A beautiful Arizona desert sunset
Hi All – Hope everyone had a great weekend. This weekend I had the pleasure of hosting my sister’s good friend Kristen who was in town from Seattle with strict instructions to help her explore the area. After picking her up from the airport Saturday afternoon, the first place that came to mind (within my very limited knowledge of the area) was Sapporo in Scottsdale. I currently live far enough from Scottsdale and Tempe to not be able to go out and taxi-it home (sadly). However, Kristen was staying at a hotel so we went all out. We headed to Sapporo for happy hour. And despite being hungry we somehow got caught up doing sake bombs at the very very crowded bar instead. (It was the end of the Phoenix [golf] Open so the place was rammed). Although we mostly had a couple drinks at this place, I mention it because it’s a great sushi place (and I absolutely looove sushi), with a great happy hour, and a really good scene. So if you’re ever in town, I recommend it! Next time I’ll actually eat and take some pictures.
I’ll skip through the rest of the night since it didn’t exactly involve a lot of food, but it was loads of fun and filled with dancing and lots of laughs. The next day, however, WAS filled with lots of food – food required to make me feel a whole lot better. We met up with a friend of Kristen’s – Tyler (a local) – who was so nice and gave us a few recommendations in town.
We ate so much at the first place though, we only made it to one – LA GRANDE ORANGE in Arcadia (suburb of Scottsdale). We were completely shocked when we walked into this place. First off, it was completely packed on a Sunday early afternoon which is always a great sign. It’s tucked into this really cute neighborhood and just had so much character.
I mean who sells little cactus plants at their grocery/restaurant/cafe? Of course this is Arizona… But seriously, this place is amazing. I wish it wasn’t so far away because I definitely would be there every day if I could. So this place looks like it took over two restaurants. The left half is filled with tables and an open area on the right wall where they make pizzas (so probably a former pizza joint). The right half is where you order food and buy mini cactus 
Of course they, in fact, sell a variety of items from cook books, to clothes/aprons/etc with their logo, and loads of specialty grocery items. To be completely honest, I was starving and the amazing smells coming from the open kitchen and the long line prevented me from exploring. Before I get to the food, one last note on this place – the people/crowd were really really surprising to me because it was completely different from anything I’ve seen in my experience in Arizona thus far. There was actually an urban feel to it. Or maybe it was what I would expect at a place on Main Street in Venice? That blend of people from Malibu, Santa Monica and Venice? I saw very little bleach blonde, a lot of no-makeup-laid-back Sunday faces, no cowboy hats and even some dread locks!
(CLICK FOR MORE…)
Read Full Post »
As promised, I attended the Great Arizona Picnic yesterday as part of the Scottsdale Culinary Festival. This was one of those great summer events – even though it’s ‘summer’ (weather) here for the majority of the year. But it seemed like everyone was there – families, students, young professionals, retirees, and more. The event was held near Old Town Scottsdale and was expected to have up to 40,000 people attend. It was definitely well attended, but the great thing was that it never seemed too crowded. Lines were very reasonable, and there was always a place to sit. It really did feel like a picnic with lots of people lying out on the grass with blankets. There were 50+ restaurants and vendors at the event with a wide range of products and cuisines. I took lots of pictures to share, but keep in mind this wasn’t a gourmet food festival! There were actually a lot of ‘chain’ restaurants with booths there – from Kona Grill (they brought an entire fish tank!) to Sushi Roku to The Melting Pot. But there were a few artisan places like the Arizona Bread Company, The Gelato Spot and The Lollicake Company. 
