I’ve heard of a disturbing movement toward making soul food healthful. There are recipes circulating from a group of Phoenix cooks who are adapting traditional recipes to make them lower in fat and less sweet. These people are crafting mustard greens and black-eyed peas with smoked turkey instead of salt…
Here’s how I feel about fast food: if I wanted to eat something prepared more for speed than taste, I’d eat my own lousy cooking. I admit it, when I’m home and excessively lazy, I can justify a meal of microwave popcorn (one buttery kernel for me, two for the…
A person could have starved to death living at Scottsdale’s Desert Ridge since it opened in 1995. Sure, developers built gajillions of gorgeous homes in the upscale master-planned community, but nary a decent restaurant. It only took seven years for a good place to move in. In December, Desert Ridge…
Scottsdale’s Thaifoon restaurant prides itself on what it is: a glamorous, trendy eatery with pleasant Thai-style food. Thaifoon also celebrates what it isn’t: an authentic Thai experience. Rather than intimidating clientele with lots of fierce chiles, exotic galangal, lemongrass, lime leaf, hot chile, and nam pla (fish sauce), Thaifoon concentrates…
There are several important things to keep in mind when dining at Peter’s Budapest Café, a new Hungarian restaurant in Scottsdale. Prepare to eat heartily, and heavily. One of the hallmarks of Hungarian food is its bulk. This means enormous platters of tender, juicy beef piled atop plump noodles; breaded,…
For a cuisine that’s been around some 5,000 years, Indian food is remarkably in keeping with contemporary tastes. It’s low-fat, chock-full of vegetables, and meats usually are limited to small portions. And during a recession that has people pinching pennies, it’s also economical. Most local Indian restaurants keep entree prices…
It’s not too difficult to figure out what the specialties are at I Love Sushi & Steak. The name’s as straightforward as they come — not like Callaloo in Scottsdale (after a Caribbean taro green), El Tlacayo in Tempe and north Phoenix (in honor of a Mexican dish of masa,…
I don’t know why, but I find near-disasters thrilling. I’ll never forget one dinner at Beef Eaters in Phoenix — not because of the mediocre prime rib, but because of a candle that exploded on my table. It had burned down into the foil-wrapped holder and I discovered the stuff…
So now it looks like the government may require warning labels on pretzels: “May cause choking and/or fainting.” Thanks, President Bush.If pretzels do require warnings, then one of the safest places in town to consume them is at Walker’s Cafe in downtown Phoenix. Some of the restaurant’s most loyal fans…
In Italian, grazie means thank you. In Valley of the Sun-speak, it means an exciting new cafe. Grazie Pizzeria and Wine Bar is the latest addition to an ever-impressive collection of interesting new restaurants calling metro Phoenix home. Most people probably haven’t heard of it yet. Many people, upon discovering…
My dining companion is joking that the new Sapporo reminds her so much of P.F. Chang’s that if someone were to put that eatery’s trademark entry monument horses on wheels and roll them in front of the place, diners might never know the difference. It’s true that the two enterprises…
The story of Rancho de Tia Rosa, a handout compiled by owners Dennis and Lizabeth Sirrine, spans six pages, single-spaced. While the restaurant just opened last spring, its lore supposedly goes all the way back to the turn of the 20th century, when Pancho Villa rode into colonial Juárez, Mexico,…
My tablemates can’t get over dessert. It’s been the topic of conversation for the past 45 minutes, the oohing, the aahing, the veritable drooling over the chocolate cake, the cream pie, the fruit bars. Any moment now, I’m sure the group will spasm, collapsing under the table with arms and…
Look out, Lalibela. For the first time since it opened almost five years ago, the little restaurant should be peering over its shoulder at competition for the Ethiopian dining market. About two months back, Blue Nile Cafe debuted just a few blocks away at Rural Road and University Drive.Cafe Lalibela…
Restaurateur Karen Firestone may be new to the business, but she isn’t afraid to make a statement. First, there’s the name of her place — Cafe ah Pwah. She once took exception when I wrote that it sounds kind of Hawaiian. It also sounds kind of silly, here in the…
Well, whack me over the head with a lamb chop. Just when I think I’ve seen everything possible on a restaurant menu, something new sneaks up and surprises me. And not because a dish is simply bizarre — those are unfortunately too frequent — but because even though something sounds…
Deli lovers have had their noses pressed against the glass at Times Square Deli since late spring, awaiting its planned August opening. Inevitable delays resulted in a November 1 debut, and an even greater anticipation for what was described as a restaurant ambiance straight out of New York City.The ambiance…
There must be an international siren song calling from the building next to the Circle K at 16th Street and Campbell. This unassuming little box lures in ethnic restaurants one after the other — most recently it was home to a spectacularly flawed Russian eatery, followed by a short-lived Chinese…
From sports to the creative arts to big business, it’s the ability to perform under pressure that separates the professionals from the amateurs. Yet it’s also been proven that without pressure, performance can often flag. If that theory holds true in the restaurant business, Caffe Portobello offers an excellent case…
Twisted Vine Ah, the chilly nip of the holiday season. This is the time of year when the covers of Gourmet and Bon Appetit tempt with mouth-watering photos of succulent turkeys, hearty soups and stews, and steaming mugs of cocoa to warm our souls as well as our mitts. But…
Chef Mahmmud Jaafari has got a gem on his hands with Green Leaf Cafe, a casual little shop on 19th Avenue and Campbell in Phoenix. The place has been around for more than a decade, serving an ambitious menu of Persian cuisine accented by Mediterranean, Italian, American, Mexican, Cajun, vegetarian…
The kitchen is having some difficulty securing one of its specialties this week. My guess is that the chapulines are particularly feisty in cooler weather, making them harder to catch. Chapuline means grasshopper, and on some days the critters are available at Restaurant Oaxaca in north central Phoenix.It takes a…
