By Michele Laudig The word on the street is that there have been big changes at Estate House, the mansion-like fine-dining spot at SouthBridge, Fred Unger’s upscale Scottsdale shopping and restaurant complex across the canal from the Scottsdale Waterfront. Ron Dimas, the executive chef who opened the restaurant six months…
By Michele Laudig Talk to the food fanatics around town, and Noca’s got the buzz du jour, which is saying a lot for a three-and-a-half-week-old restaurant. I won’t name any names, but the place has been crawling with local chefs, celebs, and even some restaurants critics. (And no, I’m not…
By Michele Laudig Wow — I just stumbled on to a fascinating Yelp discussion about whether or not the Yelpers think it’s okay to accept free food in exchange for a (possibly) favorable review on the popular everyone’s-a-critic website. I’d secretly hoped that the majority of Yelp postings were sincere,…
By Amy Silverman I admit it, I’m shallow. About as deep as a cupcake, as long as it’s a super-cute, tasty one. Which is a good part of why I’m willing to pooh-pooh the county’s most recent inspection report of Sprinkles Cupcakes, the boutique confectionary that finally opened earlier this…
By Michele Laudig It seems like everybody’s looking forward to Labor Day weekend, but now there’s something to look forward to after the big holiday: restaurant openings! For some reason it feels like the whole city starts to wake up in September, even though the heat isn’t going anywhere. W…
By Michele Laudig Megan Irwin’s weekly installments of Veggie Girl were an instant hit on Chow Bella when they started earlier this summer — readers gave lots of feedback, and Megan was enthused about covering vegetarian dining. And alas, just when it seemed she was on a roll, Veggie Girl…
By Michele Laudig Gio Osso is already gone from Luc’s, the luxury El Pedregal restaurant, barely more than three months after taking the executive chef post. According to owner Robert Hall, the change-up happened about a week ago. As I reported in May, Osso was chef number three for the…
By Michele Laudig One of the most high-profile restaurant developments of 2008 also happens to be a home-grown Arizona original. Prado is the name of the new Spanish-style signature restaurant at the soon-to-open InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, and unlike some of the other high-profile eateries anticipated for 2008, it’s…
By Michele Laudig If you’re craving Thai food for dinner tonight, I have a tasty suggestion: Yupha’s Thai Kitchen. Yupha Dequenne says it’s a little bit bigger now — about 100 seats instead of 77 — but feels quite a bit bigger, thanks to a new layout. The scrumptious Thai…
In rural India, a dhaba is a roadside pit stop where truckers can fill their tummies after they’ve filled their tanks at the petrol station next door. It’s a place for a cheap, filling meal of Northern Indian food, and maybe even a quick snooze on a charpoy, a squat,…
By Jonathan McNamara What’s better than room service? What if you could get it in your own home? What if your kitchen was manned by celebrity chef Michael DeMaria? That may not be so far-fetched when Centerpoint Condominums opens its two towers and retail space on Fifth Street in Tempe…
By Michele Laudig After a jaunt to the downtown farmer’s market on Saturday morning, I decided to join a couple of friends for breakfast at the new-ish Maizie’s Cafe & Bistro (after stashing my veggies in my fridge at home, of course). It turned out to be a worthwhile destination,…
By Michele Laudig On the heels of last week’s news that AAA Four Diamond-rated La Hacienda closed at the Fairmont Scottsdale, now there’s word that another restaurant at the resort has received the same noteworthy award: Bourbon Steak. When I reviewed celebrity chef Michael Mina’s swanky new Arizona outpost a…
By Michele Laudig This is a pretty sweet nod to one of downtown’s tastiest haunts: Sweet Pea Bakery gets a mention in the September issue of Bon Appetit magazine. The noteworthy item? Brownie-chunk cookies, recipe included. Yum! I’m sure I’ll still end up buying them from Sweet Pea instead of…
By Michele Laudig It just might be impossible to stifle a smile when an ethereal pink ball of cotton candy appears at the dinner table. Nope, you won’t find it on the dessert menu at Noca, but don’t be surprised if you find yourself nibbling on pieces of the fluffy…
By Michele Laudig Us New Times folks are always kinda-sorta on the job. (I actually dream about work, and sadly don’t get overtime for it.) That’s why Benjamin Leatherman, in the middle of his Friday night, took the time to report on the latest downtown dish about the Willow House…
By Michele Laudig After months of speculation, the Fairmont Scottsdale’s upscale Mexican eatery, La Hacienda, has finally closed. Although scheduled to be open yesterday, management made an “out of the blue” staff announcement that the decades-old restaurant would not serve dinner after all, says hotel concierge Lara Cosseboom. “It’s gonna…
Cuban cuisine certainly lends itself to an upscale, even fusion treatment (like at Scottsdale’s chic Asia de Cuba), but for me, it’s most enjoyable as down-to-earth comfort food. That has a lot to do with my earliest encounters with Cuba’s culinary delights: at a cozy neighborhood joint near my college…
By Michele Laudig On the eve of its scheduled opening, downtown Mesa’s new de la Cruz Bistro isn’t quite ready to open yet. According to chef Keawe Aikau, who goes by “Chef K,” there’s still some paperwork to take care of before the new eatery can open its doors at…
By Michele Laudig Tell me I can’t have something, and I’ll want it even more. Right now, what I really want is a hot, doughy scone from Kohnie’s, the infamous Camelback coffee shop where owner Robert Kohn dished out his own brand of dry humor right along with killer scones,…
By Michele Laudig It had been awhile since I’d been into Mediterranean House — the cozy eatery next door to Richardson’s, on Bethany Home at 16th Street — so I stopped by for some falafel the other day. Turns out, the place is closing, according to the two waitresses who…
By Michele Laudig Last fall, I reported on how coffeeshop/hangout the Willow House was being inexplicably booted from its longstanding home on McDowell Road. The place was closed by late October, but managed to find a new location before long. December’s First Friday was its grand reopening party at 1722…
