Restaurants in Avondale

Wine-kissed seafood, gourmet pizzas, and pastas tossed with velvety cream sauces populate the red-and-white checkered tabletops at Nostalgi’a Cancione E Vino. To prepare satisfying meals, Chef Polo decorates pies with toppings such as artichoke hearts, caramelized onions, and sweet Italian sausage. His team also arranges salmon filets over beds of linguini and scampi sauce, layers mushrooms between spinach and sheets of lasagna pasta, and stuffs ravioli with soft morsels of lobster.

A wine list boasts more than 50 vintages hailing from California to Portugal. More elaborate libations include the Van Gogh espresso martini, which combines chocolate vodka and fresh espresso using the back end of a paintbrush.

Rosati’s Pizza's history dates back to the early 1900s, when a recent Italian immigrant named Ferdinand Rosati moved from New York to Chicago with the dream of opening a restaurant. His first attempt was modest—with Ferdinand simultaneously fulfilling the duties of chef, server, dishwasher, and host—but quickly gained popularity for its crispy-thin-crust pizzas, originally served as complimentary appetizers. Encouraged by the public's response to the pies, Ferdinand and his son, Sam, decided to focus their efforts on opening a true pizzeria.

Today, at Rosati's Pizza locations across the country, plumes of heat swirl above piping-hot pies concocted from handmade sauce and dough. A smattering of toppings cling to five crust options—crispy thin, double dough, Chicago-style, pan, and superstuffed—as well as hide from their hungry predators inside hand-rolled calzones. Homemade lasagna and fettuccine alfredo battle for the top pasta spot, and fried chicken, baby back ribs, and fried-shrimp dinners work together to distract diners from hard-to-resist buffalo wings.

Rosati’s Pizza Rosati’s Pizza's history dates back to the early 1900s, when a recent Italian immigrant named Ferdinand Rosati moved from New York to Chicago with the dream of opening a restaurant. His first attempt was modest—with Ferdinand simultaneously fulfilling the duties of chef, server, dishwasher, and host—but quickly gained popularity for its crispy-thin-crust pizzas, originally served as complimentary appetizers. Encouraged by the public's response to the pies, Ferdinand and his son, Sam, decided to focus their efforts on opening a true pizzeria.

Today, at Rosati's Pizza locations across the country, plumes of heat swirl above piping-hot pies concocted from handmade sauce and dough. A smattering of toppings cling to five crust options—crispy thin, double dough, Chicago-style, pan, and superstuffed—as well as hide from their hungry predators inside hand-rolled calzones. Homemade lasagna and fettuccine alfredo battle for the top pasta spot, and fried chicken, baby back ribs, and fried-shrimp dinners work together to distract diners from hard-to-resist buffalo wings.

Local art and regional flavors foster a sense of community at the two locations of Taps Signature Cuisine and Bar, prompting ABC 15 to describe the Litchfield Park restaurant as "a place where you can kick off your shoes, stay a while, and enjoy some local music." The chefs add distinctive southwestern flavors to dishes by occasionally incorporating anaheim chilies or chipotle-spiced condiments from the area's naturally occurring ketchup geysers. These piquant touches lend a welcome kick to certain recipes, whereas the rest of the upscale American menu—which includes grilled rib eyes, organic chicken breasts, and roasted fillets of salmon—embraces more classic flavors.

Voted the Best Neighborhood Mexican restaurant in the West Valley by the Phoenix New Times in 2009, Pedro’s Mexican Restaurant serves lavish portions of Mexican food made with authentic recipes. Crispy chimichangas and chicken burros were particular favorites, along with stuff quesadillas, which the Phoenix New Times called "pure hedonism."

Calico Jack's Cantina blends Tex-Mex cuisine with an atmosphere of all-night dance parties and music-fueled celebrations. Murals of Mexican calaveras dot the yellow walls as diners sup on hearty meals of carnitas, burgers, tacos, and salsas and dips. Revelers crowd the floor to rhythmically move to tracks from a live DJ or step up on one of the two full-service bars for delivering raucous toasts or taking first place in a height contest.

The meats of Mexican cuisine are as diverse as the colors of the rainbow, and Ta’Carbon strives to serve every one. Chefs load up the charcoal grill with familiar morsels of certified-Angus carne asada and barbacoa and pair them with specialty cuts such as lengua, cabeza, and tripa. These sizzling cuts then find their way into burritos, tacos, and dinner platters, which guests then customize at the salsa bar with a choice of red and green salsas, pico de gallo, and spicy vegetables according to their own tastes and the rules of upcoming fire-breathing contests.

To crown meals, the chefs sling traditional desserts such as flan and stock a range of Mexican sodas. Guests can grab food to go at the walk-up counter, enjoy their meals outside on the patio, or stay for an imported beer and watch the HDTV plasma screen showing soccer matches or telenovelas about people watching soccer matches.