By Michele Laudig What happens when you take an accomplished chef and architecture buff and set him loose in the mid-century mecca of Central Phoenix? You get a cool new restaurant called St. Francis Place. Hold your horses — the place probably won’t open until March, at the earliest. Still,…
By Michele Laudig After 7 1/2 years running Postino, a successful wine bar at 40th Street and Campbell, the folks from LGO Hospitality have decided to open a second location, just north of Camelback on Central Ave. It’s in the old Katz Deli space. (Katz’s closed down last week and…
By Michele Laudig Jeez, Robrt, did you put them out of business? Last week, Robrt Pela’s highly entertaining rant about crap service at Willo Bakery was met with an online chorus of “Hell, yes!” Who knew everybody hated it so much? And now the joint’s closed. Not surprising, really. I…
By Michele Laudig Although the new Sheraton Phoenix Downtown hotel wasn’t scheduled to open until October, it’s actually going to open a bit early — and along with it, there will be a new restaurant serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner: District American Kitchen & Wine Bar. Following on the heels…
By Amy Silverman Sounds like things are a bit too wild, over at Wild West Cowboy Steakhouse Mexican at 104 E. Monroe Street in Phoenix. An inspection last month revealed some relatively minor concerns — like an improperly stored ice scoop, and a bottle of rubbing alcohol next to the…
By Michele Laudig I never had a fair chance to say goodbye to Plaid Eatery, as this cute, vegetarian-friendly Tempe hangout quietly closed this summer while school was out. Makes me wonder if it was the economy, or what — and how many other little joints are shutting their doors…
by Robrt L. Pela There’s this beautiful little grocery across the street from my house in downtown Phoenix where I go from time to time when I feel like being ignored by dark-haired 22-year-old men who’d rather be doing something other than working in a boutique-y market. I stop there…
Don’t blame the Olympics. I’ve been craving some good Chinese food for a lot longer than the past couple of weeks that we’ve been bombarded with coverage of the games. If anything, TV segments about bizarre Beijing street foods have somewhat lessened my appetite for it. (I’m adventurous, but I’m…
By Michele Laudig The word on the street is that there have been big changes at Estate House, the mansion-like fine-dining spot at SouthBridge, Fred Unger’s upscale Scottsdale shopping and restaurant complex across the canal from the Scottsdale Waterfront. Ron Dimas, the executive chef who opened the restaurant six months…
By Michele Laudig Talk to the food fanatics around town, and Noca’s got the buzz du jour, which is saying a lot for a three-and-a-half-week-old restaurant. I won’t name any names, but the place has been crawling with local chefs, celebs, and even some restaurants critics. (And no, I’m not…
By Michele Laudig Wow — I just stumbled on to a fascinating Yelp discussion about whether or not the Yelpers think it’s okay to accept free food in exchange for a (possibly) favorable review on the popular everyone’s-a-critic website. I’d secretly hoped that the majority of Yelp postings were sincere,…
By Amy Silverman I admit it, I’m shallow. About as deep as a cupcake, as long as it’s a super-cute, tasty one. Which is a good part of why I’m willing to pooh-pooh the county’s most recent inspection report of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the boutique confectionary that finally opened earlier this…
By Michele Laudig It seems like everybody’s looking forward to Labor Day weekend, but now there’s something to look forward to after the big holiday: restaurant openings! For some reason it feels like the whole city starts to wake up in September, even though the heat isn’t going anywhere. W…
By Michele Laudig Megan Irwin’s weekly installments of Veggie Girl were an instant hit on Chow Bella when they started earlier this summer — readers gave lots of feedback, and Megan was enthused about covering vegetarian dining. And alas, just when it seemed she was on a roll, Veggie Girl…
By Michele Laudig Gio Osso is already gone from Luc’s, the luxury El Pedregal restaurant, barely more than three months after taking the executive chef post. According to owner Robert Hall, the change-up happened about a week ago. As I reported in May, Osso was chef number three for the…
By Michele Laudig One of the most high-profile restaurant developments of 2008 also happens to be a home-grown Arizona original. Prado is the name of the new Spanish-style signature restaurant at the soon-to-open InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, and unlike some of the other high-profile eateries anticipated for 2008, it’s…
By Michele Laudig If you’re craving Thai food for dinner tonight, I have a tasty suggestion: Yupha’s Thai Kitchen. Yupha Dequenne says it’s a little bit bigger now — about 100 seats instead of 77 — but feels quite a bit bigger, thanks to a new layout. The scrumptious Thai…
In rural India, a dhaba is a roadside pit stop where truckers can fill their tummies after they’ve filled their tanks at the petrol station next door. It’s a place for a cheap, filling meal of Northern Indian food, and maybe even a quick snooze on a charpoy, a squat,…
By Jonathan McNamara What’s better than room service? What if you could get it in your own home? What if your kitchen was manned by celebrity chef Michael DeMaria? That may not be so far-fetched when Centerpoint Condominums opens its two towers and retail space on Fifth Street in Tempe…
By Michele Laudig After a jaunt to the downtown farmer’s market on Saturday morning, I decided to join a couple of friends for breakfast at the new-ish Maizie’s Cafe & Bistro (after stashing my veggies in my fridge at home, of course). It turned out to be a worthwhile destination,…
By Michele Laudig On the heels of last week’s news that AAA Four Diamond-rated La Hacienda closed at the Fairmont Scottsdale, now there’s word that another restaurant at the resort has received the same noteworthy award: Bourbon Steak. When I reviewed celebrity chef Michael Mina’s swanky new Arizona outpost a…
By Michele Laudig This is a pretty sweet nod to one of downtown’s tastiest haunts: Sweet Pea Bakery gets a mention in the September issue of Bon Appetit magazine. The noteworthy item? Brownie-chunk cookies, recipe included. Yum! I’m sure I’ll still end up buying them from Sweet Pea instead of…
