The 14 biggest metro Phoenix restaurant openings of 2023: Mexican food to drive thru Italian
Somehow, it's already December. If this year feels like it was over as soon as it began, you're not alone. But looking back at the hundreds of new places that appeared on the Phoenix restaurant scene in 2023, it becomes clear just how jam-packed this year actually was.
Before the first day of spring, metro Phoenix restaurateurs had already opened several exciting new hotspots like Central Records, Cocina Chiwas and Chilte. And the restaurant scene continued to expand throughout the rest of the year with options ranging from Fabio On Fire Panini & Gelateria in north Peoria to Barrio Bread in Gilbert.
Here's a look back at some of the biggest restaurant openings of 2023.
Bad Jimmy's
Bad Jimmy's, the popular food truck from James Piazza, is now a brick-and-mortar restaurant in downtown Phoenix. The short but sweet menu includes fan-favorite smashburgers, a unique veggie burger and a few sides. For dessert, try olive oil and sea salt soft serve.
Details: 108 E. Pierce St., Phoenix. @badjimmys on Instagram.
Barrio Bread
Tucson-based bakery Barrio Bread from James Beard Award-winning baker Don Guerra has opened a highly-anticipated second location in Gilbert at Hayden Flour Mills. The Gilbert location is open for walk-in customers or online delivery pickup on Tuesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. or until all the bread is gone.
Details: 932 N. Colorado St., Gilbert. 520-275-1194, barriobread.com.
Central Records
Metro Phoenix's first record cafe opened in February. Central Records serves sandwiches, mushroom pate, tagine spiced olives and drink options ranging from coffee to wine, beer and canned cocktails. The restaurant's unique concept combines food and music, with crates of records for guests to browse and music of varying genres always playing inside the glass-encased room that hosts Recordbar Radio, a streaming platform for local DJs.
"Music, food and coffee and entertainment are age old pairings," said owner Jake Stellarwell, who has been DJing for 26 years. "We are not re-inventing the wheel. We are just bringing really, really well-intentioned and well-curated aspects to a single space."
Details: 824 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. 602-638-0433, @central.records on Instagram.
Chilte
Owned by former NFL player and chef Lawrence "L.T." Smith and Aseret Arroyo, the popular Chilté Tacos food stand opened as a brick-and-mortar restaurant at the Egyptian Motor Hotel on Grand Avenue in February.
Though the restaurant can best be described as serving Mexican cuisine, Smith says he draws inspiration from all parts of the world and tries to understand how a particular food relates to the foods of his childhood and tries to incorporate global flavors into the restaurants' specials.
"We are the new wave rather than a fusion restaurant," Arroyo said. "We are taking a different approach to cookie-cutter recipes."
Chilte was named one of the best new restaurants in America by Esquire.
Details: 765 Grand Ave., Phoenix. 602-807-5225, chiltephx.com.
Cocina Chiwas
Fans of the popular Phoenix restaurant Tacos Chiwas rejoiced at the opening of a sister restaurant, Cocina Chiwas on Apache Boulevard in Tempe. Co-owners Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin opened the new restaurant with a focus on wood-fired appetizers and mesquite grilled meats with a bar focused on agave and local spirits used in cocktails like a Paloma made with grapefruit soda, lime juice and tequila, Sotol hibiscus punch and an absolutely delicious take on the piña colada.
Details: 2001 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe. cocinachiwasaz.com.
Dahlia
Audrey Corley, owner of Boycott Bar in the Melrose District, opened her first restaurant in the Coronado neighborhood in Phoenix. With chef Andrew Renteria of Chubasco Tacos and formerly Ay, Chabela in the kitchen, Dahlia serves charcuterie boards, potato croquettes, Pan Con Tomate and other tapas, plus a selection of Spanish wines and cocktails. The dress code is "elevated casual" per the restaurant's website.
Details: 2221 N. Seventh St., Phoenix. 602-529-6616, dahliatapas.com.
