Caffiend: Adina Natural Highs

When you’re creating a feel-good coffee drink that prides itself on being Fair Trade Certified (that means it’s a partnership between the company and local farmers that gives farmers a larger share of profits), it doesn’t hurt to have the word “high” in your product name. The idea behind Adina for Life, Inc., the creators of the new Adina Natural Highs energy coffee drinks, is to make a (mostly) all-natural product that provides consumers with a pep-up, and maybe a warm, fuzzy feeling, too.

Barrio Cafe Moving to Paradise Valley?

In short, the answer is a definite no. That’s according to Barrio Cafe’s own website, which currently has a can’t-miss-it notice to Barrio friends: “After many phone calls from our customers and friends, we just wanted to set the record straight.  WE ARE NOT MOVING TO PARADISE VALLEY!We are staying…

New Cajun Restaurant Opens in Avondale

A new Cajun restaurant in town? Now that’s something you don’t hear about very often. Cajun food is far too elusive in the Valley. Jennifer Landry Goff and Calvin Goff thought so, too. The couple moved to Arizona with their family in 1990, and after many years of dreaming about…

Get Your Kids Cooking at Sur La Table

One of my friends had her hands full today with her two kids on winter break, which reminded me of some kids’ cooking classes I heard about recently. Next week, there’s a three-day class going on at Sur La Table at Kierland Commons, where kids age 8 and up will…

Beer, Cheese, and Chocolate

On Christmas Eve, after drinking half a bottle of Amy Silverman’s fantastic limoncello and spending several hours cooking up a storm in my tiny kitchen (the windows were fogged up when I was finally done!), I settled in front of the TV to watch The Darjeeling Limited and relax for a couple…

Meaty Girl: German Sausage Company’s Landjager

Landjager is a traditional, dried German sausage made in Southern Germany and Switzerland. Though the name literally means “country hunters,” there’s nothing gamey about the taste of landjager. It’s a popular snack food in Germany and Switzerland (like beef jerky for the U.S.), and also a popular meal for soldiers because it requires no refrigeration — landjager can be eaten cold, right off the deli rack, or taken home and cooked (to reduce fat, cut holes in the sausage casing before boiling). Landjager usually comes in pairs of fat, flat sausages — like Slim Jims on steroids, but with a heartier, meatier taste.

Waiter Confidential: I’m Ebenezer, and I’ll Be Your Waiter

Hovering tableside this time of year, it’s hard not to feel a little left out and invisible among so many celebrating their holidays. Like some Scrooge, I try to convince myself it’s all in a day’s work, but inevitably, hauntingly familiar faces in the crowd whisk me back to Christmas…

The Mission Adds Mexican Cuisine to Old Town Scottsdale’s Menu

From cheap, authentic street tacos at Tacos Jalisco, which has a few different locations, to Barrio Café’s upscale spin on traditional tacos, there are plenty of places in the Valley to enjoy the quintessential south-of-the-border snack. But the heart of downtown Scottsdale — magnet to hungry tourists and nightclubbers alike…

Heirloom Seeds for Your Favorite Locavore

One of the most compelling articles I’ve read in the past year was the indepth Vanity Fair piece about Monsanto’s genetically modified plant seeds. Scary stuff, indeed. Around the same time, I read Barbara Kingsolver’s fascinating book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, about her family’s year-long commitment to truly living off the…

Update on New Pho Place

Quel coincidence! A friend just stopped by for lunch at that new Mill Avenue pho joint I blogged about earlier today, Pho Thang Long. Apparently it’s run by the same people who own Pho Mesa, another fine spot for Vietnamese noodles (502 S. Dobson). Good to know. On a related…

Veggie Boy: Molly’s Tamales

It’s not really Christmas in Arizona without having a tamale or two.Wrapped in warm cornmeal dough and packed with such delicious fillings as cheese and chile peppers, tamales have long been the staple of many a Christmastime dinner table. Even for those who aren’t of Hispanic origin, chances are they’ll…

Two New Eateries Debut on Mill Avenue

In the last week, two brand-new Tempe restaurants have opened in the spaces where restaurants shut their doors last month. Upstairs at 414 S. Mill, in the spot that formerly housed the Coconut Club, there’s a new upscale lounge called Vintage Bar & Grill (480-297-2195), where they feature a tapas-style menu along…

Waiter Confidential: Ringmaster BOB

In principle, I get that whole “the customer’s always right” thing. In practice, of course, it doesn’t always hold up. Consider the barfly I once tended to, who, after asking me for an empty beer mug, proceeded to seal it over her mouth and puke in it. Then, as though…

Michael DeMaria’s Heirloom Set to Open in January

Chef Michael DeMaria’s been a busy guy lately, but you wouldn’t know it from the looks of the Phoenix restaurant scene. Ever since he closed his restaurant Michael’s at the Citadel last year, he’s been conspicuously absent, working on a new joint called Trattoria M that was originally supposed to…

Monday Night Martha: Iced Sugar Cookies

Long before we were on a first name basis with Martha, there was this recipe for sugar cookies, passed down from a friend. It’s Xeroxed from an ancient cookbook, maybe “Joy of Cooking,” very old school. You don’t want to see the recipe; the paper’s tattered and covered with the remains of…

Caffiend: Buzz Bites and FOOSH Mints

As an MBA candidate in Boston, Jason Kensey loved caffeine, but hated the taste of energy drinks and didn’t drink coffee, preferring caffeinated sodas with tons of sugar. His disappointment with caffeinated beverages led him to start Vroom Foods in 1996, a company that makes high-energy mints and chocolates. Vroom’s two primary products, chocolate chews and mints, promise 25% more caffeine than a leading energy drink, at about the same price. (A six-count tin of the chews costs $2.99 to $3.99; a six-pack of mints costs about $1.25 to $1.75).

Quiessence Serves Italian ‘Seven Fishes’ Dinner on Christmas Eve

I have a dirty little secret: I never really liked Christmas ham! Which is why this “Seven Fishes” Christmas Eve seafood splurge at Quiessence sounds so delicious. (Here’s the menu.) It was inspired by a coastal Italian holiday tradition, where people would celebrate Christmas with a whole dinner of fish. And…

Last Minute Xmas Idea: Macarons From Essence

It’s better to receive than to give, if we’re talking about the incredible macarons at Essence Bakery Cafe. But if you’re in need of a surefire gift that’ll impress — or if you want to serve something besides cookies at your holiday get-together — these confections are the thing.  Have…

Cove Trattoria Reopens in Bigger Location Tomorrow

It’s not far, but it’s still a move. The Cove Trattoria has left its old digs at the Scottsdale Seville, and after a short hiatus over the past few days, opens its doors tomorrow, December 20, at a bigger space in the same plaza (Indian Bend and Scottsdale Road). Also…

Tonight: Holiday Stroll at SouthBridge

There’s no snow for a sleigh ride, but how about a carriage ride and some Christmas carols? The shops and restaurants along Stetson Drive will do their best to get visitors in the holiday spirit at a free event tonight, the first-annual Holiday Stroll at SouthBridge.  For the kids, there will…