The Dressing Room at MonOrchid in Downtown Phoenix recently added weekend brunch to its repertoire. The restaurant features all-day breakfast, but chef Joe Rodger has added some new items, including shakshuka, a popular egg dish in Israel and other countries in the Middle East. Most shakshuka is made with red tomatoes, but Rodger puts a Southwestern spin on the dish by using tomatillos. When making this recipe, Rodger suggests wearing gloves while handling the tomatillos....
Mardi Gras is coming up on Tuesday, Feb. 25 and if you plan on celebrating at home, we’ve rustled up an easy shrimp and grits recipe courtesy of Voodoo Daddy’s Steam Kitchen in Tempe. Sometimes customers shy away from grits, says Voodoo Daddy’s owner, Ron Lynch. “People have a negative feeling about them because their only exposure was at a Waffle House. They just serve bland, white grits,” he says. To that end, Voodoo Daddy’s...
For the past 14 years, Tea Light Café has been turning out fresh and healthy Vietnamese food from its location a few doors down from The Cine Capri in Scottsdale. Owner Chris Price says he’s also been a vendor at the Scottsdale Arabian Horse Show for the same amount of time. “We started out as a mobile espresso van,” he says. The Prices still sell coffee and baked goods at the show, as well as...
Valentine’s Day sometimes presents a challenge for couples: Should we go out for a romantic dinner or make a cozy meal for two at home? For those of you staying in for Valentine’s Day and need a swoon-worthy dessert idea, Nick Ambeliotis of Mediterra Bakehouse offers a decadent bread pudding recipe that’s guaranteed to please. Ambeliotis devised the recipe for Phoenix City Grille. “I like to involve local chefs since I don’t have a café...
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...
Squash lovers, this bountiful breakfast recipe is going to rock your world. Italian-Canadian chef Mauro Martina, who recently opened OEB Breakfast Co. in north Scottsdale, shares his popular Truffle Squash Ragu recipe and a couple of tips on how to make this savory breakfast dish. Martina likes the Truffle Squash Ragu because it’s delicious on its own or with poached eggs, toast or egg noodles. The dish is also easy to modify. “You don’t have...
If you’re hosting a holiday gathering and searching for a delicious appetizer, we’ve got you covered. Nico Heirloom Kitchen owner, Brad Kircher, shares the Gilbert restaurant’s filet tip recipe. At Nico, the filet tips are billed as a starter, but you could definitely serve this hearty dish as a main course. The recipe calls for a unique espresso lavender rub, a combo that Kircher and staff discovered after experimenting with ingredients. “The two just seem...
The Giving Tree Café, an organic, gluten-free restaurant, recently opened on Seventh Street in Phoenix. The café, also known as “a space of love,” offers all-day breakfast, a vegetable-heavy lunch and dinner menu, along with some really creative desserts, including a vegan and gluten-free Hazelnut Chocolate Pudding Pie made with avocado. I know you’re wondering if the pie tastes like avocado and the answer is no, says Giving Tree’s owner David Warr. “…The cacao flavor...
PHX Beer Co. is probably best known for its craft beer, but they also make first-rate thin crust pizzas cooked in black iron pans. According to Richard Stark, PHX Beer Co. director of hospitality, black iron pizza was inspired by his late aunt and uncle’s pizzeria in Baltimore. Stark, who is the former CEO of NYPD Pizza, shares PHX Beer Co.’s mashed potato pizza recipe, which came from a pizza he tasted while vacationing in...
This week, Ghost Ranch executive chef Rene Andrade shares a street taco recipe that’s popular in his hometown of Nogales, Mexico. “Potato tacos are soul food for us.” Andrade’s recipe calls for Chiltepin chili, a hot pepper that his family has used for generations. “It’s one of the only peppers that grows in the Sonoran Desert, so it’s really special to me and to our culture.” It’s also hard to find, Andrade says. He sells...
Most restaurants these days have a respectable selection of salads, some with a choice of protein and others with protein included. At Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails, executive chef Dushyant Singh offers both. Today, Singh shares his Beef & Bleu Salad (available at lunch only), a robust offering that doesn’t take long to prepare and is great for entertaining as long as your guests are partial to bleu cheese. You might ask ahead of time...
For those looking for a fun Day of the Dead cocktail, the folks at Taco Guild have rustled one up for Desert Digest readers. Luke Detraz, Taco Guild’s beverage & brand director, says while any mezcal will work, he prefers El Silencio because of its level of smokiness. “It’s a happy medium where it’s not overbearing, but has enough flavor to taste through the (rest of) the cocktail.” The garnish is inspired by leftovers, in...
Hand Cut Burgers & Chophouse rolled out a new menu October 1 with four new pasta entrees and a host of other tempting items. Hand Cut’s executive chef (and culinary director for Riot Hospitality Group) Samantha Roberts has graciously shared one of the pasta recipes with PHOENIX magazine. The recipe calls for imported Italian basil pesto, which you can pick up at the grocery store. Roberts says to look for imported Italian pesto that has...
Love Sprouts at the Spa at Camelback Inn's Shrimp Bowl? Try making it yourself!
Love Thirsty Lion Gastropub & Grill’s Chilean Sea Bass? Try making it yourself!