Cork, a new small-plates restaurant featuring a New American menu and a 250-bottle wine selection, has opened next to a new AJ’s Fine Foods on the northeast corner of Alma School and Chandler Heights roads in south Chandler.

The dinner menu (see menu pdf) includes corned buffalo brisket ($8), grilled pheasant breast ($8), grilled antelope ($10) and veal medallions ($12).

The lunch menu (see menu pdf) includes chilled lobster and spicy pickled mushroom salad ($18), an oyster BLT ($11) and roasted skate ($15).

The restaurant is owned by Danielle and Robert Morris, who previously worked at Lon’s in Paradise Valley.

>> Cork, 4991 S. Alma School Road, Chandler, is open 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. (480) 883-3773.

Julian Wright doesn’t have a pizza recipe handed down through generations in his family. In fact, he’ll be the first to admit he doesn’t know much at all about making pies.

But he does know Mill Avenue, and for his latest downtown Tempe venture, La Bocca Urban Pizzeria & Wine Bar, that may be enough.

The restauranteur already has launched two Mill hotspots, Jax Thai Bar and Library Bar & Grill, both of which he subsequently sold. Both offered decent enough food, but neither built its reputation on its menu.

Jax, which he opened in 2000, was one of the pioneers of the trendy lounge vibe that eventually would become so prevalent in East Valley nightlife.

The Library, where the female staffers dress like sexy librarians and dance on the bar, has been a popular ASU hangout since its 2002 opening, spawning a host of copycats.

Now, though, Wright is turning his attention to a different demographic. He sees the expensive high-rise condos along Tempe Town Lake filling up with residents looking for a relaxing alternative to college bars and see-and-be-seen lounges.

His answer is La Bocca, a casual place to meet friends for a light meal or glass of wine.

The funky, urban-chic décor features a large Mona Lisa-like painting behind the bar, a sea of orange and green furnishings and a wall montage of colorful photos.

There’s a variety of seating, ranging from a communal table large enough to seat a dozen people to a sidewalk patio for those wanting to be part of the sights and sounds (and, occasionally, the smells) of the busy street.

La Bocca’s menu (see menu PDF – note: several items no longer available) isn’t huge. There are just six 11-inch pizzas — no creating your own — along with four salads and five sandwiches.

Wright wasn’t able to install the wood-fired oven he wanted, but the taste isn’t too far off. The sausage and fennel pizza ($13, pictured above) I try comes with a sweet marinara sauce and a soft, chewy crust.

But I am much more impressed with the sandwiches, such as roast beef, cheddar cheese and chipotle mayo on ciabatta bread ($9). Turkey with brie and caramelized apple ($9) is another winner.

Bruschetta comes in eight choices (four for $12). I like the dates, proscuitto and apple and the roasted red pepper and artichoke.

An antipasto platter of babaganoush ($9, pictured at left), a hummus-like paste made with roasted eggplant, is enlivened with flakes of crushed red pepper. It comes with feta cheese, red peppers and lightly toasted bread.

Two scoops of gelato ($4) — one hazelnut, the other pistachio — make a simple but pleasant dessert.

The real draw of the 150-seat eatery, however, isn’t so much the food as the extensive wine list, which leans heavily on California and Italy, and the urban atmosphere.

For Wright, it seems, his third Mill restaurant is yet another charm.

>> La Bocca Urban Pizzeria & Wine Bar, 699 S. Mill Avenue, Tempe, is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Thursday, 11 a.m. to midnight Friday and Saturday. (480) 967-5244.

(First Taste reviews are based on initial visits to new East Valley restaurants. Full reviews are written after multiple visits, usually over a period of several weeks, after the restaurant has been open at least a couple months.)

Taste 2008, one of the Valley’s top culinary events, takes place 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday at the Scottsdale’s Kierland Commons.

The 34th annual event, a fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of Metropolitan Phoenix, allows guests to sample foods from 50 Valley restaurants as well as 60 different wines.

