Side Effects and Dinner at True Food Kitchen

While a jumbo tub of hot buttered popcorn is one of our most frequently indulged guilty pleasures, we think a good movie deserves a little better company than junk food. Try out our movie and meal pairings for yourself or feel free to suggest one of your own favorites in…

DIY Lemon Vinegar Cleaner: Another Way to Use Up That Citrus

An abundance of lemons is one of my favorite things about living in Phoenix. I go through at least one whole lemon a day and I’m always a little distraught about tossing the peel away – even if it’s going into the compost pile. Recently I read about a chef…

Last Minute Chocolate Valentine You Can Make Yourself

AndyTalk: Salt – It’s So Much More Than Sodium Chloride It’s Valentine’s Day and that means stress, especially if you’re a bit of a procrastinator and/or you think that the card you bought just isn’t enough. If you’ve got some chocolate on hand, even in bar form, you can make…

Candy Hearts: Stories of Food and Love

Dish of Death | Laurie Notaro I place the bowl of spaghetti on the table directly in front of my husband. Then I stand there for a moment and give him a dirty look, just like I do every time I make spaghetti. “So,” I say in a completely serious…

Compass Arizona Grill Is a Dessert Revolution in Downtown Phoenix

The Guilty Pleasure: Dessert and Coffee Where To Get It: Compass Arizona Grill, atop the Hyatt Regency Phoenix downtown Price: $8 for dessert, $3 for coffee What It Really Costs: The only regret is that you didn’t think of it sooner. On a recent dining excursion to downtown Phoenix, I…

Maple Bacon Doughnut Bout: Oink Cafe vs. Rainbow Donuts

After Portland’s sometimes-vegan doughnut mecca, Voodoo Donuts, made a maple bacon doughnut, pretty much every doughnut shop with any sense jumped on the bacon bandwagon. Two local shops, Oink Café and Rainbow Donuts, have followed suit. Using either a cake or raised doughnut base to paint on richly sweet maple…

What’s Your Least Favorite Holiday to Work?

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. When you’re in the food business, holidays can mean big money. What’s the worst one…

Laurie Notaro’s Dish of Death

Chow Bella has a valentine for you. For the rest of February, we’re handing out Candy Hearts — stories of food and love from some of our favorite writers. Enjoy. I place the bowl of spaghetti on the table directly in front of my husband. Then I stand there for…

Charlotte Voisey: On Molecular Mixology and Being a Bartender

Chef Salad takes a detour this week and next, interviewing four of the country’s leading beverage industry experts, all of them speakers at upcoming seminars held at the Hotel Valley Ho for the second annual Arizona Cocktail Week, February 16-22. See also: –6 Don’t Miss Events During AZ Cocktail Week…

Paradise Melts Is Back With New Owners and a New Menu

Tis’ the season of the grilled sandwich — or at least, it would seem. We’ve got L.A.’s famous grillin’ mobile, a grilled cheese throwdown and now, yet another grilled sandwich truck. That’s right, the Valley’s original grilled sandwich food truck has chosen now as the time to make a return…