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After a week of VIP parties, Sam Fox’s latest restaurant concept – The Arrogant Butcher at downtown Phoenix’s CityScape – opens to the public today. The menu can be described as elevated comfort food. For lunch, there’s a roasted squash

After 16 months at Caffe Boa, chef Payton Curry has given notice. His final day at the downtown Tempe restaurant and its year-old sibling, Caffe Boa Bistro in east Mesa, will be Monday. The 31-year-old plans to open his own

If you ever need evidence of the hardiness of Valley beer lovers, look no further than Saturday’s Strong Beer Festival. Despite 50-degree temperatures, gusty winds and a steady rain, more than a thousand people flocked to Steele Indian School Park

Short-lived Vatra Grillhouse in Arcadia has reopened as Kitchen 56 with new management, a new chef and a new menu of casual American comfort food. Now heading the kitchen is Jonathan Stonis, formerly of Olive & Ivy and Bloom. Now Open in

The James Beard Award semifinalists for 2011 were announced this morning, and Kevin Binkley of Cave Creek’s Binkley’s Restaurant and Silvana Salcido Esparza of Phoenix’s Barrio Café (both pictured) once again are in contention for Best Chef – Southwest. A third Arizona

Who’s up for some orange chicken for lunch tomorrow? Two months after getting the boot from its landlord, popular Tott’s Asian Diner reopens Friday in Chandler, less than three mile south of its former Tempe location. Tott’s has taken over the

Elements chef Beau MacMillan (center), who was just replaced on “Worst Cooks in America,” will resurface on the Food Network next month. MacMillan will compete on a March 6 episode of “Chopped All-Stars” to raise money for charities. Other chefs

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.