Just the name Pastries N Chaat inspired wide eyes at last week’s Chow Bella staff meeting, and it was determined that the first thing to try at the north Phoenix spot was dessert. We’ll save chaat — savory Indian street food — for later. This time we were all about…
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…
A few weeks ago, the guys behind Tempe’s award-winning Arizona Distilling Co. drove out to the middle of the desert to stand in the field of grain pictured above. And while the hip-high stalks of wheat might not look like much, that wheat eventually will become Arizona’s first grain-to-bottle whiskey…
Great Southwest Cajunfest Saturday, April 18 On Saturday, the Great Southwest Cajunfest will be held downtown at the Margaret T. Hance Park from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. This event aims to transport you to New Orleans through food and music. Angry Crab Shack will prepare bayou favorites like a…
The Guilty Pleasure: Crispy Chicken Chickstar and Crispy Chicken Grillers Where to Get It: Taco Bell Price: $3.99 (Chickstar) $1.69 (Grillers) What it Really Costs: The total loss of your belief that Taco Bell even tries to serve Mexican food anymore…
Finding a Thai restaurant in the Valley is no problem. Finding an honest to goodness, true Thai place in the Valley — now that’s a struggle. Here at Chow Bella, we feel the pain of those cold, lonely nights when satisfyingly spicy Thai food cannot be found. Good news: We’ve…
There’s nothing better than getting out of the city and spending a day in the great outdoors. And lucky for us, there are dozens of farms around Arizona that open their doors to the public throughout the year. And while these small and privately-owned operations, scattered all over the state,…
According to Pinal County authorities there are now 38 suspected cases of salmonella poisoning linked to two separate events held at The Windmill Winery in Florence. The food poisonings have been linked to an event on March 18 and a wedding on March 19. On April 1 the bride’s mother…
Heads up, dessert enthusiasts: California-based Choctal Ice Cream is now available at every AJ’s Fine Foods store in the Valley. The California-based ice-creamery, who describe themselves as a “company with a global conscience,” sell 8 different varieties of single-source chocolate and vanilla ice creams. These seemingly simple frozen treats are…
It’s mid-morning on a Thursday at Posh restaurant in Scottsdale, but for chef Josh Hebert it feels a bit like Christmas. Standing behind the counter at the sleek restaurant the chef cuts open a cardboard box to reveal the spoils inside. From the weekly delivery he unloads a giant bag…
I have two questions: When did every American male under the age of 30 start sporting a beard, and why don’t I eat at Fez more often? I can’t answer the first of these, nor do I especially care to. But I can tell you that the answer to the…
Over the weekend the Great Arizona Picnic (GAP) rounded out a week of food-centric festivities during the 2015 Scottsdale Culinary Festival. This two-day marquee event brings more than 40 restaurants to the Civic Center Mall in downtown Scottsdale to serve up signature dishes to attendees, who indulged in good food…
The Guilty Pleasure: Chewy Chips Ahoy! Ice Cream Creations – Root Beer Float Where to Get It: Grocery stores, right next to the other weird Chips Ahoy! flavors Price: $2.98 What it Really Costs: The crushing reality that two of your favorite childhood desserts don’t go well together…
The call of the dessert can be, at times, so overpowering you have to stop what you’re doing and answer it. This doesn’t happen to you? Ever? Lucky for you it happens to us all the time. And this week the call came from the cannoli at Guido’s Chicago Meat…
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…
Viet Nom Nom Nom Dinner Lab Friday, April 10 This Friday the dining event company known as Dinner Lab will debut in Phoenix with Viet Nom Nom Nom, a pop-up dinner featuring chef Nini Nguyen. The company hosts pop-up events in cities from coast to coast with diners paying an…
Ladders, blue prints, and layers of dust covered almost every surface within DeSoto Central Market on Monday, but manager Shawn Connelly says he is confident the space will be ready by the grand opening this weekend. Regardless of the tidying up still needed, the preserved historic beauty of the building…
Arizona Distilling Company took yet another leap in legitimacy this past weekend when they came up big at the San Francisco Spirits Competition, winning a distinguished Double Gold medal for their Desert Dry Gin. The Double Gold billing is second only to spirits which, from the Double Gold group, go…
The Guilty Pleasure: Oreo Biscuits Where to Get It: Church’s Chicken Price: 99 cents for 5 What it Really Costs: A sugar crash, as well as the time and thought to redefine what you consider a biscuit…
Last month more than a dozen local restaurants — everything from supermarkets to small, independent spots to restaurants that are part of giant, national chains — failed to pass county health department inspections. And if we had to pick out a trend among the offending spots, it would be a…
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…
John Culver Executive Chef Blasted Barley Beer Co. 404 S. Mill Ave., Tempe www.BlastedBarley.com Walk into Tempe’s new Mill Avenue brewery, Blasted Barley, and you’ll notice the large patio, the kegs of beer sitting on a loft above the bar, and a selection of games — including cornhole and skee-ball…
