Phoenicians really like to spice things up, and that’s not limited to Mexican food. Witness our insatiable craving for Thai food. Even Gourmet House of Hong Kong, the long-standing Chinese restaurant on McDowell, is pimping the Thai flavors on its menu these days. Now you can add another Thai Basil…
Wow, ’tis the season for food and wine events… Tonight’s VinArte, The Art of Wine, a wine tasting and sale to be held in the Phoenix Art Museum’s Sculpture Garden from 6:30 to 10 p.m., will benefit the museum’s PhxArtKids Interactive Gallery. So nibble on food from Arcadia Farms, sample…
Here’s another opportunity to eat for charity: 100% of the ticket proceeds from Taste of the Nation will benefit the non-profit Share Our Strength, whose mission is ending childhood hunger in the U.S. Yeah, the tickets are $150 apiece ($300 for VIP tix), but the event, to be held Friday,…
http://www.azcentral.com/ent/dining/articles/2008/04/23/20080423buchanan.html…
For years after I graduated from college, I spent way too much time jonesing to go back. Somewhere along the line, though, I stopped obsessively ordering grad school catalogs and ditched the idea of taking on more student loans. And, hey, look where I ended up: in a job where…
I know I don’t need to twist your arm to go out to dinner, but just in case you needed another excuse to hit up our fair city’s restaurants, here’s the best one I’ve found in a long while: doing so will directly support HIV/AIDS services provided by Body Positive…
My sweetie’s mom hasn’t come to visit in *years* and we’re finally getting a chance to show her around town, so that means we’ve spent the last few days giving her the grand tour. That includes hitting up some familiar haunts around town. Before her flight was scheduled to arrive,…
The most intriguing new restaurant in Scottsdale is a refreshing alternative to the city’s clichés. Of course, you’ll have to dress up a little, and spend a few bucks while you’re there, but at least you won’t feel like you’ve stumbled onto the set of Real Housewives of Maricopa County…
This just in: FOOD NETWORK IS LOOKING FOR AMAZING STORIES FOR A GROUNDBREAKING NEW SERIES!!! Do you or someone you know have an amazing food related story to tell? Do you know someone who has gone from being homeless to the owner of their own restaurant, makes pop art out…
As of yesterday, a local gourmet pizza chain has an even bigger slice of the market. Sauce, the fast-casual pizza and wine joint owned by Fox Restaurant Concepts, opened a new Norterra location, near the I-17 and Happy Valley Road. It’s the fifth Sauce in town — more are in…
A friend and I were just complaining about the dearth of dining options on Mondays. But lookie here, it’s a fun-sounding event on a Monday, of all things. One week from today, on April 21, Cafe Zuzu at the Hotel Valley Ho hosts the latest in its Chef’s Table series:…
I have one sweet copy of Crescent Dragonwagon’s new cookbook, The Cornbread Gospels, and I’m willing to give it to the first person who emails me about where I can get some really good cornbread in town. (My email address is at the end of my weekly column.) The book…
Local radio just got juicier. Wine connoisseur Michael Fine — owner of Fine’s Cellar in Old Town, and former owner of Sportsman’s — is dropping some serious knowledge on listeners with his new radio show, “Off the Vine with Michael Fine.” The show airs from 4 to 5 p.m. on…
Pop culture is conspiring to give me a major flashback. From leggings to neon-colored sneakers, hipster kids are dressing like it’s the end of the Reagan era. The Police, who reunited last year, are on a world tour. Poison lead singer Bret Michaels has a hit reality show on VH1…
It sounds like a marathon of food and booze: The 30th Annual Scottsdale Culinary Festival kicks off six days and nights of eating, drinking, and schmoozing, with tonight’s Friends of James Beard benefit dinner, as well as a sold-out wine tasting at Kazimierz. But don’t worry if you didn’t get…
This morning, in an announcement by Pointe Tapatio Cliffs general manager Ron Simon, Anthony DeMuro was appointed the new executive chef at the resort’s fine dining restaurant, Different Pointe of View. This comes on the heels of chef Claudio Urciuoli’s departure last Friday. DeMuro has been with Hilton since 2005,…
In a separation finalized on Friday, Claudio Urciuoli has left his post as the executive chef at Different Pointe of View at the Pointe Hilton Tapatio Cliffs resort. He’d started the gig in late January, after a brief but buzzworthy tenure at Taggia, at the Firesky Resort. According to Teri…
When I visited Overeasy for last week’s column, I fully appreciated the homey breakfast dishes as a surefure antidote to post-party malaise. But it’s not just good hangover food, apparently — it helps you get over jetlag, too. Chef Roy Yamaguchi just dined there this morning, fresh off the red-eye…
I know some of you blog-reading peeps keep Chow Bella bookmarked and don’t see the New Times home page, so here’s a link to my feature this week on Damon Brasch, the chef-owner of Green in Tempe…
In an open letter to customers and friends, Radda Caffe-Bar owner Lori Hassler announced that her Scottsdale restaurant is “just another casualty of 2008.” Yep, Radda’s about to close, although thankfully it’s not going to be an immediate departure. “I’m calling it April 26th, and decided to tell people the…
Some of this spring’s best restaurant news came to me serendipitously. Several weeks ago, driving across a familiar stretch of Indian School Road, just west of the 51, I noticed something that hadn’t been there before: a bright purple building, spray-painted with big, sassy, graffiti-esque letters. BBQ. Errrrch! I usually…
