Two hours from now, all the P.F. Chang’s restaurants in the Valley will celebrate the launch of the restaurant’s own custom-made wine with a complimentary toast. To save you the trouble of remembering the name of the vino and the time of the toast, they’ve come up with one number: 518. The…
Liberty Market, in downtown Gilbert, is the kind of place where food lovers find any excuse to stop by, even when they live in other parts of the Valley. A sip of espresso, a bite of pizza, maybe some breakfast — this is the kind of place you could visit…
Kanpai Sushi will be joining RA among the Mill Avenue dining mix. This sushi spot, though, will be at the southern end of the downtown stretch, in the Centerpoint space that used to house Pizzeria Uno. Representatives for DMB Associates, the property manager, could not confirm whether this is a…
Barrio Cafe chef Silvana Salcido Esparza swears she’s not a politician — nor does she want to be one. But when SB 1070, the controversial immigration law, was about to be passed, she couldn’t bear to stay in the kitchen. So she headed to the State Capitol, to chat with the…
All that peace and love has created another Two Hippies love child. Another location of Two Hippies Beach House is set to open within the next two weeks, in the building at the northwest corner of 16th Street and Earll that used to be Alexi’s Cafe. Like at the original Beach…
There have been big changes at Cielo this week.Executive chef Donald Lemperle, who led the restaurant’s previous incarnations as Fiamma and Asia de Cuba, is no longer working there, and has been replaced by new executive chef Comer Smith.Smith tells me he’s just finalized his “technically sound” new menu, which…
This week’s Kitchen Ink is a sampling of North chef Ben Taft’s skin art. There’s more eye candy after the jump…
You thought the Camelback Corridor was becoming gourmet burger boulevard? Well, that’s true, but it’s also becoming gourmet pizza street. A new location of Picazzo’s Organic Italian Kitchen will soon be joining The Parlor, Tommy V’s, and Vincent’s on Camelback (yep, there’s pizza from the famous French chef) as another one…
After sitting vacant for the last year and a half, the building that last housed Zest Spirited Dining (4117 N. 16th St., north of Indian School) will soon become Gasper’s Pizzeria, an Italian restaurant specializing in traditional Neapolitan-style pizza, and rustic southern Italian cuisine. Owner Gasper Manno, who co-founded Sapori D’Italia…
A colleague wanted to know if something’s ever landed on the table that I promptly returned to the kitchen, and the answer is definitely. I’m a pretty agreeable customer, I think. If the wrong dish shows up and it looks edible, I might say what the heck and try it…
With two-month-old RnR, the folks responsible for a major part of Scottsdale’s notorious club scene have made a grand entrance into the neighborhood’s dining mix, and in many ways, the restaurant is much as you’d imagine it. Like Axis-Radius, Myst, and Suede — the long-running, perennially packed nightlife staples owned…
Radio Cafe, we hardly knew ya. I mean that literally, as the restaurant just opened a little more than a month ago, and I hadn’t had a chance to dine there. Tonight is its last night as a full-service restaurant before it becomes a space for special events…
Last night was the unveiling of Tuck Shop’s new summer menu, which I’m eager to try.Beer-battered cheese curds, watermelon salad with ricotta salata and basil, and pork t-bone with summer squash gnocchi, grilled green beans, and peach salsa all sound delicious, but the most intriguing new items are the savory…
If you want to get a nice little boost of positivity about living in Phoenix, check out winemaker/filmmaker/art lover/all-around-charming-person Sam Pillsbury in the Sundance Channel’s Tastemaker Series. He talks about how he got his start in the wine biz, his favorite local restaurants, and things he loves about the city. The…
Courtesy of Twitter, the guys at EaterAZ have just brought it to my attention that they’re on YouTube, too. The channel started as a place for Dave Tyda and Rick Phillips to “park” the videos they’ve previously posted on their blog, including a recent one on Barrio Cafe chef Silvana Salcido Esparza’s opposition…
It’s really not hard to get my attention. Just say the secret word: Japan. The other secret word? Seafood.That’s how the guys from Crudo caught my eye this morning, in a newsy little email sent to local media types. Chefs Cullen Campbell and Brandon Crouser have decided to start getting weekly shipments…
What will they do next?As if they don’t have enough going on (like that big blind tasting of AZ wines coming up), those creative folks over at FnB have just launched their own YouTube channel: FnB TV.The project started serendipitously when Dave Babb of Enclave Productions was dining at the restaurant,…
At that point, the place had been open less than a week (I rarely visit such new restaurants), but I got a good impression. Service was friendly and prompt, and the green chile pork was succulent, served with tomato and tomatillo salsas…
Calabria Italian Grocer & Deli was one of the original occupants of the renovated, historic Gold Spot building at Roosevelt and 3rd Avenue, so it was gloomy news when the casual neighborhood eatery closed up shop last September. Daniel Wayne’s second location of Lola Coffee soon took its place — no…
Nourish opened last Wednesday on the ground floor of Optima Camelview, those eye-catching condos just north of Fashion Square that are also home to upscale dining spot Posh (7147 E. Rancho Vista Dr., Scottsdale). So far, I have an odd impression of the place. I tried calling to get more info,…
