I know, I know. I said I would be back February 1st and we are into March. What can I say, I was busy. So, lets get on with it… I blog therefore I am!
I discovered Spinato’s Pizza hidden deep within the bowels of a Tempe industrial park and I have to admit that I was skeptical to say the least. If one were looking for this place, it would be hard to find… perhaps that’s part of the mystique of Spinato’s Pizza. I mean seriously, how do people find this place? “Well, I was out at the office supply warehouse, and suddenly had a hankering for pizza… oh how convenient!” Yep….
Spinato’s is family owned and operated… straight out of Chicago. I know a thing or two about a thing or two but when it comes to pizza perhaps I need re-educated. I’ve always had this stereotype about Chicago Pizza. I always think of it as disgustingly thick, loaded with toppings and sauce, all buried so far under the cheese that you don’t even realize their presence, and then it sits like a brick in your stomach for three days so you finally have to go to the hospital and demand a stomach pumping so you can go on with your life. Spinato’s blew my stereotype out of the water.
Before I go on, let me preface this with the statement that I intended to go into Spinato’s to have a modest dining experience; yes, it would be a “dietary indiscretion” but in moderation. My experience turned so gluttonous that I will probably banned into the seventh circle of hell. Gluttony can only be described as one of the seven deadly sins whereby one takes pride in having so much food to show off, but will result in a moral backlash when confronted with the reality of those less fortunate. Let’s throw that concept out the door right now.
The interior of Spinato’s looked like it either used to be the corner of a warehouse or was being renovated. They only had around 10 tables and the place was packed. The menu is limited; it’s your typical pizza menu: Pizza, sandwiches, salads, a few pastas, etc. Besides the pizza, the item that caught my eye was the Spaghetti and meatball Calzone. This could be interesting, I thought to myself. We started off with an order of the Garlic Cheesy bread as an appetizer, a Spaghetti and meatball Calzone, and a Medium Pizza.
The garlic cheesy bread arrived first, it came out on a long plate, and when the aroma of garlic hit my nostrils, I wanted to dive into this thing like Kevin Smith going after every passengers’ peanuts on a Southwest flight. Grandma would have been proud, it went down like butter! The combination of fresh garlic, lots of butter, and Spinato’s signature sweet sauce makes this work.
Almost as if the stars were aligned, as soon as we finished the last piece of Garlic Cheesy Bread the Spaghetti and Meatball Calzone landed on our table. Since I had already concluded that Spinato’s sauce was ridiculously delightful, I was ecstatic to see that they cover the Calzone with this wonderful sauce. As the first bite of this thing hit my palate, my mouth exploded with all the wonderful textures and flavors of this unique Italian delight. The spaghetti, meatballs, and ricotta cheese stuffed inside a unique baked pastry is simply fantastic! I wondered to myself, was this creation the result of some mad scientist tucked away in a kitchen laboratory, or possibly some kids smoking pot who had the munchies one night and couldn’t decide if they wanted a Calzone, or if they wanted spaghetti… and said hell with it, we will have both!
Sadly, I started filling up. I can’t eat like I used to. What a drag. The Calzone was begging to be finished. Then, the star of the Spinato’s show arrived. I suddenly got a second wind.
The pizza is a traditional round pie cut into evenly sliced squares. I like that Spinato’s places it on a cooling rack on top of the pizza pan, allowing the air to circulate around it. We ordered a medium with sausage and pepperoni. Hallelujah, the crust is almost pastry like and embodied a perfect crispy texture. This crust and sauce complement each other nicely, as they should. I could probably just lock myself into a room with this pizza and not need much else. The good folks at Spinato’s have this art down to a science. The only downer I could comment on is that the mushrooms were clearly the canned variety. Other than that, this pie was damn near perfect. Thus far, clearly the best pizza I have tried in Phoenix.
I give Spinato’s the coveted, “Goes Down Like Butter” Award. They have 4 locations around the valley, and it’s worth a bit of a drive for good pizza. Cheers!
When I heard about a pizza happy hour, I knew I had to check it out for myself. I admit that I was skeptical, I mean how good can a $5 pizza really be? I expected mystery meat, moldy cheese, and runny spaghetti sauce on day old bread, ie. Alpo on a plate. But La Grande Orange Pizzeria blew me away! In fact it was one of the best pies that I’ve ever had.
