Phoenix Food Blog

​This Sunday, November 22, is the day to get out and drink some delicious homegrown wines at the Arizona Wine Growers Festival at the Farm.

First of all, do you really need any excuse to go to the Farm at South Mountain? It's one of the prettiest places in the Valley, and feels a millions miles away from the city, even though it's not far off the highway on South 32nd Street.

The afternoon festivities in the pecan grove ($65 a head) will include wine tastings (with dozens of AZ wineries on hand), seminars, live music, and a People's Choice Awards. Then starting at 5 p.m., the Growers Cup Awards Dinner ($125) will combine a four-course dinner from Quiessence with the four winning wines in red, white, rose, and dessert wine categories. Here's the menu: AZWineFest_AwardsDinner.pdf

 

 

While many Valley restaurants are serving up traditional, meat-filled Thanksgiving meals, vegans and vegetarians may rejoice as Green offers all-vegan, full-course meals at its Second Annual ThanksLIVING event, on Thursday, November 26 from noon-4 p.m.

Diners can enjoy versions of all the Thanksgiving favorites, from turkey and mashed potatoes to organic walnut cranberry stuffing and paprika-smoked corn. Plus, there's pecan pie for dessert.

"The idea of this thing was to have an alternative for vegans and vegetarians but also people who are looking to do something a little different that's traditionally spent with friends and families," says Damon Brasch, owner and chef of Green.

 

At last year's ThanksLIVING

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Food Network star Guy Fieri is taking his show -- and his rock and roll attitude -- on the road with The Guy Fieri Road Show, a 21-city tour that combines Guy's love of music and his passion for food. The tour will hit the Mesa Arts Center on Friday, December 18, with tickets ranging from $38-248.

"My shows have never been normal," Guy said in a phone call on the way to the tour's first stop in New England. "One of the things I'm jonesing for is music. So I thought, 'why don't we take this on the road, hang out and talk about food you love'."

Photo by Sherrie Blondin.

The tattooed, spiky-haired chef was a relative unknown until he beat Reggie Southerland to win the second season of The Next Food Network Star in 2006. He went on to host three Food Network shows: Guy's Big Bite, Guy Off the Hook and Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, the latter of which spawned two bestselling books.

Continue reading " Food Network Star Guy Fieri"...

Tags: celebrity chefs, diners drive-ins and dives, food network, guy fieri, mesa arts center, next food network star

Downtown Tempe's getting a little greener thanks to a new Urban Garden designed to provide fresh produce to local chefs and residents.

The project's helmed by Caffe Boa owners Jay and Christine Wisniewski, head chef Payton Curry and the Phoenix Permaculture Guild. Curry, who's been a champion of the "farm-to-table" movement, will be talking more about the garden today at 4 p.m. at the restaurant.

GreenZona

An example of what the garden might look like

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​This week's Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, taking place downtown, seems to have spawned all kinds of fun activities planned for this weekend.

On Friday night from 6 to 10 p.m., the free Green Streets Festival will take over Roosevelt Street between 4th and 7th Streets. Along with myriad vendors, artists, and musical guests, there will be food from local chefs and a beer garden sponsored by Valley favorite Four Peaks (look for pumpkin beer on tap).

sloane burwell

​ Cookbook fans and foodies alike crowded Sur La Table at Kierland Commons Wednesday afternoon as more than 200 people waited in line to meet award winning chef Thomas Keller, who was on hand to sign his new cookbook, Ad Hoc At Home. Keller is famous for his meticulous attention to detail at Napa Valley's The French Laundry and Per Se, situated in Manhattan's luxurious Time Warner Center. Ad Hoc At Home honors both his famous takeout restaurant, and the simple pleasures of relaxed meals, meant to be shared around a table with family.

sloane burwell

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​Sweet Tomatoes is hosting a fundraiser event that will benefit St. Vincent de Paul.

On November 17, ten percent of all sales made at participating Sweet Tomatoes will go to the non-profit organization -- good news in tough times.

That same night, Sweet Tomatoes is taking over the dining room at St. Vincent de Paul and providing meals for over 500 people.

There are eight participating Valley locations including Phoenix, Tempe, Scottsdale, and Gilbert. A full list of locations is available on the Sweet Tomatoes Web site.

Whoever said there's no such thing as a free lunch clearly missed out on this weekend's Certified Local Fall Festival at Duck and Decanter, 16th St. and Camelback Rd. in Phoenix. Sponsored by Local First AZ, the event included local merchants, live music, hourly raffles, a silent auction and tons of free food.

