Dining Guide from p 35 chicken skins — crunchy treats drizzled with desert blossom honey, orange zest, and lavender. To quench your thirst, the staff is happy to slide just about anything your way: an Old Style can, a coffee negroni, even a hot chicken cocktail (when it’s available). 200 W. Portland St.; 480-409-8520; thelarderandthedelta.com. ($$$) Mariscos Playa Hermosa: The second-best part of Mariscos Playa Hermosa is the dining room and patio. The Sinaloan- style Mexican seafood restaurant was established in March 2002 by Jose and Maria Maldonado, both originally from the small colonial town of Guanajuato, Mexico. The scenery of their hometown shows in this beautiful, loudly decorated eatery. Chairs are bright pink and blue, with Technicolor sky and landscapes across the walls and chair backs; nearly every color in the rainbow is represented in the decor here. The food stands on its own, though. The multipage menu lists pescado, aperitivos Mexicanos, and especialidades — everything from a grilled shrimp Michelada to a seafood tower and all kinds of aguachiles. They also have fun at MPH. Recently, for only the second time since it opened, MPH added new menu items — one of which is called El Peligroso. It’s a raw seafood bowl filled with eight or nine different chiles that has become something of a spicy eating challenge. If you’re thinking an ice-cold adult beverage would pair nicely with items like these, MPH is way ahead of you. Go with the Serrano Margarita or a round of Modelo Especial. 1605 E. Garfield St.; 602-462-1563; mariscosplayahermosa.com. ($$) Matt’s Big Breakfast: Never again will be the days of the old Matt’s Big Breakfast, with the wraparound line of hungry breakfasters at the original, 800-square-foot red brick building at First and McKinley streets. The breakfast was simply too good, and the deserved accolades sent Matt’s to a bigger location a block north and then on to additional Valley locations. But the menu has stayed true. The beloved Chop & Chick is waiting here for you, as are the scratch-made waffles topped with real butter, the cheese omelet, the salami scramble, and bottomless coffee from the Roastery of Cave Creek. And lunch-minded diners need not despair: The Big Butter Burger and tossed Cobb salad are superb options for the breakfast-averse. 825 N. First St.; 602-254-1074; mattsbigbreakfast.com. ($$) Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Café: Walking up to Mrs. White’s Golden Rule Café, you can’t, for a second, tell if you’re in present-day Phoenix or the first act of a decades-old film. Inside and outside, this place is a throwback, from the painted-on sign to the tight wooden booths and lunch counter. The fantasy extends to the menu; Mrs. White’s (named for founder Elizabeth White) serves utterly timeless Southern food. The writing on the wall — literally — informs you this 50-year-old restaurant is where you’ll find one of Phoenix’s most famous Southern dishes: the golden brown Southern fried chicken (with suggested sides of cabbage and black eyed peas). You’ll find other homestyle staples here that are relatively rare in Arizona, like fried catfish (tartar sauce not needed), red beans, and cobblers. No worries if you live or work nowhere near the little yellow luncheonette. Mrs. White has spinoffs everywhere, including her grandson, Larry “Lo-Lo” White’s spot, Lo-Lo’s Chicken & Waffles. 808 E. Jefferson St.; 602-262-9256; facebook.com/mrswhites. goldenrulecafe. ($$) Pizzeria Bianco: Somehow, Phoenix is a pizza town, known far and wide for its innovative pies. Actually, we know how, and why: It’s because of Chris Bianco, the passionate, Bronx-born proprietor of his eponymous pizzeria. Bianco’s pizzas date back to 1988, but since 1996 he’s been in his Heritage Square location, serving Neapolitan-style pies to ever-longer lines and inspiring a whole generation of young American pizzaioli. Bianco won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 2003 — the first pizzaiolo to ever earn the accolade — and over time, Bianco has extended his empire to a second Pizzeria Bianco, as well as other spots like Tratto, Bar Bianco, Pane Bianco, and a dizzying list of collaborations and projects. Nowadays, you don’t have to travel far to find delicious wood-fired pizza in the Valley. But if you’d prefer to go to the source, Bianco’s margherita pie — tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, basil — at his 42-seat brick restaurant remains as vital as ever. That wood-burning oven is still very much lit. 623 E. Adams St.; 602-258-8300; pizzeriabianco.com. ($$$) Ramen Kagawa: This downtown ramen shop keeps a tight menu — a few noodle soups prepared almost without fault, and a few other dishes like rice bowls, fried bites, and Japanese curries. Chef Yuji Iwasa, a Los Angeles native, brings a few European techniques to his largely traditional ramen; manager Shunji Tohada, from Hiroshama, brings deep Japanese roots. Tonkotsu ramen is deeply rich and just stellar. You can even add chashu pork ribs if you want. A paitan ramen is unexpectedly lush and satisfying, a local paragon of this common style. Kagawa joins the ranks of great places in the heart of town for a bowl of Japan’s favorite noodle soup. 111 W. Monroe St.; 602- 675-0833; ramenkagawa.com. ($$) Rito’s Mexican Food: Around since 1977 — the original location is on 14th Street in the Garfield District— this to-go-only eatery is rightly celebrated for its famous green chile burro. On busy days, there’s still a line out the door at the Garfield location, though the wait has been slightly alleviated thanks to new locations in Uptown and Surprise. (They’re all in the hands of the Salinas family.) In addition to that burro, we’re fans of the guacamole taco, the refried pinto beans, and the green beef tostada. Rito’s is also known for making any order chimichanga-enchilada style — deep-fried, drowning in red sauce, and topped with cheese, lettuce, and tomato. Yes, please. 