Phoenix Food Blog

Benjamin Leatherman

Belle Alvarez hangs out at Palazzo in downtown Phoenix.

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It doesn't matter if they're the vintage bloodsuckers you read about in Bram Stoker's tomes or the more sparkly sanguinators that will be flying across silver screens this weekend in The Twilight Saga: New Moon. According to the 28-year-old, they just don't exist.

But that doesn't mean she wouldn't pour a drink for Nosferatu if he happened to waltz into Palazzo during one of her weekend shifts (just as long as it didn't involve tapping her veins, of course). After all, Alvarez has certainly served plenty of wanna-be vampires during the club's infamous weekly Goth night Transylvania, where fang-wearing, corset-clad creatures of the night gather to dance until dawn (natch).

Palazzo serves as a rather sumptuous setting for these pseudo-succubi to get their ghoulish groove on, as the danceteria looks like it was cut and pasted out of an Anne Rice novel with plenty of marble and Victorian décor touches. If you happen to hang out around midnight, Palazzo's proprietors flip on some glow lights that reveal some rather sexy fluorescent paintings lining the walls of the main room.

Benjamin Leatherman

Jamil Hyatt strikes a pose behind the bar at AZ/88.

No matter what he's doing -- whether it's serving up stylish martinis at Scottsdale's AZ 88 or spitting out dope rhymes within the Valley's hip-hop scene -- Jamil Hyatt is plenty smooth.

As a former MC for mostly-defunct Valley hip-hop ensemble Antedote, the gifted lyricist (who went by the moniker Many Pieces) was renowned for his silver-tongued flows and fly rapping ability. These days, however, the 33-year-old has been impressing patrons aplenty at the Old Town eatery and martini bar with his drink-mixing skills and magnetic personality.

Adriane Goetz

Darlene "Dar" Bieling is a booze-slingin' ray of sunshine at Phoenix's Swizzle Inn.

​Dar is a class act.

She never forgets your drink and is as pleasant as can be. She's a top notch bartender, and is atrociously gorgeous.

This isn't how Darlene (or "Dar" as she's more commonly known) Bieling describes herself, nor is it my own personal judgment upon meeting her for the first time. The lavish praise comes from the customers as well as the owners seated at the Swizzle Inn, a charming, old-fashioned neighborhood bar in Phoenix. Entirely unprovoked (several regulars pulled me aside mid-photograph), the clientele could not contain its adulation for the infallible Dar.

Benjamin Leatherman

The Rhythm and Blues, as created by Mona Watkins.

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But what about its drinks? Not so much.

That's not to say that bartender Mona Watkins doesn'has never gotten some kudos for her skills at mixing drinks. Living legends Willie "Big Eye" Smith and Leon Blue are particular fans of one creation she whipped up for them back in 2007 called the Rhythm and Blues.

It's a tart yet sweet combination of the citrusy Rhythm Liqueur and Blue Curaçao that pleased their palates and had them asking for the recipe. According to Watkins, no money was exchanged for the drink, but rather something better.

Benjamin Leatherman

Mona Watkins at CenPho blues joint the Rhythm Room.

As one of the main barkeeps and manager at the Rhythm Room, the 40-year-old has poured pilsner for countless rock 'n' roll and blues glitterati that've visited at the renowned CenPho music venue over the past decade or so. Like busty chanteuse Candye Kane, for instance, who indulges in some Courvoisier, or Russian-American rockabilly quartet the Red Elvises, connoisseurs of Corona and tequila (and lots of it).

"Growing up I wanted to be Lita Ford or Joan Jett," Watkins says. "And since that didn't ever happen, this is probably the next best thing."

Tending bar for the stars has also led to some rather interesting experiences with these music idols, and she's got the stories to prove it. Hanging out in the cluttered office at the Rhythm Room, Watkins rattles off tales in her humorous foul-mouthed style about surf-rock legend Dick Dale teaching kung fu to employees or Steve Poltz giving an impromptu concert after last call.

