From phxrailfood.com
0 1
It has now been a decade since the Newton, a small complex of several retail tenants, opened at the site of the old Beefeater’s location in Uptown Phoenix. Named for Jay Newton, the owner of the le…
on Fri, 11PM
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
People of a certain age may have grown up with vinyl records that were later traded in for compact discs followed by MP3 downloads and eventually streaming services. What happened to all those albu…
on Jan 10
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Until recently, a mention of the Tempe skyline would have most likely provoked a reaction of “What skyline?” For nearly a century, the historic Hayden Flour Mill was the tallest structure in Tempe.…
on Jan 4
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Ever since the summer 2023 release of the movie Barbie, there seems to have been a renewed interest in the color pink, particularly Pantone 219 C, the vivid version associated with the doll and her…
on Dec 27
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
One of the uglier moments of the 2024 Presidential campaign was a claim by conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer that if Kamala Harris were elected, “the White House will smell like curry.” Questi…
on Dec 20
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
Observers of coffee culture often speak in terms of waves. The current wave, one that has been crashing over our cities since the ‘90s, is the third one, characterized by single origin beans and ma…
on Dec 17
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
In restaurants, as with many other endeavors, small locations can sometimes breed creativity. It can be all too easy for a restaurant with expansive square footage to try to do everything at once, …
on Nov 29
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
In the Mesa Asian District, restaurants are often differentiated by their regional specialties within a broad and somewhat arbitrary classification of national cuisines. Among the numerous Chinese …
on Nov 22
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
The stereotype of Mexican beer is often reduced to a handful of brews ubiquitous in the United States. A bottle of Corona or a can of Tecate is seen as the natural accompaniment to tacos or a torta…
on Nov 10
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
After years of dominance by a standardized menu of familiar food deemed suitable for export, Thai restaurants in Phoenix are beginning to offer more variety. Somewhat paradoxically, the trend is mo…
on Nov 1
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Debates about international trade have been prominent in politics since NAFTA in the 1990s. When it comes to coffee, a truly global commodity, much of the effort towards reform has come in the form…
on Oct 25
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
From gringo-safe chains to hole-in-the wall taquerias, the streets of Phoenix are lined with Mexican restaurants — except much of that food in the past has been as much “border” a…
on Oct 18
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
The wording “farm to table” has long been used to describe a direct relationship between restaurateurs and their supplies. Another phrase, “nose to tail,” refers to using as much of an animal as po…
on Oct 5
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
The distance between Finland and Mexico’s Yucatan peninsula is nearly 6,000 miles, and neither place is particularly close to Phoenix. In terms of culture and climate, the three locations are also …
on Sep 27
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
In many Asian religions and cultures, the lotus flower has long been associated with purity and beauty. Thai Lotus, a restaurant in a former IHOP that shares a parking lot with a bare-bones strip m…
on Sep 21
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Taquerias are often thought of as utilitarian enterprises that are expected to be simple, cheap, and minimalistic. That desire for accessible and affordable food can sometimes become a stereotype t…
on Sep 13
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
There’s a song recorded by Dean Martin back in 1953 that many people born well after that year may still have heard at least once. It goes “When the moon hits your eye like a big pizza pie, that’s …
on Sep 7
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
CityScape and other big projects in the core of the downtown Phoenix business district are usually defined first in terms of their anchor tenants, whether a contemporary hotel like the Kimpton Palo…
on Aug 30
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
The coconut has often been stereotyped in America in terms of reruns of Gilligan’s Island or fruity cocktails like the piña colada. Recently, though, coconuts have had a lot more exposure, whether …
on Aug 23
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
There’s one sure way to tell when any type of “ethnic” food has become mainstream in the United States: It occurs when the cognoscenti start differentiating between the cuisines of the country’s va…
on Aug 23
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Mill Avenue, the spine of downtown Tempe and one of most pedestrian-friendly environments in the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, seems to have been in the doldrums recently. Longstanding businesses like…
on Aug 9
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
At first glance, there might seem to be little similarity between copper, the useful metal known for its ability to conduct heat and electricity, and sage, the herb used in many cultures for both c…
on Aug 2
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
Sometimes a business name endures long after its origin is forgotten or no longer relevant. Southwest and Delta airlines, for example, have routes that bely their original regional branding. In foo…
on Jul 27
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Sometimes, the best place to get a sandwich, burrito, or anything else with a starchy base, is a bakery. A business that crafts carbohydrates into various shapes and forms often knows best how to s…
on Jul 20
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Phoenix, like so many cities, suffers from a proliferation of drive-thrus, a format that offers convenience to motorists while marginalizing other modes of transport. The problem has gotten worse i…