A slice of Spinato's Mediterranean pizza with feta and red peppers is even tastier when it's free!

Free garage parking was even offered throughout the day. That alone might've been enough to get us there -- and apparently, other Phoenicians agreed. White tents were pitched in the parking lot at Duck and Decanter and from the top of the parking garage we could see hundreds of locals milling around the festival sampling foodstuffs from local restaurants like Radio Milano, Postino and Spinato's Pizza.

The folks at Postino show off their bruschetta, and their community spirit.

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Just a few years ago, you would've been lucky to find one pushcart vendor or a lousy faux wine and cheese plate at First Friday in Downtown Phoenix. Now, there are dozens of food booths, trucks and free samples to be found on Roosevelt St. during the monthly art showcase. We snuck out with camera in hand to see what tasty comestibles this month's First Friday had to offer.

If Alice in Wonderland did it, so can you.

​There is a two-year anniversary party at San Felipe's Cantina and you're invited! ...Well, for part of it.

On November 10, the Tempe Marketplace Mexican eatery and bar will be hosting a party from 10 p.m. until closing that's open to the public. Before that, from 8 to 10 p.m., there is a VIP party with 2 cent drinks. But don't feel bad, because we weren't invited, either.

www.phoenix2030.com

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​Nosh on some of the Valley's best food offerings while helping out kiddies at the Noche de Gourmet 2009 event, sponsored by the Active 20-30 Club of Phoenix.

The annual shindig is a fundraiser sponsored by the "young professional men"'s club, which does community service in the Valley. As you eat goodies from restaurants such as Chelsea's Kitchen, Barrio Cantina & Grill and Il Terrazzo, you'll be helping the Children in Need Foundation, a nonprofit benefitting local children's charities. 

We know. You've barely made it through pumpkin carving and candy buying, and now there's already talk of turkeys and stuffing and pumpkin pie. And don't even get us started on the yearly debate over fresh whole berry vs. canned gel cranberry sauce!

Photo by xybermatthew via Flickr.

Williams-Sonoma wants you to have a bird like this.

​Hosting a Thanksgiving dinner for family or friends can be daunting, especially if you're not a well-seasoned cook (or if you have really picky in-laws!!). While taking pre-holiday cooking classes is an option, a lot of folks don't have the cash to throw down for them -- especially if you're the one saddled with the Turkey Day grocery bill. Good thing the seasonal food technique classes at Williams-Sonoma are FREE. 

​Phoenix may not be LA or New York City, but we've got our fair share of celebs. Aging rocker Alice Cooper and basketball great Amar'e Stoudemire both own downtown restaurants. Actor Leslie Nielsen and former boxing champ Mike Tyson call the Valley home. And, despite his near-move to the San Francisco 49ers in 2009, we've still got three-time Super Bowl quarterback and author Kurt Warner in the Cardinals' lineup.

Maybe our blossoming culinary scene kept him here. (Of course the $15 million signing bonus probably didn't hurt, either.)

​On Monday, November 16, Warner and wife Brenda will host a Night of Champions dinner at The Wrigley Mansion, 2501 E. Telewa Trail in Phoenix. Coach Ken Whisenhunt, aka Coach "Whiz," and wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald will also be there. General admission tickets are a whopping $150 a piece ($300 for VIP tickets which include a private reception with the celebs), but at least proceeds go to Warner's charitable foundation, First Things First. Dinner, music and an auction are included.

If you're not a sports fan, no worries; the Wrigley has a few adults-only November specials to wet your whistle.

​ ​On Friday Flight Night, nab four Tablas Creek Vineyards wine samples for $12. And every Saturday from 6-10 p.m., Geordie's at the Wrigley will offer tequila tastings featuring Sol de Mexico tequila crafted from blue-weber agaves grown at the distillery's private estate in Jalisco, Mexico.   

Sur La Table

​Ten years working in restaurants and 15 years working on crafting knives has taught Bob Kramer a thing or two about how to properly use and maintain a knife. But he isn't greedy with his wisdom, and people in the Valley have a chance to reap the benefits.

The chef-turned-master bladesmith is touring Sur La Table stores to teach and talk about his pointy passion. On November 14 at noon, Kramer will be at the Kierland Commons location to bring his insights to the Valley.

