Best Traditional Chinese Restaurant 2024 | Old Town Taste | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best Traditional Chinese Restaurant

Old Town Taste

Jackie Mercandetti Photo

The past few years have taken their toll on the East Valley's Chinese restaurant scene. Between the pandemic, visa restrictions and a shrinking Chinese student population at ASU, the engine that was roaring in 2019 is now idling. But through all of the difficulties and a significant retooling, Old Town Taste remains a go-to spot for folks seeking sharply executed traditional Chinese fare. Evolving away from its original Shandong- and Beijing-centered menu, Old Town Taste has leaned more fully (though not exclusively) into Sichuan cuisine, and classics such as the homey mapo tofu and crispy fried Chongqing chicken pack a satisfying mala punch. Signature dishes like pungent, fish-flavored eggplant and crispy Sichuan fish filets still sizzle, and there's plenty of tendon, pig ears and intestines on the menu for those who prefer their Chinese food unadulterated rather than tailored to American tastes.

Best Canto-American Chinese Food

George Yang's Chinese Cuisine

At the front entrance of George Yang's, a steady stream of customers and delivery drivers pick up bagged takeout orders. But this Chinese restaurant offers much more than delicious food to go. Beyond the host stand, a large, dimly lit restaurant unfolds. A glass-enclosed bar displays specialty bottles of wine and spirits. Large tables spin their feasts on lazy Susans, while couples enjoy cocktails on date night. The menu offers a wide selection of dishes ranging from familiar classics, such as Mongolian beef and orange chicken, to more unique house specialties. We love the Kung Pao 3 Seas, which includes shrimp, scallops and crackly, crispy fried fish in a spicy, rich sauce. The giant menu has something for everyone, whether you prefer to dine in or enjoy the flavors from your couch.

Best Upscale Indian Restaurant

Feringhee Modern Indian Cuisine

Jill McNamara

We'd wager to guess you've never had Indian food like this before. Feringhee, a bold restaurant in Chandler, puts a fine-dining twist on classic dishes, infusing fragrant spices into unique preparations. It's the perfect spot for Indian food fans to try something new, special and wildly different. Start with a trio of pani puri, bursting with the flavors of mint, blackberry, pineapple and passion fruit. Then try Kandhari pork ribs with pomegranate glaze and fennel pollen and Feringhee's version of saag paneer made with layers of cottage cheese and spinach brightened with red pepper jam. The Black Dairy Dal is good enough to drink, and when it comes to actual cocktails, continue on your spice-filled journey with a Masala chai-infused vodka or a turmeric-essenced Jack Daniel's tipple. Feringhee often features special menus and prix-fixe dinners that level up the experience even more.

Best Middle Eastern Restaurant

Golden Restaurant & Bakery

"Middle Eastern" can be a clumsy catch-all term, but in the case of Golden Restaurant, it's not entirely inappropriate. The owner is Palestinian, and the menu is primarily Levantine, but the kitchen reaches its tasty tentacles into a number of Arab cuisines. The result is a busy — and large — menu filled with an awful lot of delicious food. Baked-to-order flatbreads are the focal point of this popular, inexpensive joint, whether topped with sizzling za'atar and sesame, fresh vegetables and pungent cheese or a myriad of seasoned sausages and meats. But the extensive menu is loaded with delicious dishes — thick, rich mezes loaded with olive oil, meaty wraps and kebabs deftly seasoned and grilled, and crisp, honeyed desserts. Start with a cup of gratis mint tea, grab a date on the way out the door during Ramadan, and whatever you choose in between will make for an excellent meal.

Best Neighborhood Indian Spot

The Dhaba

The Dhaba

The Dhaba is cozy, comfortable and welcoming. On top of that, the food is delicious, which all together makes this Tempe staple the perfect neighborhood spot. The large menu focuses on Punjabi recipes and includes a number of options for kebabs and skewers cooked in a tandoor-style oven. There are plenty of vegetarian dishes, along with meat options, and each dish on the menu has a recommended wine pairing. Don't know what to pick? Try one of the three thalis, which offer a taste of multiple dishes at once and come with a mug of hot masala chai and a dessert. Take a seat, sip your tea and take in the sights, sounds and enticing aromas of this neighborhood restaurant.

