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. Miss a question? Go here. Sure we have our favorites, but when it comes to…
Thanks to Hallmark it’s become socially acceptable to throw some green and red on just about anything and market it a special holiday treat…and don’t you just love it?! Don’t know about you, but we can’t get enough peppermint and sugar flavored goodness in the quickly dwindling Days Before Christmas…
The phrase, “You are what you eat” has never been more true for New York based photographer and ex-college English teacher, graphic designer, fiction writer, and advertising creative director, Ted Sabarese. In his series, “Evolution,” Sabarese photographs people and the fish they resemble. The idea of the relationship between food…
This week we’ve been talking Lone Star BBQ with the guys from Texas BBQ House in South Phoenix. Yesterday Mike Pitt told us about where he learned to slow roast meat so tender it might actually melt in your mouth, and today we’re back to hear more about what makes…
Our latest Chow Bella showdown: a traditional holiday cookie exchange. From now through Christmas, we present Chow Bella’s 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. Today: 11. Shannon Armour’s Who-Cares-About-Chocolate Lemon Crunch Sugar Cookies. I don’t make cookies. Ever. I make cakes, mini cupcakes, cheesecakes, even tiny chicken pots pies but I…
So you’re having a holiday party? Well you could just pack the kitchen counters with a bucket of some sort of vodka filled punch and enough cheap alcohol (Mad Dog anyone?) to make your frat house neighbors jealous or you could actually feed your guests. You don’t have to serve…
Mellow Mushroom, the Atlanta-based pizza chain established in 1974 and with over 100 restaurants in fifteen states, has announced it will open a third Arizona location at CityNorth, a mixed-use development at the Loop 101 and 56th Street in northeast Phoenix. Known for its pizza, beer, and funky interiors, Mellow…
Lately, in this In Season series, we’re taking a look at what I take home from Crooked Sky Farms each week and see what I’ve done with my CSA share, or part share. This week I’m using turnips…
Our latest Chow Bella showdown: a traditional holiday cookie exchange. From now through Christmas, we present Chow Bella’s 12 Days of Christmas Cookies. We begin, technically speaking, with a Hanukkah treat: Carol Blonder’s Rugelach It started with my first-ever holiday cookie exchange invitation. I was living in Nashville. As the only Jewish…
They say everything’s bigger in Texas. While Texas BBQ House may not look big from the outside, they’re still Texas to the bone: big personalities, big flavor, big ambitions. This week we headed to South Phoenix to meet with Mike Pitt and Doug Dieckmann. Their concept at Texas BBQ House…
For those that missed my First Taste of Arizona’s first Raising Cane’s, the Louisiana-based chicken fingers chain which opened in September at 2715 West Peoria Avenue (1-17 & Peoria Ave), you can read all about it here. For those in the know, the grand opening of a second location of…
Whether meeting family or friends, chances are good that once or twice this month, you’ll go out to eat somewhere fancy. A majority of diners settle for steakhouses, the one place that all Americans are supposed to love. Vegetarians, however, might not be too thrilled with that idea.
It’s tough to pick just one from the four desserts that Barrio Café offers, but after much debate, we landed on Crepas de Cajeta, crepes with goat milk caramel and vanilla bean ice cream. This may sound like a simple treat, but these flavors will wow your taste buds.
Taking your date out to dinner is pretty common territory for the singles scene. Lantmannen, a farmer’s co-op in Sweden, has cleverly come up with an idea to match up available individuals based upon their kitchen leftovers. Doesn’t sound quite as romantic as you might want it to be, right?…
In July, I reported on a new taco shop in Tempe called Taco Migo. Located on Baseline Road in what used to be an abandoned lot across from Arizona Mills mall and right off I-10, the fast-casual taqueria’s food was average at best, but it did offer alcohol and a…
Are you like us and find that all your iPhone pics aren’t of people and places but of food? Well, now those tasty pics will look über cool with Hipstamatic’s new Foodie SnapPak that makes your food look like one of those found gorgeous English cookbooks. What it does and…
Last, if you live with the cook in question, don’t buy an appliance that makes something you love and want made for you. In this case, buying me a waffle iron so I can make you waffles isn’t really a gift for me – it’s for you.
Is Peruvian cuisine the next big thing in world food obsessions? It would appear so. And with the Valley slow to hop aboard the gastronomical bandwagon, it is either by slim chance or sheer accident that chef Walter Salazar came to Tempe in August to take over ownership of Villa…
Is Peruvian cuisine, the intricate fusion of hundreds of years of Spanish, Chinese, West African, and Japanese immigration and native culture, the next big thing in world food obsessions? It would appear so. According to the Wall Street Journal, culinary commanders from around the globe like France’s Michel Bras, Denmark’s…
The number of home gardeners/homesteaders is growing by the second and you might even count yourself among them. Here are some pretty and pretty useful food-focused gifts for the gardener or those who aspire to be one…
This week we’re chatting with Elizabeth Meinz, executive chef and general manager at Orange Table in Old Town Scottsdale. We got the scoop on where the ham and American cheese went Monday, and today we’re talking business and community with the busy mother of two. What new projects have you done or…
When a new spot opens in town, we can’t wait to check it out — and let you know our initial impressions. Share a few photos, some menu items. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a full-blown review, but instead a peek inside restaurants that have just opened,…