Some of this year’s participating restaurants: Estate House, Canal, Maria Maria, Methode Bistro, Asia de Cuba, Geisha A Go Go, Deseo and Zinc Bistro.

The open-air evening also will include live music and an upscale beer garden.

Tickets are $150. There also are three associated events: a Champions dinner, a pre-Taste and a post-Taste.

Info: (602) 954-8182.

The Herb Box, a Scottsdale cafe known for its fresh-fare salads, sandwiches and wrap, opens a second location Tuesday at DC Ranch in north Scottsdale.

In addition to lunch and dinner, the new location, 20707 N. Pima Road, also will offer breakfast, including such menu items as savory crepes and Kobe short rib hash.

It also will host live gospel music on the patio for a special Saturday gospel brunch.

The fifth annual Forks & Corks, featuring 25 of Arizona’s top chefs, takes place from 5:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. Thursday in east courtyard at the Camelback Esplanade on the southeast corner of Camelback Road and 24th Street in Phoenix.

Chefs will prepare one or two specialties from their respective menus for diners to sample, as well as boutique wines. The evening also includes jazz music from Alice Tatum and a silent auction.

The 21-and-over event benefits the scholarship fund of the Arizona Hotel and Restaurant Education Foundation.

Tickets are $65 in advance and $75 at the door. Info: (602) 604-0729.

The Valley has a long and storied history with Mexican food, written largely in two chapters: Sonoran and New Mexican. Roberto Santibañez wants to introduce you to the rest of the story.

The Mexico City native, who trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris, has received international acclaim for the way he creates classic Mexican dishes with non-traditional ingredients and French cooking techniques.

In 1996, he introduced his sophisticated nueva cocina-style cooking to American diners at Fonda San Miguel in Austin, Texas. Three years later, he was hired as culinary director of Rosa Mexicano, considered by many to be New York’s finest Mexican restaurant.

Santibañez left Rosa Mexicano last year for his biggest challenge yet: Creating the menu for legendary musician Carlos Santana’s new Mexican restaurant Maria Maria (read my First Taste).

(Photo at left: Maria’s Chile Relleno, ancho chiles stuffed with roasted zucchini, red onions and potatoes served over melted cheese and roasted tomato chipotle sauce topped with crispy sweet potatoes and zucchini.)

I sat down with 44-year-old chef after Maria Maria’s grand opening Monday night at Tempe Marketplace.

What’s at the heart of your philosophy about Mexican food?

“’There are many Mexicos,’ one writer said. But there are two kinds of Mexican food. It’s a little tricky and maybe a little delicate to say, but even before the arrival of the Spanish there were two cuisines: that of the indigenous people and the cuisine that the Spanish ate.

“What we now know as Mexican cooking is a pretty recent creation. At the beginning, the Spanish would never touch what the indigenous people would eat, and the indigenous people hated what the Spanish people ate. It didn’t start to mix immediately when the Spanish arrived. It took a couple hundred years.”

Are there still distinct elements of the two?

“Very much. I was born in a household of that division. My grandfather died without eating chiles. He was a white man and he never ate any chiles, and he was over three generations Mexican. He ate what white people ate — bread, olive oil.

(Photo at right: Surf and Turf, grilled adobo marinated skirt steak and jumbo shrimp over roasted guajillo tomatillo sauce enchiladas, topped with cotija cheese, chopped onions and cilantro.)

“He married a Mexican woman from Veracruz, where they would eat all these other things. At the table, my grandfather would have French wine and bread and veal or pork or whatever kind of stew. At the other end of the table, my aunts had a salsa and a molcajete. Those are basically what the separations are.”

How do you reconcile those separations in your cooking?

“I think, as many in my field, we’re still discovering all these wonderful mixtures we can do. We already have many, and the sauce making of Mexico is an incredibly rich gastronomical culture. But I think we’re still making changes. We’re still making additions and seeing what works best.