Best Halal Restaurant

City of Spice

Dominic Armato

It feels a little unfair, highlighting this as a halal restaurant. After all, the Hyderabadi family that runs City of Spice serves up dosa, paneer and vegetables that stand tall with the best of them. But halal Indian restaurants are a little trickier to come by, and City of Spice handles meat like no other. Looking for lamb? Try the fiery, vinegar-infused lamb vindaloo or the green chile lamb, an explosive concoction loaded with fresh herbs and garlic. Goat? Try the goat kadai, slow-cooked in a fragrant stew of ginger and tomatoes, or the Hyderabadi biryani, tender chunks of meat buried in a mound of steaming, flavorful rice with fresh lemon and raita. Chicken? Try sizzling seekh kababs in a hot iron skillet over sweet onions, or City of Spice's outstanding butter chicken, a wildly spiced and intense version the likes of which you've probably never tried. Whatever manner of critter strikes your fancy, this is a kitchen that knows what to do with it.

Best North African Restaurant

Alzohour Restaurant

Dominic Armato

Sometimes you need a reminder that one of the most delicious restaurants in town is right under your nose. Zhor Saad's restaurant slash market slash clothing shop has been around for more than a decade, but the combination of a quirky location and rarely seen cuisine mean that it's still fighting for respect after all these years. Saad's food deserves it. Her bastilla is a mind-bending sweet/savory ground chicken pie, loaded with cinnamon and ground nuts and wrapped in crisp pastry. Tagines like saffron-scented lamb and fish with tomato and olives are sultry and densely layered, while tender vegetables perch atop mounds of fluffy, steaming couscous. Saad's golden kunafa filled with sweetened cheese and paired with mint tea is an excellent reason to linger at the end of the meal. And don't be afraid to linger. Saad typically runs a one-woman show, and dinner arrives at her pace. Settle in and savor it.

Best East African Restaurant

Kare Ethiopian Restaurant

These days, our favorite Ethiopian joint in Phoenix is one of its least heralded. On a stretch of McDowell better known for commuting than cuisine, this laid-back joint with a welcoming staff serves bold and distinctive classics on excellent injera — almost chocolate-colored, made with pure teff and boasting a sharp, fermented tang. Doro wot dresses chicken and eggs with a sultry chile-heavy buzz, alecha siga wot brings sweet ginger and turmeric to flavorful chunks of beef, and the shiro wot turns chickpeas into a buttery, smooth paste that's scented with onions and berbere. If you like your beef seared, the shekela tebes is served sizzling hot with peppers, onions and fresh rosemary; if you like it raw, the Kare special kitfo is lush and rich with a mix of cheese and collard greens. And whatever you try, there's no better way to end the meal than with the traditional Ethiopian coffee service.

Best West African Restaurant

West African Cuisine

How wonderful is it that a mini-boom of West African restaurants has suddenly made this a viable category? There always have been a couple of West African restaurants around the Valley, but for the first time, researching them all requires some significant legwork. After making the rounds, West African Cuisine has emerged as our favorite. Formerly Authentic Liberian Cuisine (now under new ownership), West African Cuisine has carried over most of the Liberian menu but expanded a little further to rope in other regional dishes. Goat pepper soup brings some serious fire, packing intense habanero flavor while keeping the capsaicin just tame enough to make the dish edible. Egusi soup slings some heavy funk, mixing a medley of meats and spinach with smoked fish and shrimp powder for a heady, hearty stew. Palm butter is oily and rich, spicy and garlicky and loaded with peanuts, like a thick curry. And the jollof rice is a standout — beautifully seasoned and served with a fried turkey quarter that features sizzling crisp skin, juicy meat and a perky habanero sauce to accompany.

Best Eastern European Restaurant

All Pierogi Kitchen

Dominic Armato

All Pierogi Kitchen has long been one of the Valley's top destinations for Eastern European cuisine, but its very best feature might be that it seems to get better and better with each passing year. Owner Nataliya Koshalko serves the foods of her native Ukraine, along with regional specialties from neighboring Slavic countries, and her extensive menu is a celebration of hearty meat-and-potatoes fare. The namesake pierogi are here in abundance, served up hot in the restaurant or frozen to take home from the market next door. Boiled or pan-fried, they're hefty little lumps of tender dough stuffed with the likes of ground meat, sauerkraut, pork and cheese. Soups are a standout, including a hot beet borscht, a green borscht packed with herbs and a dynamite dill pickle soup, creamy and rich and loaded with potatoes and chunks of kielbasa. Smoked sausages snap, potato pancakes crunch and an exceptional chicken Kiev oozes a lake of butter when you tap into its piping-hot molten core. It's a no-misses kind of menu, and few Valley restaurants of any persuasion are so consistently delicious.

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