Justin SchimdThe guitarist for Hung Dynasty, blogger for http://wanderingjustin.com/ and nonprofit writer performs with his band at Donna Jean’s Libations Friday, January 22. What’d you eat for dinner last night? Pho ga from Da Vang in Phoenix. Favorite food: Korean food is really starting to shoot up on my list…
How well do you know your favorite cookhouse contraptions? Can you tell a melon baller from a cookie scoop? See if you can guess today’s gadget and check back next week for the answer. Here are a few of our guesses, add yours to the comment box below: – Alien…
Will new Touch of Thai give Malee’s on Main, a long-running Old Town Scottsdale Thai spot, a run for their money? Time will tell, but a little competition never hurt anybody, especially in a neighborhood where sushi is plentiful but spicy Thai cuisine is hard to come by. Located at 4th Avenue…
Slow Food Phoenix is teaming up with Kai, the highly acclaimed fine dining restaurant at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa, for a special interactive culinary event geared toward the truly food obsessed. Since attendance is capped at 60 guests, reservations are a must for afternoon of Saturday,…
It was tempting enough to take frequent jaunts to the East Valley when Wisconsin-based Culver’s debuted in Mesa a couple years ago, but now the Midwestern favorite is heading to Central Phoenix, bringing its famous ButterBurgers to a stretch of the city that’s surprisingly sparse when it comes to fast food burger chains…
One of Restaurant Business Magazine’s 50 Great Ideas for 2009 comes from Petite Maison, one of my favorite new restaurants in the Valley. Wendy Goldman, the restaurant’s marketing gal, says their Staff Meals were featured in the January issue. Available only between 10 p.m. and midnight, Thursday through Saturday, the bargain-priced…
It was probably inevitable. In light of the excitement generated by deliciously bad-for-you deep-fried goodies traditionally found at the fair and at festivals, now there’s a new restaurant called Festival Foods Services, dishing up said naughty treats all the time. And not ironically, it’s in the Arizona Mills Mall food court, which…
A lemon is a lemon, right? That’s what we thought when our high school chorus instructor told us to suck on cut lemons before a performance. Or when granny used to prescribe lemon wedges for cold and sore throat relief. If only we’d been older and wiser and known about Meyer Lemons, the delicious…
January evenings are chilly in Phoenix; not exactly ear muff weather, but certainly cold enough to justify a hot drink with a little kick. A Hot Toddy is a warm drink usually made with bourbon or scotch and a varying combination of sweeteners and spices. The Hot Toddy was believed…
It’s not likely to snow any time soon in these parts — and the holidays are long gone — but if you’re still fighting the post-Xmas blues, like we are, check out the cavitity-inducing sweetness over at www.bakerella.com, a super-cute blog we just discovered. Talk about eye candy. And hey,…
Last week we identified the top ten food trends of the 2000’s. Today we’re looking ahead to toward new culinary adventures. If we were alloted five wishes to change the way America eats in the next year and beyond, these would be them. Asian Ice Overthrows Fro-yo – We’re big…
Another week has come and gone leaving us to ponder the upcoming events that will shape our lives and, more importantly, our dinners out. But before we move on, let’s have one last look at the blog posts from this week: Dirty Blonde Cocktails Hit Scottsdale and Tempe Resolve to…
Today Elvis Presley would have celebrated his seventy-fifth birthday and thousands of fans will gather to spend the weekend honoring the Rock and Roll music legend at his home in Memphis. Even if you don’t consider yourself a fan, there is no denying that Elvis Presley’s contribution to music was…
There was already plenty of excitement about the opening of FnB, a collaboration between Pavle Milic, Peter Kasperski, and chef Charleen Badman, since it opened in Scottsdale a little over a month ago. Now, they’re keeping up the momentum with a revised menu and an attention-getting wine list featuring all Arizona…
How many times has Ty Largo made me smile or flat-out laugh my ass off? Too many times to count. Between food news-and-gossip-fueled email exchanges (he does marketing for local fave Quiessence, as well as various foodie events around town) and his ever-clever quips on Twitter (@juxtapalate), he’s been cracking…
Fandom has its privileges, even if you’re a bandwagoneer. So just in time for the NFL playoffs, it’s smart to be an Arizona Cardinals fan if only for the free and cheap eats it’ll get you. The better the team does, the more of these deals we’ll likely see. At Rubio’s…
Originality and tuna sandwiches don’t always go together, but that hasn’t stopped me from keeping an eye out for new takes on a lunchtime favorite. Zinc Bistro does an interesting and tasty version, piling up smoked tuna salad on crisp toasts. Capers and dill keep the smokiness in check, and…
It’s no secret that we’re fond of a good beer and even less hush-hush that we love a good local beer. If it were possible to equip our faucet with a direct tap line to a barrel of Four Peak’s Kiltlifter, we’d have stopped coming in to work a long…
Finally! I’d been wanting to check out the new weekday lunch at Lola Tapas ever since it debuted a few months back, and it was worth my (unintentional) wait when I stopped by this week. The place is just close enough to downtown that I can justify repeat visits from…
Billy-Boy Wordsworth defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Fitting then, we should apply this definition when we speak of fabulous fare. See if you can relate to this week’s victual verse and feel free to pen a few lines of your own, should you be so inspired…
ere’s something pretty novel for Phoenix. It’s True Food’s special prix fixe menu geared to keeping you healthy during cold and flu season, called “Andy’s Immune Power Menu.” Andy, of course, is the acclaimed wellness guru Dr. Andrew Weil, who’s been involved with the health-centric eatery since the beginning. Executive chef Michael Stebner created…
The thought of eating some good barbecue has me tempted to hop in my car and take a nice long lunch break. I just got the word on a new spot in Mesa called J. Ruggs Southern BBQ (6610 E. Baseline) where father-and-son team Ian and John Ruggles have been dishing up…
