Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category
October 28th, 2009, 7:25 am by Jess Harter
Someone once tried to tell me pumpkins were almost worthless vegetables. “Other than carving them for Halloween and making pies out of them at Thanksgiving, what are they good for?” he argued. Most cooks, however, know pumpkin has a multitude of uses. Here are some of the best pumpkin-related food and drinks available at East Valley restaurants (most are seasonal, so enjoy them while you can):
Pumpkin stir-fry: Pumpkin has long been a staple of Thai cuisine, which uses it in a variety of dishes. At Papaya Thai (2706 E. University Drive, Mesa, [480] 964-3171; 1731 E. Broadway Road, Tempe, [480] 921-2678) slices of pumpkin are stir-fried with ground meat, vegetables and sweet basil ($8.95). Also on the restaurant’s everyday menu: tender pieces of pumpkin in a red curry paste ($8.95).
 Pumpkin soup: Enjoy a bowl of pumpkin bisque at Havana Café, 4232 E. Chandler Blvd., Ahwatukee, [480] 704-2600) until their pumpkin supply runs out, probably in February. Cups are $5.25 and bowls $6.50. The soup also is sold to go by quart and half-gallon. For an extra treat, the café recommends pairing the bisque with a tasting of its Lustau East India sherry.
Pumpkin beer: Microbreweries love concocting special seasonal flavors. Four Peaks (1340 E. Eighth St., Tempe, [480] 303-9967) just unveiled its annual Pumpkin Porter ($4.50 per pint, pictured at left), which should be available through November. BJ’s Restaurant & Brewhouse (3155 W. Chandler Blvd., [480] 917-0631) also should have its Pumpkin Ale on tap for another month.
Pumpkin bread: Breadsmith (2831 N. Power Road, Mesa, [480] 981-7600) sells 6-inch loaves of pumpkin and pumpkin-chocolate chip bread ($6.25), as well pumpkin scones ($1.50), through Thanksgiving. Simply Bread (2117 N. 24th St., Phoenix, [602] 244-1778) also sells both types of pumpkin breads ($5.99) through the end of the year.
Pumpkin cake: The seasonal Pumpkin Cake ($3.99, pictured at top) at Joe’s Farm Grill (3000 E. Ray Road, Gilbert, [480] 563-4745) features alternating layers of pumpkin spice cake and cream cheese filling, and it’s covered with a warm maple caramel sauce. Double your pumpkin pleasure by pairing it with one of the grill’s Pumpkin Milkshakes ($3.99).
 Pumpkin bread pudding: The Pumpkin Bread Pudding ($6) at The Mission (3815 N. Brown Ave., Scottsdale, [480] 636-5005) is one of best desserts you’ll find in the Valley. Pumpkin bread is soaked in custard, drenched with a butterscotch sauce (made with actual Scotch) and topped with cinnamon gelato, toasted pepitas (the inner part of pumpkin seeds) and pomegranate seeds.
Pumpkin ice cream: Udder Delights (1385 E. Warner Road, Gilbert, [480] 507-3859) currently is dishing up a couple seasonal flavors — pumpkin and pumpkin cheesecake. Scoops start at $3.50, and the ice creams also are available to go in pints ($5.99) and quarts ($7.99). You also can get either flavor in an ice cream pie ($14) or in various size ice cream cakes ($19.95-$38.95).
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October 7th, 2009, 10:58 am by Jess Harter
Six Arizona chefs will prepare signature dishes with show host Barbara Fenzl on “Eight Cooks with Passport 2009,” which airs at noon Saturday on KAET (Channel 8).
The dishes and chefs:
• Rib eye and crème caramel by Travis Watson (Avalon);
• Braised red cabbage by Chuck Wiley (Café ZuZu);
• Mo’ Rockin’ Shrimp by Eddie Matney (Eddie’s House);
• American Kobe beef by Roman Petry (Roka Akor);
• Flan by John Conley (Salsa Brava);
• Lobster lettuce cup by Doug Czufin (Steamers).
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October 6th, 2009, 2:39 pm by Jess Harter
Tom Kaufman, whose well-regarded Scottsdale restaurants include the fine-dining Rancho Pinot Grill and the casual pizzeria Humble Pie, is coming to Chandler.
Kaufman (pictured) and his Humble Pie partners are planning to open Juice Wine Bar at Downtown Ocotillo, a commercial development south of Queen Creek Road and east of Price Road, in early December.
“It’ll be a pure wine bar, meaning it’ll be unhurried,” Kaufman says. “We’re hoping people will drop in all hours of the day or night.”
