Category: Veterans Way / College

Postino

Sometimes, it’s hard to define exactly when a local business grows to the point that it can be considered a chain. Since its beginnings at an old post office with a quasi-Arcadia address in 2001, Postino has expanded to half a dozen locations situated throughout the Phoenix Metropolitan Area, as well as sites in Denver, Houston, and Tucson. With all that growth and a private equity deal helping to finance potential nationwide expansion, fans of earlier versions of the popular wine bar may wonder what to make of the brand’s rapidly enlarging footprint. Continue reading “Postino” →

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Phoenicia Cafe

The three-block distance between the Tempe Transportation Center and the campus of Arizona State University has become a zone for intensive vertical development in just the past few years. New residential towers and hotels are occupying formerly vacant lots or, if a few cases, replacing existing buildings. Amid that high-rise development, one existing structure that seems likely to persist is the Islamic Community Center on Forest Avenue. The center is not only a mosque, but also houses a market and a Middle Eastern restaurant, Phoenicia Cafe. Continue reading “Phoenicia Cafe” →

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The Chuckbox

It seems every college campus has to have a burger joint. Ideally, this place should be inexpensive, unpretentious, independently owned, and decades old. The Chuckbox, which serves hamburgers in a location just across University Drive from the ASU Main Campus, meets all of these criteria. The restaurant, which is three blocks from the Veterans Way / College Avenue light rail station, stands nearly alone in a sea of new high-density construction as a throwback to another era when most Tempe restaurants occupied freestanding structures and Western kitsch was still fashionable decor.

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Shady Park

Whenever a sweet spring turns into scorching summer, residents of the Sonoran Desert always begin to appreciate just how precious shade can be. Local communities have decidedly mixed records in cultivating shade, sometimes leaving master plans unfulfilled for years and relying on engineered shade structures that may be artistic but also less effective than planting more trees. When a place offers genuine shade, then, it’s worth celebrating. Shady Park, a combination of a restaurant and a nightclub in Tempe, calls out its two abundantly shaded patios in its name.

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Royal Coffee Bar

There’s long been a connection between coffee and architecture. Architects are stereotyped as drinking a lot of the brew, some of the best coffee houses are found in interesting spaces. Royal Coffee Bar benefits from being founded by an architect, and a sense of good design pervades the shop’s locations, including its sites at Heritage Square in Downtown Phoenix and on College Avenue in Downtown Tempe. Both locations serve Royal’s own coffee, roasted in house at Heritage Square, along with teas and a daily selection of pastries from local purveyors. Continue reading “Royal Coffee Bar” →

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Nocawich (temporarily closed)

It’s fashionable for cities to have neighborhoods identified by two syllable nicknames. The classic example is SoHo (for “south of Houston Street”) in New York. Here in Phoenix, local versions such as RoRo (Roosevelt Row) and CenPho (Central Phoenix) have met with a mixture of acceptance and derision. One local full service restaurant, Noca, embraced this trend for several years with a name that reflected its location just north of Camelback Road. The original Noca has been closed since 2014, but its legacy endures in a casual sandwich shop known as Nocawich. Continue reading “Nocawich (temporarily closed)” →

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Original ChopShop Co.

Remember the song “Escape” by Rupert Holmes? Even if you were born long after it was recorded, you’ve probably heard its memorable chorus, “If you like pina coladas…” There’s another line in that song in which the narrator sings, “I’m not much into health food, I am into champagne.” Do those two pleasures have to be mutually exclusive? At the Original ChopShop Co.’s new location in Tempe, it’s possible to have both: healthful dishes based on fresh produce, whole grains, and lean proteins to eat and beer, cocktails, and wine, including champagne of course, to drink.

Danish salad with chicken

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House of Tricks

Almost every college campus has a certain array of restaurant types within a few blocks’ walk. There’s always a cheap burger-and-brew place, a wide variety of international restaurants, and at least one place with an alternative vibe and a mainly vegetarian menu. What missing from the list? There’s also usually a restaurant that caters more to the faculty than the students — unless of course it’s a place to for students to go with their parents when they’re visiting, and, more importantly, paying. Arizona State University’s version of this restaurant has long been the House of Tricks.

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