I was recently in the Phoenix area and stayed at the Point at Squaw Peak. It is newly renovated and the old girl looks pretty good for her age.
The hotel is often a bargain as it is a mixture of convention and private leisure business. Thus they have times when they need to fill up. For a family vacation it can be a great bargain. This is especially true if you are from somewhat cold in the early part of the year. Air Fares to PHX from US Airways and Southwest ensure a competitive pricing. Contrast this with Tuscon and you can see the difference. It is actually even cheaper to fly to PHX and drive to TUS.
Here are some choices for restaurants:
Lanterra - OK nothing special 3 stars
Hole in the Wall - typical hotel fare - good breakfasts though 3 stars
My Big fat Greek - this is a small chain - great choice good food and great value for the family OPA!!! 4 stars
Grotto - Surprisingly a good find in Old Town Scottsdale. Go for the Pasta. Other items can be expensive. Fun Italian. 4 stars
Old Town Tortilla Factory. A great place for Mexican in Old Town Scottsdale. BOOK!!!
4 Stars.
Sam’s Grill. A great restaurant moderately priced in the upscale mall. The food was very good (and they let you take your dog!!!!) 4 stars.
Sunday, May 4, 2008
The Staples - Best of
The Staples:
Pizza Restaurants.
Frankly I am not a fan of pizza restaurants. I hate the smell. If grates on my nerves especially if it’s a restaurant that is either old or not well kept. Also I like making pizza. Clearly not an economic decision but one of enjoyment. But which pizza do I like best? There are many. My favorite pizza restaurant of all time was one in London – the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory. Sadly no more but it introduced me to pizza. Up till that time I thought all pizza was thin and anemic with bad sausage, rancid cheese and bad tomatoes.
Best Pizza from a chain
Papa Murphy’s. I really like that you can see what it is and cook it yourself. I actually like going home and “adding” to it. Its pretty good.
Papa John’s – Also pretty good. Better than some of the others.
Specialist Pizza?
Wolf Gang Puck? No actually not. Frankly the best specialist pizza was in Rome. I don’t even remember the name but I can walk you there. East of the Colloseum. It was just awesome.
Hamburger
I am always on the hunt for a hamburger. There are not that many that are really good. Most of them are WAY too juicy because that is what people assume is wanted. The other way of course is that they are either burned to a crisp or a with the texture of leather. I have actually worked in a Macdonalds in London in the mid 70s. It was a heck of a lot of fun because the kids who worked there were mostly North Americans (Yanks and Canuks) who were earning a few pounds. What we used to do to the meat is of course a dirty secret that the Golden Arches corp would never like us to reveal. However I an tell you that I learned enough about hamburgers in the formula to make reasonable ones and how to cook them. Thus be careful what you teach! I secretly still like a Big Mac. But what I hate is the after taste and the mess. Its just pretty horrible. You think that they would have solved the problem by now. Or maybe that’s the allure. When I was growing up in England – my family once had a party. My father was a world traveler long before people did that sort of thing. His father too was a rover. He wanted to impress many of his friends who were coming by throwing a Barbeque. Unfortuantely in our little village no one had ever heard of a hamburger. The local butcher took it literally. We had a gross (12 dozen to you) HAM burgers – made of processed pork. They were really gross. We threw them all away.
So Best Hamburger?
My favorite hamburger of all time – Cassels in Los Angeles. Long gone – it was in the Mid Wilshire area near where I worked at Foote Cone and Belding/Honig. Or as we used to call it Foot Sore Bleeding and Horny. We used to go there for lunch.
Best Hamburger drive in? BurgerMeister in Seattle. A small chain of few but fun throwbacks to a bygone era. The hamburgers are actually pretty good. The fries are great, the shakes are made with real fruit. THE menu is simple. Its somewhat amusing to see boys and girls serving you and limping from snow boarding accidents they had that day!!!
Best MEAT
Best – I have always liked Smith and Wollinskys – I used to be near one in New York. That was inspiring as to what they could do with meat. However it seems somewhat weird to go to the plastic replicant version of itself in Las Vegas. Especially with that strange golden cow outside.
Best Ice Cream.
I love Ice Cream – it will be my downfall. There are so many good places. I can handle the entire range of them except for Chocolate and Coffee flavours. Best quality - Coldstone. Best flavors... so many! The French do it better than most despite what is said about Italian Gelato.
Etc etc
Pizza Restaurants.
Frankly I am not a fan of pizza restaurants. I hate the smell. If grates on my nerves especially if it’s a restaurant that is either old or not well kept. Also I like making pizza. Clearly not an economic decision but one of enjoyment. But which pizza do I like best? There are many. My favorite pizza restaurant of all time was one in London – the Chicago Pizza Pie Factory. Sadly no more but it introduced me to pizza. Up till that time I thought all pizza was thin and anemic with bad sausage, rancid cheese and bad tomatoes.
