Not to be gloomy or gauche, but it might be time to start thinking about your last meal. As those obnoxious billboards scattered around town are warning, The Rapture is prophesized to be happening two days from now. Much like the characters in the Douglas Adams tome The Restaurant at the…
All right. It’s high time someone stood up and said something, and no one else seems to be making a move, so here I go. For the second time in a week, I’ve seen nettles on a menu. Nettles. This is what I know about nettles: They invaded my front…
Yesterday, Chef Bernie Kantak shared details of his culinary adventures and early artistic creations. Today, the conversation turns towards matters more serious, from witnessing a slaughter to ghosts in the machine. First job: My grandmother on my mother’s side ran a kitchen in Ohio that was a reception hall at…
Luckily, that’s not a problem at Beckett’s Table, the third in a series of eateries we checked out for Restaurant Week. Service here was lightning-quick and almost too attentive — we had to physically hold on to our plates a few times to prevent them from being whisked away. The overall…
Budget Travel recently listed what they consider to be the 5 hottest foodie trends right now. On the list: urban foraging, night markets, single item restaurants, bicycle cafes and rent-a-tree programs. We may not have all the items on the list, but we were trendsetters when it came to the bike…
Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back – with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com 96: The…
Two-month old BLD in Chandler unveiled its new streamlined dinner menu today to its adoring Facebook fans. We took a look and noticed one important thing missing — the charcuterie plate. Just last week we raved about the tender meat that graced the appetizer platter and now it’s gone. “We’ve…
Thirty-nine years after 57-year-old Don Gorske bit into his first Big Mac, he’s ready to do it again — for the 25,000th time. Gannett Wisconsin Media reporter Russell Plummer says that Gorske, the “Big Mac enthusiast” who also appeared in Morgan Spurlock’s, Supersize Me, will consume his record-breaking Big Mac…
Sushi lovers rejoice, Scottsdale has a brand new sushi joint open just in time for summer. Shinji Kurita, sushi chef and former owner of the now-closed Awhatukee sushi spot, ShinBay, quietly opened the doors of his latest project last Wednesday. Once again named ShinBay, the traditional-style Japanese eatery will offer…
The Spot: Secreto, 4232 E Chandler Blvd, 480-706-2220 The Hours: 3 to 7 pm Monday – Friday The Details: Happy hour is only available at the bar. Drink prices range from $2.25 for domestic bottled beer to margaritas and martinis for $5. All happy hour menu items range from three to…
It’s a cliché that the best ethic restaurants are the ones frequented by people of that ethnicity — but it’s also usually true. Who better to determine the quality of Japanese or Punjabi food, for example, than someone who hails from that area of the globe and grew up eating their traditional dishes? …
Chef Bernie Kantak began his culinary adventure at a very early age. He sampled head cheese at four years old and liked it. Shortly afterwards, instead of slapping together a messy PB&J when his mom told him to make a snack, Kantak pulled up a chair, turned on the stove and whipped up…
As locals, it drives us nuts when resorts offer spa and food deals that we can’t take advantage of, particularly in the summer when — let’s face it — no one else is begging to come to town. But someone got smart over at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess with what they’re…
Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back — with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com 97: Cash Money…
Sure it’s a word nerd thing, but for food freaks it settles a debate or two. Yesterday, the Associated Press released its 2011 Stylebook, the journalistic standard for writing, with a first-ever food section consisting of 16-pages, and over 400 food names and terms, including 140 new entries like: •…
Whether you’re a CSA devotee, a farmers’ market weekender or consider ketchup a veg, we’ll bring you fresh inspiration for how to prepare our local produce. This week’s harvest: Peaches The last two weeks of May, you can hear our collective groans over the tender sweet juicy drippy peach harvest. We wanted…
Charlie Blonkenfeld, owner and chef of Chaka Chaka, the downtown breakfast and lunch joint that closed its doors in March, is back this Friday and Saturday, May 20 and 21, at Cycle Restaurant & Bar, the pop-up joint hidden inside the Lexington Hotel in downtown Phoenix. Lucky for us, Blonkenfeld’s…
Phoenicians Lara Mulchay and Joel LaTondress helped celebrate the opening of the Mercado San Agustin in Tucson this weekend with brunch in the form of “HotDish in the Old Pueblo. Cheeseaholic Mulchay (from Petit Fromage, whose Phoenix location closed in August last year) and web developer LaTondress are planning a…
Seriously. How cute are these? Obsessed with macarons and wanting to create something sweet but that looked savory, Anna at Diary of a Ladybird whipped up this adorable batch of cheeseburger-themed macarons using macaron cookies topped with sesame seeds for buns, chocolate biscuits for patties, colored fondant for the lettuce…
Last year we marked the hundred day countdown to Best of Phoenix by sharing our 100 Favorite Dishes with you. Now we’re back – with the 2011 edition. Have a suggestion for a dish you’d like us to try? Leave it in the comments section or email laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com 98: The…
Ever since celeb chef Mario Batali opened his Osteria Mozza in LA, the international trend of mozzarella bars has been slowly spreading across America. Other notable mozz bars include New York’s Obikà (which originated in Rome) and Naples Tomato in Florida. Spasso Pizza & Mozzarella Bar in the old Pie Zanos space…
When I first moved to the South and discovered the home style cooking of a meat and three, it cracked me up (and not in a ha-ha way) that the side vegetable choices were mac-n-cheese, creamed corn, squash casserole, mashed potatoes, and collard or turnip greens. The greens were slow…
