PHX Rail Food

Alter Ego For the first century after its founding in 1892, Tempe was usually viewed as an inner suburb of Phoenix and a college town. The city was known for its historic flour mill, the walkable business di…

This week's review: Just like the city around it, a #Tempe hotel manages a dual identity.
phxrailfood.com/2026/03/06/a... #phoenix

Dilla Libre It has now been over two decades since “Napoleon Dynamite,” a quirky film about a quirky character of the same name, became an unexpected and enduring favorite. While there are so many motifs that …

This week's review: More than two decades after Napoleon Dynamite, quesadillas and tater tots endure in #Phoenix.
phxrailfood.com/2026/02/27/d...

Harlem Even people who are not fans of big band jazz have probably heard the song “Take the A Train” at least once. The standard was written by composer Billy Strayhorn based on Duke Ellington’s instructi…

This week's review: Take the B Train to this Harlem for coffee and pastry in the Roosevelt historic district.
phxrailfood.com/2026/02/21/h... #phoenix

Filthy Animal So much of the classic movie “Home Alone” has infused popular culture that it’s sometimes hard to remember all the tropes derived from it. One of them is the phrase “filthy animal.” The words are h…

This week's review: At home but not alone as Mill Avenue tries to reboot as a dining destination.
phxrailfood.com/2026/02/13/f... #phoenix #tempe

Obon Sometimes, a particular space seems destined for one specific type of restaurant. At CityScape in downtown Phoenix, a specific location is now home to its third Japanese-inspired restaurant. The la…

This week's review: The third Japanese restaurant in a row at this CityScape location and the best so far. phxrailfood.com/2026/02/09/o... #phoenix

CP Coffee and Patisserie When two people become a couple and move in together, there are always decisions to be made about just how far to take their union. Are they getting married or merely cohabiting? Will they merge th…

Whether married or just living together, a loving combination of coffee and pastry in downtown #Phoenix.
phxrailfood.com/2026/01/30/c...

Proof Bread In making bread, proofing is sometimes a ritual and sometimes a requirement. With breads made with convenient fast acting yeast, proofing to ensure that the vital microorganisms are still alive is …

This week's review: A local sourdough bakery has fermented into multiple shops and cafes. #phoenix #mesa #tempe
phxrailfood.com/2026/01/23/p...

Matt’s Big Breakfast It’s interesting how even the most adventurous eaters tend to be conservative about breakfast. People who gladly consume foods from outside their own family traditions in the afternoon and evening …

This week’s review: phxrailfood.com/2026/01/16/m... #phoenix

Alden The name Alden has origins in the Old English word for “old friend.” It also happens to be the first name of Alden Dow, the architect who designed the mid-century campus originally known as the Pho…

This week's review: A new restaurant at the #Phoenix Art Museum feels sort of like an old friend.
phxrailfood.com/2026/01/09/a...

EZbachi There seems to be no limit to what kind of food can be prepared on a truck. While mobile operations might traditionally have been associated with hot dogs, tacos, and other hand foods, some seem to…

This week's review: A hibachi food truck moves inside with an expanded menu.
phxrailfood.com/2026/01/02/e... #phoenix

To allow for a holiday break, there will be no review posted this week. Wishing all followers a happy new year with regular weekly reviews scheduled to resume after January 1 and continue throughout the month.

Ramen Kagawa The movie “Blade Runner,” set in a fictional version of 2019, shows a bleak future. We’re now well past that date, and while its predictions haven’t all come true, the real-life present doesn’t alw…

This week's review: Even if the real world of the 2020s doesn't always seem much better than the fictional 2019 of Blade Runner, at least there are urban noodles to feed us. phxrailfood.com/2025/12/19/r... #phoenix

BC Breakfast Club Nearly everyone has seen The Breakfast Club, the classic John Hughes movie from the 1980s, but far fewer remember the band Breakfast Club. Although Madonna served briefly as the group’s drummer, Br…

This week's review: a classic movie, a forgotten band, and a Cityscape restaurant for morning and midday. phxrailfood.com/2025/12/12/b... #phoenix

Espiritu There was a time in the not too distant past when downtown Mesa was generally quiet after dark and many restaurants in the area were dry. A lot has changed over the past decade, with more live ente…

This week's review: Mexican meat, seafood, and an irreverent approach to cocktails show how much has changed on Main Street in #Mesa.
phxrailfood.com/2025/11/27/e... #Phoenix

Main Burgers It has been decades since tacos became mainstream in the United States, and now that signature food associated with Mexico can be found nearly everywhere in both authentic and adulterated forms. In…

This week's review: Marvelous Mexican hamburguesas on Main Street in Mesa, but maybe hold the fries. phxrailfood.com/2025/11/21/m...