While she digs waiting on the rich and famous, Watkins never neglects any of her other patrons, however, even if they order some colorful-sounding concoctions.

"People sometimes ask, 'Can you make a Curly-Haired Swedish Boy,' or whatever, and I'm like, 'What the fuck is that?'" she says. "This really isn't a place to order fancy drinks, but we're always happy to try and make whatever they want. If we got the ingredients, we'll figure it out."

This Sunday brings another chance to eat, drink, and be merry in the name of charity.

Taste of the Park, Litchfield Park's third annual culinary festival, will be held from 4 to 8 p.m. on October 18 in downtown Litchfield Park, at Old Litchfield Rd. and Wigwam Blvd.

And it actually benefits a variety of good causes, thanks to the area's Rotary Club. The Boys and Girls Club, families at Luke Air Force Base, St. Mary's Food Bank, and a well project in Africa are just a few of the club's beneficiaries.

Among the food tastings, look for tasty nibbles from AJ's Persian Grill, Blu Sushi, Old Pueblo, Taps, and the Wigwam Resort. There will also be wine, beer, and sake, a silent auction, and even a belly dancing performance. For tickets, $50, call 623-444-4416.

Adriane Goetz

The R&CFM martini's refreshing taste can be deceiving.

​The Turf Restaurant and Pub may be an Irish bar, but Jameson and Guinness are only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to The Turf's list o' libations. No matter what yer poison, The Turf's bartenders can make it--and they don't need a bevy of "house cocktails" to fall back on. As expert bartender Brian Barnes attests, no one's a novice at this pub.

"Everyone who bartends here has done so for at least five years and has hands-down, high-volume experience," says Barnes. "I would consider them all excellent, stand-up bartenders."

Adriane Goetz

Brian Barnes at Turf Restaurant & Pub.

​There are people who tend bar, and then there are bartenders.

Both can mix you a drink and take your money, but a true bartender wears more hats than a balding boy band. One must learn to be drink-maker, host, counselor, server, cashier, bouncer, manager, custodian, concierge and friend (often at the same time) while keeping a cool demeanor.

Brian Barnes does all of the above in downtown Phoenix at The Turf Restaurant & Pub while also remembering your name and your favorite drink--but for the 36-year-old ASU real estate graduate, the most important bartending skills are the ones you can't teach.

Benjamin Leatherman

Tyler King does his drink-mixing thing at Jegheads in east Phoenix.

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Sporting a tee shirt for notorious New Jersey hardcore band Shattered Realm and innumerable tattoos covering his burly frame from head to toe, the 38-year-old bartender at Jugheads looks like someone you'd wouldn't wanna challenge to a fight.

Instead, try challenging him to whisk you up a mixed drink sometime from scratch and the badass barman (who's got a pretty genial disposition despite his intimidating appearance) would be more than happy to oblige, provided he's not swamped with customers. 

During the down times at the east Phoenix punk bar, King's been known to improvise some tasty alcohol-laden beverages from scratch for whoever comes in, be they tattooed-and-pierced hardcore kids or college-aged ladies who can't decide what they want to drink.

"Girls are infamous for coming in and going 'I dunno what I want, make me something I'd like best' and pick out a flavor of vodka or a mixer," he says. "You've gotta be on your toes and be ready to make whatever they want, but also be ingenious about things. I enjoy being put on the spot and will come back after the first couple sips to see if my drink is gonna get shot down. Usually I'm 95 percent successful."

Adriane Goetz

Linda Q. Chu owning the bar at Sens in downtown Phoenix.

​Linda Q. Chu doesn't just serve the numerous cocktails, martinis and saketinis at Sens Asain Tapas & Sake Bar--she also invented them.

As an ASU graduate in international business, the restaurant industry wasn't even on Chu's radar. But her career path wasn't a change of mind so much as a change of heart--fate, if you will (or rather, the owner of downtown's now-defunct Fate restaurant, Johnny Chu).

