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Chris Collins, owner of The Macintosh and The Collins Small Batch Kitchen, recently spent a weekend at sea with Chula Seafood owners Jon Heflin and Hogan Jamison, who supply Valley restaurants with fish they catch on their own boat. “This is not done anymore. There are only a handful of boats in Southern California that are [harpooning swordfish],” Collins says. Before and after setting sail from Newport Beach and zigzagging across hundreds of miles of...

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“I had to skip wine,” CRUjiente Tacos chef/co-owner (and big-time wine guy) Rich Hinojosa says, his face full of regret. “We kind of focused on food and all the architecture.” This past summer, Hinojosa and his 15-year-old daughter visited Italy for the first time, traveling through Rome, Modena, Florence and small villages in Tuscany with family friends. He shares their highlights. Da Nerbone “There were two things I had to eat when we got to...

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Chad Nikkel travels internationally three times a year, and he always makes sure to stay away from the common tourist itinerary and immerse himself in the local culture. “I’m anti-touristy,” says the Aquaman Pools founder. “It’s OK to see the palace or whatever, but I like the local feel.” His recent trip was to the seaside town of Cascais, Portugal, famed for its historical Cidadela de Cascais fort and picturesque marina. Nazaré As the owner...

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"We ate at 35 places in three days," Valley super chef Bernie Kantak (The Gladly, Citizen Public House) says of his recent Seattle excursion with Little Miss BBQ pit-master Scott Holmes. He says it with a faint, rueful chuckle. TranslationYes, we made pigs of ourselves... but we learned so much.

Fast friends after cooking together at the James Beard House in New York City last year, the duo promised to do a culinary R&D trip in 2017. Ultimately, the settled on Seattle. And planned it on the fly.

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"Any time that I'm traveling, I always try to glean as much perspective as I can from other chefs and what they're doing," says Christopher Brugman, chef de cuisine at Hearth '61 at the new Mountain Shadows resort in Paradise Valley.

Visiting his sister in Atlanta last fall, the chef mixed business with pleasure. "[Atlanta has] a really eclectic food scene. There are three [restaurants] that really set it off for me as far as excitement, and thoughtfulness, and playfulness, and uniqueness of represntation of how they dine and how their hospitality is different."