Hearth ’61

When you enter the Valley’s scattered hotel-and-resort enclave of finer dining, you enter a different world. One of the great fixtures and masters of resort cooking in Arizona, Charles Wiley, has traveled this side of our restaurant culture for decades. These days, he captains the kitchen in Mountain Shadows: Hearth ’61. The beauty of Hearth […]

jade bar

Perched on the north side of Camelback Mountain amid the luxurious Sanctuary resort, this lounge is as good as any in the Valley to get that we’re-not-in-Phoenix-anymore feel. The floor-to-ceiling windows provide a prime view overlooking Paradise Valley, and the people-watching view is nearly as good. And, of course, jade is never better during the […]

La Petite France

Serving a menu of reasonably priced regional specialties from France, including scrumptious dishes of traditional Alsatian cuisine influenced by next-door Germany, this unpresumptuous restaurant, featuring breakfast, lunch, and dinner in Scottsdale’s Seville Shopping Center, seems to have gathered all the charms of its homeland and gathered them into a single, neighborhood French bistro plopped down […]

Lon’s at the Hermosa

There aren’t many white-tablecloth Southwestern restaurants quite like Lon’s, a Paradise Valley haven that delivers the total package: ruddy mountain views, a stellar bar, a broad patio sweeping out from a small brown inn accented with turquoise and, most of all, thoughtful food with deep roots in the Valley and its greater region. The menus […]

LON’s Last Drop

If you live in Phoenix, it’s imperative that you take advantage of the desert climate, which often means finding an ideal outdoor happy hour spot to soak in the gentle sunshine. Many bars can serviceably accommodate this desire, but none beats LON’s Last Drop. Even the drive there is scenic, as it’s located on the […]

Methode Bistro

You haven’t eaten Asian until you’ve had a Tottie Roll, a fried pork roll wrapped in lettuce and mint leaves, and the house specialty at this extra-popular Asian Fusion restaurant. Named for Chef Tottie Kaya, who trained as a professional chef in childhood, these rolls are the talk of culinary circles and the reason that […]

Moriah

Mediterranean with a Sonoran flair; the small menu doesn’t give the chef much room to maneuver, but there’s some talent in this hotel kitchen. Check out the prosciutto-wrapped pork tenderloin or the tasty Spanish tapas. You can also get Prime-grade steaks at Choice-grade prices. Read our review.

New York Bagels ‘N Bialys

Since 1987, New York Bagels ‘N Bialys in Scottsdale has been serving some of the Valley’s best real-deal New York bagels. How? First, they boil the dough before baking, which gives it a sturdy crust and doughy middle. Ah, perfection. The sandwiches are huge and delicious, and there’s even a bar here, so you can […]

NYPD Pizza

Run by Long Island’s Ziegler brothers, this place proves that your name doesn’t have to end in a vowel to run a first-class pizzeria. Excellent thin-crust pizza (try the NYPD Blue, heaped with ricotta, eggplant and roasted peppers) and one of the town’s best calzones. If you can handle dessert after a few oversized slices, […]