If you are under the impression that cupcakes have jumped the shark, you clearly have not attended Cupcake Camp. That’s right — a daytime event (this is no sleepaway camp) devoted to baking, frosting, decorating and selling that perky little baked good so many are starting to hate. No hate…
[Editor’s Note: This blog was edited after Sweet Republic let us know that their truck will be on Roosevelt Row for First Friday, but not at Curry’s new restaurant opening.] Last week, former Digestif and Caffe Boa chef Payton Curry announced he’d found the perfect location for his new pop-up-restaurant…
Since the beginning of the year, going meatless one day a week has been, for us, a way to celebrate the bounty of the farmers’ market, winter root vegetables, and a commitment to increasing the variety of grains in our diet. So far we have shied away from using processed…
Got some Girl Scout cookies sitting around? So did we. Hence, the Trefoil Cookie Showdown. There’s something perverse, or at least ironic, in combining Girl Scout cookies and liquor. So I did it. Instead of using lemon pound cake in layers for my usual trifle, I substituted Girl Scout Trefoils,…
Got some Girl Scout cookies sitting around? So did we. Hence, the Trefoil Cookie Showdown. Re-purposing Trefoils into some sort of dessert seemed a little too easy. I wanted to try my hand at something savory. Almost instantly, I had it. Coconut Shrimp! I honesty didn’t even consider anything else…
Something interesting popped up among the locally grown carrots and lettuce heads at last week’s ASU Farmers’ Market: tiny clusters of still-green bananas grown right in downtown Tempe. Apparently, the banana trees are just one of many fruit-bearing plants on campus.ASU’s harvest program began back in the early ’90s, when…
Film: The Princess and the Warrior (2000) Popcorn Alternative: Popcorn with Cinnamon Butter and Dried Apple Chips Entrée: Roast Chicken with Melted Onions and Herbed Spaetzle Beverage: German Beer Get das breakdown after the jump…
Introducing the Best Of App for iPhone (pictured right). Don’t worry, the good, old-fashioned paper version of Best of Phoenix isn’t going anywhere. Still, the print and paper version isn’t exactly pocket friendly. Consider this a smaller version of your favorite guide to Phoenix (and several other cities for that…
Got some Girl Scout cookies in the pantry? So did we — hence, the Chow Bella Trefoil Showdown. Our dish for the Trefoil showdown boiled down to simple logistics. Last minute crunch time with only fifteen minutes to create an entry? It seemed like a daunting task. Until we thought back…
Walsh of Calistro Bistro gives the same advice he’s received: Keep it simple. Caprese salad is one of the simplest salads you could ever hope to make. And yet the combination of tomatoes, mozzarella and basil is more delicious than many more complicated concoctions. This salad will work perfectly…
For those of you not familiar with Beer Advocate, it’s the bible for beer snobs. A place where we can all go to share our much coveted opinions of rare and no-so-rare craft beer. An online venue to brag about our beer conquests. Beer Advocate also occasionally likes to put out…
The one thing about my job that I’ve been asked more than anything else is how I landed it in the first place. I’ve come up with many answers, but now I realize it’s something that still keeps me going. Curiosity. Five years ago, when I became the New Times…
Two barbecue festivals. One Saturday. WTF?!We completely understand that there are very few weather-appropriate weekends for festivals in the Valley, hence the abundance in March and April, but seriously, guys, you couldn’t maybe space it out by a week? To the uninformed, this definitely looks like a case of poor…
If you’re hungry between gallery shows on any given First or Third Friday on Roosevelt Row, be sure to check out the empty lot-turned-market that’ll debut April 1. (Not a fool’s day joke, we promise.) A.R.T.S. Market, is part of Roosevelt Row CDC’s greater Adaptive Re-use of Temporary Space (A.R.T.S.)…
If you haven’t already heard through the social media grapevine, tomorrow is the worldwide Twestival event — basically, a Tweetup for charity with food, drinks and a silent auction. The event started in 2009 and has spread to over 200 cities around the globe. This year’s Phoenix Twestival takes place…
Say shortbread and I immediately think not of Girl Scouts but of McVities. I was introduced to the Scottish digestive biscuits and shortbread when faced with the dorm food at a college in northern England for a semester. The meals for my day started with a decent English breakfast, but…
esterday we talked to Devin Walsh of Calistro California Bistro about some of what makes him unique as a chef. Today our conversation continues. While his culinary experiences may seem pretty wonderful, not every task was terrific. Walsh dealt with a whole lot of garbage — quite literally — during summers spent…
It’s no secret we’re sweet on Sweet Republic’s ice cream here at Chow Bella, and we know others are, too. Now co-owner Jan Wichayanuparp’s shared news of another fan. A big one. This Friday, March 25, the Food Network will be in Scottsdale to film a segment for “The Best Thing…
Courtesy of Devin Walsh Working alongside the likes of chefs like Eric Ripert has not jaded Devin Walsh of Calistro California Bistro in the slightest. In fact, he’s a humble guy, considering Walsh lived all over the world and cooked in metropolitan cities across the U.S. before landing as chef-owner Calistro in…
The signs for Oakville Grocery are up at Phoenix’s CityScape development, and according to the PR machine the store is “in its final phases of construction and design.” The California-based gourmet market shuttered the doors of its Scottsdale Quarter location this past January after a little over a year in…
The new fast casual “burgeria,” Coal Burger, opened its doors yesterday at Scottsdale Quarter. Rolled out by the group behind Grimaldi’s Pizzeria, Coal Burger features natural grass fed beef burgers cooked in a coal fired brick oven (designed like the ovens used in the groups popular pizzerias) and served on…
Got some Girl Scout cookies in the pantry? So did we — hence, the Chow Bella Trefoil Showdown. I like to think of my food as the Iron Giant or Elephant Man — hideous monsters with a heart of gold. These sweet potato pancakes aren’t much to look at,…
