Gil’s “Best of the Best” For 2020
2020 will be remembered for a series of shelter-in-place and lockdown restrictions that largely limited restaurants to delivery, call in,…
Haus Murphy’s – Glendale, Arizona
To some of us of a certain age and generation, the term “grandma’s food” evokes emotionally-arousing childhood memories of the…
Richardson’s Cuisine of New Mexico – Phoenix, Arizona
My friend and former Intel colleague Steve Caine will forever rue the day he asked me to help him with…
Fat Ox – Scottsdale, Arizona
In the Alpine village of Carrù in the Piedmont region of Italy stands the “Monumento al Bue Grasso” (monument to…
DeFalco’s Deli: Italian Eatery & Grocery – Scottsdale, Arizona
My Kim usually leaves the recitation of movie or television quotes to me (apparently it’s a guy thing), but every…
Barrio Cafe – Phoenix, Arizona
A neighborhood should never be defined solely by grids and lines on a map or by a physical area where…
Cornish Pasty Company – Scottsdale, Arizona
There’s a European joke that uses stereotypes to deride British cooking, among the most maligned cuisines in the world culinary…
Portillo’s Hot Dogs – Tempe, Arizona
Portillo’s story is the story of the American dream, a rags to riches saga that began with a single hot…
Ruby’s Tortilleria – Bernalillo, New Mexico
“A tortilla can be the, I would say, the most meaningful, the symbol of the Mexican cuisine, it’s the heart…
Poki Poki Cevicheria – Albuquerque, New. Mexico
Having settled comfortably into middle age (perpetually 39-years old), my favorite participatory sports of basketball and tennis have been replaced…
Kamikaze Kitchen – Albuquerque, New Mexico
In the 1970s and 1980s, Reese’s Peanut Butter cups commercials consisted of a series of vignettes. Each vignette depicted the…