Aiello's

Italian restaurants in Phoenix, as in much of the country, seem to come and go in waves. They flourished in the late '90s as any number of copycat restaurants set up shop all over town, especially along Camelback Road. Anyone remember the Italian place that occupied the now-vacant shopping center behind the former Hard Rock Cafe? How about Il Fornaio, a chain that motivated local favorite Il Forno to change its name not once, but twice. By the time the '00s came around, though, the Atkins craze decimated all but the best and most popular Italian restaurants. The pasta that was once considered a lighter food than meat and potatoes suddenly became demonized for its alleged role in promoting insulin resistance. Steakhouses became more popular than spaghetti joints for the first time in years. Now, the pendulum is slowly swinging back once again in favor of Italian food. Maybe the recession has made a $15 bowl of pasta seem a better value than a $40 piece of meat. Whatever the cause, it's good to have some balance back in the restaurant mix.

Aiello's in Uptown Phoenix is part of this new wave of Italian eateries. The restaurant opened in late 2007, bringing hearty Italian food to a building on Central Avenue that has housed several restaurants over the years, including, most recently, Panino on Central. While many of Aiello's predecessors at this site have struggled, creating the impression of a cursed location, Aiello's has been able to draw a steady clientele since opening. Aiello's is located at Central and Colter, just over a quarter mile north of the Camelback / Central Avenue station. Aiello's gets it name from veteran New York City chef and restaurateur Joe Aiello and his wife Myrah, who manages the front of the house. Aiello's menu is more inventive than classic "red sauce" Italian-American food, but it is definitely rooted in southern Italian and Sicilian cooking. Expect a wide variety of pasta entrees, along with chicken, veal, beef, pork, sausage, and fish dishes. The food choices are bold, flavorful, and abundant, but northern Italian specialties such as risotto and polenta are generally outside the scope of Aiello's menu.

Meals at Aiello's start with a bread basket that contains a mixture of baguette slices and focaccia. Both are impressive, but what really steals the show is an accompaniment of roasted spicy red peppers in oil. It adds a nice spark to the bread basket. For those who are spice-averse, an herb butter is also provided. Appetizers include classics that benchmark nearly all Italian restaurants. The minestrone soup has a thick tomato base with al dente pasta, cannellini beans, and vegetables mixed in. The caprese (center photo below) features fresh mozzarella that is made daily on the premises. More daring choices include rapini with civilate sausage and black mussels in a spicy broth. The only real let-down is a dish of fried zucchini. The finely julienned strips form a visually appealing haystack, but don't have all that much flavor or distinctive texture.

Over a dozen pasta dishes are available. Some, like spaghetti and meatballs, are well executed versions of familiar classics. Others incorporate less common ingredients. Orechiette faglioli (right photo below) features small concave pasta pasta with cannellini beans and escarole. The al dente pasta with beans and greens make for a delicious, albeit filling, combination. There is also a daily ravioli. Even when the choice is as simple as ricotta ravioli with pomodoro sauce, Aiello's prepares it with elan. The tomato sauce highlights the natural sweetness of the tomatoes in a way that recalls of the excellent sauces at Marcellino just a few miles to the north. Beyond pasta, Aiello's features meat entrees such as veal saltimbocca and a daily fish special. Throughout the menu, there's an emphasis on seafood, both shellfish and a market-priced catch of the day.

Aiello's has a good wine program that emphasizes quality over quantity. The list is only one page, but it is 100% Italian, has moderate prices, and features many interesting choices. There is also a full bar available for those who prefer cocktails. Service is professional and prompt, and Joe Aiello himself is likely to visit each table for a little banter. Aiello's is open for dinner seven days a week and serves a lunch menu on weekdays with an emphasis on pasta, salads, and sandwiches. More recently, Aiello's has begun to extend its reach with Aiello's "Back Door Pizzeria," a place where freshly baked pizzas can be picked up at the restaurant's back entrance. Only 50 pies are baked per night, so it's best to call head and early to reserve one. The new pizzeria is a prelude to a second, more casual restaurant to be opened once additional space adjacent to Aiello's current site becomes available. Although the current Aiello's welcomes children with high chairs and even crayons, the new casual restaurant may be an even better choice for family dining once it arrives.

5202 N Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ, 85012 | Map
(602) 277-8700
http://www.aiellositalianrestaurant.com

Da Vang

Vietnamese cuisine was once available almost exclusively in "the Avenues" on the west side of Phoenix. Vietnamese immigrant populations supported a variety of restaurants in strip malls along 19th Avenue, 35th Avenue, and 43rd Avenue. In 1990, Da Vang became one of the first of these restaurants to be noticed by media food critics. Glowing reviews in the Republic and elsewhere led to Da Vang's discovery by a population of non-Vietnamese seekers of culinary adventure.