Best Pizza from a chain
Papa Murphy’s. I really like that you can see what it is and cook it yourself. I actually like going home and “adding” to it. Its pretty good.
Papa John’s – Also pretty good. Better than some of the others.
Specialist Pizza?
Wolf Gang Puck? No actually not. Frankly the best specialist pizza was in Rome. I don’t even remember the name but I can walk you there. East of the Colloseum. It was just awesome.
Hamburger
I am always on the hunt for a hamburger. There are not that many that are really good. Most of them are WAY too juicy because that is what people assume is wanted. The other way of course is that they are either burned to a crisp or a with the texture of leather. I have actually worked in a Macdonalds in London in the mid 70s. It was a heck of a lot of fun because the kids who worked there were mostly North Americans (Yanks and Canuks) who were earning a few pounds. What we used to do to the meat is of course a dirty secret that the Golden Arches corp would never like us to reveal. However I an tell you that I learned enough about hamburgers in the formula to make reasonable ones and how to cook them. Thus be careful what you teach! I secretly still like a Big Mac. But what I hate is the after taste and the mess. Its just pretty horrible. You think that they would have solved the problem by now. Or maybe that’s the allure. When I was growing up in England – my family once had a party. My father was a world traveler long before people did that sort of thing. His father too was a rover. He wanted to impress many of his friends who were coming by throwing a Barbeque. Unfortuantely in our little village no one had ever heard of a hamburger. The local butcher took it literally. We had a gross (12 dozen to you) HAM burgers – made of processed pork. They were really gross. We threw them all away.
So Best Hamburger?
My favorite hamburger of all time – Cassels in Los Angeles. Long gone – it was in the Mid Wilshire area near where I worked at Foote Cone and Belding/Honig. Or as we used to call it Foot Sore Bleeding and Horny. We used to go there for lunch.
Best Hamburger drive in? BurgerMeister in Seattle. A small chain of few but fun throwbacks to a bygone era. The hamburgers are actually pretty good. The fries are great, the shakes are made with real fruit. THE menu is simple. Its somewhat amusing to see boys and girls serving you and limping from snow boarding accidents they had that day!!!
Best MEAT
Best – I have always liked Smith and Wollinskys – I used to be near one in New York. That was inspiring as to what they could do with meat. However it seems somewhat weird to go to the plastic replicant version of itself in Las Vegas. Especially with that strange golden cow outside.
Best Ice Cream.
I love Ice Cream – it will be my downfall. There are so many good places. I can handle the entire range of them except for Chocolate and Coffee flavours. Best quality - Coldstone. Best flavors... so many! The French do it better than most despite what is said about Italian Gelato.
Etc etc
Restaurants - the grades
Restaurants are funny things. They are driven by factors that most of all sink into the background. We talk about the food but in reality why do we eat out or in… it surely isn’t because we are suffering from hunger – otherwise we would all eat at an all you can eat place.
So we eat for different reasons. – We LIKE the FOOD, We go for the ATMOSPHERE, we like the PEOPLE, we appreciate the WINE, in reality we are going to have a GOOD TIME. So when I go to a restaurant – I usually like to go where other people recommend. I am pretty easy going and I can just about enjoy anything – as long as the experience is shared. So in writing these reviews please bear that in mind. But I have been to restaurants with bad food and still have had a good time. I have been on planes and had reasonable food and a lousy time. If you are super opinionated or you need to be in control – then these reviews are not for you. But if you want to enjoy people and the experience – then I hope these reviews will help you.
How I grade///
I grade according to ultimately whether I had a good time. Individual elements contribute to it.
Grading will be therefore on a 5 star rating scale. This will cover all the elements mentioned.
I cannot promise to do this on a regular basis but will try and cover this on my travels. Frequently I will take a detour and go somewhere special. You will benefit!
Cheers
Timothy
So we eat for different reasons. – We LIKE the FOOD, We go for the ATMOSPHERE, we like the PEOPLE, we appreciate the WINE, in reality we are going to have a GOOD TIME. So when I go to a restaurant – I usually like to go where other people recommend. I am pretty easy going and I can just about enjoy anything – as long as the experience is shared. So in writing these reviews please bear that in mind. But I have been to restaurants with bad food and still have had a good time. I have been on planes and had reasonable food and a lousy time. If you are super opinionated or you need to be in control – then these reviews are not for you. But if you want to enjoy people and the experience – then I hope these reviews will help you.
How I grade///
I grade according to ultimately whether I had a good time. Individual elements contribute to it.
Grading will be therefore on a 5 star rating scale. This will cover all the elements mentioned.
I cannot promise to do this on a regular basis but will try and cover this on my travels. Frequently I will take a detour and go somewhere special. You will benefit!
Cheers
Timothy
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