Kramer will share his philosophy on knives as well as tips on sharpening and technique, with a meet and greet session at the end. The class also includes food, wine, a copy of Kramer's book Knives Cooks Love, and a 15% coupon for Sur La Table.

The cost of the class is $100 and space is limited. Register for Kramer's bladesmithing lecture online through Sur La Table. For more information, call the store at 480-998-0118.

 

Nicki Escudero

​Sometimes being a vegan in Phoenix can get pretty lonely, but on November 1, animal product-free Phoenicians will gather at the Spectrum Mall light rail station to celebrate World Vegan Day with a potluck full of vegan goodies.

If you're interested, hop on the train at 19th Ave. and Montebello and bring a vegan dish and utensils. Participants are also encouraged to bring literature to hand out to other riders.

The ride lasts for about an hour-and-a-half and ends in Mesa. Organizer John Greentree says while part of his aim in the event is to encourage the public to participate in the community and use their resources, such as the light rail, he also hopes people enjoy the food and see what being vegan is all about.

"It's a way of being social and interactive and defying what has been pre-cut for us," Greentree says. "Normally when you hear, 'Let's have a potluck,' it's like, 'Whose house will it be at?' We're bringing the potluck to the people. It's going to be an awesome time."

For more information, check out http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=169125726783.

What if you could quit your day job and just eat and socialize all the time? (Picture this: Nights filled with wonderful conversation. Lovely hosts. Duck confit and huckleberry waffles with bourbon maple syrup. American Wagyu ribeye. Fluke crudo! Grand Marnier souffle!!! Mmmm, we're getting all worked up just writing about it.)

​That's exactly what longtime friends Jay Pizarro and Susie Timm did with Foodies Like Us, a social group where food lovers of all ilks come together to share gourmet meals, cooking classes and a whole lot of food talk.

The group kicked off in August with a swanky soiree at Christopher's and Crush Lounge. Since then, their membership has soared. "The menus and preparations change, but the idea is always the same: to meet people and socialize and talk about food," says Pizarro, the group's Chief Executive Foodie. "When we started this, we didn't think 'hey there's a lot of people who want to talk about food.' But there are."

Where can you meet up with like-minded Foodies? Find out after the jump...

Ooh, here's some exciting news -- there will soon be a superstar in our midst.

The term "celebrity chef" gets thrown around a lot these days, but there's no question that Thomas Keller truly is one.

Whether you think The French Laundry in Yountville, CA, is the best restaurant in America or simply one of the best, surely you know the name of the celebrated chef behind it.

He'll be coming to Sur La Table at Kierland Commons in Scottsdale on Wednesday, November 11, for a Q&A and booksigning from 3 to 5 p.m. 

Yes, Keller has a new book coming out, Ad Hoc at Home, which will be for sale at the store starting in November. It's a full of comfort food recipes for home cooks, inspired by his outher Yountville eatery Ad Hoc. He'll be signing copies of that as well as his other titles, The French Laundry Cookbook, Bouchon, and Under Pressure.

(On a related note, have you read Phoebe Damrosch's memoir Service Included, about working at Keller's celebrated New York restaurant, Per Se? There's some fascinating behind-the-scenes stuff . . .)

We can't help but get hungry whenever superstar chef Julia Childs is mentioned, so why not eat her food while watching a movie about her? Now you can at Farrelli's Cinema Supper Club in Scottsdale, where moviegoers may chow down on Childs-inspired cuisine while watching Julie & Julia. The film stars Meryl Streep as Childs and features her oh-so-delicious recipes, all of which Julie (Amy Adams) strives to cook within a year.


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​Organizers for two separate events are donating their proceeds this week to St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance, a non-profit organization that serves 300,000 meals to the hungry every day.

Hickman's Family Farms has challenged local restaurants and culinary students to create a tasty "Egg on Top" dish; one dollar of each dish sold will go to St. Mary's. Hickman's will then match the one dollar donation and give each "Egg on Top" customer a coupon for a dozen free eggs.
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Some restaurants involved in the fundraiser challenge are Christopher's, Eddie's House, Barrio Café, Petite Maison, Tarbell's and Humble Pie. A panel of celebrity judges will decide which restaurant has the best dish, but you can try them for yourself from October 23 to November 22.

Chef Eddie Matney of Eddie's House is also offering gift certificates to customers who donate food at his restaurant to St. Mary's food bank. The gift certificates match one pound with one dollar, so the more you give, the more you'll get at Eddie's House.

