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The most important meal of the day
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Judging by the response to my last column, it's safe to say that most of my readers enjoy good food as much as I do. I have also confirmed that my fellow Italian-American desert dwellers agree that authentic Italian food, though it does exist here, takes some work to find. Hopefully my "research" has helped in that area, because doing that kind of research makes me very happy. Delving a bit deeper into the deprivation depth of certain foods here, let's talk a bit about three other items near and dear to my heart: breakfast, coffee, and the not so lowly bagel.
First of all, is there anything as satisfying, not to mention gratifying, as a hot fresh bagel? (Well, yes of course there is, but let's stay on food here). And nowhere in this country can you get a bagel like those made in the New York area (though I've also had decent bagels in Florida—the winter home/transplant destination of many New Yorkers who would rather fly two hours instead of five). Back east you can walk into any hole-in-the-wall bagel store, with the most nondescript name and unappetizing appearance imaginable, and yet somehow emerge with a bagel which could comfort you on your darkest day.
On the other hand…here in Arizona there are countless bagelries (and pizzerias) which try to subliminally seduce you into thinking they have the right aura by including "New York" in their name, as well as its thinly veiled cousin, "City". But like a desert mirage, the aura is not real.
However, if you want bagels pretty darn close to what you get in New York, go to Chompie's, a New York style deli restaurant. Fortunately there are three Chompie's locations in the Valley. Chompie's is also the closest thing we have to a good old-fashioned bakery. They sell all kinds of wonderful cookies, cakes and pastries (including cannolis!).
For some reason I really don’t understand, other bakeries here seem to have decided to specialize in only one thing. There are an abundance of bread companies, and caterers that solely create cupcakes, retailers who render rare rum cake, bakers who bake nothing but Bundts, and places which peddle only pies. But Chompie's has it all. And it's all mouth-watering.
In addition to a lack of good bagels, Arizona has no real diners either, another New Jersey staple. The nearest resemblance to a diner is Village Inn. But we do have some really cute breakfast places. Besides the chains like Butterfield's, Mimi's Cafe and The Good Egg, you can start your day deliciously at eateries like The Breakfast Club in Scottsdale (where you can also get a perfect grilled cheese sandwich lunch for $3.95, one of the best deals in town. And it’s not the grilled cheese your mama used to make!), Phoenix's La Grande Orange and Matt's Big Breakfast , and Flapjacks in Fountain Hills. And eating made-to-order omelettes on the patio at AJ's Fine Foods is not a bad way to start a Sunday morning either.
Another curiosity I noticed upon moving here was that cities in Arizona are extremely Starbucks-dense, plus there is an abundance of many other coffee places, like Coffee Beans, Coffee Plantations, etc. etc. This was new to me because although Manhattan has a Starbucks on every corner, New Jersey's Starbucks locations were few and far between (Wayne and its environs had only one Starbucks store to serve towns for miles around). But the people here have a passionate and intense relationship with their coffee, and frappucinos are as omnipresent in their hands as are their water bottles. In Scottsdale there is a Starbucks Coffee within sight from virtually any given spot. Besides their many exclusive locations, most of the grocery stores and even Target stores have counters serving the Seattle-based elixir. There are shopping centers where one can stand in the parking lot and, turning toward three out of the four compass points, be facing a Starbucks in one form or another. We even have numerous drive-through Starbucks locations for those days when it is simply too hot to get out of your car, even with the promise of an iced latte on the other side.
A few last caveats while on the subject of foods; there might come a time when you need to know that you won't find Hellman's mayonnaise west of the Mississippi, but you WILL find its western counterpart: Best Foods. It’s actually the same company, using identical packaging but with a different name. And Edy's ice cream does the same thing. Out west they are known as Dreyer's (but not to be confused with Breyer's). Sort of like a witness protection program for food.
And for some reason which I cannot fathom, it is extremely difficult to find corn muffins here. You need to search high and low to do so, and usually only the high end stores stock them. (Since when did corn muffins become upscale?) And forget about trying to buy…say…Entenmann’s brand corn muffins, which used to be my favorite. It’s very frustrating.
But I am delighted to report that at least we have Entenmann's donuts. If I had moved here and found out I could no longer get an Entenmann's chocolate donut when I wanted one, I think I would have had to turn right back around.
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