The Arizona Republic's 2008 Readers Choice Awards for Food and Dining
Posted At : May 17, 2008 9:59 AM | Posted By : Rob Brooks-Bilson
Related Categories: Wine, Dessert, Japanese, Italian, Breakfast, Arizona, Chinese, Glendale, Tempe, Mexican, Rant, Chandler, Thai, Press, Phoenix, Gilbert, Sushi, Mesa, Mediterranean, Steak, Ahwatukee, Pizza

Back in 2006, I wrote a post criticizing the Ahwatukee Foothills News for their Best of Ahwatukee list. The winners in almost all categories were well known chain restaurants, leading me to wonder whether it was the paper pandering to their advertisers, or the case that people in Ahwatukee just had no taste.

You'll understand then why I became completely infuriated when I came across the Arizona Republic's 2008 Reader's and Critic's Choice Awards for Best Dining & Food. While I can say that the critic's awards were all within the realm of possibility (although I find some of the categories odd), the Reader's Choice awards were completely appalling. By an amazing happenstance, Oreganos's Pizza Bistro (no link, their site requires an annoying ActiveX control, which is a possible security hazard) won 11 out of 31 categories. That's right. Not only did they win best pizza, but also best Italian, best sandwich, best dessert, best family owned, best for a first-date, best local treasure, best takeout, best patio dining, best worth the wait and best quick (non-fast) food. How the heck do you win both best quick and best worth the wait? I don't even know where to start with this. If Oregano's had simply won best pizza, I could have lived with that, although I would have personally disagreed. However, winning 11 out of 31 categories, some of them totally ridiculous completely smacks of ballot-stuffing. Come on AZ Republic, wake up! Learn how to run a poll. I've never lived in or visited another major city with such a crappy (and consistently crappy) reader's choice awards.

Just so you can see the full list for yourself, here it is, along with some snarky commentary from me:

  • Best Dessert: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - I know people like the pizza cookie, but come on. There are some seriously talented pastry chefs in the valley, and this is the best that people could come up with?
  • Best Breakfast: Crackers & Co. - never been there, so I can't argue with this one.
  • Best Indian Restaurant: Indian Maharaja Palace - Indian food in the valley is mediocre at best.
  • Best Pizza: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - If this is the will of the people, fine. However, there is much better to be found as you can see from the runner-up list.
  • Best Neighborhood Mexican: Carolina's Mexican Food - This makes sense.
  • Best Bakery: Wicked Witch Bakery - Works for me, although I find the bakery selection in the valley to be seriously lacking.
  • Best Family-owned Restaurant: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - it is a family owned restaurant.
  • Best Late-Night Eats: Fez - Couldn't agree more. Excellent food all the way through closing.
  • Best Place for a First Date: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - if someone took me here for a first date, it would also be the last date.
  • Best Salsa: Macayo's - WTF?!!?
  • Best Sushi: Ra See best salsa!
  • Best Restaurant 'Worth the Wait': Oregano's Pizza Bistro - with long waits both at lunch and on weekends, Oregano's is definitely popular. However, I can't say it's really worth the wait.
  • Best Wine Selection: D'Vine Bistro & Wine Bar - Been there and wasn't that impressed. If wine selection is really the criteria, then how could a place like Cowboy Ciao (even though I hate how their wine list is organized), or Kazimierz not win?
  • Best Barbecue: Famous Dave's Legendary Pit Bar-B-Que - very hot topic. My pick would be Joe's Real BBQ, but that's just me.
  • Best Local Treasure: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - Seriously now. Local treasure? Can you say huh?
  • Best Chinese: P. F. Chang's China Bistro - Good Chinese isn't great in the valley, but we do have better than P. F. Chang's, and I don't mean Pei Wei.
  • Best Place for Takeout: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - NO!
  • Best Non-Chain Hamburger: Zipps Sports Grill - Oh boy. It's a typical bar burger. It isn't bad, but it's by far not the best. Both Delux and Chuckbox should easily have been at the top of the list.
  • Best Ice Cream/Frozen Novelty: Maui Wowi - Wowi Maui. Good job.
  • Best Middle Eastern Restaurant: Haji-Baba - Very popular and supplies most of the rest of the middle eastern/Mediterranean restaurants in the area.
  • Best Italian Restaurant: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - It's a pizza place with a handful of other Italian dishes! There are many, many more Italian restaurants in the valley that are far superior.
  • Best Sandwich: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - This is such a broad category. In many other cities they would break this one out. Mention this wind to a dozen of your friends and see how many of them react with "are you kidding me?"
  • Best Restaurant to Splurge: Fleming's Prime Steakhouse & Wine Bar - it's definitely $$$, but for the money, I'd rather go to Kai.
  • Best Quick (Non-Fast) Food: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - This one defies logic. Considering the long waits that are a staple of Oregano's, I don't see how you can read this one with a straight face. Even when you do finally get a table, it's often a long wait for the food!
  • Best Steakhouse: Donovan's Steak & Chop House - I think you'll find a lot of people divided on this one.
  • Best Romantic Restaurant: The Melting Pot - Fondue can definitely be romantic, however, for overall atmosphere, there are better choices.
  • Best Pub with Grub: Zipps Sports Grill - For the love of all things! Four Peaks, Sonoran, and about ten other places come to mind before I would have ever thought to myself "hey Zipp's!"
  • Best Patio Dining: Oregano's Pizza Bistro - The AZ republic actually got this right in their commentary on the win when they wrote "Located all over the Valley, with patios overlooking parking lots, streets and walls, it's hard to say what, exactly, it was about the outdoor dining spaces at the various Oregano's that azcentral.com voters found so alluring."
  • Best Health Food Store: Trader Joe's - I love Trader Joe's, and so does everyone else.
  • Best Sunday Brunch: T. Cook's - There is talent there, although the execution can be spotty.
  • Best Thai Restaurant: Pink Pepper Thai Cuisine - NO WAY IN HELL. Swaddee, Maylee's, Yuppha, and many more should be at the top of this list.

