This all-day mom-and-pop Filipino diner has a new East Valley address and our critic’s unabashed endorsement.
Set on the Seventh Street dining drag, this one-off concept from repeat restaurateur Chris Collins is fully off the hook.
Skip the Long Island Iced Tea and try this hilariously named, faintly fizzy refresher.
Food ReviewsReview: First & Last
Nikki BuchananMay 5, 2022
If the food rises to the level of its décor, this handsome Modern American restaurant in Roosevelt Row will have the whole package.
Desert DigestFood & DrinkFirst Dish: Espiritu
Nikki BuchananApril 18, 2022
When Espiritu opened last January, it was cast as a bar not a restaurant, a let’s-get-crazy play place for drinkers unashamed to admit they like getting a little toasty. Under the short cocktail menu (five regular cocktails and one daily special) is a section called “Shots & Other Mistakes,” featuring nine possibly bad decisions (their verbiage, not mine). Here, you’ll find wild concoctions given hilarious names and descriptions, including Yeetlejuice (Jaeger cold brew, pineapple amaro,...
Desert DigestFood & DrinkChef Cory Oppold to Open New Dining Concept in North Scottsdale
Nikki BuchananMarch 28, 2022
Cory Oppold | Photo by Ian Cahill/Precision Photography AZ Former Food Network Chopped champion Cory Oppold has worked everywhere, it seems. His resume is impressive. After graduating from Scottsdale Culinary Institute, he started his career at Different Pointe of View, later working as sous chef at Binkley’s, chef de cuisine at L’Auberge and executive chef both at Tarbell’s and Atlas Bistro. Now, at last, he’s opening his own Modern American restaurant in Scottsdale, and he’s...
Drink ThisDrink This: Sotol So Good
Nikki BuchananMarch 3, 2022
At Sotol, a fun rooftop bar in downtown Gilbert, sotol is the bright, grassy foundation for its signature cocktail called Sotol So Good.
Find down-home Caribbean cooking at this priceless Phoenix mom-and-pop.
Food & DrinkReview: Aftermath
Nikki BuchananMarch 3, 2022
With few hiccups, this new modern American eatery from the boundary-pushing co-creator of Hush Public House screams excellence.
Food & DrinkReview: Sottise
Nikki BuchananMarch 3, 2022
From Restaurant Progress prodigy TJ Culp comes the impossibly quaint French wine bistro you need.
Photo by Nikki Buchanan People had told me — if I’m remembering right, Rene Andrade was one of them — that I should check out Testal Mexican Kitchen a small Chihuahua-style restaurant on Grand Avenue, not far from Andrade’s own. And they were right. It’s been open a little over a year, and I’m sorry I didn’t find it sooner. It’s housed in a cool, angular building with huge windows (surely, there’s some architectural...
Desert Digest2022 James Beard Nominees Revealed: Hashimoto, Bianco and Assorted Hot Takes
Nikki BuchananFebruary 23, 2022
Lots of talented people represented here, lots of evidence that Phoenix has become a bona-fide food town.
Desert DigestFood & DrinkFirst Dish: Fata Morgana Mediterranean Cuisine
Nikki BuchananFebruary 16, 2022
Photo by Nikki Buchanan What drew me like a spell to a new Mediterranean restaurant in North Scottsdale? Weirdly, its name — Fata Morgana, which sounded exotic yet vaguely familiar. As it turns out, Fata Morgana is the Italian word for the sorceress Morgan le Fay, who was King Arthur’s half-sister and his antagonist. She could work all sorts of magic, including creating mirages in the ocean. Now, here’s where it gets interesting: the ocean...
Desert DigestFood & DrinkCassie Shortino Cooks for a Good Cause at Dirty Drummer Fundraising Event
Nikki BuchananFebruary 10, 2022
If you’re up for eating great food, listening to great music, having a great time and doing some good while you’re at it, here’s a great idea: drop by the Dirty Drummer on 44th Street near Oak on Saturday, February 26 for a fundraiser benefiting The Gillian Reny Stepping Strong Center for Trauma Innovation in Boston. “Huh?” you may be asking right about now. Hang on and I’ll give you the backstory in a minute,...
Desert DigestFood & DrinkFirst Dish: Buddha’s Ritual
Nikki BuchananJanuary 26, 2022
At 1:30 on a Thursday afternoon, Buddha’s Ritual in North Scottsdale entertains a small, relaxed crowd — six or seven jeans-clad guys in their 30s having a beer-y business lunch and three pairs of 20-something women nibbling light bites and sipping cocktails. The garage doors are open, and a breeze blows across the bar, riffling the napkins as two equally young barkeeps make photogenic herb-laden cocktails for a photo shoot that will announce Buddha’s soon-to-launch...