It’s hard to believe Greg LaPrad, executive chef and owner of Phoenix’s farm-to-table sensation, Quiessence Restaurant & Wine Bar, almost didn’t make it as a chef. The 28-year-old, originally from Connecticut, got his start cooking weekend meals with his father when he was a kid, but his parents weren’t too keen of…
[jump] But I still got my bratwurst fix this past weekend, when one of my friends scored a bunch of tickets to an Arizona Fall League game. A group of us took a trek out to the westside, to Camelback Ranch in Glendale — during Spring Training, this is the…
Stacey Gordon The puppeteer and improviser with Die Puppet Die and puppet maker at www.puppetpie.com has a puppet show for grown-ups on January 1 and 2 at 8 p.m. at the Great Arizona Puppet Theater. What’d you eat for dinner last night? California rolls from Cherry Blossom Noodle Cafe. Favorite food:…
If you’re thinking about stopping by for some nigiri at Pure Sushi at the Scottsdale Civic Plaza, don’t be surprised to find this notice from the county on the doors. The restaurant closed unexpectedly last week, when the restaurant owners vacated the premises. The Maricopa County Environmental Services Department hasn’t updated its…
[jump] Incredibly, there still aren’t that many amazing options for brunch in CenPho, so I’m always on the lookout. This place offers it from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays. Can’t say I was terribly impressed, although I’d give it another shot because I don’t live far…
Jones Soda Co., known for quirky and unusual drinks sweetened with real cane sugar, has introduced a new offering for 2009: Tofurky and Gravy soda. Yes, as if last year’s Turkey and Gravy soda wasn’t enough to make us want to hurl just reading the label, now our vegetarian friends can partake in a real Thanksgiving feast out of a bottle.
Another week has come and gone leaving us to ponder the upcoming events that will shape our lives and, more importantly, our dinners out. But before we move on, let’s have one last look at the blog posts from this week: Chef Christopher Mayo Replaces Matt Taylor at Metro Brasserie…
To go along with why Americans are so fat, www.madatoms.com presents their guide to popular fast food joints:…
I drink more tea than I want to admit — I must horde at least a dozen different kinds at any given time. Lately genmaicha is my fixation. I bought this particular Ito-En brand “Oishii O-Cha” at Lee Lee, where you’ll find genmaicha from several different makers…
Leave me alone with my seafood and I’m fine. Although I dine alone pretty often, just to fill my belly or scout out a new restaurant, sushi bars and seafood restaurants are some of the only places I can count on to feel comfortable when flying solo. After working late…
We’ve heard rumors about crazy high-fat diet plans and free food for obese diners at Chandler’s Heart Attack Grill since it originally opened in 2005. We figured we’d pop by for a Bypass (yes, that’s what they call their burgers) and shed a little light on their high-calorie fare, even if it means we’re clearly not shedding any pounds this week.
This week’s Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, taking place downtown, seems to have spawned all kinds of fun activities planned for this weekend. On Friday night from 6 to 10 p.m., the free Green Streets Festival will take over Roosevelt Street between 4th and 7th Streets. Along with myriad vendors, artists, and musical guests,…
We should have uploaded the photo above after we wrote the copy. It’s a little hard to type with all this drool covering the keyboard. Then again, that’s what good barbecue does, right? It incites salivation. Needless to say, we’ll definitely be checking out Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue; especially after…
If you like to geek out on culinary trend pieces as much as I do, then you’ll love the baker’s dozen of food culture somebodies and tastemakers that the website Chow.com has compiled for its first-annual Chow 13 Awards. From the dude who has Angelenos compulsively checking Twitter to get…
I’ve talked to chef Aaron May about a number of his restaurants over the past few years, but I’m not sure I’ve ever heard him sound as excited as he does about Mabel’s on Main, the old-school-chic watering hole he’s opening sometime around December 1. “For me, after Sol y…
The moment Pavle Milic has been waiting for is almost here. If all goes as planned, he’ll finally be opening his own restaurant, called FnB, sometime around the 23rd of this month. That’s not even two weeks away, and Milic couldn’t be more excited…
Kabuki, a casual Japanese restaurant with locations in Southern California, Arizona and Las Vegas, is adding seven new menu items specifically tailored for Arizona palates. What does that mean? Think spicy, Mexican-influenced sauces. Salsa. And bubbling cheese, great for first timers wary of more traditional sushi.
If you want to see something scary, click on this transparency by awesome.good.is. It’s a representation of the percentages of people in certain countries who are overweight, and surprise, surprise, the U.S. represents with the highest percent at 66.3 percent. We have to be number one in everything else, right, so obesity may as…
We were actually hungry for soup. It was a Monday. My colleague and I were wracking our brains over where to find a decent bowl of soup, as if it would somehow magically thwart the swine flu (knock on wood, so far so good. . .). But then we remembered…
How far would you drive for great barbecue? Five miles? Fifteen miles? Even farther? When my carnivorous urges are in overdrive, I’m not even sure how I would answer that question, except to say I’d definitely rack up some miles for a pulled pork fix. There’s a certain kind of…
Let’s just get this out of the way: Ra Sushi is not Japanese cuisine. Not proper Japanese cuisine anyway. That being said, it can be delicious as I found out at a new menu tasting at Ra Sushi in North Scottsdale last night…
When head chef Matt Alleshouse of Tommy V’s Osteria Pizzeria created this recipe, he was looking to put a new twist on an old meal–the hunters-style dish. Typical hunters’ dishes are made in one pot, cooked with the meat the hunter caught. It’s a technique that’s been used hundreds of years, but…
