Best Market Showcasing Local Products
Main Street Harvest
The folks from Proof Bread have opened a farmers market meets grocery store in downtown Mesa that showcases local products from across the Valley. They carry everything from Steadfast Farm radishes and Culture Clash Greek Yogurt to Bad Dog Salsa and Sonoran Pasta Co. They also stock baked goods from their bakery next door. 121 W. Main St., Mesa, 480-428-8305, mainstreetharvest.com
Best Mug Game
Pair Cupworks
As any coffee aficionado can tell you, drinkware and the accompanying accessories matter. That’s why co-owner Eugenia Tai puts careful thought into the ceramic vessels for the specialty coffees and teas at this Mesa coffee shop, located inside Cider Corps. Think petite mugs in millennial pink, slender charcoal-grey espresso sippers and cut-glass tea tumblers. 31 S. Robson St., Mesa, paircupworks.com
Best CSA
Farmbox Arizona
Every week like clockwork, Farmbox deposits an enormous box of produce on our front porch – making it easy for us to eat our veggies. That’s no chore. We love the freshly grown bright yellow bell peppers, purple onions and orange sweet potatoes that make a rainbow on our plate. Now we have no excuse – and neither do you. farmboxarizona.com
Best Neighborhood Market
Chadwick’s Urban Market
This neighborhood gem near Old Town Scottsdale carries a variety of local products and produce and has a café that offers a small breakfast menu, sandwiches, salads and pizza. It also has a full-service coffee bar and a beer and wine bar staffed by friendly and helpful people. If only we could clone Chadwick’s and its wonderful vibe for every Valley neighborhood. 3703 N. 69th St., Scottsdale, 602-884-7977, chadwicksurbanmarket.com
Best Arizona Farm Family
The Buttons of Ramona Farms
Ramona Farms has been a family affair for three generations. Current owners Terry and Ramona Button and their heirs raise traditional heirloom organic crops like kalvash and pinole. Their mission overall has been to “bring back the tepary bean” to the O’odham people of the Gila River Indian Community. 1407 AZ-87, Sacaton, 520-418-0900, ramonafarms.com
Best Local Hot Sauce
With Celebrity Hot Sauce Collector Vic Clinco
Cutino Sauce Co.
cutinosauce.com
- This gourmet sauce is “artisanal and crafted in small batches [by owner Jacob Cutino], so each small bottle is completely full of flavor.”
- “Their seasonal Ghost Pepper is one of the best hot sauces I’ve ever had, and that’s saying a lot.”
- Collaborated with popular YouTube show Hot Ones to create “a variation [of] the current Chipotle sauce in their lineup now. I tried to taste the differences, but Jacob was pretty tight-lipped about it. You know, inquiring minds and all.”
Big Red’s Hot Sauce
bigredshotsauce.com
- “Proudly family-owned, and you can literally taste their passion and love for what they do. No harder-working folks in the industry.”
- Flavor always complements the spice, “whether you’re looking for mild or pushing the extreme with their formidable 3 Kings Sauce, which combines three of the hottest peppers in the world: the Ghost Pepper, the Scorpion Pepper and the Guinness-record-holding Carolina Reaper.”
- Terrific, fun, colorful labeling. “From a collector’s point of view, I absolutely love them. On my shelves, they literally pop.”
