Craig Outhier

Phoenix

I love movies, music festivals, red meat, red wine and sexually-ambiguous French animation. And I sometimes write about them.

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phoenixmag.com

Articles

Colorado City Seeks to Rehab its Image for Future Growth

1 month ago | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

High in the handsomely oxidized foothills near Donia Jessop’s hometown is a public park set on a wide, lush plateau, its neatly clipped grass offering electrifying contrast to the rugged red mountains looming overhead. A short hike from the park leads to an unusually flat rock just big enough to seat one or two people, with commanding views of the vast high-desert plains below. Jessop has a deep fondness for the spot. “I call it my Thinking Rock,” she says.
3 New Mexican Restaurants Around the Valley

1 month ago | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

We tried a few new taquerias and cocinas in the Valley this spring. Drive-ThruCheco’s Taco ShopFrom the same family that brought you Super Burrito, Los Gallos and other ’90s-era après-bender classics comes this handsomely branded drive-thru taqueria just south of Old Town. The quesabirria tacos will do the trick, but don’t sleep on the creative burros, including a Texas-style number with shredded chicken, french fries and cheese. 2601 N.
Huss Brewing Unveils Devil's Halo Lager to Benefit NIL at ASU

1 month ago | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

Have Beer, Will Tackle! Every can of Huss Brewing Co. Devil’s Halo will put money in the pockets of ASU athletes. Better athletics through beer? Since we’re talking about Arizona State University, which routinely topped Best Party School lists in the 1990s before embarking on its current phase of respectability under campus president Michael Crow, it makes perfect sense.
Editor's Note: May/June Issue Filled with Mature Themes

1 month ago | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

Often, when you’re conceiving, designing and producing a content-rich whatever – like, say, a 200-page magazine – discrete but unmistakable patterns and themes emerge that you’re not even aware of until it’s almost finished. So, as I grab a quick moment here at the 11th hour of the PHOENIX mag production cycle, with this May/June issue about 97 percent finished, I’m ready to identify two “secret themes” that are standing out to me like cowlicks on my kid’s head. Actually, make that three.
Arizona Craft Beer Awards

2 months ago | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier |Matthew Johnson |Madison Rutherford

Beer of the Month: Catalyst Crafted Ales Mr. Brightside A Guide to Valley Breweries in 2025 Beer of the Month: Goldwater Brewing Co. Machine Gun Teddy Revisiting Catalyst Crafted Ales One Year After Opening The Best Local Beers We Tried Last Month Photos from the 2024 Arizona Craft Beer Awards Ceremony Award-Winning Beers! Here are the Winners From the 2024 Arizona Craft Beer Awards The Best Local Beers We Tried Last Month Beer of the Month: Double This is Growing Up from Roses by the Stairs...
Beer of the Month: Catalyst Crafted Ales Mr. Brightside

Mar 6, 2025 | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

Belgian Pale Ale/5.9% ABV/20 IBUSpring has sprung – bringing with it volume beer drinking in the sun while you enjoy spring training, pool parties or other assorted grab-assery. A nice, crushable, sub-6-percent brew seems in order, but not a mass-produced lager, heavens no. Our recommendation: this unique offering from Tempe upstarts Catalyst, which is based on pilsner malts but brewed with a top-fermenting Belgian ale yeast, resulting in a smooth but earthy and vaguely aromatic all-day sipper.
Dining Review: Mixela

Mar 6, 2025 | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

Opened: December 2024Don’t look now, but the Loma Linda Historic District near Osborn Road and 24th Street has a nice little dining scene cooking. First Glai Baan, then the larder & the delta and now, just around the corner, this winsome “aperitivo bar” from Valentina Huerta and chef Gian Franco Brugaletta, shifting gears after coffee-driven Nomada Provisions, which they formerly operated in the café-like space.
Eater’s Triangle: Post-Dry-January Cocktail Crawl

Mar 6, 2025 | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

Stop No. 1: QuartzWe’ll start at one of the Valley’s true drinking treasures – this Van Buren-adjacent cocktail lounge, where head mixologist Max Berlin ingeniously integrates savory flavors with traditional cocktail ingredients. Drink Rec: Crowned with “cereal milk foam” and sprinkled with Fruity Pebbles, the Bamm Bamm Beryl reads like a sugar-bomb, but it’s nuanced and pleasantly dry, a deluxe daisy with layers of banana and rhubarb. 341 W.
Liquid Arizona: Spirited Away

Mar 5, 2025 | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

We’ll never forget a certain spring morning in 2016 here at PHOENIX magazine. Arriving at the office for work, we were delighted to find an alluringly large cardboard box sitting in the mail room. And inside the box: eight polished bottles of flavored vodka, the first edition of O.H.S.O. Brewery’s incipient Arcadia vodka series. It was a bold, exciting step for O.H.S.O., then known chiefly for its craft beer and awesome dog-friendly patio.
Dining Review: Dodo Bird in Scottsdale

Mar 4, 2025 | phoenixmag.com | Craig Outhier

Opened: January 2025Conceived by restaurateur Matt Carfagnini and his culinary-minded partner, Dolh Chompupong, this freewheeling South Scottsdale gastropub is what food biz people often call “industry-friendly.” Meaning, it’s chef-driven but unpretentious, priced like an Applebee’s and filled with the kind of day-sleeper energy that makes it not even slightly awkward to order a Manhattan at 1 o’clock in the afternoon.