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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.

After less than 6 months in business, San Cabo Mexican Grill is out of business. I'm not sure the exact reasons, but I suspect it may have to do with owner Lloyd Melton's recent legal problems surrounding his arrest for participation in an alleged gambling ring. Either way, San Cabo is just another restaurant in a long line of failed establishments at the corner of Desert Foothills Parkway and Chandler Blvd.

The closing of San Cabo brings the total number of Mexican restaurants at the intersection to two, with both Filiberto's and Loco Patron set to open soon.

Regional Mexican food chain Filiberto's is set to open its latest outpost in Ahwatukee Foothills, on the site formerly occupied by Eddie Chan's Asian Bistro. That will bring the total number of Mexican restaurants at the four corners of Desert Foothills Parkway and Chandler Blvd to three - the others being San Cabo Mexican Grill, and the soon to open Loco Patron. While I can't say I'm excited to see yet another Mexican restaurant in the immediate area, I do have to say that Filiberto's makes the best beans of any Mexican restaurant I've been to. That, and the prices are incredibly cheap for what you get.

Let's hope that this location can stay off the negative side of the county's Health Inspection Report.

Expect a proper review after the new location opens.

What to do on a sunny, 107 degree day in Phoenix? Well, Margaritas, of course! Pere was in the mood for a margarita, so when I went to gather up the ingredients and noticed I was out of cheap tequila (read Cuervo), I was hit with a bit of inspiration.

After searching my liquor cabinet, I came up with a bottle of 1800 Reposado (still fairly cheap) that had been sitting there for at least 5 years, but that's not the inspired part. What was inspiring was what came next. I'm not fond of margaritas made from pre-made sweet and sour, or other margarita mixers. When at all possible, I like to make my margaritas from fresh lime juice, tequila, and triple-sec - sometimes with a splash of Gran Marnier floated on top for good measure. I started to wonder, though, if triple-sec really made for the best margarita or not. Looking through my cabinet some more, I decided to find out. I decided a tasting was in order, pitting triple-sec against Gran Mariner and Cointreau.

The rules were simple. Each margarita would be made using the following recipe:

• 2 oz tequila
• 1 ½ oz Cointreau/Gran Marnier/Triple-sec
• 1 oz fresh lime juice

Add to a shaker with ice, shake for 30 seconds and serve.

First up was the margarita made with Cointreau. My first reaction was that it was a bit tart. You could taste the orange of the Cointreau, but it was very subtle. It lacked the sweet balance that you expect in a margarita.

The second margarita was made with Gran Marnier. It was a little sweeter than the Cointreau version, but it was still overpowered by the fresh lime juice. I decided to experiment a bit by adding more Gran Mariner. That made things better, but it required quite a bit more of the Gran Mariner (3 oz total) to really balance the drink. By that point, the taste of the tequila was completely lost.

For the final margarita, I used triple-sec. Both Pere and I agreed that this was the best margarita. It had just the right balance of sweet and tart while retaining enough of the tequila's essence.

To take things a step further, I decided to try the triple-sec version with both Gran Marnier and Cointreau floated on top. While both versions were good, the triple-sec margarita with Gran Marnier won us over in the end.

Almost a year ago to the day, I made gazpacho. The recipe I used called for quite a few prepared ingredients (canned tomatoes, bottled salsa, and bloody mary mix), but it was super fast and simple to make and tasted reasonably good.

It just so happens that Pere decided to make another batch last night. This time around, she used a slightly different recipe:

• 2 medium ripe tomatoes, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped
• 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and chopped
• 1 celery, chopped
• 1 Jalapeño, diced
• 1/2 medium red onion, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cored, seeded and chopped
• 2 cups tomato juice
• 1/8 cup red wine (or balsamic) vinegar

This recipe turned out really well, and had a nice fresh taste to it. It was also really spicy. Pere didn't seed the jalapeno, since we both tend to like a lot of heat. For whatevewhatever, this particular jalapeno turned out to be really hot. I finished my bowl, but just barely.

