My co-owner at FnB, Charleen Badman, and I started showcasing the bounty of the local terroir almost 12 years ago. We decided early on to reach out to our community to represent our state through the lens of food and wine. None of that has changed, and we continue to inculcate and foment our focus on provenance. Every time we discover a new artisan, farmer or winemaker, we are not only giddy, but also amazed...
Photo courtesy Pronto All the news that’s fit to nosh. Taco the Town: Love the customizable menu, fast service and efficiency of Chipotle, but long to support a local restaurant over a chain? East Valley institution Serrano’s Mexican Restaurants has a new fast-casual concept for you. Pronto will open in Serrano’s Tempe location (6440 S. Rural Rd.) this fall. “We’ve learned a lot over the past two years, and we know that fast-casual concepts have experienced significant recent growth,” says CEO Ric Serrano. “Our Pronto concept will offer...
Merkin Vineyards in Old Town Scottsdale’s new executive chef, Steve Zimmerman, has been busy developing new dishes for the winery’s tasting room menu. Zimmerman, who started a few months ago, was previously the executive chef at Widewaters Hotels in Tempe (Tres Kitchen and Bar) and the Sheraton Crescent Hotel in Phoenix. He brings more than 25 years of culinary experience to the farm-to-table, vine-to-glass tasting room. Having spent the bulk of his career in resort...
From prickly pear tea to pomegranate lemon sorbet, here are three refreshing Arizona-grown goodies.
If you have a citrus tree or two in your backyard, you’ve probably accumulated a surplus of fruit and have already run out of recipe ideas. Have you ever tried making marmalade? Chef Chris Smith of Merkin Vineyards offers an easy recipe that you can use in a variety of ways, from topping toast to glazing a ham to enhancing a charcuterie board. You can eat right away or can in Mason jars for later...
I finally got around to visiting Old Town Scottsdale’s latest Arizona wine-tasting room: Maynard James Keenan’s Merkin Vineyards, which opened last year. It was something of a nostalgic homecoming for me, because the space served as the first home of my restaurant, FnB. And, yes, I like what they’ve done with the place. Just like Keenan’s Caduceus tasting room in Jerome, MV is posh and welcoming. General manager James Cunningham walked me through the offerings:...
Try this cardamom- and cumin-heavy dish at the Merkin Vineyards Scottsdale tasting room.
The beloved Jerome winery sets up shop in the Valley.