When you see a place called Sip, I think it’s fair to assume it won’t be serving food and instead focuses on drinks. But Sip Coffee and Beer Kitchen is more than just a place for caffeine and liquid depressants. It’s also a place to grab some food. And, on Friday nights it’s happy hour prices for appetizers.Check these profit singularity reviews.

So, I did what any intelligent person would do and ordered two appetizers. One was the Chicken Wings and the other was Pretzels and Beer Cheese. The pretzels not only came with beer cheese, but mustard as well. Which is dumb, of course, but the beer cheese more than made up for it. It was surprisingly spicy, but in all the right ways. The pretzels were long and fluffy, with just right amount of chewiness on the exterior and not too much salt.

As for the wings, they were grilled, which is almost always a pleasant way to eat such things. I had half buffalo and half BBQ. They came with ranch, which is not nearly as good as blue cheese dressing, but it was better than the celery that the wings also often seem to come with for inexplicable reasons. The buffalo was pretty great, being plenty spicy like the cheese sauce although it was a bit light. The BBQ was pretty good as well, although the lightness of sauce was even more noticeable for that flavor.

I liked Sip. I liked the happy hour situation. I kind of liked the concept. But I didn’t feel like it was anything overly impressive. It’s a place you go when you’re near or thinking you can use an easy and reliable meal. It’s not a place you go when you’re looking for something special, which is all just fine depending on what you’re looking for.

Just when I was tiring of the repetitiveness of Fox restaurants, I happened upon a spot called Blanco Tacos. Sure, Mexican food might be the only restaurant type more prevalent than Fox, but there is still plenty of room for growth. Blanco Tacos takes the mildly upscale and trendy approach to Mexican food and the menu isn’t strictly limited to tacos.

Therefore, I made my way to the enchiladas and found the Braised Short Rib “Machaca.” Enchiladas here consisted more of a layer of tortilla filled with some stuff and topped with another tortilla before being doused in whatever sauce is right for the enchilada and cheese. This was chock-full of the machaca, the sauce was ancho chile and the cheese was blanco (like the name of the place!). It also came with rice and beans.

It was, well, really good. Like a Mexican lasagna, but in all of the best ways. Each bite contained just enough of the good stuff to keep me a happy man. It may not be the most innovative concept and probably would have tasted the same if the ingredients were rolled together like a normal enchilada. But, the added benefit was that the ingredients were really really good.

There’s always room for another delicious take on Mexican food and Blanco Taco made good work of it. Plus, I didn’t have to put up with any repeated menu items for this restaurant.

The space between fast food burgers and gourmet burgers is a crowded one. Over in Portland a spot called Killer Burger did so well in that space that they decided to set up shop in Scottsdale. Scottsdale is oh so different from Portland, but hell, I’ll take any new burger spot outside of a vegetarian patty specialist.

Plus, Killer Burger had a burger that seemed to be created for my kind of people. It was called the Meathead and is composed of two patties, bacon, cheddar, grilled onion and house sauce. The house sauce sounded disgusting (some sort of mix of mustard and mayo) and grilled onions are grilled onions, so I ordered without either. All burgers come with fries and hey, that’s pretty cool. And then there are games like Jenga at each table in case the burgers take more than the five minutes or so that it took for mine.

When my Meathead arrived, it looked just as it did in the menu picture. The cheddar was basically oozing out from between the meat and bun, and the bacon on top was heftier than one might expect. The fries were somewhere between fast food and steak fries, and seasoned to perfection. Upon biting in, the burger had a sense of familiarity and newness at the same time. It was as though Killer Burger had upgraded In-N-Out Burger in every way imaginable. The patties had mild caramelization to go with a perfect texture within. The cheddar was flavorful and a much-preferred cheese over American, while bacon simply makes everything better. Plus, don’t even get me started on the fries, which had been both fried and seasoned perfectly with a similar balance of texture to the burger; being crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside.

I hope with all sincerity that Killer Burger does well in Scottsdale. It provides a perfect middle ground that is often missing in the burger scene. It won’t be easy to compete with Shake Shack, but is a very worthy choice.

