If you’ve felt an icy wind coming from Tempe’s Mill Avenue lately, it’s not from the glare of that coed you just totally checked out (c’mon, man, look at her face) — it’s ice cream. More specifically, ice cream shops. And lots of ’em — everywhere. Look to the left:…
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 implied meaning of a signature menu item is that it doesn’t change. And for restaurants who offer them, the message to customers is simple: If you come here, you can have this special item. But what if the customer wants a signature dish with alterations? I asked Valley chefs…
In the wake of the recent shuttering of the Downtown Phoenix Public Market Urban Grocery & Wine Bar comes Bodega 420, a new market and convenience store in the Roosevelt Arts District. The two aren’t the same concept — Bodega 420 balances local items with non-local ones to keep prices…
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…
It is said that on Le Jour des Crepes (National Crepe Day), held on February 2 in France, if you can catch a crepe with a frying pan after tossing it in the air with your right hand and holding a gold coin in your left, you will become rich…
A 30-foot ficus tree, a patio lined by French Quarter gas lamps and an eight-foot ivy wall, and, as their Facebook page states, a “man cave” and “one hell of a martini,” will be a few of the focal points at Kelly’s at Southbridge, the new American pub and grill…
In what appears to be a start in filling the restaurant void at the Camelback Esplanade, the mixed-use development on the southeast corner of Camelback Road and 24th Street, Del Frisco’s Grille will be opening in the former Houston’s location on Saturday, June 9. From the Dallas-based Del Frisco’s Restaurant…
I’m convinced there’s not many things in life a well-made torta can’t cure. Bad day? Torta. Un-friended on Facebook? Torta. Walking around with a piece of torta in your teeth? Torta. Monster-size and cheap, these popular Mexican sandwiches — stuffed with meat, thick slices of ripe avocado, pickled jalapeños, lettuce,…
“A lot of people say it’s the water. It’s not the water, it can be done.” New York Flavor owner Bill Olear would love the chance to make New York pizza. Too bad his cute and comfortable fast-casual eatery is too small, not to mention the fact that his lease…
When it comes to finding the flavors of their city, many an ex-Gothamite has been dragged to joints all over the Valley touting real a New York vibe and authentic Big Apple fare. Bill Olear didn’t find his New York in any of them. “Most places take a nostalgic view…
Thousands of people, lots of restaurants, and the plastic cups — my god, the plastic cups! For many parts of the country, food festivals are in full swing this time of year. We’ve most likely had a taste or two at several, but what do those on the other side…
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…
If you happen to find yourself around the food of Puerto Rico and the unmistakable smell of garlic has made your nose twitch with curiosity, you are most likely about to encounter mofongo. Satisfyingly flavorful and fill-you-up-fast, the classic dish from made from fried green plantains mashed together in a…
Message to loaded fries everywhere: Game. Oinkin’. On. Think you’ve stuffed yourself silly on chef Bryan Dooley’s top-notch ‘cue at his hoppin’ little joint in Cave Creek? Not like this. Now cue the ringing of that cowboy triangle dinner bell, we’re gonna eat…
Live music, art exhibits, after-hours events — if you haven’t been to the Icehouse lately, the huge and happenin’ 34,000-square-foot space and former ice-storage building near Fifth Avenue and Jackson Street in downtown’s warehouse district, maybe it’s time you paid a visit. And if you need some incentive, a “new…
At 3015 East Thomas Road, the sounds of smashing plates, rousing “opas!,” and festive music and belly dancing is no more. Bacchanal Greek Restaurant in Central Phoenix has shuttered. At the corner of a strip mall, the good-time Greek eatery was established in 1989 and operated by the Gicoudis family…
Those who may have heard (and believed) people who say, “You can’t get decent seafood in the Valley ’cause we live in a desert,” might also want to keep an eye out for while-you-were-sleeping organ harvesters and tendon-slashing gang members who wait under cars at the gas pump. It is…
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…
“Shel Bourdon is the ‘ying’ to my ‘yang’,” says Stephen Jones, the 32-year-old executive chef of Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails of his lead bartender. “She has a complex understanding of flavors and can identify the different layers within each dish.” The 24-year old Bourdon, who moved to the Valley…
In an announcement that must have caused a collective gasp from restaurants in Arizona cities like Yuma, Show Low, and Flagstaff, Check, Please! Arizona, PBS’s popular restaurant review series where Arizonans share dining-out experiences roundtable-style with James Beard Award-winning chef and host Robert McGrath, has announced the program will expand…
Despite chef and restaurateur Aaron May’s contention that there had been a miscommunication when he was locked out of his taco shop in downtown’s Cityscape at the end of April after a landlord-tenant dispute regarding back rents, his restaurant, Vitamin T, opened for nearly a year and a half, has…
