Where in the Valley can you order a decadent cream-filled dessert in a hidden oasis, while warming yourself by the fire on a cool fall night? Find out as we examine hot new changes to local resort restaurants in this week’s Meal Ticket dining newsletter. We’ve also got the scoop on which local restaurant icons are…
When the Leeper family pitched the idea of opening a punk/goth clothing & collectibles store smack in the middle of conservative Mesa’s Main Street, there were a few raised eyebrows. “They wanted to know if it would be another Nile,” quips daughter Amanda Tucker, the seamstress behind a few of…
Who knew the fashionably chic were inclined to be so fashionably wasted? Maybe it was the “party all night” atmosphere or the seemingly neverending stream of martinis pouring out of Scottsdale’s famed Valley Ho this past Friday, but there was a lot of elbowing, a lot of cussing (even in the ladies room, where a woman apologized…
Editor’s note: Michele Laudig’s Cafe column will return in next week’s issue. It’s great being the first one in your circle to discover something: the horseshoe jewelry fad, chunky-heeled boots, or a new Vietnamese restaurant. Makes you feel like a trendsetter. By the same token, when something becomes so popular…
When the Diamondbacks best the Rockies in a home game or we score a gourmet dinner for peanuts during Restaurant Week, we’re proud to call Phoenix home. Other times, we wish we could go all Matrix on the city’s ass, magically replacing strip malls with microbreweries, making the light rail…
It’s one thing when you get a tough cut of steak or a dry chicken breast at a restaurant, but it’s a whole other kettle of fish (pardon the pun) when you’re dealing with bad seafood. Metallic-tasting snapper. Green lobster. Catfish that smells like dirty socks. Yeah, we’ve had it all. At one…
Now that’s summer’s coming to a close, many of our favorite hotspots are reopening for Phoenix’s best season of the year — FallWinterSpring! In this week’s Meal Ticket dining newsletter, find out which cozy Old Town Scottsdale cafe is back in action with homemade waffles and custom-tailored lunches. We’ve also got the scoop…
Hey, remember Grand Avenue? You know, that crazy diagonal street where The Paper Heart and The Red Door used to be? Apparently, some First Friday-goers are so dazzled by the flashy spectacle that is Roosevelt Row that they’ve forgotten poor little Grand, which is currently seeing a Renaissance of cool shops and galleries…
There’s nothing like a cold, frosty beer on a warm day — especially when it’s brewed locally and served straight from the tap. Phoenix is about to get a new microbrewery in Dave’s Electric Brewpub, tentatively scheduled for a soft opening this weekend in a prime location on the corner of College Ave. and…
When progressive dinner parties (called “safari suppers” by the Brits) fell out of favor in the mid-’80s, we admit we were a little dissapointed. Not that we’d ever been to one. But we grew up hearing about mom’s culinary adventures making canapes for the first course, and how…
That’s why we loved the idea of sampling the cuisine at Cheuvront, a downtown staple that we hadn’t yet visited, during Arizona Restaurant Week. At $29 for three courses, you can afford to venture outside your tried-and-true culinary standbys. If you don’t like a dish, no worries; you’ve got two more. Or five more,…
Now that the “freegan” movement has caught on, Dumpster-diving for leftover food is trendy. Though we still can’t bring ourselves to chow down on a half-eaten pork chop or the contents of a dented-to-hell can of veggies (can you say botulism?), we love hunger-relief organization Food Not Bombs’ brilliant plan…
Everyone loves an underdog: Seabiscuit, American Idol Kris Allen, the Arizona Cardinals. If you’re a perpetual winner, on the other hand, we’re secretly hoping you’ll trip on your $800 Prada boots and do a face-plant. California troupe El Teatro Campesino uses bilingual dialogue and song to tell the story of…
Now that Phoenix’s culinary scene is attracting attention through profiles of local chefs and eateries in magazines like Bon Appetit, and on the Food Network, even international chefs are heeding the call of the desert. Find out which brand new Chandler restaurant enticed a Canadian chef to head up their kitchen, and see what’s…
If you watched the Emmy Awards this past Sunday, you got a glimpse of comedienne Sarah Silverman in a thick, black moustache. Seriously, what’s up with that? Reminded us of a woman we saw on a Mexican soap opera once. And why did host Doogie…er, Neil Patrick Harris keep appearing in a lab coat and Willie…
Courtesy of Producer Gay Gilbert Why spend countless hours and tens of thousands of dollars on professional couples counseling when you can just fix your relationship with a $15 pork loin, saffron-infused rice and an asparagus medley? Of course, if it really worked that way, 90% of marriage therapists would…
Maybe it’s the gazillion YouTube videos of drunken mishaps, the preponderance of “up-skirt” porn, or the fact that you started taking shots with your iPhone instead of dialing 911 the last time you saw a public brawl, but did you ever get the feeling somebody’s always watching? Given the accessibility…
On most people’s desirability scale, listening to poetry ranks somewhere between doing 10 loads of laundry and spending a weekend alone in the wilderness with your mother-in-law. Still, we hold out hope for poet and author Stephen Dobyns, who’ll be reading and signing books at ASU’s Memorial Union. Dobyns, who’s…
Get schnockered in a good cause While active types relish the thought of running 15K for breast-cancer research or taking a fundraising trek up Mount Kilimanjaro, those of us who got the lazy-couch-potato genes are wondering why we can’t just get totally plastered for charity. Our prayers will be answered…
Local photographer Angela Franks Wells isn’t afraid to get her hands dirty. No, she’s not a hitwoman. And no, she isn’t snapping porn. Wells uses an old-school, and very messy, photogravure technique involving toxic chemicals that leave her hands stained black and smelling like copper pennies. The untidy process is…
In this Week’s Meal Ticket dining newsletter, we’ve got a hot tip on a cool date place where you can score twin lobster tails for under $20 — and enjoy free live music in a romantic setting. Love cheese? How about chocolate? Find out how you can satisfy both cravings at…
