I slipped on the steep cobblestone street as I tried to catch up with her. With the speed of a jack rabbit, her barefoot steps moved with short and quick motions. “Margarita, please wait for me,” I implored, fearing that I might lose sight of her. It was starting to…
Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. I rely on it heavily when choosing where to eat. If, for instance, a chef tells me he despises some new place, I’m there in a heartbeat. The latest place to hate seems to be The Table, a tiny two-dozen-seat bistro just…
Q.I feel so stranded in Fountain Hills. Where can I find good, authentic Italian food? A.Skip over to Olives Big City Italian on North Saguaro Boulevard, overlooking the eastern foothills of Fountain Hills. Signatures include baked-on-site focaccia and olive bread with pesto, “pastabilities” (create your own pasta plate), “drunken calamari,”…
Chu-hai is an evil, evil thing. The base of that Japanese cocktail called chu-hai — an alcohol named shochu — tastes like nothing. Just soft, clean liquid, with a lurking shadow of melon and rice. The shochu spirit is similar to vodka, but more suave. When mixed with any variety…
Yes, it’s true. Once, a very, very long time ago, I got married to a good ol’ boy from Kentucky. His mama spoke with a thick accent and his daddy talked like Archie Bunker. When Randy’s father first met me, he turned to his son and genuinely asked, “Where in…
I’ve just hired a CPA and am quite optimistic about the future. He promises he can make my money management — both dollars I’ve got — a breeze. I came in seeking advice on how to wrangle a major investment: not buying a house, but eating dinner out in north…
I was watching television the other day. The usual commercials were playing, one after another. Then one hit me hard. A man was telling me about the wonders of his pizza. How his cheese was real and his ingredients the best. He boasted of having a special pizza on sale…
Former Arizona governor John Fife Symington III was born with a silver spoon in his mouth, and now he’d like to stick one in ours. Ever since he abruptly resigned his political post in 1997 after a federal fraud conviction of using false financial statements to obtain loans, he’s been…
Choose a three-course meal:
cream of asparagus soup,
cornmeal-crusted ocean
perch, and assorted pastry plate: $13
480-603-1066. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Reservations required, taken in 15-minute increments.
It’s been the kind of week I’d rather just forget. Nothing’s been going as smoothly as it should. Now I’m camped out at Iguana Mack’s, a new Chandler food hall that describes itself as a “hip dining experience” celebrating the “early Arizona desert oasis: the Roadhouse.” Groovy concept, I’m thinking…
After traveling through the villages, towns and cities of Mexico and eating everything in sight for almost a year, the first thing I wanted to eat upon my return to the United States was Mexican food. Ironic. The Mexican food that I longed for is what I like to refer…
James Beard Award-winning chef Janos Wilder has finally departed Tucson for the big city. Sort of. The big city is the Gila River Indian Reservation and its new Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa. And while Wilder helped plan the concept and menu for the property’s glamorous Kai restaurant,…
He’s here. He’s gone. He’s here again. Two years ago, chef-owner Razz Kamnitzer moved his Razz’s Restaurant across the parking lot to a new, improved space on the southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Shea (his previous location, in the way back of the same complex, was virtually impossible to…
Michael Lewis shakes his head politely as I boast where I’m heading for dinner. Owner of Drinkwater’s Liquor and Cheese in north Scottsdale, he’s wrapping up my purchase of a bottle of Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio, and hasn’t heard of BYO Bistro, a new restaurant in Phoenix that capitalizes, appropriately…
Too cold and sleepy to care, I would watch as my grandmother gently pulled on the teats. Steam rose as the warm, creamy-colored milk hit the cold bucket. “Come on, try it,” my grandmother would coach as I awkwardly pulled. The cow would give me an indignant look. For my…
Restaurateurs Lizabeth and Dennis Sirrine are requesting that New Times make a correction to our recent Best of Phoenix supplement (September 26). The Sirrines, owners of Rancho de Tia Rosa in Mesa, are “really upset” that their restaurant did not receive an award, and contend we “really made a mistake…
I hate Qwest. This is not a random pronouncement, but an unwavering truth. If Qwest could be whittled to one person, I’d hunt him down, strap this horrid excuse for a human being into shackles, toss him in a dark shed and subject him to the same torture he’s giving…
On a night so cold I could feel my bones rattle, I followed the smell of burning wood to a distant hue of gold. The only sounds were my every breath and step. I came to a tall wrought-iron gate, its handle icy cold, and it wailed an eerie cry…
Pity the humble chicken. Few edible creatures are so vastly consumed, yet so socially snubbed. We may roast a chicken for our relaxed family table and enjoy it greatly, but in nicer restaurants, we skip it. Real foodies, I hear again and again from my snootier friends, scorn the simple…
More than 3,000 miles away, deep in southern Mexico, Elena asked me, “Do you know Juan?” I just smiled and shook my head. But she was right to wonder. Outside the beautiful city of Oaxaca is the tiny Zapotec village of Etla San Lorenzo de Cacaotepec. Most of the men…
Not just one, but two restaurant servers last week refused to send my dessert up in flames. I ordered dishes traditionally prepared au flambé, but management wouldn’t allow the servers to handle tableside infernos; they said it was something about fire codes. I smelled a rat. The Terrace Dining Room…
Yes, that was us (the New Times group) crashing the 944 party last week at Christopher’s Fermier and Brasserie. 944 is a new magazine that, as far as I can figure, celebrates breast implants. It’s a glossy four-color thing plush with photos of drunken women hanging out (literally) in the…