Nearly two decades later, Da Vang faces a lot more competition; there are quality Vietnamese restaurants in the East Valley cities of Tempe, Mesa, and Chandler, and crossover restaurants like Cyclo and Dragonfly present a version of Vietnamese cuisine that is more upscale and accessible for neophytes. Despite the proliferation of Vietnamese food options in the Phoenix Metro Area, Da Vang continues to provide excellent food and value from its original location on 19th Avenue, just under half a mile south of the 19th Avenue / Camelback Station.

Despite its tiny strip small facade, Da Vang sprawls inside. Four rooms combine into one large dining area. Large circular tables for groups occupy the center of the rooms with rectangular four-tops around the edges. The menu also sprawls with nearly 80 appetizers and entrees listed. Starters include several types of spring rolls and an interesting rice flour crepe stuffed with shrimp and pork (center photo below). Entrees focus heavily on noodles with both egg and rice noodles available in a wide variety of soups, stews, and stir-fries. Some are not for the faint-hearted; Number 57, rice soup with pork organs, and Number 58, rice soup with pork blood, will definitely not appeal to all customers. Still, such dishes make it clear that Da Vang takes no prisoners when it comes to authenticity.

The most popular menu item is without question pho, the popular soup of rice noodles in a spiced beef broth with a side plate of condiments. Da Vang offers seven types of beef pho and one chicken pho. Unlike Tempe Vietnamese outposts Dragonfly, Khai Hoan, and Pho Nhat, Da Vang does not offer a vegetable pho, but customers looking for a meatless entree can order one of two noodle stir-fries with vegetables (right photo below). In addition to its many noodle and rice dishes, Da Vang also serves eight varieties of bahn mi sandwiches made with French bread, a colonial legacy that continues to influence Vietnamese cuisine.

Da Vang does not have a full bar, but several brands of bottled beer are available, including Vietnamese 33 beer. Interestingly, Da Vang also sells cigarettes at the cashier's counter, a quaint holdover from a time before Arizona's statewide restaurant smoking ban. Thanks to the ban, Da Vang's dining room is no longer smoky as it sometimes was prior to May 1, 2007. Da Vang is open seven days a week from 8 AM until 8 PM.

4538 N 19th Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85015
(602) 242-3575

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Yoshi's

Japanese fast food restaurants have come and gone over the years in Phoenix. While Kyoto Bowl has the most outlets by far, Yoshi's has been a long-term player in the market for fast bowls of teriyaki, curry, yakisoba, and udon. In recent years, Yoshi's has closed some locations, including a site on Adams Street that now belongs to Yasda Bento. There are three sites of Yoshi's remaining: one at 24th St. and Indian School Road, one at Sky Harbor Airport, and one on Central Avenue just south Indian School in Midtown. The Midtown location is just a block south of the Indian School / Central Avenue Station.

Yoshi's may be smaller these days, but the food is still reasonably good. Teriyaki chicken bowls are the signature item, but Yoshi's also makes a very good version of udon (center photo below). The noodle soup is available topped with either chicken or a vegetable tempura cake. The sushi selection is limited to rolls and probably not as strong a choice as the rice bowls and noodles dishes. Starters include edamame, spring rolls, and a miso soup (right photo below) that seems more like a light vegetable soup than a traditional miso with a pronounced fermented taste.

Beverages include fountain drinks and both green and black iced teas. No alcohol is served. The interior of Yoshi's is a standard fast-food set-up that could use a little sprucing up, although three-dimensional murals depicting bowls of rice and chopsticks enliven the look. There is both indoor seating and a covered patio facing Central Avenue. Yoshi's is open weekdays from 10:30 AM until 8:30 PM and Saturdays from 11 AM until 8:30 PM.

4050 N. Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85016
(602) 468-9737

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A Touch of Yogurt

With so many lunch choices clustered near one another in the heart of Downtown Phoenix, it's sometimes surprisingly hard to find a good dessert to follow a meal. A Touch of Yogurt, located in the ground floor of One Renaissance Square on the northeast corner of 1st Avenue and Washington Street, about a block from the Washington / Central Avenue Station (northbound) and the First Avenue / Jefferson Station (southbound), fills the niche for frozen treats Downtown.

A Touch of Yogurt is dedicated, as its name suggests, to frozen yogurt. The product is Miss Karen's, a widely distributed brand which was actually pioneered in Phoenix back in the 1970s. Customers expecting a hand-crafted product made on the premises (e.g., Arlecchino Gelateria in Arcadia) or a tangy product with a strong yogurt taste will probably not find either at A Touch of Yogurt. Nevertheless, those those looking for sweet, soft-serve frozen yogurt in the style popularized in the 1980s will be pleased.