The first thing that I noticed about La Grande Orange was its trendy interior. This place is no roadside diner. It was classy casual. The decor is similar to a hip New York City Italian eatery, and the staff were comfortably dressed in jeans and t-shirts. Our waiter was very pleasant and extremely helpful. We ordered drinks, a happy hour pizza, and dessert, and I was thoroughly impressed from start to finish.
Our waiter brought us an extensive wine list. Normally, when I order pizza, I’m sitting on my sofa at home, watching HBO with a six pack, so I was a bit thrown by a multi-page wine list at a pizza joint. But La Grande Orange has a great concept, because they have their own market attached to the restaurant, where you can pick out a bottle of wine (or ask your server to go grab it for you) and enjoy it with your dinner. Normally, I feel stupid when I order a $7 glass of house wine, knowing darn well that I could get the whole bottle at Safeway for $5.99. La Grande Orange doesn’t rip you off on wine– you only pay retail price for the bottle– what a deal! Although, I loved the wine concept, I was curious about the “Famous Sangria”. It was a delicious white wine, infused with citrus flavor, and garnished with a mountain of orange slices. What else would you expect from a place where the name translates to “The Big Orange”?
Here’s how the pizza happy hour works (9 p.m – close, Monday – Thursday). You get a plain cheese pie for $5, and then you can dress it up for a few extra bucks with goodies like prosciutto di san daniele, black forest ham, pepperoni, fresh arugula, sauteed mushrooms, corn, egg, and garlic. We opted for a pepperoni, garlic, and fresh basil pizza. When the pie came out, it looked amazing, and tasted even better. The crust was light and crispy, the pepperoni was thinly sliced and covered with fresh cheese, and the basil and garlic added a bit of extra flavor. There were no overpowering flavors because everything on this pizza meshed perfectly together.
The pizza was great, and not too filling. When our waiter asked us about dessert, I wasn’t overstuffed and thought that I could push my appetite, but probably shouldn’t. If you ever find yourself in this conundrum at La Grande Orange, push it and get dessert! Not only does this place have a market attached, it also has its own bakery. We asked our waiter about the red velvet cake, and he described it as an “upscale twinkie”. It sounded interesting, so we gave it a whirl. This dessert was no twinkee. It was a little slice of heavenly goodness! The cake was not overly sweet, incredibly moist, and tastefully layered with a light cream cheese frosting. We devoured it like a fat kid downs a Snickers before gym class!
Overall, I was diggin’ La Grande Orange. I know that the Phoenix New Times raves about The Parlor, but in this writer’s opinion, don’t waste your time there– give La Grande Orange a try for a less expensive and tastier pizza.
I have heard Gyro pronounced a ton of different ways in different cities: Year-oh, Jie-row, Jeer-row… I really try not to dine at an ethnic restaurant and mispronounce their food. So, I finally looked it up in Webster’s Dictionary – “A gyro (pronounced ‘Year-Oh’) is skewered, marinated meat, a part of the cuisine of Greece. Gyros are often, but not always, eaten wrapped in pita bread.”
So now that we’ve established pronunciation, here’s a little background on the Gyro; as stated previously, it’s a Greek sandwich, consisting of tomato, onion, and tzatziki sauce (sometimes called cucumber sauce), served on pita bread. It was first introduced in the United States through Chicago in the 1960’s and has since spread all around the country.
Gyro express is hidden in a little strip mall between a supermarket, some Chinese nail places, Kinko’s etc.. I wouldn’t say it’s a destination restaurant but probably gets its share of regular lunch visitors. I stopped in around the evening and made my way up to the counter. In hindsight I feel like I gave the kid at the counter a hard time, asking a lot of questions about the gyros, the cheesesteaks, the hotdogs, etc. I hate being that jerk at a restaurant… you know, the guy who is always in front of you in line who has to place an order more meticulously planned than a NASA space mission. I really wasn’t trying to be difficult, I just wanted some direction as to what I should order. He was probably thinking to himself, “I hope this jerk just orders something and gets the hell out of here.” In any case, I decided on the #1 gyroscope meal ($7.49) with a Greek salad. I’m a little stumped on the meat that is used in gyros. Does it MOO or does it BAH? And why the big cylinder to rotate and broil this mystery meat?
Anyway, the food arrived about 7 minutes after I ordered it. The Gyro was a solid portion of seasoned mystery meat cut up in slices and was served on a nice warm, soft pita. The tzatziki sauce and onions worked well together.
