Autumn isn’t official until the first leaf falls from the shit-show tree, which means the now-infamous Amy’s Baking Company in Scottsdale is back in the news. Following up on the best/worst episode ever of Fox’s Kitchen Nightmares, in which Gordon Ramsay walks out on high-strung owners Amy and Samy Bouzaglo,…
Central Phoenix residents watch out because Rancho Pinot and FnB’s Sacha Levine is invading your ‘hood for a series of pop-up dinner events this fall. Levine, who works full-time at Rancho Pinot in addition to working at FnB, is partnering with Colleen Frisbie, who works the front of the house…
On Saturday, September 28, Carefree Station, the nine-year-old Southwestern restaurant located in Carefree’s Spanish Village, closed for the weekend citing “unforeseen circumstances beyond our control” via their Facebook page. By last Wednesday, Carefree Station still had not opened its doors. A representative for the restaurant, owned by Robert and Linda…
What’s happening at Noca these days? The better question may be what isn’t. Eliot Wexler, owner of the venerated restaurant in the Biltmore area, tells me that, in March, executive chef Claudio Urciuoli went to San Francisco to further his baking skills at the San Francisco Baking Institute. That decision,…
This Saturday, October 5 we’re hosting a blow out party to celebrate our Best of Phoenix issue. And if you don’t already have your tickets, unfortunately you’re out of luck. As of yesterday the 14th annual Best of Phoenix A’fare is officially sold out. For those who got your tickets…
Wok Box, the quick-service Asian eatery that invites its customers to “Take a walk down the delicious side of Asia!” (spoiler alert: not a real geographical location) opened its first Arizona store in Scottsdale in January of this year. But the eight-year-old Canadian-founded company with 70 franchises worldwide is hungry…
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…
The first time I ate shrimp, I was with my father. It was 1972; I was 10, and Dad’s youngest brother, my Uncle John, was visiting from New Orleans. Dad wanted to take John out to dinner at someplace fancy, and so we drove all the way downtown, from the…
We’re all about spreading our love for the bean among the several independent coffee shops that have made it a mission to deliver a bold, and aesthetically delightful, cup. Bringing some coffee cool to Central Phoenix’s Coronado ‘hood is Mud Dauber Coffee — part of an insectual group of businesses…
Chef Ken Arneson of Rico’s American Grill at the Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak created a garden and started composting green waste via Singh Farms upon his arrive three years ago. The restaurant’s patio has a large garden and it serves as inspiration and educational backdrop for the Garden Lunch Series…
Oktoberfest celebrations continue this weekend with beer-fueled parties going down in Chandler and Phoenix. If you’re looking for something more charitable to fill your time, you may want to check out Food Fight, a culinary tasting event to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Phoenix and the Arizona…
You can hardly help joining the hustle and bustle at downtown’s Phoenix Public Market Cafe, and that’s kind of the point. You may move from the outdoor herb garden at the restaurant’s entrance to shelves of for-sale local products until arriving at a pastry case of homemade baked goods (think…
The Smoothie: It’s a simple and satisfying combination. Fruit, juice, maybe some yogurt, a scoop of protein powder — blend and drink. Easy to make, but hard to perfect. Instead of slaving over a loud blender trying to balance the flavors just right, sometimes we want to leave the dirty…
If the farmers market at downtown’s Phoenix Public Market is one of the Valley’s most notable spots for finding fresh locally grown and locally produced food, then the adjacent Phoenix Public Market Café may be the hippest place to partake of its bounty. The restaurant certainly is vintage-chic enough in…
Since the August departure of Jeremy Pacheco (who moved to Las Vegas to become the executive chef of Society Cafe at the Wynn), Lon’s at the Hermosa, the luxury boutique resort in Paradise Valley, has been on the hunt for a new culinary leader. And given its track record of…
You’d think a place billed as “healthy,” a place that serves quinoa as a side dish, would be a gluten-friendly place. At the Original ChopShop Co. in Tempe, you’d be right — and you’d be wrong…
Welcome to Chow Bella’s Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you’d like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. For many years, meat’s been the star attraction of the American plate. But with the…
Phoenicians welcomed a whole bunch of new restaurants last month, including the second location of Portillo’s and couple new vegan-friendly spots. And the month also saw a few makeovers completed. You can officially check out the fresh digs at T. Cook’s at the Royal Palms Resort, or grab a cocktail…
In what can now be pretty much be deemed “2013: The Year of the Landlord,” another Valley restaurant has been shuttered by a building owner — this time, it seems, much to the surprise of the staff. On Saturday, September 28, Carefree Station, the nine-year-old Southwestern restaurant located in Carefree’s…
Last June, Nick Watts’ mobile kitchen of grilled cheese sandwiches, called Chedda Truck, made its debut to a huge (and unexpected) crowd at Artistic Tattoo in Central Phoenix. Watts sold nearly 175 sandwiches in three hours, but customers were angry at the wait time (over an hour) and many left…
This is part two of our interview with Sacha Levine, former sous chef at FnB who now works at Rancho Pinot. She still makes time to help out her mentor Charleen Badman at the old spot and turns out her own line of pickles products, which are sold at Bodega…
The wait for convenient, fresh produce is over. October brings changes to metro Phoenix farmers markets, both in terms of hours and activity. Most markets are seasonable and start up again this month or change their hours to reflect the cooler mid-day temperatures. Can’t keep track? No worries. We’ve gathered…
