By Michele Laudig On the heels of last week’s news that AAA Four Diamond-rated La Hacienda closed at the Fairmont Scottsdale, now there’s word that another restaurant at the resort has received the same noteworthy award: Bourbon Steak. When I reviewed celebrity chef Michael Mina’s swanky new Arizona outpost a…
By Michele Laudig This is a pretty sweet nod to one of downtown’s tastiest haunts: Sweet Pea Bakery gets a mention in the September issue of Bon Appetit magazine. The noteworthy item? Brownie-chunk cookies, recipe included. Yum! I’m sure I’ll still end up buying them from Sweet Pea instead of…
By Michele Laudig It just might be impossible to stifle a smile when an ethereal pink ball of cotton candy appears at the dinner table. Nope, you won’t find it on the dessert menu at Noca, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself nibbling on pieces of the fluffy…
by Robrt L. Pela This just in from the Snooty Boots Dept.: Mr. Grossman and I only consume olive oil imported from France. I know, I know. I’m pretentious. But the trouble is we bought some of this stuff from a moulin in Callas, a Provencal village known for its…
By Steve Jansen Papaya on the left, Thai tea boba on the right I remember the first time I had bubble/boba tea. Those tapioca balls tasted as good as the first time my lips met a piss-quality brewski, which is to say that it was a baaddd experience. But now,…
By Michele Laudig Us New Times folks are always kinda-sorta on the job. (I actually dream about work, and sadly don’t get overtime for it.) That’s why Benjamin Leatherman, in the middle of his Friday night, took the time to report on the latest downtown dish about the Willow House…
By Benjamin Leatherman We just received a tip tonight that longtime downtown Phoenix coffeehouse and culture venue the Willow House was closed down on Thursday until further notice. According to our source, a Willow House employee who asked to remain anonymous, the shuttering was due to a dispute the property…
By Michele Laudig After months of speculation, the Fairmont Scottsdale’s upscale Mexican eatery, La Hacienda, has finally closed. Although scheduled to be open yesterday, management made an “out of the blue” staff announcement that the decades-old restaurant would not serve dinner after all, says hotel concierge Lara Cosseboom. “It’s gonna…
By Wynter Holden After getting turned down by two bartenders at Chandler’s Regal Beagle, we finally hit the mark with someone who couldn’t refuse or pawn us off on someone else: the token new girl. Michelle Anthony is a tiny, adorable blonde who giggles nervously when she talks, loves gymnastics,…
by Robrt L. Pela Okay. I know I said I’d bring you a recipe for Ring Around the Fruit Mold, but after flipping through The New Joys of Jell-O, I came across this one for Pink Lady Pie. I don’t care what this tastes like; the name is brilliant, and…
By Jonathan McNamara I’ve been told by several family members and friends that the number of drinks one should consume when looking to have a good time is three. “Thou shalt drink only three,” they would say. “No more…no less.” I was told not to drink four drinks or only…
By Wynter Holden I know what you’re thinking. A dieting column about going to a Chinese buffet? I must be crazy, especially after my abysmal failure at Chino Bandido a few weeks back. But that’s exactly why I chose the dreaded Chinese buffet. To serious dieters, the buffet restaurant is…
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…
