By Michele Laudig

It always feels like there's a party going on at Tradiciones, but tomorrow (Nov.1) I'm sure it'll be more festive than ever with the first annual Dia de los Muertos Celebration starting at 6 p.m.

In honor of Day of the Dead, there will be a display of work by local artists inspired by the holiday and Mexican culture in general, traditional Aztec and Mexican dance performances, and a bartender competition. And since Hornitos Tequila is one of the sponsors, there will also be tequila-infused hors d'oeuvres and cocktails, so you'll have plenty of opportunities to toast the dearly departed.

Tickets are $10 in advance and $20 at the door; call Tradiciones to purchase: 602-254-1719.

By Sloane Burwell

Scottsdale’s Digestif is a sassy charmer. Its Cal-ital-inspired menu, the bricked chic interior, the swoon-worthy wine list and inventive cocktails are more than enough to make me move my CenPho-centric self on over for some of their crave-inducing charcuterie. Charcuterie -- that’s French for unctuous, buttery, salted and cured, pork-derived nirvana. These meaty treats are the creation of Zac Scott, whose impressive resume includes a two-year stint at the venerable Rancho Pinot. Sure, he’s busting the all-star moves in the kitchen, where he can be found breaking down entire porcine specimens (be still, my beating heart), but the man’s no slouch in the chemistry department, either. He’s turning old oils that might otherwise end up in a landfill into bio-diesel fuel.

Chow Bella: How did you start making charcuterie?
Zac Scott: I started way back – my parents had a hunting and fishing lodge in Colorado, and we made ham. It was holiday food – for Thanksgiving and Christmas we’d make ham and bacon.

CB: Do you hunt?
ZS: I’m going deer hunting in November in Colorado. There’s lots of sage in the lower country and they -- the mule deer -- get nice and fat so everything tastes good.

By Michele Laudig

Of course I don't expect you to read Italian. "Festa di Maiale" means "Festival of the Pig," which means that Sassi's big shindig this Sunday, from 2 to 6 p.m., will be a porcine party extraordinaire.

In Italy, it's a traditional celebration of butchering the family pig and turning Porky into prosciutto, sausage, and other cured delicacies. At the North Scottsdale restaurant, it's an afternoon orgy of food, wine, and live music, with treats such as grilled sausage, housemade salumi, prosciutto, and even a whole roasted pig, fresh from a wood-burning oven.

Tickets are $65 in advance or $75 the day of (click here for details). Curious about the menu? Check it out:

By Michele Laudig

I don't need a sunny day as an excuse to do lunch at Cibo, the cozy pizza restaurant tucked in an historic house in a mostly residential neighborhood just a blocks from the heart of downtown. But let me tell you -- when the weather's this gorgeous, Cibo's lush, shady front patio is the place to be.

Don't get your hopes up for pizza at lunchtime -- the midday menu is strictly sandwiches and salads. Still, I'm a sucker for the fresh saltimbocca bread baked in the pizza oven (especially since it's still warm and crisp when I bite into it) and the colorful little salad you can order as a side.

This PLT was just the thing I was craving on a still-summery October afternoon -- fresh baby greens, ripe tomatoes, a dab of spicy roasted pepper aioli, and plenty of excellent prosciutto. This prosciutto's the good stufff, too, San Daniele Black Label, aged a minimum of 18 months.

By Amy Silverman

One of my gripes with The Phoenician -- the tony resort with the Phoenix name, the Scottsdale address (I think they changed the city boundaries to accomodate themselves) and the dangerous past (TP was opened by Charlie Keating, John McCain's former BFF) -- is that the place feels too clean. All spit-shined and polished; you can see yourself in the marble floor. There's nothing about the place that says, Hey, take off your shoes and put your feet up! You're on vacay!

But things have been a little too casual in the catering kitchen. In July and again this month, Maricopa County restaurant inspectors have given the catering kitchen "No Award" ratings. Must be humiliating for a resort with so many stars hanging off its belt. And for what?! The usual complaints about food temps and the like.

And a complaint I hadn't come across before: employees dropping food on the floor, picking it up, and putting in a container intended for serving:

OBSERVED EMPLOYEE DROP ARUGULA ON THE GROUND, PICK IT UP AND CONTINUE FILLING BLANCHING BASKET, DROP MORE, PICK UP AND PLACE IN BASKET AND CONTINUE AGAIN.

