The truth is critics don’t become critics by liking everything. They must resolve to heavily criticize the mundane to terrible so that the good will shine all the more brilliant. This week’s cafe column is all about one restaurant shining brilliantly. Food Critic Michele Laudig on Rita’s Kitchen: When it…
This week Chow Bella takes a look at the culinary options available to Spring Training fans outside of the stadiums. Yesterday we took a look at the East Valley. Today we’ll feature dining and drinking options for all games held in the West Valley. Peoria Sports Complex San Diego Padres…
He’s a salmon fisherman who raises cattle on the side, and — lucky us — Kenny Ashbacher has now gotten into honey. Aschbacher is a commercial salmon fisherman, interested in sustainability. He also raises grass fed beef on his family land in New Mexico. Interested in a healthy alternative to refined sugar for…
This week, we’ve heard from Jeremy Pacheco of Lon’s at the Hermosa on the greatness of fennel and an eight pound lobster. Today he shares his recipe for a new item on the breakfast menu: Lemon Ricotta Pancakes…
I’ll go well out of my way for good food — I’ll obsess about it, complicate my schedule, or drive too far for it, and maybe even eat ramen for a couple days to afford it. Whatever. The end justifies the means. When it comes to beverages, I’m more a…
So we’re a little late with this. Yeah, we know Christmas was over two months ago, but the constant rush of this day-to-day journalistic lifestyle has left us with little time for gift-giving…or sun light. Anywho, we hope you’ll accept our late X-mas gift: the brand-spankin’-new “Happy Hours” app for…
Did anyone hear that chef Victor Casanova left Il Terrazzo at the Phoenician? It happened under the radar — Casanova’s now in Los Angeles, opening Culina at the Four Seasons in Beverly Hills. And in his wake, the restaurant’s undergone a transformation from haute Italian eatery to more of an…
Last summer, when Postino founder Craig DeMarco bought a vintage strip mall just north of Postino Central, he promised that a new concept was in the works. Now, after months of research, plans are finally rolling for not one but two new places he’ll be opening in the 1940 building at Central…
This week Chow Bella takes a look at the culinary options available to Spring Training fans outside of the stadiums. Today we’ll feature dining and drinking options for all games held in the East Valley. Phoenix Municipal Stadium 599 E. Van Buren Street, Phoenix Inside the Ballpark: Phoenix Municipal Stadium,…
With spring training around the corner, our thoughts have turned to stadium foods: hot dogs, Cracker Jacks, brats. Made from ground pork, beef or veal, the bratwurst somehow managed to cross worlds from German foodstuff to ballpark treat. Maybe it was the fact they’re traditionally soaked in beer. For this week’s…
Yesterday we sat down with Jeremy Pacheco of Lon’s at the Hermosa. Today, the conversation continues.Want to hear about Pacheco’s aversion to Bobby Flay? Read on … Favorite food show?I like watching Iron Chef and I’ve been watching a lot of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. I also like Alton Brown…
We know more than a few people addicted to food-related Facebook games (Restaurant City, really?), but now there’s one that has an actual pay-off for becoming an expert, and you’ll learn a few cool recipes while playing.Pei Wei Asian Diner is currently hosting a “Wok Chef” game on their Facebook…
Chef-restaurateur Joseph Gutierrez told me this afternoon that as of yesterday, Tutto is no more. The SouthBridge restaurant barely lasted half a year. Not-so-coincidentally, I spoke with one of the potential new owners yesterday, and was told off-the-record about the deal. …
I know a lot of you were simultaneously happy and heartbroken when master baker Ben Hershberger moved to NYC to work for Thomas Keller and took his Old Town Farmers Market cult-fave chocolate cherry sourdough bread along with him. (And I know many of you still have a stash of…
Three weeks after his takeover, Jeremy Pacheco has reinvented the breakfast and lunch menus of Lon’s at the Hermosa. Who said Rome wasn’t polished in a day? The Tucson native spent seven years in the former Terrace Dining Room at the Phoenician. Opportunity then knocked, and Pacheco packed and left…
Juan Ortiz, the meat cutter at Texas Roadhouse in Gilbert, is heading to Texas for the semi-finals in a meat cutting challenge that could ultimately land him $20,000. Ortiz was the regional winner, carving out 2 sirloins, 1 ribeye and 1 filet with the highest yield in the shortest time. …
Why am I so curious about new RnR, opening on March 11? Country-fried chicken and waffle sliders. Need I say more? Probably not, but there will also be Philly cheesesteak sliders, chicken and schnitzel, mini corndogs on a stick, gourmet burgers, and other sharable plates. For breakfast, I’m eyeing up…
Justin Beckett has lately become of the most social media-savvy chefs in the whole metro area, and he doesn’t even have a restaurant right now. Which is why his online musings are so clever. The former chef at the defunct Canal restaurant in Scottsdale is making good use of his free time…
While shopping for nerdy gifts at a local Game Daze shop, I stumbled on What’s Cookin’, a party game created specifically for foodies. Yes, you can now impress your chef friends or foodie Meetup groups with a board game that is based on your love of a good meal. Sigh. Unfortunately, it…
To eat them or not to eat them? News has spread of a recall of some Lemon Chalet Creme Girl Scout cookies. Frankly, this is not as upsetting as, say, news regarding Thin Mints or Tagalongs. Still, those lemon cookies have their fans. Yesterday we got some bad information from…
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: – The Chopsticks Workout – No-Touch Penis Handler – Ol’ Peg…
JRC The co-owner of The Trunk Space and Art Space in downtown Phoenix runs OneWordLong, a media imprint that produces CDs and other items based on storytelling and “labors of love”. What’d you eat for dinner last night? A bowl of Shredded Wheat with raisins–I was too sick to leave…
