My brain hurts. I’ve been trying to figure out what to have for dinner. Normally, such a decision would be no big deal: I’ve always been a carefree grazer, eating whatever I want whenever I want, virtually never falling into a three-squares-a-day routine. I snack on small bits of this…
Walking into El Sol Mexican Café & Bakery in Chandler, you don’t get the feeling that the panederia was born in the streets. The place is slightly upscale, and the walls are painted in bright yellows, blues and greens and adorned with iguanas and suns. But humble beginnings is exactly…
My sister Elisabeth was wearing a tee shirt imprinted with the phrase “Breakfast of Champions.” It was a cute thing, appliquéd with cartoons of classic early morning fare given human qualities: a smiling glass of orange juice; a beaming platter of bacon, eggs and potatoes; a dancing pitcher of milk;…
Somebody finally realized that Latinos enjoy a nice, well-stocked and clean supermarket just like everyone else. And that’s why you’ll find the Valley’s two Ranch Market stores jam-packed with customers. Think of the Ranch Markets as the AJ’s of Mexican grocers, where shoppers pick up their nopales and tortillas and…
“That was the weirdest party I’ve ever been to, man,” says Gustavo Angeles, guitarist for Cascabel, the Afro-Cuban Latin jazz combo that showed up around midnight at Holga’s on a recent Saturday lugging guitars, amps and congas. The small parking lot in front of the downtown artist commune was filled…
I’ve just realized that I’ve never eaten a fresh anchovy before. That’s no great surprise to many people, I’m sure — “no anchovies, please” is a classic pizza request for good reason. Most of my friends wrinkle their noses at the exceedingly salty, sour fishiness, and the off-putting grayish-green coloring…
Mini corn dogs: $6
Bacon Cheddar burger: $8
Chilean sea bass: $19
Prime rib: $19
Thai spring rolls: $8
At the colorful Mariscos Ensenada restaurant on 59th Avenue and Thomas, owner Oscar Rubio demonstrates how to make a michelada. He takes a salt-rimmed frosty mug filled with ice and adds lime juice, Tapatio salsa, salt, pepper and lots of Clamato — the tangy clam-juice-and-veggie drink that Latinos love. Then…
Note to my editor: I worked really hard on this article. It’s about Colombian food, so I flew to the South American country’s capital, Bogotá. I spent weeks there doing in-depth research, talking to the locals about what they eat, visiting dozens of neighborhood restaurants, and shadowing cooks as they…
You have to figure a university president for the PC crowd, but University of Arizona honcho Peter Likins went beyond the pale when he linked the humble tortilla with racial politics. The college jefe could have just said he thought it was tacky that Wildcats heave the food products like…
At the risk of sounding as tacky as the guy who admits he eats at Hooters for the view, I must be blunt: I go to Pasta Brioni for the gorgeous waiters. Yeah, I’m guilty: I stop in for spaghetti and meatballs knowing that my meal comes to me courtesy…
Talk about returning to your roots — some Latinos are resurrecting old traditions without even realizing it. At least that’s the sense you get talking with people who know what’s going on with the quinceañera, that well-known rite of passage for the daughters of Latin American immigrants on their 15th…
Go to the 99 Ranch Market at the COFCO Chinese Cultural Center and you’ll see foods from several different cultures — Chinese, Japanese, even Indonesian. But the crowd at the back of the store waiting several lines deep for fish might surprise you. The place is filled with Mexicans. On…
Bite Me knows her history, dammit. Cinco de Mayo ain’t truly a big Mexican holiday. But anything for an excuse to go out on a Monday night, ya know? Bite Me had her sights set on Dos Gringos and was en route when she received a call from trusty photog…
Berry Hom could do fine without another trip to Sky Harbor Airport, thanks very much. What with the heightened security there, and the never-ending construction in the area, it’s an ordeal to navigate the sludge of traffic circling the terminals. But Hom does it, day in and day out, picking…
Fusion co-owner Jennifer Long is apologizing that the restaurant has run out of field greens. Would romaine be okay in my melon salad, she wonders? Absolutely, I assure her. By the way, she adds, the menu description of “melon” salad is kind of misleading, too, seeing as there’s no melon…
It was in search of a java jolt at the Willow House that I first came across Los Mestizos and their funky Chicano art. Lots of local artists place their wares in the hippie hangout, a coffee-house conversion of a century-old house downtown. But it was the colorful paintings and…
Bite Me will be honest with y’all. She ain’t always on time. She’s been known to be late. Like frequently. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But she always, always intends to be prompt and means to arrive at a predetermined location at an agreed-upon time. Seems, though, that there’s always some barrier…
The night was cool and I was into the groove of old-school Chaka Kahn blasting on my car stereo as I cruised down Central Avenue in Phoenix. But my music high came to a sudden end when I heard the DJ make an announcement. “Come witness the world’s largest nachos…
For her 14 devoted readers, Bite Me will explain her absence last week. She scared the bejesus out of her co-workers by fainting dead away at the keyboard — no lie, this really happened — and hit her head on her way to the office floor. Blood. Screaming. Calls to…
I’m in mourning. My favorite Mexican restaurant in the world has closed. It blew up, actually. Earlier this month, Costa Brava was flattened by a gas explosion. So what if the cafe is an almost five-hour drive away, in Rocky Point, Mexico? I’ve been known to make the journey for…
