Best of Phoenix 2020: The Valley's Top Restaurants
What’s the best restaurant in Phoenix? Or the best brunch spot? Or the best Italian joint? We would be delighted to tell you!
Here are all the Phoenix restaurants that won a Best of Phoenix award in 2020.
Best Restaurant
Kai Restaurant5594 West Wild Horse Pass Boulevard, Chandler
Almost two decades into its genre-bending, white-tablecloth gastronomic journey through the desert we call home, Kai remains a pillar of Arizona dining. Chef Ryan Swanson, who scored a James Beard Award nomination this year, has the restaurant humming like a sleek vintage car. Still, he keeps driving Kai to new places. Swanson can nimbly hit notes across the gastronomic map, often using hyperlocal ingredients in uncommon ways, such as many kinds of cactus in a "key lime" pie, or Ramona Farms corn in an earthy amuse bouche. Though classics remain (including a "sensory course" that rewires your mind late in the arc of the tasting menu), Swanson routinely decks out the menu with new dishes like bison creme brulee, octopus, smoked squash soup, and compressed lamb on ceme't. Eating at Kai gives you a powerful sense of what eating in Arizona could be: imaginative, born from the cracks, valleys, and washes of our unique land — and like nowhere else in the world.
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Best New Restaurant
Vecina3433 North 56th Street
This young, Latin-inspired Arcadia eatery already has numerous dishes that feel like Phoenix classics. There's the hiramasa ceviche, lush and creamy. There's an elote with about as many ingredients as a corn cob has kernels. There's a fried ice cream sandwiched on halved concha and impaled with a steak knife. Perhaps most of all, there's one of the most sneakily excellent chips-and-salsa plates you can find, anchored by an incendiary-but-somehow-subtle salsa loaded with butter. Vecina chefs James Fox and Eric Stone don't take a single dish off. Cocktails, beer, and wine are just as on point. You could order at random and enjoy a stellar meal.
Best Food Truck
Emerson Fry BreadRoxanne Wilson and Loren Emerson's mobile purveyor of frybread has long been one of the best meals-on-wheels situations in town. Standing before its pink facade painted with cactuses, you can get a hot, chewy, simple, elegant frybread for $3. The Jazzy, an Indian taco made with little more than carne asada on frybread, has been a satisfying choice for years. This year, though, a new favorite entered the ring: a Navajo-style mutton sandwich. Tucked into fry bread with shreds of lamb leg and shards of Hatch chile, this sandwich has brought a new wave of customers to Emerson Fry Bread. Wash one down with a 32-ounce jar of iced prickly pear lemonade.
Best Drive-Thru
32 Shea10626 North 32nd Street
The drive-thru experience is often a trade-off: You get convenience, and you don't have to leave your car's air-conditioned interior, but most of the food that's available through a window isn't particularly healthy or tasty. Not so at 32 Shea. The tiny north-central Phoenix eatery began life as a photo mat, and the building retained its drive-thru window even when it transitioned into a cafe. Before the pandemic hit, the window was only open for breakfast and lunch, which was fine with us: We could get our Nutella mocha, avocado toast, or caprese sandwich without leaving our car. Now, the drive-thru stays open until the restaurant closes, meaning that 32 Shea's fabulous dinner entrees like braised short ribs and the salmon superfood salad also can be ordered from your vehicle. If our drive-thru options are a Big Mac or lobster mac and cheese, we know which we're choosing.
Best Outdoors Feast
Cloth & FlameThe brainchild of Matt Cooley and Olivia Laux, Cloth & Flame hosts farm-to-table community dinners in scenic spots like the Sonoran Desert and the Superstitions. Attending one of its events is a true multi-sensory experience. There's the unique flavors; aromas of food mingling with those of the desert air; the sound of new friends' voices as they tell their stories; the occasional touch as someone asks you to pass the plate; and, of course, the beauty of the table and the great outdoors. "We live at a time where you get rid of fun friends for political views," Cooley says. "But we believe that if you sit across someone and share a meal with them, you forget your differences." We tend to agree, which is why we're so glad Cloth & Flame is helping bridge new connections all across the Valley.
Best Pop-Up
Lom WongIn deep food-geek circles, Lom Wong carries cachet. The pop-up, which before the pandemic met periodically in a south Scottsdale living room, features regional Thai cuisine, most notably that of the coastal Moklen tribes. The culinary talents behind the intimate dinners are Yotaka Martin, a Chiang Rai native who has cooked at Glai Baan, and Alex Martin, a Chicago native, graduate of Chulalongkorn University, and fluent Thai speaker. The meals and beverage pairings are ethereal. Dishes like pla neung Moklen, whole fish steamed with chili and lime, braid startlingly fresh flavors. You get deeply thoughtful lessons in history and culture as you go. Often, meals end with a surprisingly nice ice cream sandwich bunned, against the odds, on simple white bread.
Best Hidden Gem
Shamy Market & Bakery1110 West Southern Avenue, #8, Mesa
In the back of their Middle Eastern grocery in a Mesa strip mall, the Alimam family, two generations of refugees from Damascus, run a lunch counter. Breads are central. Their flavors lean Syrian, and they are peeled out of a gas-fired oven. You tear into them when they're just seconds old. Consider safia, canoe-shaped loaves scattered with ground meat in the hollowed middle. Or try manakeesh stretched into an oval and rained with za'atar and salty halloumi cheese. Even the simple pita is pillowy and divine, doubly so when dragged through a side of hummus or baba ghanoush. The secret charms of Shamy extend to everything from sujuk sandwiches to simple sides of fava beans.
Best Bonkers Restaurant Opening
White Castle9310 East Vía de Ventura, Scottsdale
Thanks to Harold and Kumar, White Castle hamburgers are now better known as a feast for stoners than comfort food for Midwesterners. But both camps — transplants from the middle of the country and native Arizonans curious about what would make the cinematic duo ride a cheetah in the middle of the night in New Jersey — stood in line together for hours on a warm October morning last year, eager to sample sliders from the first White Castle to open in Arizona. Those who camped out for days to storm the castle ordered hundreds of the tiny burgers at once, causing the 24-hour restaurant to close early on its opening day in order to restock. Some sad latecomers left tired, frustrated, and empty-handed. It would be weeks before the rush of cravers ticked down to something like normal fast-food restaurant levels, but for many, it was worth all the wait.
Best Place To Take A Foodie
Binkley's Restaurant2320 East Osborn Road
You needn't travel to New York or Chicago for the ultimate foodie experience. Just bring a generous appetite to Binkley's, where you can marvel at Kevin Binkley's creations — from his tamarind barbecue octopus to smoked Copper River salmon to sweet corn. When you dine here, you can't help but feel you are part of something special and, yes, exclusive. There are only 20 spots available for dinner (reservations should be made well ahead of time), the menu is seasonally driven and never stagnant, and patrons get to watch as Binkley and his staff prepare and unveil each small plate. Whether you're a tourist or a native Phoenician, you're missing out on magic (and that isn't an exaggeration) if you don't have Binkley's on your bucket list.
Best Authentic Arizona Restaurant
Rancho Pinot6208 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
For nearly three decades, Chrysa Robertson of Rancho Pinot has married the bounty of Arizona with Italian-leaning techniques and flavor palettes in singular ways. Still, the skill and flavors of Rancho Pinot seem, at times, not wholly understood by the younger generations of Phoenix eaters. There's no Instagram wall. No neon signs. But there's damn good food and drink, cooking from the heart and the heart of the arid world we inhabit. Robertson plates panna cotta with local white peaches, a classic caprese-like salad hinging on the quality of top Arizona tomatoes, and a dainty-yet-vigorous roast quail accented with mostarda of fruit in season. Roberston was a 2020 James Beard Award finalist for a reason: Like a cactus wren or Gila woodpecker, her cooking sings a brilliant local song.