on Jul 12
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Unlimited beef in multiple cuts seems to be the Americanized ideal of Korean food. That’s evident from the popularity of Korean BBQ places at which an all-you-can-eat price allows as much tabletop …
on Jul 2
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
On Roosevelt Row at the north end of downtown Phoenix, the current speed limit is 30 miles per hour. Given the heavy pedestrian presence in the area, that’s probably 10 more than it should be. Rega…
on Jun 28
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
It has now been at least two decades since the stretch of Roosevelt Street between Central Avenue and Seventh Street began to assume the name “Roosevelt Row.” At first, the designation described a …
on Jun 26
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Apache Boulevard in Tempe has long been an international restaurant row. From the campus of Arizona State University to the Mesa border, the thoroughfare has been home to foods of many nationalitie…
on Jun 25
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
With some work-from-home arrangements persisting after the pandemic, the prospects for commercial real estate in central business districts have become unclear. The tallest building in Arizona, the…
on Jun 22
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Whenever a restaurant operates within a museum, there are two inevitable questions. The first is logistical: Does eating there require museum admission, or does the restaurant have its own separate…
on May 31
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
There’s a scene from a Seinfeld episode decades ago in which an old friend working at a Kenny Rogers restaurant tells Jerry that what he serves is not fast food, but instead “good food served quick…
on May 24
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
It was half a century ago that disco music started to dominate the airwaves and singles charts. Five years later, as the ‘70s drew to a close, disco was already being pronounced “dead,” but it neve…
on May 10
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
For decades, the building at 1001 North Central Avenue in Phoenix was a plain mid-rise office building, the kind found in cities all over the country. That changed when the building was acquired by…
on May 3
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
One of the most versatile plants of the Sonoran Desert is the mesquite tree. Not only does the species provide greater shade than the more plentiful Palo Verde, but it also serves as a food source,…
on Apr 26
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
There’s an old fashioned saying that goes something like, “Sell the sizzle, not the steak.” In the parlance of the 1930s, when the saying is thought to have originated, this supposedly meant that p…
on Apr 19
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
There are always certain cuisines that are better represented in some parts of town than others. A great deal of that has to do with the distribution of populations of different ancestry who may be…
on Apr 13
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
901 N. 1st St., Phoenix AZ 85004 In the Hawaiian Islands, the word pidgin is used to describe the language that has emerged as an informal blend of indigenous, Asian,and European tongues. Since usa…
on Apr 4
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
It may be hard for Americans to imagine Italian food before tomatoes, but there was a time half a millennium ago when the red fruit was unknown in Europe. Columbus, Cortez, and other colonizers cha…
on Mar 29
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
From a distance, it’s hard to distinguish between the Downtown and Midtown business districts of Phoenix. Both are defined by clusters of high-rise office buildings, and from some vantage points, t…
on Mar 23
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
There’s something about the name Jimmy that suggests a finely calibrated balance between naughty and nice. Not as formal as James and not as down-to-earth as Jim, Jimmy falls in between, suggesting…
on Mar 16
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
When the food of China, a vast nation with many distinct regions, is reduced to stereotypes, one that is foremost is the idea that Sichuan food is an inevitable inferno of scorching spice. In fact,…
on Mar 8
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
There are figures of speech about “dessert stomach” or “dessert goes in a separate chamber” to explain why people who feel satiated after a big meal can still find room for something sweet afterwar…
on Mar 2
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
Four decades ago, the classic comedy “Newhart” featured an oddball trio introduced as “Larry, my brother Darryl, and my other brother Daryll” with only Larry speaking until the series finale. If tw…
on Mar 1
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
The historic Gold Spot building was one of the first shopping centers established in Phoenix when it was built in 1925, but it was far from the last. Now, strip malls are found on nearly every majo…
on Feb 17
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
In Mexican Spanish, the word chingon can mean something like cool or tough guy. It’s a loosely defined term that is difficult to translate and open to multiple meanings. For the Phoenix taqueria Ta…
on Feb 8
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
How far is the average person willing to walk for a really good taco? It depends on a lot of factors, including ability, weather, and the character of the neighborhood. Half a mile is generally con…
on Jan 31
From phxrailfood.com
0 0
699 S. Mill Ave. #115, Tempe AZ 85281 Each year in February, the Arizona Matsuri event is the region’s premier celebration of Japanese food and culture. Until recently, that was the main use of the…
on Jan 25
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
One of the biggest changes in downtown Phoenix’s restaurant lineup has been the transition from daytime to evening hours.The city center once had many restaurants that catered only to office worker…
on Jan 22
From phxrailfood.com
0 1
From downtown Phoenix to South Mountain, Central Avenue extends over five miles, passing through diverse terrain that includes the Warehouse District, the Grant Park and Harmon Park neighborhoods, …
on Jan 3, 2024