Uh-oh, not again! I’ve found another restaurant that I’d love to keep a secret. As a critic, this happens to me pretty regularly, and every time, I force myself to spill the beans anyway. My friends have already given me plenty of gentle flack for giving glowing reviews to closely…
It’s the end of an era at Town & Country shopping center.After nearly six years serving shoppers at the retail cluster, Pie Zanos Gourmet Pizza Kitchen is closing its doors on February 26. The restaurant was not able to renew its lease at the current location. However, a second Pie Zanos…
Avalon can thank Sin City burn out for its new chef, Charles Stotts. The Minnesota native says his culinary career took off in Las Vegas; after a while, though, he wanted the first flight out.Stotts was Chef de Cuisine at Avalon and stepped up when Travis Watson left for Culinary…
Mother-daughter duo Donna Gabrilson and Stacey Barnes serve up small batches of handmade goodness in the form of toffee. Made from artisan ingredients like Belgian chocolate and local Cruz tequila, GoodyTwos is most definitely traditional toffee kicked up a notch or two…
Natalie Morris was a Slow Foodie by pure instinct. During culinary school at the Art Institute, the budding chef hadn’t heard about the global movement to eat seasonal, local food, but she immediately recognized a key issue: “‘Why do we have to keep ordering food from one big company? It’s not…
Let me guess: when you’re looking for comfort food, Asian cuisine doesn’t exactly pop to the top of the list. While yummy, sushi lacks the warm, tummy-nurturing sensation that comes with mac n’ cheese or Aunt Sally’s meatloaf. But there are a few Asian dishes that easily calm frazzled nerves after a hard…
Valentine’s Day has come and gone and you’ve whole heartedly abandoned your New Years diet by professing your undying love to a giant box of chocolates. Your jeans still don’t fit and those crafty Girl Scouts will be delivering their delicious little cookies starting this week. Soon, you’ll be plowing…
Who says you have to wait until the sun goes down to have a good time? In last week’s Day Drinker at The Snap Lounge, we felt like spaceships traveling through a magnetic field of man-mines. In this week’s thrilling conclusion, the man-mines turn up the heat, and force us…
Yesterday one of the Chow Bella contributors asked me what I do if I see another food critic when I’m out at a restaurant I’m reviewing. Should there be some special protocol here? A secret code or handshake or something? I don’t do anything, except maybe spy on them from across…
Chinese New Year and a friend’s birthday were a good excuse to hit up Mesa’s Asian Cafe Express for an over-the-top seafood lunch. Some of my clever friends figured out that you can buy whatever you like from Mekong Plaza (right across the street — and the fish department is…
A $5 happy hour anywhere is a steal, but at BLT Steak at the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, the deal’s even sweeter since the typical dinner menu includes steaks for over $75…
An early morning serving of food news, with no preservatives or additives. The Newest Trend in wine has hit the Valley in the form of a 5 gallon keg. That’s right folks, a keg o’ wine. Valley favorite Postino has started serving wine on tap at both the Arcadia and…
Here’s the follow-up, folks. Last month, I blogged about the imminent opening of Long Wong’s at the Firehouse, the new Tempe spot from some of the same folks who were involved with the old Long Wong’s on Mill. But as with so many new restaurant openings, it wasn’t quite “imminent” enough…
A rock solid restaurant name should tell you something about the food, the location, or at the very least, the vibe you’ll experience when you walk in the door. It should also pass a basic spell check, which is why Kozy Cactus might want to reconsider its mess of a…
Tempe’s Yucca Tap Room has been a Tempe dive bar favorite for years, especially for its live music. (Photo by Benjamin Leatherman) But now there’s a whole lot more on tap. Earlier this month, owner Rodney Hu unveiled the Yucca’s expansion into the space next door, a craft beer and…
$10 dollar lunch … sort of. Say you are in Scottsdale and you are looking for a place to have lunch. You see Stax Burger Bistro and you think burgers. Sure why not? But once you sit down, menu in hand, you fear you may have made a mistake. The…
Kevin Patterson The Empty Frames Experiment improv troupe member, writer and photographer performs at Firestage at The Firehouse Friday, February 19 at 8:30 p.m. What’d you eat for dinner last night? Spinach salad with sunflower seeds, cheese and olive oil. Favorite food: Roasted red peppers. You take a red pepper,…
How well do you know your favorite cookhouse contraptions? See if you can guess today’s gadget and check back next week for the answer. Here are a few shots at the answer, add yours to the comment box below: – Charlie Sheen identity bracelets – Colin Farrell identity bracelets -…
Happy Fat Tuesday, Chow Bella-ites! While other Mardi Gras revelers are thinking about beads, boobs and margaritas, we know those of you who are more food-centric are wondering what kind of crazy Mardi Gras concoctions you can get for the holiday. While searching the decadent blog archives at CakeSpy, this popped…
An early morning serving of food news, with no preservatives or additives. Tonight is the grand opening celebration of Cartel Coffee Lab’s second shop located at 1 N. 1st Street in Downtown Phoenix. Head on down between 5 and 9 for free food, music and a raffle. At Momofuku in…
True, you might want to toss in a sangria or two — thereby upping your bill, and, most likely, your craving for a big bowl of guacamole and homemade chips. But if you’re really broke, and still jonesing for dinner out, you can feed yourself and a friend well on…
It’s purely coincidental that I ended up at Pizzeria Bianco the day after news leaked out about Every Day With Rachael Ray’s new March issue, which declares Chris Bianco’s pizzas the best in the U.S. of A. A bunch of us were out on our bikes, cruising downtown, doing a…
