Remember that scene in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory where disgusting gum-chewing champion Violet Beauregarde gets her choppers on a piece of gum that tastes like a roast beef dinner, complete with tomato soup and blueberry pie? According to the Institute of Food Research, we’re not far off from a similar lazy man’s dinner…

There’s a reason why Food Network’s Man vs. Food and our own Zack Fowle’s Feasts of Fury are so popular. People love BIG food. We’re amazed by dishes so large that one order could feed Bill Paxton’s Big Love family or provide a starving college student with leftovers for two weeks.  For this week’s Battle of the Dishes, we dared…

In the last decade, American restaurant menus have been under siege. Mozzarella sticks have held off the invading queso and tortilla chips. Chili fries have been trampled by Southwest egg rolls. And lettuce wraps — once an exotic foreign visitor — are now a staple of Chili’s, Applebee’s and other American chains.  For this week’s Battle…

Food History Lesson: Enchiladas as we know them are not authentically Mexican. Blows the mind, doesn’t it? Ok, maybe not. We all know how easily foreign foods get corrupted when American chefs get their butter/cheese/sugar covered hands on them. In ancient Mexico, pre-Columbians would take tortillas made from ground corn treated…

Poor Pie. It’s the red-headed stepchild of desserts, eclipsed by hip, sophisticated siblings Creme Brulee and Chocolate Lava Cake. Seriously, why does Cheesecake get all the glory while poor Pie is relegated to diners and once-a-year holiday meals?? Pie is comforting. Pie is natural. Pie is sexxxy.  In preparation for Chow Bella’s upcoming Pie Social…

With so many Phoenicians hailing from elsewhere, a few local restaurants have tapped into the transplant market — offering everything from Chicago deep-dish pizzas and Kansas City BBQ to Southern collard greens & biscuits or farm fresh California style salads. Among the choices for homesick New Yorkers, cheese blintzes have been one of the hardest menu…

When we first moved to Phoenix a decade ago, no one except rural transplants had ever heard of a farmers market, let alone seen one. Now it seems you can’t troll the streets of Phoenix and her ‘burbs on a Saturday or Sunday morning without spotting rows of farm fresh fruits and veggies under…

I’m about to blow your mind. Ready? There exists a veggie burger that’s as good as the real thing. And I found it. It’s always tough to find a restaurant that suits my vegetarian and vegan buddies as well as it does the rest of us omnivores. They’re usually stuck with one…

For some, the ultimate comfort food is fried chicken. For others, it’s meatloaf. For me, it’s lasagna — a thick, saucy, cheesy slab of Italian heaven. Of course it has to be homemade with Italian sausage like the lasagna I feasted on every holiday season growing up with Italian friends and relatives…

Mexican food is everywhere in Phoenix — toss a chili pepper anywhere in the city and you’ll likely hit a food cart, grocery or restaurant dishing up tasty tacos and burritos. But no Mexican-inspired dish has been more successful than the quesadilla, a tortilla and cheese delight that can be found on restaurant…

There’s much debate in the culinary community about the origin of Eggs Benedict in the US. Some say the dish was created by a couple who used to dine once a week at the famed Delmonico’s restaurant in New York City. A letter printed in the September 1967 issue of New York Times Magazine cited Commodore…

Forget acai berries and pomegranate. Chocolate is our “superfood” of choice”: decadent, rich and packed with antioxidants and endorphins. Hell, it’s like taking a vitamin and a happy pill all at once! It’s also delicious whether it’s eaten in traditional bar form or used as an ingredient in cakes and cookies. But add in…

It was only a matter of time before the gastropub craze hit Tempe. Don Lococo, one-time executive chef of Pennsylvania’s Eden Resort and former owner of Appetitos and The Hideaway, is readying to open Spitfire Grill & Tavern at 1706 E. Warner Rd. in south Tempe.   “We have completely redone the…

Watching actress Drew Barrymore chow down on some Buffalo wings in her latest rom-com Going the Distance — her face slathered in sticky orange goo and creamy white sauce — got me all hot and bothered. Hot for some crispy, golden wings, that is. Offered in varieties from grilled and dry rubbed to deep-fried…

Sometimes the best cure for a rough week (or the dreaded Monday blahs) is an international escape. When you can’t literally hop a plane, the next best thing is to indulge in a foreign treat. My personal favorite are crepes, the wafer-thin stuffed pancakes that originated in Northern France. They’re rare in Phoenix,…