Aug. 18, mention “Cash Mob” at Ruffino and buy one entree get one of equal or lesser value at 50 percent off. Come see our bright new interior and try our signature menu items and table-side salad service.

For 10 years, the Queen Creek Olive Mill has been known for freshpressed extra virgin olive oil, but this year the owner hopes to entice people with another specialty — an Italianinspired restaurant.

For 10 years, the Queen Creek Olive Mill has been known for freshpressed extra virgin olive oil, but this year the owner hopes to entice people with another specialty — an Italianinspired restaurant.

If all that holiday shopping has made you hungry, there are lots of new, or new-look, dining options around the East Valley. The Mancuso family’s latest concept, Bobby’s, just opened at Kierland Commons, Scottsdale Road and Greenway Parkway on the Scottsdale-Phoenix border.

If just-opened Brio Tuscan Grille is any indication, Gilbert residents must love rustic Italian cuisine. The spacious SanTan Village restaurant, the first in Arizona from the Ohio-based chain, is completely packed on my weeknight visit.

SAN FRANCISCO — What happens when you ask a group of food world luminaries to come up with their picks for Best Food Scene in a movie?

Some restaurants achieve success despite a challenging location. I hope La Calabria Ristorante will be one of those. The Italian eatery opened four months ago in the former Mei Xiang Asian Cuisine space on the northwest corner of Ray Road and Val Vista Drive in Gilbert.

Twenty years into its operation, Ruffino Italian Cuisine has begun a new era of restaurant experience in Ahwatukee Foothills.

Twenty years into its operation, Ruffino Italian Cuisine has begun a new era of restaurant experience in Ahwatukee Foothills.

If anyone’s going to open another Italian restaurant in this town, it had better be something special. But the people behind Fiamma — Italian for "flame" — aren’t worried about getting burned.

When you eat out as often as I do, restaurants sometimes start to blend together. You can only visit so many steakhouses or so many sushi places before they all start looking a little alike.

With the Valley’s weather starting to heat up, the Häagen-Dazs Shop at Arizona Mills in Tempe is hosting a free ice cream day. You can stop by for a free scoop of ice cream from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 8.

Through a month-long series of events culminating with a pizza-eating contest at its Gilbert location, Flancer’s restaurant raised $28,000 for Warfighter Sports (formerly known as the Wounded Warrior Project), which rehabilitates wounded soldiers through sporting events.

Tysen Manuel is owner and operations manager of Ncounter, 310 S. Mill Ave., Suite A101, Tempe. (480) 968-9288 or www.ncounter.com

We are offering a new four-course Prix Fixe Menu for two that will be available Sunday through Thursday through the end of September. Choose from our most popular appetizers, table side salad service, entrees and desserts. All of this for $39 per couple, plus tax and gratuity. This special menu cannot be used with any other promotions or special offers and there are no substitutions or special orders.

Just a mile from the Mesa location for the Chicago Cubs new spring training facility, another Windy City mainstay is set to open: Portillo’s. The restaurant that specializes in Chicago hot dogs and Italian beef will open a 7,000-square foot eatery in the summer of 2013 at Tempe Marketplace.

Most people consider polenta a restaurant food. That's because as good as this creamy, cheesy Italian staple is, few of us have the hour needed to crank it out.

We could never pick a favorite when it comes to policemen and firemen, but we’ll happily vote with our taste buds for which one of their pizzas we like best.

Beauty of a Bonzer, the annual Australian-themed party that raises money for five Valley charities, will be 5:30 p.m. Saturday at US Airways Center in Phoenix.

The key to a great food experience around the holidays is extending it as long as possible.