Butters Pancakes & Cafe – Scottsdale, Arizona
“Spread your tiny wings and fly away And take the snow back with you Where it came from on that day So, little snowbird take me with you when you go To the land of …
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The Turquoise Room – Winslow, Arizona
The concept of “fast food” had a far different connotation during the Southwest’s Frontier days than it does today. This is especially true if one traveled via railroad through hundreds of miles of desolate, open …
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El Guero Canelo – Tucson, Arizona
If asked to participate in a word association exercise, any well-traveled foodie undergoing psychoanalysis would find it easy to name the first food that comes to mind when a city is mentioned: Philadelphia – the …
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In-N-Out Burger – Chandler, Arizona
During a 2011 episode of Break the Chain, the enlightening and entertaining food-centric radio program hosted by the brilliant Ryan Scott, Larry McGoldrick, the professor with the pulchritudinous palate, made some rather unkind comments about …
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Mint Thai – Gilbert, Arizona
You might assume that because of my unabashed online promotion of culinary adventures, I would be the classic prostheletizer seeking to convert to the joys of more adventurous dining all lost and wayward souls who frequent …
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Roadkill Cafe – Seligman, Arizona
I had my dinner yesterday In a place they call the Roadkill Cafe They serve their dishes full of tricks Scraped off Highway 66. From the Roadkill Cafe menu The legality of gathering and consuming …
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Malee’s Thai Bistro – Scottsdale, Arizona
Many a time have I luxuriated in the pleasures of a memorable repast at a restaurant outside of New Mexico and found myself thinking “if only these tastes were available back home.” I typically then fantasize …
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Cafe Cornucopia – Bisbee, Arizona
The Hollywood stereotype of restaurant critics paints them rather unflatteringly as condescending misanthropes to be feared. Those stereotypes would have you believe restaurant critics are eager to pounce on and expose the slightest imperfection. Armed …
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Cafe Poca Cosa – Tucson, Arizona
Stereotypes would have you believe English food and Mexican food are at the opposite end of the spectrum from one another…as different as day and night. Those stereotypes paint English food as bland and unimaginative …
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BK Carne Asada & Hot Dogs – Tucson, Arizona
Every region across the fruited plain seems to have its iconic foods–incomparable dishes that define the area because they’re prepared better in that region than anywhere else. Though there may be many capable practitioners in …
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Delux Burger – Phoenix, Arizona
“I ordered a cheeseburger at lunch the other day. I had never eaten at this particular restaurant before, and whenever I am unsure about the quality of the food at a place, I always order …
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Orange Table – Scottsdale, Arizona (CLOSED)
There are several scenes in the delightfully heartwarming animated Disney movie Ratatouille that resonate with all gastronomes who delight in the sensual pleasures of the dining experience–those for whom food is an enchanting adventure in …
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Los Dos Molinos – Springerville, Arizona (CLOSED)
Just how hot is the chile at Los Dos Molinos? The New York Times suggests you “travel with a fire extinguisher” and that “everything, with the exception of the margaritas, is incendiary.” New York magazine …
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Richardson’s Cuisine of New Mexico – Phoenix, Arizona
Note: Not long after I wrote this review, the original Richardson’s Cuisine of New Mexico burned down. It has since reopened in a different location. Reliable sources tell me it is still as wonderful as …
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Chino Bandido – Chandler, Arizona
Chino Bandido in Chandler, Arizona Gustavo Arellano has the right idea. The brilliant and hilarious author of Ask A Mexican, a widely syndicated alternative newspaper column, confronts the “bogeymen of racism, xenophobia, and ignorance” with …
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Pane Bianco – Phoenix, Arizona
In 2007, the Food Network aired a program called “Top American Restaurants – Bon Appetit Picks the Best” in which the editors of Bon Appetit magazine selected the “top places in this country to enjoy …
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The Original Wineburger – Phoenix, Arizona (CLOSED)
Every year, children of all ages fall in love all over again with the heart-warming 1947 Christmas movie, Miracle on 34th Street. We’re aghast when the district attorney demands that defense lawyer Fred Gailey provide …
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Honey Bear’s Barbecue – Phoenix, Arizona
Depending on the type of egg, the minimum temperature for frying an egg is said to be 144-158F and on scorching summer days in Phoenix, television news shows perennially traumatize visitors and tourists by frying …
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Patsy Grimaldi’s Pizzeria – Scottsdale, Arizona
America’s most storied non-franchised pizzeria is Patsy Grimaldi’s in Brooklyn, New York. Grimaldi’s can trace its pizza lineage to the opening of the very first pizzeria in America in 1905. It may also be the …
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El Tovar – Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona
When Spanish explorer García López de Cárdenas first laid eyes on the Grand Canyon, surely his reaction wasn’t “it’s just a great big hole in the ground.” That was the reaction of a friend of …
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Sushi Eye – Tempe, Arizona
To Western diners used to restaurant ambience defined by an effusive, sensory bombarding, over-the-top flamboyance, many Japanese restaurants feel stark and barren in comparison. That austerity is actually by design. The Buddhist teaching of “wabi” …
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Cafe Lalibela – Tempe, Arizona
One of the first things that caught my attention during a 2006 visit to Cafe Lalibela were beautiful, brightly painted depictions of revered Christian events such as Christ carrying the yew hewn cross to Calvary. …
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Cyclo Vietnamese Cuisine
Ultra-chic owner, captivating chef and hostess extraordinaire Justina Duong has the perfect personality to run a successful, cutting edge restaurant. Effusive, charming and gracious, she makes you feel at home in the restaurant she launched …
Read More Culver’s – Lake Zurich, Illinois
Want a better franchise burger? Wisconsin residents might steer you toward the trademarked ButterBurger, specialty of the house at Culvers, a franchise serving the Midwest since 1984. The ButterBurger is made from ground chuck seared …
Read More Pizzeria Bianco – Phoenix, Arizona
To celebrate the 100 year anniversary of pizza in America, aficionado Ed Levine ate nothing but pizza for an entire twelve month period, taking a representative pulse of the best from among thousands of pizza …
Read More Cornish Pasty Company – Tempe, Arizona
There’s a European joke that uses stereotypes to deride British cooking, the most maligned cuisine in the world culinary stage. As the joke goes, in the European conception of heaven, the French are the chefs, …
Read More Lee’s Sandwiches – Chandler, Arizona
For years, the American viewing public has been subjected to the bombardment of the airwaves with the exploits of Jared. Once a corpulent fellow who weighed 425 pounds, Jared metamorphosed into a 190-pound shadow of …
Read More Joe’s Real BBQ – Gilbert, Arizona
No ordinary Joe is this, critics would have you believe. Instead, they insist, this is one of the best 59 restaurants in the Phoenix area (Phoenix magazine, 2002). Located in a 1929 brick building that …
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Hap’s Pit Barbecue – Phoenix, Arizona
Good barbecue in Arizona? You’d better believe it! Hap’s Pit Barbecue is one happening barbecue joint, one that its proponents believe its name is short for “happiness because that’s what it elicits from its diners–that …
Read More Pinnacle Peak Patio – Scottsdale, Arizona
To a lexicologist like me, the word pinnacle has connotations of “the highest point of development or achievement.” In other words, it’s synonymous with ultimate, apogee, culmination, peak, summit, zenith, climax or apex…and those are …
Read More The Keg Steakhouse – Chandler, Arizona
A Canadian steakhouse in the silicon desert city of Chandler, Arizona? You bet! In fact Canada’s most renown steakhouse has made expansive forays into the United States with restaurants in Arizona, Colorado, Oregon, Texas and …
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