Category: Awards & Accolades

🍹 Phoenix has three finalists announced today in the Tales of the Cocktail Spirited Awards, one of the top honors for bars and bartenders. Century Grand, which won Best U.S. Cocktail Bar last year, is one of four finalists for

🏅 Congrats to Bacanora chef Rene Andrade, who was named Best Chef Southwest at the 2024 James Beard Awards, known as the ‘‘Oscars of the food and beverage industry.’’ At Monday night’s award show in Chicago, Andrade, who grew up

🍍 Cory Oppold (left) of Course Restaurant in Scottsdale was named Top Chef and Matt Carter (right) of Fat Ox, The Mission, and Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale received the Food Pioneer Award (lifetime achievement award) at the Arizona Restaurant Association’s 2024 Foodist Awards. This year’s other winners: Standout

🍩 Congrats to two East Valley residents who won this year’s Donut Flavor Craze contest at Bashas’. Brian Vehon from Mesa won the adult category with his “What’s Up, Doc?” doughnut (a light cream cheese frosting with carrot cake crumbles) inspired

🍹 Congrats to several Phoenix bars and bartenders named among 10 finalists in their respective categories in Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s 18th annual Spirited Awards, the Oscars of the bar industry: U.S. Bartender of the Year: Nicole Giampino of

🥈 Congrats to Queen Creek Olive Mill, which won a silver award for its Estate Extra Virgin Olive Oil at the New York International Olive Oil Competition, the world’s largest and most prestigious olive oil contest. QCOM previously won a

🍸 The Tales of the Cocktail Foundation has announced the first round of nominees for its 2024 Spirited Awards, one the the highest honors in the bar business. Five Phoenix bars made U.S. West regional lists of top 10 nominees:

Arizona has two finalists in the 2024 James Beard Awards, the so-called ‘‘Oscars of the food and beverage industry.’’ Who are they? Crystal Kass of Valentine in Phoenix is one of five finalists for the country’s Outstanding Pastry Chef or

🏆 The Gastronomic Union of Tucson (GUT), a collective of more than three dozen chefs from Arizona’s second-largest city, won best of show at the 15th annual Devour Culinary Classic at the Desert Botanical Garden in Phoenix on Saturday. GUT’s team

🏅 For the second straight year, Arizona has 12 semifinalists for James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s version of the Oscars. Let’s hope they fare better than last year’s semifinalists, none of whom made the finals. 2024 semifinalists Outstanding Restaurateur:

🏆 Chilte, a former Mexican pop-up concept that opened a bricks-and-mortar restaurant in February at the Egyptian Motor Hotel in downtown Phoenix, has been named one of The 24 Best New Restaurants of 2023 by Bon Appetit. ‘‘Owners Lawrence Smith

🏆🍹 Century Grand, the immersive three-bar concept in Phoenix, was named Best U.S. Cocktail Bar at the Tales of the Cocktail Foundation’s 17th annual Spirited Awards, the Oscars of the bar industry, in New Orleans. The concept: Century Grand, located

12 West Brewing won a gold medal and Grand Canyon Brewing earned a silver and two bronzes at the U.S. Open Beer Championship in Oxford, Ohio. Arizona medal winners and categories: 🥇 Gold: Smooth Transitions, 12 West Brewing, Mesa, in

🍕 Three Valley pizzerias again are among the top 50 in the United States according to 2023 rankings by 50 Top Pizza, a pizza evaluation website based in Italy. Pizzeria Bianco in Phoenix rose to No. 6, after being ranked

The Valley was completely shut out – going 0 for 9 – when finalists for the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards were announced this morning. Nine local chefs or restaurants were among 20 semifinalists in various award categories at the

Silvana Salcido Esparza (pictured) from Barrio Café in Phoenix has been named one of 20 nationwide semifinalists for Outstanding Chef in the 2023 James Beard Foundation Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars. In addition, five Valley chefs are

Felicia Tobin from Floridino’s Pizza & Pasta in Chandler has won Best Host in the United States in first-ever Servies awards presented by Yelp to celebrate front-of-house restaurant employees. The Servies: Awards were presented in eight categories, including Best Host, Best

