Among America’s great cities, the name of Phoenix, Arizona, does not loom large. “Yoghurt,” the old joke goes, “has more culture than Phoenix.” This is a city where even the poshest eating establishments have TVs behind the bar tuned to the sports channel. Nobody seems to actually come from here – the rapidly expanding city is populated largely by incomers, attracted by low taxes, attractive property prices, desert heat and killer sunsets.
So what the hell am I doing here, among the gun-totin’ and Trump-votin’? It’s because there has been a concerted effort to regenerate, revivify, reinvent. With museums and galleries a-plenty, that culture sneer is no longer valid; plus there’s a wealth of mid-century modernism and an expanding light rail system to whisk you around.
But the main reason I’m here is for the food. Phoenix is being reborn as “a foodie oasis in the Arizona desert”. Sure, it takes a while to recalibrate sensibilities – the best restaurants can turn out to be in strip malls or gated communities, and “down the road” might mean a 30-minute drive. But the sense of a city on the cusp is palpable. Downtown, especially around Roosevelt Row – pretty much a ghost-town a decade ago – is now bristling with inviting bars, offbeat restaurants and a thriving arts scene.
The street art is intoxicating and the cooking, with its south-western US, Mexican, Native American and Sonoran desert influences, is a revelation. The desert itself is counter-intuitively productive: home to more than 500 food plants – from wild oregano and mesquite pods to all manner of edible cacti.
This is my pick of Phoenix – as ever, a personal one. When I arrived, I couldn’t make sense of the sprawling, low-slung place at all. And to my chilly northern ears, the locals’ warmth, friendliness and “see ya soons” seemed jarring. But by the time I left I was saying it right back – and meaning it.
THE COOL KIDS
Lux Central
In other cities, Lux Central would be too cool for school; here, it may have all the hipster hallmarks – permanent semi-darkness, tattooed staff, designer brews, aged mescal cocktails dotted with jewels of agave – but it’s impossible to remain chill in the face of its pancake breakfasts (from $9), steak’n’eggs lunches and fabulous in-house bakery. And it’s a bakery that delights with cherry streusel pies, “turtle brownies”, doughnuts and chocolate espresso bundt cake. Lux calls itself a coffee bar … it’s so much more.
• 4400 North Central Avenue, luxcoffee.com. Mains from $9
The DeSoto Central Market
This place is Phoenix’s first hip food court, a former car showroom that has retained its original floors, concrete walls and vast windows but now has a bar and mini-restaurant outlets: gourmet burgers, oyster bar, Chinese-Mex fusion et al. My favourite: The Larder and The Delta from chef Stephen Jones, a sophisticated take on down-home southern cooking that can feature crispy brussels sprouts with fermented Fresno chilli vinaigrette or hauntingly fine fried chicken skin po’ boy with jalapeño apple slaw in a soft Hawaiian roll.
• 915 North Central Avenue, desotocentralmarket.com
Futuro
If aliens from a particularly aesthetically aware planet decided to open a coffee shop, it might look like purest white Futuro (inside the Palabra beauty salon/gallery). The south-western and Latin American flavours here are played to the hilt: cascara instead of tea, menu written in Spanish. Thick hunks of Heft Co sourdough are served with jam from cult LA restaurant Sqirl. The mocha is one of the most intense chocolate-coffee hits I’ve experienced.
• 909 North First Street, palabraphx.com. Espresso from $3
FINEST DINERS
Matt’s Big Breakfast
An appearance on Guy Fieri’s Triple D sealed Matt’s Big Breakfast’s reputation as the hottest way to start the day – with queues to prove it. But it’s not all hype – pancakes really are fluffier, syrup is real, “chop and chick” (pork chops with eggs, $10.95) deserving of its breakfast of champions status. We went late, on a weekday, and walked straight in. This place is a bright-and-breezy classic.
• Four locations, Downtown diner at 825 North First Street, mattsbigbreakfast.com. Breakfasts from $5.95
Welcome Diner
This is a candy-coloured old-school diner dating from 1945, with a new-wave sensibility. All the classics are here – biscuits and gravy (from $7), fried chicken, grilled cheese ($10), burgers (from $12) and doughnuts – and everything is made in-house. Salads might feature watermelon, pickled rinds and cashews, while cocktails are little belters: the Del Bac Date ($12), made with Tucson’s malt whisky and local fruit, is purest nectar.
