How Not to Succeed in Business: Will somebody please explain to me how Michael Jordan could have ever thought of giving up basketball for baseball? Can somebody tell me why Mel Gibson insisted on playing Hamlet? The urge to be something we’re not isn’t confined to athletes and movie stars…
Blame It on Rio: One of the restaurant industry’s hottest concepts is the rodizio. Think of it as a Brazilian grill, featuring endless courses of skewered meats, lavishly presented. Typically, waiters dressed as gauchos bring sizzling, sword-size skewers to the table and dramatically slice everything from beef to chicken hearts…
Chaparral, 5402 East Lincoln Drive (Marriott’s Camelback Inn), Paradise Valley, 948-1700. Dinner: 6 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. About a year ago, management at the five-diamond, superluxe Camelback Inn resort decided to jettison everything about the high-end Chaparral restaurant except the name. No, the place wasn’t exactly broke…
Biltmore Afternoon Tea, Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, 24th Street and Missouri, 955-6600. Afternoon Tea: 2:30 to 4:30 p.m., seven days a week. How come Americans drink coffee instead of tea? You can trace the answer back to 1773, when 60 men, dressed as Indians, dumped 340 chests of tea…
Variations on a Theme: Ever since Hard Rock Cafe became an international success a generation ago, copycat theme restaurants have rushed in to nab a share of the market. In what’s called the “eatertainment” business, no imitator has made as big a splash as Planet Hollywood. For several years after…
Nixon’s, 2501 East Camelback (Shops at the Esplanade), Phoenix, 852-0900. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.; Dinner, Sunday, 4 to 11 p.m. A grateful nation remembers its first president as the “Father of Our Country.” He’s famous for saying, “I cannot tell a lie.”…
Art of Cooking: Some weeks back in this space, I took a few swipes at a new book, Dining Out: Secrets From America’s Leading Critics, Chefs, and Restaurateurs, by Andrew Dornenburg and Karen Page. I thought the level of pretension was pretty high. What most rankled was the notion that…
What kind of south-of-the-border traveler are you? Do you get on an airplane and head to a fancy resort? Do you stay where the drinking water is pure, the swimming pool is heated, the flies have been banned, all major credit cards are accepted and the employees speak faultless English?…
Steakout: Do you think this is still a cow town? Judging by the number of new steak restaurants that are opening, you’d be right. The only other place on earth where cows receive such reverential worship is India. Three upscale steak houses are set to do business in Scottsdale, where…
Bistro Provence, 8900 East Pinnacle Peak (La Mirada Plaza), Scottsdale, 473-2884. Hours: Lunch and dinner, 11 a.m. to close, seven days a week. Attention, men: Have you remembered to pencil in Valentine’s Day on your calendar? Better do it now, because you can bet your sweetie has circled the date…
Caveat Emptor: I’ve said this before, but it’s worth saying again: If my e-mails, letters and telephone calls are any indication, Valentine’s Day is number one when it comes to generating eating-out complaints. It makes sense. It’s the second-busiest restaurant day of the year (only Mother’s Day is busier), but…
After an exhaustive search, I was selected to sit in for Howard Seftel during his well-earned vacation on the basis of two criteria. First, I was willing to do it. Second, and this was the clincher, I eat on a daily basis. But since a large portion of my diet…
A James Beard award-winner, Christopher Gross has been one of this town’s most accomplished and sophisticated chefs for more than a decade. His wife, Paola, is a highly credentialed wine expert. Biltmore Fashion Park is a chic, swanky mall. At most of its shops, if you have to ask how…
Soupy Sales: There isn’t much of a soup season in the Valley of the Perpetual Sun–maybe a three-month window lasting from about Thanksgiving to the beginning of spring training. For soup lovers like me, though, ’tis the season to be jolly. A steaming bowl of soup can really take the…
Al Dente’s, 14850 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Scottsdale, 657-9322. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Dinner, Sunday, 4 to 9 p.m. Next year, the census takers will be fanning out around the country, counting heads and gathering information…
If You Knew Sushi: Every restaurant needs a gimmick, right? Well, one German restaurant has taken the Hooters concept way beyond the next level. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, an industry trade paper, a sushi restaurant in Hanover, Germany, has come up with a novel way to serve sushi: on…
Generation X Files: Are you between the ages of 25 and 36? Do you think no one cares about you? Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Some very important people care very much about you. They’re the people who run the world’s biggest liquor companies. Gen Xers are fueling a resurgence…
Eddie Matney’s Epicurean Trio, 2398 East Camelback, Phoenix, 957-3214. Hours: Fine-Dining Room–Dinner, Tuesday through Saturday, 6 to 10 p.m; Bistro–Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 10:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11:30 p.m. For most of the 1990s, Eddie Matney,…
It’s the season for fantasy. The warm glow is still with us: Family members are still talking to one another, we’ve got a righteous feeling about all the self-improvement resolutions we’ve sworn to undertake at some indeterminate future time, and we can enjoy all our gifts before the bills come…
Would you like to have your cavities filled by a student dentist? Would you get on an airplane flown by a student pilot? Would you trust your haircut to a student barber? I get the dry heaves when a skilled dentist approaches me with dental floss, let alone a whirring…
Message to Santa: Peace on Earth? Goodwill toward men? A winning PowerBall ticket? The Big Guy at the North Pole never seems to act on my personal Christmas wishes. He doesn’t seem to care for my professional wishes, either. If I don’t get some action soon, I’m going to be…
Book Notes: I always get a laugh when people tell me I’ve got a glamorous job. Maybe 5 percent of my time is spent at the trough. And maybe 5 percent of that is really good eating. Believe me, the other 95 percent of my work–sitting in front of a…