Mekong Sandwiches Although it has been over seventy years since France left what was then called “Indochina,” there are many legacies of French colonialism that persist in Vietnam. Among them are the use of the Roma…

This week's review: In the #Mesa Asian District, a French influence felt in baguette sandwiches lingers long after colonialism. #Phoenix
phxrailfood.com/2025/11/14/m...

Adrian’s In film or just about any medium, there are always a few cases in which a sequel is better known or regarded than the original work that preceded it. For example, everyone knows “Silence of the Lam…

This week's review: A sequel that has outlasted the original serving Mexican-American comfort food on Main Street in Mesa.
phxrailfood.com/2025/11/07/a... #phoenix

Zen Thai Cafe The idea of zen, often oversimplified and misunderstood, refers to a meditative practice associated with Buddhism throughout east Asia, Applied to food, it can involve deep, unhurried appreciation …

This week's review: No meditation, but maybe a little mindful appreciation of Thai food in downtown #Phoenix.
phxrailfood.com/2025/11/01/z...

Los Altos Ranch Market Just about everyone has heard the adage, “Don’t go grocery shopping on an empty stomach.” The idea is that being hungry while in a supermarket can make a shopper susceptible to budget-busting impul…

This week's review: Don't shop when hungry; in South #Phoenix, eat at the supermarket instead.
phxrailfood.com/2025/10/24/los

Satellite Coffee Bar There is a certain relationship between coffee and furniture. After all, many living rooms are defined by what is commonly known as a “coffee table,” a surface to hold a pot, cups, milk, and sugar …

This week's review: A coffee house with a stable orbit that never seems too far removed from terrestrial comforts.
phxrailfood.com/2025/10/10/s... #phoenix

Yoshi’s If there’s a major intersection that speaks to unrealized potential, it’s the corner of Indian School Road and Central Avenue at the north end of Midtown. On the northeast corner, a massive develop…

This week's review: A place to enjoy Japanese fast food at a corner that has been slow to be redeveloped.
phxrailfood.com/2025/10/03/y... #Phoenix

Oven+Vine The phrase “dead end street” doesn’t usually have a positive connotation. Literally, it means only one way in and out. Figuratively, it suggests a failed project. Maybe that’s why the fancier sound…

This week's review: A restaurant on a cul-de-sac doesn't have to lead to a dead-end meal.
phxrailfood.com/2025/09/26/o... #Phoenix

Once a party-school mecca, Mill Ave. wants to be your parents' dining destination Tempe's college party district is moving on up, trading dive bars for high-end eateries. Will it leave students in the dust?

When PHX Rail Food started in 2007, Mill Avenue was one of the region’s most varied and lively dining districts. Now, it’s among the least. It will be interesting to see if new restaurants can bring it back to life after the loss of so many longtime favorites. www.phoenixnewtimes.com/restaurants/...

Sweet Retreat The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is known for discouraging its members from consuming alcohol, tobacco, recreational cannabis, and “hot drinks” (mainly coffee and tea). With those it…

This week's review: Ice cream for saints, sinners, and everyone in between.
phxrailfood.com/2025/09/12/s... #phoenix #mesa

The Kettle Black The idiom of “the pot calling the kettle black” has been around for centuries and has always implied hypocrisy, criticizing another’s person’s flaws while ignoring the same failings within oneself.…

This week's review: No soot, but a pub look with pub food on First Street in downtown #Phoenix phxrailfood.com/2025/09/05/t...

Hope’s Frybread The Navajo Nation is the largest Native American reservation in the United States and home to its largest federally recognized tribe. Nevertheless, only a little more than half of the enrolled memb…

This week's review: A favorite food of fairs and road side stands settled in a fixed location in central Mesa.
phxrailfood.com/2025/08/29/h...
#phoenix

A sign at the Arizona Center identifying both current and coming soon businesses, including Chula Seafood.

Chula Seafood coming to the Arizona Center. This will be a much needed boost to this dated development in downtown #Phoenix.

Dolce Italia by MEKK The Italian word “dolce” translates into English as “sweet” in both senses of the word: a sugary flavor and a gentle disposition. With that in mind, the most dolce place of all could be an Italian …

This week's review: With pasta, pizza, and pastry, this downtown #Phoenix bakery cafe is sweet in more ways than one,
phxrailfood.com/2025/08/24/d...

Pretty Penny A few months ago, the United States Mint placed its final order for the blanks needed to create pennies. With that action, the long-debated demise of the one-cent coin began, a move that puts the U…

This week's review: Pennies may be going away, but it's still possible to find one on Roosevelt Row. #phoenix
phxrailfood.com/2025/08/17/p...

Daydreamer Coffee With all new high-rise residential construction in the denser parts of Phoenix and its suburbs, it has sometimes been a struggle to include a component of ground floor retail, an added layer of urb…

This week's review: Coffee and pastry at the ground floor of one of the latest downtown #Phoenix apartment towers.
phxrailfood.com/2025/08/09/d...