Arizona

Some bakeries sell breakfast. A few become part of a family’s history. On the south side of Tucson,…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 3

Snow shovels are getting packed away for good, and plenty of retirees are pointing their cars toward a…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 3

Mesquite is about as Arizona as a saguaro, and for generations it has been the fuel behind some…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 3

Some Phoenix restaurants chase trends every season, and then there is the little kitchen that has kept the…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 2

Some Tucson families pass down recipes. Others pass down a favorite chicken order. On a busy stretch of…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 2

Picture a quiet morning by the biggest lake located entirely inside Arizona, with a cup of coffee and…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 2

Some dinners are about eating and leaving. This one in Chandler is built for staying a while. A…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 2

Some Arizona trips get planned around golf courses and hiking trails. Others get planned around a plate stacked…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 2

Some people in Tucson have been eating lunch at the same truck stop since the 1990s, and they…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 2

Some lunches are just food, and some lunches feel like a phone call from home. In Scottsdale, a…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 1

Some Tucson restaurants chase trends, and some never bothered to change. One old-school steakhouse on the south side…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 1

Some meals are worth a detour across town, and in Phoenix one of them comes on a round…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 1

When the roasters start turning and Hatch chiles show up by the sack, Arizona quietly enters its favorite…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 1

Some Phoenix traditions get passed down like a family recipe card. Ask locals where to eat after a…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 1

Some Phoenix restaurants come and go before the paint dries, but one red-booth classic on Central Avenue has…

By Emma Larkin · Nov 1

Some lunches end with a single plate. Others end with a quiet promise to skip dinner entirely. In…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 31

Some of the best mornings in Arizona start with a pink paper bag, a pair of tongs, and…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 31

Breakfast prices keep creeping up, but a few Arizona diners are still serving full plates without the sticker…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 31

Some Phoenix families pass down recipes. Others pass down a lunch spot, and this one has been feeding…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 31

Retirement used to mean a quiet porch and a long list of empty afternoons. Out on the far…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 31

Arizona highways are long, and a good plate of chicken-fried steak can turn a tired drive into a…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 31

Some retirees are skipping the crowded coastal towns and heading somewhere warmer, cheaper, and closer to the water.…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 30

Some Chinese restaurants in Arizona have been frying wontons and ladling soup since long before the Valley turned…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 30

Some meals are worth planning your whole weekend around, and a plate of tender oxtails with a side…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 30

Every December, Tucson kitchens fill up with tamale pots, chile, and stacks of warm flour tortillas. The grandmothers…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 30

Casa Grande sits right between Phoenix and Tucson, surrounded by cotton fields, dairies, and long stretches of farmland.…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 30

Sedona gets the postcards, the crowds, and the long waits for a table. Just down the road, the…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 30

Some breakfast spots chase trends, and some just keep the coffee pot going while the trends roll past…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 29

Some Scottsdale birthdays come with balloons, some come with candles, and plenty come with a pizza pulled straight…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 29

Thirty years is a long time to order the same plate of enchiladas, yet some Phoenix diners have…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 29

Long before interstates took over, Arizona’s old highways were lined with small cafes where drivers could sit down,…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 29

Some pizza is built for folding, and some is built for snapping. Bar pie, also called tavern-style pizza,…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 29

Some Tucson families have been ordering from the same red-and-white counter for decades, and they still know their…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 29

Some Phoenix restaurants chase trends, and one little spot on a busy old avenue simply refuses to. Its…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 28

Some meals are about the food, and some are about the feeling of being looked after. Across Arizona,…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 28

Egg foo young is the fluffy, gravy-covered omelet that ruled Chinese-American menus long before bubble tea showed up.…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 28

Out past the edge of Yuma, rows of tall palms rise from the desert floor like they were…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 28

Old Town Scottsdale is full of shiny new hangouts, but one tiny room on Main Street has been…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 28

Some people retire to golf courses and gated streets. Others keep driving south through the Sonoran Desert until…

By Emma Larkin · Oct 28