Book Notes: I always get a laugh when people tell me I’ve got a glamorous job. Maybe 5 percent of my time is spent at the trough. And maybe 5 percent of that is really good eating. Believe me, the other 95 percent of my work–sitting in front of a…
Bistecca, 7014 East Camelback (Scottsdale Fashion Square), Scottsdale, 481-7800. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Sunday through Thursday, 5 to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m. Kids scan the skies for Santa Claus. Mountain climbers keep an eye out for Sasquatch. Divers…
Mr. Tokyo, 5965 West Ray Road, Chandler, 940-8999. Hours: Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Thursday, 10:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 10:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Back in the 1970s, my wife and I were Peace Corps volunteers, teaching in a dirt-poor…
Market Watch: Not very long ago, Valley residents looking for any ethnic food except soy sauce had to make an excursion to Los Angeles. Things sure have changed. These days, every supermarket carries aisles of once-exotic products. Why? Let’s give credit where credit is due–the magic of capitalism. More and…
Years ago, living in Los Angeles, I had Middle Eastern neighbors, refugees from the civil war in Lebanon. The wife seemed to have superhuman energy–working full-time, keeping close watch on three kids and cooking up a storm. Once in a while, Nadja would send over a platter of the evening’s…
Up in Smoke: If you run a wine and liquor retail operation, you look forward to the holiday season with the same sense of anticipation as a kid with a notarized “good behavior” certificate from Santa. That’s when the profits roll in. On November 8 the Valley’s premier wine outlet…
Cafe Nordstrom, 7055 East Camelback (Nordstrom at Scottsdale Fashion Square), Scottsdale, 946-4111. Lunch and Dinner, Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Today’s report: The First Thanksgiving. The Pilgrims were on the verge of starvation. The dreadful winter of 1620-21 had wiped out…
Grateful Thanks: This is the time of year to reflect and give thanks for our many blessings. Obviously, we’re all appreciative of Arizona’s postcard scenery–and weather that lets us enjoy it. But, as someone whose job requires 225 meals out a year, here’s what makes me warm with gratitude: *…
Wrigley Mansion Club, 2501 East Telawa Trail, Phoenix, 955-4079. Lunch, Monday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.; Dinner, Wednesday through Saturday, 5 to 11 p.m. You’ve got to hand it to America’s old-time robber barons. Sure, the Vanderbilts, the Fricks and the Rockefellers brutally exploited their workers, corrupted the…
Rising to the Occasion: Chefs are always looking to be on the cutting edge. One saucy French chef, however, has apparently gone just a bit too far. According to Nation’s Restaurant News, Jean-Louis Galland came up with a novel way to get his beef piccata with fig vinegar and fine…
The Barbecue Company’s Grill & Cafe, 4636 South 36th Street, Phoenix, 243-3771. Hours: Lunch, Monday through Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. No one has any trouble praising greatness. But mediocrity rarely gets its due. Perhaps history’s most inspired defense of mediocrity came in 1970, from Senator Roman Hruska. The…
Grin and Beer It: I used to think that just about every possible microbrew niche has been filled. Remember 10 years ago, when the typical supermarket beer case carried Bud, Miller and an occasional foreign six-pack? These days, even the corner grocery carries Belgian-style suds, wheat brews, honey ales and…
Safe Mex: There’s no shortage of Mexican restaurants in the Valley. But there aren’t too many outstanding ones. This week’s Mexican-food trip (see Cafe review, page 81) got me thinking about just which ones they are. The following places may be somewhat light on atmosphere, but they all dish out…
El Conquistador, 15420 North 32nd Street, Phoenix, 493-3913. Hours: Lunch, Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dinner, Tuesday through Friday, 5 to 9 p.m.; Lunch and Dinner, Saturday, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Would you ever walk into a bookstore, randomly buy…
Restaurant Makeover: It’s easy to confuse change with progress. Let’s hope confusion between the two doesn’t break out at one of the Valley’s premier dining spots, the Chaparral Room at the posh Camelback Inn. For umpteen years, folks went to the Chaparral for the kind of old-fashioned continental elegance they…
Leccabaffi Ristorante, 9719 North Hayden, Scottsdale, 609-0429. Hours: Lunch, Tuesday through Friday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; Dinner, Tuesday through Sunday, 5 to 11 p.m. My fellow citizens: Today, I announce my candidacy for governor. If my write-in campaign is successful, the people of this great state can count on…
Montana Grill & Bread Company, 3717 East Indian School Road, Phoenix, 553-8553. Hours: breakfast, lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday, 6:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Can we talk? It’s time we had a discussion about grills. It seems that just about every new restaurant in town calls itself a “grill.”…
Tough Customers: When you attend the theater, do you demand the actors put on Rent? At football games, do you urge the players to dribble the ball? When you go to a Garth Brooks concert, do you insist he perform a medley of LL Cool J’s hits? Of course not…
Crackers & Co. Cafe, 535 West Iron Avenue, Mesa, 898-1717. Hours: Breakfast and Lunch, 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., seven days a week; Dinner, Tuesday through Saturday, 5 to 9 p.m. You want affordable housing and good schools? The East Valley’s got them. You want low crime rates and conservative…
Holding Serve: I got a long, angry note from a waitress who’s put in eight years on the job. According to her, “It’s getting rugged out here.” She wants to remind the public that the server-diner relationship is a two-way street. “Everyone on this planet,” she says, “upon adulthood, should…
Bugged: Remember the old joke? Diner: Waiter, there’s a fly in my soup. Waiter: Lower your voice! Or everyone else will ask for one. It’s not a joke anymore, at least according to an enormously entertaining new book. It’s the Eat-A-Bug Cookbook, by David George Gordon (Ten Speed Press, $12.95)…
Little Saigon, 1588 West Montebello (Christown Mall), Phoenix, 864-7582. Hours: Breakfast, lunch and dinner, Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Saturday and Sunday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. A hundred years ago, in America’s biggest cities, new neighborhoods with names like Little Italy and Germantown sprang up, home…