The 2,400-square-foot space, whose décor will reflect the development’s Santa Barbara feel, will accommodate approximately 100 people. Five glass garage doors will open to outdoor seating.
“About half will be traditional dining seating and half lounge seating with couches,” Kaufman says. “At Humble Pie, people tend to eat and leave. We want people to stay and have a second glass of wine.”
Juice’s menu will consist of simple fare such as bruschetta, paninis and salads, Kaufman says, citing Phoenix’s popular Postino and Roosevelt Tavern as examples of the concept he’s targeting.
“It’ll be flavorful yet simply prepared food,” the 54-year-old says. “A lot of grazing, but no main courses per se.”
Considered one of the Valley’s most knowledgeable wine enthusiasts, Kaufman is putting together a wine list that will include 15 wines for $5 a glass until 6 p.m. daily.
“The consumer really wants value right now,” he says. “We’ll have a special wine highlighted on a chalkboard every day. You can always walk into Juice and get a $5 glass.”
Kaufman thinks Chandler residents are hungry for good dining options.
“They’ve shown they’ll support something with quality like Cork,” he says. “They tell me they’re resentful almost of having to drive to Scottsdale to go to a quality restaurant.”
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August 10th, 2009, 12:28 pm by Jess Harter
The next time you’re looking for the right wine in a restaurant or at a store, the answer could be in the palm of your hand.
Brian Pierce, a sommelier-turned-food and beverage director for some of the Valley’s finest resorts, has created a red-hot iPhone application called Wine Ph.D.
The $4.99 download includes a searchable database with descriptions and ratings of more than 60,000 wines, feature stories about wine and winemakers, a glossary of wine terms and suggested wine pairings for different foods.
 Released June 1 in the Apple smartphone’s App Store, Wine Ph.D. has become one of its best-selling lifestyle applications, climbing to No. 3 on last week’s sales chart.
It was selected by Apple staffers as one of the company’s 16 hottest summer releases — from among more than 65,000 applications — and featured in full-page ads in USA Today, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal.
“My goal was to achieve something the average person — if they go to Trader Joe’s or Costco or Safeway or their favorite restaurant and look up a wine, it’s in there and it helps them make their buying decision,” says Pierce (pictured at left). “I think we’ve achieved that.”
After graduating from Arizona State University in 1992, the Northern California native went to work at The Phoenician Resort, where he was one of three sommeliers at the prestigious Mary Elaine’s.
Pierce spent a couple of years as a manager at the Arizona Biltmore Resort before returning to The Phoenician to take a similar position at Windows on the Green. In 2000, he was named The Phoenician’s director of restaurants.
He currently serves as food and beverage director for another well-known Scottsdale resort — one that insists he not mention the resort during interviews about Wine Ph.D.
Not that he will be with that resort much longer. Pierce was looking for a way to get out of the daily grind of the corporate world and spend more time with his 7- and 9-year-old daughters when he came up with the idea for Wine Ph.D.
“My original idea was to come up with a (computer) notebook you could hand to guests when they came into a restaurant,” he says.
A little awkward perhaps. Fortunately, this was in September 2007 and …
“The iPhone had just come out,” Pierce says. “I’d heard about ‘applications,’ but I had no idea what they were. As soon as I saw one, I knew I could put my idea into that format.”
Pierce enlisted the help of his college roommate, Dave Lauinger, who runs a Web site called HotelWineList.com.
“There were only about 200 apps at that time, and nothing about wine,” Pierce says. “I thought we’d have a good chance. I was nervous but very optimistic.”
The pair hired Tempe’s Perk Software to create the application (pictured above), including an algorithm that compiles a rating for each wine based on professional ratings, a wine’s pedigree and its region. Unlike other wine apps for the iPhone, Wine Ph.D. also factors in users’ ratings.
“It was expensive to develop this application,” Pierce says. “It cost significantly more than the $20,000 to $30,000 it typically costs for an app like this.”
It appears to be paying off: In eight weeks, more than 10,000 iPhone users in 15 countries have purchased Wine Ph.D., and Pierce forecasts 70,000 by the end of the year. He hopes to increase that to as many as 400,000 users next year.
Pierce and Lauinger have opened a small office behind See’s Candies in Old Town Scottsdale where they write Wine Ph.D.’s weekly feature articles and continue to add wines to the database.
They try to respond to all user requests within three days, and recently hired some part-time employees to handle the growing number.
Asked why he thinks Wine Ph.D. has risen to the top of a suddenly crowded field of wine-related iPhone apps, Pierce says, “The feedback we’re getting is simplicity of use. The No. 1 thing we hear is it’s fun.”
