It started with my first bite of the Chop and Chick, back when Matt’s was a tiny restaurant in downtown Phoenix you had to wait an hour to eat at. The meat dipped into the runny eggs and the home fries on the side to soak up the rest. So. Good. The side of sourdough bread just covered in butter with that little ramekin of what looks like homemade strawberry jam. Also amazing.

If you look at Mexico on a map, you’ll see a huge amount of coastline. And predictably, where there’s a coastline, there’s seafood. That’s what they’re serving up at Mariscos Playa Hermosa. MPH is a celebration of ceviche and camarones, oysters and scallops, spices and sauces. It’s awesome. You’ll wish all seafood places were this exciting.

Fat Ox is my kind of Italian place. The food is bold but simple (ok, some of it is on the wild side)—as most good Italian is—but the drinks are top notch. Ponder this one: Green Gold, with tequila, pistachio, cucumber, and chimichurri. Or the Haunted Highway with Panamanian Rum, pumpkin, maple, rhum Agricole.

Hush is part of a long tradition of Phoenix culinary greatness—it’s in a completely anonymous strip mall devoid of character. And like all the strip-mall treasures before it, once you walk in you’re greeted with life and smells, and you immediately know that this place could thrive in any city on the planet.

I’m kind of a sucker for simple tacos. Y’know, the ones with street-sized tortillas, undressed meat, and some onion and cilantro. Too many places here go overboard with toppings and soupy meats—it all just screams of Starbucks flavor insecurity. The kind where you know your main ingredient kind of sucks, so you try your very hardest to hide it with dairy. That’s not Ta’Carbon at all.

Sandwiches are usually kind of boring—certainly not something you go out of your way for. But the sandwiches at Worth Takeaway are just different. The bread is better, the meat is better, the spreads are better. Go with a friend and split two just so you can try more. Even better, get the burger and really savor those perfectly cooked fries.

Imagine a world where Tacos Chiwas had a baby with Bacanora and it went off to college and is now living near ASU, in that new car-free neighborhood, Culdesac Tempe. The baby’s name is Cocina Chiwas, and it’s churning out some of the best slightly upscale Mexican food in town (seriously, it’s getting national recognition… this place is special). Wait, I’m describing the world we’re living in!

When I first moved to Phoenix, it was immediately known that if you were to actual spend money on real food, the only acceptable places to go were Pizzeria Bianco and Barrio Café. If you’re one of those people who claim Phoenix doesn’t have any actually good food, go to Barrio and order up a cochinita pibil. You’ll be a convert in no time.

What you need to know about Citizen Public House is that it has the ‘Original Chopped Salad’. At Cowboy Caio (RIP) it was called the Stetson Chopped Salad, and at the Gladly it’s called—lemme check—uh, the Original Chopped Salad. I wouldn’t blame you for driving 45 minutes just to get a taste. The drinks are also really good, so get a few of those while you’re at it.

Six months ago, Shinbay would’ve inarguably been the best high-end sushi place in town. But then in December, chef/owner Shinji Kurita left the restaurant, and that leaves Shinbay in a precarious spot. It’s still open, and still probably the nicest omakase room in town, but will it have that magic touch anymore? Hard to say. Maybe you should go and see for yourself.