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. Last month, Time magazine published an issue called “Gods of Food,” a male-centric look on…

Henry Ku is the chef and restaurateur who has been credited with putting Taiwanese food on the map in Seattle. And he isn’t stopping there. With three restaurants in the Seattle area, Ku opened Henry’s Taiwan in Tempe in August and will open a location in Los Angeles this month…

Luxury chocolates have arrived in Old Town Scottsdale by way of Belgium — and just in time for holiday gift-giving. Chocolade van Brugge, 4225 North Marshall Way, comes courtesy of local owners Frederiek and Christine Verbeke. The couple’s new shop, which opened in November, features an assortment of more than…

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…

La Bocca, the stylish pizzeria and wine bar in Tempe opened in 2008 courtesy of restaurateur and Arizona State University alumnus Julian Wright, is expanding to the North Valley. Wright, whose company, Fork & Dagger Restaurant Group, also owns Modern Margarita in Phoenix as well as The Handlebar, Canteen Modern…

Are you the kind of diner who enjoys dishes that dole out the heat? Not from a blistering fury of chile peppers, but from a complex harmony of Indian spices that punish and delight in equal measure? Then the cuisine of Chettinad, a dry, remote region of the state of…

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. Nearly as anticipated as the feast, the post-Thanksgiving turkey sandwich has a place in our…

The Valley food community lost a dear friend this past weekend when Lisa Giungo, more commonly known as “Lisa G.,” passed away after a battle with lung cancer. Following years spent working at Scottsdale’s Arcadia Farms, Giungo opened her own place, Lisa G’s, in a 1930s bungalow in Central Phoenix…

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…

Mutton chukka is a dish that gives little in the way of apologies. Uncompromisingly brash, it refuses to be coddled. Its rough-looking appearance, a haphazard array of braised then fried hunks of lamb, bay and curry leaves, and red onion slices, shuns any ideals of culinary charm. Pitiless in the…

Scratch Pastries owners Duc and Noelle Liao are looking forward to the New Year, especially in light of what happened in this one. In June, following problems with investors concerning their second location (Scratch French Cafe, located in the former Canvas space on Roosevelt Row), the husband-and-wife team declared bankruptcy…

After nine years, a dispute with the landlord caused Carefree Station, located in Carefree’s Spanish Village, to shutter in October. But as of next week, Carefree Station’s owners Robert and Linda Gabrick (who also own Prescott Station) will start anew with Scottsdale Station, their restaurant of globally inspired cuisine located…

After four years, Petite Maison is upping its game — French Modern-style. The charming French restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale from chef James Porter and his wife, Wendy, is relaunching as Petite Maison Modern French, a transition that will include an updated logo, a redesign of the restaurant, and a…

Cue the hippies, peace signs, and sitars (mood-altering drugs optional), because restaurateur Sam Fox, CEO of Fox Restaurant Concepts, has announced the name of his newest restaurant concept: Flower Child. Nation’s Restaurant News reports that the healthy fast-casual concept and “second cousin” to True Food (Fox’s chain of healthful restaurants)…

Chef Michael O’Dowd and partner Ed Leclere, founders of Vivid Lifestyle Concepts (VLC), the company they started this spring after O’Dowd left as executive chef at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, have called it quits. Under VLC, O’Dowd and Leclere, a former Harley-Davidson promotions director, opened North Scottsdale’s Renegade by MOD…

Barrio Queen already stays open until midnight Tuesday through Saturday. But the modern Mexican restaurant’s owner and chef, Silvana Salcido Esparza, is taking the late-night scene in Old Town Scottsdale one step further: by staying open until 3 a.m. on Friday and Saturday. “Scottsdale has a weekend nightlife and not…

At first glance, you might think you could run Grassroots Kitchen & Tap yourself. You’d be wrong — and therein lies the genius of this North Scottsdale restaurant. What seems obvious about the place is really a kind of deceptive simplicity. Look closer and you’ll find the approachability of this…

Heads up, Spinato’s fans: your pizzeria just got supersized. The family-owned local chain that’s been making old-school Chicago-style pies in the Valley just shy of 40 years has announced their newest location, a 10,000-square-foot space at 5509 North 7th Street in Central Phoenix (7th Street and Missouri), will officially open…