EXPANDBest Hotel Restaurant
Alter Ego108 East University Drive, Tempe
Alter Ego, located on the ground floor of the also-new Canopy by Hilton Tempe Downtown, impressed us soon after opening in early summer 2020. But it's not just the student bustle of downtown Tempe or the luxurious dining area that will have us returning again and again to this restaurant. It's the food. Veteran Valley Chef Ken Arneson oversees the kitchen here, ensuring guests and those picking up takeout are treated to well-executed specialties like the skirt steak chimichurri, the katsu chicken sandwich, and sweet Thai shishito peppers. Don't even get us started on the goat cheese gelato, mixed with fresh berries and served with the In "The Pot" Cobbler. Part of Alter Ego's menu is seasonal, so you may not get to try everything mentioned above. But we're confident most any order here will leave you satisfied. Some of Alter Ego's food also can be ordered up to the hotel's rooftop bar counterpart, meaning you can enjoy dishes like the Filipino-style empanadas while sipping the signature cocktails they serve there. But if you'd rather stick to the patio outside of Alter Ego, right on University Drive across from ASU's main campus, we feel that, too.
Best Breakfast
Hash KitchenMultiple Locations
When you and your breakfast club can't decide between a solid, hearty meal or a trendy, Instagrammable feast, go to Hash Kitchen, which is the best of both worlds. We must first mention the bloody mary bar, which boasts over 50 toppings to mix and match. Then, there's the DJ spinning tunes in the corner, starting the party early — a wakeup call, if you will. The menu has traditional items like corned beef hash and buttermilk pancakes, but we usually go for the stuff we can't get at many other places, like Lucky Charms French toast or a lobster Benedict. Portions are large; at least two people can split the S'mores pancakes or the carnitas hash. You can also get a friend to share the cereal shooter flights (you read that right) or down them all yourself. We won't judge.
Best Brunch
Prep & Pastry7025 East Via Soleri Drive, Scottsdale
A stone's throw from the canal in downtown Scottsdale, this Tucson import has been drawing the hungry morning hordes since its first days. It's easy to see why. When you open the front door to the cavernous dining room and look left, your eyes land on a pastry bar. This isn't your 200-year-old Parisian emporium of long bread and pain au chocolate. Rather, at this counter you can score gigantic cinnamon rolls, croissant doughnuts, and brioche stuffed with "Mexican hot chocolate." The pastry case's whimsy also runs through the sit-down menu, replete with a PB&J French toast on Japanese milk bread and a duck confit hash with cherries. Also nicely weird at Prep & Pastry: a deep morning cocktail selection.
Best Lunch Spot
Pane Bianco4404 North Central Avenue
Lunch is for sandwiches, and it is our belief that the quality of a sandwich is ultimately determined by the quality of its bread. Ergo, ipso facto, by the transitive property, etc.: The best lunch spot in Phoenix is Pane Bianco, because that's where the best sandwich bread is served. Specifically, these are sandwiches served between round cuts of wood-fired focaccia that resemble a half-roasted marshmallow, or the surface of the moon. Between these doughy masterpieces are simple combinations of ingredients that pack explosive flavor. Mozzarella, basil, tomato. Provolone, sopressata, relish. And if, by some bizarre circumstance, sandwiches aren't your thing, Pane Bianco has you covered: The house-made mozzarella salad is just as juicy and fragrant as the sandwich version; the albacore tuna salad is filling without being heavy; and the pizzettes are like the younger cousin of Bianco's famous pies. Most things you eat that deliver this much joy tend to weigh you down, either with guilt or whichever combination of chemicals that causes food comas. Not so with the food at Pane Bianco. We've yet to detect any slumping in our work productivity after devouring them. And we would know: The Van Buren location, which will close soon to make way for the new location of Bianco's other restaurant Tratto, is just a few blocks away from the New Times office, and we're in there constantly.
Best Restaurant Patio
Glai Baan2333 East Osborn Road
You walk onto the patio through a wrought-iron door. The greenery, the string lights, and a cozy smattering of tables grab your attention. Red oilcloths with blue floral patterns cover the tables. The trees have colorful sashes tied around their trunks reminiscent of prayer flags. The intimate, beautiful patio at Glai Baan is just the first wonderful part of your experience at the popular eatery that specializes in Thai street food. We go back again and again for well-executed dishes like the juicy kanon jeeb (pork dumplings) and the fragrant, comforting panang curry. We don't overlook the drinks menu, a hidden jewel of the local cocktail scene; choices like the spiked Nham King Hot Tea stand on their own merits, but pair well with the food. And of course, we always ask for patio seating.
Best Bar Food
12 West Brewing Co.12 West Main Street, Mesa
This two-story former event venue in downtown Mesa is now 12 West Brewing Co.'s second location, which, unlike the first spot, offers cocktails and full meals in addition to craft beer. If a few beers make you exceptionally hungry, or if you're looking to get dinner before a show at Mesa Arts Center, the menu at 12 West exceeds the usual bar food expectations. Food options start with shareables like smoked mac and cheese, Southwest avocado hummus, the Blap! Blap! Fries, and the Bretzel. That last one is a hefty-ass Bavarian pretzel paired with a generous portion of Belgian wheat beer cheese. There are flatbreads like ricotta-mushroom, bacon jam and fig, and caprese. And salads range from power greens to a poke bowl. But the best thing on the menu will be whatever sandwich you order. Maybe the katsu chicken sandwich — a spiced, extra-crispy fried chicken thigh topped with Thai chili aioli on a warm bun. Our pick is definitely the steak sandwich — grilled flank steak with beefsteak tomato, baby arugula, chimichurri, and pickled red onions, all piled on grilled flatbread. The smell alone should be a Yankee Candle.
Best Late-Night Restaurant
Welcome Diner929 East Pierce Street
The food's great, but the hang may be even better at Welcome Diner — and the later, the better. With its eclectic tables and chairs, Welcome's front patio is perfect for kicking back with friends and a beverage in hand, and there's quite a selection of comforting late-night eats on the menu for soaking up a night of drinking and debauchery. The jackfruit po'boy is a showstopper, as are the peanut butter bacon burger, fried chicken biscuit sandwiches, and mac and cheese topped with torched breadcrumbs. Or keep the party going and order an Old Fashioned or Welcome's own French Lady at the retro-diner counter. The fun times here don't have to stop until 2 a.m.
Best Romantic Restaurant
Café Monarch6934 East First Avenue, Scottsdale
Quaint and intimate, Café Monarch is the perfect setting for flirting, romance, and the intimate exchange of inside jokes between lovebirds. (Others have noticed: TripAdvisor voted Café Monarch the second-most romantic restaurant in the entire country.) The charming courtyard, modeled after a European landscape, has fountains and whimsy, and the staff pays close attention to the details. Gluten, vegetarian, and vegan requests are warmly accommodated here, and if it's your birthday, anniversary, or some other special occasion, your dessert will likely arrive with a sparkler stuck in it. The four-course menu highlights farm-to-table ingredients and includes some sumptuous entrees, including Chilean sea bass, New Zealand lamb rack, and duck breast. With everything so well taken care of for you, it's easy to sit back, relax, and focus on your darling companion.
Best Restaurant to Take Your Kids
Luci's at the Orchard7100 North 12th Street
There are plenty of brunch spots around the Valley where you can take your youngsters, but how many of them have a splash pad? Luci's at The Orchard can make that boast. Here, you can grab a protein-packed power bowl or catch up with friends over mimosas without worrying about where to stick your kids. If you want to lean into family time, swing by the gourmet market, pick up a book from the Little Free Library, or grab some tasty gelato over at Splurge, the restaurant's in-house sweet shop. By then, though, your kiddos might be tuckered out from all the outdoor water play (you're welcome).
Best Steakhouse
Maple & Ash7135 East Camelback Road, #130, Scottsdale
What makes a steakhouse? One, good steak. Old Town Scottsdale's Maple & Ash has just that. You can polish off an affordable steak frites at the opulent bar, or steadily demolish an exorbitantly priced dry-aged tomahawk ribeye, which meets your teeth as a near-cloud of funk and umami. Two, the sides. Here, they are thoughtful, from silky egg agnolotti in decadent truffle butter sauce to a coal-oven crisped octopus. Three, drinks. You get a complimentary tipple when you sit down here. Cocktails are thoughtful for a steakhouse, and Japanese whisky bottles flash hiragana from behind the bar. Finally, the vibe. The juju here is all swank and chandeliers and high ceilings and mirrors. Having satisfied all the criteria, we declare Maple & Ash a complete, notable addition to our steakhouse scene.