As their relationship became more serious, Linda became more involved in his restaurant. She created the drink menu for Fate's outside bar Next Door, and when Johnny split to open Sens, Linda took over all things drinkable, creating the menu, training the employees, and managing the bar as well as tending it.

Benjamin Leatherman

Bartender Justin Gurian works the bar at Pussycat Lounge in Scottsdale.

​Justin Gurian gets by as a bartender and promoter with a little help from his friends. After all, his cohorts and compatriots are the ones who come out en masse during his various shifts at such Scottsdale hotspots as Pussycat Lounge, Dirty Pretty, and American Junkie, sucking down alcohol and packing each place with warm bodies.

"It's helped make me successful because they're usually bringing in their friends with them," he says. "Like if I think its gonna be a slow night, I call up my friends and they show up with a crowd of people."

And Gurian sometimes rewards their loyalty by mixing up some special concoctions in tribute.

"When my friends order drinks, depending on how busy I am or if it's their birthday, I'll make a shot and name it after them," he says. "People like it when you make them something different. You can go anywhere and have a vodka tonic, but if you create something unique for someone they'll feel special. I also like changing thing up because I get sick of making stuff like grape bombers all the time."

Lauren Gilger

The Clover Club and the Blood Orange Pisco Sour at the Camelback Inn.

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The Director of Beverage at the Camelback Inn, the co-founder and vice-chairman of the Arizona chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild, the president of her own consulting business and the mixologist for Yellow[tail] wines, Thomas is, to say the least, an authority on wine and spirits.

"In Chicago, I was one of many mixologists," she says, "and out here I had the opportunity not just to influence Camelback Inn, but to really influence a whole culture of bartenders."

And, with six bars under her jurisdiction at Camelback Inn, 40 or 50 mentees and a growing chapter of the bartender's guild under her wing, it looks like that's just what she's doing.

Lauren Gilger

Director of Beverage Trudy Thomas in BLT Steak at the Camelback Inn.

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By bartenders (emphasis on the art), we mean those who take their jobs a lot more seriously than the rest - those who discuss bartending in terms of dedication and passion; those who treat their craft with the kind of reverence that is normally reserved for a piece of artwork or the great American novel.

"It really is a passion for me," Thomas says. "It's who I am."

Thomas is more than a bartender. She holds several titles fitting of one with such dedication to her metier. She is the Director of Beverage at the Camelback Inn, for one, where she mentors upcoming bartenders and has a hand in just about every cocktail - and cocktail menu - that is served at all of the six bars at the resort. For another, she is the co-founder and vice-chairman of the Arizona chapter of the United States Bartenders Guild. She is also the president of Liquid Remedy, Inc., her own beverage consulting business, and the mixologist for Yellow[tail] wines.

Lauren Gilger

The "Small Child" on the bar at Bar Smith in downtown Phoenix.

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When Crain is behind the highly-stocked bar of Bar Smith downtown, his showmanship comes through in a different way -- with fire, flips, tricks and spins. That's right, with flair.

So, it only makes sense that a drink recipe from this bartender could very likely be just as dangerous a combination as alcohol and fire.

When Crain and his college roommate dreamed up this drink recipe during their four years at George Mason University in Virginia, they thought of an appropriately college name for it: The "Small Child". "Because after you have three of them, you feel like one," Crain says.

Lauren Gilger

Chase Crain flairtending at Bar Smith in downtown Phoenix.

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"It makes people wanna know your name" he says. "'Using attitude,' I like to call it."

The 24-year-old bartender and bar manager puts on a show every weekend at Bar Smith, the downtown bar and restaurant that turns to a nightclub when the sun goes down. He and another bartender, Richard King, flip, juggle and light bottles on fire -- still somehow managing to pour and mix drinks in the process. Once in a while, King even blows fire from the top of a lit bottle.

Alcohol and fire. Not exactly a safe combination. But that's exactly what it's about, really -- danger, exhibition, indulgence -- everything that makes for an exciting night at the club.

