For those of you who have already tossed out that freebie Hallmark calendar you pocketed last December, August 8 is Grandparents’ Day. Which raises an important question: How does one commemorate Grandparents’ Day? With a card? With a gift? With a trip to Tom Tate’s? Heck if I know. When…
In the center of the buffet table, water drips from an ice sculpture reading “BIO 2.” Behind the chafing dishes and metal trays, staff members stand at the ready in starched whites and toques. Tonight’s buffet in the Sundance Cafe at the Sheraton Tucson El Conquistador Golf and Tennis resort…
I haven’t visited San Diego in a long time, not since I was a little girl. The zoo is what I remember most about the trip, the children’s section in particular. Color slides from the family archives substantiate my memories. Lights, please? Slide one. Here I am, four years old,…
If you wait long enough, it will come. This is my overriding feeling about Phoenix. Case in point: Korean restaurants. It seemed, for a number of years, that cravings for pickled cabbage or sweet-hot barbecued beef could only be satisfied on the Valley’s west side. Phoenix’s first Korean restaurant, Korean…
I didn’t touch the pizza. I swear. I merely utter the word “sexaholic” during the course of conversation and kerplunk, our gorgeous artichoke-feta-bacon-hearts-of-palm-potato masterpiece is face down on the Mexican-tile floor of Euro Cafe, kersplattered all over. Talk about the power of the spoken word. Naturally, the devastated pizza and…
Ah, the Fourth of July. A time to celebrate our independence, our history, our united state of ethnic diversity. What better way to commemorate the melting pot that is our nation than to visit one of the Valley’s Mexican-Chinese (or Chinese-Mexican) restaurants? No doubt you’ve passed one or two of…
Dana Centrella is a fish fanatic. This Delaware native is a man with a mission: to educate and inform Phoenicians about fish. Specifically, he wants us to know that fish does not have to taste “fishy.” Neither does it have to be expensive. And you don’t need fancy sauces to…
You’re trying to save money. Or maybe you’re struggling to make ends meet. Times are hard, but there are a few things you’re not willing to give up. Like a meal out with the family or friends every once in a blue moon. But where can you go if you’re…
I’ll be honest with you. Normally, I don’t eat breakfast. I get up, drink something hot, and when my stomach starts interfering with my work or fun, I give it something just large enough to keep it quiet until its next meal. Sometimes that’s lunch. Sometimes that’s dinner. This is…
When I walk into the elegant new Ruth’s Chris Steak House in Scottsdale, I am struck by a singular thought: Scotch. An obvious case of stimulus-response, if there ever was one, for Ruth’s Chris takes me back to the late Seventies, when I lived in New York and worked in…
I’ve been thinking about Perry Como lately. Specifically, I’ve been thinking about his song “Catch a Falling Star.” If you’re unaware of Como’s scintillating 1958 hit, the idea conveyed in the song is “Catch a falling star and put it in your pocket” . . . something, something . …
Summer is busting out all over. And in Tempe, Japanese restaurants are sprouting up like mung beans! In the last few months, two new restaurant-sushi bars have opened within mere blocks of each other. And, while both offer fine Japanese dining, neither is truly authentic–or truly wonderful. In the case…
Roaming tourists with minicams. Well-preserved older women resembling TV psychiatrists. Tables of young, upwardly mobile people dressed in suits and ties, cocktail sheaths, gold jewelry and French braids. Out-of-town businessmen relaxing in plaid shirts and Levi’s Dockers after a hard day of conferencing in Phoenix. As evening falls, these are…
A guest from Minneapolis stayed with me recently. We went out to eat a few times. Over dinner, she told me she distrusts restaurant critics. “I almost always assume they’re on the take,” she said. “Or else, if they rave about some place, it’s because that restaurant is an advertiser.”…
Hunks of yellow margarine sizzle madly on a tabletop grill. Thin slices of red, rare beef stick to its surface and darken dramatically. From beneath the gas burner, smoke begins to billow. This potential 911 scene takes place at my table in #1 Restaurant, a new Vietnamese place in a…
My editor likes me to start this column with a bang. A funny anecdote, a clever sentence. This week, I am so unmoved by my eating experiences at Tempe’s new Acapulco Bay Beach Club and Cantina del Pedregal at the Boulders in Carefree, she’s lucky to have even this dull…
Once upon a time, in a very rich country, the people elected a president who helped them become even richer. Soon, there was so much money to spend, the people didn’t know what to do with it all. They bought big boats and big TVs and fancy watches and called…
Power lunch conjures up a distinct image, doesn’t it? Briefcase-wielding men in dark suits and red ties. American Express card-carrying women wearing just the right amount of real gold jewelry, and with hair and nails that take time and money to achieve. It evokes the sound of conversations conducted sotto…
You don’t have to be a genius to figure out the genesis of Hooters. You don’t even have to read Hooters’ press release or back-of-the-menu description to make an educated guess. The name pretty much says it all, doesn’t it? And no, we’re not talking about owls. Hooters, the restaurant,…
Welcome to the last installment of our continuing series Penelope Does Brunch. Today’s episode is subtitled “Far Out,” in which Penelope travels to such remote locations as Carefree, Litchfield Park, and an equestrian theme park in north Scottsdale. In addition to racking up mileage, Penelope finds good food and has…
Ever find yourself waxing nostalgic for that neighborhood spaghetti joint back wherever you came from? The one where you didn’t have to worry about how you were dressed? Where they served all your favorites, like baked ziti, stuffed shells, manicotti, lasagna? Where service was casual but good, and melting candles…
How I arrive at La Mexicana in El Mirage is an imprecise process. “It’s behind the Circle K,” my tipster has told me. This is my only clue. I do not know the address. Fortunately, El Mirage is not a big place. Fortunately, I know where the town is, having…
