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Señor Al Pastor burger with onion strings | Photo by Nikki Buchanan  You’ve surely heard of Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers, the Arizona-based chain of neighborhood burger joints/sports bars dedicated to — you guessed it — cold beers and cheeseburgers. Well, Terry and Randy Bortin, brothers who have long been in the restaurant biz here in Phoenix, have put a fun Mexican spin on that simple, straightforward concept, opening Hamburguesas y Cervezas on First Avenue just...

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PHOTO BY NIKKI BUCHANAN For a week or two there, it seemed as if every food-friend I spoke to had recently been to Source — Claudio Urciuoli’s new restaurant in Epicenter at Agritopia — and to a person, they raved about it. Many of the superlatives zeroed in on the bread, some declaring that Urciuoli’s bread-baking chops have reached an all-time high, others gushing more specifically, as in, “Oh my God! You’ve gotta try the...

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In the worst-news-I’ve-heard-all-day category, there’s this: Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue in Cave Creek is closing. Its last day of operation is Saturday, April 22nd, which is also chef Bryan Dooley’s birthday. He and his wife Donna, who has worked side-by-side with him at the restaurant, are throwing a big going-away/birthday party on that day. Naturally, there will be barbecue as well as music and lots of regulars and old friends (which are basically one and...

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Dom Ruggiero has two superpowers. One is cooking; the other is sniffing out dodgy restaurant neighborhoods and making them cool. Case in point: his first restaurant, Hush Public House, set in a nondescript strip mall on Scottsdale Road near Thunderbird. Before Ruggiero showed up, who headed to that intersection for a fantastic, creative meal? Ever? Precisely no one. Now, customers haul butt to get to Hush when it opens at 5 p.m. to snag a...

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Paco’s Taco’s trio | Photo by Nikki Buchanan I’m always on the lookout for quick, inexpensive Mexican restaurants turning out great food. In a perfect world, they’re located within five minutes of my house, but hey, I’ll take what I can get. I’ve found a great one that checks most of the boxes, but alas, it takes me nearly 20 minutes to get there. Still, it’s going in the mental Rolodex for a couple of...