Favorite Local Restaurants - Phoenix

The other day my son said "Today was an especially fantastic food day".  And indeed it was.  I'd love to make you all think it was because I'm such a fabulous cook and he adored something I made, but actually I didn't cook or make anything at all that particular day.  That day we ate at two local places that were lovely.

Here is a list of some of my current local favorites.  They earned their way onto this page by being: 1.  Delicious, & 2.  Locally Owned.

1.  La Grande Orange:

Located at the corner of 40th street & Campbell, this has long been my favorite local restaurant.  Here's why.  It's ALWAYS good.  And here's the other reason why - for me, usually, I will find something I like at a restaurant and I will order that same thing every time I go there.  Because I know I like that particular thing and I know they make it well, so I don't want to mess that up by trying something I might not like.  But at LGO, the problem for me is that there are many things I like, it's actually really hard for me to choose.  And bear in mind there are probably even more things on the menu that I would like but I don't want to try anything else because I already have a hard time as it is.

Things I love here:

Both of their tuna sandwiches, ALL of the salads, the french pancakes, the oatmeal, the lemonaid, the orange juice, the sushi, the cookies, the muffins, the cottage cheese (seriously ridiculously good), and last but certainly not least the Pizza's - and my favorites are the roasted corn and the mushroom.  So good.

Guys the pizza is like sourdough bread perfection, chewy and just the right amount of thin vs. thick with the most delicious goat cheese.  Crazy good piping hot.  Cahruhazy I tell you.

2.  The Parlor:

I love the name of this place because it's an old beauty parlor.  And I love love love that they left that mid century brickwork on the front of the building.  The Parlor is located at roughly Camelback and 19th street.  

Things I love:

Their pizzas are super delicious, especially the mushroom, they have an amazing tuna sandwich on foccacia (are we sensing a theme here with my love of pizza and tuna sammys, yeah kinda), great salads (I've tried 4 or 5 and they've all been yummy) and they also have tasty little desserts.  My favorite dessert so far was a pistachio crepe with orange marscapone and roasted strawberries.  Devine.  And it doesn't hurt to mention they have really nice wait staff.  Our last waiter we had here was awesome.  

3.  Astor House

I'd like to have eaten here more times before reviewing it because I think there is a lot more deliciousness to explore but I'm already sold after my first outing.  Astor House is located at the Roundabout at 12th street & Oak in the Coronado district.  It's next door to it's sister location "The Tuck Shop", which I also plan on trying soon.

what I loved:

We had the cubano sandwiches and they were soooo yummy and delicious.  We also had their house made lemonaid and ginger ale.  That ginger ale was so good, I've wanted to go back just for that all week.  It tastes like ginger guys.  That sounds obvious, but what a concept.  I mean, when you drink ginger ale you probably never really thought about what it was really suppose to taste like before I bet.  But now I totally get it.  Other things on their menu sound scrumptious as well.  Check them out.  They also have an awesome patio so when it cools off a little bit I'm going to get some people to go to lunch their and just bask in the lovely weather.  Their breakfast menu looks great too and in the evenings they have more like "snacks" or you can have dinner at "The Tuck Shop" next door. 

4.  Short Leash Hot Dogs

Located wherever you can find them - they do business out of a trailer/food truck.  You can keep track of their whereabouts on twitter and facebook.  But often found at the Phoenix Downtown Market or Stinkweeds (Camelback & Central) parking lot.  

What I love:

Last time I had a hot dog on flat bread with mango chutney which was to die for.  Ask them what they recommend, they are great at suggesting things based on your tolerance for spicy, etc.  And another thing I love is that they sell a soda called Diet Cheerwine which is like the best cherry soda you've ever had.  

5.  Sweet Republic

If you're really lucky you might be able to catch their 1950s style ice cream truck at the same location as Short Leash.  The truck makes it around Phoenix and Scottsdale periodically.  However, if you can't find the truck, they are also permanently located at 92nd street & Shea.  Yes, I know, that's pretty far if you live in Central Phoenix.  But I think it's worth it.  

What I love:

They make artisan's ice cream with fresh ingredients.  The flavors are both subtle and delicious.   A few I adore are:  strawberry buttermilk, meyer lemon, medjool date, and huckleberry.

Jordan REGULARLY craves the real mint chip.  Tastes like the mint you grow in the garden, not the fake mint flavoring from a bottle.

and last but not least, one more ice cream joint:

6.  Churn

Churn is a colorful little ice cream shop located next to the restaurant Windsor (and I've only eaten at Windsor once so I don't feel I can adequately express an opinion on that yet) - they are just north of Camelback on Central ave.  

What I love:

Their ice cream is like old fashioned flavorful creamy ice cream.  I've yet to try a flavor that didn't impress but the strawberry is pretty hard to beat.  They also have a multitude of cone options, including a pretzel cone.  

(sorry sugarloo.com, I don't know who you are, but I jacked your photo, hope you're cool with it)

So that's it.  There are other places I like too, but these are my favorite "go to" places at the moment!