Phoenix Eats and Arts

Our final stop in this year's Arizona trip was at the rented home of our friend Sue. It is in a gated cluster of modest houses and was familiar to us as we had visited her at the same place two years ago.  It even has a nice little pool for the residents to use though the weather was not quite warm enough to sample its pleasures. 



On our first evening there we made the pilgrimedge to Bel Italia.

I believe it was discovered by Sue's son Mike and now this family run restaurant and pizza parlor in a strip mall has become the go to stop for every visitor Sue has.  I think you can see why. And you can actually take some of their sauce home in a bottled version. It's delicious.

Another great eating spot we re-visited was Joe's Grill at the Farm.  It's a family oriented mainly outdoor establishment with an attached produce sales area.  It was featured on the Food Channel show Drive-ins, Diners, and Dives a few years ago.  You order at a window and then wait for your number to be called.  Then you usually find a spot out under the trees and enjoy.  Their grilled salmon sandwich plate is a winner, but for a truly sinful experience you should probably go for one of their special flavor milkshakes. 



Our tasty meals were interspersed with another viewing of  Maggie Smith in Quartette, Sunday night's final episode of Downton Abbey, lots of bookstore browsing, and a visit to catch up with Sue's son's twins. Here's Jan with the girls.




One major Phoenix outing was to the Heard Museum. 

We broke up our visit with lunch in their fine outdoor restaurant.  I had the opportunity to taste my very first bison burger.  

The Heard Museum, as usual,  offers a varied fare. Classic southwestern pieces are nicely mixed with contemporary artists who are putting their own modern takes on traditional arts and crafts.    Food, food harvest, food storage,  and growing things remain one of the central subject areas, but the take can get truly fanciful when the younger folks take over..

I found this modern mask a particularly nice melding of the ancient and modern.

Comtemporary weaving can also move from traditional homage to the natural world  into pop culture iconography.  

 

Not sure what to say about this one!

 

 

The final entry before we head home will be from the Desert Botanical Garden.  Look for it in a day or two.