• 924 East Roosevelt Street, welcomediner.net
Valley Ho Hotel
The Valley Ho Hotel is a gorgeous slab of almost untouched mid-century modernism. Its remodelled suites are where I want to end up, Gloria Swanson-like, permanently attached to a martini. The Valley of the Sun’s beautiful people brunch at its restaurant, ZuZu, with its build-your-own bloody mary bar and gorgeously over-indulgent short-rib hash with butternut squash and hollandaise ($16), served in a pastel-and-citrus-hued room overlooking the pool area. Feels like living in a Slim Aarons print.
• 6850 East Main Street, hotelvalleyho.com. Breakfasts from $9, brunch specials from $13
Short Leash Hotdogs
This is an outfit with two locations and with three food trucks that pretty much spearheaded the Phoenix street food revival. Hotdogs are large and lavish, sourced from local wurst heroes Schreiners, and are served in naan rather than buns. We had the Moki ($6.50), its take on local favourite the Sonoran dog – piled high with pinto beans, green chillis, sautéed onion, cheddar, mayo and chopped tomatoes. The rollover handmade doughnuts, too, are must-haves; the Thai-scented, lightly chillied coconut version is worth catching the light railway for.
• 110 East Roosevelt Street/2502 East Camelback, shortleashhotdogs.com
Phoenix Public Market Café
The Phoenix is a cafe that is everything to everyone: bakery, rotisserie, diner, cafe, restaurant, cocktail bar. Cakes are worth a special mention: sticky banana and pumpkin loaves, homemade macarons – matcha, salted caramel – in jewel colours. On Saturdays, the farmers market blossoms in the parking lot outside with producers and “street fooders”. I came away with quantities of Homeboy’s Hot Sauces – which are fiery and excellent.
• 14 East Pierce Street, phxpublicmarket.com
PHOENIX CLASSICS
Durant’s
Neon-bedazzling outside, windowless within, you have to access the scarlet-boothed, ruby-flocked Durant’s via the kitchen. Steaks and martinis, both in sizes designed for linebackers, are the order of the day. With its crab cakes, wedge salad and a range of steaks up to a mahoosive 48oz porterhouse, it’s a magnificent and mildly fusty slice of unreconstructed, Rat Pack-era Americana.
• 2611 North Central Avenue, durantsaz.com. Meal for two about $85
The Stockyards
If JR Ewing fancied some beef, he’d head to The Stockyards. With its original interior and oil-painted murals of vintage Phoenix life, it’s a real evocation of the city’s cow town history. The roast prime rib – up to an 18oz cattle baron’s cut (a whopping $50, if you will) – is a hunka rosy, fat-basted prime beef. There’s nothing new-fangled at the Stockyards; clientele is fridge-size men and Barbie-haired women saying “cute jacket” to each other.
• 5009 East Washington, stockyardssteakhouse.com. Mains from $26
Barrio Café
Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza’s Barrio Café may have spread its wings to multiple outlets but the original, here at the exuberantly graffiti-covered, grungey Midtown location, is my favourite. Her cochinita pibil ($20, slow-roasted pork with achiote rojo spice blend and bitter orange, guacamole-mixed tableside) and stuffed churros are deservedly celebrated. Her new Barrio Gran Reserva is wowing Phoenix with its fine dining, tasting menu take on Mexican cooking.
• 2814 North 16 Street, barriocafe.com
CULINARY HEROES
FnB
Among the Native American souvenir stores of Scottsdale old town, is the excellent FnB, a truly forward-thinking, showcase for the state’s native produce in veg-centric dishes: salad of persimmons with hazelnut, kohlrabi, dill and goat’s cheese. Charleen Badman is the quietly spoken genius behind the food; out front is the ebullient Pavle Milic. Who knew there were interesting vintages coming out of Arizona? A Bodega Pierce malvasia bianca (bottle $40) and grenache (bottle $61) from veteran winemaker Kent Callaghan pair beautifully with handmade gnocchi with white truffles, and Turkish dumplings – lamb manti – bathed in urfa butter with cilantro, mint, pomegranate, yoghurt and pine nuts.