Posted in: Uncategorized • Wine | 1 Comment »
July 30th, 2009, 10:34 pm by Jess Harter
 “Food, Inc.,” a new documentary about the nation’s food industry, should be required viewing for every American.
The 93-minute film, which opens Friday at Harkins Camelview in Scottsdale, enlightens, angers, inspires, repulses and saddens.
And, filmmaker Robert Kenner hopes, forever changes the way you look at food.
Kenner sets the stage with the doc’s opening line: “The way we eat has changed more in the last 50 years than in the previous 10,000 …”
Then he launches a brutally blunt exploration of the consequences — most cleverly hidden from consumers — of having the majority of food in this country now produced by just a handful of giant corporations.
Big Food, Kenner contends, started with the birth of fast food, particularly McDonald’s, in the 1950s.
Today, McDonald’s is the world’s largest purchaser of ground beef and potatoes, and one of the largest purchasers of pork, chicken, tomatoes, lettuce and apples.
So when the Golden Arches wants its Big Macs in San Diego to taste exactly the same as its Big Macs in Boston, the food industry is forced to accommodate.
And even those who never set food in a fast-food or chain restaurant are mostly stuck buying food produced by the same system at their local supermarkets.
Interviewing food-industry gadflies like Eric Schlosser (“Fast Food Nation”) and Michael Pollan (“The Omnivore’s Dilemma’), “Food, Inc.” makes a litany of charges, including:
 • Concentrated animal feeding operations have resulted in chickens so heavy from being biologically “redesigned” they can’t stand up out of their own feces. Cattle are ground up with their own manure.
• Toothless regulatory agencies like the FDA and USDA are headed by politically appointed former food-industry execs. According to the film, the FDA conducted 50,000 inspections in 1972, but just 9,184 in 2006.
• Corporations like the chemical giant Monsanto allowed to patent crops like soybeans, effectively creating a monopoly — permitted by a Supreme Court ruling written by ex-Monsanto attorney Clarence Thomas.
• The food industry successfully lobbying for passage of so-called “veggie libel laws,” such as one that makes it a felony in Colorado to disparage beef. In several states, it’s seeking to make it illegal to publish any photo of an industrial food operation.
 The film’s most emotional punch, however, is delivered by food advocate Barbara Kowalcyk (pictured at left), whose 2-year-old son Kevin died from E. coli poisoning after eating a hamburger in 2001.
Listening to the mother describe the agony of her son’s final days is heartbreaking. Learning that the plant had discovered the E. coli but didn’t recall the meat is infuriating.
“We put faith in our government to protect us, and we’re not being protected at the most basic level,” Kowalcyk says.
Kowalcyk helped write Kevin’s Law to give power to the USDA to shut down plants that repeatedly produce contaminated meat.
I not sure what’s more disheartening: That such a law doesn’t already exist, or that Congress refuses to pass Kevin’s Law now.
“Food, Inc.” does have its bright spots, though. It notes that sales of organic food products are growing at approximately 20 percent each year.
And, it argues, the power and influence of Big Food is impossible to sustain. The current food system simply requires too much gasoline for production and transportation.
And, so far, no corporation has been able to figure out how to grow more oil.
(”Food, Inc.” is rated PG for some thematic material and disturbing images.)
Posted in: Uncategorized • Movies | 2 Comments »
July 29th, 2009, 9:13 am by Jess Harter
Jamba Juice has extended its popular “buy one smoothie, get one free” offer until Aug. 9. All you need to do is download and print this coupon.
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July 28th, 2009, 8:59 pm by Jess Harter
Being a restaurant reviewer means I get to eat at some of the Valley’s finest restaurants on the Tribune’s dime. On my own time, however, you’ll rarely find me at those places; I’m sure you wouldn’t be surprised to learn a journalist’s salary doesn’t go very far when meals can run $200 to $300.
Summer is an exception. For these few weeks when triple-digit temperatures scare way many visitors, some the Valley’s top resorts lower prices or offer special meal deals. Here are five resorts where you can enjoy some of the Valley’s best cuisine in spectacular atmospheres:
T. Cook’s: “Iron Chef America” competitor Lee Hillson (pictured above) heads the kitchen of the Royal Palms Resort & Spa’s centerpiece, which melds Spanish Colonial architecture with a Mediterranean-influenced menu. Through Sept. 13, you can design your own three-course meal off the menu for $40 Sundays through Thursdays. Entrée suggestion: Pecan-roasted “Poulet Rouge” chicken, a French heirloom breed considered by some the world’s finest. 5200 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix, (602) 808-0766.
