The Spot, a new, family-owned neighborhood hangout of fresh, fast, and affordable fare, opens today at 1493 South Higley Road in Gilbert (Higley Road and Ray Road.) The eatery occupies a tall and narrow space with an an interior mezzanine where diners can munch on salads, sandwiches, flatbreads, and home…
It’s no secret that Camelback Esplanade, the mixed-use development on the southeast corner of Camelback Road and 24th Street, hasn’t exactly been the most successful place to put a restaurant. Tough to see from Camelback Road, parking hassles (you’re either walking from across the street or have to remember to…
Spring will be here before we know it (Yer outta here, chilly, low seventy-degree days!) and that means celebrations-a-go-go for the Valley, including one of the biggest and most popular: The Scottsdale Culinary Festival. Featuring six days of events, restaurants and chefs, wine and spirits, and chic soirees with proceeds…
Chef Matt Carvalho used to use Queen Creek Olive Oil in his kitchen at RnR Restaurant and Bar in Scottsdale. Now, del Piero, the in-house cafe of Tuscan-inspired cuisine at Queen Creek Olive Mill, is using Carvalho in theirs. Carvalho, who started with RnR as executive sous chef when it…
After over forty years in the restaurant business, Frances Lee Hamby (a.k.a. Tiny) and her family are calling it quits. For many, Hambry’s last venture, Tiny’s Country Cafe, the small, cash-only, home-style breakfast and lunch spot near the corner of Greenway and 19th Avenue, has been a go-to spot for…
And the new restaurant openings this month just keep on comin,’ folks. Zen’s Cafe, the locally owned, small casual eatery chain from owners Adrian Yap and son Steven, opened its newest location last week at 19 East Broadway Road (Broadway and Mill Avenue) in Tempe. In the former spot of…
Mild weather of a Valley winter got you down? Get ready for seven days of shaking, stirring, and smashing — spirit-style — courtesy of Arizona Cocktail Week. Taking place Sunday, February 19, through Saturday, February 25, the first Arizona Cocktail Week invites folks 21 and over to imbibe in a…
For those full-up with new wine bar announcements in Old Town Scottsdale, there’s a new spot coming this summer that’s more interested in sausage than Sauvignon. Brat Haus, an artisan sausage and craft beer concept, will be taking over the Oregano’s at 3622 North Scottsdale Road in Old Town Scottsdale…
Whoa, where did the month of January go? Blink again and it could be the end of February, which would mean the third annual Devoured Culinary Classic — the Valley’s most popular culinary event featuring Arizona’s finest local restaurants, chefs, and wineries — would be right around the corner. Might…
More pasties? Yes, please. Cornish Pasty Co., owner Dean Thomas’ concept named after Cornwall, England, and featuring variations on the pasty (pronounced pass-tee), the savory turnover made up of a crust enfolding a meat-and-potato filling, is expanding its Tempe location. (A second restaurant exists in Mesa.) For those that think…
Less than three months into his new stint as executive chef at Spotted Donkey Cantina, the upscale Southwestern and Mexican restaurant at Hayden Village in Scottsdale, Robert McGrath, the James Beard Award-winning chef and former owner of Roaring Fork, is gone. McGrath took the Spotted Donkey gig last October, after…
In what may be a Valley first, two fans of Big Earl’s BBQ, chef James Porter’s home of “old school ‘Q” in Old Town Scottsdale, have paid the ultimate tribute to the restaurant by having themselves tattooed with the restaurant’s logo. Kyle Ohland and Ike Conrsolle, both visiting from Minnesota,…
Here comes another one. On the heels of the announcement that the potent pair behind FnB — front-of-the-house pro Pavle Milic and chef Charleen Badman — are planning to launch their three-concept experience, one of which is a wine bar, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Craftsman Court (in…
The abundance of Sonoran-style Mexican food in the Valley is so great, it’s almost taken for granted. On the other hand, Oaxacan food, from the state of Oaxaca in southwestern Mexico, is something you have to look a little harder for. And for those looking for Oaxacan eats, served up…
The abundance of Sonoran-style Mexican food in the Valley is so great, it almost is taken for granted. For most of us, it’s like chicken soup when we’re unwell, an obvious go-to. Oddly enough, it was the familiarity of chicken soup that led to a spot serving less commonly found…
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. A few weeks ago, we were alerted to the fact…
In 2011, when I wrote about the Valley’s year in food trucks, Brad Moore, founder and president of the Phoenix Street Food Coalition and owner of the gourmet mobile hotdog eatery Short Leash Hotdogs (which he owns with wife Kat), told me the popularity of food trucks in Phoenix has…
The connection between hot dogs and dogs, the lovable tongue-wagging pets, is thought to have come from newspaper cartoons by T.A. Dorgan around the 1900’s, which portrayed talking frankfurters, also known as “dachshund sausages,” because of their shape. No matter the origin of the name, hot dogs have fast become…
On the heels of its fourth anniversary this month, Humble Pie, the locally-owned pizza chain with three locations (Hilton Village, Desert Ridge, and Central Phoenix), has announced it will open a fourth restaurant in Scottsdale’s Kierland Village in mid-February. The largest of all the locations, the coming-soon Humble Pie, at…
From hiring ex-Noca chef Chris Curtiss to run his new NoRTH location in Arcadia last November, to taking over the Oakville Grocery Co. space at CityScape in October to open Chloe’s Corner with co-owner Ashly Young last week, restaurateur Sam Fox has been a busy boy indeed — and just…
Many of us in the Valley consider Over Easy, restaurateur Aaron May’s concept of breakfast eats with some unique twists (with locations in Arcadia and North Scottsdale), our neighborhood go-to spot for a.m. goodness. Now, it looks like Travel + Leisure, the travel magazine and website based in New York…
In what is clearly a plan for COMPLETE WORLD DOMINATION, Dunkin’ Donuts, the international chain of sub-par doughnuts and muffins, horrible breakfast sandwiches, and deliciously sweet coffee I’d eat a box of sub-par doughnuts for, announced this month that it will be doubling the number of its U.S. locations over…