Scottsdale is pretty sterile city. This is not inherently a bad thing, but it is a thing that seems to preclude the concept of hidden gems. And, yet, I heard word of not just a hidden gem, but one right around the corner from me. Plus, it could only have had a more apt name if it was right next door. It’s called Convenient Corner Market and it dishes out sandwiches with bread baked in-house every day.

While most of the sandwiches had veggies included, I eyed one that I expected would satisfy me. It was called the Beefstrami Sandwich, with roast beef and pastrami as its meaty base. I ordered it without the pickles, onions, mayo and mustard, but kept the cheddar cheese it came with. I also asked for some thousand island in there to keep it all moist.

I wanted to love this sandwich. I wanted to so badly. In each bite I took there was an innate desire to fall in love, get married, have children and settle down in some suburbia with this sandwich. But wanting to love and loving are two different things. It packed the flavor one should expect from a hot roast beef and pastrami sandwich, yet the texture was oddly rubbery and gave off the impression of boiled meat.

I am, however, undaunted. This deli is truly convenient and I do not take such convenience lightly. I also owe a place like this a second chance, and you might be wondering why. The reason is none other than the fact that it is run by Wolverines and I do not take a variable such as that lightly.

Ramen is fantastic, right? I mean, we can all agree on that. But we can also agree that summer in Phoenix is not the time for ramen. So, although I knew Obon in Scottsdale had great ramen from carrying out a couple times, I made a different choice when I decided to stick around long enough to eat in the restaurant.

I began with something not Japanese at all. It was called Fuku Wings, which were coated in a spicy gochujang sauce. Gochujang, for those who may not know, is actually a Korean sauce and I have yet to eat a take on it that I haven’t liked. These were no different and they were nothing short of fantastic. It was a little sweeter than a typical gochujang sauce, but packed a spicy punch. There was a little crispiness to the outside and plenty of juiciness on the inside. With such a strong connection between Japan and Korea (albeit an often contentious one), I let the gochujang wings slide on account of being so delicious.

For my main dish I went with Street Noodles, which are spicy yakisoba noodles with peanuts, minced chicken and bean sprouts. I am an unabashed lover of yakisoba and calling them street noodles is pretty accurate because they are generally cheap comfort food. Obon dressed theirs up and I must say I had no complaints. They were mighty spicy and flavorful, with plenty of chicken mixed in there to keep a healthy balance with the noodles. They’re not your everyday yakisoba, but unless you’re living in Japan no yakisoba is and these certainly got the job done.

Between the noodles and the wings, Obon handed me some upscale Asian food in just the right way. Perhaps more important than anything else, Obon is ready and willing to show the people of Scottsdale that Japanese food is much more than sushi and teriyaki chicken. And when the weather drops to whatever passes for a low temperature a few months from now I know the ramen will be a welcome warmer in my belly.

I have a hard time driving by burger places regularly without paying a visit. And yet, Lush Burger in Scottsdale evaded my belly for too long. This would have to be remedied and so I made my way there. I was amused by the naming of the burgers on the menu, ranging from Jay Does ‘Shrooms to Hello….?!?! Can Anyone Get Me A Bacon Cheeseburger Around Here?!? with amazingly lengthy descriptions.

I ordered The Yippee-I-Ayyy!, which is essentially Lush Burger’s take on the western-style burger with onion rings, cheddar, BBQ sauce and bacon. I opted for fries on the side and ordered medium-rare. Of course, I was disappointed to find that the burger also came with ingredients that were not listed on the menu. You know, like lettuce, tomato and a devastating pickle spear right next to the burger. I had to remove all of these immediately before getting my mouth around the burger. And when I did, I found the burger to be, well, pretty good.

I wish I could say it was more than pretty good, but frankly it was a burger that lived up to its expectations and didn’t really go anywhere beyond that. The fries were freaking delicious though, clearly making use of the chip on the shoulder that results in being second fiddle to a pretty good burger.

