Category: Arizona

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianRating: ExcellentUnited States

Italian Daughter – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:03 AM

“I am my father’s daughter, the Italian daughter” proclaims restaurateur Melissa Maggiore-Meyer on the Italian Daughter’s website.  As the daughter of famed Phoenix chef and restaurant impressario Tomaso Maggiore, it seems almost predestined that she would follow in her father’s Sasquatch-like footsteps.  At an early age, Melissa’s father taught her the beauty and joy a great meal can bring to one’s life.  She cherishes the memories of gathering around the table with family and friends, sharing stories, laughter, wine, and of course, a great dish of pasta.  Her love for the cuisine of her Italian heritage was cemented by extensive travel to Italy with her father. Melissa’s passion  for food, wine, and hospitality supplanted her pursuit of a Journalism  degree…

ArizonaMexicanRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Chilte – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“Me Vale Madre.”  If you grew up speaking Spanish–or maybe just being around Spanish-speaking people–you probably know it’s a derrogatory term.  Essentially, even though the phrase inludes the Spanish term “madre” which means “mother,”  it’s telling someone you don’t give a fu…fudge.  “Me Vale Madre” is Chilte’s mantra.  It’s the restaurant staff basically saying “we don’t care that we don’t meet your conceptions of what Mexican food should be.  We’re going to do it our way.”  How can you not love that?  I asked our server to explain to my Kim what that mantra means and he gave us a polite, G-rated version that was as far from the truth as a political promise. Chilte’s website makes no bones about…

ArizonaDonutsRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Randy’s Donuts – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:02 AM

There’s a scene in Iron Man 2 where billionaire playboy Tony Stark decided to treat a hangover with coffee and a box of donuts from Randy’s Donuts in Inglewood, California.  Instead of enjoying his bounty inside the restaurant like most of us earth-bound “hundredaires,”  he flew up onto the gigantic 32’6″ donut atop the building and ate his donuts there.  My first visage of Randy’s Donuts came from a more altitudinous vantage point than Stark’s.  I first espied the iconic donut on approach to the Los Angeles International Airport.  Had a parachute been available, I might have been tempted to drop down for a donut or ten. My first actual taste of donuts from Randy’s was courtesy of the generosity…

ArizonaAsianRating: N/R (Not Rated)ThaiUnited States

Glai Baan – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

“We are a “Very Thai” kitchen, focusing on street food and snacks that you would commonly find while visiting Thailand. Most of our dishes are best shared and many dishes are from the Isan region (northeastern), where they like their food spicy. We source our produce and meat locally when possible, and we do not use MSG.”  When I read that introductory statement on Glai Bann’s website and menu, I nearly danced with joy.  Over the years I’ve become increasingly frustrated with Thai restaurants in that the balance of flavors–sweet, sour, salty, bitter, spicy–has skewed overwhelmingly toward sweet.  The culinary journey at many Thai restaurants is incomplete for those of us who don’t particularly like entrees as sweet as desserts.…

ArizonaGelatoItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Romanelli’s Italian Deli – Phoenix, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

It didn’t dawn on me until after our visit that how fitting it is that Romanelli’s Italian Deli is located on Dunlap Avenue.  Visit Romanelli’s with any degree of regularity and you’re bound to be afflicted with Dunlap’s Disease.  Dan “The Tire Man” Marsh describes it as “Done lapped over the belt” disease.  The symptoms include “a sudden need to unbutton your pants after a meal (a classic blowout!), an inexplicable gravitational pull towards comfy sweatpants and the inexplicable disappearance of your feet when looking down.  Among the causes of Dunlap’s Disease are visiting Romanelli’s frequently. In naming Romanelli’s 2023’s “Best of Phoenix” winner in the Italian Deli category, The Phoenix New Times may have said it best: “Walking into…

ArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesFine DiningFood Network Eats New MexicoRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Hush Public House – Scottsdale, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

