By Jay Bennett The Budget Beat household loves a good hamburger (or hamburg, as they annoyingly call them in West Michigan, where I spent my teen years during a long-lost time known as the 1980s), so when a faithful reader suggests we check out a particular burger joint, we’re there…
Cuban cuisine certainly lends itself to an upscale, even fusion treatment (like at Scottsdale’s chic Asia de Cuba), but for me, it’s most enjoyable as down-to-earth comfort food. That has a lot to do with my earliest encounters with Cuba’s culinary delights: at a cozy neighborhood joint near my college…
You won’t find this on a low-fat menu, anywhere. by Sarah Fenske Back east, Dunkin Donuts are ubiquitous — almost like Starbucks or Jack In the Box here in the Valley of Sun. Not so in Phoenix. So I was stunned when, on a trip back to New York last…
By Wynter Holden This week’s supermarket find goes in my Hall of Shame for worst food product concepts. The Fear Factor candy was gross, but expected; the prawn crackers an example of differing cultural tastes; and the Irish moss drink repellent, but at least it was rumored to have aphrodisiac…
By Michele Laudig On the eve of its scheduled opening, downtown Mesa’s new de la Cruz Bistro isn’t quite ready to open yet. According to chef Keawe Aikau, who goes by “Chef K,” there’s still some paperwork to take care of before the new eatery can open its doors at…
By Michele Laudig Tell me I can’t have something, and I’ll want it even more. Right now, what I really want is a hot, doughy scone from Kohnie’s, the infamous Camelback coffee shop where owner Robert Kohn dished out his own brand of dry humor right along with killer scones,…
by Robrt L. Pela Mr. Grossman and I buy crap that we don’t need. It’s wasteful, but it pleases us to own stuff that just sits around looking nice. Like this dried-out artichoke. It’s sitting in a bowl in the kitchen. It’s actually not something we bought just because it’s…
By Wynter Holden While house hunting a few years ago, I saw one cottage with a lovely orange tree in the backyard. The house itself was nothing special. But the tree was perfect. I imagined myself picking plump ripe oranges and making fresh juice; the first step on my way…
By Michele Laudig It had been awhile since I’d been into Mediterranean House — the cozy eatery next door to Richardson’s, on Bethany Home at 16th Street — so I stopped by for some falafel the other day. Turns out, the place is closing, according to the two waitresses who…
By Steve Jansen While La Grande Orange gets all of the love (and for good reason), there’s another European-style cafe on 40th Street that deserves some attention, too. Writer Tania Katan turned me on the Bertha’s Cafe a few years ago. When she grew tired of LGO and Mama Java’s…
By Michele Laudig Last fall, I reported on how coffeeshop/hangout the Willow House was being inexplicably booted from its longstanding home on McDowell Road. The place was closed by late October, but managed to find a new location before long. December’s First Friday was its grand reopening party at 1722…
by Robrt L. Pela I know. I promised a Jell-O recipe this week. But indulge me a little here, while I share with you another absolutely terrifying photograph from The New Joys of Jell-O. I’ll make it up to you next week, I promise. Meantime, check it out: Someone, circa…
By Michele Laudig Alrighty: It’s been confirmed that Aunt Lena’s Creamery, the Chandler gelato shop, will be featured in the “Brain Freeze” episode of Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives, set to air on the Food Network on Monday, August 11, at 7 and 9 p.m. Aunt Lena’s features 32 flavors of…
By Jonathan McNamara It’s a shame I like this beer so much. If I didn’t, I would tell you that this beer tastes like what you get a face full of when you lift a kilt: ass. Alas, blasting Tempe-based Four Peaks Brewing Company’s Kiltlifter was not meant to be…
By Jay Bennett I’d been curious about trying Eliana’s Authentic Salvadoran Cuisine ever the since the first time I drove by the place on 24th Street just north of McDowell. I love Mexican food and assumed that the food of El Salvador would be just as good. Of course, El…
By Wynter Holden Eating healthy doesn’t always mean weighing food, counting carbs or avoiding sugar. In her book French Women Don’t Get Fat, author Mireille Guiliano advises women to order exactly what they want, but savor every morsel. No distractions. No speed eating. And no shoveling heaping forkfuls in your…
If you decided to quit your job and leap into a whole new career, what would it be? The question has always fascinated me. One of my friends is a fitness club manager who dreams of going into interior design. Another is an IT whiz who’d love to start a…
She is pure evil. Her words are biting, her stare pure ice. Her shrill voice will melt the paint off your walls. Your house is never clean enough for her. Your parenting skills and your appearance provoke her barbed tongue to lacerate every inch of your self-worth. And if you…
By Michele Laudig Seeing that the sold-out round three of Locavore, Tapino’s successful AZ-centric wine dinner, takes place tonight and tomorrow (with 120 people each night), it’s probably a good time to announce the details of Locavore 4: Cultivation, which takes place October 7 and 8. Obviously reservations are essential…
By Michele Laudig Huh. So Tony Bourdain finally comes to Phoenix, and the only thing that merits attention to this city — or hell, this state — is a two-foot chili dog from Cooperstown? I still don’t know if the brief AZ segment pissed me off, made me sad, or…
by Wynter Holden I do love a good fennel sausage. They had a mean spiced sausage with sweet, licorice-y fennel at my local organic market back in Portland, where I spent the past year and change. I sautéed it with apples and pasta in a light olive oil and garlic…
By Michele Laudig I’m starting to think it’s a bad idea to drink Diet Coke while reading emails, because I never know when I might get something so funny that I risk said soda spurting from my nostrils. !!! The latest unassuming correspondence to take me off guard? A simple…