And, of course, it is difficult to get over the pickle, lettuce and tomato. So, you can go to Lush Burger and you probably won’t be disappointed, but you also shouldn’t expect to be overly impressed either. Unless you’re talking about the names and the descriptions.

When I left LA to move to Phoenix I had one major concern. No, it wasn’t the heat in the summer, it was the lack of ramen. You see, LA spoils you with a lot of Asian food, but ramen is easily one of the best of them. People go through life only knowing ramen from a dry cup and I feel terrible for those people, but is it better to have ramen and lost it than to never have had ramen at all? Lost or not, ramen has returned to my life in the form of Ramen Hood in Scottsdale. I headed out for the grand opening to see if it would fulfill my needs.

Ramen Hood offers customized ramen – like a custom burger spot but with ramen instead. You can choose your noodles and broth type, then pick from a bunch of other ingredients.

I opted for regular ramen noodles (as in not gluten free) and tonkotsu (rich pork) as my broth. Other broth options were shoyu (soy), spicy miso, tomato and vegetarian. I’ve always leaned towards tonkotsu and wasn’t disappointed in that decision.

It’s hard to have a bowl of ramen without a soft boiled egg, so I made sure to snag one of those. I also chose naruto (slices of a fish roll, named that because naruto means whirlpool and there are swirls in the roll), pickled ginger, seasoned bamboo, spicy miso paste and black garlic oil. The latter two enriched the broth, while the former three were there to enhance the dish. Oh and let’s not forget the cha siu pork, which was more thinly sliced and less melt-in-your-mouth than I’m used to.

I loved that Ramen Hood has Ramune (pronounced rah-moo-nuh), which is a crazy Japanese drink that is opened by popping a marble through the top. Melon is the best flavor; tell your friends.

Tempura bacon! Never seen this before and holy cow it’s amazing. I mean, nobody likes tempura vegetables anyway.

It’s really hard to beat having a new ramen place open right down the street from you. Especially when you are in somewhat of an authentic Asian food desert like Scottsdale. It was definitely a mistake to open a hot soup restaurant in the middle of the Phoenix summer, but  the ramen is good enough to keep Ramen Hood going strong until the colder months bring in the big crowds.

Some BBQ places have a reputation that precedes them. Others, you just kind of drive by a bunch and decide it’s time to pay a visit. Porkopolis in Scottsdale is the latter, and I finally decided to pay that visit. I was greeted by possibly the friendliest waiter a BBQ restaurant has ever seen and the scent of smoke and meat juices.

After enlisting the assistance of the waiter, I ended up ordering the 3 Meat Platter with the baby back ribs, pulled pork and burnt ends (which is an option even though the menu doesn’t say so!) It was tough deciding between the burnt ends and the brisket, but I felt confident in my decision. I also opted for mac and cheese and mashed potatoes for my sides.

The platter was nothing short of massive, and the ingredients in the platter were also huge. And yet, somehow a couple of pickles managed to squeeze onto the plate and taint the mashed potatoes. I pushed them away, but was unquestionably disappointed to find there was one or two lurking beneath the potatoes. I tried to move on to the rest of the food and the mac and cheese really helped me through that tough time. It was cheesy, stretchy and had just the right amount of char on top.

Of the meats, the pulled pork was the best. This was weird to me because usually I simply don’t love pulled pork. However, it was juicy, smokey and flavorful. I was expecting the burnt ends to be the best, and they were quite good, but just not as delicious as they could have been. The baby back ribs were of the fall off the bone variety and I don’t care what some people say, I love that. The mashed potatoes were…mashed potatoes. No complaints, but nothing special.

I would definitely make my way back to Porkopolis for that pulled pork. I mean, it’s in the name and it makes sense. I’d switch a couple of other things around as well, but would expect that nothing would be less than “pretty good.” Porkopolis may not be a real city, but it still has all of the amenities I need.

You probably wouldn’t expect Phoenix to be the most Italian of cities. After all, there is not Little Italy and the Mafia is more of an East Coast thing. Yet, Phoenix definitely has some homegrown Italian favorites and Babbo is one of these. Babbo invited me out to its Scottsdale location for a hosted dinner and I took them up on the chance to check it out.