Cuisine & Wine Bistro, the family-owned and -operated restaurant and wine bar in south Chandler, has received Wine Spectator magazine’s ‘‘Award of Excellence’’ for the second consecutive year. Award requirements: Restaurants earn this distinction by having a wine list featuring

Four Arizona restaurants – two in Phoenix, one in  Chandler, and one in Tucson – have made the New York Times’ annual list of the ‘‘50 places in America we’re most excited about right now’’: Bacanora: Chef Rene Andrade’s year-old

Vegan restaurant Beaut Burger has won some national acclaim for having one of the 16 “Best Veggie Burgers in America,” according to TastingTable.com. The burger: Simply labeled Burger B9 on the menu, it’s made with roasted eggplant, pepita pesto, and

Chris Bianco, owner of Pizzeria Bianco, Pane Bianco, and Tratto in Phoenix, was named the country’s Outstanding Restaurateur at the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars, tonight in Chicago. The Bronx-born Bianco previously won a

Bacanora, an informal Mexican restaurant that’s captivated Valley diners with chef René Andrade’s Sonoran comfort food, fell short in its bid to win Best New Restaurant at the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards, the Oscars of the culinary world, tonight

Giovanni Scorzo, owner of Andreoli Italian Grocer in Scottsdale, fell short in his bid to win Best Chef Southwest at the 2022 James Beard Foundation Awards, the Oscars of the culinary world, today in Chicago. Scorzo was one of five

Don Guerra, owner and head baker at Barrio Bread in Tucson, has won the 2022 James Beard Foundation Award for Outstanding Baker. The Tempe native, who opened Barrio Bread in his garage in 2009, is the first Arizona baker to

Tucson is among ‘‘America’s seven most exciting up-and-coming destinations for food lovers,’’ according to the May issue of Food & Wine Magazine. The article, ‘‘The Next Great Food Cities,’’ cites Tucson’s tortillas, bread, and chocolate, among other things. The list

Arizona has four finalists for this year’s James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars: Giovanni Scorzo of Andreoli Italian Grocer in Scottsdale (Best Chef Southwest), Bacanora in Phoenix (Best New Restaurant), Chris Bianco of Tratto, Pane Bianco,

Fifteen Arizona chefs and restaurants have been announced as semifinalists for this year’s James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars: Best Chef Southwest: Lori Hashimoto (Hana Japanese Eatery, Phoenix), Giovanni Scorzo (Andreoli Italian Grocer, Scottsdale), John Martinez

Cider Corps in downtown Mesa is the fifth-best cidery – out of more than 800 – in the United States according to USA Today’s 10Best Readers’ Choice contest. A panel of experts and 10Best editors picked the initial nominees for

For what it’s worth: ‘‘The 101 Best Pizzas in America’’ include three in Arizona, according to The Daily Meal. The food and drink website’s annual rankings put Pizzeria Bianco (pictured) in Phoenix at No. 14 and Cibo in Phoenix at

Century Grand, the train-themed cocktail bar in Arcadia, is one of four finalists for Best New American Cocktail Bar in the Spirited Awards. The 10-month-old bar, restaurant and bottle shop is the first from Arizona to make the finals in

The annual James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars, have been canceled for 2020 and 2021 due to the coronavirus pandemic. This year’s finalists in the various categories were announced May 4, and winners were to be

Congrats to Chrysa Robertson of Rancho Pinot in Scottsdale, Silvana Salcido Esparza of Barrio Cafe in Phoenix and Jeff Smedstad of Elote Cafe in Sedona, who were named finalists for Best Chef Southwest in the prestigious James Beard Awards. Pizzeria

Twenty-two Arizona chefs and restaurants have received nominations for this year’s James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars. Ten of those were nominated for Best Chef Southwest, a newly reconfigured geographical category that now includes Arizona, New

Huge congrats to Charleen Badman, the chef and co-owner of FnB in Scottsdale who was named Best Chef Southwest at the annual James Beard Awards in Chicago on Monday night. The victory at the Beard Awards, the culinary world’s version of the

