Sabo 2019 Landscape
Saboten con was held just a few days ago and we are all sharing in a collective joy cloud of memories. This year was one of the biggest years at Sabo. We have been lucky enough to have attended Sabo for the past 4 years. We missed last years show because we were in having a baby, who by the way, Now 1 years old is already an anime fan 🙂
Its been awesome to watch this amazing Con grow over the past few years but what I love the most is that while the con continues to get bigger, with huge name guests, musical, panels and attendance, it sill maintains the wonderful close knit community aspect that makes all of Monkey Paws shows amazing.
There has been quite a few changes to the downtown landscape. Most notably was the re-incarnation of The Arizona Center, a large shopping center across the street from the event venue. Additionally The Sheraton itself is undergoing an overhaul that will be done by next year.
As the landscape around one of our favorite cons changes here is a short list of awesome places near con some new and some tried and true.
When attending Con of course we do have to be money conscious and that can be hard downtown. Many things down town are a bit spendy and while there are many fun options I will take the opportunity to refer you to another article we wrote in past years on how to save a few bucks while out at con.
So lets jump in to our list of fan faves and new arrivals.
First we will begin with:
The Angels Trumpet Ale House.
This spot is amazing and less than 10 minutes on foot from the event venue. That is super important when its over 100 degrees out. This awesome place has about 30 craft beers on tap as well as many interesting and fun items to check out. I wouldn’t recommend their ketchup cause it tastes like spaghetti O’s and of course their BBQ sauce (which is made from ketchup) follows suit but all in all its a fun staple downtown and a must try, especially their home made pop tarts. Sounds crazy I know, I was skeptical myself at first. This here is a blueberry Rosemary filled pop tart with balsamic reduction. Amazing.
New place in the area found at the Arizona Center right across the street from the Sheraton was
Omoide Sushi and Noodle bar.
This place was serving up some pretty fun ramen and sushi options as well as Saki bomber specials furring happy hour so you know we had a good time there. This place was fun and authentic as well as casual and quick over all a great place for a quick Con lunch
Located just a few yards away from The Angels trumpet, Matt’s has been a con tradition for our team for the past 5+ years. They are a local legend in their own right and their food speaks for itself. Do note that you will wait for at least 15 minutes unless you get there really early and its not uncommon to drop a good $50 for just a couple people. That said the wait and money are well worth the experience.A little further down the street is a fun place called
This place is really fun, they make a sandwich there that rides the line between grilled cheese, hot pocket and fine dining. Sounds like a funny mix I know. We tried sandwiches that had out of the ordinary toppings such as black beans and corn, pear and apple, it was really quite good and a different take so much more fun than a plan old sandwich. I’m not sure how new they are but I know they weren’t there last year.
A brand new spot that is a pretty decent walk away is the new
Ziggy’s pizza.
Now on the face of it this place isn’t super impressive. A plain old counter style pizza join. But like a transformer there is more here than meets the eye. A faux freezer door in the back takes you into a secret pinball bar complete with dace floor, music and you guess it pinball machines from everyone childhood. This place is awesome and total must for any nerd outing though you may want to wait for night fall so you can see the club as well.
All in all there was no shortage of options very close by you definitely wont have an issue finding something great very near by this con.