“There’s a platform of flavors, textures and colors that we all agree, as Mexicans, that we like. I focus on the palate and the very traditional flavor profiles, color profiles, textural profiles, and I create on that.”

When you were asked to create the menu for Maria Maria, what was the concept?

“I think you have to account for many things: the look, the informality that we all agreed we should have. A little like me, Carlos comes from a mixture of people. That mixture hasn’t been explored very much.

(Photo at left: Chicken Enchiladas “Suiza,” soft corn tortillas filled with shredded chicken covered with a roasted tomato cream sauce, baked with Swiss cheese, topped with crispy tortillas, crumbled pasilla chile, chopped onion and cilantro.)

“Mexican restaurants in America have insisted on salsas and enchiladas. There’s a lot more than that. There are things like braised pork, one of our best dishes. It doesn’t necessarily have to have chiles in it. It’s just a deliciously Mexican technique for braising pork. Those things are not shown as much here in the states.”

What do you think is the biggest misconception about Mexican food?

“I think one of the main ones is that Mexican food is really bad for you. A foie gras with a reduction of veal and wine is no better for you than a sauce made of tomatillos. The whole Mexican repertoire of salsas is based on vegetable matter and it’s healthy. You just need to know what you’re eating and how to eat it.

“If you come in and have guacamole, eat all the chips, have enchiladas and then have chocolate cake, you’ll end up feeling pretty bad. But not because it’s Mexican food. You ate too much.”

Is that the fault of diners or the restaurants?

“I think it’s a little bit of everybody’s fault. I think we, as guests, need to realize it, and restauranteurs also need to tell you when you order a little too much food. I think, overall, Americans are over-eating any cuisine and we need to start toning down.”

Speaking of which, Mexico recently was identified as the world’s second-fattest country now …

“It’s crazy. We have broken the traditions of the Mexican people living in the old days, eating their ancient foods. Nowadays, it’s just a floodgate that’s opened. We are having the same problems that America has: People are not being conscientous of what they’re eating.

“It afflicts Mexico in a very terrible way. It’s full of McDonald’s and Pizza Huts. Every city has one of those. Kentucky Fried Chicken is a snack in the middle of the afternoon!”

Are there any Mexican dishes Americans just don’t get?

“I think moles. I think everybody in America thinks mole is a dark brown chocolate sauce that crazy Mexicans eat. They don’t realize that mole means ‘a mixture of things.’ There are hundreds of different moles.

“Moles are like curries from Asia. There are green curries in Thailand that are like a soup, and there are yellow, spicy curries in India that are as thick as mole. So we have thin soups we call moles — green and red and they’re very varied — and we have thick moles that are brown, dark red and even darker with chocolate.

“But the moles with chocolate are basically two or three out of hundreds.”

Do Americans have a greater preference for spicy foods than Mexicans? Or maybe they have a higher tolerance?

“I think it’s preference and tolerance. I think the whiter you are, there’s a gene that you have that makes you want more spiciness. I’m cooking spicier than I do in Mexico. My family and friends tell me, ‘Wow, that’s really spicy.’ And I say, ‘Well, this the result of me living in America for 12 years.’”

Has that changed the types of dishes you create?

“It doesn’t change the basic recipe. You just have to be more careful with the chile and how you treat it. If you use it straightforward, it’s going to be a little spicier.”

After having restaurants in Mexico City, was there anything about the U.S. market that has surprised you?

“I’ve always been surprised at how knowledgable and sophisticated the American public has become. We’ve always underestimated it, I think, in Mexico. My friends said, ‘Oh no, you’re going to go make food for the Americans?’ And that’s not true. American are a people that are demanding. They want the real thing. That’s wonderful.”

Are there advantages to opening a Mexican restaurant in an area like the Valley?

