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  • Never ask a 3-year old to smile…


    Last weekend, I took Michelle to Encanto Park on Saturday morning.

    The idea was just to get out of the house for a while, but it was a beautiful day and the park was virtually empty. The amusement park, Enchanted Island opened up and was equally empty, so I took Michelle on the train ride.

    I hadn’t been expecting anything other play running around the park, so I hadn’t brought my camera.

    Today, we came back just for the photo op.

    Here is proof that when you ask a 3-year old to smile, the result just isn’t always you want. I don’t know what Irene’s excuse is in this picture…


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  • Stupor Bowl

    I saw on the news tonight that 85% of the televisions in America are expected to tune in to some sporting event or other on Sunday.

    Couldn’t care less, but, they had an article more near and dear to my heart. Pizza restaurants expect a massive upsweep in sales on Sunday pandering to the couch potato army. Some restaurants are expecting 300-400 pizzas sold on that day!

    They’re stocking up to make sure that they can handle the extra load.

    What does that mean to me? Sunday will be a bad day to buy a pizza. Rushed and overworked staff will be preparing substandard pizzas for and unappreciative and unwashed audience.

    Obviously Saturday will be a good day for reviewing a pizza. I wonder who it will be?

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  • Fry Bread House


    If you’re like me, the State Fair means just one thing: The Food Rides!

    The piggly wiggly fry ride, the corn dog ride, the lemonaid ride and most importantly, the indian fry bread ride.

    Once upon a time you could only get fry bread at the fair, but now there are a few places you can buy fry bread year-round. (Finally, I don’t have to go to the state fair anymore!)

    Best of the bunch is the Fry Bread House, which not only has good fry bread, but makes good red and green chile beef to top it.

    Fry Bread House
    4140 N 7th Ave
    Phoenix, AZ


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  • Da Chicago Dogs & Subs


    Da Chicago Dogs & Subs is a brand-new restaurant. Last week I drove by and noticed the “cooming soon” sign and today they were open, so it seemed a fortuitous time to try a hot dog.

    The menu is simple and straightforward. They have six kinds of dog, all featuring Vienna Beef products and a selection of 12 hot and cold subs.

    I had the Da Jumbo Dog. Da Chicago grills their dogs and, although I prefer my dogs boiled, it was a good. Vienna Beef products tend to be follproof. All their dogs are served with with fries or coleslaw (or perhaps I should say Da Fries or Da Coleslaw?) The fries were a bit undercooked.

    I think Da Chicago warrants a return, it was pretty clear that they hadn’t really gotten settled in and they had a few workflow issues with the ordering and food assembly process.

    If you’re in the area, give them a try.

    Da Chicago Dogs & Subs
    3923 E. Thomas Rd, Suite B-2
    Phoenix, AZ

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  • DiVito’s Italian Foods


    DiVito’s has been serving up food since 1973 and in some weird quirk of fate and circumstance, despite eating there since 1993, I’ve never eaten a pizza in their restaurant. (I’ve had a few take-out ones, but that doesn’t qualify for a review pizza.)

    When I eat at DiVitio’s it’s for lunch, and their “homemade” Sausage or Meatball Sicilian Sandwiches are wonderful. Made from the same materials they make their pizza, these compact, calzone-like meals are their specialty.

    During the week, they’ve also got a series of daily lunch specials (Monday’s, an antipasto salad, is pictured here) that are very reasonably priced.

    One of these days I’ll get around to reviewing their pizza.

    Recommended.

    DiVito’s Italian Foods & Catering
    5134 E. Thomas Rd.
    Phoenix, AZ



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  • How To Fix Chinese Week

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    So, having busted on Phoenix’s Chinese week celebration, I also have a proposal for improvement.

    Unlike western New Year, Chinese New Year isn’t just a single day. The New Year celebration covers 15 days from the actual eve of the New Year until the Lantern Festival 15 days later.

    While not every day in the 15 is a holiday, depending on the day New Year falls on, workers usually only get 3-5 days off from work.

    Having spent a Chinese New Year in Taiwan, I was really surprised that New Years’ eve and day are dead quiet. Everyone is home with their families. The city of Taipei empties as everyone returns to their home. The people wandering the streets are largely made up with foreigners with nowhere to go (although the temples do pack in good business on New Year’s Day.)

    Westerners with visions of Lion Dances in the streets would be sorely disappointed.

    At the other end of the celebration is the Lantern Festival, which closes Chinese New Year. The lantern festival features beautiful and intricate lanterns and people thronging the streets buying food and celebrating.

    While lesser known, it seems to me that this would be the ideal time to celebrate Chinese Week. Many Chinese and Taiwanese have, no doubt, gone home for the actual New Year, but have begun to return by the Lantern Festival. More Chinese-ancestored people available could make the Chinese Week more authentic. The Lantern Festival is visually beautiful, and could be used to sponsor contests by schools and corporations to build and display lanterns.