I’m usually not into salads too much, but for some reason I really wasn’t feeling like fries this evening. The alternative to the fries when ordering the #1 gyroscope is a small Greek salad. It was a standard Greek salad, everything was fresh and the Feta cheese and vinegar based dressing gave it a nice flavor. I liked the pepperoncinis mixed in the salad to give it that subtle bite.
I wouldn’t mind stopping back here to check out their hot dogs and cheesesteaks. Although I noticed on the menu that the cheesesteaks say “Philly Steaks” but are really not Philly cheesesteaks.. Why you ask? Because they are made with provolone, which breaks the cardinal rule of a Philly cheesesteak. It’s not a Philly unless it’s made “wit whiz.” That’s the law of the land. And so it goes, the verdict for riding the Gyro Express: Decent food. Reasonable prices. I rest my case.
As I walk down University Avenue along the ASU campus I see the usual suspects; coffee houses, bookstores, and oodles of fast food joints. Today there is a new kid in town. Smashburger.
A fresh take on the classic fast food burger joint, Smashburger offers made-to-order burgers; Rosemary, olive oil, garlic fries (Smashfries); and Haagen-Dazs shakes. Every Smashburger is made when it’s ordered, so don’t come here if you are late to class; the wait from order to delivery is about five to seven minutes, and you’ll want to take your time enjoying these burgers. Smashburger takes a different approach to burger preparation – they start with a one-third or half pound ball of 100% fresh Angus beef; smash, sear, and season it on a flat grill, then serve it on a buttered-toasted artisan bun and top it with cheese, fresh produce and condiments. The result is an irregularly shaped, juicy, delicious burger.
I stopped down there today for the grand opening and tried the BBQ, Bacon, & Cheese Smashburger ($5.99) with Smashfries ($1.79), and Veggie Frites ($2.99). Right away I noticed that the Smashburger differentiates itself from other burgers with ambrosial seasonings and juiciness. Yes, this burger was juicier than Perez Hilton gossip at a Hollywood red carpet event. These guys really have the searing down to a science. A few other points of interest – the Smashfries are delicious; the whole rosemary, garlic, oil coating really works well. Points for the Veggie Frites, too. You get a nice blend of asparagus, carrots, and green beans, which are flash fried and seasoned, then served hot to your table. They offer a few other menu items including a Smashchicken sandwiches, Smashdogs, and Smashsalads (if you’re into that healthy stuff).
If Smashburger has a weakness, it’s the hours of operation. I mean, come on.. you are operating on a college campus and closing at 10 PM every night? Seriously? One thing ASU needs are more places to soak up all that alcohol after a long night on the sauce. I’ll give Smashburger a half point back for opening at 10 AM to help cure the hangover the next day. I have a feeling that a smashed, seared burger and greasy coated fries may remedy the brown bottle flu.
Overall, Smashburger is a hit and is sure to win the hearts and minds of hungry college students roaming the streets of Tempe, Arizona.
Smashburger
777 E. College Avenue
Suite 105
Tempe, AZ 85281
(480) 829-3750 www.smashburger.com
It is said that good things come on small packages. I don’t mind small packages but when it comes to breakfast (lunch & dinner) I like big, greasy portions. To quote Ed O’Neil in the movie Dutch, “Nothing burps like bacon…”
We pulled up to Matt’s Big Breakfast around 9:30 AM on a Saturday. Now normally in Arizona, it’s not unusual to wait outside in the sweltering heat to get a table at a popular restaurant. We had already experienced this when we visited Aaron May’s Over Easy breakfast joint some months back. The day I went to Matt’s Big Breakfast was quite the opposite experience. It rained all morning in the Phoenix Valley and was still raining when we pulled up to Matt’s. The restaurant is just a tiny building located in downtown Phoenix… I suspect at one time it was an old house. The wait is all part of the experience, however don’t come here if you have a time sensitive event scheduled for after breakfast. After about an hour and a half of soaking in the rain we were seated at the counter. Matt’s is a bustling establishment with bright decor, and the seating in this place is tighter than Joan Rivers’ face; just 5 or 6 tables and a counter that can hold maybe another 5 or 6 guests. Note: I incorporated the small slide show at the top of the post in lieu of most of the pics… just something new I am trying to shake things up.
