I sat the square box on my dining room table and took a deep breath. Tentatively, I pulled the cardboard top away from the base. A classic Margherita. A few, straggly pieces of basil. Another gut-wrenching disappointment. It never used to be this way. A year ago, I never would…
As author of Chow Bella’s “Dessert First” column, I tasted my share of sweet in this city. (To say photographer Dayvid LeMmon and I enjoyed the research is an understatement.) What follows is the absolute best of the best. Restaurants change their dessert menus on a regular basis — seasonally…
This is part two of our interview with chef German Sega of Scottsdale’s Roka Akor. Today, he tells us what goes into creating an omakase dinner and shares his pretty peculiar culinary guilty pleasure. (Hint: It involves Spam.) If you missed the first part of the interview, in which Sega…
Introducing “Schaefer,” in which Eric Schaefer — a local guy with a big (but discerning) appetite and a sense of humor to match — takes on the Phoenix food scene. I recently Googled “Is 40 considered middle-aged?” and was answered in the affirmative. It’s worth noting that Google was proud…
Biting into a Mexican dish can occasionally cause a mouthful of herb and spice confusion. Taste the cumin? So much cumin. Is this Indian food? Middle Eastern? Italian oregano in my pozole? Oh, Lord. One oregano is clearly not like the other. Let’s try to clarify Mexican herbs and spices…
German Sega Roka Akor 7299 North Scottsdale Road www.rokaakor.com This is part one of our interview with German Sega, the newly appointed executive chef of Roka Akor in Scottsdale. Today, he dishes about the long road from culinary school to the restaurant’s charcoal robata grill, with pit stops along the…
Ready to pig out, Sunnyslope? Waldo’s BBQ, the 20-year-old company started by pig farmer and Snowflake resident Clay Caldwell, has opened its third location at 9706 North Seventh Street (Mountain View Road and Seventh Street), in the former home of Vaqueroscarne Asada. Called Pig-N-Out, the newest Waldo’s will have something…
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Hanna Raskin, formerly the food critic for two of our sister papers, just published Yelp Help: How to Write Great Online Restaurant Reviews. The book’s a how-to guide for contributors to sites such as our own Voice Places, where you can weigh in with your opinions of local restaurants. We…
Like a piece of shiny tin foil covering a piece of frozen store-bought ravioli, on-edge owners Amy and Samy Bouzaglo of Amy’s Baking Company have managed to (negatively) capture the attention of just about the entire world over the past few months — and in ways that make us want…
Looking for something to put in your mouth this weekend? Here’s what we have on our plate. Outta the Heat and Into the Eats: Miami Night Food and Cocktail Party If your hair’s been feeling a little larger than usual, it’s because monsoon season officially has begun. Now we can…
Beer enthusiasts who like their cold ones served up a side of boozy education might want to raise a glass: Two more World of Beer locations are headed to Arizona this fall. The six-year-old craft-beer-focused franchise — where servers go through 10 days of training to become beer experts –…
There are hundreds of ways to prepare a burger. Some places will use a grill; others will place the meat in an oven. The Grind, now located in Grayhawk as well as Arcadia, does the latter, but its oven is no ordinary oven. At The Grind, burgers are cooked to…
Gluten avoiders looking for pizza are like the undead, staggering around moaning, drooling, eyes darting from venue to venue, minds foggy with memories of pizzas past and just enough brain matter left to keep hope alive. After all, we’ve eaten pizza in Chicago, New York, and Italy, and we know…
Keeping up with the daily deals offered by local restaurants and bars is pretty much impossible. It seems someone somewhere is always offering some sort of special — which is great. But the key is knowing when and where to go. You could Google- and Facebook-search your way around the…
At the end of August, the Biltmore corridor will come up one spot short of a place to score adult libations: Sportsman’s Fine Wines & Spirits is shuttering. A combination wine bar and liquor boutique, Sportsman’s is known for its offerings of more than 3,000 brands of wine, an extensive…
“Chef’s Special.” Two words, if you’re a diner of the adventurous sort and happen to visit Lucky’s King Wah in Glendale, that are a good idea to remember. Not a single dish but an assortment of several, the Chef’s Special is more or less the Chinese restaurant’s off-the-cuff version of…
Nick Klein is a mass murderer — of rabbits. No, really. Klein is an enterprising businessman and owner of the “Hostile Hare,” a company that specializes in raising meat rabbits, selling meat-rabbit cages, and educating others on the ins and outs of raising rabbits for meat. Clients typically are backyard…
If you’re a diner of the adventurous sort and happen to visit Lucky’s King Wah in Glendale, it’s a good idea to remember the words “Chef’s Special.” Not a single dish but an assortment of several, the Chef’s Special is more or less the Chinese restaurant’s off-the-cuff version of omakase,…
I am from the Rust Belt. Where steel mills and machine shops used to thrive. Now they sit abandoned, crumbling with each passing year, while more industry exits the city limits for other countries or states that entice the industry with better legislation. Perhaps, though, it is simply that the…
German Osio’s at it again. The restaurateur, who opened Central Bistro in East Phoenix last November, and North Scottsdale’s Local Bistro in 2010, is planning to open his most ambitious venture yet this fall: a Mexican-Asian restaurant called Sumo Maya…
Arcadia’s Gaslight Square is already home to Crudo, chef Cullen Campbell’s place of modern Italian cuisine. And Beckett’s Table, where chef Justin Beckett serves seasonal American eating, is just a parking lot away. But come September, the bustling strip mall, at the corner of Indian School Road and 36th Street…