It's hard to get people to take Arizona seriously as a foodie destination when this is the best we can come up with.

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Phoenix Metro Sushi Restaurants on Google Maps
Posted At : April 11, 2007 11:47 AM | Posted By : Rob Brooks-Bilson
Related Categories: Sushi, Mesa, Japanese, Misc, Arizona, Asian, Tempe, Scottsdale, Chandler, Phoenix

Google recently released a new feature of their popular Google Maps application called My Maps. Essentially, it's a way to create customized Google Maps without any programming. In about 10 minutes, I was able to create a map of all Sushi restaurants in the Phoenix Metro area. Check it out:

Phoenix Metro Sushi Restaurants (Google Maps)

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Korean BBQ - Mesa, Arizona
Posted At : November 17, 2005 1:55 PM | Posted By : Rob Brooks-Bilson
Related Categories: Mesa, Arizona, Asian, Reviews, Korean

A few weeks ago, Pere and I had tickets to see the Shanghai acrobats perform at the new Mesa Arts Center in downtown Mesa. If you've never been to the Arts Center, you owe it to yourself to check it out - even if you aren't catching a performance there. It is absolutely the finest building (architecturally) in Mesa, and one of the finest in all of Arizona. It also happens to be the largest arts center in the state.

Since Pere was coming from North Scottsdale and I from Chandler, we decided to meet for dinner somewhere in Mesa before the show. If you've never been to Mesa before, it isn't exactly a mecca for fine dining. In fact, once you rule out corporate chains, it gets difficult to find much else. One place I have been meaning to try, though, is a place called Korean BBQ on Alma School and Guadalupe. I hadn't had Korean in a while, and with the weather getting cooler at night, I'd been in the mood for the type of comfort food that Korean dining provides.

We ended up meeting around 6:15 or so and had the place virtually to ourselves for half of the meal. The restaurant is tucked away in the corner of a strip mall, but that shouldn't surprise anyone given that's standard for most Arizona restaurants. The interior decor is sparse, but tasteful. One thing I like about Korean BBQ is that they have the tables with the built in grills for grilling your own meat. I'd say the Korean restaurants in Arizona are split about 50/50 on places that do vs. places that don't. Since this was Pere's first experience with a Korean restaurant (we've cooked a few Korean dishes at home), I thought she should have the full effect.

We started off by ordering OB (Oriental Brewery), an import from Korea. Made with rice, it's essentially Korea's answer to Budweiser. It tasted very similar. Very light and easy to drink, but essentially flavorless. Since it was also happy hour while we were there, our waitress informed us that our beers came with free sake (presumably for sake bombers). The sake was unremarkable. We didn't bomb them this time around and instead sipped them throughout our meal.

After looking over the menu, we decided to split three dishes. I knew it was probably going to be too much food, but I wanted variety! We ordered Bul Gogi (thinly sliced marinated sirloin), Bibim Bap (stone bowl filled with rice, beef, vegetables, seaweed and a fried egg) , and Haemul Pajun (rice flour pancake with spring onions and seafood).

The first item to arrive at our table was the Bul Gogi. Our waitress placed all of the meat on the grill at once. The result was that all of the meat was done at the same time. I would have preferred to grill the meat in smaller batches so that we didn't end up with a big pile of meat that was mostly cold by the time we got to it. Grilling preference aside, the meat was nicely marinated and very tender and juicy when grilled. Wrapped in lettuce and

Next up was the Bibim Bap, a stone bowl beautifully presented with rice, beef, jullianed veggies, seaweed, and a fried egg. The funny thing about Bibim Bap is that in order to eat it, you basically take all of the arranged items in the bowl, add a bunch of sauce, and mix it all together. The end result is quite tasty, especially the crispy bits of rice scraped up from the bottom of the bowl.

Our third dish was the Haemul Pajun. When the waitress put it down on the table, I knew right away that there was no way we were going to finish all of the food we ordered. The Haemul Pajun was the size of a medium pizza. It was topped with spring onions and stuffed with squid and octopus. Overall, the pancake was really good. The seafood inside was a little on the chewy side, but the overall flavor, when accented with the dipping sauce our waitress provided was quite tasty. We finished as much as we could and asked the waitress to box up the rest.

Unfortunately, we were too full for desert. This has always been the case for me when I've had Korean food. There's just so much that's available as part of the meal, I've never managed to save enough room for desert. All in all, our meal at Korean BBQ was good. I still need more experience with Korean food outside of Arizona before I can really say what's really good and what's not outside of the limited experiences I've had so far.

Korean BBQ on Urbanspoon

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