Lauren Gilger

Bartender Gillian Tervet behind the bar at The Parlor on Camelback Road.

​Where she grew up in small-town Georgia, Gillian Tervet says, "by middle school, we were drinking whiskey."

"That's just the way it is in the South."

Next month, when she heads off to Australia for a few months to try her hand at another culture, she's hoping to land a job bartending at some beach joint.

Lauren Gilger

The Basil Gimlet, on the bar at The Parlor.

​There, we're sure she'll come up with some cocktail that incorporates eucalyptus or peppermint gum or some other Australian oddity. But, while she's still in Phoenix, working behind the bar at The Parlor on 20th Street and Camelback, she's coming up with cocktails that come pretty much straight from her surroundings.

Case in point: the Basil Gimlet. Starting with fresh basil from the garden outside the restaurant, she "initially wanted to do muddled basil with lime, like a mojito," she says. "But it wasn't vibrant enough."

Lauren Gilger

Bartender Gillian Tervet pouring a cocktail behind the bar at The Parlor.

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A bartender-on-the-rise who's barely old enough to drink her own cocktails (she just turned 21), Tervet has her own style behind the bar. This is a girl from Georgia whose parents don't drink at all, who spends most of her time experimenting, mixing, and learning about the intricacies of a martini versus a mojito at The Parlor, the new pizzeria on 20th Street and Camelback.

Tervet's not looking for the attention she almost inevitably gets when she's mixing it up with a growing crowd of regulars frequenting The Parlor since its opening on Memorial Day -- and she's not looking to put on a show. In fact, this is one bartender (the first we've come across, actually) who doesn't see herself as an actor or a comedian of any kind while she's pouring drinks and chatting up customers.

When she talks about bartending, she uses words like "sharing" and "connecting" more than "performing" or "entertaining."

"People just really bond with their bartender," she says. It's about "sharing stories" and "feeling connected" for Tervet. "I bond with couples a lot," she says (even though she admits her regulars are "typically male.")

Lauren Gilger

The Mai Tai at Trader Vic's.

​When J.K. Grence is working behind the bar at Trader Vic's at the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale, he imagines himself to be playing Penn to the other bartender's Teller.

"I'm standing there talking constantly," he laughs, "while he's just standing there silently making drinks."

He's busy telling you stories about the drinks behind the bar -- the real way to make a martini (with vermouth), the history of the tiki bar's classic, tropical drinks.

"The traditions are traditions for a reason," he says. "But the thing is, if you don't play with things, you're not going to come up with anything new. You're going to get stuck in the past."

Today is no different, he's giving you the classic tiki bar cocktail, the Mai Tai. It's been made at Trader Vic's since 1944, when Vic himself invented the recipe. (For the details on what happened to that original version, check out our profile of Grence, here).

Lauren Gilger

J.K. Grence, behind the bar at Trader Vic's.

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He's planned out the ideal bar -- the one he would like to open one day in the distant, fuzzy future.

"I'd want it to be some tropical hideaway," he says. "You just sink into the atmosphere of it and have nice people bring you fantastic drinks, and, for a little while, all is just perfect with the world."

Sounds like paradise -- or something you'd find in Vegas. (Don't worry, he promises to open his future hideaway in Phoenix).

A cross between a poet and a connoisseur, it turns out that Grence speaks just the way he writes on his popular Phoenix food blog, What the Jester Had for Dinner. And he looks just like you'd expect for a bartender at Trader Vic's throwback of a tiki bar. (Note the retro glasses, slick hair, and Hawaiian shirt -- though we won't credit that to anyone but the management's uniform standards.)

Lauren Gilger

​Grence

"You're not the first person to tell me that," he says. "I might have been an actor already, if it wasn't that, if I became an actor, I wouldn't get to work with food anymore."

A foodie-about-town and Arizona native, Grence put in his years as a server at T.G.I.Friday's and Trader Vic's before finally getting to give it a shot behind the bar in 2007.