We ended up with enough leftovers to have the gazpacho a 2nd time. Rather than freeze it, I decided it would just be easier to have it again the next day. To help tame the heat a bit, I added another can of tomato juice (V8) to the pot.

When it came time tonight to get dinner ready, Pere added a diced avocado, 3 tablespoons of cilantro, and 3/4 pound of cooked shrimp to the gazpacho and put it back in the fridge for a few hours so that the new flavors could combine. The results were fantastic. The avocado added additional depth to the soup while the cilanto reallycilantro up the flavor. The shrimp were a nice addition as well, balancing the dish with added protein.

One of my groups at work had to go in over the weekend to deploy a new web based system. Although I didn't really need to be there, I wanted to lend some moral support. Truth be told, I miss the hands on work that I really don't get to do anymore on the management side of things.

Since we were set to start the roll-out around 9 am, I decided to stop and grab breakfast for everyone. I chose to stop at the Original Burrito & Co. (no, the "&" is not a typo) in Ahwatukee. I love their breakfast burritos, and have made it a bit of a tradition to bring them in for the team whenever we have to do one of these weekend deployments. I've never had anything but the breakfast burritos at the Original Burrito & Co., but that's ok as I'm perfectly happy to have them as an occasional breakfast spot.

If you've never been there before, the place can get busy, and it often takes the staff there a good 20-30 minutes to fill a to-go order. I recommend calling ahead if you can. I didn't give it enough thought before I stopped in, so I showed up without already having placed an order.

There are about 8 or so different burritos on the menu made from various combinations of eggs, chorizo, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, green chilies, ham, sausage, bacon, and cheese. If you don't see a burrito you like, they are generally pretty good about putting one together for you that suits your fancy. On this particular day, I went with two Huevos a la Mexicana (eggs, cheese, tomatoes, onions & green chilies), two Huevos Papas (eggs, chorizo & potatoes), and two Bacon & Egg (no fancy names here). There were only going to be three of us, so I figured that two burritos each would be plenty.

After a good 25 minutes or so, the burritos were finally ready. When I saw the size of the bag, I realized that two burritos each was overkill. They were huge! The bag must have weighed a good six or seven pounds.

Twenty minutes later, I was at the office and unloading the food. In addition to the burrito, each order also comes with a small bag of home made tortilla chips and fresh salsa. We devoured the chips and salsa right away. The chips were nice and crisp, although a tad greasy. The salsa was indeed fresh and bursting with tomato and cilantro.

I went with the Huevos a la Mexicana burrito. The tortilla was still very warm and pliable, with the first bite releasing a good bit of steam. The eggs were nice and light and the entire burrito had quite a bit of flavor from the combination of onions and green chili. Adam and Ray each managed to polish off two burritos over the course of the morning and seemed to enjoy them as well.

I only manage to get food from the Original Burrito & Co. about two to three times a year, but man do I love those breakfast burritos.

Last night, I met up for dinner with two other local Phoenix food bloggers, Seth Chadwick (Phoenix Feast) and JK Grence (What The Jester Had For Dinner) at Los Sombreros in Scottsdale. Mario from I am Jack's Brain was supposed to join us too, but was unfortunately unable to make it. I had never met Seth or JK before, but have read their blogs and thought it would be fun to get together and chat about food.

I've been to Los Sombreros several times before as it's one of my favorite Mexican restaurants. One of the reasons I like it so much is because it's not the typical tacos, burritos, and combo plates smothered in cheese. The food at Los Sombreros exposes you to many of the flavors of Mexico that you just don't get at your local taco stand our burrito shop, let alone the mass of corporate Mexican chains that seem to be everywhere these days.

