BEST RESULTS

Once again I'm proud to have been among the authors of Phoenix Magazine's annual "Best of the Valley" feature...

...now on the stands. Check it out to find hundreds of Valley amenities which we have peremptorily chosen as the best our community has to offer. While you're reading, guess which 13 little mini-masterpieces of prose composition are the work of Your Humble Narrator.

BEST NOT FORGOTTEN

The July/August issue of Phoenix Magazine, now on the stands...

...features the 2025 edition of "Best of the Valley." Your Humble Narrator was proud to once again be among the authors and officious imperious judges of what is best in this community. See if you can guess which eleven finely-crafted baubles of prose were of my painstaking and polished composition!

Moon Mammoths update: Alas, the Erie Moon Mammoths aka Erie Seawolves did not win their debut matchup against the Chesapeake Baysox of Bowie, Maryland, though it was reportedly a good, competitive game; the final was 6-5. But by most accounts a grand time was had by all, not least comedian John Oliver, mastermind of the rebrand, who scurried from job to job throughout the evening. Oliver threw out the first pitch (to scuba diver George Moon, discoverer of the Moon Mammoth), sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" in the Seventh Inning Stretch, and pulled duty as bat boy, public address announcer and concession vendor, selling fans the special mammoth-themed goodies on the menu that night:

Mammoth tusks and mammoth balls for me, please! Maybe the mammoth ears, too...

BESTWORLD

The July/August issue of Phoenix Magazine, now on the stands...

...includes the 2024 edition of "Best of the Valley." Your Humble Narrator is proud to have once again been among the authors. As always, I invite you to read it carefully and see if you can guess which eleven entries were elegantly composed by me.

IT TOOK A VILLAGE

Happy July everybody! The July/August issue of Phoenix Magazine, now on the stands...

...features the 2023 edition of "Best of the Valley." Your Humble Narrator is proud to be one of the authors/arbiters; see if you can guess which of the dozen or so entries I composed.

One entry I wrote was devoted to China Village, a venerable restaurant on East Indian School where I loved to get lunch, often meeting my pal Steve Weiss (of the long-running Valley film series "No Festival Required"). It does not appear in the magazine because, alas, China Village permanently closed its doors between the time I wrote it and the time the issue went to press. So as a fond posthumous tribute, here it is:

BEST THROWBACK CHINESE JOINT

China Village Restaurant

A quick lunch or dinner at this long-standing wok-ery gives you more than just good eats. The blessedly un-updated décor and atmosphere, and the old-school entrees, can give you the uncanny sense that you’ve stepped into 1973. The prices feel like a welcome throwback, too.

2710 E. Indian School Rd., Phoenix

BEST PRACTICES

The July/August issue of Phoenix Magazine, now on the stands...

...features the 2022 "Best of the Valley" selections. Your Humble Narrator is proud to have been one of the authors. Try to guess which ones I wrote!

A FELLOW OF INFINITE BEST

 Check out the July issue of Phoenix Magazine...

...now on the stands; it's the much-anticipated "Best of the Valley" issue. See if you can guess, out of the hundreds of entries, the eight for which Your Humble Narrator is responsible. One of them was actually written by The Wife, but I still consider myself responsible and will certainly accept payment for it...

ALL FOR THE BEST

One of the most unimportant casualties of the pandemic, by far, has been my "Four Corners" restaurant column in Phoenix Magazine. But Your Humble Narrator did get to contribute some half-dozen or so items to the magazine's 2020 "Best of the Valley" issue, now on the stands...

See if you can tell which ones I wrote!