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If our photo essay on the journey of Arizona wine from grape to glass (pg. 146) piques your interest in homegrown grapes, add Jenelle Bonifield’s AZ Uncorked: The Arizona Wine Guide (Arizona Wine Media, $111) to your reading list. Much more than a coffee table book, this weighty tome boasts thoughtful essays on the history of Arizona winemaking and dozens of Arizona wineries, as well as information on wine festivals and events. Most stunning, though,...

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The Swedes are coming! Polestar, a performance electric vehicle company from the Scandinavian nation that brought us ABBA and Fredrik Backman, makes its Southwest debut this summer. The newcomer joins Courtesy Automotive Group (Courtesy Chevrolet) at Scottsdale Fashion Square. “Anyone seeking to own an electric vehicle with a unique, stylish design for the 21st century will want to own a Polestar,” says Courtesy CEO Scott Gruwell. “It’s a dynamic electric technology with an amazing international...

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Photo by Maggie Fearnow   Stories have a way of taking on lives of their own. Writer Dawson Fearnow has learned this time and again as a journalist specializing in historical crime writing. “That’s why I only write about dead criminals,” Fearnow says. “Especially after two DEA agents showed up at my front door holding a copy of a story I wrote about a local designer drug kingpin.”  PHOENIX has been fortunate to have Fearnow write a number of true-crime pieces for our history column, centered...

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The Wigwam is getting some friendly competition from Sterling Grove, the West Valley’s first new golf course in more than a decade. “Sterling Grove is poised to take its place among the best courses in Greater Phoenix, with challenging play in a spectacular setting,” says Dan Rhea, senior project manager for Toll Brothers at Sterling Grove, a 780-acre master-planned luxury community. The semi-private club opened in Surprise this spring with picturesque vistas including the White...

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Photo courtesy Morning Squeeze   All the news that’s fit to nosh.   Grand Openings: A slew of food-and-bev establishments have recently opened. Some are opening this week! To wit: Morning Squeeze: The local breakfast and lunch joint is opening its third location this Friday, September 17. The Downtown Phoenix outpost is located at the corner of First and Washington streets. The eatery will include an indoor-outdoor bar, wraparound patio and a takeaway-friendly grab-and-go area. Open from 7...

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You have a remote control for your garage door. Why not for your dog door? That’s the notion behind Pawport, an app-controlled barrier that slides onto existing pet door frames. Users can configure the smart portal to open and close based on a schedule, set a “curfew,” track canine activity and even send security updates. The product was on Kickstarter at press time. getpawport.com

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Soup’s on! Order extra bread, chips or pita to dunk in these scratch-made slurries that smack of autumn in the Valley. Pozole Rojo Regulars at Arcadia’s CRUjiente Tacos impatiently await the autumnal return of chef Rich Hinojosa’s legendary pozole ($9). It’s rich with pork, red chile and hominy. crutacos.com Matzo Ball Soup Feeling a cold coming on? Fill your prescription for Jewish penicillin ($3/cup, $5/bowl) at Miracle Mile Deli in CenPho. miraclemiledeli.com Broccoli, Spinach &...

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  Photo courtesy Buck &Rider   THE SCENE “I don’t eat seafood in landlocked states.” That sentence – along with its cousin, “Seafood in the desert? Pass.” – is up there on the list of trite refrains I regularly field from friends and relatives about dining in the Valley. When I hear someone say it, I have to fight a visceral urge to shake them and bellow, “Do you think we’re still in the 1950s?!” In a time before overnight shipping and advanced packing and cooling techniques, sure, you would have...

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  Photo courtesy Hotel Valley Ho    All the news that’s fit to nosh. Cerveza vs. Vino: Beer or wine? “Why not both?” to quote my hedonistic partner. ZuZu at Hotel Valley Ho continues The Versus Series next week with a Beer vs. Wine dinner. Homegrown Four Peaks Brewing Company will be pitted against California’s The Prisoner Wine Company in head-to-head pairings with four courses. This dinner’s lineup includes a duck and citrus salad, Wagyu beef cheek with purple yam purée and a decadent chocolate mousse bar with whipped ganache pudding, each paired with one...

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All the news that’s fit to nosh.   Cookies for a Cause: Love chocolate chip cookies? Love giving back? Picazzo’s Healthy Italian Kitchen has the dessert for you. The local gluten-free restaurant chain has partnered with Southwest Autism Research & Resource Center (SARRC) on a tasty fundraising effort. For every GF chocolate chip cookie sold at Picazzo’s five Valley locations (plus one in Sedona), Picazzo’s will donate $1 to support SARRC programs benefiting Arizonans with autism. “At Picazzo’s, we have many regular guests who have family members with autism, so we have been looking...

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After years of reporting on Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s famously restrictive immigration policies and detention practices, local journalism luminaries Terry Greene Sterling and Jude Joffe-Block joined forces to write Driving While Brown: Sheriff Joe Arpaio Versus the Latino Resistance (University of California Press, $27.95). The book reads alternately like one long feature story and like a suspenseful journalism procedural, with plenty of historical and legal background for context. Greene Sterling and Joffe-Block dive into the real...

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Photo courtesy Campo Italian Bistro and Bar    All the news that’s fit to nosh.  Brunch Time: It seems every week I come bearing brunch news, and this week is no different:  After settling into a nice happy hour and dinner rhythm, Campo Italian Bistro and Bar is opening for brunch service starting this Saturday, August 14. Expect Italian-inflected brunch classics like eggs Benedict topped with spinach, capicola and roasted pepper hollandaise, and a savory Dutch baby gilded with prosciutto, pesto and...

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One of the Valley’s best-known menswear labels is expanding its women’s line. In 2018, software engineer and information security pro Chris Coriale started Christopher J. Apparel with one item: a comfortable and well-cut men’s undershirt made of Tencel modal, a sustainable and biodegradable fabric that lasts as long as average fabrics but is compostable once it’s “worn out.” Since then, he added more men’s pieces and launched a women’s line in 2020, which he expanded...

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If you’ve lost faith in crowd-sourced contractor recommendations, you might need SavonServices. The membership-based app ($29.99/year) connects users with vetted electricians, landscapers, locksmiths and more, with built-in, pre-negotiated discounts. Available in the App Store and Google Play. savonservices.com

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Downtown Phoenix’s Steele Indian School Park is home to many special events throughout the year, including this month’s Fabulous Phoenix Fourth. If a group of Valley veterans has its way, it will also soon be home to a new “museum monument.” The USS Phoenix Cold War Monument will feature salvaged parts of the USS Phoenix attack submarine and chronicle the United States Navy’s submarine force’s contributions to the Cold War between 1946-1991. The group is...