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Love shows itself in grand gestures of chocolate-filled hearts and massive teddy bears but more often it’s present in the everyday stuff, like emptying the dishwasher unprompted. And while lifelong love is built mainly on the latter, it can’t hurt to indulge in over-the-top romance every so often, especially with Valentine’s Day around the corner.

That’s where AJ’s Fine Foods come in.

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Each month, we of the PHOENIX magazine creative team ask ourselves a different question about our favorite dining and drinking experiences in the Valley. Our picks are usually hidden in the back of the magazine among our Dining Guide restaurant listings. Not any more. Our picks are going digital! Feel free to follow us on social media (at least, those of us who tweet) and be sure to tag us (@PhoenixMagazine on Twitter and @PHXMagazine on Instagram) on pics of your favorite picks.

January: What are you excited to eat in 2017?

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Animal protein ain’t the only way to get your gains, bro.

At least, according to a recent study in the journal “Nutrients” from Arizona State University. The researchers tracked the diets of vegetarian and omnivore endurance athletes for a week then had them complete a series of fitness tests. The findings? Both categories of athletes performed at basically the same level and had very similar body compositions.

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The time warps here in the Valley keep closing. You know what I mean: those little rifts in the space-time continuum through which you can slip and feel like you’re back in midcentury America. A couple of years ago it was Monti’s La Casa Vieja in Tempe, and in 1998 it was the Cine Capri at 24th Street and Camelback; now it’s the Bashas’ at 7th Avenue and Osborn that’s in its homestretch of existence.

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Call it a revival. Call it old school. But really, this is just old Scottsdale.

The latest opening in Old Town Scottsdale is Ellure Lounge, and with it, the owners are promising to bring back Old Town’s club-tastic heyday. In a press release for the grand opening launch party this weekend, owner Chris Sprow claims, “Old Town has lost its reputation as the world-class leader for high-end entertainment. Ellure promises to deliver just that.” Sprow, the former director of marketing for Scottsdale nightclub SIX, which closed its doors in 2009, says the vision in designing Ellure “was to bring class back” to the area.

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The relatively new MATCH restaurant opened inside FOUND:RE hotel in Downtown Phoenix late last year, and has quickly become a destination for locals, who praise its stylish surrounds and ever-changing menus from Executive Chef Akos Szabo.

The Feel: Hipper than the first Lollapalooza festival. Feast your eyes on a giant painting by local artist Randy Slack of a young Burt Reynolds naked on a bearskin rug behind the reception desk before walking around the corner to ultra chic MATCH, with its long and loaded bar, wall of wine, floor-to-ceiling windows and modern minimalist design.

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Each month, we of the PHOENIX Magazine creative team ask ourselves a different question about our favorite dining and drinking experiences in the Valley. Our picks are usually hidden in the back of the magazine among our Dining Guide restaurant listings. Not any more. Our picks are going digital! Feel free to follow us on social media (at least, those of us who tweet) and be sure to tag us (@PhoenixMagazine on Twitter and @PHXMagazine on Instagram) on pics of your favorite picks.

December: Which Dish or Drink Puts You in the Holiday Spirit?

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Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q&As with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."

Today we're chatting with:

Paul Moir
Proper Meats + Provisions
110 S. San Francisco St., Flagstaff
928-774-9001, propermeats.com

In 2014, the folks behind Brix and Criollo Latin Kitchen opened Proper Meats + Provisions, a neighborhood butcher shop and deli housed in a downtown Flagstaff historic building. The shop features all local, farm-raised meats, poultry and cured products as well as a deli menu loaded with sandwiches to swoon over, including a house-made pastrami sandwich on grilled rye bread and a fried chicken po’boy. Co-owner Paul Moir recently talked turkey with PHOENIX magazine.

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Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q&As with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."

Today we're chatting with:

Chef Derek Christensen
Tinderbox Kitchen
34 S. San Francisco St., Flagstaff
928-226-8400, tinderboxkitchen.com

When Tinderbox Kitchen opened almost eight years ago on South San Francisco Street, the surrounding businesses included a strip club, a tattoo parlor and a dance club. At the time, Flagstaff didn’t have much in the way of fine dining restaurants, according to Tinderbox’s head chef Derek Christensen. The cuisine was centered on upscale comfort food – meat loaf, macaroni and cheese and Salisbury steak – but Christensen says the focus is now on a seasonally changing menu. He also oversees the kitchens of the adjacent Annex Cocktail Lounge and Tourist Home, a breakfast and lunch restaurant that also features to-go specialty items.

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Each month, we of the PHOENIX Magazine creative team ask ourselves a different question about our favorite dining and drinking experiences in the Valley. Our picks are usually hidden in the back of the magazine among our Dining Guide restaurant listings. Not any more. Our picks are going digital! Feel free to follow us on social media (at least, those of us who tweet) and be sure to tag us (@PhoenixMagazine on Twitter and @PHXMagazine on Instagram) on pics of your favorite picks.

November: What Is Your Favorite Autumnal Treat?

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Are you a disaster in the kitchen? An occasional agoraphobic in cut-throat grocery stores? How about you give yourself (and your family) a break from dried-out stuffing and store-bought pie this holiday and spend this Thanksgiving eating food lovingly made by paid professionals. Whether you’re looking for a traditional turkey dinner or a modern twist on America's annual 7,000 calorie meal, Phoenix restaurants are prepared to deliver. With both pre-order and dine-in options, these restaurants give you an alternative choice to high stress levels and the very real possibility that you will have to wash every single dish in your kitchen.

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Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q & A's with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."

Today we're chatting with:

"Panda" Clark
SoSoBa, The Non-Stop Noodle Shop
12 Historic Route 66, #104, Flagstaff
928-774-3471, nonstopnoodleshop.com

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When I went to Italy on a class art trip at 16, I turned my nose up at our nightly four course dinners. I know, I know: poor little girl getting to travel abroad and try new cuisines. But I suppose my palate just wasn't refined enough then, what with all that hormonal brattiness clouding my tongue. Plus it all seemed so overwhelming: bread followed by salad followed by pasta followed by meat followed by dessert. Too much.

Older and wiser, I can now get behind the excess every now and again. At Fat OX, Scottsdale's latest upscale Italian eatery, I got to relive the jubilant surplus that is a multi-course Italian dinner. But this time, I liked it.