Five second rule, anyone?

By Jonathan McNamara

Once again I assembled a crew of able-bodied Phoenix New Times employees to the break room for a Brew Review. Sitting between the rows of plastic coffee cups and packages of creamer, a large, black sack awaited us. Inside was a substance with a reputation so vile that each member of my Brew Review posse let out a groan at the mere sight of it: malt liquor.

The thought of duct-taping the bottles to my comrades’ arms and initiating a game of Edward Fo’ty Hands crossed my mind, but I decided against it when I remembered some advice a homeless man in Houston, Texas once shared with me: “Ain’t no man alive can drink two forty ounce Mickey’s.”

And that’s the mystique these big, bad bottles inspire. We “tip” them to pour a drink for our homies. We celebrate rappers’ unsociable appetite for fo’tys both as a beverage and as a lyrical muse…even when it makes them seem hypocritical. And while we’re on the subject, let’s get one thing straight: it’s "fo’ty." Not forty. Not forty ounce.

So of the fo'tys on the market, which is the most palatable?

By Michele Laudig

If you're all about eating and shopping locally, then this party's for you. It's Local First Arizona's fourth annual Certified Local Fall Festival, happening this Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at Duck & Decanter (16th St. and Camelback).

There will be free food, shopping, live music, and kids' activities, with a heavy presence of great food-centric businesses. Look for everything from high-style restaurants (Postino, Cowboy Ciao, Tapino, and more) to funky specialty shops (including The Pickle Lady from the downtown market, Schreiner's Fine Sausage, and Pop the Soda Shop).

McCormick & Schmick's chipotle-potato taquitos: Cheap and addictive.

By Jay Bennett

At first glance, the two parts of the headline on this blog post may appear to contradict each other. What, you may be asking, does eating on the cheap have to do with a chain of upscale seafood restaurants found in just about every major city in the country?

Well, at the McCormick & Schmick's location in the Camelback Esplanade shopping/office complex, there's a nice little happy hour special that just may be impossible to beat. Since discovering the special a couple of years ago, I've found myself at M&S several times enjoying the restaurant's happy hour. I must be a cheapskate, because I've yet to sample the restaurant's considerably pricier regular dinner menu even though I'm sure it's a fine place to eat.

So last night, I slipped out of my work clothes (sneakers and T-shirt), threw on some respectable shoes and a collared shirt, and headed over to McCormick & Schmick's to meet the missus after work for some happy hour goodies. As usual, the attractive bar was filled with classy-looking business-type folks who must've filed out of the office high-rises at Camelback and 24th Street and marched straight over to the bar.

Three hundred and fifty calories ...

By Sarah Fenske

This morning, some time after breakfast but before lunch, I ate 54 percent of my daily allotment of saturated fat. Fifty-four percent! Do you know how little that leaves for french fries at lunch, for butter at dinner, for any sort of dessert?

What happened was this: I ventured into the new Krispy Kreme at 7th Street and Roosevelt, and I ate a doughnut -- one freakin' donut. As it turns out, I stupidly chose one of the very fattiest on the menu (who knew that a Chocolate Iced/Kreme Filled doughnut is literally twice as bad for you as an Original Glazed?) and then I ate the whole thing. As a result, I'm now roughly the size of a McMansion. Ick.

I had been warned about Krispy Kremes. When I lived in Texas, the doughnut chain had storefronts on seemingly every corner -- and people just raved about the product. But for a Yankee experiencing the wonders of Houston cuisine for the first time, a doughnut seemed like a terrible waste of calories. In the neighborhood I worked in, you could get super cheap Vietnamese sandwiches, red beans and rice with gumbo, cheesey Tex Mex, barbeque, or chicken fried steak -- all in a matter of blocks. What use did I have for fried dough?

Then I moved to the Valley, and soon after, the Krispy Kremes here closed their doors. It wasn't until recently that the company was again open for business in Phoenix.

By Eddie Matney

So we’re approaching Halloween, and I remember the days before kids, when the party was definitely more adult – great costumes, great bars and great food. And with Halloween on a Friday this year, I have a feeling it’s going to be crazy. But the key to having a good night is getting some food in your belly before the binge begins. So here are my suggestions for you to eat, drink and be scary.