Best Diner
Arturo's Roosevelt Diner924 East Roosevelt Street
Greasy spoon. Hash joint. Whatever you want to call it, Arturo's Roosevelt Diner in the Garfield District is a gem. This petite eatery has gone by several names over the years, starting with the Hi-Way Diner, which is what it was called back in 1982, when a man named Robert Young had the building moved from Winslow and plopped onto a corner lot in Phoenix. (It's been Arturo's Roosevelt Diner since 2018.) On the menu are the usual diner items — hot coffee, breakfast dishes — but also eight styles of gourmet hot dogs. Arturo's wasn't built for pandemic times — it's a nine-seater inside, and quarters are close — but there's an airy, lawn-like patio out front with picnic tables where you can spread out a bit and enjoy this tiny slice of Arizona history.
Best Soul Food
Mrs. White's Golden Rule Café808 East Jefferson Street
It's almost like time doesn't exist outside Mrs. White's Golden Rule Café, which has changed very little since Elizabeth White opened the place in 1964. Over the last half-century, this family-owned eatery has served Southern comfort and soul food to notable people like the Reverend Jesse Jackson, Phoenix Suns legend Charles Barkley, former heavyweight boxer Earnie Shavers, and the Godfather of Soul himself, the late James Brown. Substantial portions of meals like meatloaf, pork chops, and fried chicken with steaming sides of collard greens, buttery corn on the cob, and rich mac and cheese are filling crowd-pleasers, and the cornbread is so deliciously sticky and studded with whole kernels of sweet corn that the cafe sometimes runs out. Desserts like peach cobbler, sweet potato pies, and banana pudding can push people over the gastric edge — but are well worth feeling stuffed.
Best English Pub
Cornish Pasty Co.Multiple Locations
Cornish Pasty, the beloved local chain, has everything we want in an English pub: a cozy atmosphere, a great selection of booze, and hearty food options. The interiors are warm and welcoming; the downtown Phoenix location in particular has a vintage public house vibe. The beer list is full of local, national, and international options, and if beer isn't your thing, wine and cocktails are also represented on the menu. The cornerstone of the food lineup is of course the pasties (we think of them as British calzones) stuffed with a variety of fillings ranging from the traditional Oggie with steak, potato, onion, and rutabaga, to vegan Guinness stew and veggie tikka masala. Also on the menu are English favorites like the Scotch egg and the Ploughman's Plate (kind of a British charcuterie board). Cornish Pasty has expanded to five metro Phoenix locations, plus outposts in Flagstaff and Las Vegas, so we're clearly not the only ones who love to grab a pint here.
Best Irish Pub
Rosie McCaffrey's Irish Pub & Restaurant906 East Camelback Road
We were psyched to celebrate St. Patrick's Day at Rosie McCaffrey's this year, as we do every year. Then, the pandemic hit, and — cruelly — March 17 happened to be the day Governor Doug Ducey told the bars they had to shut down by 8 p.m. Since then, there haven't been many days we've been able to visit the best Irish pub in town. We miss the quaint interior of Rosie's, with its dark wood and Ireland-themed decor. We miss the beer lineup, which includes local favorites, European classics, and more. And we miss the food, both the Irish-leaning items like the potato boxty and Harp-battered fish and chips, and the more standard bar fare like chicken wings and hamburgers. We're crossing our fingers that next St. Paddy's Day, we'll be back celebrating at Rosie's.
Best German Restaurant
Haus Murphy's5739 West Glendale Avenue, Glendale
Despite its mixed moniker, Haus Murphy's restaurant in downtown Glendale is pure, authentic German. Dirndls and lederhosen are part of the aesthetic, and not just during Oktoberfest. Chef Brett Hoffmann's traditional Bavarian dishes have been praised by Guy Fieri on the TV show Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and include seven kinds of sausage, from German bratwurst to Hungarian sausages, five variations of schnitzel, and house specialties like beef roulade, stuffed cabbage roll, and Eisbein (beechwood-smoked pork shank). Yes, giant Bavarian pretzels are available, too, along with a selection of authentic Deutsch beers on draft and in bottles. Bonus: On Friday and Saturday nights, the Haus Oompah Band performs in the biergarten on the outside patio.
Best French Restaurant
Vincent on Camelback3930 East Camelback Road
Most large cities have a great French restaurant. What makes Vincent on Camelback particularly special is the eatery's Southwestern twist — a distinctly Phoenix touch. A dining institution in the Valley, this no-jacket-required restaurant, operated by Chef Vincent Guerithault since its establishment in 1986, has an ever-changing menu. But you can usually rely on soups and salads, starters like the duck tamale, and mains like rack of lamb with spicy bell pepper jelly and beef tenderloin with green peppercorn sauce. Like the true white-tablecloth joint it is, Vincent on Camelback boasts a wine list with more than 500 individual selections. There's a few other branches of this operation, too, including the more casual Vincent Market Bistro — our favorites there include a smoked salmon quesadilla, duck confit, and steak frites with a bit of wine — as well as Catering by Vincent and the Camelback Market. À ta santé, Vincent!
Best Italian Restaurant
Tratto4743 North 20th Street
With Cassie Shortino as chef and Blaise Faber as beverage director and GM, Chris Bianco's trattoria remains the best Italian restaurant in town by a wide margin. You can count Tratto's superiority in so many ways: drinks, including obscure amari, cocktails made with house-steeped liqueurs, and hard-to-find deeply regional wine vintages from the boot. Pasta, from wheaty tagliatelle shaped from freshly ground grains to a simple off-menu cacio e pepe that is hands-down the best pasta in town. Or even a simple starter: the bread, olive oil, and olive plate that opens your meal is nirvana, a harbinger of all the nirvana to come. And yet, there are still so many other facets to this jewel of a restaurant. Eating here is an escape to a better world. (Note: The address for Tratto will change soon; it's moving to what is currently the Pane Bianco space at 1505 East Van Buren Street later this autumn.)
Best Puerto Rican Restaurant
Puerto Rico Latin Grill2714 West Thomas Road
The menu at Puerto Rico Latin Grill bursts with the flavors of the Caribbean — especially the carnivorous ones. Owner Wesley Andujar's kitchen staff works magic with meat, and pork in particular. To wit: the pernil, slow-roasted shredded pork that melts like manna on the tongue, and chuletas fritas (fried pork chops) crisped to perfection in piquant adobo seasoning. Chicken dishes like pechuga del pollo with sauteed onions linger pleasantly on the palate. Fish get a Puerto Rican twist with bacalaitos (salt cod pancake-like fritters) and whole red snapper. Plantains, a staple of Puerto Rican cuisine, shine in the mofongo (fried plantains mashed with spices) and jibarito de pernil (a sandwich combining savory pulled pork with mashed green plantains). Another prominent Puerto Rican dietary staple, rice, is available in both white and traditional yellow (arroz con gondules) versions.
Best Cuban Restaurant
Fe La Cubana5821 North 67th Avenue, #110, Glendale
Great Cuban food? About as scarce in these parts as deep-sea marlin. But the food at Glendale's Fe La Cubana fits the bill. The restaurant is a classic cafeteria-style cafe with old-school versions of Cuban favorites. In a small, stark dining room with not much more than a TV that magnetizes the eyes of the regulars who fork at full plates, customers pick what they want from hot metal tins. Stewed oxtails. Yuca with a perfect balance of tenderness and glide. Rich red bean soup. One of the pinnacles of Cuban gastronomy is also a standout here: ropa vieja, a dish of pork stewed until supernally tender. Fill your plate, melt into your firm chair, and when you're done, nab a guava-stuffed pastele for the road.
Best Vietnamese Restaurant
Little Saigon7016 North 57th Avenue, Glendale
Historic Downtown Glendale and the Catlin Court Historic District are known for cozy house eateries. And while they're all delightful, a favorite is Little Saigon Restaurant. This cozy cottage restaurant surrounded by antique stores and small businesses seems fitting for its offerings of Vietnamese comfort food. The family-owned Little Saigon first opened in Christown Mall in 1998 before relocating to downtown Glendale in 2005. Here, power lunchers feast on more than seven choices of pho, including the classic pho tai (aromatic broth with sliced pieces of tender beef). Regulars also go for the crispy rice-flour crepes packed with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts, and combo plates like the grilled shrimp and pork with steamed white rice under a sunny-side-up egg. Little Saigon is also vegetarian-friendly, thanks to dishes like bun chay tofu (tofu rice vermicelli salad bowl), dau hu sot ca chua (stir-fried tofu with tomato and onions), and canh cai xanh (bok-choy soup with ginger and onions).
