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Stadium Experience

Stadium Experience

Dining Insider, January 14th, 2010, 5 Comments
Pub gearing up for Super Bowl Party
Looking for a great place to watch NFL playoffs or the Super Bowl? Check out Stadium Club, with its 24 screens set up throughout the pub that offers a great view of the game from any angle.
It’s like a tailgate party without having to do all the work, with great food, drink specials and great customer service. Keri Kruse, who has owned the Stadium Club for the past 3 1/2 years, says the pub has developed a big following of football and other sports fans despite changing its location in June.
The Stadium Club is one of Chandler’s original sports bars, opening 20 years ago in a strip mall on Chandler Boulevard and Alma School Road. Kruse bought the bar/restaurant and decided to make the move to a new location on Ray Road and Alma School about a year ago.
She took a site at a former Famous Sam’s restaurant and after a three-month remodeling project opened on June 8.
“A lot of our regulars followed us,” says Kruse, who is originally from Buffalo, New York, and uses an authentic Buffalo Wings recipe at Stadium Club. “We’ve gotten a lot of new customers too.”
The former Famous Sam’s was a big Green Bay Packers bar and Kruse says a Super Bowl featuring either the Cardinals or the Packers would probably be the best for her business. She’s working on some great Super Bowl food and drink specials to help entice patrons to come out for the game.
Kruse says the Buffalo Wings, which she calls the “real deal,” are the most popular items, along with the burgers, which are made with only fresh and never frozen ground beef. The carne asada tacos are also a big favorite.
Besides football and other televised sports, Kruse says the restaurant also has live music on Saturdays and karaoke on Wednesdays and Fridays. Also on Fridays, there is a Team Trivia contest with various prizes offered. There are also pool tables available.
The Stadium Club is located at 940 North Alma School Road (on the southwest corner). Call (480) 963-3866.
Written by Louis Sacco

Pub gearing up for Super Bowl Party

Looking for a great place to watch NFL playoffs or the Super Bowl? Check out Stadium Club, with its 24 screens set up throughout the pub that offers a great view of the game from any angle.

Romantic Revelations

Romantic Revelations

Articles, January 14th, 2010, 3 Comments
Romantic Revelations
Three Valentine’s Spots to Set Your Heart On
The East Valley may not be the heart of the culinary world, just yet, but if you want to spend some
special moments with your heart’s desire this Valentine’s Day, here are three local places that combine warmth, good food and an excellent selection of wines.
Cork, 4991 South Alma School Road, Suite 1, in Chandler offers an eclectic menu, explains owner/general manager and sommelier, Robert Morris. “Our menu changes frequently, and we specialize in a multi-course style of dining, with two to three courses the norm,” Morris says. Cork has a small bar/café area for intimate rendezvous. The restaurant’s wine list, with more than 400 selections, has obtained a Wine Spectator
“Award of Excellence,” Morris notes.
Another stop in Chandler is D’vine Wine Bar & Bistro, 3990 South Alma School Road. Owner Mark Nowicki also has a location, the original, in the Las Sendas community of northeast Mesa. The Chandler restaurant opened June 1, 2007.
“D’vine is a comfortable location to unwind, listen to live entertainment and indulge in a chef-driven menu,” says Nowicki, adding that live entertainment is scheduled the evening of Valentine’s Day.
You can also enjoy the D’vine experience at the bar. “Our award-winning wine list is extensive yet approachable,” he says. “Servers are well trained in selecting the optimal wine to complement the guest’s tastes
and/or food choice.” David Newton is the sommelier in charge of the D’vine wine program, assisted by Josh Ronding in Chandler.
The restaurant offers 200 different labels focusing mostly on New World wines — U.S. (in particular, Napa) South America, Australia — with a few Old World French and Italian wines as well.
In Gilbert, consider Vine Expressions Wine Bar, 1030 South Gilbert Road, Suite 103, in Gilbert Town Square. Gilbert residents Darlene and husband Davin Smolnisky opened the town’s first wine bar three years ago.
This year for Valentine’s Day, Vine Expressions is holding an afternoon wine tasting, 2–4 p.m. for couples to enjoy before dining at one of the East Valley’s fine restaurants.
The wine bar offers several hundred different wines from around the world, with more than 30 options by the glass. The glass menu changes every three months to give customers new wine options. Vine Expressions will also special order wines not in the store.
With their wine, customers enjoy appetizers, panini’s, salads and desserts. Wine tastings are every Wednesday, 6 to 8 p.m., and live music is scheduled every Saturday night, 8 to 11p.m.
For Valentine’s Day and any day, Vine Expressions offers camaraderie and good wine. “I love looking throughout the bar at night and knowing almost everyone’s name and how they found me. There is great sense of community among our customers,” she says. “You may walk in alone and not knowing anything about wine, but you walk out with a new favorite wine and having met new friends, telling them you will see them again next week. I can’t imagine it any other way.”
Written by David M. Brown

Three Valentine’s Spots to Set Your Heart On

The East Valley may not be the heart of the culinary world, just yet, but if you want to spend some special moments with your heart’s desire this Valentine’s Day, here are three local places that combine warmth, good food and an excellent selection of wines.

Q&A

Q&A

Uncategorized, January 14th, 2010, 1 Comment
Chase Southerland
of FUTURA STONE COMPANY

Chase Southerland of FUTURA STONE COMPANY

Futura—Pebble Deck (concrete resurfacing) and Cool Deck Restorations (pool plaster coatings) are family owned and operated specialty contracting companies located in Arizona since 1988. They specialize in Pebble Dek concrete resurfacing, cool deck restorations, and pool plaster coatings.

Wedded Bliss

Wedded Bliss

Featured Story, January 14th, 2010, 1 Comment
A wedding is the most important day for a couple. It’s a day to celebrate their commitment for each other with friends and family.
In the San Tan Community, photographers Wendy Newman and Jody Ethington captured some local residents on their special day.
Krystle Lee Moritz and Cody Allen Henderson were married recently at St. Anne Catholic Church in Gilbert, with their reception at Villa Pallavicini in Chandler. Krystle was born in Chandler and graduated from Mesquite High School in Gilbert and also Arizona State University’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communications. She is a weather and news anchor on KTVL, a CBS affiliate station in Medford, Oregon.
Cody is a lifelong Mesa resident and graduate of Mesa High School. He attended Mesa Community College and is currently finishing a bio-medical bachelor’s degree.

A wedding is the most important day for a couple. It’s a day to celebrate their commitment for each other with friends and family.  In the San Tan Community, photographers Wendy Newman and Jody Ethington captured some local residents on their special day.

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