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Are you familiar with the humorous autumn adage “It’s decorative gourd season, motherf*&%ers”? In Arizona, we have our own version of the saying, in which the “decorative gourd” is simply replaced by “prickly pear.” Fighting past the cactus fruit’s famously nettlesome needles, food-oriented folk love turning the fruit’s viscous pulp into jellies, cocktail additives and – in the case of this collaboration between Simple Machine Brewing Co. and the Tap That AZ podcast – a...

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  Smoke Show | Photo courtesy Belle’s Nashville Kitchen   It’s National Mezcal Week and to celebrate, we curated a list of local cocktails that contain the famously smoky agave spirit. Whether you prefer fruity, floral, spicy or sour flavor profiles, each of these tasty tipples beautifully showcases mezcal’s signature char. Smoke Show from Belle’s Nashville Kitchen Thanks to passion fruit puree, hibiscus-infused simple syrup and orgeat, this tangerine-hued drink features a fruity flavor profile...

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When UnderTow, Phoenix’s premier underground cocktail lounge, moved from below Sip Coffee & Beer in Arcadia Lite to Century Grand next door, we’ve all been curious about what would occupy the intimate, 600-square-foot subterranean space. Would it be something equally as immersive? Would it offer similarly unique cocktails? Our questions were answered in early July when 36 Below, a Walipini greenhouse-inspired speakeasy officially opened. The new bar is the brainchild of Sip owners Josh Katz...

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SanTan Spirits is making a splash in Arizona and beyond with a tasty trio of canned cocktails perfect for sipping in the sunshine. Aptly named SunSplash, these ready-to-drink vodka sodas came out in July and combine SanTan’s award-winning vodka with fun flavors – cherry lime, watermelon and white peach. SanTan’s sales manager, Alejandro Fontes, says the SunSplash concept has been years in the making. Fontes, who has been with the brewery and distillery for nearly...

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When Kimhak Em and Eugenia Tai opened their brick-and-mortar coffee café, Pair Cupworks, in February 2020, they had no idea that three weeks later, they would be forced to close due to the pandemic. Rather than focusing on all the negative aspects surrounding the closure, Em turned it into a positive. During the shutdown, Em made in-person deliveries of whole coffee beans to customers in the area. “So when we reopened, we had already established...

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  Photo by Nikki Buchanan   Chaufa Combo at Taste of Peru If you’re thinking this Peruvian dish looks remarkably like good old fashioned Chinese fried rice — but with more meat — bingo! That’s exactly what it is. “Chaufa” is a loanword from Cantonese that means “fried rice.” The Peruvians co-opted this dish from the Chinese laborers who worked on plantations and built railroads in Peru in the late 19th Century and early 20th...

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Openings The Caspian Cup Gourmet shaved ice, popsicles, ice cream, handmade drinks and virgin Jell-O shots headline this San Tan Village sweet shop. 2268 E. Williams Field Rd., Gilbert, 623-401-2720, thecaspiancup.com Flaming Pig This Phoenix Filipino restaurant features barbecue on sticks and platters along with rice and noodle-based dishes, soup, appetizers and house specials. 1534 W. Camelback Rd., Phoenix, 623-999-7446, flaming-pig.com Fryd Bird Your one-stop shop for fried chicken is now open in Fiesta Commons...

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If you never quite got around to visiting Character — Peter Kasperski and Richie Moe’s cool New American in Roosevelt Row — it’s too late. You missed out. The restaurant, which opened late last November, has permanently closed. When I reached out to Kasperski about the news I’d heard, he sent me a text which said, “Despite the glowing reviews from food writers (thank you again), bloggers, Yelp, and local patrons, we couldn’t make the...

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  Photo by Nikki Buchanan    We’ve all noticed the increase in pop-ups and ghost kitchens since COVID-19 put a kink in day-to-day restaurant operations, but here’s a trend that seems to be thriving within the confines of the new normal: the commissary kitchen, cloud kitchen, virtual kitchen, shared-use commercial kitchen… there are a half dozen names for basically the same thing. Shared-use kitchens aren’t a new phenomenon, of course. Caterers and other small food...