Best Thai Restaurant
Chanpen Thai Cuisine2727 East Broadway Road
The two locations of Chanpen Thai Cuisine aren't too far apart geographically, but they look quite different. The Broadway location is a cozy building that has seen better days; the Baseline restaurant is fancier, with yellow walls, Buddhist art, and a kind of set-apart area reminiscent of a temple. What's exactly the same at both outposts is the food: well-crafted versions of Thai classics like pad see ew and panang curry. Our favorites are the spicy, savory drunken noodles with peppers and broccoli, and the creamy, slightly sweet massamun curry with potatoes, carrots, and peanuts. The other commonality between the two Chanpen locations? Service that goes above and beyond. The welcoming staff members often offer us water or soup or ice cream while we wait for our takeout. That's the type of thing you don't forget, and it's part of what makes Chanpen the first place we think of when we're in the mood for Thai.
Best Korean Restaurant
Manna Korean BBQ1135 South Dobson Road, Mesa
A bevy of Korean barbecue options have cropped up in the Valley in the past few years. Some are sleek and fancy. Others are low-key. Manna, which has another location in San Diego, falls more in the latter camp. Its food comes all-you-can-eat for $25 at dinner and $18 at lunch. Meals begin with an armada of banchan and then shift to the gas grill plate, where you cook galbi and diaphanous brisket slices yourself. You can go as hard as you want: veal intestine, baby octopus, or pork chops. Your tong and scissor hands will get a workout. At meal's end — after somehow making space for a mochi — you'll see that Manna can hang with any Korean barbecue joint in town.
Best Japanese Restaurant
Hana Japanese Eatery5524 North Seventh Avenue
So much stands out about this tried-and-true Japanese restaurant, where Lori Hashimoto has earned and maintained the respect of Valley eaters. The key to it all might be range. She's a master of simple Japanese preparations expertly done. At Hana, we recommend delicate fried oysters breaded in panko, or osuimono, a lightly flavored soup that's pretty much all consomme, both satisfying with quiet flavors. The massive, complex dishes shine as well, like a tempura sampler of seasonal fish and vegetables, or the Hana Pride Roll, which, with touches like pickled burdock and togarashi, feels like a completely new sushi creation.
EXPANDBest Chinese Restaurant
Old Town Taste1845 East Broadway Road, Tempe
The second most interesting part about Old Town Taste is that it's not actually in Old Town Scottsdale. It's in a strip mall in Tempe, easily spotted by its bright-red sign. The most interesting part, obviously, is the food. The family-owned Chinese restaurant has a lengthy menu with a Sichuan bent, promising dishes like braised eggplant, mapo tofu, and Szechuan-style blood curd. But what brings us back again and again is the Chongqing-style platter. This house special is offered as chicken or fish, and both options are fantastic, thanks to chunks of meat coated in that thin, crunchy batter and topped with string beans and chile. It's never a bad time to slide into one of Old Town Taste's bright turquoise booths and dig into a meal of authentic Chinese cuisine.
Best Indian Restaurant
Chennai Chettinaad Palace2814 West Bell Road
A hallmark of a great Indian restaurant is great naan, and at Chennai Chettinaad Palace, it's warm, fluffy, and buttery soft — a perfect companion to the chicken tikka masala or daal makhani. Entrees carry the richness of traditional spices like cumin, garam masala, and coriander, without overpowering with a pants-on-fire spiciness. Don't leave without tasting the biryani; the rice is loose and tender, with a blend of vegetables or a meat of your choosing. It rivals biryani you might find in a restaurant in India. The menu is vast, with almost 200 items to choose from. Start your meal with a cold glass of mango lassi, sample some of the hot pakoras as an appetizer, and move on to entrees from virtually every region of India. Finish off with desserts like gulab jamun or milky rice kheer.
Best Middle Eastern Restaurant
Haji-Baba1513 East Apache Boulevard, Tempe
Set in a nondescript strip mall just east of the Arizona State University campus, Haji-Baba doesn't look like much from the outside. But the restaurant-market has been feeding students — and everyone else who likes great Middle Eastern food at a ridiculously low price point — for decades. The chicken shawarma platter, crammed with spiced meat, basmati rice, hummus, tabbouleh, and a pungent, addictive garlic sauce, is one of our favorite dishes in the entire city. But anything on the menu is a good pick, from the gyro sandwich to the creamy baba ghanoush to the Greek salad studded with huge chunks of tangy feta cheese. Leave enough time to roam the market half of the space, where you can pick up fragrant spices, exotic coffee, and other Middle Eastern groceries.
Best African Restaurant
WaaMo Restaurant5050 East McDowell Road
Officially a Somali restaurant, WaaMo also exhibits strong influences from other east African countries, like Ethiopia and Eritrea, not to mention Mediterranean flavors. Braised goat is one of its core Somali specialties. Owner and dining room fixture Basheir Elmi heartily recommends this to diners who aren't regulars. Sambusas, deep-fried pastries, are another Somali favorite. But you can also grab Greek salad and kebab sandwiches here if you want. The vibe in WaaMo is unlike anywhere else in town, generated by the warmth of spiced coffee and that of Elmi meeting and greeting the diners, of watermelon juice and deep-fried chicken leg. WaaMo is a true unsung gem.
Best Kosher Restaurant
Cafe Chenar1601 East Bell Road, Suite A-11
Our greatest kosher restaurant happens to be a north Phoenix establishment you could eat in without even knowing it's kosher. But young Bukharian stalwart Café Chenar obeys the laws of kashrut through and through. Tashkent native and chef Mazel Uvaydov makes tweaks to keep kosher, some so deft they slide under the radar. For one, manti, a kind of dumpling, are often dipped in sour cream. At Café Chenar, they come with tomato sauce. The restaurant's wide-ranging menu contains plenty of treasures to discover, including the Uzbek plov (a meat and rice dish), kebabs, hanum (a steamed pasta roll filled with potato and onion), and roasted Cornish hen. They even unveil specials for Jewish holidays, like sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts) for Hanukkah.
Best Jewish Deli
JJ's Delicatessen23425 North Scottsdale Road, Scottsdale
Here, the mien is friendly, reading the deep menu is like falling into a wormhole, and the portions are grand — and it all adds up to make this New York-style Jewish deli a worthy stop for breakfast, lunch, or a gargantuan cinnamon roll for the road. JJ's boils more than 20 kinds of bagels every morning. They're of the giant, fluffy variety, and they do best under a mountain of whitefish salad or lox. Hot sandwiches on rye with stacks of pastrami or corned beef are also top-notch. An underrated nook on the menu is the robust knish selection, which includes a glorious doughy knob perfumed with bacon. And if you're ever feeling under the weather, we suggest picking up a bowl of Jewish penicillin, a.k.a. a hearty, comforting bowl of JJ's matzah ball soup.
EXPANDBest Vegetarian Restaurant
Green New American Vegetarian2022 North Seventh Street
Chef Damon Brasch was the first restaurateur in the Valley to seduce herbivores and carnivores alike with meatless variations on burgers, chicken, crab puffs, po' boys, cheesesteak, and those legendary Buffalo wings. Green's mock meats could fool even the most anti-veggie meat-eater, and hearty sides like chili fries, soy-free samosas, fried Brussels sprouts, and eggless rolls make it a meal that leaves just enough room for dessert from next-door sister business tSoynami (at the Phoenix location), where soy-based ice cream treats in 18 varieties await — including popular flavors like cookies 'n' cream, mint, peanut butter and chocolate, rocky road, peach cobbler, and chocolate chip cookie dough. Green's two locations stand out as the places in town where we miss meat the least.
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Best Vegan Restaurant
Giving Tree Café2024 North Seventh Street
"Delicious AF" is how Giving Tree Café describes its banana bread with macadamia butter, but that moniker could be applied to lots of things on its all-vegan menu. The fare includes an all-day breakfast menu (the spinach-packed vegan quiche is especially good), spicy-leaning starters like blistered shishito peppers and turmeric cauliflower, soups, pizzas, and sandwiches. (There's a juice bar, too.) We're partial to the "Main Events" entrees — savory, inventive dishes like mole tacos made with lion's mane mushrooms and vegan seafood gumbo studded with okra and jackfruit.
