This sign welcomes all diners for a dinner experience. Photo by Chelsea Brown.

Cityscape in downtown Phoenix recently welcomed a new kid to the block, or should I say restaurant?  The Arrogant Butcher is the newest restaurant to open in the downtown development, welcoming customers with their chicly designed restaurant and tasty food.

Arrogant Butcher is the most recent addition to the slew of restaurants created by Fox Restaurant Concepts, who are the master minds behind some of the Valley’s most popular eating establishments, including Culinary Dropout, Modern Steak, Sauce, Olive & Ivy, True Food, and ZinBurger.

The restaurant itself offers Saturday brunch, as well as lunch and dinner, Monday through Saturday. The brunch menu contains egg sandwiches, crispy French toast, a breakfast burrito, and a list of nine or so specialty juices and brunch cocktails. Their lunch menu includes chopped salads, specialty cheeses + bread plates, sandwiches from grinders to turkey sloppy joes, and also a full-page drink menu (for those of you over 21, of course). Lastly, their dinner menu houses fish and chips, pork and beans, sweet potato tortelli, and a list of weekly specials.

So if you’re in need of a break from all the homework you have piled up due to upcoming finals, head down to the Arrogant Butcher for a yummy dinner date.

Chocolate, vanilla, lavender, coconut, lemon and s’mores are all flavors of Crème Brulee that can be found around the Phoenix Metropolitan area in Le Cordon Bleu-trained chef Eric Ireland’s unique food truck.

Visit Urban Beans today for some Torched Goodness. Photo by Chelsea Brown.

From the outside, the Torched Goodness food truck looks like any other food truck, but what is being made on the inside sets it apart from all the other run-of-the-mill food trucks. Following in the lead of the recent food truck craze, Torched Goodness provides gourmet desserts made with organic and locally grown and made ingredients from their movable kitchen. With flavors like rose, caramel, vanilla, Nutella, chocolate-orange, the flavors of these sweet treats are anything but ordinary.

Traveling around day-to-day, Torched Goodness can be found at an array of different spots throughout the Valley. From Litchfield Park on Sundays, to the Downtown Phoenix Public Market on Fridays, this kitchen on wheels is truly all over the place.

Today Torched Goodness is making a stop at one of the cutest coffee shops in Phoenix, Urban Beans. You may remember Urban Beans from this little write-up I wrote previously for Downtown Dispatch that centered on their tasty lattes and breakfast egg, cheese and sausage sandwiches. Well, from four to six p.m., Torched Goodness is going to be camped out in the parking lot of Urban Beans where they will be serving up their delectable treats in almost any flavor you can imagine.

Now, we all know that downtown Phoenix is the place to be, but sometimes it’s fun to venture out into central Phoenix to see what all they have to offer. In fact, one of my favorite restaurants is in CenPho (as the locals fondly call it), and serves some of the best sandwiches and green chili mac and cheese around.

La Grande Orange Grocery (or LGO) is nestled around a quaint neighborhood in CenPho (Arcadia if you want to get specific) and has so much to offer. This public house-style restaurant houses a coffee shop, sandwich/salad/soup walk-up counter, a chic grocery store (think childhood candies, wine, and fun odds and ends), as well as a bakery and a sit-down restaurant. To me, LGO is one of those places that if you don’t know what you feel like eating, you are bound to find something there.

Among my favorite dishes at LGO is their green chili mac and cheese (crispy on the top, and gooey on the inside), and also their seasonal soups. Last fall, I had some butternut soup from there and it was to die for! LGO is also the second home of Tammie Coe Cakes, and they always have some of their delicious cookies, cupcakes, and cakes in stock (right in the display case by the walk-up ordering station, taunting you with their delicious tastes, encouraging you to buy them).

Even though LGO is fairly large in size, their seating can be kind of limited and fills up quick (especially around lunch time). They do have an outdoor patio, seating in the grocery area + restaurant that anyone is welcome to sit at, and tables around the front side of the store. Parking is a bit crazy as well, but if you go around lunch time you get complimentary valet parking.

So if you’re in the mood to venture out of downtown, I suggest trying out LGO for a lunch time date.

Ever wonder how to make your own salt scrubs and lotions? What about how to pick out high-quality essential oils, and also what are the real benefits of oils?  Well, tonight at MADE Art Boutique in downtown Phoenix you can do and learn about just that. MADE is continuing their in-store workshops (remember the terrarium workshop they had last month?  It was seriously cool.) with Lisa Saper-Bloom, a licensed massage therapist and also certified yoga instructor, aromatherapist, and health/life coach, will be teaching wanting workshop students to identify high-quality essential oils, as well as the healing benefits of different oils, and also how to create your own salt scrubs and lotions.

The cost of the workshop is $35, which includes all supplies needed. Spots for the workshop can be reserved by emailing info@madephx.com, or calling the store at 602-256-MADE.

I have a feeling this workshop is going to be a lot of fun, and since the heat is on the rise in the Valley (along with terribly harsh rays from the sun) it’s the perfect time of year to learn how to make scrubs and lotions to keep your skin healthy through the summer.

