The Top 100 Things to Do Near Culinary Gangster
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Indoor Gun Range · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Indoor Gun Range · Best of Phoenix
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A rusted steel and glass aquatic center building that people apparently stop and stare at instead of swimming. The complex packs in a lap pool, diving well, tube slide, lazy river, and a splash pad, all framed by McDowell Mountain views and a public art installation that, yes, belongs to the pool. Non-Scottsdale residents pay a modest surcharge for the privilege of wondering why their city's public pools don't look like this.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Public Pool · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Public Pool · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Public Pool · Best of Phoenix
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A museum with over 15,000 instruments drawn from nearly every country on earth, where the displays sense your approach and pipe the corresponding music through wireless headphones. It sounds gimmicky and it works beautifully. The Artist Gallery leans into celebrity worship without apology, and larger nations get subsections drilling into folk and tribal traditions. The cafe handles global food at reasonable prices, which is not a given for a museum this size.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Museum Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Take an Out-of-Towner · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Casino · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Casino · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best New Age Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best New Age Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best New Age Store · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Public Pickleball Courts · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Public Tennis Courts · Best of Phoenix
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Shelves of wine bottles line every wall of this small, happily unpretentious wine bar tucked into a strip mall on Indian School. The vibe is couch-and-conversation, the kind of place where you sit down next to strangers and somehow end up closing it down with them. The food menu runs to pimento cheese and Moroccan spiced meatballs, which is a perfectly reasonable way to soak up a second pour. Phoenix New Times named it one of the top 100 bars in the city.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bottle Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Eater The Best Bars in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Art Classes · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ceramics Studio · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Coronado coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: Lobstah Roll · Standout Signature Dish
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fish Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Fish Market · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Chicano Art Space · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Midtown Phoenix coffee shop for working or studying · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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A neighborhood dive bar that fully commits to the bit: vintage furniture with backstories, a cigarette machine, free arcade games, and a jukebox that always has Marty Robbins on deck. The drinks are cold, the Old Style is colder, and the backyard patio with lawn games fills up with the kind of crowd that looks like they've been regulars for years, even if they just discovered it last week.
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- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Way to Cuddle Cats · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Cat Cafe · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best downtown Phoenix coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Plant Shop · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Grand Avenue coffee shops for more than just coffee · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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- Foodist Awards 2024 · Finalist · Outstanding Bar/Nightlife Experience
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Bougie Bowling · Best of Phoenix
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The Praying Monk formation on the southeast face is the shot everyone posts, but the ridge routes above Echo Canyon are where the real character shows. Camelback is a hiking and climbing destination right in the middle of the Valley, accessible enough that you can squeeze it into a morning, challenging enough that you'll feel it the next day. The rock gets called "choss" by the purists, which just means more routes for everyone else.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Intense Hike · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Hike · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Intense Hike · Best of Phoenix
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Karaoke spills out of this LGBTQ+ bar at Park Central before you even reach the door. Inside, Kobalt runs on the pleasant fiction that everyone already knows each other, with drag shows, RuPaul's watch parties, and trivia filling the calendar alongside the sing-alongs. Show tunes, '80s ballads, and early-aughts pop keep the room generous and loud. Cocktails hover around eleven dollars, which makes it easy to stay for one more song, then another.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Drag Shows · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Mall · Best of Phoenix
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Yucca Tap Room is an old-school dive bar and live music venue where cheap drinks and a no-fuss atmosphere have kept generations of Tempe regulars coming back. The punk shows are a fixture, and moshers in Halloween costumes remain a perfectly normal Tuesday-in-October situation. Half the space now belongs to Electric Bat Arcade, a pinball room that on some nights draws a bigger crowd than the bar itself.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to See a Punk Show · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Hike · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hike · Best of Phoenix
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The DJ here plays real saxophone solos during your Motown number and rosins up an actual fiddle when someone calls "The Devil Went Down to Georgia." This folksy Scottsdale bar and grill runs karaoke every night of the week, which already puts it in rare company in the Valley. The live accompaniment means no one has to endure a slide that reads "Instrumental Break, 16 Bars" while the singer reconsiders their choices.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Karaoke · Best of Phoenix
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The taco truck parked out front sets the tone before you even get inside. Charlie's is an old-school gay bar and dance hall on Camelback with a big outdoor patio, bleacher seating, two bars, and a dance floor that earns its own reputation after midnight on weekends. The calendar runs from drag nights and karaoke to Latin and country two-stepping, so the crowd varies wildly depending on when you show up, which is most of the fun.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Gay Bar · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
- AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best International Games · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Indoor Fun · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Housewarming Gift · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Housewarming Gifts · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Upscale Party Supplies · Best of Phoenix
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A mile-and-a-half paved path cutting through the Phoenix Mountain Preserve, Dreamy Draw is where the city comes to jog, bike, and pretend the heat is fine. Boulders break up the trail for anyone who needs a dignified excuse to stop, and drinking fountains appear often enough that you won't have to choose between cardio and survival. It opens at five in the morning, which makes it a genuinely good place to catch the sunrise before the desert decides to cook you.
