What’s in a name?: Free stuff if you come up with the best one What will you be doing in October 2008? I like to think ahead, but wow — that’s pretty far off. For the City-owned, still-under-construction Sheraton Phoenix Downtown, though, that date actually means something: a grand opening…
I’m used to looking for hole-in-the-wall ethnic restaurants or modest indie bistros, but I didn’t expect to have to hunt for one of the Valley’s most exciting, high-end resort dining destinations. Well, until now. For my first visit to Vu — the fine-dining spot at the Hyatt Scottsdale Resort &…
Scandalous! The Twinkie’s mysterious past, revealed A pal just passed along a link to a new book that I could really get into. Just from the title alone, it sounds like the same kind of car-crash fascinating stuff Eric Schlosser explored in Fast Food Nation: Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to…
Marcellino Ristorante Marcellino’s amazing Italian-to-go: The next best thing to having a personal chef You really don’t have to twist my arm to go to Marcellino for some excellent homemade pasta or a plate full of seafood, but man, I wish I could go more often. Someone was just telling…
Feeling blue: Roaring Forties rocks My Sunday evening ritual involves HBO (currently Rome, but soon to be The Sopranos and Entourage), a handful of friends in my tiny living room, and snacks — the more, the better. The group consists of me, my foodie/fashionista friend, and a bunch of hungry…
The fast and the furious: Even impatient cooks can use these recipes Contrary to popular belief, I do not eat at restaurants seven nights a week. If I’m lucky, I’ll have a fridge full of goodies — not to mention the time — to put together a nice meal. But…
Escapist tendencies: Go to Scottsdale, eat, and pretend you’re here. With balmy weather like this, all I need is a nice glass o’ vino and some stellar antipasti to feel like I’m relaxing on the Riviera. So lucky me — and you, if you love Italian food — for next…
Waiting for a table at Asia de Cuba on a recent Saturday night, my friends and I knew time was dragging on when we started to nurse the ice cubes left from our 15-dollar rum cocktails. Even though we’d made reservations days earlier, we found ourselves sitting at the bar,…
Boys, put on your best button-downs. Girls, grab your Gucci stilettos. For this week’s restaurant review, we’re heading to the super stylish Asia de Cuba at the new Mondrian Scottsdale to feast on coconut sticky rice, whole fried striped bass, and some of the best flan I’d had in ages…
The word from Valerie Poulos at The Phoenician is that revamping the resort’s restaurants is nothing new. She mentions recent updates at The Terrace and Windows on the Green as examples. “There’s always new concepting here. Being a five-star resort, we’re always looking at different ideas,” she says. Beyond that,…
I just got a tip onthe latest at the Phoenician: “Your favorite spot in town (Mary Elaine’s) will be no more…after the season they will close for three months and then Jean George will take over the space. I hope JG throws together a good crew as his time at…
Did you happen to drive by Autumn Court on Indian School this weekend? I did, and I had to do a double take when I saw the sign posted out front of this popular Chinese joint: “Sushi by Shinji Kurita” That name might not ring a bell with everyone, but…
Restaurants conjure their magic in many ways, and sometimes it takes some pretending on the part of the guest. When I want to be wined and dined, I can easily imagine I’m in another city or country (or at least not in a strip mall). I’ll buy into the concept,…
Flipping through the new issue of Gourmet magazine last night, I noticed a promo section for an upcoming PBS show called The Endless Feast, and get this: Maya Dailey from the Farm at South Mountain is featured in it. Way to go, Maya! I gather this was filmed at the…
Yes, it was as good as it looks: Asada en crema de mulato They say music is the universal language, and I can’t disagree, but food seems to have a more universal appeal. (Right up there with sleep and sex, I guess.) Since I started writing New Times’ restaurant reviews…
I don’t usually read my own stuff online, so it took our resident web guru to fill me in on the latest feature added to the New Times website: comments. Very cool! Now you, too, can throw in your two cents’ worth on any of my restaurant reviews, or just…
Say the name Frank Lloyd Wright, and suddenly I’m 18 again, new to New York City and stressing out about one of my very first college assignments. I have no idea how I’m going to write five pages about the famed architect’s glorious Guggenheim Museum — a smooth white spiral…
I could probably dig up a really good statistic to illustrate the fleeting nature of the restaurant industry, but why bother? We’ve all stumbled upon great dining discoveries that were inexplicably shuttered on a later visit, leaving us scratching our heads about what happened. Perhaps even more often, we’ve taken…
Greece is the word Cue some Vincent Price laughter right now as I think about my friends back East who are finally getting their winter. They were so smug a couple of months ago, when it was warmer in NYC than Phoenix, but now I’m getting my silent revenge. Guess…
An extended dance remix of the Stone Roses’ track “Fool’s Gold” was blaring out of the sound system as I tried — fruitlessly — to flag down my waiter on a recent visit to The Vig, a sleek new watering hole in Arcadia. How appropriate, I thought to myself, noting…
As a food critic, I often find myself meticulously planning my restaurant visits weeks or months ahead of time. Too bad, because I love spontaneity — so I try to toss some last-minute dining choices into the mix. My friends and co-workers seem to get a kick out of random…
Endless love: The amount of money you spend is directly proportional to how much you really care There’s a sucker born every minute, and apparently a lot of them have money to blow, from the looks of the “Ultimate Valentine Package” being pimped by Barcelona in Scottsdale. For losers, er,…
