Answering to a higher power shouldn’t lead to lower profits. But for one Valley kosher bakery, observing Orthodox Jewish rules has proved too costly.After a six-month “experiment,” Karsh’s Bakery has reopened for business on Saturdays. Karsh’s, a 40-year-old Valley fixture for kosher foods, decided last September to close on the…
At the moment, Gordon Jump really does look like the Maytag Repairman. It isn’t just that he’s wearing the outfit — the blue jacket, the cap, the bow tie. He’s also sitting, all by his lonesome, surrounded by Maytag appliances, with nothing much to do.He’s been embodying this particular icon…
Michael Hoobler has to be thrilled. The star chef, now running the kitchen of Phoenix’s new Restaurant Arcadia, has successfully escaped the confines of corporate America. Last fall, Tom and Chrysa Kaufman, owners of Scottsdale’s highly popular Rancho Pinot Grill, presented Hoobler with the opportunity to open his own restaurant…
And the winners are . . .We don’t know yet. The 2001 James Beard Award nominees have been released, but victors won’t be announced until April 30. That leaves a couple of local chefs waiting eagerly, since a food pro receiving a James Beard Award is akin to an aspiring…
“This is Mark Moorhead from New Times, right?” A publicist asked me this a few weeks ago, when I called to inquire about a screening. Sure it is, I told her, puzzled. I had often talked to her; I was pretty sure she knew which publication I wrote for by…
Last May, the National Restaurant Association asked Americans which ethnic cuisines they preferred. Not surprisingly, Italian, Mexican, Japanese, Thai and Middle Eastern were the most popular. Unexpectedly, however, Caribbean rounded out the list of winners. Pretty interesting for a food that traditionally has barely made a blip on most diners’…
There are only three certain things in this world: death, taxes and Nick Ligidakis’ ability to open another restaurant. Since he debuted his first store in 1984, Ligidakis has opened and closed five eateries, all with great drama and remarkable trails of debt. His most recent operation, Cafe Nikos, sank…
At first glance, you think that the mercado (marketplace) in Tehuantepec, Oaxaca, is just like any other in Mexico, with rows of colorful fruits and vegetables, cheese purveyors and one food stall after another. Then you are captured by the array of brightly dressed women. One in particular catches my…
Jaime Bergman is telling me her life story. “I’m from Salt Lake City, grew up there,” she says. “Normal kid. Did ballet, did jazz, cheerleading, soccer, baseball. And then I moved to Los Angeles about three years ago.”There’s a small silence, and she smiles at me, as if to indicate…
It’s a drizzly winter evening, the kind that often brings on melancholy. But not for us. Tonight, we’re lounging like emperors at Café Blue, reigning over booths of sleek platinum cloth as we exchange witty repartee on politics, fashion and friends we don’t like so well. The rain spits and…
Mobil three-star-rated chef Michael DeMaria has taken over food management for Rawhide, including the Golden Belle Steakhouse and Saloon, catering and cookouts. But don’t look for anything radical from the owner of north Scottsdale’s upscale Michael’s at The Citadel, at least not yet.”Rawhide is what it is,” says DeMaria. “The…
Even though it’s a weekday, Phoenix Art Museum is packed. I’m there with an artist, and an internationally acclaimed artist at that, but the crowds aren’t there to see his work. They’ve turned out in the thousands to see the works of Norman Rockwell. Sculptor Larry McLaughlin and I haven’t…
Miracle Mile Deli When Jack Grodzinsky died in September 1998 at the age of 78, more than 650 people attended his funeral. It was a touching tribute to a respected businessman, an active participant in many Valley charities and a cornerstone of Phoenix’s Jewish community. While the sentiment was sincere,…
Norman Fierros is in trouble. Again. The bad boy chef’s eatery — Norman’s Arizona — was seized last week by the Arizona Department of Revenue for non-payment of taxes. Its windows are shrouded with white paper, and a message on the answering service apologizes for the inconvenience, promising to reopen…
Does it sometimes seem that, no matter the restaurant, you always get poor service? Even when diners nearby are getting the royal treatment? It could be true. You may not be aware of it, but you could be sending signals to your server that you won’t be tipping well when…
I’m going to go out on a limb and say this: Cheating is good for us. When it comes to primal urges, human beings aren’t designed to be monogamous. Even Charles Darwin, after discovering female barnacles that kept a tiny male partner in each of two little pockets inside their…
Your family’s favorite restaurant serves Blue Bunny ice cream, a fact the owners proudly promote on their menu, and on clever tabletop tents. It gives you warm fuzzies to think that the proprietor is so concerned with delivering quality that he’s offering you the name brand.Perhaps he is, but as…
He doesn’t seem like a guy who’d use the I Ching to make life decisions.Then again, if you saw Phil Strassberg on the street, you might not immediately recognize him as a guy who’s seen Babe Ruth play baseball, had his ear bent by Walter Winchell, managed Little Anthony and…
SYSCO Food Services of Arizona’s annual food service exhibition came off without a hitch the other week — great for SYSCO and its vendors, but a bit disappointing for the industry folks hoping to stock their pantries for free as they’ve done in years past. Instead of being allowed to…
To watch Frankie Manning at work is to learn humility anew. I’m leaning against the doors at one of the big rooms at Mesa Centennial Hall, waiting for Manning to finish one of the morning classes he’s teaching at a weekendlong workshop presented by the Arizona Lindy Hop Society. There…
Ethel McGill, who makes wonderful food, is not afraid to say so. In general, she tells it like it is.”This here is Texas sheet cake,” she might say, and you should believe it, although she will later explain that “it’s what you folks call a brownie.” When you have tried…
Local businessman Danny Hendon found his success in soapsuds, as owner of the 13 Danny’s Family Carousel Carwashes across the Valley. Now, the entrepreneur has trained his sights on a spiffy new upscale supper club in the East Valley. If it sounds like an odd pairing, it is. The resulting…
