Best Alternative to Sending Flowers 2009 | Urban Cookies | Shopping & Services | Phoenix
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Best Alternative to Sending Flowers

Urban Cookies

Judy Nichols

Flowers are overdone. Edible Arrangements look a little creepy. So when you care enough to send the very best, send cookies! Urban Cookies creates adorable care packages for any occasion under the blazing sun. Each brown box is customized with a design of your choosing and squared off with a fanciful ribbon. As for the contents, you can't go wrong. There's the dark chocolate walnut coconut-rolled oat cookie called the Urban, a milk chocolate and molasses brown sugar creation called the Simple Urban, a coconut-pineapple dream known as the Urban Tropic, and the Urban Trail, which somehow manages to involve almonds, sunflower seeds, brown rice crisps, oats, and raisins. Gift packages start at $25 for eight cookies. Um, did we mention we just broke our pinkie toe and could use a little TLC right now?

Best Baking Supplies

ABC Cake Decorating Supplies

From the professional pastry chef to the neophyte fondant user to the 6-year-old looking for anything with Elmo on it, ABC has it — and a pretty pink bakery box to put it in. We're pretty sure this place carries every Wilton product on the market; you can find cake toppers for every holiday (and, yes, aisles devoted to cartoon and TV characters, including the furry red monster); and we've been known to spend way more time than should be allowed staring at the dozens of varieties of sprinkles. In the end, you may go running home to Betty Crocker, but you can decorate her cake in style, thanks to ABC, and no one will have to know.

Best Cooking Supplies

Le Gourmet Chef

Don't laugh at us, but we needed a new meat thermometer. Our heart was set on the Redi-Fork Digital Probe Thermometer with Detachable Tines and Rapid Read TipTake, but who wants to pay retail for such a high-end item? We certainly didn't, so we headed out to Le Gourmet Chef and almost wished, once we arrived, that we hadn't. But only because we wound up with a new set of galvanized cookware and some once-pricey oven mitts we would never had bought if they were full price. This place is like a gorgeous museum of all things cookery, from tiny sugar cube tongs to electric griddles, and everything at bargain basement prices. Our meat thermometer is magnificent, and it cost us less than half what it would have anywhere else. Definitely worth the drive to Anthem. We're going back!

Best Knife Shop

Phoenix Knife House

The only confusing thing about this amazing pointy emporium is its name: Phoenix Knife House is located in Scottsdale. Geography aside, everything about Eytan Zias' knife shop makes perfect sense. Zias is a former chef whose love for all things sharp led him to open a store that also offers cookbooks, whetstones, and chef's uniforms. But it's the dozen specialty lines of cutlery — including rare Masahiro and Misono knives — that most folks come here for. That and the even rarer service of by-hand knife sharpening that Phoenix Knife House offers. Which makes this place (dare we?) a cut above the rest.

Best Spice Shop

Penzeys Spices

After Googling the daylights out of "where to buy smoked paprika," imagine our delight in discovering that the most-recommended online spice shop boasts one of its 41 worldwide retail outlets right here in Scottsdale. With soft green walls and clever crate displays housing spices from around the world, Penzeys Spices has created a playground for cooks. From three varieties of saffron to whole star anise to "double vanilla" extract, there are aromatic samples of every item throughout the store.

Who knew Ceylon cinnamon smelled so vastly different from its Vietnamese counterpart? Peppered throughout the store are notepads free for the taking, serving up recipes like "Festive Mural of Flavor Turkey Dinner" and "Tsardust Chicken Thighs." We expected the location and the specialty nature of this shop to equate to stress on the wallet, but au contraire. Penzeys' spices and extracts come in a variety of sizes and in bulk, and weigh in cheaper, ounce for ounce, than the blander grocery store stuff.

Best Place to Buy Bulk Herbs

Chakra 4

If Viagra isn't your bag, maybe damiana leaf is. The Mexican-grown herb's one of many supposed aphrodisiac herbs available at Chakra 4, a shop chock-full of bulk herbs for just about any ailment. Patrons can pick from hundreds of herbs, including astragalus root (supposedly an immune booster), lycii berries (an alleged anti-inflammatory), chrysanthemum flowers (for tasty teas), and deer-antler powder (for God-knows-what). And if you don't know what herbs you need, the staff at Chakra 4 is well versed in New Age medicinal brews and tinctures and will be more than happy to help out. The store also includes a variety of mushrooms, dried berries, and ready-made tinctures and teas.

Best Oil and Vinegar

Cucina Olive Oils

There are just a few tasting grounds for serious gourmets in the Valley, and we've discovered a new hot spot. Cucina Olive Oils does just two things but does them with panache: gourmet olive oils and vinegars. Huge vats line this quaint, Tuscan-themed boutique, and there are tiny, plastic shot glasses for tastes. How about a Meyer lemon olive oil blended with a fruity black currant balsamic for a fresh summertime vinaigrette? Owner Chrissy Guglielmo encourages customers not only to sample the vast international selection but to combine flavors for the full experience. Cucina also offers regular cooking classes and demos for a small fee. Learn how to make a strawberry balsamic chocolate truffle and take home the tangy main ingredient.

Best Coffee Beans

Cartel Coffee Lab

Not only does this indie serve some of the best-brewed pick-me-ups in the Valley, but it also offers its bomb-diggity coffee beans for sale. Some of our faves include the fancy-pants Black Market Espresso, with its hint of grapefruit (sounds yucky, but it's fantastic), and roasts from Brazil and Guatemala. The shop, housed in a warehouse-like space, also sells goodies for the home brewer, such as straightforward French press coffee makers to more elaborate espresso machines.

Best New Coffee House

Lola Coffee

Evie Carpenter

If Lola Coffee seems familiar, that's no surprise. It may remind you a bit of Lux, a coffeehouse down the street that originally was owned by Daniel Wayne, the same guy bringing you this latest offering. Lola's got big tables, comfortable chairs, lots of light and delicious, fresh-roasted coffee. The cherry on this coffee-flavored sundae? Fresh baked pastries from Danielle Librera, formerly of Sweet Pea Bakery. Her peanut butter and jelly cookies are the best, and we bet you can talk the friendly baristas into forgoing the coffee and selling you an ice-cold glass of milk.

Best Coffee House, Central Phoenix

Hob Nobs

We go there every Sunday morning, for a bunch of different reasons: We love the massive remodel of the place, which turned the former hippie-dippy Willo House into a sleek-but-still-cozy coffee shop that feels like someone's well-appointed home. We're crazy about the quiche and the tasty baked goods and the private rooms where we can drag a group of friends for a quick, caffeine-fueled wake-up party. Did we mention how good the coffee is? Strong and dark and always available in tasty blends and two strengths. You'll find us draped over one of the big leather sofas in front of the fireplace on any Sunday, and occasionally we sneak back during the week for one of Hob Nobs' yummy salad-and-sandwich combos.

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