Here’s a recipe for weirdness: Put about 100 food writers from across the country in a convention center at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas. Load them up with jellybeans, Q-Tips soaked in tannic acid, bottles of chopped crayons and coffee, plus a healthy dose of androsterone (the chemical found in…
Fresh fish cut daily, reads the menu at The Cracked Crab. Note the word choice: cut, not caught, daily, although our gracious server assures us that the bounty of lobster, shrimp, salmon, scallops, mussels and more arrives bright and shiny every morning.Putting too fine a point on semantics? Hardly. When…
When the James Beard Foundation hosts an event, it’s upper crust all the way. Gourmets treat the dinners very seriously, displaying etiquette that would please Miss Manners, and the talk is deep, thoughtful stuff. Sure.Last week’s Friends of James Beard event at the Royal Palms showcased the skills of several…
Back Porch Cafe President Bush is encouraging Americans to band together and support our country, and we’re doing it. In this time of flags rippling from the rooftops and fluttering behind vehicles on the road, we’re celebrating everything patriotic and proud. So it makes sense that something suddenly appeals so…
There are two reasons to frequent Chez Bubba’s, the wonderful Caribbean and Creole restaurant on First Street downtown. One of them is Bubba. Myron “Bubba” Stephenson is such a remarkable personality that his presence alone could carry the restaurant, quite independently of the food — which, of course, is the…
Talk is swirling that the massive Mondo’s restaurant may be closing, barely a year after opening at The Promenade on Scottsdale Road south of Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard. While restaurant staffers say it’s “just a dirty rumor,” court documents suggest otherwise.A lawsuit filed September 5 shows that Mondo’s of Scottsdale…
Like the art style for which it’s named, Mosaic restaurant is a complicated creation, composed of many tiny details to form an elaborate whole. The result is a visual dazzler, from the restaurant’s sleek interior design to its menu reading like a voyage around the world. Yet just like a…
Picture this: a honeymooning couple on a tour of Egypt. They are the youngest ones in the tour group by at least 20 years. But that’s not what’s bothering them on this trip of a lifetime, which has taken them to Cairo’s famed Egyptian Museum, King Tut’s tomb and the…
Within the space of a few seconds on September 11, the world changed. For one restaurant and its hundreds of staffers, the world came to a horrific end. Windows on the World, the internationally renowned restaurant capping the World Trade Center, was reduced from its perch 107 stories over the…
My Florist Cafe Man does not live by bread alone. He also needs some sugar. At least that seems to be the thinking behind the folks at My Florist Cafe, the new adjunct to downtown Phoenix’s wildly popular Willo Bread store. Yet we’re not talking dessert here: This new restaurant…
The Valley’s restaurants felt ripples from the aftermath of last week’s terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington, D.C. During the days following the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, many restaurants closed, either for dinner or completely. Out of respect for the victims or because…
Blinded by the sweat pouring into my eyes, I caught myself wondering if it was really worth it.I struggled to keep a firm grip on the splintered handle of an archaic pick as I thought of the gorgeous turquoise beach just a few feet away. With hands blistered and slicked…
Gecko Grill doesn’t simply do good old-fashioned Mexican food. Oh no. The restaurant offers a full American barbecue menu, too, serving baby back ribs alongside its burritos. If this seems like an ambitious pairing, it is. Real barbecue lovers won’t stand for so-so smoked meats and sauces, and with quality…
What was once a city morgue, a popular hamburger place, a bookie joint, a pool hall and a political hangout? If you’re stumped, I’ll give you another clue. It’s the name of a restaurant, located downtown, that continues to be frequented by politicos, legal eagles and wizards of finance. If…
Think there’s nothing new to do when it comes to finding food under the Arizona sun? You would be wrong. Pack up the kids and ship them far away. Then load up the car and head to the outskirts for a taste of the wilder side of the state’s bounty…
When Gregory’s Grill opened in early 1997, it generated great excitement because of its bold approach to a new dining experience known as global cuisine. While foodies unanimously raved over its eclectic menu (the Valley hadn’t yet seen such things as black pepper-crusted mahi mahi over crawfish spoon bread with…
Ceramic artist Ida May Bradbury loves to eat.”I’m a fat lady,” she warned me when I called to set up an interview. She’s not. She’s robust, however, with a gap between her front teeth like Geoffrey Chaucer’s legendary Easter pilgrim heading for Canterbury in 1385, the life-affirming Wife of Bath…
They’re not chains. They’re family owned and operated. Their culinary charms have won the affection of the dining public.So how does a popular independent restaurant begin to lose its thrill as a special destination? Perhaps it’s when its owners start hearing cash registers ringing and decide to they want to…
In 1921, the boys working on a promotion in the marketing department of General Mills put their heads together. Their mission: to create the perfect woman, an icon for housewives everywhere to trust and emulate.They labored intensively to make sure each detail was flawless. They stepped back to behold their…
In a world bloated with slickly marketed restaurants, it’s refreshing to find a guy who’s completely honest about his eats. Kohnie’s cafe owner Robert Kohn charges a lot for his casual fare — perhaps too much — and he admits it. He doesn’t pamper his customers, offering a brusque “What…
Browsing through the Restaurant Brokers’ Web site is a bit like taking a peek into a crystal ball. The number of Valley restaurants offered for sale is an education in how volatile the business is, particularly right now with a glut of new eateries opening at the same time would-be…
Mariscos Playa Hermosa Phoenix’s sister city in Mexico is Hermosillo, in the Sonoran region that’s home to a variety of distinctive caldos (soups), carne de marinada (marinated meats), zesty chiles and, most of all, fresh seafood. Hermosillo, though, is hundreds of miles away from us — much too far to…
