It's Sunday morning and I'm alone in the Fiesta Bowl media work room.
The UCF defensive personnel is busy giving quotes to the media in another room here on the beautiful campus of the Camelback Inn in Scottsdale, Arizona. Because I'm here to cover the actual game for my steady wire-service gig and in the meantime write about the scene here in Phoenix, I don't have a ton of interest in listening to the Knights players and coaches pontificate on how they might stop the most prolific offense in the nation (in case any WacoFork readers are unaware, Baylor leads the nation in total offense with more than 50 yards per game more than second-place Oregon).
I am interested in giving an initial heads up on the local restaurant scene to any first-time-in-Phoenixers. And since I made the 1,000-mile drive from Central Texas, I'll also offer a suggestion or two for anyone else following along the same path.
This is what I have so far:
• I'm sure anyone who booked hotels and figured distances to relevant points realizes that Phoenix/Scottsdale is one spread out city. After making the drive out here and arriving at our Scottsdale hotel, my travel pal Jacob Robinson and I opted not to venture into downtown Phoenix (a 15-mile drive) or to North Scottsdale (also a 15-mile drive).
Our good WacoFork friend Toph Whisnant told us about The Duce, which appeared on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives." It was in downtown Phoenix and we may yet get to it. Actually, we probably should, so I'll let you know.
I also found an interesting spot called Lamp Wood Oven Pizzeria, which was picked as one of Scottsdale's five best restaurants by a local newspaper food blog. Alas, it was in North Scottsdale.
We settled on a place called The Fate Brewing Co., also a pizza joint, located in what I think is called Old Town Scottsdale. It's just down the street from the Baylor team hotel and only a 10-minute drive from our hotel. The pizza was excellent and the beer was serviceable. I ordered a pizza with fennel sausage, mozzarella and feta. Well done, Fate. I also ordered a coffee stout beer which wasn't as good as the varieties I usually drink at The Dancing Bear. 
From what I can tell, pizza and beer are available at several fine locations. Other than the one we decided was too far and the one we chose, our friend John Werner of the Waco Tribune-Herald told us Grimaldi's Pizzeria is excellent.
We ran into Werner upon arriving at the hotel on Saturday afternoon. He joined us at The Fate, though he had already had pasta and/or pizza for several consecutive meals, so he ordered a salad. Amateur. Then when we stopped for gas on the way back to the hotel, he bought a candy bar because the salad wasn't filling enough. Amateur.
• I bumped into Paul Catalina and David Smoak from the sports radio station this morning and polled them on dining. Catalina said they hit a place called Cold Beer & Cheeseburgers, which he said cleared up his sinuses. Not sure what that means. Maybe the burgers were spicy. They also dined at a Japanese non-hibachi steakhouse called Roka Akor and gave it high marks.
• If you're driving out here, note that Lee Trevino Drive in El Paso has just about anything you might be jonesing for at mealtime. We hit Whataburger in my attempt to dine at the farthest west Whataburger I'd ever dined in, but it turns out there's Whataburger in Las Cruces and even here in Phoenix. There's also a Rudy's here, so you shouldn't miss Texas too much while you're here.
And you'll be able to get an In-N-Out fix as soon as Tucson. Of course, if you're flying in, you can easily find In-N-Out in Phoenix, too.
• Finally, I must note that the Fiesta Bowl seems to have hosting down to an art. I've covered a few bowl games and so far this is by far my favorite.
