Blogs

By Jonathan McNamara

I walked up to the two hostesses with bleach-blonde hair wearing mint green dresses. Earlier, they’d ushered me into this Bacardi-sponsored “Mojito Masterclass” at Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain with a smile at the door and a quick check on the guest list. Now, they were mingling with the crowd of restaurant owners, hotel managers and bartenders, who were snacking on satays while sipping, what else, a multitude of minty mojitos.

See more photos from the event in our slide show "Mojito Masterclass at Sanctuary."

“So do you two like mojitos?” I know, I know. Ask a stupid question, get a marketing-trained answer, but it was already out there.

“I order them all the time,” said the bombshell on the right. “I really like the melon ones.”

Melon!?

Maybe I’m a bit old-school when it comes to my cocktails but it seems to me that a true mojito comprises mulled mint, limes and sugar with rum and a splash of club soda. When you start tossing strawberries into the mix you’re ruining a perfectly good drink, right?

More

By Jonathan McNamara

The Summer heat didn't slow Downtown Phoenix Public Market down a bit this Saturday. While just across the street early morning people scrambled to get a seat at Matt's Big Breakfast, market shoppers selected fresh produce, traded crafts and oh yeah, got autographs from Top Chef cast members Richard Blais (season four) and Betty Fraser (season two).

See more Top Chef shots in our slideshow.

The two chefs were in town as part of 20-city road tour promoting the popular Bravo! cooking competition series Top Chef.

But there was more cooking for Top Chef fans than getting their books and T-shirts felt-tipped. Inside the Top Chef custom 18-wheeler, diehard fans with reserved tickets got to sit in on a cooking demonstration by the two chefs while dishing about the show.

It is unknown whether Mayor Phil Gordon and State Representative Robert Meza were ticket holders, but they two made it in to the tiny truck studio for the demonstration.

When asked if he's an avid Top Chef fan, Meza said, "Oh yeah! I was just telling my friend to get cable to watch it."

More

By: Megan Irwin

The latest bar to open at Tempe Marketplace.

D’Arcy McGee’s is the latest chain restaurant to come to Tempe Marketplace. And as far as chains (this one’s based out of Canada) go, this one is pretty good. On a scale where let’s say Ruby Tuesday is the bottom and, oh I don’t know, P.F. Changs is at the top, D’Arcy McGee’s ranks a notch above Applebees.

And I don’t begrudge it for that. It’s not like an independent pub could afford the rent at Tempe’s newest mall. It’s generic, yeah, but that’s not always bad. If you’re at Tempe Marketplace and you’re craving a beer that isn’t Budweiser, this is your best bet. We give this location bonus points for being the chain’s restaurant on American soil – the rest are in Ontario, Canada.

It’s got all the makings of a classic Irish pub – dark wood interior, waitresses in black and white kilts, good beers on tap. The barkeep was especially friendly, if anything, I’d go back because his service was so good.

I didn’t get a chance to try much of the food, but I did try the bread pudding, and it was delicious. Like any good Irish woman, I judge a pub mostly by the quality of the alcohol available, McGees has a fine selection of bottled beer, draught beer (yay Strongbow!), and of course, whiskey.

By Sarah Ventre

It’s official. Summer has arrived. Maybe we haven’t seen the solstice, but for us Arizonans, when the temperature breaks 100 degrees for the first time, it’s here. It’s time for swimming, fireworks, activities that don’t involve being outside of the realm of air conditioning or submerged in water, and of course, hot dogs.

See more of the action in our slide show Nathan's Famous Hot Dog Qualifying Round at Arizona Mills Mall

For better or worse, one of the most momentous American occasions on that most historic Summer Holiday, the Fourth of July, is the Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. Every year at Coney Island, people gather from all over the world to see how many hot dogs they can eat in 12 minutes. Yummy.

Last Saturday, May 31, the food court of Arizona Mills Mall witnessed a qualifying contest for the Nathan’s event. The winner of this competition won a trip to the Brooklyn beach to compete against some of the most famous professional eaters in the world.

More