Lauren Gilger

Barry Solomon behind the bar at Merc Bar in Phoenix.

Merc Bar is so cool, in fact, there's barely a sign marking its existence outside the door.

"It's sort of -- you either know we're here or you don't," Solomon says.

That message of exclusivity resonates inside as well: all dark lighting, sleek furniture and even sleeker clientele. But Solomon has a rough edge that makes him even cooler than his customers -- if ever so slightly less sleek.

At 6-foot 3, he sports a shaved head, large metal rings and some serious tattoos.

This is a guy who has lived all over the country, just for the hell of it, ever since he left his hometown in California wine county and his dad's diesel truck shop in 1993. He kept Phoenix as a sort of home base throughout those 16 years, but never stayed in one place for long. His favorite of all the places he's lived? "The place I haven't been, to tell the truth," he says. "I'm just A.D.D. like that."

"I always want to meet new people; I always want to work in a new place." Last year alone, he lived in four different states.

His first tattoo was a mama's heart and now (at least) both his arms and stomach are covered in ink. His right arm reads, "The only hell my Mama ever raised," which is, apparently, true.

To Solomon, "being a bartender is being a cool kid," he says.

But, unlike most cool kids we knew in high school, Solomon is careful to use his powers for good, not evil.

He will not stand idly by when he sees that guy sitting in the corner alone, sulking. "I think it's part of your job to get them out of that," he says, "to get them in the middle of things, maybe introduce them to some people."

He doesn't ask people what kind of time they want to have in his bar. "I'm gonna show them what kind of good time they came here for," he says.

Lauren Gilger

The CenPhopolitan at SideBar in downtown Phoenix.

There are 57 vodkas, two shelves of tequila and 50 different kinds of beers taking up the limited shelf space of SideBar in downtown Phoenix.

For a bar that's about the size of a college dorm room, that's not too shabby. OK, a college suite.

With house-made flavors and fresh-squeezed everything, owner Josh Parry has kept his cocktail options open for his bartenders to experiment, play and come up with a drink even better than the one they just made you (and that one was probably pretty damn good, in the first place).

And when Parry and his staff sat down to craft their witty, artful menu of specialty drinks, experimenting was the key.

"It's like you're playing with a chemistry set," Parry says. Balance, proportion, the best ingredients around - and perfection. That's all he asks.

Today, Parry is offering up one of Sidebar's signature drink recipes, just for you: (in a nod to the neighborhood he loves) the CenPhopolitan.

1 ½ ounces Absolut Mandarin
2 ounces pomagrante 100% juice
Splash freshly squeezed orange juice
½ ounce Triple Sec

Shaken and served in an ice-cold martini glass with a slice of orange.

Lauren Gilger

Josh Parry behind the bar at SideBar in downtown Phoenix.

Josh Parry is serious about drinks.

He will not allow his bartenders to free-pour the sweet and sour in one of their signature cocktails, a Cucumint Martini. It must be measured with a jigger.

"It's that exact," he says. "If you pour it perfectly, it will taste perfect."

He insists on juices squeezed fresh daily, a housemade sweet and sour ("I wouldn't go near a bottle of sweet and sour with a 10-foot pole," he says) and a carefully crafted, original version of simple syrup in his bar. He chose his bartenders (Tony Kitchen and Megan Silvertooth) with care and a long list of requirements -- eventually finding true mixologists who feel that "this is their art," as he puts it.

Parry, a former restaurant server and mortgage broker (yes, mortgage broker), had never been a bartender himself until he decided about three years ago to open a bar.

He partnered up with longtime friend and L.A. bar owner Mike Winn, and the result is SideBar, which opened last November at 7th Avenue and McDowell in downtown Phoenix. With a swanky, retro feel and movies like "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" playing to a techno-beat soundtrack, Sidebar has quickly become the newest downtown place to be seen.

A man whose friend once described him with a quote from a Woody Allen movie -- "chronically dissatisfied" -- Parry insists on perfection behind his bar.

