Oktoberfest celebrations continue this weekend with beer-fueled parties going down in Chandler and Phoenix. If you’re looking for something more charitable to fill your time, you may want to check out Food Fight, a culinary tasting event to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix and the Arizona…
You can hardly help joining the hustle and bustle at downtown’s Phoenix Public Market Cafe, and that’s kind of the point. You may move from the outdoor herb garden at the restaurant’s entrance to shelves of for-sale local products until arriving at a pastry case of homemade baked goods (think…
The Smoothie: It’s a simple and satisfying combination. Fruit, juice, maybe some yogurt, a scoop of protein powder — blend and drink. Easy to make, but hard to perfect. Instead of slaving over a loud blender trying to balance the flavors just right, sometimes we want to leave the dirty…
If the farmers market at downtown’s Phoenix Public Market is one of the Valley’s most notable spots for finding fresh locally grown and locally produced food, then the adjacent Phoenix Public Market Café may be the hippest place to partake of its bounty. The restaurant certainly is vintage-chic enough in…
Since the August departure of Jeremy Pacheco (who moved to Las Vegas to become the executive chef of Society Cafe at the Wynn), Lon’s at the Hermosa, the luxury boutique resort in Paradise Valley, has been on the hunt for a new culinary leader. And given its track record of…
You’d think a place billed as “healthy,” a place that serves quinoa as a side dish, would be a gluten-friendly place. At the Original ChopShop Co. in Tempe, you’d be right — and you’d be wrong…
Welcome to Chow Bella’s Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you’d like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. For many years, meat’s been the star attraction of the American plate. But with the…
Phoenicians welcomed a whole bunch of new restaurants last month, including the second location of Portillo’s and couple new vegan-friendly spots. And the month also saw a few makeovers completed. You can officially check out the fresh digs at T. Cook’s at the Royal Palms Resort, or grab a cocktail…
In what can now be pretty much be deemed “2013: The Year of the Landlord,” another Valley restaurant has been shuttered by a building owner — this time, it seems, much to the surprise of the staff. On Saturday, September 28, Carefree Station, the nine-year-old Southwestern restaurant located in Carefree’s…
Last June, Nick Watts’ mobile kitchen of grilled cheese sandwiches, called Chedda Truck, made its debut to a huge (and unexpected) crowd at Artistic Tattoo in Central Phoenix. Watts sold nearly 175 sandwiches in three hours, but customers were angry at the wait time (over an hour) and many left…
This is part two of our interview with Sacha Levine, former sous chef at FnB who now works at Rancho Pinot. She still makes time to help out her mentor Charleen Badman at the old spot and turns out her own line of pickles products, which are sold at Bodega…
The wait for convenient, fresh produce is over. October brings changes to metro Phoenix farmers markets, both in terms of hours and activity. Most markets are seasonable and start up again this month or change their hours to reflect the cooler mid-day temperatures. Can’t keep track? No worries. We’ve gathered…
The Valley has plenty of joints offering familiar brunch dishes like pancakes and omelets. But the newest spot for one of our most favorite weekend indulgences has neither — nor would you expect it to. Crudo, chef Cullen Campbell’s home of modern Italian food in Phoenix, has announced it will…
MacAlpine’s is it: the last of the vintage soda shops. First opened in 1928, the former Birch’s Pharmacy became MacAlpine’s Rexall Drugs 10 years later — a popular pharmacy with a lunch counter and soda fountain. In 1991, Monica Heizenrader bought it and has been running it, with her two…
Huachinalgo! Bagre! Mojarra! No, that Mexican seafood menu isn’t trying to insult you, nor is it in the middle of an Adam West as Batman showdown with his villain du jour (Holy fishy huachinango, Batman! That punch sure sent the Penguin into cold storage!). Ahem. Let’s forget that terrible joke…
Sacha Levine Cook Rancho Pinot, FnB Restaurant ranchopinot.com, fnbrestaurant.com This is part one of our interview with Sacha Levine of both Rancho Pinot and FnB Restaurant. When she’s not serving as wingwoman for her mentors Chrysa Robertson and Charleen Badman, she’s pickling all sorts of seasonal veggies and things for…
Another month, another look back at the best things I ate during September. From dishes like my new favorite carne asada taco to magnificent Mediterranean eats to a killer lasagna my dining companion likened to the work of the devil, here are 10 of the best things I ate this…
There are only two kinds of meat at Backyard Taco in Mesa — carne asada and pollo — and they’re both pretty amazing. Tender and cooked to perfection over mesquite charcoal with just the right amount of seasoning (so that you still taste the grill), they’re served with cabbage, onions,…
The Guilty Pleasure: Agua Vita Where to Get It: Paletas Betty, Tempe(and soon in Chandler) Price: $3 or $4 depending on size What it Really Costs: [reads the ingredients] Wait… this is good for you?! Not long ago, I found myself at the Chow Bella HQ underground lair, discussing recent…
Don those aprons, home cooks. MasterChef, Fox’s competitive cooking reality show judged by celebu-chef Gordon Ramsay, restaurateur and wine maker Joe Bastianich, and Graham Elliot, the Michelin-starred chef from Chicago, is looking for contestants for its fifth season — and it’s headed our way…
Ingrid E. Newkirk, president of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, sent a letter to the Arizona Department of Corrections this week asking Director Charles L. Ryan to take meat of the menu. The idea was spurred by Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who recently made that move at…
What’s the best way for a husband-and-wife team to cook the food they love together every day? If you’re Brooke Francis and Nathan Carel, you start a food truck. Called The Roasted Shallot, Francis and Carel’s food truck will hit the Valley’s mobile kitchen scene in mid-October (if not sooner)…
