Most modern art is wholly unintelligible unless you are privy to the critical theory behind the work. So argues Tom Wolfe in a wry essay on an abstract expressionist painting called The Painted Word. Explanations are so essential to the appreciation of this type of art, writes Wolfe, that art…
It’s a Monday night and the parking lot is jammed. This would be a noteworthy sight anywhere, but here it’s positively amazing. For this has always been one of those doomed dining spots avoided like a curse. In its last incarnation, for example, it featured Native American cuisine and called…
You know the part of you that never stops being seven years old? The part that can suck up spaghetti in lengths more appropriate to transatlantic cable? The part that can trickle-drink an entire large Coca-Cola by maneuvering a finger over the end of a plastic straw? Well, hurry that…
It takes some time but, on the way back from the powder room, my guest finally notices it. On a little shelf behind the hostess stand is a single biographical volume. As far as we can tell, it is the restaurant’s only thematic reference to its own name, Hemingway’s, and…
In this age of too little time and too much take-out, the leisurely business lunch has become an endangered species. Once in a while, associates may still manage a midday restaurant meeting. But all those things that once made noontide outings so outstanding–the three martinis, the meaty entrees, the rich…
“Isn’t the Thai trend over?” The question comes from a sincere associate, one who really enjoys a good culinary craze, and I know what she means. It is certainly true that Thai food has been part of the recherche restaurant scene for at least the past half decade. Anyone with…
The Phoenix area has a lot of Thai restaurants, at least two dozen. Isn’t this just a little strange? After all, Thailand’s not exactly one of the world’s largest or most populous nations. And it’s easily 10,000 miles away from Arizona. So what’s the connection? Do Thai restaurateurs consciously set…
H.I. Ribsters is an otherwise likable restaurant with a fatal flaw. It’s a limited-menu barbecued rib and chicken emporium that serves really mediocre ribs and chicken. This is barbecue of the blanched and baked-with-liquid-smoke variety, resulting in blah-flavored products that even reasonable tenderness and a decent smoky hot sauce cannot…
I have no political authority to do this, but I am hereby nominating the Wigwam Resort’s Arizona Kitchen to be our official state restaurant. Here is an ultimate dining experience; one that unites authenticity with artistry, pride with imagination, style with comfort, and fabulous flavors with visual panache in a…
Dammit if they don’t blow my reservation again. This makes The Phoenician zero-for-two in welcomes, and I really cannot believe the laxity. They are so cordial and courteous on the phone and then, when you get there, it’s “who are you?” Because the room is not full, at least the…