Not that I’m trying to ride the coattails of Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives’ Guy Fieri, but yes he has been here too in one of his episodes (hey, can I help it that he likes to try the same places as me?), which no doubt ably contributes to some of Matt’s success. There is even the little signature homage to Guy on the wall inside.
Matt’s menu is small, but jam-packed with all kinds of breakfast goodness. He’s got a breakfast sandwich called “The Five Spot,” an omelet, a waffle, and pancakes just to name a few. Traditional breakfast beverages (including the rarely seen RC Cola) are also offered. He also keeps a special item on the board , which today was a three egg scramble, with Fontina, crimini mushrooms, and spinach. My mystery dining companion L. ordered the special, but today I was feeling like a big waffle with some greasy bacon($6). I had coffee and skipped the OJ today, although it was clearly freshly squeezed and looked delicious.
The food arrived about 15 minutes later: nice solid, heaping portions. I love big breakfast like this, it just sets the tone for the rest of the day. The waffle was made from scratch, fluffy, dusted with powdered sugar, served with warm maple syrup, and a big scoop of butter. My god who could eat such a travesty! I especially liked the bacon; it was that good thick cut bacon, not that wimpy crap you get at IHOP. L’s scramble special was also delicious.. the Fontina and spinach blended well together with the eggs – although I enjoyed the hash browns the best. They still hot when they arrived and they were nice and crispy the way hash browns should be.
Breakfast ran about $20 for the two of us, so we walked out of Matt’s with full stomachs, money remaining in the wallet, the rain had stopped, and the sun was shining on our shoulders. As I was walking back to the car I could see the famous Westward Ho off to my right and thought to myself this was shaping up to be a great day! One word verdict on Matt’s Big Breakfast: deliciouslygreasyheapinghomemadegoodness.
“If the melting pot exists, the cheeseburger may well be its most palpable product; to take a bite of it is to take a bite of history…”
-Elizabeth Rozin, Primal Cheeseburger
Who could argue with that statement? Checked out Delux Burger today; Delux is a burger joint that gets some serious buzz and numerous Best Burger awards from the local media. They are also a late night favorite since they serve food until 2 AM. This gives them street credit in my opinion.
The mystery dining companion, otherwise known as L. joined me for this burger excursion this evening; we arrived around 10:00 PM for a late supper. The seating is a bit cramped in the dining room and the patio. The Delux menu is very nicely limited, meeting my personal rule for just do what you do best. We both ordered the signature entree, the “Delux Burger”($9.5), starring a half-pound of freshly ground Harris Ranch beef; supporting cast includes a toasted demi baguette topped with Maytag and Gruyère cheeses, sweet caramelized onions, applewood smoked bacon and organic arugula. We also ordered the Combination Fries “a la cart” ($6) which came out before the Burgers. The fries were fantastic! They were served in a mini shopping cart (making them easy to share) and included french and sweet potato fries. Two sauces were also included with the fries, a standard ketchup and a house aioli which resembled a thousand island type sauce with some kick. My apologies for the pictures, but the lighting was very low and I did not want to be disruptive with a flash.
The burgers came out shortly after the fries. They were impressive looking before we took the first bite – robust in size and the beef was perfectly cooked. Delux recommends to order their burgers at medium rare allowing them to showcase the juiciness of the beef; L. and I ordered our burgers medium and they were prepared perfectly. As we bit into these works of art, the beefy goodness oozed wonderful flavor onto our palate. The beef truly is the star of this show, however supporting cast complements it nicely without taking away from the magnificent flavor of the beef. This burger really hit the spot.
I was able to command and conquer this burger, however L. was only able to master one half and took the other half home. Adam from Man Vs. Food would have been so disappointed with her. A few other good factors that Delux offers: Good service, fantastic beer selection, which are primarily microbrews from across the country, and reasonable prices. If Delux has a weakness, it’s an atmosphere that’s a bit trendy and possibly even slightly pretentious, but the burgers are so good that it’s overruled.
Overall, a fantastic experience… and another bite into burger history.
I know, I know. I said I would be back February 1st and we are into March. What can I say, I was busy. So, lets get on with it… I blog therefore I am!
The garlic cheesy bread arrived first, it came out on a long plate, and when the aroma of garlic hit my nostrils, I wanted to dive into this thing like Kevin Smith going after every passengers’ peanuts on a Southwest flight. Grandma would have been proud, it went down like butter! The combination of fresh garlic, lots of butter, and Spinato’s signature sweet sauce makes this work.
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