Never had vanilla sugar? It’s truly a treat. It smells great, and addsgreat taste. Skip the flavored creamer in your coffee. This, and somemilk, and you are good to go. Feeling truly decadent? Substitute thisfor regular sugar in cookies and cakes for an added kick…
After our trip to China Harvest Buffet yesterday, we were about ready to give in to the claims that there is no such thing as a five-star buffet. Scottsdale’s Oriental Garden Super Buffet was pretty good, maybe good enough to rate three to four stars. But then we found it:…
You’d be forgiven for never having visited the Biltmore Grill. As you might guess from the name, it was the main casual restaurant at the luxurious Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, geared toward hotel guests craving breakfast, lunch, dinner, or just a few drinks at the bar. It wasn’t really…
Dozens of Valley residents have found their own way to reduce their foreign egg dependence, and they want to share their secrets with you Saturday at the Phoenix Tour de Coops.The tour will go to several local chicken coops to show how the Valley can get sustainable and self-sufficient in…
Drown your sorrows in free wine at Armitage Bistro in Scottsdale tonight…
With what many — including folks around here — consider to be the best carne asada in the Valley, America’s Taco Shop has garnered quite the following. So much so that the order-at-the-counter Mexican food spot is opening a second location on 7th Ave. and Camelback Road the beginning of…
Every so often we come across a little gem for foodies while wading through the muck of Facebook. This week, we spotted something on bestselling author and former Phoencian Laurie Notaro’s FB page we just had to share. And it involves C-A-K-E…..
We’ve been wondering what James Beard Award-winning chef Nubuo Fukuda has been up to since Sea Saw closed earlier this year. Yesterday, AZ Republic restaurant critic Howard Seftel reported that Fukuda is in talks to open a Japanese restaurant in Downtown Phoenix’s Heritage Square…
Because not everyone wants to be surrounded by laptops when they’re enjoying their coffee, the newly-opened Toast in central Phoenix has a strict no-computers policy. The “breakfast boutique,” owned by Gina Madrid and Vine Saccento, is right next door to the recently closed Drip Coffee Lounge at 2327 N. 7th…
Oh, how the Greek gods must die a little inside every time they hear some American order a “jy-ro” at an ethnic restaurant. Despite the constantly butchered name, the gyros (roughly pronounced “yee-ros”) remains one of our favorite meat dishes. For this week’s Battle of the Dishes, we visited two local mom-and-pop shops…
We don’t care what anybody says, you can’t make it in this town without a car. You can try, and lord knows we have. Even living on our main drag and ridin’ Miss Metro’s wheels of steel just ain’t enough right now. Don’t get us started about your late night toilet paper…
Desserts can be tricky, but Joe Aiello (whom we profiled in yesterday’s Chef Chat) of Aiello’s in Phoenix insists this Chilled Zabaglione is simple to attempt at home. Besides the scrumptious ingredients, this dessert is an ultra-classy serving, especially if you put it in a pretty wine glass. And, if you like wine,…
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We’ve been around the soup block many times before. We thought we found all there was to find, but leave it to Barrio Café to prove us wrong with a soup that’s truly unique.Barrio Café has shown us time and time again what to expect from a Mexican eatery. The…
Yesterday we visited the Oriental Garden Super Buffet and were dazzled by the clean restaurant and fresh, hot food. Today we head to way up North Phoenix to China Harvest Buffet to see if we can duplicate our positive experience. We’ll give you a clue: we didn’t… at all…
When Valley diners want New York Italian food but don’t want to leave Phoenix, Aiello’s provides a slice of Manhattan here in town. Brooklyn-born Joe Aiello owns the 2-year-old restaurant, where he whips up East Coast Italian-style food, just like he grew up with in his Italian family. “We weren’t…
Here’s an easy way to give this holiday season, and it even includes a perk for you, too. Bring in a non-perishable food item to Pei Wei Asian Diner tomorrow, Wednesday, December 2, and get 25 percent off your entree–it’s almost as if you’re earning money while helping the needy. The casual,…
When we asked Lucinda Scala Quinn what recipes she absolutely loves in her book, Mad Hungry, the crunchy sesame chicken wings were at the top of the list. She described the recipe as “super simple” and the results “dynamite.”According to Scala Quinn, the wing recipe came from the constant dinner…
Creamy, crunchy, sweet, spicy, tangy: When done right, the coupling of grilled cheese and tomato soup should have all of these things. When done wrong, it still tastes pretty good, but undoubtedly lacks the sophistication one expects from an $8 meal. We’ve all had this classic combo growing up, but…
Local First Arizona’s current Buy Local Week promo got us thinking more about keeping our hard-earned dollars and cents in the local economy. Farmers markets are great, but they don’t stock all the sundries most folks need — so that means at least two grocery shopping trips every week. Ugh. That’s where CSAs come in handy. If…
Steph Carrico The co-owner of The Trunk Space hosts artist Jon Sumner Borrette this First Friday, December 4. What’d you eat for dinner last night? I went to Green last night for dinner and had their Ranchero Salad but substituted the spicy buffalo wings for the barbecue wings. It was delish!…
After 8 years of being one of Old Town Scottsdale’s hippest Italian restaurants, Furio is closing its doors Thursday night. The space, which featured live music and manicure nights, has suffered financially over the past 18 months. Business this past summer was only half of what it was last year, says general manager…