907 N. 14th St.; 602-262-9842; ritosmexicanfood.com. ($) Taco Boy’s: Carne asada. Grilled steak, chopped. One of the main taco proteins in the Valley. And one of the simple-but-true barometers of a taqueria’s prowess. Since opening downtown in fall 2019, Juan Cornejo and Juan Cornejo Jr. have been grilling some of metro Phoenix’s best Sonoran-style carne asada. Over mesquite charcoal from Sonora, Mexico, ruby sails of carne asada spit and crackle on long grill gates, charring, perfuming the eatery with smoke. The Cornejos rain on salt. They flip cuts to sizzle the raw top sides, drum newly finished steak with knife strokes, then press juicy pieces into fresh tortillas, also from Sonora. At Taco Boy’s, a few meats come a few ways, including as tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and vampiros. Cabeza and tripa both rival carne asada. So does a tray of creamy, smoke-kissed beans. The grill and graffiti and generous salsa-and-topping bar conjure a backyard grill-out — where the Cornejo family recipes come from originally. 620 E. Roosevelt St.; 602- 675-3962; aztacoboys.com. ($$) Tratto: The best Italian restaurant in metro Phoenix is Chris Bianco’s high-end but rustic trattoria, Tratto. Here, Chef Cassie Shortino crafts stunning pastas in shapes like spaghetti alla chittara and tagliatelle, using precise, intelligent local flours suited to the specific noodles at hand. Nobody else in town is crafting pasta on this level. Nobody else is cooking it with such depth, love, connection to history, and allegiance to the local produce seasons. At Tratto, the kitchen can rock out a classic pomodoro or cacio e pepe, sure, but arguably the more bracing, place-rooted gems are those that more completely embrace what Arizona can provide: the lamb ragu, the al limone (using local lemons), the pastas entwined with the day’s local bounty. Pasta, too, is just one element of Tratto. There are thoughtful starters, like a staple chickpea fritter or some of the most unsung crudos in town. The drink program, orchestrated by Blaise Faber, is unique and thoughtful and animated by similar ideas as Bianco’s food, leading to a beautiful ride not unlike ripping down an Italian coastal highway. We’re talking house-made liqueurs from apex local fruit, and some of the most esoteric, incandescent amari Italy has to offer. Talk to your barman, and he will go as deep as you want to. At Tratto, follow the menu’s lead, which is the lead of Bianco and Shortino and the seasons, and you’ll be in for a treat. This is a great spot for any kind of dinner, a great place to share soulful food with people you love. Everything is done with the highest intention, right on down to the olive oil and bread, which is so good you could eat it until totally stuffed and go home happy. 1505 E. Van Buren St.; 602-296-7761; trattophx.com. ($$$) Welcome Diner: Welcome Diner 2.0, now situated at that hot Garfield District intersection at Pierce and 10th streets, doesn’t have the same snug charm as its original location a block away. What it does have is a crisp, retro look, marrying its neon pink- and-blue sign with the diner’s seating options — which is to say, booths, a wraparound lunch counter, a bar with liquor bottles crawling up the wall, and a massive, usually busy, porch-style patio. Gulf Coast-inspired dishes like gumbo, jambalaya, and seafood etouffee are big here, as are the classic cocktails. But it’s the biscuits people talk about: they’re big, pillowy, and have excellent biscuit names like the Bumble Bee and Big Jim. 929 E. Pierce St.; 602-495-1111; welcomediner.net. ($$) NORTH PHOENIX Balkan Bakery: Mornings, in-the-know customers trickle into Balkan Bakery, inhaling the bready fragrance of its tiny room on Bell Road. Some get French-style rolls. Some get rope-like kifli. Some get dark twists of pretzels still hot from the oven. All seem to have an unspoken respect for Jasenko Osmic, the man behind that oven, who bakes, peals, and shapes dough with the endurance of an Olympic athlete. His prized baked good is the bourek, available in three styles; it’s so central to Balkan Bakery that boureks have their own section of the menu. Osmic makes them in the style of Sarajevo, which his family fled in 1997. Shaped like a butterfly’s tongue, the tight coils of baked homemade phyllo dough come from the oven warm and soft, rich and fragrant, pretzel-brown on top and utterly stuffed with a meaty or cheesy filling. The newly baked discs sit in a tiered display, steaming behind glass. Those who come for bread and pretzels often find, as they exit the shop, the toasted lip of a spinach bourek against their >> p 39 37 phoenixnewtimes.com | CONTENTS | FEEDBACK | OPINION | NEWS | FEATURE | NIGHT+DAY | CULTURE | FILM | CAFE | MUSIC | PHOENIX NEW TIMES JUNE 24TH – JUNE 30TH, 2021
