21 Cakes

The cupcake fad ain’t over yet. At least not according to pastry chef Linda Schneider. Named after the glamorous Art Deco period, Schneider’s upscale cupcakery in Scottsdale, decked out in marble and glass, features 12 different creations made each day from her family’s recipes. Moist, light, and topped with an icing more sugary than creamy, […]

43rd Express

43rd Express (also known as Pho 43Express) is a family-run Vietnamese restaurant that has specialized in pho, the wildly popular beef noodle soup, since 1993. There are 20 pho options, including the Pho Dac Biet (house specialty pho), served with rice noodles and slices of brisket, tendon and tripe submerged in the restaurant’s intensely flavored […]

A&J Chicago-Style Bar-B-Q

Chi-town’s not just the home of the “Louis Vuitton Don” Kanye West and the 2005 World Series champion White Sox, it also boasts some of the best ‘cue in the U.S. Fortunately, A & J has been cookin’ up the ribs, hot links, and rib tips Chi-town-style now for some 20 years-plus. So, you can […]

AJ’s Fine Foods

The ultimate gourmet grocery in Arizona, AJ’s Fine Foods has eleven locations throughout the Valley in Scottsdale, Chandler, Glendale, and Phoenix. Each one stocks a choice selection of artisanal cheeses, meats, baked goods, produce, and deli fare. Whether you’re hunting for a nationally acclaimed specialty item like Jeni’s Splendid Ice Creams, looking for a local […]

America’s Taco Shop

By popular vote, this place is the home of the best carne asada in the valley-not to mention some of the freshest food around. America’s Taco Shop makes everything fresh daily, in house, often from locally grown ingredients. We dig the Torta Pastor, a sort of a Mexican sandwich of toasted telera bread, mayonnaise, guacamole, […]

Angel Sweet

Twenty-four types of Italian gelato, made fresh daily, in a small store the size of your normal ice cream shop. They’re big on flavor, though, probably the closest thing to real Italian gelato you’ll get short of hopping the next plane to Milan. Try the coconut and the pistachio – they’re out of this world. […]

Arriba Mexican Grill

There are only a few Valley outposts of New Mexican-style Mexican food, which is typically hot and spicy. If you like to feel the burn, check out the carne adobada or chile colorado, both of which give off the lingering scorch of Hatch, New Mexico chiles. Nice touch: The traditional chips and salsa opener is […]

Awesome Cookie Company

With a name like Awesome Cookie Company, you’d expect nothing short of, well, awesome from a cookie. Luckily, the cookies deliver on the name, even though there are only two flavors available. The most popular option, the cranberry oatmeal, kind of tastes like a really fancy enlarged Cookie Crisp, which is baffling because it isn’t […]

The Bakery PHX

The Bakery PHX is not a trendy cupcake shop, though the bright, simple interior and handwritten signage are modern and stylish. It’s also not a traditional spot, as it serves both freshly baked sourdough bread loaves as well as the shop’s take on the Twinkie, which actually looks more like a Ho Ho on the […]