“Yes, I think people already are ‘trained’ to some of the Mexican flavors, so it’s easier for them to understand. They’ll see our food and say, ‘Oh, that’s different,’ because they’ve never had an enchilada like the ones we do, topped with so many more trinkets. We add a little bit more luxury. They’re used to seeing that enchilada flat, sauced and that’s it.”

What’s the next hot ingredient or trend in Mexican cooking?

“That’s going to be big like chipotles? I think people are getting into guajillos. Everything you see is guajillo-marinated or ‘guajillo pineapple’ or ‘guajillo this.’ And serrano, like in the chile serrano. It’s also catching on.

“I also think there’s more higher-end Mexican appreciation. There are restaurants with tableclothes that serve really great Mexican. I think that’s a trend. I think it’s only starting. We’re going to see higher-and-higher-end Mexican restaurants.”

Reports of Urban Campfire’s demise apparently are greatly exaggerated.

This morning, the Arizona Republic reported the eight-month-old Tempe restaurant had closed its doors. A few hours later, the Phoenix New Times, presumably picking up the news from the Republic, reported the same thing.

Unfortunately, it appears neither bothered to call the restaurant to check. When I called, a woman who answered the phone sounded quite surprised.

“No, we’re definitely open,” she said.

With the current economic climate, good local restaurants really need your support right now. Before heading to an Applebee’s, Olive Garden or other national chain, please consider Urban Campfire or another good independent restaurant in the East Valley instead.

You can read my review of Urban Campfire here.

The well-dressed blonde woman stares at the Pischke’s Blue Ribbon menu for all of five seconds before asking, “Is this really the menu now?”

“This has been the menu since we changed last fall,” the server says.

Without another word, the woman gets up and walks out the door.

“That’s the old Pischke’s crowd for you,” the server says with a shrug when she notices I’m watching. “If they’d just try the food, they’d see it’s much better than it was before.”

But change apparently doesn’t come easy for Pischke’s legions of longtime fans who adored its quirky beach-themed décor (pictured in file photo at right), sprawling menu of eclectic dishes and Hawaiian-shirt-and-flip-flops-clad owner Chris Pischke.

After Pischke’s untimely death in 2006, his Old Town Scottsdale institution was taken over by friend Robert McGrath, the James Beard Award-winning chef who sold his share in well-regarded Roaring Fork (read review) and is preparing to open his own place, REM, this year.

Goodbye, palm trees, fishing nets and “No Sniveling” signs. Hello, white tableclothes and contemporary Western art.

The menu also has received an overhaul. One hundred-plus items have been replaced by a single page of Western-inspired comfort foods. Breakfast service has been dropped, except for a weekend brunch.

If you’ve been to Roaring Fork, you’ll see several recognizable dishes and might be tempted to think the new Pischke’s, which still retains a casual vibe, is simply offering more budget-friendly versions. You’d be right and wrong.

Appetizers of green chile macaroni and cheese ($8.50) and green chile pork ($9) are both flavorfully familiar, although neither has the wow factor of their previous McGrath incarnations. The eerily greener mac now includes small slices of somewhat bland Italian sausage.

No bread is offered, but on one visit I get an amuse-bouche of cold pea soup. If you prefer a more substantial starter, go with the delicious chicken-and-mushroom crepes with cotija cheese ($9.50, pictured above).

Be careful with appetizers, though. They’re huge portions, and so are the entrees, such as a dinner-plate-sized chicken fried steak ($16) and the buttermilk fried chicken ($14, pictured at right), which includes two boneless pieces of white meat and two boned pieces of dark.

Neither entrée, both served with the same unremarkable Tabasco gravy, is memorable — in either a postive or negative way. You basically can get the same thing at a Claim Jumper or Cheesecake Factory.

The same goes for the Blue Ribbon Burger ($12, pictured below), a half-pound behemoth with bacon and grilled onion and pepper; its similarly sized patty melt ($11) cousin; the Cuban sandwich ($12.50), which does comes with a tasty black bean soup; and the lackluster barbecue brisket sandwich ($11).