Best Gluten-Free Restaurant
Jewel's Bakery and Café4041 East Thomas Road
Gluten-sensitive and food allergy sufferers will find much to love at Jewel's, but so will regular consumers of gluten — a true test of how tasty a gluten-free restaurant is. When we dine here, we don't miss the gluten in the famous chicken and waffles, or the hot chicken sandwich, or the green chile pork grilled cheese sandwich. Definitely not at the bakery counter with brownies, muffins, cakes, cookies, and more — all of which are made sans gluten. The homey neighborhood feel, friendly staff, and bright, airy dining room add to the good vibes. Go for breakfast or lunch and order freely; you won't be disappointed.
Now Closed: Downtown’s Phoenix Public Market Café
After what was to initially be a temporary shuttering due to COVID-19, Phoenix Public Market Café has permanently closed in downtown Phoenix.
The restaurant had announced via Instagram in March it would cease operations until further notice. “As a small business, it is difficult to make such a decision,” the posts read, “but we know it is the right one to make to ensure all our staff and valued customers are safe and healthy.”
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By phone, Phoenix Public Market Café chef and owner Aaron Chamberlin now says the closure is for good. The space didn't have much longer on its lease, and COVID has affected its main customer base of downtown ASU students and convention and business travelers.
"I could open and spend the next two years losing money," he says. "I'm just not willing to do that, unfortunately."
Chamberlin opened the café in spring 2013.
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Last summer, Chamberlin announced that he was stepping away from his Tempe establishments, Tempe Public Market Café and Ghost Ranch. Tempe Public Market Café permanently closed in January. Chamberlin also told New Times this February, before the pandemic, that he was shifting to a new project called Chef Dad, meant to help families adopt healthier eating habits.
Now, though, Chamberlin says he's taking something of a break. "I've woken up and gone to a restaurant for the past 30 years," he says, explaining he and his wife have recently had a new baby. He says he's taking some time to reevaluate his next steps.
Taco Chelo on Roosevelt Row, Chamberlin’s other restaurant, is still in operation.
"Taco Chelo will continue," Chamberlin says. "We're doing great there."
- CONTACT:
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September Openings and Closings: Hi Pachamama, Bye Desert Cider House
EXPANDThe Valley dining scene saw a lot of action this September. New locations of local chains popped up at rapid rates, while established members of the Phoenix food world have been opening spots like Ghost Street Asian Taqueria, Pachamama, and Pomodoro Italian Grill & Seafood. Certain metro Phoenix restauranteurs — Chris Bianco and Aaron Chamberlin — have certainly been shaking things up too.
Let’s recap this busy month.
OPENINGS
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Aioli Gourmet Burgers
430 East Bell Road, #103Aioli Gourmet Burgers has opened its third location, taking over the spot recently occupied by Caveman Burgers in north Phoenix. All the signature burgers are there, including the White Truffle Swiss, as well as salads, mac-n-cheese bites, beer-battered onion rings, and milkshakes and floats. The new location also offers a small gallery of artwork from Latinx cartoonist John Carvajal.
B Gastrobar
1422 West Warner Road, GilbertThe Buschtetz family — the team behind Cuisine and Wine Bistro in Chandler and Copper & Logs in Gilbert — have opened B Gastrobar, a redesign of their second Cuisine & Wine Bistro location. The new Gilbert eatery will offer a New American menu of burgers, sandwiches, and salads, as well as cocktails and wine.
Backyard Taco
2400 South Gilbert Road, ChandlerBackyard Taco has opened its first Chandler location, its fourth overall. The local fast-casual taco chain is known for tacos al carbon, quesadillas, and tostados.
Ghost Street Asian Taqueria
9397 East Shea Boulevard, #125, ScottsdaleThe folks behind Ling & Louie's Asian Bar and Grill have opened Ghost Street Asian Taqueria as a virtual eatery — delivery or pickup only. The new Scottsdale restaurant offers Asian-inspired street tacos like Wokin' Hot carne asada, blackened ahi, or duck carnitas, as well as fun sides and desserts like the banana churro bites.
GoGo Greens
1900 East Fifth Street, TempeAnother virtual restaurant, GoGo Greens offers to-go salads for delivery from DoorDash, Grubhub, and Postmates. The Tempe eatery’s menu lists five salads with grilled chicken (unless otherwise specified) and choice of dressing. Think garden, Caesar, chop, Cobb, and Sedona — a signature salad heavy with Southwestern ingredients.
Hash Kitchen
9780 West Northern Avenue, #1110, PeoriaPark West in Peoria is blowing up with local restaurants, including the fifth location (and first in the west Valley) of Hash Kitchen. The famous build-your-own-bloody bar-hosting brunch restaurant will be in effect from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday and Sunday.
Mr. Mesquite Taqueria
1222 South Crismon Road, MesaMr. Mesquite’s newest location is its first in Mesa. The local taqueria chain specializes in mesquite-grilled tacos, burritos, protein bowls and quesadilla
Nurdberger
235 East Warner Road, #107, GilbertNurdberger, the geek-themed burger joint originally from Globe, has opened a second location closer to metro Phoenix residents. This one's in Gilbert, but still offers “Next Level” burgers, steak and chicken sandwiches, and wild desserts.
Pachamama
4115 North 19th AvenueChef Kevin (a veteran Valley chef) and “Cheffette” Maria Lebron have opened a brick-and-mortar restaurant under the same name as their pop-up. Pachamama is a plant-based restaurant that doesn’t use mock meats or soy-based product. Instead, expect specialties like Chipotle Cashew Crema Mac, Turmeric Farro Salad, Avocado Tostado, and, the most popular dish, Tacos de Papa.
Pomodoro Italian Grill & Seafood
6710 East Cave Creek Road, Cave CreekThe adobe-style building along Cave Creek Road in downtown Cave Creek’s culinary strip, and former home of Cartwright’s Modern Cuisine, is now a new Italian restaurant. Pomodoro Italian Grill & Seafood is run by Federico Venturini, Philip Igneri, and Executive Chef Viola Tagliaferri. Venturini and Tagliaferri also operate Pizzicata in neighboring Carefree. The new spot offers upscale Italian fare, as well as wine and craft cocktails.
Postino South Tempe
8749 South Rural Road, TempePostino South Tempe is the eighth location of the Arizona-based wine café. It takes over the former spot of Tempe Public Market Café. The new spot is a Midcentury modern space with tributes to Phoenix's past and present music venues. The hostess stand is an out-of-commission, 1960s-era cigarette machine used in Mad Men, while a 300-square-foot wall and restrooms are papered with old Tempe and Phoenix show fliers. They also offer contactless mobile payment, right-in-front curbside pickup parking, and plenty of signage to direct patrons to the takeout area. Delivery is also available, as is dine-in at reduced capacity.
Rusty Taco
9290 East Vía de Ventura, ScottsdaleFound inside the Pima Center in central Scottsdale, a second Rusty Taco location has been opened by local restauranteurs Daniel Fanelli and Jake Storms. The eatery offers more than 20 styles of street tacos, as well as breakfast tacos, chips and queso, seven types of craft cocktails, and more.
Snooze, an A.M. Eatery
8612 East Shea Boulevard, #105 and #110, ScottsdaleThe breakfast and brunch joint Snooze has opened its seventh location in great Phoenix, and its eighth in Arizona. Now brunchers can snag a bloody mary and huevos rancheros at the Pima Crossing shopping area in north Scottsdale.
Snowtime
1919 West Main Street, #103, MesaThe new H Mart in west Mesa has welcomed a new eatery: the second location of Snowtime. The spot specializes in Korean desserts called “snows” — cupped ice cream with wild fruit or candy toppings. It also serves ice cream in fish-shaped mochi waffle cones, as well as a variety of flavored drinks.
