"phoenix" news and stories

• Will work for wine: Even Napa's feeling the economic pinch this winter.
• When surly chefs start tweeting, social media takes on an antisocial vibe.
• "Motorino is having a moment. That seems fair. It serves the city's best pizza."
• Meanwhile, this Phoenix restaurant's goal is less lofty: "We're just trying to bring reality back to dining...to get back to the way people used to eat."
• Speaking of of old-fashioned eating: Finish your Brussels sprouts. No, really. You'll like them.

Arizona scouts looking to attend the 100th Anniversary National Scout Jamboree next summer will be getting a hand from Del Taco, QSRMagazine.com reports.

The restaurant chain announced its Phoenix-area Del Taco restaurants will raise money to help more than 430 local scouts attend the jamboree next July in Fort A.P. Hill, Va., by donating 20 percent of sale proceeds from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Oct. 21 and 29 and Nov. 4 and 11. Customers need to present fundraiser flyers available here when ordering.

"Next year's centennial Jamboree marks a historic and important milestone for the Boy Scouts of America," Jamboree scoutmaster Keith Woods told the magazine. "This will be an exciting opportunity for our local scouts to be part of a huge celebration. We appreciate everything Del Taco is doing to make this trip happen."

[Via QSRMagazine.com.]

A weekly look at the draft selection at beer-friendly bars across the country.

I'm spending the holidays in Phoenix, Arizona. One thing I immediately noticed is Phoenix has quite an affection for big box retailers and massive restaurant chain locations. Lots of land out here I guess. Fitting then that many of the city's "top beer bars" as determined by sites such as this one are nationwide brewpubs like Rock Bottom or BJ's Restaurant & Brewhouse. And though I'm sure a number of great independent beer bars exist in the Phoenix metropolitan area of which I'm guessing savvy and enraged commenters will be happy to enlighten me, I thought this a perfect opportunity to give one chain its due.

Whereas most chains' beer selections tend to lean towards the uninspired, some -- such as Yard House Restaurants -- have managed to excel. Along with locations in California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada and Texas, Yard House has three locations right here in Arizona. Every location boasts between 100 to 250 beers on tap, and yes, though many of them tend to be pedestrian (you'll likely find Michelob Ultra on every list) with such a large selection even the most discerning beer connoisseurs can find something that will pacify them.

After the jump, find some insights into how Yard House selects their beers and a link to their massive draft list.

Phoenix's Wrigley Mansion, the stately residence built by chewing gum magnate William Wrigley in the late twenties, is experiencing some backlash for hosting an extreme dinner catered by renegade chef Kaz Yamamoto. The meal featured such questionable items as saguaro cactus, bichon frise and seal sushi.

Unfortunately not everybody out there is as open-minded as Chef Yamamoto. The Wrigley has fielded hundreds of phone calls from irrate individuals, some of whom have even threatened to burn the place down. Lighten up people. It's the 21st century, surely we should have a more embracing attitude toward a chef whose name may one day be uttered in the same breath as Escoffier.

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Chef Kazuki "Kaz" Yamamoto is on the cutting edge of cuisine. And by "cutting edge," what I mean is that he cooks rare, occasionally immoral, and sometimes outright illegal, foods for those who are willing to pay for them. Based out of Arizona, he travels to homes of rich and/or famous clients and plies them with previously untasted delicacies from his traveling "restaurant, known as "Le Menu". Because his client list includes government officials and gastronomes alike, Yamamoto says he has had few problems in the past obtaining locations, including restaurants, to hold his dinners. When Stephen Lemons, the Phoenix New Times food critic joined in a dinner, he sampled foods such as Saguaro cactus salad, made from the legally protected succulent; tenderloin of Bichon Frise, endangered pygmy owl, roasted and eaten whole, with entrails and bones intact; and nigiri-style seal sushi.

Other items that Yamamoto is famed for include chimpanzee stew (protected), grilled intestines of brown bear (poached from Yosemite), rhino genitals, gila monster, giraffe tongue, monkey tartare and a dozen variations on penguin meat.

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