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best LGBTQ Game Night · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix Magazine 2025 · Best Coffee Shop for the LGBTQ+ Community · Best of the Valley
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Driving Range · Best of Phoenix
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The cocktail list pulls from the shelves around you, which tells you exactly what kind of place this is: part upscale liquor store, part proper bar, and committed to being both at once. Depending on which Phoenix-area location you land in, the extras might include a golf simulator, pinball, a pizzeria, or a cigar lounge. The drinks run from spritzes to stirred classics, and the bottles for sale are genuinely worth browsing.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Liquor Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Attraction Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Nighttime Encounters With Wildlife · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Attraction Gift Shop · Best of Phoenix
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A cutlery shop for people who find Shun a little pedestrian, Phoenix Knife House stocks premium Japanese brands serious enough that you may not recognize the names until you're already pulling out your wallet. Beyond the blades, you'll find sharpening stones, knife rolls, and chef jackets, and the staff will talk you through all of it without making you feel like a tourist. Bring a dull knife for sharpening and leave with something embarrassingly sharp.
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Running Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Running Store · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Ice Skating · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Ice Skating · Best of Phoenix
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The front door looks like it belongs to a golf pro shop, but step through it and you're heading downstairs into a candlelit, white-tablecloth seafood restaurant that has been around forever. The menu pulls from coasts plural, Boston to New Zealand, with lobster, scallops, and a bucket of Blue Hill Bay mussels in drawn butter that earns its own sentence. Subterranean and unapologetically old-school in the best Scottsdale way.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Late Night Happy Hour · Best of Phoenix
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The floor doesn't fill until after midnight, which tells you everything about the kind of night Karamba is built for. It's a Latino gay nightclub where dancers in little more than underwear work elevated platforms while the DJs do the heavy lifting, threading reggaeton into club classics into top 40 without a seam. The pours are generous enough that an Uber home counts as planning ahead, not an afterthought. Phoenix New Times named it the best after-hours dance spot in town.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best After-Hours Dance Spot · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Hip-Hop Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Hip-Hop Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Hip-Hop Shop · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Outdoors Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Outdoors Store · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Phoenix-Centric Music Venue · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Really Big Honor · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Watch the Sunset · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch the Sunrise · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Place to Take an Out-of-Town Visitor · Best of Phoenix
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A private nonprofit zoo spread across 125 acres, where you can pet a stingray, feed a giraffe, and ride a camel before anyone in your group agrees on what to see next. Five trails loop through over 1,300 animals, and the Red Barn Petting Zoo handles the younger crowd's demands nicely. Bikes and roller blades are welcome, which says a lot about how far you'll walk. Zoo Lights draws a faithful crowd every holiday season.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Zoo · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Buy a Turntable · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Record Store · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Walking Path · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Walking Path · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Vintage Furniture · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Midcentury Modern Furniture · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bat Colony · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Communing With Creatures of the Night · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Fabric Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Fabric Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Fabric Store · Best of Phoenix
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A gallery-shop in northern Phoenix where the inventory changes constantly because everything is made by hand and no two makers work the same week. Forged knives, blown-glass tumblers, ceramic oil pourers, and natural-edge cutting boards share shelf space in proportions nobody can predict. It's the kind of place where you come in for a gift and leave reconsidering your kitchen entirely.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to Support Local Artists · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Buy Local Art · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Local Art · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best High-End Sneakers · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best High-End Sneaker Shop · Best of Phoenix
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A live music club on Indian School Road that's been the Valley's home for blues, jazz, and roots acts for as long as anyone can remember. Owner Bob Corritore, a serious figure in the blues world, has put Pinetop Perkins and Sanford Clark on that stage. Local and touring rock acts fill the gaps. The bartenders are half the reason to stay, apparently able to match any set with a story.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Blues Club · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Blues Venue · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Thrift Store · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Thrift Shop · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Place to See a Spring Training Game · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Place to Watch a Spring Training Game · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Miniature Golf · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Rides · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Rides · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Store to Show a Wrestling Geek · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Store for Wrestling Fans · Best of Phoenix
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- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Bones · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best In-Store Events · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Creepy Stuff · Best of Phoenix
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