Chow Baby

Chow Baby

FORT WORTH WEEKLY  JANUARY 30-FEBRUARY 5, 2003

Oh, Those Phoenicians

Chow, Baby had never thought of Arizona’s largest city as having a unique gastronomy. But there’s the sign, almost as big as Sun Devil Stadium. in the 2200 block of Hemphill: Celaborelle’s  Phoenician Cuisine. And like the home of the Cardinals ( the stadium’s actually in Tempe, but Chow Baby can’t think of a single cultural attraction in phoenix itself) Celaborelle’s is small and old, yet charming, it doesn’t sell beer, but you’re welcome to bring your own.

Celaborelle’s is buffet-only, in an enclosed off the living room is a treasure trove of steam tables. Garlic and corriander and cumin—the aroma of Arizona!–rise from unlabeled dishes like, well, let’s see, there was a beef and eggplant concoction, and baked chicken and potatoes in a sauce, and what looked like spanich pie, and so forth. at the far end was the “cold” table with appetizers like… wait a minute… hummus and yogurt… a thought is surfacing… tabouli and black olives… not Phoenix, dolt, Phoenicia!

Chow, Baby put away plate after plate of delicious mystery meat and seven varieties of baklava while dredging up sixth-grade lessons about the Phoenicians: They’re all dead now, but in olden times they sailed, traded, and colonized all around the Mediterranean from what is now Lebanon and Israel. And they probably invented sesame-thyme pizza, like the yummy one delivered to Chow, Baby with the tiny check — $6.95. Great traders? Chow, Baby definitely got the better end of that deal.