MADE Art Boutique is located at 922 N. 5^th Street.

More often than not, I’m always running late to class. Twice a week, I have a class at noon that goes until almost three o’clock. This class severely cuts into my normal eating schedule, and because of it, I’m always on my way to class when I should be eating lunch (I really, really like sticking to my schedule). Since I usually only have 15 or so minutes to eat, I really enjoy heading to one of my favorite lunch spots in downtown for a healthy to-go meal.

The Phoenix Public Market offers a variety of healthy, inexpensive to-go meals every day. Located on the north side of the store (closer to Royal at the Market) is an open refrigerator that holds a handful of pre-prepared meals for students on the go (or anyone in a rush really). You can usually find wraps, burritos, salads, half wrap and half salad combos, and occasionally a yummy sandwich or two (the combo meals are always my favorite). Oh, and don’t forget to pick up a fizzy water, iced tea, or sweet treat to-go in the cases by the register when you pay for your meal.

So if you’re in a rush and need to pick-up a quick, but healthy meal, check out the Phoenix Public Market for a fast meal that will do the trick.

The Phoenix Public Market is located at 14 E. Pierce Street and is open Tuesday through Saturday, 7 a.m. to 8 p.m.

In midtown Phoenix is a tiny coffee shop that has a lot of heart to it. LUX Coffee Bar is an intimate coffee shop that offers hand-crafted, quality espresso-based drinks and also some of the most delicious pastries around.

When I first started coming to the downtown campus, I took myself on a tour of the city to scope out all the important things: coffee shops, restaurants, and vintage stores. On my tour, I discovered LUX Coffee Bar. Since then I have spent mornings and afternoons sipping huge lattes and eating sweet pastries by their front window (my favorite spot). LUX is definitely one of those places I wish I could visit more often, so whenever I get the chance to stop there, that thought just makes it seem like an extra special occasion, rather than your usual run-of-the-mill coffee stop.

This tiny, hallway like coffee shop has a cozy feel to it. One wall is lined with tables and chairs, perfect for doing homework or checking up on your favorite blogs (be sure and get there early though, the shop fills up fast during the day), and the other side is sectioned off into the ordering counter/barista area, and a comfy seating area with couches and oversized chairs. Oh, and there is also outdoor seating in front of the shop that would be the perfect spot for warm latte on one of these last few chilly mornings we have among us in Phoenix (last chance until fall, yikes!).

With regards to quality coffee, the baristas at LUX sure seem to put a lot of heart into their drinks. The drinks are always made right in front of you, and if you get a latte you will always get some kind of pretty latte art right in your cup. Perfect way to start your morning! Who doesn’t love a pretty picture in your yummy drink?

So if you’re wanting to try out a new coffee shop, LUX is the place to go.

Lola's iced coffee is perfect for those upcoming summer days. Photo by Chelsea Brown.

Some of you may or may not know, but I am a huge coffee enthusiast. I look forwarding to getting up every morning just so I can drink coffee (among other reasons, of course), and I’m always on the hunt for the next best cup of joe. Since coming downtown to attend school, I have been consistently on the hunt for two things regarding coffee, one: new coffee shops to obsess over, and two: where I can find the best iced coffee in the area.

Over the past two years, I have drank a lot of iced coffee in downtown, and have come to realize that the best (in my personal opinion, of course) iced coffee in the area can be find at Lola Coffee.

Lola’s iced coffee not only contains good iced toddy (not the stinky, potent kind you can find at some coffee shops), but also shots of espresso that add an extra kick and yummy taste to the drink. To be honest, it actually took me awhile to realize that there was extra shots of espresso (three to be exact in the large size), as the flavors blended so well and did not give off the bitter taste an americano or straight toddy can have.

So, if you’re in the mood try out some yummy iced coffee, I suggest going to Lola Coffee and ordering a large. Oh, and don’t forget they do dollar refills!

The Phoenix Art Museum is continuing on with their “The Year of Fashion at the Phoenix Art Museum” with one of their recent exhibits, “The Original Style of Ann Bonfoey Taylor.”

Take a step back into time with Ann Taylor's wardrobe. Photo by Chelsea Brown.

So last Wednesday when the Phoenix Art Museum was free for the evening, I set some time aside to spend exploring, admiring, and reading up on the life and clothing of Ann Taylor. When I initially went in to the exhibit, I wasn’t sure if clothing that Taylor designed would be showcased, or just items from her personal collection. Well, when I made my way into the featured exhibit room I was pleasantly surprised to see that the exhibit featured both.

Taylor’s collection consisted of pieces from her skiwear line (did you know that she was once an Olympic skier? Yeah, I didn’t either), gowns from the most famous designers of her time, undergarments that you couldn’t ever imagine someone sucking themselves into (you know, for all those dresses that were only designed with teeny, tiny wastes), outdoors clothing (think vintage furs, vintage Gucci satchels, amazing vintage luggage, the most perfect ten pairs of riding boots,) and other seriously vintage treasures Taylor had collected over the years.

After viewing this collection I was absolutely blown away. The amazing pieces that Taylor had kept for so long were breathtaking, and truly showed the history of fashion through the years.