New Times Best Of Phoenix A’fare

Whats more better than all the food you can eat? All the food you can eat and you didn’t have to pay for it. That and using proper English — more better ;-).
Thanks to our pal for hooking us up with tickets to this event. This years event was at the Arizona Biltmore resort, and it was quite nice. With restaurants like Oink Café, Tacos De Juarez, Mrs. Whites Golden Rule, Ra Sushi bar, Aloha Cakes serving up their best foods to sample, what’s not to enjoy?
At $ 35, The tickets to this food event are about half as much as most other tasting events around Phoenix, granted most of the other events have some higher end spots serving their finest dishes. The staff were pretty fast to clear the tables as they gathered cups and plates. The drinks were a bit on the cheap side, as in cheap alcohol and mixers, but they were included in the cost and basically all you can drink (with 12 tickets per person).
I’d have to say my favorite dish was the beef rib tips, they basically fell off the bone, and I loved the carrot cake cupcake that was served by one of the cake vendors (which I can’t quite recall). I’m glad I got that first, since two hours into it, all their cupcakes seemed to be served and eaten.
There were oddball vendors sprinkled out the event, one spot displaying their e-​cigarettes and another selling shredding services. I heard the line didn’t start moving until 15 minutes after the event start last year, and this year didn’t seem to be any different. Overall it was worth the $ I didn’t pay, but I’d be down with paying to get in next year.
See you at the next one, perhaps. Happy Unilocaling Phoenix.

The event was fun due to having friends around and the drinks. The food was ok. I was expecting a little bit more in the types of foods available. If these were voted the «Best of Phoenix» well I think there needs to be a re-​vote.
More signs are needed to where to go and how the lines work, it was confusing. The line to will call was pretty long and going slowly. None of the staff was friendly just stressed.
Having non food or drink tables was weird especially mixed with the food tables. Also, one of the tequila tables could not tell me the difference in the selections and really unfriendly.
The crowd was a mix of who’s who, foodies and very pretentious couples. To those couples, you spent less than $ 100 to be at the event, seriously look in the mirror before you go out, no need to be so snobby to people. Not enough tables to eat at or you had to eat with people who just ignored you when you tried to start a conversation.
Would I go again? Possibly. It was at the Biltmore, really nice place and «upscale» however, really didn’t feel like a party nor upscale to other events I’ve gone to with the similar theme.

I’m glad the tickets weren’t too expensive, because I wasn’t particularly thrilled with this event. Granted, I think it was organized pretty well. I liked having it at the Biltmore (although I wasn’t at the one last year at the Science Museum-​which sounded cool), the staff did a great job of helping to clear the high top tables, and it was fairly easy to get a cocktail from the many bars around the room.
However, I agree with Kelly V: why were these random non-​food-​related companies there? Some of them didn’t even have a representative sitting at their table?!
Also, there were only a handful of vegetarian dishes available. Most other food events I’ve attended will at least have fish/​seafood options in addition to vegetarian. I think I had perhaps 4 items, aside from desserts, that did not have meat. I was especially disappointed when I approached the tamale stand (I don’t recall the company) who had a large sign boasting vegetarian tamales, only to find out that they didn’t bring one to sample!!! They had two options-​both meat. Gee thanks. If I don’t get to sample it why would I drive out to your restaurant? What makes yours better? Sell me a little people, you’re supposed to be the «best!»
I did enjoy the desserts, for which there was a lot of… I’d say at least 50% of the food was dessert. But after a few sugary treats I was jonesing for something savory and didn’t have any luck. I think I’ll stick with Devoured, and skip the A’Fare next year.

