Nikki Buchanan, Author at PHOENIX magazine

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Food ReviewsDining Review: Tipsy Chicken

Nikki BuchananMarch 3, 2023

Asian libations, K-pop and rambunctious, Seoul-inspired street food make for a fine time in west Mesa.

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Food ReviewsDining Review: Miel de Agave

Nikki BuchananMarch 3, 2023

Temper your expectations at thus slickly appointed modern Mexican restaurant in RoRo.

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Food ReviewsDining Review: Fire at Will

Nikki BuchananMarch 3, 2023

Hush maestro Dom Ruggiero reloads with this sexy and stylish gastropub on the Phoenix/Scottsdale border.

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Desert Digest Food & DrinkFirst Dish: Hamburguesas y Cervezas

Nikki BuchananMarch 1, 2023

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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Desert Digest Food & DrinkFirst Dish: Source

Nikki BuchananFebruary 21, 2023

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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Desert Digest Food & DrinkPhoenix says Farewell to Cave Creek Fixture Bryan’s Black Mountain Barbecue After 14 Years

Nikki BuchananFebruary 8, 2023

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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Drink ThisDrink This: Banoffee Pie Martini

Nikki BuchananJanuary 11, 2023

The banoffee, a divinely inspired British dessert whose name is a conflation of its two major ingredients – bananas and toffee – has been transformed into a blissfully boozy martini milkshake at The Parlour Room.

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Food ReviewsDining Review: Sin Muerte

Nikki BuchananJanuary 11, 2023

Yes, this archly macabre vegetarian restaurant on Roosevelt Row is to die for.

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Food ReviewsDining Review: Anhelo

Nikki BuchananJanuary 11, 2023

Chef Ivan Jacobo’s reconceived Downtown restaurant is the swank, citified hideout we need.

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Food ReviewsDining Review: Shimogamo

Nikki BuchananJanuary 11, 2023

Always solid, this Chandler sushi stalwart veers abruptly into greatness under the reins of a new chef.

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Desert Digest Food & DrinkFirst Dish: Fire at Will

Nikki BuchananJanuary 6, 2023

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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Desert Digest Food & DrinkFirst Dish: Paco’s Tacos & Sip

Nikki BuchananNovember 15, 2022

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...