Charleen Badman from FnB in Scottsdale has been named one of five finalists for Best Chef Southwest in this year’s prestigious James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s version of the Oscars. Badman was one of four Valley chefs among the

Kevin Binkley from Phoenix’s Binkley’s, Charleen Badman from Scottsdale’s FnB, and Silvana Salcido Esparza from Phoenix’s Barrio Cafe Gran Reserva once again are semifinalists for Best Chef Southwest in the James Beard Awards. A fourth Valley chef – Nadia Holguin from the just-closed Roland’s Café Market Bar

No Beards for you! That was the message to Arizona this morning when the prestigious James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars, announced its 2017 finalists in dozens of food and drink categories. Three Arizona chefs who were

This year’s James Beard Award semifinalists were announced this morning and three Arizonans are up for Best Chef Southwest: Charleen Badman (pictured on left) from FnB in Scottsdale, Silvana Salcido Esparza (center) from Barrio Urbano in Phoenix, and Jeff Smedstad (right) from

Congrats to Anthony Serrano, who finished sixth Tuesday at the Final Table at the fifth annual World Food Championships in Orange Beach, Ala. More than 400 professional and amateur chefs faced off in what’s billed as the world’s food sport

Anthony Serrano, chef and owner of El Palacio Mexican Restaurant & Cantina in Chandler, won one of 10 category championships at the World Food Championships in Orange Beach, Ala., on Sunday. Nearly 400 professional and amateur chefs squared off at the

Barrio Cafe in Phoenix ranks No. 1 on a list of the 10 Best Mexican Restaurants in America compiled Tabelog, an online community of food lovers. Tabelog says of Barrio Cafe, which was the only Arizona restaurant to make the list: “Preparing some

The awards keep coming for Little Miss BBQ in Phoenix. Gayot is the latest to honor the two-year-old Phoenix ’cue joint. The website, which reviews restaurants and hotels, named Little Miss one of the top 10 barbecue spots in the U.S.

For the ninth consecutive year, Arizona will not have a James Beard Award-winning chef or restaurant. Even worse, this year we don’t even have a finalist. The culinary world’s equivalent of the Oscars announced its three to five finalists in

Time Out magazine has come out with a list of the ‘‘Best Chinese restaurants in America,’’ and it includes a Chandler restaurant. At No. 12, you’ll find the longtime House of Egg Roll, which got new owners last May and has become

Congrats to Craft 64 in Old Town Scottsdale for being named the top new restaurant and/or bar in Arizona in 2015. Nightclub & Bar magazine partnered with Yelp to choose the “Top-Rated New Hot Spots from 2015” – one in each

There’s a decidedly global flavor to my 2015 list of favorite new restaurants in Tempe, Chandler, Gilbert, and Mesa (restaurants listed in alphabetical order): BP Street Cafe What: Malaysian food, sorta where Chinese meets Indian. The menu is split between rice and rice dishes.

The Arizona Society of Homebrewers, the largest homebrewing club in the United States with more than 500 members, handed out its 2015 ASHy Awards over the weekend. The fourth annual awards, voted on by members, recognize not only club members’ accomplishments,

Kai Restaurant at the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort in Chandler is the third-best restaurant in the entire country, according to OpenTable. The online restaurant-reservation service just released its annual list of the Top 100 restaurants in the United States, based on

It’s food award season in the Valley, and local newspapers, magazines, and websites have been tripping over each other trying to tell you about the Best Place to Find Cronuts Before We Arbitrarily Decide Cronuts are No Longer Trendy. Not

Kevin Binkley from Binkley’s in Cave Creek and Charleen Badman from FnB in Scottsdale are among the semifinalists for Best Chef Southwest in the 2015 James Beard Awards, the culinary world’s version of the Oscars. In other categories, Sam Fox of

The second annual ranking represents restaurants that, according to the user-review website, “were the most popular and well reviewed over the course of 2014.” Little Miss BBQ (pictured), which opened near Sky Harbor Airport (University and 43rd Street) last February, is