It began with the house bread, which was served with a plate of balsamic vinegar and kalamata olive oil a popular option recently.

Despite the roasted onions atop the bread, this made a strong first impression as I probably ate a whole meal’s worth of that bread. But this was just the start and I made sure to massage my stomach to make way for an appetizer of my choosing.

We chose the Firecracker Rolls, which are essentially Babbo’s take on egg rolls. However, instead of being filled with whatever egg rolls are filled with these days, they came with three filling options. The first was steak, jalapenos, onions, provolone and mozzarella. The second was Italian meats, provolone and mozzarella. And the third was buffalo chicken, mozzarella and gorgonzola. We tried all three with a marinara dipping sauce. I was partial to the buffalo chicken option, but that’s because there will always be a special place in my heart for buffalo flavored things in the summer. The steak packed a nice punch that was even spicier than the buffalo and the Italian meats is really something that should please anyone.

For my main course, I went with the Three Cheese Mac and Cheese. It’s described as “This ain’t no kids meal!” and that ain’t no joke. I had never seen anything like this called “mac and cheese” before because it could probably better be described as penne pasta in a spicy cream sauce, but that should in no way distract from the tastiness of this dish. In reality, it used a smokey chipotle cream sauce mixed with cheddar, mozzarella and gorgonzola, plus bacon, sausage and croutons with penne in there.

Its probably not even proper to call it a grown up mac and cheese, but moreso it is a conduit to eat all of the things you normally want to eat, but look somewhat classy as you do. I loved the kick of the chipotle, the bacon was delicious and that sausage just added another great element. The only thing I might consider questioning is the croutons. I can only try to guess that they were tossed in there to seem like a grown up version of breadcrumbs and to give some crunch. Yet, sometimes you just don’t want to mess with a good thing like breadcrumbs because breadcrumbs are already plenty grown up.

We finished off our meal (honestly I don’t know where the stomach space came from) with Stuffed Churros. These were those same egg rolls, but stuffed with a ricotta cream cheese (basically cheesecake filling) and topped with nutella and strawberry sauce. These were delicious, but I know you’re here for the savory stuff so I will try my best to just stick with that.

Babbo did some unique things and deserves a lot of credit for that. I mean, stuffing buffalo chicken in an egg roll can’t even be remotely described as Italian and yet Babbo figured out a way to get away with it. They upped the stakes for mac and cheese and really eased themselves into a dessert that also can’t remotely be considered Italian and yet it, too, worked like a charm. If you stick to the straight Italian food, you’ll probably leave thinking “Hey, that was like Olive Garden, but much better and I don’t hate myself after eating the food.” If you give some of the more unique options a chance, though, you’ll not only leave Olive Garden in the rearview mirror, but actually look forward to a return visit.

Scottsdale goes on forever. I mean, like, you drive north and north and north and you think you’re in Flagstaff but you’r still not even at the end of Scottsdale. Somewhere up there is Local Bistro, which recently was named one of the 25 Best Burgers in Phoenix. Thus, while the menu had some intriguing options, I knew the burger had to be mine.

It’s called the Bistro Burger and came topped with onions, cheddar, pickles and garlic aioli, but I wanted mine without the veggies. I ordered medium rare and got fries on the side.

It may not look like much from the picture, but upon my first bite I could understand how such a burger would be considered one of the 25 best in Phoenix. It was cooked to such medium rare perfection that you might have thought a robot did it. Presumably no robots were involved, but maybe…

On top of that the cheese was melty and aioli added a little punch of flavor and moisture. It was a simple burger, especially the way I ordered it, but it was perfectly executed down to the bun that played its role of conduit and texture to a T. I could find nothing to complain about, and yet the burger didn’t exactly scream creativity.

Yet, at the end of the day it doesn’t matter how creative you are if you can’t execute, and Local Bistro had execution in spades. Oh, and the fries were pretty delicious as well.