Ditto for desserts, such as a maple-glazed crème brulee ($7) or chocolate-drizzled pieces of deep-fried dough called beignets ($7).

Besides the crepes, the only thing that really excites me is a wonderful bouillabaisse ($18), which is a daily special on one of my visits. The aromatic seafood stew is loaded with fresh whitefish, salmon, clams, mussels and squid.

It’s a reminder of the magic McGrath once created at Roaring Fork, and a glimpse of what could be at Pischke’s Blue Ribbon.

>> Pischke’s Blue Ribbon, 7217 E. First St., Scottsdale, is open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday. (480) 481-0067.

With four decades of hit songs like “Black Magic Woman” and “Smooth,” Carlos Santana has established his bona fides in the music industry.

Now, he’s showing he may do the same thing in the restaurant industry.

Maria Maria, the musician’s stylish Mexican restaurant that takes its name from another of his famous songs, opened Monday at Tempe Marketplace. If my initial visit is any indication, Santana has another hit on his hands.

The look and feel of the place is impressive. From the parking lot, you follow a long, curved patio as it goes on and on — wrapping around two-thirds of the building before it finally reaches a large fire pit.

Just past the fire pit, the restaurant’s heavy wood doors open to a cavernous space called the Candle Dining Room. A long bar runs the length of the back wall; above it, two giant trees are illuminated by more than four dozen faux candles.

To the right, behind a musician playing acoustic guitar, a wall of cubbyholes filled with more candles hides another dining area. To the left, a covered portion of the patio is served by an outside bar.

The opening night’s see-and-be-seen crowd is surprisingly young — the majority in their 20s and 30s — and mostly dressed to impress.

As I take a seat in the lounge area, a server brings out a copper dish of house-made tortilla chips and three types of salsa. The first is a typical mild one, nothing to get too excited about.

The other two, though, pack plenty of kick. One is a dark red “salsa de arbol” made with roasted tomatillos and arbol chiles. The other is a light green “salsa de manzano” made with fresh tomatillos and fiery manzano (apple) peppers.

The two salsas are good examples of the complex, globally inspired cuisine of Roberto Santibanez, the acclaimed Mexico City chef (read my Q&A with him) who Santana and partners tapped to create Maria Maria’s menu (see menu pdf).

I start with chicken flautas ($9), crispy corn tortillas filled with mildy spicy chicken. An orange tomatillo sauce is made a bit more luxurious with crema and cotija cheese.

Soft duck tacos ($11) are a popular item at finer restaurants nowadays, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find any as good as these. The finely shredded pink meat practically melts in your mouth. Habanero cream sauce is complemented by chopped onions, cilantro and sunflowers seeds.

Foot-long skewers of beef tenderloin and sliced chorizo links separated by pieces of onion, pepper and pineapple ($19) are brushed with a bacon vinaigrette. Like all entrees, they come with a bowl of saffron rice and black beans (cooked in vegetable oil, not lard), both spiced with guajillos peppers.

I barely have room to try the flourless bittersweet chocolate cake ($7), which has the consistency of thick pudding and comes with juicy slices of orange.

Like a new song that you just can’t get out of your head, I can’t wait to go back to Maria Maria for an encore.

>> Maria Maria, 2000 E. Rio Salado Parkway is open 5 p.m. to close daily (lunch starts April 7). (480) 449-3663.

(First Taste reviews are based on initial visits to new East Valley restaurants. Full reviews are written after multiple visits, usually over a period of several weeks, after the restaurant has been open at least a couple months.)

Avalon, a new restaurant promising a menu of contemporary American coastal cuisine, is scheduled open mid-April at the 3 Palms Oasis Resort in south Scottsdale.

Located on McDowell Road between Hayden and Scottsdale roads, the restaurant will be helmed by executive chef Travis Watson, whose previous gigs include Four Seasons Hotel in Seattle, Citrus in Los Angeles and The Tack Room in Tucson.