Aunt Chilada’s Squaw Peak Cinco De Mayo
The Chris Parker Project and Zimis will be performing and the Peak Radio will be doing a live remote from 3-7. $10 entrance fee and free giveaways.
Aunt Chilada’s

Calico Jack’s
Live Music 12:30pm – 1am. Contests including the Biggest Burrito Eating Contest, Shake it Like Shakira, and the Hot Tamale Eating Contest. Special appearance by the 3 “Little” Amigos.
Calico Jack’s

Dos Gringos
All Dos Gringos locations will have Cinco De Mayo celebrations with drink and food specials and live entertainment. Dos Gringos South Tempe will feature Carvin Jones, Grain of Truth, Money Shot, DJ Shock, a mechanical bull and a dunk tank. Cover charge.
Dos Gringos.

Macayo’s
Macayo’s will feature food and drink specials including $2 Coors lights and $5 margaritas.

Macayo’s Mexican Grill

Salty Senorita
Roger Clyne and the Peacemakers at the Old Town Scottsdale location and live music at the Mesa and Peoria locations.
Salty Senorita.

For those curious, here’s where the lion meat came from.

Phx411.com writer Amie Tatalovich and I stopped into America’s Taco Shop for dinner/happy hour on Friday.

We arrived at the lull between the lunch crowd and dinner and were greeted by owner Terry Bortin who proceeded to introduce us to the history of America’s Taco Shop which is very much intertwined with his own history. Listening to Terry it’s clear there’s something present in every dish they serve – America.

America Corrales, Terry’s wife, was born in Culican, the capitol of Sinaloa in northwest Mexico and home to some of Mexico’s largest agricultural operations. America learned to cook from her mother, spending much of her childhood helping prepare meals for her five siblings. Terry, who has 17 years experience in the restaurant industry, met America in 1999. 8 years later, and on their wedding anniversary, they opened America’s Taco Shop in a historic house on 7th Street and Monte Vista in central Phoenix.

Instead of creating a large menu, Terry and America decided to concentrate on just a few dishes and make them better than anyone else in the city. And if you’re using Yelp.com as a guide, it appears they’ve accomplished that goal with their carne asada.

We started by tasting their homemade margaritas. We tried both the Tamarindo, made with fresh tamarind and the Jamaica. I would recommend the Tamarindo over the Jamaica but both were good.
Tamarinda margarita:

Next we tried the Vampiro, which is similar to a tostada. The Vampiro is served with carne asada covered with monterrey jack cheese, guacamole, caramelized onions, and lettuce.

Vampiro:

Terry then served the carne asada burrito and it’s definitely their signature dish. The carne asada was lean, tasty, and served with caramelized onion, guacamole, and a great pico de gallo.

Carne Asada Burrito:

A short list of Phoenix bars having Inaguration parties.

And unrelated links:
2 men survive floating in the ocean for 25 days in an icebox.

And the Economist reviews the Bush years. It’s not pretty.

The muse of the double-sided menu at Stax is the burger. Poor decision-makers may find a meal at Stax overwhelming, as building your burger can be a multi-step process. So, let’s break down the ordering process:

1a) Order one or two of the Stax-style burgers, pre-built sliders w/topping ranging from bruschetta to exotic salsas. Basically, you’re putting your trust in the kitchen, but have confidence in the chefs, as they know what they’re doing when it comes to combining flavors. Skip to step 8.
OR
1b) Begin building your own burger. “Burger,” however, is loosely defined at Stax, where your sandwich patty can be made from 3 oz. of beef, bison, turkey, lamb, ostrich, salmon, or veggies. (I took my own liberties at home, making sliders out of chicken.) Choose one meat per sandwich. Order two for lunch, three for dinner, four for coronary.

2) Add a cheese like cheddar, jack, or feta. Or not.

3) Add some bacon. This is not an option, but rather a requirement, as far as I see it.

4) Add some veggies, like the traditional lettuce and tomato or the more exotic flamingo-pink pickled onions.

5) Add a sauce, including a couple variety of salsas.

6) Add an aioli, such as pesto, chipotle, or spicy.

7) Choose how many carbs you can take: have your burger(s) served on a bun, topless (just the bottom of the bun), naked (no bun), or on a bed of greens

Ogle other people’s food as it comes out of the kitchen, wondering if your food is going to look as awesome.

9) Rejoice! Your food does look as awesome as other’s people’s.

10) Sink your teeth into your juicy meat gem

Stax Review.

Although Bianco doesn’t open until 5 p.m., crowds of people gather at its entrance long before opening time just so they can be guaranteed a spot in the first or second seating. The first time I went to Pizzeria Bianco, my family had planned on arriving at 3:45. We turned in the wrong place and couldn’t find the street and ran into myriad other problems, but we eventually found it–at 4:15. By this time, we were already about 75-80 people back in the line, but we decided to stick it out. Once the restaurant’s doors opened, the lucky people at the start of the line were ushered inside, seated, and served pizza. The rest of us were forced to continue waiting online–another 40-45 minutes–just to add our names to a list, one containing enough parties to constitute a three-hour wait. We decided to stick that out, too, and waited another 45-50 minutes. Figuring we’d have our orders ready far in advance, my family gathered at the menu posted on the window to ogle the descriptions of the doughy disks. My grandfather looked at the menu and decided that nothing looked good. I nearly cried. And yes, I was in a foul mood the rest of the evening.

Review (Thanks Nicole!)

Lolo’s is not a small restaurant and knowing it’ll be busy for lunch and there’s NO room to wait, I call first.

There’s a 45 minute wait right now. 12.30. This means that people are either standing outside in the rain waiting for a table or waiting in their cars for a table.

This is outside:
Stoudamire’s not really there right now.

This is their chicken:

Directions.
Menu.

Downtown Pharmers Market

Antichain.com

I haven’t tried every place listed under Phoenix but I don’t see any restaurants that I’ve heard negative things about…