I got to the restaurant about 15 minutes early. I wasn't sure how traffic was going to be, so I left a bit early. Good thing as when I arrived, the place was packed and the wait for a table was going to be about 40 minutes. I bellied up to the bar and ordered a margarita - rocks with salt to sip while I waited for the other guys. Since I had never met them before, I had no real idea what they looked like other than a general description of Seth from an email. Luckily, the description was enough as we were pretty quick to recognize each other when he arrived. Seth and JK already knew each other, so we didn't have to repeat the whole exercise when JK arrived a few minutes later. Within another ten minutes or so, we were ready to be seated.

I normally order the guacamole at Los Sombreros as it's about as fresh as it gets and bursting with the flavors of avocado, cilantro and lime. I didn't order it on this visit, though, as I planned to have dessert and I knew there was no way I would be able to do an appetizer, entree and dessert.

While we looked over the menu, our waitress brought out a basket of chips with two salsas. One was a chipotle, and the other was your standard variety. Both are made fresh at the restaurant. I particularly liked the chipotle as it had a nice smokey quality.

Both JK and I went straight for the entrees while Seth ordered a jicama and orange salad to start. I had a taste of his salad, and it was really nice. The jicama was cut in french fry-sized pieces and had a nice chili-lime dressing. I can definitely see myself ordering the salad on a future visit.

I had a hard time deciding between the lamb adobo and the Guajillo short ribs. Since I had ordered the lamb adobo in the past, I decided to go with the short ribs this time. They were prepared by braising them in Negro Modelo and served with a red chili sauce. All entrees come with home made tortillas, and a choice of black beans, refried beans, rice, and seasonal vegetables. You get to pick two, so I chose the black beans and vegetables.

The short ribs were huge. There were actually two ribs in my serving, making me wonder whether or not I'd be able to finish them. The meat was very tender and flavorful. The red chili sauce was mild and well balanced against the meat. My only complaint about the ribs was that there was a little too much fat. It wasn't a big deal to cut around, but I would have preferred they been trimmed a bit more.

For dessert, all three of us ordered the daily special - pumpkin seed praline ice cream. I've had their flan and their chocolate tamales before, both excellent desserts, so I figured the ice cream sounded interesting enough. When the ice cream was brought out, I was pretty excited. It looked really good. Unfortunately, there was way too much praline in the mix, and the majority of it was slightly burned. Seth and JK had the same issue with theirs. It's unfortunate because the few bites that didn't have too much praline were really good. If it sounds like I'm making excuses for Los Sombreros, I'm not. Just about everything they do, they do well. I've been there enough times now that there are the occasional execution issues (like the ice cream), but on a whole, it's an excellent Mexican restaurant that shouldn't be missed.

I really enjoyed meeting Seth and JK, and chatting about food for two hours while we had some of the best Mexican food Arizona has to offer. I'm sure this won't be our last get together...

With temperatures now officially above 100 degrees, it's time we turn our attention to that classically cool summer soup, gazpacho.

Here's a quick and easy version I made tonight:

• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
• 1 seedless (English) cucumber, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 1 can (14oz) diced tomatoes
• 1/2 jar (apprx 12oz) roasted tomato salsa (I used Safeway brand)
• 2 cups spicy bloody mary mix (or other tomato juice)
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped cilantro
• 1 avocado, coarsely chopped
• 12 oz cooked and peeled shrimp

In a food processor, combine bell pepper, cucumber, and cilantro. Pulse for 3-5 seconds at a time until you have a very coarse puree. Next, add tomatoes, salsa, and bloody mary mix. Pulse until combined. Add freshly ground pepper to taste.

Pour the mixture into a bowl, add shrimp, cover and refrigerate for 3 hours, or overnight. Before serving, garnish with chopped avocado.

If you're looking for a good Internet supplier of fresh chilis, check out my friend Moody's new venture, Arizona Chilies. Although he specializes in delivering high quality, locally (Arizona) grown chilis to Europe where it can be difficult to impossible to find decent chilis, he's happy to ship anywhere in the US as well.

He has a nice selection of both fresh and dried chilis including ancho, serrano, halapeno, chipotle, poblano, guerro, aneheim, and more. They are all locally grown, and shipped fresh to your door.