Donations will be accepted from 5 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. each night until Saturday. All unopened, non-perishable items will be accepted, although the items in most demand include canned and dried beans, canned fish and meats, canned vegetables and fruits, peanut butter, pasta, juice, soup, cereal and rice.

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.

Jonathan McNamara

Chef Mel Mecinas plates his final dish as time runs out.

​Allez-Cuisine!

Whether you're viewing the uniquely Japanese original or Iron Chef America, the concept of pitting culinary greats against each other in a timed cooking battle has been proven time and time again to result in an amazing spectacle and tasty dishes. Last night's Iron Chef II: The Duel in the Desert sponsored by CRAVE Arizona 2009 and Arcadia Fine Wine proved no different.

Held at the Sub Zero and Wolf Showroom just steps from Scottsdale Airport, an audience of 50 or so watched Chef Mel Mecinas of Talavera at The Four Seasons Resort in Scottsdale take on Chef Payton Curry of Digestif in battle "date." The chefs' succulent variations on the theme ingredient were paired with four wines selected by Arcadia specifically for the event.

And what tastes better than Iron Chef cuisine? How about dining for a good cause? Arcadia Fine Wines donated ten percent of all wine sales from last night to Waste Not Arizona.

Jonathan McNamara

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Last night, local twitter-users gathered at the Aloft Hotel in Tempe to socialize, try great food from local businesses as donate money to St. Mary's Food Bank during Twestival Local Phoenix. Twestival started as a Twitter-based meet-up but has grown into an event that benefits local charities all around the world from September 10 -13.

Attendees checked in and began sampling treats from Sweet Republic, Joe's Real BBQ and more amidst sipping drinks from the W XYZ bar and perusing silent auction items. 

For more from the event, check out the following snap shots. For more on Twestival, visit http://twestival.com.

​Slow Food Phoenix says that the current standard of fast food and junk food in school lunches serves the escalating obesity and diabetes epidemic in America. (Not to mention, there's the ethical sketchiness of putting Taco Bell and Pizza Hut products in schools.)

So to raise awareness, the group is inviting Valley residents to an event that demonstrates against greasy pizza and fries being served to school children, hosting the Time for Lunch Eat-In, a bring-your-own picnic at the Arizona State Fairgrounds, as a part of a national movement to get quality food in school lunches.

The eat-in, which is scheduled for September 7 from 11 a.m. until 2 p.m., was created to send a message to legislators that the current Child Nutrition Act is no longer cutting the mustard, and that schools should actively pursue healthy food options, teach nutritious living, and increase lunch reimbursements for children. 

Whether the kids will actually want to eat those healthier options is another story entirely.

Tags: school lunch, Slow Food Phoenix

Foie gras is on menus at some of the best restaurants in the Valley.

But tomorrow, a group of protesters will do their best to shed a different light on the culinary delicacy -- and they'll do it in front of a well-respected Phoenix restaurant, James Beard Award-winning chef Christopher Gross' Christopher's Restaurant and Crush Lounge.

From 6 to 7 p.m. on Saturday night, a group of people led by activist Dani Thumma will hold up signs and pass out literature in protest of the restaurant's use of foie gras on its French bistro-style menu.

Thumma, a 49-year-old grandmother who lives in Peoria, wrote Gross a letter, informing him about the production of foie gras, and later spoke to him on the phone. "They're going to keep foie gras on the menu," she says, "so we decided to protest."

When Thumma informed Gross that they would be protesting, "He said he couldn't wait to meet me," Thumma says.

She has just begun to put together a small group of concerned citizens in Arizona who are working to educate the public on foie gras production -- and to get chefs to remove the dish from their menus. She says that her group, which is so far made up of about 10 people, gets a lot of help from the Animal Protection and Rescue League as well as an organization called In Defense of Animals. This will be their very first protest.

OK, Phoenix, indulge a little.

We've been telling you about it all summer, and today the week-long event is finally kicking off. All week (until Sunday, July 26) fifteen of the Valley's best restaurants are just asking you to let them do the dirty work for you.

Yelp.com has recruited fifteen restaurants -- from the likes of Sol Y Sombra and Digestif to The Mission and Roaring Fork -- to offer a special $25, three course prix-fixe menu for the duration of the week. The idea is to promote real-people, local reviews on the social networking site -- but review or not, this is one of the best prix-fixe prices you'll find.

