Author: Jess Harter

🍦 New York’s cult-favorite self-serve froyo chain 16 Handles has officially touched down in the Valley – and yes, it’s as extra as you’d hope. The East Village original that helped spark the modern froyo craze has opened its first

🍕 Picazzo’s Healthy Italian Kitchen has planted its seventh Arizona flag in Glendale, and it’s bringing the full “wait, this is healthy?” treatment to the northwest Valley. Founded in Sedona back in 2008, this family-owned operation has quietly built what

🌮 Velvet Taco – the chain that looked at a tortilla and said, ‘‘You could be so much more’’ – has opened its second Valley location at PV, the $2 billion redevelopment of the former Paradise Valley Mall near Cactus

🍜 Amy Pho, a family-run Vietnamese restaurant offering six varieties of pho, has opened its third Valley location on the northeast corner of Pinnacle Peak and 39th Drive in Glendale. Its first two locations opened last year in north Phoenix

🥤 Milkshake Factory, a Pittsburgh-based chain that made its Arizona debut in south Chandler last year, has soft-opened a second location near the southeast corner of SanTan Village Parkway and Ray in Gilbert. It’s just south of Topgolf and Main

🍣 Kura Revolving Sushi Bar, a popular Japan-based chain known for its conveyor-belt sushi and playful dining experience, has soft-opened its first West Valley location at Goodyear Civic Square. Diners grab plates as they glide past on a moving sushi

🍕 Il Forno Bello Pizzeria – a new concept from Horatio ‘‘Lacho’’ Hernandez, one of the Valley’s most venerable pizzaiolos – has opened in northeast Mesa. It takes over the one-time cantina building in front of Mexican restaurant Rancho de

🍣 Shiso, a modern Japanese restaurant and lounge, has opened in the same small plaza as El Camino on the northeast corner of Stetson Drive and Sixth Avenue in Old Town Scottsdale. Sushi takes center stage, but the menu ranges

🐓 bb.q Chicken – the South Korea–born fried chicken chain known for its ultra-crispy, double-fried wings – has opened its fourth Valley location on the southeast corner of Thomas and Third Street in midtown Phoenix. It joins locations that previously

🍕 Crust Simply Italian, a locally based East Coast Italian concept, has opened its fourth Valley location – and first in the West Valley – at The Trailhead on the northeast corner of Happy Valley and 83rd Avenue in Peoria. Known

🥘 San Idli, a restaurant specializing in traditional, plant-based fare rooted in the southern regions of India, has opened on the northwest corner of I-17 and Bell in north Phoenix. As its name suggests, idli (soft, steamed rice cakes) are

🍣 Zu Izakaya, a Tempe-born kitchen and bar offering Asian fusion cuisine and sushi, has opened a fourth location in the Fry’s Marketplace shopping center on the southwest corner of Gilbert and Baseline in Gilbert. In addition to sushi rolls,