Thai Chili 2 Go
5029 East Chandler Boulevard, #306Thai Chili 2 Go is now in the double digits. The 10th location of the local quick-service Thai chain is now open in Ahwatukee from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
CLOSINGS
Pane Bianco Van Buren
The second location of Chris Bianco’s beloved sandwich shop has closed. But the location itself — the former Roland’s Cafe Market Bar, at 1505 East Van Buren Street — will stay within the Bianco family of restaurants. The space will soon be home to Tratto, which is relocating from the Town and Country Shopping Center in east Phoenix. Get all the details here.
Desert Cider House
Chandler’s Desert Cider House had been open since 2016, making it the oldest craft cidery in Arizona. Flavors include Desert Dragon Hard Cider and DCH Pear. “With a great deal of consideration and deliberation, and in light of the economic realities brought on by Covid 19, we have made the difficult decision to wind down our business, and close our doors,” the cidery announced via Facebook.
CaskWerks Distilling Co.
CaskWerks Distilling Co., in operation for more than five years and known as Tempe’s first craft distillery, has closed. A lease dispute was cited as the cause. However, the distillery may be opening in future at a new location.
Phoenix Public Market Cafe
Open since 2013, Phoenix Public Market Cafe has closed in downtown Phoenix. The cafe was owned by chef and restauranteur Aaron Chamberlin, who says the space didn't have much longer on its lease, and COVID has affected its main business draws — downtown ASU students and convention and business travelers. See more details here.
Coconut’s Fish Café
The Chandler location of the fast-casual Hawaiian eatery Coconut’s Fish Café — open since 2016 — had been temporarily closed since March. Now, it is permanently closed.
La Calabria Ristorante
Open since 2008 at a previous location, La Calabria Ristorante in Gilbert has permanently closed. “Due to Covid19 we are forced to close the door,” the Italian eatery announced on Facebook. “This is a hard decision to make but unfortunately right now we have no other choice.”
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Growler USA
The High Street location of Growler USA, which served more than 100 beers on tap and a menu of pub fare, has closed after four years.
Editor’s note: This article was updated from its original version. See what Valley restaurants are offering takeout, delivery, and dine-in services with our Phoenix Restaurant Directory.
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- Lauren Cusimano
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TRENDING FOOD & DRINK
Hidden Gem: Pho Binh Minh, a Vietnamese Strip Mall Fantasy
EXPANDUnassumingly located in a strip mall plaza at 35th Avenue and Indian School Road, the Vietnamese kitchen Pho Binh Minh has an air of mystery to it.
There's no website. It's near one of those wild, diagonal Grand Avenue intersections in central Phoenix. (You'll most likely hear the train if you're dining in.) There’s traditional Asian décor, some wine-bottle art that belongs in an Italian grandmother’s den, and even some Christmassy adornments despite it being September. The laminated menu (always a good sign) has painter’s tape over the prices, covering what was originally printed, to keep the menu from having to be updated. Regulars say the place has been around "forever," though in actuality, Pho Binh Minh has been open for 10 years.
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We came for the spring rolls, specifically the bi cuon — shredded pork and mint, tightly wrapped in rice paper and served with a subtle fish sauce. For $3 and some change, you get two fat rolls, sliced in half. The ultimate bite is the cut-open, exposed end of the spring roll pushed into the fish sauce, with a dab of the hot chili or Sriracha sauce.
Try also the goi cuon — shrimp, pork, rice noodle, and mint. It's served with a fantastically thick peanut sauce, sprinkled with diced peanuts (and in a small bowl that was definitely scraped clean). The pork in both rolls is the star ingredient.
The noodle soups here are also killer, and most likely the most popular dish based on the diners around us.
A simple order of pho tai arrives with the pink ends of rare steak bobbing above the broth's surface like icebergs. It’s a pretty sight, albeit one that must be disturbed to add your mix-ins. A generous plate of sliced jalapeños, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and herbs is customarily brought to the table along with pho orders.
The pho chin nam gau — pho with well-done steak, flank steak, and soft-fatty brisket — arrives loaded with white and green onions atop and bubbles like a freshly poured soda. We annihilated both pho orders, alternating spoonfuls of broth with chopsticks heavy with rice noodles.
On the "we'll try them next time" food list: bun (vermicelli), hu tieu dac biet (pork noodle soup), and rice and/or egg noodle orders. Pho Binh Minh also serves salads and boba.
To battle post-lunch drowsiness, we ordered a cafe sua da, an iced coffee with condensed milk. It’s served in a diner-style milkshake glass, and the coffee is almost as thick as a milkshake, and strong, too. After a few sips, you may find that the volume of your voice has moved up a level.
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And by the way, the whole thing was $30.
Pho Binh Minh
4141 North 35th Avenue, #11
602-358-8255
Hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday, 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday
See what Valley restaurants are offering takeout, delivery, and dine-in services with our Phoenix Restaurant Directory.
- CONTACT:
- Lauren Cusimano
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- Twitter: @Laurenski
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TRENDING FOOD & DRINK
Best of Phoenix 2020 in Drinks: The Top Bars, Breweries, Booze, and Cafes
With such a sprawling city, intelligence on the best bars, breweries, bars, coffeeshops, brunch cocktails, and bar is crucial. We hope we can help with this guide to our Best of Phoenix 2020 winners for all things drink.
Best Bar
Rips Bar3045 North 16th Street
Rips Bar in the Coronado District opens at 6 a.m., which tells you something about what kind of place it is. If you indeed enter this bar during daylight hours, you'll have to give your eyes a minute to adjust to the dimness inside. Then you'll want to order a massive bloody mary — a signature at Rips — from the bartender. The Midcentury building that houses the bar was constructed in 1959, and the front room is said to be designed by a Native American architect and student of Frank Lloyd Wright. Before it became Rips in 2009, this place was known as the Pick Lick House, Dodge City Saloon, and Dutch Inn (just to name a few), and Waylon Jennings and Charlie Pride are among the legions who've bellied up inside over the years. These days, Rips is a destination for pool, arcade games, dance nights, karaoke sessions, and live punk, ska, and rockabilly bands — the basics of love, as ol' Waylon might say.
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Best New Bar
Killer Whale Sex Club922 North Sixth Street
When a bar has the name Killer Whale Sex Club, you'd expect it to be memorable — and maybe a little prurient. This Roosevelt Row drinkery, which cocktail industry pros Sam Olguin and Brenon Stuart opened in early March, delivers on both counts. Outside, the bungalow-style building is adorned with a glorious mural of a rearing Pegasus rendered in orange, purple, and turquoise. Its speakeasy-like interior has lowbrow touches mixed with high-style drinks. Gold-painted fixtures are everywhere. A collage of cutouts from nudie magazines covers one wall. The Japanese shunga print The Dream of the Fisherman's Wife hangs over the bar, where the staff serves cocktails like The Hot Seat, a hibiscus-infused take on the bourbon cherry sour. There's even merch available, including hats and shirts with the phrase "Big Daiq Energy" — just in case KWSC wasn't unforgettable enough.
EXPANDBest Rooftop Bar
Floor 13 Rooftop Bar15 East Monroe Street
Found on (obviously) the 13th floor of the Hilton Garden Inn, Floor 13 Rooftop Bar is a hidden gem in the middle of, or technically, above, downtown Phoenix. When we go, we like to snag one of the sundeck's lounge chairs, orient it in a generally westward direction, and admire the Arizona sunset, cocktail in hand. But if the buzz of city life is what gets you high, the views from the tables and high-tops are first rate, too. (If you're lucky and time it right, you might also catch some fireworks from the neighboring Chase Field.) In addition to its panoramic views and intimate bar, Hilton Garden Inn is where the opening scenes of Psycho were filmed, a fact reflected in the cocktail menu: Drinks like the MacGuffin, the Vertigo, and the Strangers on a Train pay homage to Alfred Hitchcock, as do movie posters and other decor. In other words, as you sip your drink at Floor 13, you're surrounded by Phoenix history.
Best Neighborhood Bar
Lovecraft3128 East Cactus Road
Any old bar in metro Phoenix can provide some booze, food, and a human being to talk to on the next stool if you're so inclined. But Lovecraft is a bar that doesn't just serve its north Phoenix neighborhood — it enriches it. Before the pandemic hit, Lovecraft regularly held events like tarot card readings, live music, custom typewriting poetry nights, and even a running club and hiking group. It's a place where many of the patrons are recognized by name or face when they enter, where you feel at home whether it's your first visit or your 20th. When COVID-19 shut down most bars, the Lovecraft team instituted rigorous sanitary protocols to keep slinging its spicy New Mexican cuisine and began offering alcohol to go. Dine-in service has since resumed, and we hope the next thing to spring back to life are the activities that make Lovecraft feel less like just a bar and more like a community.
