Aji sushi with scallion and ginger (left), and fresh katsuo with shiso, onion, and roasted garlic chips By Michele Laudig Do you have a favorite restaurant that is the first place you visit when you get money in the bank? Whenever I’m dying for payday and need a light at…
By Jonathan McNamara Convenience stores are too expensive and grocery stores are better reserved for doing a lot of shopping. This seems to be the hope of Marketside, a store that sells groceries but does not identify as a grocery, a store that aims to be as efficient as a…
By Michele Laudig Here’s some more porno for foodies. A dear friend and I stopped by NOCA last night and couldn’t resist the night’s special, a lobster roll with a big pile of duck fat fries. My god, we were ecstatic. The meat was impossibly tender and sweet, mixed with…
By Michele Laudig Lunch at Digestif yesterday was quite a treat — an orgy of pancetta and Epoisse and homemade pastas. Although the menu is essentially the same format as it’s been, there were quite a few new interesting dishes I was curious about. I ended up with the tripolini,…
By Amy Silverman Is there a curse at the Chinese Cultural Center in Phoenix? I’m starting to wonder. I’ve had more bad Asian meals than I can count from a grouping of businesses that should be the best in town, given the billing. I’d about sworn off the CCC entirely…
The stock market may be sinking, but at swanky new Sushi Roku, you can still party like it’s 2005. That was my stunned first impression of the super-trendy Japanese restaurant that opened a month ago at the W Scottsdale hotel. How to describe the decadence? Completely over the top. Good-looking…
By Michele Laudig Yes, it’s true. The team behind Urban Campfire is at odds over the future of the business. According to co-owner Robert Stempkowski, his business partner Stephen Wolff’s vision for the Tempe restaurant is so different from the original concept that Stempkowski says he “can’t participate in it.”…
By Michele Laudig What just happened? I heard from a couple of sources that chef Matt McLinn — former owner of the now-defunct Methode Bistro — just got fired from his postion as chef de cuisine of BLT Steak, celeb chef Laurent Tourondel’s fancy new steakhouse set to open at…
By Amy Silverman There seem to be some storage problems at Tortas Ahogadas Guadalajara in Chandler. A recent inspection revealed a first aid kit stored on top of tortillas, and a hat on top of the potatoes. Raw chicken was stored above “ready to eat items” — a big “no…
By Michele Laudig Are you a chef? Are you a glutton for punishment? And are you willing to let brilliant British chef Gordon Ramsay rip you a new one on national television? If so, hit up the Hell’s Kitchen casting session from 5 to 10 p.m. next Tuesday, October 7,…
By PJ Standlee SanTan Brewery’s first ever Oktoberfest on Sept. 27 packed a crowd of hundreds to sample tasty beers from Arizona breweries, but the long lines, tiny tasting cups, and lack of lederhosen relegated the advertised German styled Oktoberfest to a lesser beer tasting event. While most happily suffered…
By Michele Laudig Tammie Coe. I’m an Obama girl myself, although I wouldn’t mind taking a big bite out of that shiny McCain-Palin cookie, too…
By Amy Silverman If you were a teenage girl in Phoenix in the 1980s, chances are that you indulged more than once in Tokyo Express. The whole notion of (relatively) healthy fast food was a novelty at the time — except for the baked potato at Wendy’s, everything quick and…
By Michele Laudig Is it a bible? Is it a phonebook? Is it the September issue of W? No, it’s the New Times Best of Phoenix issue! The thing finally comes out today, and it is full of so much food and restaurant stuff that you won’t believe your eyes…
The restaurant name is so evocative: Imagine Spain. It has me thinking of a country that’s sophisticated, exciting, and naturally beautiful, where the good life is all about sharing fantastic food with friends in a warm, inviting atmosphere. “Convivial” is the word one of my pals used to describe the…
By Michele Laudig The 43-year-old chef who fed many happy customers at Different Pointe of View and Convivo and other Valley restaurants passed away last week in Dallas, Texas, according to an obituary today. How incredibly sad…..
By Amy Silverman And now we bring you a Special Election Edition of Gross Out! For years, the west Phoenix restaurant Pho Bang has touted itself as John McCain’s favorite Vietnamese joint. So we decided to research health inspections at Pho Bang and see if we can recommend it. Um,…
By Michele Laudig So have you checked out any of the local restaurants participating in Arizona Restaurant Week? The first annual event got started on Saturday, and everybody was talking about it over the weekend. But don’t forget — it continues through the rest of this week. Technically that’s four…
By Amy Silverman Okay, I’m back to the whole glove thing. I stand by my previously stated opinion: Gloved hands do not equal clean hands. Consider these notes from a recent county inspection at Steamers, the sorta-hoity-toity seafood restaurant at the Biltmore Fashion Park: EMPLOYEE BREADING FISH WITH GLOVES THEN…
By Michele Laudig Now this is different: A dessert shop specializing in rice pudding. You heard me. It’s a new joint at The Promenade in Scottsdale (southeast corner of Scottsdale Road and Frank Lloyd Wright) called Miami Rice Pudding Co., and they serve up rice pudding in more flavors that…
Dinner and a movie should be a no-brainer, but logistically, it’s not always as simple as it should be. Sometimes it takes some strategizing to get in, get fed, and get to the theater on time — especially when you’re seeing the hottest new film. And despite your best efforts,…
By Amy Silverman Bad electricity karma, perhaps? The light in the women’s room was burned out when county restaurant inspectors visited Honey Bear’s BBQ on Van Buren Street on August 31, but that wasn’t the worst electrical failure. The place might not have passed muster to begin with: inspectors noted…
