Nikki Buchanan, Author at PHOENIX magazine

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Desert Digest Food & DrinkFoodie Darling Cotton & Copper To Close for Good

Nikki BuchananJanuary 27, 2021

We’ve lost so many restaurants to COVID-19 this past year — Amuse Bouche, Barrio Gran Reserva, Delux, El Zocalo, Josephine, La Marquesa, La Piazza al Forno, Phoenix Public Market Café, Razz’s, Sierra Bonita, The Dressing Room and Yasu Sushi Bistro, to name a noteworthy dozen — and just as is true with the virus itself, the devastation is nowhere near over. Brace yourself for more fallout because the next to go is Cotton & Copper,...

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Desert Digest Food & DrinkFirst Dish: Valentine

Nikki BuchananJanuary 25, 2021

Chadwick Price and mixology ninja Blaise Faber (best loved for his brilliant cocktails at Tratto) have teamed up to open this sweetheart of an all-day restaurant parked at the front end of Modern Manor, Ryan Durkin’s mid-century modern furniture store in the Melrose District. Chef Donald Hawk (the guy who started The Gladly’s popular raw bar program) oversees the menu and kitchen, which turns out exceptional baked goods, breakfast dishes, snacks, burgers, small plates, coffee...

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Desert DigestFirst Dish: Character Distinctive Dining

Nikki BuchananJanuary 19, 2021

Peter Kasperski, the crazy-creative Scottsdale restaurateur behind dearly departed Cowboy Ciao, Sea Saw, Digestif, Kazimierz World Wine Bar and Counter Intuitive, partners with longtime friend, former employee and inventive master barman Richie Moe to open Roosevelt Row’s most sophisticated restaurant and bar to date (Speakeasy Alias, which sits behind Character, hasn’t opened yet, but it’s almost ready to rock). I popped in to see how Kasperski, an Old Town Scottsdale boy since his salad days...

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Drink ThisDrink This: La Chocolat Sazerac

Nikki BuchananJanuary 18, 2021

The Sazerac, designated the official cocktail of New Orleans, has various origin stories. Begin your own origin story at home with this simple recipe.

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Food ReviewsThree New Japanese Restaurants That Go Beyond Maki and Miso

Nikki BuchananJanuary 18, 2021

These three new Japanese eateries go well beyond maki rolls and miso soup.

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Desert DigestFirst Dish: Trevor’s Liquors in South Scottsdale

Nikki BuchananJanuary 14, 2021

It wouldn’t be overstatement to say that 2020 drove us to drink. Off premise and online liquor sales boomed this past year as we stayed away from bars and restaurants — which have had a dismal year by contrast — and drowned our coronavirus sorrows in home-made cocktails. As the owner of perennially popular Park Plaza Liquors & Deli in Prescott, Trevor Phillips could see that opening a boutique liquor store in South Scottsdale might...

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Drink ThisDrink This: Southwestern Pumpkin Spice

Nikki BuchananNovember 28, 2020

Topped with a cloud of whipped cream, this tequila-based Southwestern Pumpkin Spice from Rita’s Cantina & Bar is assembled with coffee and pumpkin syrup.

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Food ReviewsStratta Kitchen

Nikki BuchananNovember 28, 2020

The Valley’s lone Michelin-starred chef turns over a new, healthy-eats leaf.

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Desert DigestNew Restaurant Alert: Belle’s Nashville Kitchen Comes to Old Town Scottsdale

Nikki BuchananNovember 11, 2020

The Nashville Hot Chicken craze shows no signs of cooling off here in the Valley, and any minute now (probably by the middle of next week), we’ll have a brand-new venue — Belle’s Nashville Kitchen on Main Street in Old Town Scottsdale — for the crazy-crispy, insanely incendiary dish that, when done right, simultaneously sends pain and pleasure signals to the brain. Owner Mike Haley, who worked in local restaurants and bars for a couple...

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Desert DigestNew Restaurant Alert: Peter Kasperski Stays in Character for New Dining Concept

Nikki BuchananOctober 29, 2020

Anyone who knows Peter Kasperski — owner and wine wonk of defunct Cowboy Ciao, Kazimierz World Wine Bar and Sea Saw, beloved for his scatterbrained eloquence regarding all things oeno — knows the guy is a character with a capital “C.” Besides writing quirky, learned wine columns for Phoenix Magazine back in the day, he grew an impressive, extensive wine cellar that earned him multiple Wine Spectator awards and no small amount of national recognition...