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As the coronavirus pandemic passes the one-year mark, many Valley restaurants are still struggling to keep the doors open due to reduced capacity, high rents and beleaguered employees stretched to their limits. According to the Arizona Restaurant Association, 12 percent of Arizona’s restaurants have closed in the past year. To help Arizona’s ailing hospitality industry, Arizona State House Representative Jeff Weninger (R, Dist. 17), recently introduced HB 2773, that if passed, will allow restaurants and...

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It’s 2021 and it’s no secret that we get the majority of our inspo online. From TikTok trends to Pinterest décor, social media is a one-stop suggestion hub for what to wear, where to eat and how to DIY. When it comes to dining inspiration, these Valley Instagrammers have their finger on the pulse, whether it’s where to find the best gluten-free grub near Gilbert, vegan goodies in Downtown Phoenix or sweet treats in Glendale....

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Opening A Su Salud Pita Jungle rolls out a virtual kitchen that features a “healthy-inspired” Mexican menu. Pick up at Pita Jungle’s Tempe location or have it delivered. asusaludaz.com Beard Papa’s The first Arizona location of Japanese cream puff chain Beard Papa’s recently opened at The Quarter. Choose a shell (s’mores, strawberry or crispy almond to name a few) and then select a custard filling (vanilla, green tea or chocolate) to complete your dream cream...

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Myth: You’re out of luck if you have a sweet tooth and celiac sensitivity in Phoenix. There are actually a slew of bakeries and cafés around the Valley that offer gluten-free goodies. Here are a handful of our fave sweet treats sans what proteins. Nami This cozy café is a haven for those with dietary restrictions. Everything on the menu is 100 percent plant-based and most items are also gluten-free, including addicting, cake donuts in...

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If you didn’t think Pita Jungle could get any better, the Tempe location (4 E. University Drive) now serves healthy and fresh Mexican food through its new ghost kitchen, A Su Salud. Pita Jungle has been a Phoenix area favorite for delicious, guilt-free appetizers, meals and desserts for almost two decades. And now, they’ve created an entirely new takeout menu to try out. A Su Salud, meaning “to your health” in Spanish, is a wood-fired...

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Franchesca Gonzales left a successful career in commercial banking after 10 years because she’d lost her passion for the industry. “I took a leap and burned the boats and tried something different,” she says. Growing up in New Mexico, she watched the Food Network and always enjoyed cooking for her friends. So, Gonzales researched new career options and then launched Fuel to Fit, a nutritional packaged meal company that serves individuals and families as well...

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Local-food lovers have a new spot to stock up on artisanal delights: nomada provisions, the latest concept from Valentina Huerta and chef Gian Franco Brugaletta of Nonna Urban Eatery in Scottsdale.  The retail space is located at 3410 N. 24th Street in Phoenix and opens this week. In addition to a carefully curated selection of goodies – cheese, charcuterie, oils, vinegars, condiments, spices, baking products and teas – nomada has a “cozy coffee corner” where guests can sit and linger over a latte or an Americano and purchase beans. Globally inspired ready-made and heat-and-serve...

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Great news for Downtown dwellers and the avant-garde peeps who appreciate Grand Avenue for its quirky coolness. Rene Andrade, the Nogales-born chef who garnered a following at Ghost Ranch, is opening his own Grand Avenue restaurant today in the tiny sunlit space that most recently housed Silvana Salcido Esparza’s Barrio Café Gran Reserva – and years before that, the historical Bragg’s Pie Factory and Bragg’s Pie Factory Diner. Andrade is calling his pie wedge-shaped place Bacanora, name-checking the little-known and underrated mezcal produced...

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THE SCENE  As a pretty patient introvert, I’m much more likely to get JOMO (joy of missing out) than FOMO (fear of missing out). I get excited about new restaurants – and in “normal times” I am grateful to visit them during media previews – but I’m not someone who has to be among the first to try a place. I’m OK with waiting until the buzz abates, because crowds and lines made me itchy even before COVID-19.  My chill approach has held throughout the pandemic, even...

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Everyone’s favorite bleach-blonde host of Diners, Drive-ins and Dives has made yet another appearance in the Valley, only this time, it’s more on the down low. Guy Fieri recently added to his collection of successful restaurants with the innovation of Guy Fieri’s Flavortown Kitchen, a delivery-only chain that operates out of already established restaurants. Arizona is just one of 26 states to have launched locations in January and February. In the Valley, four Buca di...

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“If food is the body of good living, wine is its soul,” author and media personality Clifton Fadiman is reported to have said. Chef Joey Maggiore is sharing a bit of his soul with diners with the launch last weekend of his private selection wine label at all locations of The Sicilian Butcher.  “Growing up in a big Sicilian family, great wine was always a staple in our home,” Maggiore says. “My dad really loved wine, and I know he’d be just as excited as...