By Michele Laudig Move over Lee Lee’s and Ranch 99 — there’s a gargantuan new Asian supermarket in town. It’s called Mekong Plaza, and it opens this Saturday. The 100,000 square foot market, located at the southwest corner of Main Street and Dobson in Mesa (across from Asian Cafe Express,…
By Michele Laudig For a while, the sign in the window of FOODBAR, at SouthBridge, indicated that it was closed for renovations this summer. But when it finally reopens on Monday, October 20, it’ll be a whole new restaurant: Metro Brasserie, a traditional French brasserie open daily for breakfast, lunch,…
By Amy Silverman I’ll be honest: Raw fish does not pass these lips. But I know enough to know that if you’re going to eat it, you want it to come from a very, very clean place. The Maricopa County restaurant inspectors apparently understand that, too, because they seem to…
The “Kung To-Fuey.” “Vegans are punk as fuck!” My late friend Sean Pettibone was kind of a caustic guy, as you’d probably reckon by the above quote. More opinionated than Henry Rollins (and twice as mouthy), Sean was a funny and whip-smart spitfire of punk ideology who was rock solid…
By Michele Laudig As they say, better late than never — especially in this bizarre economic climate. Fate chef-owner Johnny Chu’s new Asian tapas and sake bar, Sens, was supposed to have opened by now, but like many new restaurants around town, the launch was postponed by a couple of…
By Wynter Holden Could there have been a better weekend to have lunch outdoors in the beautiful, serene park-like oasis that is The Farm at South Mountain? I think not. The temperature was perfect, the setting lovely and the food amazingly fresh and tasty, as always. If you’re on a…
By Michele Laudig It’s still pretty toasty outside, but all it takes is the mere suggestion of fall for me to start craving certain foods that have been on the backburner during the sizzling summer. Like soup. Specifically, tonkotsu ramen at Cherry Blossom. Yes, I’m a bit of a broken…
By Eddie Matney Chef Eddie Matney is the owner of Eddie’s House in Scottsdale…
By Michele Laudig David Tanis must lead a charmed life. That’s the impression I have of this Renaissance man after reading his lovely new cookbook, A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes. I mean, the Chez Panisse chef got a cover blurb from none other than Michael Pollan (who, btw,…
By Michele Laudig Here’s an exciting upcoming event to put on your calendar (although you should get tickets a.s.a.p.). It’s the October 19th booksigning and tasting held in honor of the new cookbook, Cooking with Les Dames D’Escoffier: At Home with the Women Who Shape the Way We Eat and…
By Michele Laudig Three sister restaurants in Chandler — 56 East Bar & Kitchen, 98 South Wine Bar & Kitchen, and KiZake Sushi & Martinis — closed abruptly on Tuesday. Any one of those places shutting its doors would’ve been a loss to the East Valley dining scene, but losing…
By Michele Laudig Lydia Ruiz didn’t expect to be back in business at In Season Deli, but now that she’s in the swing of things, she’s happy to be in her old digs. Ruiz owned the Mill Avenue eatery for 27 years, but sold it a year ago after she…
By Wynter Holden We’ve always seen Mac’s Broiler and Tap, the popular little bar with the awesome patio tucked between Tempe’s beloved Changing Hands Bookstore and the newly-opened Hoodlums music shop, but we never popped in for a drink. Lucky for us we did, because there we met 24-year-old Torey…
By Eddie Matney www.meritagewine.org. Yum. Chef Eddie Matney is the owner of Eddie’s House in Scottsdale…
By Michele Laudig When I heard that The Art of Soup was expanding its hours to include breakfast service, I had to stop myself from shaking my head in bewilderment. Of course soup for breakfast makes sense. The Vietnamese already have that figured out (pho), and so do the Japanese…
By Jonathan McNamara What makes a rogue? I couldn’t help wondering as I stumbled over to the Rogue Web site after sampling their Dead Guy Ale. The qualifications are numerous (ten to be exact) and include such gems as “rogues pursue the long shot” and “rogues ignore the accepted patterns…
By Amy Silverman I have always believed that diners should have a separate rating system, when it comes to cleanliness. C’mon, haven’t you ever heard the term “greasy spoon”? But apparently the Maricopa County health inspectors don’t share my nostalgia for a time when waitresses smacked gum and no one…
By Jay Bennett I usually don’t have much reason to enter Old Town Scottsdale — it oftens seems kind of a like a foreign land to me — but perhaps I have a reason now since checking out a fun little place called Terrace Café, which sits on the corner…
Tacos and burritos will always be reliable standbys, but when it comes to Mexican fast food that Phoenix does really well, tortas are my hands-down favorite option for a quick, cheap bite. What’s not to love about the scrumptious Mexican sandwiches? When they’re made right, tortas are one of life’s…
A happy experience at the lounge at the new downtown Phoenix Sheraton … who would have thunk it? By Sarah Fenske I totally wanted to hate District: American Kitchen and Wine Bar, the brand-spankin’-new restaurant at the brand-spankin’-new downtown Sheraton. In my other life, the non-food-blogger one, I am a…
By Benjamin Leatherman It’s not a deep-fried corn dog, but it’ll do nicely. I used to love the Arizona State Fair. But this year I’m gonna hate it. Endlessly. See, one of the main highlights of attending our fair state’s annual exposition (which kicks off this weekend) has been loading…
By Amy Silverman At this point, I’ve gotten accustomed to seeing news of cockroaches and soda guns with “bacterial slime” — both of which afflicted the Texas Roadhouse on Stapley Drive, during a recent inspection. But there was something about the litany of complaints involving hands that got me: A…