During a February, 2024 episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, host Guy Fieri asked Chef Dom Ruggiero what type of cuisine her served at his North Scottsdale restaurant Hush Public House.  Chef Ruggiero explained Hush features “New American,”  a term which basically “let’s me do whatever I want.”  Chef Ruggiero could have said “Martian” and it’s unlikely he would have received any argument from the periphrastic  host.  In part that’s because Chef Ruggiero is a former United States Marine.  With tatooed guns nearly the size of Hulk Hogan’s, he still looks like he could take on a regiment of terrorists single-handedly.  Despite the chef’s enviable musculature, Fieri observed a culinary technique he described as “such a big hand doing it so…

ArizonaDog FriendlyItalianPizzaRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Fabio on Fire – Peoria, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

In the early ’90s, a mesomorphic V-shaped woman’s man with the mononymous name Fabio garnered worldwide recognition for his appearance on the covers of hundreds of romance novels.  With his flowing mane, chiseled physique and aquiline nose, Fabio Lanzoni was lusted after and admired–at least by readers of romance lovers.   The idyllic man perceptions were reinforced when Fabio revealed that he cooks (albeit with I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter, a product he’s been hawking on television for more than a decade). When I told my Kim, we were headed to the western enclave of Peoria, Arizona to dine at a restaurant called Fabio on Fire, her immediate reaction was “you mean that hot guy on all those book covers…

ArizonaBurgersIce CreamRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Delgadillo’s Snow Cap – Seligman, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

The quirky small town of Seligman, Arizona, is home to the longest surviving and preserved stretch of Route 66, an expanse which runs 160 miles to Topock, Arizona.  Almost equidistant between Kingman and Flagstaff, Seligman is considered (by Arizona legislative decree) the “birthplace of Historic Route 66.”  Credit that designation to Angel Delgadilla, a  soft-spoken Seligman barber and his brother Juan, a railroad worker who led efforts to preserve Route 66. When the town was bypassed by Interstate 40 in 1978, the brothers formed the Historic Route 66 Association of Arizona. Soft-spoken though the brothers might have been, the Delgadillos became activists determined to keep their beloved hometown viable.  Before Interstate 40 bypassed Seligman, the town had twelve gas stations…

ArizonaDog FriendlyIndianRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

The Dhaba – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

I joked with our friend Kris Lincoln about the irony of introducing an Indian to Indian cuisine.  I’m going to pin that paradox on Christopher Columbus.  Legend has it that Columbus used the term “Indian” to refer to the original inhabitants of the American continent.  It’s widely believed (though more romanticized than accurate) that he used the term “Indian” because he was convinced he had landed in “The Indies” (Asia) where he hoped to discover a new source of wealth,  Whether attributable to confusion or an education system that often perpetuates mistaken beliefs, the label “Indian” has stuck. That misnomer is widely used across the fruited plain–even by many indigenous peoples of the western hemisphere.  In the 1960s, the term…

AmericanArizonaDiners Drive-Ins and DivesDog FriendlyFarm to TableRating: N/R (Not Rated)United States

Joe’s Farm Grill – Gilbert, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

When primitive men, women and asgender people crossed the Bering Straits to escape global freezing, they eventually made their way to the Phoenix area.  Ever since, their progeny has been trying to figure out how to escape global scorching which transpires on most summer days (seven or eight months a year).  They built Biosphere 2, the world’s largest controlled environment.  They built a swimming pool in Chase Field, home of the Arizona Diamondbacks.  When compelled to leave the air conditioned confines of their homes, Phoenicians risk third-degree burns from their car doors and  flee to their summer homes in Prescott and Heber where instead of 130, the temperature is only 99. They also join hordes of tourists in a utopian…

ArizonaDog FriendlyFusionRating: ExcellentUnited States

Alter Ego – Tempe, Arizona

Gil Garduno12:01 AM

Ever since my wonderful 94-year young mom was no longer able to prepare and host lavish Christmas Day dinners at her home, my Kim and I have been “snowbirding” it with annual trips to the Valley of The Sun.  Every year I try to surprise my Kim with a better than the previous year’s Christmas dinner at some fancy schmantzy restaurant.  Last year it was at the magnificent Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale.  The previous year, we dined at Roy’s Restaurant, also in Scottsdale.  Our inaugural Christmas dinner in the Phoenix area was at the Fat Ox, a  James Beard nominated restaurant in Scottsdale.  All served us fabulous (albeit very expensive) meals. My criteria for selecting a restaurant includes, of course,…