Food & Drink

We have more aprons, front-row seats and “A” spots in the signing line to give away, but this time we’re making it a little trickier. We won’t be drawing from a hat. Instead, the Chow Bella team will judge your prowess on some culinary turf familiar to Cat Cora and other…

Planning on getting up dark and early to watch the World Cup? So is Bomberos owner and native Uruguayan Oscar Mastrantuono, who will be opening the restaurant at 4 a.m. daily so that futbol fans can join him in watching all the action. Of course, you already know who Mastrantuono will…

During the week, I’m lucky if I eat breakfast at all. Today I had half a bag of Snyder’s mini pretzels and called it my a.m. meal. The weekend is a different story. I love a good brunch, and I’m happy I finally got a chance to try the new-ish…

More than 50 readers entered our Cat Cora contest, and we’ve held a drawing to choose three winners, who will each receive the following: *One Chow Bella apron. *Two front-row spots for Cora’s reading/cooking demonstration June 23 at Changing Hands. *Two spots in the “A” group to get Cora’s book…

The 2nd Annual Combined Raw Mega Potluck was held at South Mountain Park last night, bringing together food adventurers from as far away as Yuma, Flagstaff and Tucson. More than 100 Raw Foodies were in attendance; all of the food was of the vegan/raw variety, meaning nothing heated above 115 degrees (the…

Making raspberry and yogurt Tie Dye Pops is so easy there’s no reason not to try it. The best part – no oven or stovetop required. All you do is take 3 pints of fresh raspberries and puree them in a blender for about a minute. Then pour the puree through…

Another Hell’s Kitchen, another ride on the Chef Ramsay roller coaster. In last week’s first episode, it didn’t take long for Gordo to send food flying all over the kitchen, repeatedly kick defenseless stainless steel appliances, and shout out such gems as, “You’re gonna blow someone’s mind off!” and his…

Crudo serves a ton of tasty delights to the crowds that come in off Marshall Way in Old Town Scottsdale, from flat bread pizzas to a local farm salad bar. And since the place is located inside the Steven Paul Salon, patrons can even get their hair done after eating…

I’ll be the first person to admit, I’ve never heard of VitaTops. But a friend just sent me an excited message telling me, “Trust me, this is fucking breaking news! Usually you have to mail order these.”Well alright, then. Turns out, these things are edible muffin tops. (I say edible, I…

This is just a quick tip from one of my favorite food spies.The word on the street is that there’s a new food truck that’ll debut at First Friday, a grilled cheese vendor called Paradise Melt. Considering that The Republic just published a feature on the food truck phenomenon (with a…

Recently, someone asked me if I’d ever changed my mind about any restaurants after I’d reviewed them.Yes, that has definitely happened, although after I write a negative review, I’m not jumping in my car to head back to said eatery. If a place is going to change — whether voluntarily…