Arizona Ghostchasers are offering a tour of Phoenix’s early cemeteries in March.
John Mariani explores some of Phoenix’s nicer restaurants.
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.
We’ve got another restaurant review from Nicole over at Bacon and Bakin. Here she reviews Stax in Scottsdale.
And not only does she review the restaurant but offers advice on building your own burger there.
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
Nicole over at BaconandBakin has put together the most comprehensive review of Pizzaria Bianco I’ve ever read. From the wait to get in to the lack of dessert Nicole describes Bianco with detail.
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!)