Our staff sampled 47 Arizona brewed and packed beers...
so you don’t have to.

This beloved San Fran import serves solid breakfast faves and stellar bacon but could use a dash of creativity.

Early-bird specials not for you? These ravishing reverse happy hours are perfect for night owls.

SWEET SPOT
If your idea of “camping” is polishing off mesquite-grilled elk tenderloin while comfortably seated in the gentrified rancher outpost of Cartwright’s Sonoran Ranch House, we’ve got a dessert for you: Cowboy S’Mores ($11).

But hold on, pardner, this is no ordinary campfire treat. Pastry Chef Amanda Crick, who has been with Cartwright’s and sister restaurant Tonto Bar & Grill since 2001, makes each component of the flaming crock dessert from scratch. 

Here’s mud in your eye? No thanks, we’d rather have beer in our pie. Check out these delicious brew-based dishes.

Brat Haus
3622 N. Scottsdale Rd.,
Scottsdale
480-947-4006
brathausaz.com

We’re all familiar with ye olde rum cake. But leave it to wild child chef Payton Curry to give the boozy

Despite its spooky setting, this Mesa maverick scares up surprisingly good grub.

It sounds implausible, kitschy and just plain weird: a restaurant/bar/nightclub permanently decorated as a Halloween-style “house of horrors.” From the animatronic Grim Reaper peeking over your shoulder as you slurp soup to the illuminated eyeball pendants that watch you knock back a beer, Monsterland is far more likely to jar spine-tingling childhood memories of touching grape “eyeballs” than make you recall your last great sit-down meal. And therein lies the most shocking surprise: Monsterland’s bar-and-grill fare is actually quite good.

The latest dining concept in CityScape puts a sumptuous spin on American South cuisine.

A Bluetick Coonhound – or Blue Hound – is a breed of Louisiana working dog. Known for its hearty and engaging nature, the hound can also be hard to train – an equally apt description for Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails, the new Bayou-influenced gastropub in Downtown Phoenix.

Reclaimed wood and steel accents set a chic-industrial tone in the second-floor restaurant, housed in the Palomar Hotel. Floor-to-ceiling glass walls overlooking CityScape give diners a great view, and the trendy American South menu is flecked with fancy French twists and locavore touches.

Cozy and cost-effective, this Scottsdale deli-market hybrid is all locavore, all the time.
Go ahead and accuse Richard L. Fredrickson III of discrimination. The owner of Prime Provisions wouldn’t have it any other way. “All of our products will come from local suppliers,” Fredrickson said before his local-only Scottsdale deli-market opened last May. “Our beer and wine will be all Arizona, too.”

Locavorism has mushroomed across the Valley but hasn’t flourished in north Scottsdale – especially in the field of lower-priced eateries. And while many restaurants sprinkle local foods across their menus, few take the “all local” mantra to literal extremes.

Will this breakfast-lunch-snacks companion piece to the Tuck Shop inspire the same foodie devotion? Some fine-tuning would help.
When I heard architect/restaurateur DJ Fernandes was opening Astor House behind his quirky, comfort food-centric Tuck Shop, I was giddy. I reviewed Tuck Shop in April of 2009 and deemed it a Coronado neighborhood gem. When I tasted a mouthwatering sliver of Astor House’s muffaletta at Devoured Culinary Festival before they opened, I figured Fernandes had another hit.
Much like Tuck Shop, Astor House’s menu of morsels is peppered with Louisiana flavors and reads like a dream. Turns out, the new place isn’t all rainbows and unicorns, but it has real potential with a few flavor tweaks.

The first Arizona outpost of a Midwestern restaurant chain opens with a veggie-heavy menu and inconsistent service.
Without a tablespoon of irony, 86-year-old North Dakota food columnist Marilyn Hagerty recently wrote a glowing review of an Olive Garden that took the Internet and foodie world by storm. Inadvertently, Hagerty put her finger on the pulse of our country’s ambivalence about chain restaurants. Say what you will about their failings; one thing you can count on from chains is consistency. They are like the chicken Alfredo that Hagerty savored – soothingly familiar, “warm and comforting on a cold day.”

Which is why Mia Francesca, an Illinois-based chain that recently debuted in the Valley, is so puzzling in its inconsistency.