Restaurant picks on the East side of town.

Tribune’s dining critic reviews restaurant picks on our side of town.

A Get Out food critic has dined at each of the places listed in our Top 100. It's a continually updated list of our favorite places to dine in the East Valley.

A Get Out food critic has dined at each of the places listed in our Top 100. It's a continually updated list of our favorite places to dine in the East Valley.

The autumn months are a magical time for foodies. After all, autumn is when the year's newest wine, the excitingly callow Beaujolais nouveau,is rushed into stores. It's also when many temperamental seasonal fruits and vegetables return to restaurants and produce aisles. One can almost imagine them as long-absent children, buzzing with stories from summer camp.

Despite what the clueless Pink Taco president recently said about there being no good Mexican restaurants in the Valley, there are an abundance of scrumptious south-of-the-border spots.

You’re not supposed to look a gift horse in the mouth (and even when you are supposed to look in your child’s mouth – like for a missing crayon, or say Barbie’s shoe – you know the outcome will be iffy at best). But what of a burro?

After performing about 80 three-and-a-half-hour shows, including a three-month European leg on Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band’s Wrecking Ball Tour during the past year, Nils Lofgren is getting ready to crash at home and have a break from what he describes as the “greatest musical job in the world.”

It’s difficult to describe the taste of a chocolate tamale — that’s what’s wonderful about it. “A good one is kind of an explosion,” says Azucena Tovar. “A lot of tastes coming together in your mouth.” They’re popular at Los Sombreros in Scottsdale, where Tovar presides over about a hundred such explosions a month.

Looking for someplace to eat this weekend? Our writers have done the legwork for you. Bon appétit!