And these are not just some skimpy, give-away prix-fixes menus.

Lauren Gilger

Members of the Valley Forward Association eat their cheesecake and listen to the panel of speakers slated for the event: Robert McClendon of McClendon Farms, Leslie Curry of Whole Foods Markets and Michael Stebner of True Food Kitchen.

Forty years ago, Leslie Curry changed her diet.

She stopped eating processed foods and started eating the kinds of foods Madonna would famously advocate 3 decades later. It was macrobiotic, and it was, to put it kindly, out of the ordinary.

Today, however, Curry feels vindicated.

The proof? Now, a metro educator at Whole Foods Markets, she stood before a ballroom-full of Valley movers and shakers on Wednesday at the Valley Forward Association's first-ever luncheon on sustainability and talked about food grown with chemicals (bad for your body) and locally grown produce (good for your body). And they listened.

"These things I used to be ridiculed for," Curry says. "Now everybody knows that's the way to eat."

The same year, 1969, Curry swore off hamburgers for life, Bill Meek covered the founding of Valley Forward for the Arizona Republic. A few years later, when he was an administrative assistant for Arizona Public Service, he joined Valley Forward - an organization that was made up of the "CEO's of 15 or 20 of the biggest firms in the Valley."

"No one was thinking about sustainability," he says.

How things have changed.

Lauren Gilger

Adam Aponte enjoying lettuce wraps at P.F. Chang's in Scottsdale.

Adam Aponte loves P.F. Chang's. A lot.

In fact, he and a friend took off Thursday night on a cross-country road trip to eat their way through seven different P.F. Chang's China Bistro's, in seven different cities from Phoenix to Boston, over the next two weeks.

"And I plan on hitting five more on the way," he said Thursday night at the send-off soiree the Phoenix-founded restaurant chain threw for him and his family and friends...and the media. Oh, and he'll document every bite of Mongolian beef and mu shu chicken on Twitter - in 140 characters or less. (You can follow him at @pfchangs, or on his own account, @marioaa).

Lucky for P.F. Chang's, this guy isn't looking for variety...ever.

Benjamin Leatherman

As Toby Keith says, "Freedom don't come free." That may be true, but the food and drinks were definitely on the house at last night's grand opening hootenanny for the country music superstar's self-titled chain restaurant Toby Keith's I Love This Bar & Grill in Mesa on Wednesday.

More than a hundred strong packed into the ginormous eatery and drinkery (which gleams its moniker from his hit song of the same name) for the invite-only affair. Attendees (and even a few local celebrities) drank free beer served in mason jars and supped on miniature versions of many of the joint's distinctly southern-style pub grub selections,
ranging from deep fried Twinkies to grilled bologna and cheese sandwiches, as well as some freshly grilled skewers of beef and vegetables.

Check out some of the food porn-quality shots in our slide show.

Jonathan McNamara

A group of competitive eaters downing dogs at the Nathan's Hot Dog Contest Arizona Qualifier at Arizona Mill Mall. See more shots in our slide show.

Matthew Ramirez stepped out on to a raised platform in the Arizona Mills Mall food court and struck the sort of body building pose that would make Arnold Schwarzenegger proud. Unfortunately, muscular definition would be all but useless to the task that awaited 22-year-old Ramirez. No, he would require jaw strength above arm strength. He would require stamina, dedication and, more than anything else, hunger.

Ramirez was one of a dozen or so eaters fighting a war of mastication in the Famous Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Arizona Qualifier. The rules were simple: eat as many hot dogs and buns as possible in ten minutes. Throwing up or "a reversal of fortune" would be grounds for disqualification.

Competitors hailed from all over California, Arizona and even Washington. Erik "The Red" Denmark from Seattle was the only ranked eater at the event. According to the International Federation of Competitive Eating representative MCing the event, Denmark is the 15th highest ranked eater in the world, famously known for being a champion salmon eater. How would he stack up with his preferred food stuff replaced by red hots?

How many hot dogs can you eat? Ten? Twenty? Sorry, pal. You don't cut the mustard, but I'm betting a mustard-belt or two that there are a few Phoenicians who do and will be down at Arizona Mills Mall on Saturday for the Famous Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest Qualifier. The wiener of this tournament gets to compete in the Famous Nathan's Fourth of July Hot Dog Eating Contest at Coney Island.