For those in the Southeast Valley looking to score a.m. eats like cheddar jalapeño biscuits and gravy, caramelized banana and pecan brioche French toast, or battered and fried breakfast sausages on sticks, your mornings just got a little sunnier. See also: Aaron May Dishes On Being a Chef, a Restaurateur…

“I was desperate for the food I was accustomed to,” Walter Bergamaschi says on why he and wife Marti decided to open Dolce Vita Italian Grocer in east Mesa. “Ninety-nine percent of what we sell and use here is imported from Italy. The other 1 percent,” he jokes, “is the…

Dolce Vita Italian Grocer is what happens when gelato makers turn their attention to Italy’s more savory food. Where pastas are equally as luscious, cheeses and cured meats just as intensely flavorful, and sandwiches as deserving of slow and thoughtful roll-over-the-tongue tastes as the Italian sweet treat — minus the…

The construction is finally finished in the former home of Zen32, at 32nd Street and Camelback Road, in the Biltmore Neighborhood. And at 5 p.m., Sunday, November 4, Central Bistro, the modern restaurant featuring flavors from Italy, France, and Spain, opens its doors after nearly nine months of remodeling and…

What do you call long tubes of bread baked in special cylindrical pans, sliced open to add fillings, then covered back up and cooked? Edgy, yo. And if you’re Carole Meyer, one-of-a-kind. Meyer is the owner of Zookz, the just-opened sandwich shop in front of the Landmark Residential Tower on…

Welcome to Chow Bella’s Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you’d like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. Miss a question? Go here. Screams. Blood. Gore. No, it’s not your favorite spooky movie…

For those of you who have passed the shuttered Miriam’s Designer Clothes building on North Seventh Street and wondered, “Why can’t that just be a restaurant already?” (yours truly included) here’s some news: It’s going to be a restaurant already. More specifically, one called Gadzooks specializing in enchiladas and soup…

Sharing my favorite eats of the month from new restaurants, reviewed restaurants, and places I’ve popped into just because. It’s not a countdown, it’s a collection. And I hope it inspires. Enjoy. Pork Stomach and Black Pepper Clay Pot at New Hong Kong “I can’t believe I’m on my second…

“I’m terrified as shit, but in a locker-room-before-the-game kind of way.” That’s what Keenan Bosworth says about opening Pig & Pickle, his first restaurant, slated to open at the end of November in Scottsdale serving comfort food with a gourmet twist. The Wisconsin-born chef, who moved to the Valley in…

Mamma Mia, the family owned pizza joint with two locations on Indian School Road, has shuttered one of them. The location at 806 East Indian School Road (8th Street and Indian School Road in Central Phoenix) closed a few weeks ago. Opened shortly after the pizzeria’s original restaurant was established…

When a new spot opens in town, we can’t wait to check it out — and let you know our initial impressions, share a few photos, and dish about some menu items. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a full-blown review, but instead a peek inside restaurants that…

The best thing about being the judge for the 2012 Chow Bella Halloween Candy Showdown is, well, being the judge for the 2012 Chow Bella Halloween Candy Showdown. Bring on the sugar rush, Baby. With the challenge being to whip up a dessert incorporating their favorite Halloween candy, my fellow…

Bruegger’s Bagels may be just another national chain adding new locations throughout the Valley this year, but chances are it’s the only one holding a Guinness World Record. See also: Best Bagels 2012 — New York Bagels ‘N Bialys In 2004, the Vermont-based company with over 300 locations in 26…

Just because Bar Louie wasn’t right for Mill Avenue in the 1990s doesn’t mean it’s not right for Tempe Marketplace in 2012 — right? Maybe. The national chain, which debuted in Chicago in 1991 and refers to itself as a “urban bar,” is trying the Valley again after failed attempts…

Stanley’s Homemade Polish Sausage Company may have moved out of its location on 2201 East McDowell Road this spring, but the tiny brick structure in Central Phoenix soon will be occupied by another meaty establishment with a rather, er, cheesy name. See also: Stanley’s Sausage Company on McDowell Moving So…

El Chiltepin is as much a restaurant as it is a mad scientist’s laboratory. Perfect given that Halloween is less than a week away. And at this offbeat eatery, you’ll find “treats” consisting of tasty traditional Mexcian favorites as well as a parade of Frankenstein-style street food that’s fun and…

El Chiltepin is as much a restaurant as it is a mad scientist’s laboratory: an offbeat little place where Mexican and American ingredients and flavors are pieced together to create a parade of Frankenstein-style street food the likes of which the tortured doctor himself might be hardpressed not to try…

Given the many television shows that have returned or are returning for the fall season, one thing, it seems, has been missing: “breastaurants,” an actual term used to describe restaurants that employ scantily clad women as waitresses. Well, push pause on that remote control, my friend, ’cause these breastaurant ta-tas…

Over a year has passed since former luxury hotel executives Tom Kelly and Brian Pierce opened TK’s Urban Tavern in the Scottsdale Quarter in January of last year. Now, the two have embarked on their second, tavern-y Scottsdale venture: Tavern Americana. At 20469 North Hayden Road (North Hayden and Thompson…