Just around the corner from Chase Field, Chaka Chaka serves up the greasy, messy, spicy sandwiches you’d expect from a ballpark. Just five options at $5 each (except the signature Jerk Chicken, which costs $6), keep decisions simple – even for the notoriously indecisive.
Holiday cookie platters are a staple at our family gatherings come December: Sugar cookie cutouts, Russian teacakes, peanut butter blossoms, fudge, buckeyes, holiday wreaths, and the simplistic wonder that is Melting Moments.
Two weeks of Where Am I Eating without winners just won’t cut it in our book… so this week we bring you an easy peasy photo of a dish that needs no introduction or commentary whatsoever. You know this one, right? Take a guess… Where Am I Eating?
Cave Creek Coffee Company serves up lattes by day and wine, beer, and martinis by night. The split café/wine bar hosts $5 Martini Tuesdays, so we trekked up to Cave Creek to check it out: The Brooklyn Stoop convinced us this small town bar can run with the city joints in martini-making.
UNCORK THE ISSUE: What wine should I give my boss for the holidays?
SPILL THE JUICE: “It depends on who your boss is and what he or she likes,” says Stephanie Caraway, the southwestern regional manager at Terlato Wines International. We press her for a wine gift guide broken down by industry… we all have to settle for stereotypes sometimes, right?
Chef Johnny Chu cooks up traditional Asian fare in the open kitchen at Sens Asian Sake & Tapas Bar, infusing life into downtown Phoenix with his own eclectic décor and sleek outdoor patio. Now, he’s working double time to open the Valleys first authentic Asian hot pot/shabu-shabu restaurant called Tien Wong in Chandler. Today Chu tells us he why he stayed in the restaurant business (to avoid college and hunger), how hot pot cooking works (sizzling hot soup), and what he’s eating right now (it’s not sweet-and-sour pork).
Joe’s Farm Grill may be way the heck out in Gilbert, but it’s definitely worth the hike, especially if you’re into Guy Fieri’s Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. Joe’s is the first in the list: A renovated farmhouse has a classic 1950’s feel in a picturesque setting called Agritopia.
Chef Johnny Chu is on double-duty: He’s the chef/owner of Sens Asian Sake & Tapas Bar and the innovator bringing Asian hot-pot cooking to Chandler at the soon-to-be-launched Tien Wong. We catch Chu between gigs to talk travel, sake, and Asian markets. He lets us in on what a deep-fried fish with scales tastes like, the sake for beginners and the reason he’d never write a cookbook.
We didn’t break our vegetarian diet on this beef stir-fry, but our dinner date did. This may look like an average meat-and-veggie wok number, but it packs some serious heat. Think you know who we asked to crank up the chili count? Take a guess… Where Am I Eating?
With Spice on its way out and pot not yet legal, people might get desperate for a high – but don’t reach for that nutmeg just yet. According to the FDA, Frontier Natural Products Co-op is voluntarily recalling nutmeg that is potentially contaminated with Salmonella from its Whole Foods Markets and Frontier Bulk stores following a recall from the non-organic nutmeg supplier: Mincing Overseas Spice Company.
Last night, The Lodge celebrated its anniversary with free food for all: Mac and cheese, buffalo meatloaf, grilled chicken, fish tacos and more were laid out near the pools tables. We stroll up to the bar through the crowd and ask for something North Woodsy: The bartender whips up a Creamsicle instead.
Chef Guido Saccone, like any good Italian, loves pasta, especially fresh, made-to-order pasta like he dishes up at Cibo. Today, he shares his family recipe for Gnocchi alla Sorrentina, or gnocchi Sorrento style.
UNCORK THE ISSUE: How should I plan a wine tour vacation?
SPILL THE JUICE: “Pick a region, know it proficiently, and try to taste as much as possible and experience as much as possible in that region,” says Christine Wisniewski, the owner of Caffe Boa with her husband, Jay, and a certified sommelier who traveled to Croatia and Slovakia this summer touring vineyards and tasting wines.
Maybe it’s the NyQuil talking, but The Fashion Show Ultimate Collection was almost entertaining this week: The designers go “mad plaid” (which is kind of like mad cow disease, but instead of everyone going bat shit crazy while their brains degenerate, they develop a sick obsession with that God-awful plaid your mom made you wear in second grade…) and get stuck in a time warp.
Once you tire of Subway’s sub-par quantity-over-quality footlongs and Jimmy John’s crazy cult following, swing by W.M. Sacks Art of Sandwicherie for a real sandwich that’ll cost you no more than the imitators… Meaning you won’t even break a $10, even after adding on chips and a drink.
that makes his heart melt and his appetite roar. “Pasta’s something I really have passion for,” Saccone says. “That’s what I eat every day, sometimes twice a day. I tell my wife it’s going to kill me.”
Phoenix has crazy love to thank for Chef Guido Saccone’s pizza and pasta at Cibo Urban Wine Cafe & Pizzeria. Saccone, who was born just outside of Naples, fell in love with the American girl working in Tuscany for the summer, who just happened to be from Mesa. A love story straight out of a fairy tale lead the Italian chef to Arizona.
Let’s face it: During the holidays we all hope and aim to be Suzie Homemaker: The best damn party hostess that ever lived. This week, we turn to the homemaking, party-planning, holiday-hosting goddess Martha Stewart herself for a Thanksgiving cocktail and get not just one but a dozen options (some are even non-alcoholic for the little ones or the underage siblings, nieces, nephews and cousins who are always trying to snag the leftover booze).
Spiking the eggnog has a whole new meaning now that we’ve learned nutmeg, that unassuming spice grandma puts into just about everything during Thanksgiving, is considered a “psychoactive drug” according to the FDA’s Poisonous Plant Database.
Chef Aaron May’s Vitamin T opened last Friday, making it the eighth restaurant concept May’s launched along with Iruña, Over Easy and The Lodge. Just the thought of running eight restaurants wipes us out, but when we meet up with May at Vitamin T, he’s in rare form: Stretching on the outdoor patio, chatting with his business partner Quinn Goldsberry.
Seriously Bravo, you’re going to let The World’s Most Boring Fashion Show Ultimate Collection go on?! The most interesting parts of this episode was spotting America’s Next Top Model castoff Melrose as the ’40s femme fatale in the challenge’s inspiration sequence (and the numerous flashbacks… is that how you’re keeping Tyra off your ass for stealing Tyra Mail?!) and hearing Isaac dispute that’s he’s ever worn drag because he’s “such an ugly girl.” Yeah, we’ll side with you on that last part… but we highly doubt the first.
UNCORK THE ISSUE: We meet David Mirassou for breakfast and an early morning wine tasting at Vincent’s Market Bistro and ask him, “What’s it like to be part of America’s oldest winemaking family?” School’s so much more fun with food and wine involved…
SPILL THE JUICE: “It’s tough because I have some big shoes to fill,” Mirassou says. “Each generation before me has accomplished some huge feat.”