A Touch of Yogurt offers a rotating list of flavors, publicized via its Web site and monthly printed calendars available in the store. Each day, eight flavors are available. Among the daily selections, six are regular frozen yogurt flavors such as banana coconut cream (right photo below), one is always a sugar-free variety, and another is always a sorbet. The lime sorbert (center photo below) is particularly good with an unexpected and pleasing tartness that takes the edge off a hot summer day. All flavors are available in a variety of sizes and can be accentuated with a choice of 40 dry or wet toppings.

The proprietors, a couple named John and Marcia, are exceedingly courteous and happy to offer samples to indecisive customers. There are a small number of tables inside the shop and some shaded tables outside on the sidewalk. A large outdoor plaza around the corner on the other side of the Renaissance Square office towers provides another venue for yogurt consumption. A Touch of Yogurt is open weekdays only from 10 AM until 4 PM.

2 N Central Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85004
(602) 495-9226

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Thai Hut

A building that has housed a variety of greasy spoon diners over the years is now an outpost of Thai cuisine in the cultural district situated between the Downtown and Midtown areas of Phoenix. Directly across the street from the Phoenix Art Museum and just a block east of the McDowell / Central Avenue Station, Thai Hut offers southeast Asian cuisine in a casual environment. Even the counter and stools from the old diner design have been left intact, creating an interesting mix of retro looks and exotic food.

Thai Hut's food is not terribly different from the Thai cuisine served in strip malls throughout the area, but the combination of tasty food and friendly service in an area of town not usually known for Asian food has made Thai Hut, which was originally established in Mesa, very popular in its new Central Phoenix location. Thai Hut meals begin with an array of soups, salads, and appetizers. The som tum, or papaya salad (center photo below) is particularly good with a combination of initially perceptible sweet and tart flavors and a nice afterburn that follows from chilis and an occasional whole clove of garlic. The soups (right photo below), on the other hand, seem underflavored, although they may be good choices for spicy food novices.

Entrees include a wide variety of curries, stir fries, and noodle dishes all prepared with a choice of chicken, pork, tofu, beef, or shrimp. There are also several hearty noodle soups that are meals in themselves. For dessert, there are a variety of homemade options. The combination of mango and sticky rice, when available, is a great way to finish a meal. Beverages include sodas, fruit juices, and Thai iced tea made with condensed milk.

During weekday lunch hours, Thai Hut does not offer its normal menu, but instead provides a list of a dozen lunch entrees each priced at $6.95. At first glance, the lunch menu is confusing because it suggests that only chicken entrees are available. Upon closer inspection, the fine print reveals that substitutions of tofu, beef, and pork are all possible. Each lunch special comes with a spring roll, vegetable soup, jasmine rice, and a beverage. While the inability to order from the standard menu on weekdays before 3 PM can be frustrating, the low prices and quick service associated with the lunch specials are certainly appreciated. Thai Hut is open seven days a week until 9 PM. There are high chairs available, and the restaurant is suitably casual for dining with children.

101 E. McDowell Rd., Phoenix AZ, 85004
(602) 253-8631

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Tammie Coe Cakes and MJ Bread

Since 2001, Tammie Coe Cakes and MJ Bread have created a sensation in Phoenix with their winning combination of luscious, decadent cakes and crusty, artisanal breads. The bakery's first retail location was at the intersection of 40th Street and Campbell in Arcadia; however, in late 2005, a second, more accessible location was established in the Artisan Village complex on Roosevelt Street, just under half a mile east of the Roosevelt / Central Avenue Station.

Customers at this location can order and pick up cakes for special occasions, grab cupcakes for everyday snacking, and take home hearty breads for mealtime consumption, but the Roosevelt location has also become a viable choice for lunch or continental breakfast in the area. Each day, staff make an assortment of sandwiches (center photo below) based on fresh ingredients paired with appropriate MJ breads. The selection changes from day to day, but there is always a balance of meaty and vegetarian selections. Of course, a meatless choice can still be a rich one, as any fan of the grilled cheese on brioche will testify.

Sandwiches can be purchased a la carte or as part of a lunch combination. The latter includes chips, a drink, and a cookie. The oatmeal apple cookies (right photo below) are a particularly good choice when available. Beverages include bottled sodas and waters, Illy coffee, homemade lemonade, and fresh-squeezed orange juice. A variety of small salads are also available as side dishes. Breakfast foods include muffins and granola with yogurt.

All food is purchased and picked up at the counter. There is no indoor seating, but a few tables are located directly outside the restaurant. The seating at those tables is fine during mild weather but not as comfortable during the summer heat. On hot days, a better choice may be the two semi-shaded tables in the nearby Artisan Village courtyard. Of course, everything is packaged to go, so some customers may elect to take their lunches back to their offices or homes to enjoy there.

610 E Roosevelt St., # 145, Phoenix, AZ 85004
(602) 253-0829

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