    The time has come: Let’s have a Lantern Festival for Phoenix’s Chinese Week!

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  • Guidelines

    I’ve added a new static page explaining the general guidelines of my pizza reviews.

    It should appear on the right side of all pages and you can refer to it at any time if you need reminding on my methodology.

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  • Phoenix House of Pizza


    I so needed this pizza! It couldn’t have come at a better time.

    The last few pizzas I’ve had have been disappointing at best and so, almost in despair, I tried the Phoenix House of Pizza.

    Irene and Michelle had just eaten at the Chinese festival. I scrupulously avoid eating at the festival and so by the time we left, I was starving. From my list of pizza places to try, I knew that Phoenix House of Pizza wasn’t far away and I really needed a good pizza. I only hoped they could deliver.

    Phoenix House of Pizza sits just north of Van Buren on 48th Street, behind a Circle K in a rundown, tiny old-style strip mall. It’s a curious little place that immediately says, “Latino” instead of “Italian” when you walk in the door.

    The menu says they’ve been in business since 1992. My first reaction is that it’s in a poor location, but while eating I could see the tanks of the Motorola plant just a couple blocks away and I knew they had plenty of custom in the area.

    To dispense with the mystery: This pizza was a good, solid entry in the New York-style pizza category. I completely enjoyed it.

    That’s not to say everything was perfect. The smallest pizza they serve is 14″ which is, in my opinion, too large to cook properly. (That’s why I always try to review the smallest pizza available.) It’s also too large for me to eat by myself.

    Since pizza-by-the-slice is invariably just re-heated pizza, that’s never good enough for review purposes. When I’m forced to review larger pizzas, I try to take the inherent structural difficulties into account.

    Toppings: Good, good cheese, sauce and pepperoni.
    Crust: Tasty, browned across the bottom, well-cooked at the edges, floppy in the middle.

    As stated, it’s a good solid entry, and I’d recommend it to anyone in the area.

    Cost: 14″ pepperoni, $10.34, cost per square inch: $0.07 (0.067)

    Recommended

    Phoenix House of Pizza
    326 N 48 St.
    Phoenix, AZ

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  • Happy Chinese New Year


    Chinese New Year has rolled around again and we made our obligatory visit to Chinese Week at the Chinese Cultural Center.

    Irene has been sick, but was feeling better today, so we decided to see if there was anything new. There wasn’t.

    Chinese New Year is an interesting holiday, in a Chinese country, apart from the sound of firecrackers, the day itself is practically dead. Everyone spends the day with family.

    That doesn’t make such great cultural festival, so they turn it into a dog and pony show. Here in Phoenix, which has no real Chinese community to speak of, it’s mostly an excuse to wander around booths for health insurance, acupuncture, a few “oriental” items for sale (many Japanese) and 5 or 6 Chinese (and one Japanese) restaurants.

    Despite being nothing new, Michelle had fun riding the train. I’m not sure if the train is just there for fun or is meant to remind us all of the important contribution the Chinese made building the rail network in the 19th century. I don’t think the Chinese had anything to do with the moon-walk, rock-scaling walls or the ferris wheel, though.

    Anyway, many of the local Chinese show up for lack of anything else to do. Many Taiwanese show up, too, although there’s the really stubborn contingent who refuse to show up or participate because, “Taiwan is not part of China”.

    Darn, with that phrase I just got my blog banned by Google China.


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  • Johnnie’s Chicago Red Hots


    What can you say about a restaurant that you’ve been going to for 18 years?

    In that time I’ve had 3 employers, 4 residences, gotten married, had 2 children and not one single thing has changed at Johnnie’s in that time except maybe some of the pictures on the wall and the business cards on the board. They’re still my favorite hot dogs in town.

    Featuring Vienna Beef products, Johnnie’s has been serving for around 20 years and has earned at least one of those “Best of…” awards given out by one of those newspapers.

    Sure, when you serve Vienna Beef, there’s not much difference in your product than every other Vienna Beef vendor. What sets Johnnie’s apart are their fresh, handmade french fries, served with every dog.

    A basic dog (w/mustard, relish, onion, kosher dil pickle, sport peppers, celery salt and tomato) starts at $3.39 and range up to the Garbage Dog (A jumbo w/chili, cheese, slaw and kraut, plus any or all of the aforementioned toppings) for $4.69. A limited number of Italian sandwiches are also available. Don’t go to Johnnie’s if you’re after a salad.

    If you like good hot dogs and handmade fries, give them a try.

    Johnnie’s Chicago Red Hots
    53 West Thomas Ave
    Phoenix, AZ
    (602) 241-0113
    Open weekdays, 10AM – 4PM


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