 Kai: The only Valley restaurant to earn Mobil’s five-star rating and AAA’s five-diamond rating, this Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa restaurant spotlights ingredients produced by the Gila River Indian Community. Kai currently is offering a $59 prix-fixe menu of three of chef Michael O’Dowd’s signature items; hand-picked baby lettuces, grilled buffalo tenderloin and traditional fry bread. (Note: Kai closes from Aug. 9-Sept. 9 each summer.) 5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd., Chandler, (602) 385-5726.
J&G Steakhouse: The Phoenician Resort shuttered its venerable Mary Elaine’s last year, but has replaced it with an upscale steakhouse from celebrity chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten. This summer, J&G is offering a $19 burger-and-beer special: a fresh-ground patty topped with made-from-scratch Russian dressing, house-pickled cucumbers and lightly battered Vidalia sweet onions, hand-cut French fries and a premium microbrew. 6000 E. Camelback Road, Scottsdale, (480) 214-8000.
Talavera: Prime cuts of free-raised meats and seafood are the building blocks of chef Mel Mecinas’s contemporary American cuisine — not cutting edge but expertly executed — at this classy-casual Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale restaurant. Talavera offers a weekly two-course tasting menu for $34, or $45 with wine pairings. Through Sept. 1, all bottles on house wine list are half-price Sundays through Wednesdays. 10600 E. Crescent Moon Drive, Scottsdale, (480) 515-5700.
Lon’s: The Hermosa Inn celebrates the spirit of the Old West, and it’s reflected in chef Michael Rusconi’s “artful American” cuisine at this hacienda-style dining room. A new summer menu includes pan-roasted foie gras with dried
cherry tamale; butternut squash ravioli with organic spinach; heirloom
tomato salad with cucumbers, red onion, San Joaquin Gold cheese and basil
sorbet; and Colorado lamb loin with goat cheese gnocchi and
fava beans. 5532 N. Palo Cristi Road, Paradise Valley, (602) 955-7878.
Posted in: Chandler • Phoenix • Scottsdale • Uncategorized • J&G Steakhouse • Kai • Lon's • T. Cook's • Talavera | Post a Comment »
July 25th, 2009, 1:08 pm by Jess Harter
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro is giving away free lettuce wraps this weekend to celebrate a hole-in-one by golfer Briny Baird in today’s Canadian Open. Purchase of an entree is required, and you must download the coupon here. The offer is good through Sunday at any P.F. Chang’s.
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July 22nd, 2009, 2:23 pm by Jess Harter
 Ten days after closing its doors at Scottsdale’s SouthBridge development, Digestif reopens at 5 p.m. today across the street in a cozier space recently freed up by the closure of its sister restaurant Sea Saw.
Chef Payton Curry (pictured) is still heading the kitchen, which will offer a scaled-back menu that promises to be more global and eclectic than the previous Cal-Ital one. The new space will accommodate about 30 people.
Digestif will be open for dinner only Wednesdays through Sundays. It is participating in Yelp’s current restaurant week promotion tonight, but not Thursday (when it hosts a six-course wine dinner with Palmina’s Chrystal Clifton).
Because of the late start and one-day interruption, Digestif will offer its Yelp $25 prix fixe menu through next Thursday.
Digestif’s new address is 7133 E. Stetson Drive. The phone number remains (480) 425-9463.
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July 20th, 2009, 12:22 pm by Jess Harter
 Kid Rock is launching his own beer, called American Badass Beer, this weekend when he performs a pair of concerts at Comerica Park in Detroit.
The rock star, whose real name is Robert Ritchie, describes the beer, named after his 2000 Top 20 hit song, as an easy-to-drink, American-style lager, according to the Detroit Free Press.
American Badass Beer will be produced at the Michigan Brewing Company in Webberville, Mich., in 12- and 22-ounce bottles.
The beer will be sold in Kid Rock’s home state of Michigan in August, then rolled out in Ohio, Texas, Nevada, Tennessee and California. It will be available nationwide next year.
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July 20th, 2009, 11:15 am by Jess Harter
 Yuji Matsumoto, the only master sake sommelier in North America, will host a pair of “Sake Nights” tonight and Tuesday at Kabuki Japanese Restaurant at Tempe Marketplace.
Matsumoto (pictured), Kabuki’s corporate sake sommelier, will explain the drink’s history, offer tips and create specialty cocktails. He also will team up with executive chef Masa Kurihara for sake-and-food pairings.
There will be one-hour tastings at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. each evening. Cost is $25 per person, $40 per couple and $20 per person for groups of three or more. Info: (480) 350-9160.
Matsumoto also will hold tastings Wednesday and Thursday at Kabuki’s location in Glendale.
