Restaurants

For abundance, eye appeal, and ease of preparation I suggest a bounty of simple foods that I call a cheese platter on steroids.

Laurie Notaro ​Boy, are we full. 2011 was a year of great new restaurants, delicious morsels — and many new recipes to try. Here are a few of the favorites Chow Bella shared with you this last year.  10. Laurie Notaro’s Chicken Pot Pie Not only was our favorite funny lady kind enough…

​Allow me to introduce you to a new, awesome word: sabrage. It’s the name given to the practice of opening a champagne bottle with a sword. If your New Year’s resolution is to be a badass, you should learn it. I can hear your incredulousness, but trust me — sabrage…

Today we bring you the second half of our chat with Jeff Kraus of Truckin’ Good Food. Kraus, owner and chef, spoke yesterday about his take on French cuisine. Today we’ve got the scoop on his progress turning TGF from one kick-ass food truck into a brick-and-mortar restaurant. If you…

In this week’s Battle of the Dishes, we’re pitting two local breakfast giants against one another omelet-a-omelet. Matt’s Big Breakfast and Over Easy are frequently named as top breakfast joints, and both of them were featured on Food Network’s Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives.

When a new spot opens in town, I can’t wait to check it out and to let you know my initial impressions. As the name implies, First Taste is not a full-blown review, but a peek inside restaurants that have just opened, sampling a few items, sharing a few photos,…

Last week we asked you about your favorite holiday drink. This week, as you prepare for holiday celebration part two, we want to know what your least favorite holiday drink is. There are plenty of cliched New Year’s customs: resolutions, midnight kisses, champagne. But even though champagne contains alcohol, we would…

This New Year’s Eve, reserve a table at Cibo in downtown Phoenix to enjoy simple-yet-amazing Crepes Suzette in the restaurant’s romantic garden dining area. After all, dessert that’s plied with liquor and set on fire just screams New Year’s Eve.

We’re chatting in this week’s Chef Chat with Jeff Kraus, owner and chef of Truckin’ Good Food. Although the mobile version of TGF no longer roams the streets of Phoenix bringing Parisian-inspired delicacies to Valley residents, Kraus’ new endeavors are making our mouths water. We’re talking new menus and even…

Welcoming in the winter season, a new line-up of Valley chefs and taste makers has been set to host Phoenix Public Market’s Winter Chef Series, two-hour demonstrations and cooking classes featuring a variety of memorable meals and culinary personalities. Mark Tarbell, chef and owner of Tarbell’s, the award-winning neighborhood restaurant…

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 Toscano/black/dinosaur/cavolo nero/lacinato kale…

Season two of Check, Please! Arizona on KPBS premieres at 7 p.m. Thursday, January 5 with Chef/Host Robert McGrath at the head of the table, once again. Read on for a sneak preview of some of the restaurants featured this season…..

We may have shown you this one before — it’s a favorite around here — but it bears re-watching, particularly if you’re stealing a few well-deserved moments to yourself this holiday. Sweet dreams from Chow Bella!Follow Chow Bella on Facebook and Twitter.   …

Our latest Chow Bella showdown: a traditional holiday cookie exchange. Today: our final entry, Amy Silverman’s “The Holidays Really Take Their Toll (House) Cookies.”   Let’s face it: You’ve made it this far in the holiday season and all you really want right now is a stiff drink (we’ve got…

​We talked a little bit last week about eggnog, but if you’ve spent more than 20 minutes at Chow Bella you know that I’m a beer guy. A good beer offers a bigger body and complementary flavors that will bring your nog to the next level. Plus, beernog has an…

. Then sort of press and knead just until the dough holds together. It should be ratty. That’s my word for uneven, wet and dry, crumbly and barely held together dough. Ratty dough means that the butter is still lumpy and the scones will be tender and flakey.

Are you like us and could eat breakfast for every single meal of the day? Now presenting all the egg-based dishes, pancakes and fruit and yogurt combos imaginable to make you weak in the knees and urge you to go to bed early — just so the sunrise can more quickly…

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 we bring you two recipes: Amy Morris’ Snickerdoodles and Spritz cookies. Snickerdoodles! Fun to say, and delicious. These are my husband’s favorite and if you mention…

32 Shea is the kind of restaurant where you could easily spend hours — the temperature is perfect, the seating comfortable, and its small size means the occupation of a few tables or barstools creates an intimate scene almost immediately. One might even feel, upon opening the door to its…

It’s that time of year again: Time to navigate the thorny realm of holidays with the relatives. There are many ways to cope with the dread of sitting around the dining room table for hours, but there’s nothing quite like a stiff drink to help ease the uncomfortable conversations about…

​Sweet and spicy, crunchy or soft, gingerbread is a holiday harbinger that ushers in the season. Some prefer to mainline their gingerbread in latte form, or snarf a giant stack of gingerbread pancakes from Daily Dose, but we’re purists. Give us our gingerbread men straight out of the oven, just like…

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: Nicole Smith’s Mini Pans. Some people say, “I’m turning into my mother” like it’s a bad thing. Yeah, so there are a few traits I’ve been…