What restaurant concept will they think of next? Autostrada is an Italian restaurant in north Scottsdale that, according to its Web site, is “inspired by the Italian car culture.” All we know is that if Aaron May is involved, the food’s gonna be good. Get in the old jalopy and…
I won’t lie, Arizona. We’ve had some great times drinking beer. Who could forget our first trip to Four Peaks? Or the Mesa Strong Beer Festival just a few months ago? We’ve had fun and that’s what makes this so hard to say: my beer gut belongs to another state…
Happy hour is odd at Aunt Chilada’s, but this isn’t a mark against the establishment. From 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, they offer a complimentary buffet that includes chips and salsa, a fruit and vegetable platter, as well as an appetizer of the chef’s choice. Unfortunately, no drink…
A general drinking guideline: Any drink with a name suffixed by the term ‘bomb’ is sure to get you bombed. Here’s a deal you can take advantage of long after Happy Hour’s come and gone. From 8 to close, Sunday through Thursday at Kabuki, you can knock yourself out with…
Blue Agave is an atypical Mexican restaurant that offers authentic south of the border cuisine as well as experimental dishes. Order the traditional tamale or the crab-stuffed shrimp off the dinner menu, but also come early for the relaxing atmosphere and, from 4 to 7 every day, enjoy $3 Coronas,…
Last night I removed the chains shackling me to my New Times desk long enough to venture out to Four Peaks with a few friends (one of whom is as interested in home brewing as I am in downing draughts). Hold on! Yes, I’m reviewing a Four Peaks beer, but…
The well-appointed Mucho Gusto – which takes a sometimes non-traditional twist on Mexican cuisine – can be mucho pricey, if you hit the place up for dinner. But happy hour is both pleasant and affordable. From 3 to 6, Monday through Friday, Mucho Gusto provides $3 house margaritas, house wine,…
I’ve never met a dog I didn’t take to instantly. As a matter of fact, I spent the weekend taking care of a pup for a friend on vacation. I don’t know what breed she is but it doesn’t matter because she was immediately friendly and loyal after about thirty…
Like many microbreweries, San Tan Brewing Company exclusively offers ales, as opposed to lagers (and yes, categorically, hefeweizens and stouts are members of the ale family). While this might turn some people off, it should be noted that ales typically offer a higher content of alcohol and they often complement…
Buy Sandwiches. …At least that’s what they say at BisonWitches, a quaint sandwich restaurant just off 6th and Mill, hidden behind the Bank of America building. Yes, ‘Buy Sandwiches,’ is a clever colloquial contrivance, but at $7 a sandwich, it strikes one as more of a creed. At BisonWitches, the…
If cheap drinks and a lot of them is what you’re looking for, head to Sneakers Sports Grill. But don’t expect anything fancy. From 3 to 7 p.m. every day, a Coors Light draft will run you 75 cents. Alas, it’s served in a plastic cup. Appetizers are similarly pedestrian,…
For Mill Avenue, pretentious can be a good thing…. Enter Caffé Boa, a Mill spot that says “wine bar” where other area businesses say “smelly dive”. Caffé Boa’s Italian-inspired dinner menu might not be in your price range, but the happy hour deals are impressive. From 4 to 7 p.m…
“Please join us by raising your glass as we offer a toast to patience, perseverance, and all the things we have lost along the way and were somehow lucky enough to find once again.” So does the inscription on each bottle of Lost & Found Abbey Ale from The Lost…
Spring has sprung a new brew from the tanks of our friends at Blue Moon Brewing Co. Rising Moon Spring Ale, an amber wheat ale that “blends three varieties of specialty malts with kaffir lime leaves and lime peel for a smooth, balanced taste” or so says the bottle. We…
Walking in to The Great Arizona Beer Festival on Saturday, we promised ourselves that we would not stumble out like blithering idiots. Well, you know what they say about best laid plans. So once again, the Brew Review team broke free from our office shackles and breathed in the sweet…
If you didn’t make it out to the Mesa Strong Beer Festival at the Mesa Amphitheater this weekend, shame on you. You missed out on a chance to meet some new friends, get embarrassingly drunk with some old ones and, lest we forget to mention the most important aspect, drink…
We’ve already let you in on this weekend’s Strong Beer Festival in Mesa, but were you aware that there’s a beer fest happening at Worldfest this weekend? And you thought Worldfest was only about celebrating Phoenix’s ten sister cities. Starting tomorrow you can visit the “World of Beers” at Worldfest located…
It’s confession time. We know it’s now two months from the big day, but this has been building up and for our own sakes it must be revealed: we weren’t very good in 2008. We made a few too many crass remarks at the pub and got so “jolly” on…
We’ve said it before, but it deserves a second shot: the only thing better than reviewing beer is reviewing beer received gratis in the mail. That’s right. Redhook has a new drink to push on the masses and they have sent it to us on the off chance that we…
We are in the habit of taking beer suggestions from friends. Taking someone’s word on a beer can be a dangerous proposition, but much like America’s slow transition to thinking of sushi as something appetizing and not as something that could potentially be a hot bed for dining free from…
We’ve made no secret here at New Times who we’re pulling for in the match-up between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers this Super Bowl Sunday. Chances are if you’re reading this, you’re pulling for the Cardinals despite jumping on the bandwagon only after they won the NFC championship…
Last weekend we invited a few dozen of ASU’s finest over to our place for a party. In typical pot luck style we had a table full of goodies representing all different culinary cultures and backgrounds. There was Italian, Indian, Chinese and more. It was like the U.N. of pot…