"I constantly am taste-testing everything, making sure that the recipes are right, the juices are fresh," he says. "I drive my staff insane, constantly perfecting."

Perfect with a twist, that is. The drinks range from the Cucumint Martini and the getting-to-be-famous White Rabbit to the CenPhopolitan (for that recipe, tune in Friday). In short, the SideBar is becoming associated with the throwback cocktail culture, and it's beginning to define the downtown crowd.

Lauren Gilger

Steve Douds making a Tijuana Donkey at Los Sombreros.

A Moscow Mule was one of the first cocktails in American history. It was vodka mixed with ginger beer, served in a copper mug.

Complete with a culturally insensitive reference (to the Russian-imported liquor) and a convenient alliteration, the drink was a sensation. For the first time in this country, people drank vodka - the most popular drink around today - instead of Scotch or gin.

Lauren Gilger

A Tijuana Donkey on the bar at Los Sombreros.

At Los Sombreros, veteran bartender Steve Douds has come up with a Southwest twist on this Smirnoff phenomenon. Its name? A Tijuana Donkey.

Try it out.

2 ounces Cazadores Blanco Tequila
Juice of half a lime
Cock 'n Bull Ginger Beer

Lauren Gilger

Bartender Steve Douds behind the bar at Los Sombreros.

Steve Douds remembers when his bar was a line of identical men in suits. Brick-sized cell phones and gin and tonics sat in front of them in a neat row.

"Scottsdale used to be a town of conspicuous consumption," he says. "It was big glasses of vodka and little old ladies who would come in on a Saturday afternoon and have three martinis before they'd look at a menu."

A Scottsdale native and truly a veteran behind the bar (he's been on the job since 1982, and he was "literally born into the business," he says), Douds is a self-proclaimed "old-school bartender." And, in a bar scene packed with star-tenders, flair-tenders and mixologists, we are ready for the throwback.

Douds is a vocal proponent of back to the basics when it comes to drinks (he gives no quarter to the flavored vodka phenomena, preferring natural juices), and he holds certain values higher than panache when he's designing a really good drink. For him it's all about balance and proportion.

When he talks about the perfect drink, he does so with near religious awe.

"There's something so sublime about a vodka martini that's nothing more than really good vodka, shaken really well over really clean, hard ice and put into a clean glass," he says. "It seems like nothing, but that's perfection."

At his current bar, on the back patio at Los Sombreros in South Scottsdale, Douds' signature margarita includes just three things: good tequila, fresh-squeezed lime juice and sugar. If you want to get really crazy, he adds something he calls a "liason," like an orange liqueur or Grand Marnier.

Lauren Gilger

Mike Bunker, adding the rum to his Strawberry-Coconut Mojito at The Mission in Old Town.

When a girl came up to Mike Bunker, asking the question he most dreads when he's behind the bar, he gave her a drink he called "A Punch in the Head."

Funny, from a bartender who minored in Religious Studies in college.

The girl told him: "Make me whatever you want. Something strong but fruity." So Butler made one up. His drink, he said, tastes like fruit punch and it's so strong he has to limit his customers who order them to two or three.

A dangerous combination? Oh, yes. But we bet you want to try it.

Maybe it's that kind of on-the-spot creativity that made the judges at the Skyy Vodka Bar Chef competition at CANAL choose Bunker as their winner a few weeks ago...

Or maybe it was the sparklers he used to decorate one of his entries.

Bartender by night, and pro-golf hopeful by day, Bunker is a bartender whose drinks can be as dichotomous as his life: They deliver a kick with a sweet smile.

But this Titleist-wearing, Arizona every-guy is no "flairtender," Bunker claims. A self-proclaimed mixologist, Bunker is just not afraid of showing a little flair when it comes to concocting cocktails.

"As a bartender, you're used to the vodka tonics, you're used to the Mai Tais, you're used to Jack & Cokes. That's simple. That's the easy route," he said. But today, the range of new products behind his bar makes it impossible not to experiment.