Attention, gourmets! I’ve discovered an oasis of fine dining in the American desert Southwest. Unfortunately, it’s not in Phoenix. It’s in Las Vegas. Las Vegas? Isn’t that the place where culinary sophistication means simultaneously balancing two heavily loaded plates at the $3.99 all-you-can-eat buffet? Isn’t that the place where gastronomy…
Buffeted: What if you can’t afford dinner at Picasso or Le Cirque? (See this week’s Cafe “review.) You can still eat well at the Bellagio, if not as elegantly, for just a fraction of the cost. The Bellagio’s dinner buffet, like almost everything else at this hotel, is so over-the-top…
Sampan, 668 North 44th Street (COFCO Chinese Cultural Center), Phoenix, 602-286-9888. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, dim sum buffet, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, 5 to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Life would be a lot easier if we didn’t…
What’s New: The Valley’s restaurant boom shows no sign of slowing down. Here’s a run-down of some of the places that have opened over the past few months: * Tequila Grill (4363 North 75th Street, Scottsdale, 480-941-1800). Run by veterans of Sam’s Cafe, this place features Southwestern fare. Look for…
Wright’s and Wrongs: The Arizona Biltmore has been a resort gem ever since the Hoover administration. A recent multimillion-dollar renovation has polished up this jewel even more. But management has never put much effort into its signature restaurant, Wright’s. Yes, the prices are just as high as they are at…
Zipangu, 1006 East Warner, Tempe, 480-839-3924. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 5 to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 10 p.m. “Oh, East is East and West is West, and never the twain shall meet,” wrote Rudyard Kipling. Obviously, the…
Michael Monti’s of Scottsdale, 7500 East Pinnacle Peak Road, Scottsdale, 480-585-3000. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Who says this isn’t a cow town? Outside of India, no place in the world venerates cattle the way…
Cheese Wiz: Readers with long memories may recall a column I did in this space about a year ago about one of the world’s great cheeses, mozzarella di bufala. Italians have been making mozzarella from water buffalo for 2,000 years. Good as the fresh, cow’s-milk mozzarella we’re used to in…
T. Cook’s, Royal Palms, 5200 East Camelback, Phoenix, 602-808-0766. Sunday Brunch: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. She carried us for nine months, then brought us into the world. She fed us, clothed us, sheltered us, comforted us, raised us. She packed our school lunches, took care of us when we…
Mommy Dearest: If you haven’t already made reservations for a Mother’s Day meal, chances are you’ll be feeding Mom in the back seat of your car, after a stop at a drive-through window. Moms are genetically programmed to love you no matter what. But even she may reach her limit…
Coyote Grill, 7077 East Bell, Scottsdale, 480-922-8424. Hours: Lunch, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., seven days a week; Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 4:30 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 4:30 to 11 p.m. Back in 1994, an unpretentious Southwestern restaurant opened at 32nd Street and Greenway Road, one of the…
Bow WOW! I’ve never been much of an animal lover, unless the creatures in question were roasted, grilled or broiled. Yes, we do have a cat, but that’s only because my wife got one while I was foolish enough to go out of town for a few days eight years…
Cafe Terrace, 4151 North Marshall Way, Scottsdale, 480-947-9364. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.; Dinner, Thursday through Saturday, until 10 p.m. Closed Sunday. “Ego cogito, ergo sum,” wrote philosopher Rene Descartes: “I think, therefore I am.” That revelatory insight convinced him of this own reality. From…
The Price Isn’t Right: Oscar Wilde once defined a cynic as one who knows “the price of everything and the value of nothing.” Well, I’m starting to feel more and more cynical. That’s because Valley restaurant prices are starting to get way out of hand. When I first started this…
Acapulco Bay Co., 3030 North 68th Street, Scottsdale, 480-429-1990. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., seven days a week. Today’s Jeopardy! answer: Triple-digit temperatures, crooked politicians and Mexican restaurants. The correct question: Name three things Phoenix doesn’t need any more of. The census bureau says that the…
Hell No, We Won’t Go: The 1998-1999 Valley restaurant season has been remarkable. Eddie Matney, Christopher Gross and Mark Tarbell have all undertaken new ventures. Michael Monti, Paul Fleming and the Marco Polo folks are starting up big-time steak houses. The growing northeast Valley has attracted Coyote Grill, Tomaso’s 2000,…
Tip Top: The food may be bad. The service may be dreadful. But unless servers pour hot coffee on their laps, or insects run across their plates, most diners can be counted on to leave a tip. Last year, Americans left about $12 billion on the table, an average of…
Fog City Diner, 7014 East Camelback Road (Fashion Square Mall), Scottsdale, 874-2300. Hours: Lunch and dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Phoenix is the sixth-largest city in the country. Maricopa County is the fastest-growing county in the country. But…
Flo’s, 14850 North Frank Lloyd Wright Boulevard, Scottsdale, 661-8883. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday, 4:30 to 10 p.m. Most things in life are routinely predictable, aren’t they? You expect your blind date to be ugly. You can…
Channel Eight Is Enough: If you watch public television’s KAET-TV, you’ve probably seen enough promos for its new cooking series, Savor the Southwest, to think you’ve already sat through all 13 episodes. The shows are hosted by Barbara Fenzl, a local food maven who has run Les Gourmettes Cooking School…
Convivo, 7000 North 16th Street, Phoenix, 997-7676. Hours: Dinner, Tuesday through Saturday, 5:30 to 10 p.m. Some restaurants make me want to throw in my napkin and look for another line of work. No, it’s not the lousy places that inspire fantasies of a career change. Bad restaurants actually stir…
Critical Face Off: By now, even folks who don’t care anything about restaurants or critics have heard the Ruth Reichl story. The former all-powerful restaurant reviewer at the New York Times (she just resigned to take the editor’s job at Gourmet), Reichl was recognized by the owner when she tried…