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July 14th, 2009, 3:06 pm by Jess Harter
Tickets for the two biggest events of Crave Arizona, the Scottsdale culinary festival that debuted last fall under the name Eats3, will go on sale at 8 a.m. Thursday. This year’s fest runs Oct. 22-24.
Those who buy tickets before Aug. 1 get a substantial discount:
• $25 tickets for the National Top Bar Chef Competition/Crave Arizona Kick-Off Party on Oct. 22 will be just $15.
• $75 tickets for the Arizona Grand Tasting on Oct. 24 will be just $55.
Both events will be held at The Bridge at the Scottsdale Waterfront — a.k.a. the canal bridge connecting SouthBridge and Scottsdale Fashion Square.
The festival also will include an art walk, gallery dinners, wine tastings, wine lunches and a BBQ & Bubbles party. Tickets for those events go on sale Aug. 1.
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July 13th, 2009, 9:29 am by Jess Harter
After a four-month hiatus, Anthony Bourdain’s “No Reservations” returns tonight for the second half of its fifth season when the host travels to Chile (pictured above). Showtime is 10 p.m. on the Travel Channel (or 7 p.m. if you get Travel Channel HD).
Other destinations for the final 10 episodes of Season 5 include Australia, the U.S. “Rust Belt” (Baltimore, Detroit, Buffalo), San Francisco, Thailand, the Rocky Mountains, the outer boroughs of New York City and Sardina, Italy.
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June 9th, 2009, 11:24 am by Jess Harter
 Do you like wine and know Twitter? Then this might be the job for you: California’s Murphy-Goode Winery is looking for a social media expert. The six-month position pays $10,000 per month, plus accommodations.
According to its website, the winery is seeking someone “who really knows how to use Web 2.0 and Facebook and blogs and social media and YouTube and all sorts of good stuff like that — to tell the world about our wines and the place where we live: the Sonoma County Wine Country.”
The position, which it’s calling a “Really Goode Job,” includes flexible hours and the use of a beautiful home “in picturesque Healdsburg, a popular vacation destination in our neck of the woods.”
As of Tuesday morning, 311 applicants from all over the country - including a couple Arizonans - have submitted 60-second videos explaining why they’re the best person for the job.
An online poll will be used to determine which videos people like best, but the winery says it will make the final hiring decision.
If you’re interested, there’s still time to submit your own video. The deadline is June 19. Get the full details here.
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June 5th, 2009, 5:06 pm by Jess Harter
 Bust out your loudest Hawaiian shirt and flip-flops: SanTan Brewing Company is hosting downtown Chandler’s first luau Saturday.
The festivities, which start at noon and go until 8 p.m., include a pig roast on the brewpub’s newly expanded patio, live steel drum music and several contests.
Pulled pork sandwiches will be available for $6, or you can enjoy a sandwich, side dish and pint of beer for $12. Sides will include Spam pasta salad, macaroni and blue cheese and pork and beans.
A pulled pork slider eating contest will take place at 4 p.m. Also, the person who shows up in the ugliest Hawaiian shirt Saturday will win a SanTan Brewing gift basket.
SanTan owner Anthony Canecchia is thinking of making the pig roast a regular event at the brewpub, which produces its own lineup of five everyday beers and one seasonal beer.
SanTan Brewing, 8 S. San Marcos Place, is located a block west of Arizona Avenue and two blocks south of Chandler Boulevard. Info: (480) 917-8700.
Posted in: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »
June 1st, 2009, 7:25 pm by Jess Harter
South Chandler residents have been wondering when the new Fresh & Easy Neighborhood Market on the northwest corner of Arizona Avenue and Chandler Heights Road will open. By all appearances, construction was finished months ago, yet it remains closed.
I finally was able to reach a Fresh & Easy official in California who confirmed the company has “scaled back” new store openings. Not only has no opening date for the south Chandler location has been set, the official was unable to say even if the market would open this year.
There is some good news for East Valley F&E fans: A Fresh & Easy is taking over the former Sunflower Market on the northeast northwest corner of Cooper and Warner roads in Gilbert and should open in July.
Posted in: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
May 19th, 2009, 11:25 am by Jess Harter
Costa Vida, a fast-casual, Baja-inspired restaurant chain out of Salt Lake City, is scheduled to open its second Arizona location Wednesday in Queen Creek.
The chain has operated a Mesa location for several years at Dana Park on the northwest corner of Val Vista Drive and Baseline Road.
The latest location, 21152 E. Rittenhouse Road, is just east of Ellsworth Road. Info: (480) 888-7230.
To celebrate the opening, Costa Vida is mailing coupons for a free burrito to Q.C. residents.
Posted in: Uncategorized • Costa Vida | Post a Comment »
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