• 7125 East 5th Avenue Suite 31, Scottsdale, fnbrestaurant.com. Dinner dishes from $7
The Gladly
Up in “bougie” Biltmore where upscale malls rule, I was, well, glad to find The Gladly – a glamourpuss for those in-the-know. A marriage of south-western generosity and almost eastern sensibilities, with dishes such as hamachi crudo (raw fish) sharpened with onions and capers and bathed in sultry brown butter. I’m still thinking about the glories of its duck meatloaf ($29), and the pretzel-crusted chocolate stout cheesecake ($10) should probably be illegal. The staff are charming, too – especially Tim with his tableside ice-ball carving: a killer addition to its barrel-aged whisky cocktails.
• 2201 East Camelback Road, +1 602 759 8132, thegladly.com. Mains from $20
Bitter and Twisted Cocktail Parlour
Run by expat Scot Ross Simon in the beautiful downtown Luhrs building, Bitter and Twisted has been acclaimed as one of the world’s best bars: creative mixes from a 31-page list might turn up in bear-shaped honey jars. Food is no afterthought, whether Asian-style street food or Noble Bread grilled cheese. Sitting in front of Simon is to marvel, genuinely, at how he does it – he mixes like he has eight arms.
• 1 West Jefferson, bitterandtwistedaz.com. Small plates from $8.50, mains from $12, cocktails from $6.50
Chris Bianco
No culinary adventure in Phoenix should omit Chris Bianco, pizza guru and the man who has pretty much put the city on the foodie map. The only pizzaiolo ever to win a James Beard award His Pizzeria Bianco (pizza from $13) in the Heritage Square district is justifiably famous. But I liked pleasingly scruffy Pane Bianco with its attached bakery and menu of evolved sandwiches (spicy pulled beef with organic greens, from $8.50), vast salads, homemade cakes such as Mexican-inspired tres leches and, of course, pizza. But his recently-opened Tratto (in the Town and Country mall; pasta from $19, mains from $32) is a far more mature Bianco: no queues, no pizzas, just the most magnificent cooking in chic, chalky-palette surroundings: Italian accented, mostly south-western ingredients; so a lacy, chickpea pancake farinata might come stuffed with okra; casoncelli pasta could contain caramelly kabocha squash. Produce – oil, tomatoes, cheeses – is among the finest I’ve ever tasted.
THE OUTLIERS
The Duce
If a riotous mash-up of games clubhouse, vintage store, dancehall (line-dancing) and diner is required, The Duce delivers. The fairground-lit trailer doles out the likes of chicken pot pie in a jar (from $7), bacon mac ‘n’ cheese muffins ($11), and vast, indulgent cakes such as S’mores cheesecake (serves 2-3, $10). In this huge, former warehouse, you’re never quite sure whether you’re inside or out, at a party or a festival. As with everywhere else in Pheonix, it’s hugely friendly. And enormous fun.
• 525 South Central Avenue, theducephx.com
Little Miss BBQ
In a grungy, off-the-radar neighbourhood near the airport, Little Miss BBQ dishes out Texas-style meats, slow-smoked over white oak and pecan woods. Hour-long queues are off-putting, but go later in the day and, even though the cult favourite fatty brisket may have sold out, there are black pepper-barked pork ribs and juicy, snappy sausages as consolation. Even Texas Monthly magazine’s BBQ editor made the pilgrimage here and gave it a massive thumbs up.
• 4301 East University Drive, littlemissbbq.com. Sandwiches with one side dish from $8
Dick’s Hideaway
Dick’s Hideaway is a blissful cross between a shady dive bar (it’s permanently twilight, there’s no sign outside, and one inside says No Kardashians) and a restaurant dishing up vast portions of excellent New Mexican- and Santa Fe-style cooking. The carne adovado (smoked pork butt simmered in a fiery and multi-layered red chilli sauce, $17) is unmissable. One of the few places I came across a dour-ish serving style – it was almost refreshing!
• 6008 North 16th Street, +1 602-241-1881, richardsonsnm.com
