Author: Jess Harter

I was barely out of bed Sunday morning when I received a Facebook message from a friend: Simply Bread closed doors today! For a moment, it was hard to believe. But within hours I heard the same news from a

Bonfire Grill & Bar, which took over the former Furio building in Old Town Scottsdale, will open March 1. Bonfire, which has a wood-fired grill, will offer a menu of New American cuisine created by consulting chef Matt Carter (Zinc

Sweet Daddy Cupcakes, the Glendale bakery that competed on the Food Network’s “Cupcake Wars” show two weeks ago, is expanding. Owners Kory Davidson and Jason Podany are opening a second location at Arizona Avenue and the 202 in Chandler in March.

LGO Public House, scheduled to open next month, has pulled out of CityScape, the $900 million retail/commercial project in downtown Phoenix. Bob Lynn, founder of the La Grande Orange restaurant group, says the “space wasn’t suitable” to build a ventilation

Victoria “Vicki” Johnson, who founded Macayo’s Mexican restaurants with her husband, Woody, died Jan. 29 at age 89. The high school sweethearts’ first Macayo’s opened in 1950 at 4001 N. Central in Phoenix. Diners at the location, still open today, have

BarFly, the latest venture from Valley restaurateur Sam Fox (pictured), will open Feb. 18 at Phoenix Sky Harbor. It replaces the old Fox Sport Grill (which had no association to Sam Fox). The new eatery, located beyond the security checkpoint

Five Arizona craft brewers have teamed up to create what they’re calling the state’s first collaboratively blended craft beer for the Arizona Beer Week, which runs Feb. 19-26. The beer, an Imperial Red Ale that will debut at the Strong

Two Hippies, the chain of ’60s-themed, ultra-casual eateries that started in 2007, is opening four more restaurants, bringing its Valley total to 19: • A Two Hippies Beach House and Groovy Bar opened this week at Greenway Parkway and Cave Creek

Four months after taking over Adobe Restaurant, chef Wade Moises is out. Moises, you may recall, left Sassi in north Scottsdale to launch PastaBar in 2009, but left the downtown Phoenix eatery in August 2010. He was hired in September

The Bidwill family, owners of the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals, have bought the recently closed Tom’s Tavern in downtown Phoenix and plan to reopen the 80-year-old restaurant. Tom’s most recent owner, Michael Ratner, put the restaurant up for sale last year

Geno’s Cheesesteaks & Deli has opened in Gilbert. And, no, it’s not associated with the legendary Philly cheesesteak spot Geno’s Steaks. The Gilbert restaurant, on the northwest corner of Val Vista and Williams Field, is a sibling of Geno’s Famous

Arizona State University graduate Sven Liden and some friends have developed Bakon Vodka: We were just joking around like, `I wonder if a bacon-flavored spirit would be good.’ Of course, you’re like, `Well, I don’t know.’ But then we started thinking about

Habit Burger Grill, which has 30 locations in Southern California, is coming to the East Valley. The chain plans to open its first Arizona restaurant in the former Tott’s Asian Diner building at McClintock and Guadalupe in Tempe this spring.

Rice Paper – a restaurant showcasing Vietnamese spring rolls – plans to open in midtown Phoenix in May. Owners Lan and Hue Tran says the rolls will sell for $2.75 apiece. The sisters, who worked in their family’s Vietnamese restaurant

Tradiciones, the Mexican restaurant at downtown Phoenix’s Pro’s Ranch Market, has closed. Rick Provenzano, one of three brothers who own the California-based chain of markets, says the restaurant is remodeling and changing its menu. Provenzano says the plan is to

Los Dos Molinos has opened in Ahwatukee, the popular Mexican restaurant’s fourth location in the Valley. The Ahwatukee location, at 40th Street and Chandler Boulevard, is only offering a partial menu for now, and will host a grand opening when

Randy Zweiban, the chef and owner of Province in Chicago (pictured), will open a second location of his well-regarded restaurant at the soon-to-open Westin Phoenix Downtown. Zweiban calls the food at his restaurant, which will open with the hotel on

It didn’t take long for Ana Borrajo to land on her feet. Less than a month after closing her Sapna Café in downtown Phoenix, Borrajo has been hired as chef of Pomegranate Café in Ahwatukee. Like Sapna, year-old Pomegranate (pictured) offers

Great news for fans of Tott’s Asian Diner: The south Tempe fave, which closed in December after its landlord refused to renew its lease, has found a new location. The restaurant just announced it’s signed a lease for the former

Less than a month after closing its longtime south Scottsdale retail shop and moving into The Duce in downtown Phoenix, Pop the Soda Shop is homeless again. Pop owner Jeff Guarino hopes to have a new outlet soon. In the