EXPANDBest Dive Bar
Royale Lounge2310 North 16th Street
Royale Lounge is everything you could want in a great dive: cheap drinks, Christmas lights, microwaved snacks, a wobbly pool table, pinball, a condom dispenser of a questionable nature in the men's, and just the right amount of grime. Drinkers of every demographic and alcohol-tolerance level have bent elbows here for decades, beckoned by the glowing red neon "Cocktails" sign outside. The Royale has stayed mostly the same during that time, aside from adding small modern conveniences like an internet jukebox, a credit card reader, and HDTVs behind the bar. Like the old saying goes, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. We're sure the customers at Royale Lounge would agree.
EXPANDBest Place To Drink With Ghosts
Casey Moore's Oyster House850 South Ash Avenue, Tempe
Casey Moore’s vast selection of high-end hooch bottles aren’t the only spirits lurking about the historic Tempe bar. As legend has it, the place is haunted by the ghosts of William and Mary Moeur, the couple who built the circa-1910 property and shuffled off the mortal coil in 1929 and 1943, respectively. Ask the staff, and they’ll spin yarns about supernatural shenanigans like food being snatched off plates, mysteriously tugged neckties, and pictures falling off the walls. Some swear they’ve seen the Moeurs dancing in front of an upstairs window. You might even hear about sightings of a young co-ed who was strangled by her boyfriend back when the building was a boarding house. Truth be told, no one’s ever produced any evidence these ghosts exist, not even a group of paranormal investigators who examined every nook and cranny in 2016. Have enough pints of Casey’s beer of the day, though, and who’s to say you won’t catch a glimpse of some of these resident specters.
Best Beverage Visionary
Big MarbleThe duo behind The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, Danielle Leoni and Dwayne Allen, released their first carbonated beverage under the brand Big Marble Organics earlier this year. That first entry? A ginger beer that took many, many, many batches to get right. The final product is about as right as right can be, sizzling with an intense ginger flavor that takes off across the palate like a jet. Though long on ginger flavor, this ginger beer isn't unevenly spicy or jagged. Rather, it's beautifully round. The best part is that this is just the first product from Big Marble. Already, Leoni and Allen are dreaming up more to come. You can find Big Marble at select locations around metro Phoenix like The Gladly and Changing Hands' First Draft Book Bar; the full list is on the Big Marble website.
Best Happy Hour
Hula's Modern TikiMultiple Locations
When a restaurant's menu has two pages of happy hour deals, good times lie ahead. So much the better if your happy hour setting makes you feel like you're on vacation, as you will while imbibing at Hula's Modern Tiki. Happy hour means several bucks are knocked off the price of tropical-themed cocktails and pan-Asian appetizers. You-won't-know-it's actually-alcohol concoctions like the Dr. Funk and the Painkiller come in tiki man and coconut glasses, and appetizers like spicy edamame and crispy fish bites are great for sharing. We particularly love the crispy coconut shrimp rolls and the Hula's chicken wings, which we usually pair with the blood orange martini or the Tropical Itch (it comes with a backscratcher). Another thing about that happy hour? It's offered every single weekday from 3:30 to 6 p.m., all night on Wednesdays, and from 10:30 a.m. to 6 p.m. on the weekends. Plenty of time to pretend you're in paradise.
Best Juice Bar
24 Carrots Natural Café & Urban Eatery1701 East Guadalupe Road, Tempe
A female-owned vegan cafe, 24 Carrots is as veggie-focused as its name suggests. Here, you'll find a substantial selection of 100 percent vegan and gluten-free items for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, but 24 Carrots originated as a juice bar in 2008 and has stayed true to those roots. The juice options at the cafe, which is tucked away at the adobe-style Tempe Square Shopping Center, include some house concoctions like the Apple Zinger, Beet It, and the Carrots Over Easy, as well as some daily specials. These are often scrawled on the charming (colorful with chalk and doodles) blackboard behind the register (which is also often posted on Instagram in case you'd like to check ahead). The knowledgeable staff is there to guide you in the right direction if you have any questions, such as if ginger would taste good with carrots, or what would be the best order if you feel a cold coming on. And the dining room is as appealing as the juice in your hand, so feel free to stick around for a sipping session.
Best Afternoon Tea
English Rose Tearoom201 Easy Street, Carefree
In the midst of a global pandemic, English Rose Tearoom was there, packaging up to-go containers of sandwiches, petit fours, and scones with all the fixings as part of its curbside offerings. That was hardly a surprise. All year long — during regular years, at least — owner Jo Gemmill goes above and beyond, wowing adult and child guests alike with events like an afternoon with Edgar Allan Poe and a visit with Santa in July. Along with multiple variations of afternoon tea, menu items like the green apple, chicken, and Stilton salad; cottage pie; and mini teacups of the soup of the day make this place truly stand out. Bonus: There's a lifesize cutout of Queen Elizabeth herself you can pose with as you walk in. Do it for the 'gram.
Best Coffee Shop
Driftwood Coffee Co.8295 West Jefferson Street, #6514, Peoria
If craft coffee is a foreign concept to you, visit Driftwood Coffee Co. in Old Town Peoria. This west Valley coffee house, founded in 2017 by buds and owners Luke Bentley and Lance Linderman, uses beans by Arizona companies like Mythical Coffee as well as other artisan roasters around the country, like Iowa's Horizon Line Coffee. The menu is divided into three sections: the speed bar, the slow bar, and the espresso bar; patrons can walk away with anything from a quick cold brew to something brewed via a Chemex, V60, or French press. Choose from an ever-changing menu of pastries, or just go straight for a specialty drink like the Dostoevsky (ginger beer, espresso, simple syrup, peach bitters, and lime). Other perks? Local art for sale, ceramic drinkware for in-house sipping, and a clean, simple space for work, chats, or just focusing on drinking these tasty, caffeinated bevs.
Best Mexican Coffeehouse
Azukar Coffee7246 South Central Avenue
Coffee shops occupy just about every street corner in this city, so a place has to be pretty special for us to make a cross-town trip. Azukar Coffee is one of those coffee shops. Located in a historic home near Central Avenue and Baseline Road in south Phoenix, Azukar is easy to miss while driving. But pull that U-turn. Azukar has a tight menu of coffee drinks with a Mexican twist: The agave mesquite latte is sweet and a little earthy, and the honey cinnamon has a slight, pleasant bite to it. There's also cold-brew coffee mixed with horchata, mango chile limonada, and iced teas in flavors like cucumber and Jamaica hibiscus. We like to grab a breakfast quesadilla or a stuffed bolillo roll sometimes, too. It can be hard to decide whether to sit inside, which is cozy and decorated with work from local artists, or in the courtyard, which is bounded by a low wall with a mural and provides a view of the traffic on Central. But whether you stay and enjoy the ambiance or take your beverage to go, Azukar is a place you won't soon forget.
Best Coffee Beans
Copper Star Coffee4220 North 7th Avenue
We were already crazy about Copper Star before we discovered they sell their own locally grown, house-roasted coffee beans. At first, we worried that owning a bag might keep us from the cozy confines of Copper Star, where the staff is so nice to us and the homemade bagels are so fresh and tasty. But even after dragging home a bagful of his mellow, rich beans, we found that we kept visiting Bill Sandweg's swell coffee shop as often as we could. As tasty as our home-brewed Copper Star is, as both a hot latte and a chilly iced coffee, we can't stay away from our favorite corner cafe.
Best Wine Bar
Sorso Wine Room15323 North Scottsdale Road, #150, Scottsdale
We love a good buffet. Why commit to just one entree when there's so many different flavors to explore? Same with wine. Which is why we dig what Sorso Wine Room at Scottsdale Quarter does with its vino selection. Sure, Sorso has more than 100 wines by the bottle, so if you're the decisive type, go ahead and order a glass from that list. But we prefer to snag a wine card and help ourselves to one of the 32 wines available in the Sorso dispenser system. Each is available in a sip, taste, or glass size. Insert your card, press a button, and you get your desired portion. The card acts as your running tab. It allows us to try several wines while enjoying an Italian-leaning menu of bruschetta, flatbreads, sandwiches, salads, and more. Cheers to that.