decided to go with some friends to check out restaurants in the area and have a good time. while i really, really like the concept of this event, i felt that the administrative execution was lacking a bit. ticketing was exceptionally clunky. the poor girl attempting to scan the barcodes on phones was having a hell of a time. when she couldn’t scan them, she’d have to enter them in manually and that would hold up the line for eternity. i really felt for her as she was trying to manage a less than pleased crowd while furiously punching in numbers with her stylus. props to her for keeping her cool. also, their concept of having drink limitations (12 drinks per person, bar was supposed to stamp the card when you got a drink) was a nice idea, it definitely wasn’t followed by the staff. sure, its great to get a couple of drinks but what about some of those people that tend to abuse that privilege? saw some of those people falling around and acting like idiots.
i do give them credit for having a lot of vendors in attendance. it was great to see a smattering of different types of cuisines as well as some really great desserts. some of the highlights of my evening:
— 5&Diner: milkshake. freaking awesome
— Wedge and Bottle: delicious sheep’s milk cheese!
— this amazing thai chili truffle but i can’t find the name of the vendor :(.
— Tamale Store: pretty damn tasty tamales
i’m glad we got there early so that we were able to fill ourselves with delicious food and minimal wait line times. as soon as the place started getting packed, it became very apparent that we needed to get out of there. too many elbows in the face and people stealing chairs right out from under you.
all in all a decent event but not sure if i would do a repeat.

This event was amazing. I was pretty excited to go to this event. Everything thing I had was awesome. Between the Thai food and cupcakes it was all amazing.
My favorites of the evening were the:
Chicken Curry
Potatoes and Sausage
Pork Rib Tip
Red Velvet Cupcakes
Pumpkin Cupcakes
Peanut Butter Brownies
It was a fun evening with friends. We walked around and tried a couple of samples, had a couple of drinks and then danced the night away.

We attended last year when it was held at The Science Center. I recall standing in line for an eternity and watching the VIP line whiz right through. I also recall finding the VIP lounge on the third floor and it looking like somewhere we’d want to be.
So, this year, we sprung for VIP tickets. The VIP ticket line did move more quickly which was nice. But the VIP lounge? Sad. Sad, sad. It was essentially a cordoned off hallway with an extra bar, a table of pasta, meats and cheeses, and about 4 large tables. There was nothing swank about it.
Compared to last year, the event was really disappointing. The venue was much smaller and while I can’t be certain, it seemed like there were less than half the number of restaurants as last year. There were also a lot of non-​food booths (Blackberry? A shredding company? What?) that I don’t recall being there last year either.
2.5 hours in, most of the booths were out of food and had packed up. That was one full hour before the raffle was supposed to take place. This is essentially means that if you don’t arrive when the event starts, you may not get to eat.
The bars were plentiful, which was nice. They also did a much better problem of dealing with trash than they did last year.
All in all, I’m not sure I’ll go next year. I think I can find my own «Best Of» right here on Unilocal

I always like this event. The only problem is that I eat too much and three things happen: 1) My stomach hurts like halfway through the event 2) By having so much food in me, I can’t drink that much 3) If I do drink, I can’t get drunk. #FoodieProblems
Yes, I did a hashtag! Anyway, the event is a FANCY event. I really like fancy event. It’s just the atmosphere and being at the Biltmore Resort, fancy is the norm. I haven’t seen so many women in black mini-​skirts all in one place. I guess you can count that as a plus for the event too. A lot of the servers were in costumes so that was awesome! Two waitresses were just painted in gold and wearing heels and a thong. They were very popular that night.
I’m glad I got to eat a lot of food. I was questioning if $ 35 was worth it. But I guess it paid for my drinks, my food and the atmosphere. I ate so much I can’t even remember what I ate. The yellow curry from Thai Elephant was good! There were duck sliders, lamb sliders, dates stuffed with chorizo wrapped in bacon crab cakes, chicken, bbq ribs, steak, pork belly, tamales, cheese, salami, pulled pork, mac and cheese, veggies, desserts, cupcakes and some things that I didn’t even get a chance to try. Of course, the open bar was cool too! Beer or mixed cocktails.
The weird thing was… why were there non-​restaurant tables in there? Like Gold’s Gym and a costume booth. There were others too. I expect tables to be serving food because it’s a food event. I can’t eat a gym membership. I can’t drink a costume.
If you go, I do give you a warning. Go early. Food does run out. And alcohol does run out. They ran out of whiskey half way through the night. For the ladies, wear comfortable shoes. A lot of girls’ feet were hurting.