Say Cheese: Inside Ahwatukee’s Wedge & Bottle Cheese Shop

On a late afternoon at Wedge & Bottle Cheese Shop, owners Troy and Krista Daily are serving up samples of a traditional Cyprus cheese called Halloumi. Recommended by a regular, this cheese looks like a breadstick and tastes like a salt lick…in a very good way. The cheeses here run…

Champs d’Elysee Sandwich from The Paisley Violin

Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back – with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. 21: Champs…

Caves & Ives Satisfies Simply

Grandiose décor, beautiful-people servers rattling off flavor-of-the-day food themes, a big-name chef, the environmental sustainability of the chair your ass is currently occupying — it’s all about concepts these days. How about this for a concept: no concept. Flickering candlelight, the perfume of baking bread, the laughs of good friends,…

Coming Soon: Vintage 95

​Editor’s Note: This post has changed since it was originally published. The southeast corner of Boston and Oregon streets n downtown Chandler has had many faces. In 1926 it was the town’s first post office. More recently it has been the home of Siracha, KiZake and even a boutique clothing…

Oatmeal Throw Down: Burger King vs. McDonald’s

As much as we love the hand-crafted croissants from Essence or the crepes and coffee from Jobot, these one-of-a-kind breakfast joints tend to be few and far between. Sometimes we have to slum it at the mega chains.   Unfortunately, those deep-fried dens generally do better at scrambling rubbery eggs…

Dominic Fasano’s Mimosa Pancakes

For the last two days we’ve talked with Jobot Coffee Shop’s crepe master, Dominic Fasano. Today, he’ll share one of his favorite recipes from the popular (and soon to return!) Sunday Beats-n-Brunch. “I just tried to covert the mimosa drink that we all know, champagne and orange juice, into a…

Gyro Feta Pita from Crazy Jim’s

Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back – with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. 22: Gyro…

Bye Bye Sola Coffee Bar, Hello Cartel Coffee Lab Scottsdale

Rumors were confirmed yesterday with a phone call to Sola Coffee Bar on 5th Street in Scottsdale — a recording immediately picks up and states they are no longer Sola, they are now Cartel Coffee Lab. We briefly spoke with Cartel Coffee owner Jason Silberschlag, who confirmed the takeover. According to Silberschlag, Sola no…

Narcisse Champagne & Tea Lounge Goes White This Saturday

If you’re a good little fashion hard-liner, the post-Labor Day moratorium on white clothing and accessories is to be taken seriously — which makes us wonder if Narcisse Champagne & Tea Lounge is throwing their First Annual White Party as one last hurrah for the coolest color of summer. At…

Dominic Fasano of Jobot Coffee Shop, Part 2

This week we are hanging out at Jobot Coffee Shop with Chef Dominic Fasano. Yesterday we chatted about the future of Nachobot and today, he’ll share about learning to make crepes and bringing back Sunday brunch. What are some changes you’ve made since being here? I changed the whole menu…

Jewish Sliders from Chompie’s

Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back – with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. 23: Jewish…

In Season: Anaheim Chile Peppers

Whether you’re a CSA devotee, a farmers’ market weekender or consider ketchup a veg, we’ll bring you fresh inspiration for how to prepare our local produce.This week’s harvest: Anaheim Chile Peppers I think the most intoxicating scent from a farmers’ market is not from the bunches of lemon basil or…

AMC Esplanade 14 Dine-In Theater: Sneak Preview

If you’re hankerin’ for a little blackened salmon with your Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, or an Oreo mudslide with your Contagion, you won’t have long to wait. The new AMC Dine-In Theater in Central Phoenix, the cineplex on the second level of The Esplanade, will open its…

Spicy Tofu Soup from Chodang

Tired of the same old tired orange chicken and California rolls? Want to venture beyond the standard suburbian-stale take-out? Here comes Chop PHX, with the Valley’s rarer Asian offerings. This Week: Sundubu Jjigae (Spicy Korean Tofu Stew) from Chodang (501 N. Arizona Ave,. Chandler) The Basics: Sundubu jjigae is a…

Dominic Fasano of Jobot Coffee Shop

This week we’re spending some time with Dominic Fasano, the guy responsible for the expanding menu at downtown’s coffee and crepe haven, Jobot Coffee Shop. Fasano — who credits his discovery of cooking, in part, to an obsession with infomercial gadgets — trained at the Scottsdale Culinary Institute and studied Italian…

Parrillada from Asadero Norte de Sonora

Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back – with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. 24: Parrillada…

Awesome Food: Small Grants Awarded for “Flashes of Micro-Brilliance”

​No-strings-attached micro-grants to help launch your awesome ideas. Wouldn’t that be fantastic? Wait, it’s already happening. It’s The Awesome Foundation for the Arts and Sciences. They even have a chapter dedicated solely to food appropriately called, Awesome Food. Awesome Food awards $1000 every month to folks they deem the most,…