Best Wine Shop
Sauvage901 North First Street, #109
In the age of COVID, one can no longer wander into Chris Lingua's shop inside The Churchill, pepper him with questions, and fantasize about the bottles displayed on the north wall. Instead, his online store awaits. It contains the most thrilling selection of wine and wine-adjacent bottles in town. Lingua sells low-intervention wines, meaning natural-leaning bottles. This is progressive stuff, the opposite of your sleepy industrial cab from Napa. Lingua stocks biodynamic ciders, orange wines from the Puglia avant-garde producer Valentina Passalacqua, and experimental cocktails canned by alums of the groundbreaking Danish restaurant Noma. If you love to drink weird and well, going to Sauvage is like going to church.
EXPANDBest Wine Program
FnB Restaurant7125 East Fifth Avenue, Scottsdale
Not that it needs the validation, but FnB Restaurant was a semifinalist nominee for outstanding wine program for the James Beard Foundation 2020 awards (2017, too). The individual behind this lauded beverage program is Pavle Milic, who's also been FnB's co-owner since it opened in 2009. Milic curates a varied roster of mostly Arizona wines, a passion he brought home after helping with vintages at a friend's Napa winery. FnB offers Arizona bottles from Callaghan Vineyards in Elgin, Caduceus Cellars in Jerome, Laramita Cellars in Willcox, and Dos Cabezas WineWorks out of Sonoita. Any glass here should be enjoyed in the intimate bar area in the restaurant's eastern chamber. There, the dark-wood bar is inviting, and the intricate, colorful tile is fun and pretty iconic to Arizona food fans — it's an often-used and easily recognizable backdrop for food and drink photos. Milic is also in the process of opening his own vineyard, Los Milics, in Elgin, Arizona — one of Arizona's two southern wine regions — at some point in 2020.
Best Arizona Wine
Pillsbury Wine Company & Vineyard6450 South Bennett Place, Willcox
Many Arizona wine producers led a different life before turning into vineyard parents in our arid state. Aside from Tool frontman Maynard James Keenan's Caduceus Cellars in Jerome, there's also Pillsbury Wine Company's Sam Pillsbury — a famous filmmaker turned winemaker. The New Zealand-to-Arizona journey Pillsbury made is storied, but we're here to talk about his products — Arizona wines, the best in the state. We're not the only ones who think so. Pillsbury continues to score awards from the San Francisco Chronicle American Wine Competition, earning 14 medals for 14 entries three years in a row. Want to try a bottle of WildChild Red, a bottle of WildChild White, or a bottle of One Night Stand rosé? Try spots like Hidden Track Bottleshop, Tracy Dempsey Originals, Sphinx Date Ranch, and the Arcadia Meat Market; big stores like Bashas', AJ's Fine Foods, and Total Wine; or metro Phoenix restaurants like Hearth '61, Persephen, Fabio on Fire, and The Breadfruit & Rum Bar. Or, the Pillsbury team will deliver in the Phoenix and Cottonwood areas with a six-bottle minimum order during the hotter months.
Best Cider
Stoic Cider11500 West Fair Oaks Road, #9473, Prescott
Imagine the taste of an apple. Sweet. Crisp. Sweet some more. You might think appley sugar is a necessary component of hard cider. But Stoic Cider, produced by the Routson clan and led by biologist Kanin Routson, turns out ultra-small-batch apple ciders so bereft of sugar they seem to wick moisture from your mouth. Stoic Cider reimagines what apple cider can be — tamping down sweetness, sharpening carbonation, and multiplying funk. The Routsons have elevated Arizona cider to a new, strange, beautiful, almost Champagne-like plane, and one that's different from bottle to bottle. At their on-farm cidery near Prescott, they ferment using unusual, well-considered apple varieties from across the American West. They also grow arcane apples on their farm, and even make spellbinding micro cider batches from wild fruit.
Best Brewery
The Shop Beer Co.922 West First Street, Tempe
The Shop Beer Co. keeps things simple but executes well. The tasting room is clean and intimate; the staff is tight-knit and knowledgeable; the patio is a roomy backyard, softly lit. The latter, which separates the taproom from the onsite brewery, is a magnet for craft beer drinkers around Tempe and beyond. But they come for the beer, too. The Church Music is one of The Shop's best brews —a 6.7 percent IPA composed of pineapple juice and a little bit of "loud." Other tasty bevs include the Coffee Brown, an American nut-brown ale, the F.Y.I.T.M. double IPA, and the crispy blonde lager. Around since 2016, The Shop was formerly known as Cartel Brewery, but broke off from the flagship location of Cartel Coffee Lab to do its own thing about a mile north — where we hope they'll remain for years to come.
Best Cocktails
Little Rituals132 South Central Avenue, Fourth Floor
Months before Tales of the Cocktail and the James Beard Association anointed Little Rituals with nominations, the people who are very, very wonky about cocktails were frequenting this new downtown bar. It's the brainchild of Aaron DeFeo and Ross Simon, the latter the man behind Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlour, just down the street. B&T is famously intense in its approach to mixology, and Little Rituals goes even further. A pink number unites miso-infused genever, lychee, and raspberry falernum. A daiquiri seamlessly integrates curry. An alliance of many amari chills under a frothy peak of salty foam, meant to conjure beachside drinking. If you want a glimpse of the cocktail's potential, post up at Little Rituals.
Best Margarita
CRUjiente Tacos3961 East Camelback Road
Hot summer nights are always improved by a well-made margarita. (Or days — we don't judge.) Which is why we so frequently head to Arcadia for drinks at CRUjiente Tacos. The Premier Cru margarita is our go-to — 100 percent blue agave tequila, house agave syrup, freshly squeezed lime, and a muddled orange to give it some character. But we've also been known to switch it up and order the bright, fresh Arcadia margarita, which adds cilantro, jalapeño, and cucumber to the mix, or the sweet and spicy Passion Fruit Serrano margarita. Whatever you choose, try to go either during happy hour, or on CRUjiente's Margarita Mondays, when you can get any of these for a very reasonable $5 a pop.
EXPANDBest Intrepid Spirit
Adventurous Stills Fossil Creek Whiskey2125 East Fifth Street, #102, Tempe
Ever sat around a campfire with friends, just chilling, melding into the sights and sounds of the woods after a long day hiking? That's the blissful sensation the founders of Adventurous Stills sought to channel into a spirit. Their particular inspirational hike occurred in Fossil Creek, hence the name of their creation, Fossil Creek Whiskey. It begins with a blend of corn, wheat, and rye, all grown by local providers. The distillate is then aged in charred white oak. The final product? It has something of bourbon, a slight sultry sweetness. But it also recalls Scotch, with a wisp of smoke, like the column rising from a campfire, making sips, life, and the universe feel all gravy.
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EXPANDBest Green Fairy
Absinthe Minded GoldOnetime punk-rock bandmates Randall D. Ordovich Clarkson and Justin Slusher have summoned the green fairy to Phoenix. Since December 2019, the duo has been selling two absinthes macerated in Tempe. Their Gold bottle punches hard. At 140 proof, it'll swirl and sharpen the world in under two glasses. But this lucent, yellow-green nectar offers more than ABV. Clarkson and Slusher built it using the old-school formulation out of Pontarlier, France. You get a hit of anise and fennel, sure, but these big flavors are reasonably soft. They also deploy extra botanicals like juniper berry and star anise. Enjoy it at spots like Zinc Bistro and Adventurous Stills.
Best Mezcal
CarreñoIn early 2019, the American arm of the Mezcal Carreño team, Ivan Carreño and Abel Arriaga, started distributing a handful of mezcals in Arizona. These days, they're moving to sell their product, made in Oaxaca using traditional methods (stone wheel, open-air fermentation, a copper alembic), in dozens of states across the country. Their most singular bottle might be Ensemble 7, which blends that many kinds of agave. The product is a tightly edited, deeply nuanced mezcal that will make anyone who has ever been clobbered by a bottom-shelf mezcal smoke bomb see the craft spirit anew. Carreño recently released a bottle called Naran, which happily brings the Carreño price tag within closer reach.
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