bar at Tempe’s Rula Bula for over three-and-a-half years, is the only one in his family that hasn’t been to the Emerald Isle. He has no brogue, and I’m pretty certain he couldn’t direct you to Killarney or tell…
By Michele Laudig An Newsweek article that came out this week has really given me some food for thought. If your job is all about eating, how do you avoid packing on the pounds? I remember reading Ruth Reichl’s strategy a few years ago — basically, she only has a…
By Michele Laudig No, that’s not a typo in the headline. Instead of hiring one new critic to replace recently-ousted restaurant reviewer Nikki Buchanan, Phoenix Magazine’s July issue reveals three new scribes: Carey Sweet, Geri Koeppel, and Gwen Ashley Walters, all of whom also write for the Arizona Republic. Since…
By Jay Bennett The missus and I were on our way to the Tom Waits show on Tuesday and needed something downtown that would be quick, inexpensive (those tix weren’t cheap), and reasonably healthful. I couldn’t imagine a big ol’ cheeseburger or chili verde burrito lodging in my gut as…
by Wynter Holden After last week’s adventure into grannyville, I thought I’d venture into trendier territory this week. So when I suggested a mid-week trek to the upscale, chic Bombay Spice Indian bistro at 16th St. & Glendale in Phoenix, my roommates squealed and said, “hell, yeah!” Since my return…
How do you say “wildfire” in Italian? I can’t tell you, but that’s the idea I get when I think of the incredible buzz about Pizza A Metro, a fantastic new Italian restaurant in Central Phoenix that’s recently jumped to the top of my list of hidden gems in town…