Fabio On Fire Panini & Gelateria
Fabio Ceschetti, the chef and owner of popular West Valley Italian restaurant Fabio on Fire, opened a second restaurant in Peoria in June. The new restaurant focuses on paninis and gelato, hence the name. Panini options include the Toscano, made with porchetta al forno a legna or wood-roasted pork belly, provolone, parmigiano spread, fried zucchini and extra virgin olive oil and the Donna di cuori, made with mortadella with pistachios, creamy mozzarella, Sicilian pistachio pesto, arugula and extra virgin olive oil. Gelato options include pistachio, cherry, stracciatella — sweet cream with chocolate shavings — and mascarpone with Nutella.
Details: 24775 N. Lake Pleasant Parkway, Suite 101, Peoria. fabioonfire.com.
Fazoli's
After waiting over 10 years for the chain to reopen, Arizonans excitedly welcomed the state's first Fazoli's location since 2008 at Sky Harbor International Airport earlier this year. Fans were disappointed that the first location required booking a flight, but now everyone can enjoy the fast casual Italian food and signature breadsticks at the Mesa location, which opened on Dec. 12.
And several more locations are on the way. An Instagram post in August 2022 announced the chain's return to Phoenix and promised a total of nine locations.
Details: 953 N. Dobson Road, Mesa. 480-906-2001, fazolis.com and @fazolisitalian on Instagram. And at Sky Harbor International Airport, 3800 E. Sky Harbor Blvd., Terminal 4.
The Global Ambassador restaurants
Sam Fox, the iconic Phoenix restaurateur known for Fox Restaurant Concepts, recently opened his biggest project yet: The Global Ambassador, a 141-room hotel which comprises five restaurants that are open to both hotel guests and the public.
Four out of the five restaurants opened on Dec. 6.: Le Âme, Le Market, Pink Dolphin and the Lobby Bar.
Le Âme is a Parisian steakhouse that offers breakfast, lunch, dinner and a weekend brunch, with highlights including steak frites and French onion soup. Le Market is a casual, grab-and-go style cafe that offers breakfast pastries, coffee and light lunch fare, which Fox described as a place for hotel guests to go for a relaxed breakfast or lunch, or just a comfortable space to pull up a chair and work on your laptop over a cup of coffee.
Pink Dolphin is a fusion restaurant with a focus on Mexican and Peruvian flavors, offering dishes like ceviche and fish tacos, and a drinks menu including cocktails, margaritas and sparkling wines. The Lobby Bar offers a large selection of craft cocktails and an all-day snack menu, including chips served with an onion dip made with Osetra caviar and Krug champagne.
The fifth and final restaurant, théa Mediterranean Rooftop, will open in January.
Details: 4360 E. Camelback Road, Phoenix. 480-800-2211, globalambassadorhotel.com.
Try them all: A guide to every restaurant at The Global Ambassador, Sam Fox's food-first Phoenix hotel
Hai Noon
Sloane McFarland and Ian Rosales, the owner and chef of Welcome Diner, teamed up with James Beard Award-winning chef Nobuo Fukuda, formerly of Nobuo at Teeter House, to open Hai Noon earlier this year. The logo for Hai Noon depicts a saguaro growing out of a bonsai. It is meant to represent the cross between Japanese and Sonoran cuisine, which is reflected in the restaurant's menu.
The Southwestern feel of nearby Old Town Scottsdale and the restaurant's location inside a motor lodge were factors. And combining the American Southwest with Japanese food felt like an obvious choice, McFarland said, pointing to samurai movies inspired by Western films as another way Southwestern and Japanese cultures are connected.
Hai Noon's menu includes small bar bites like shishito peppers, duck salad and cauliflower and sugar snap peas. The restaurant also offers limited portions of tuna, salmon, oysters and yellowtail sashimi. The drinks menu includes Japanese beers and sake, plus cocktails such as the Typhoon made with orange, lemon, pineapple, pomegranate, yuzu juice and barley shochu.
Details: 7017 E. McDowell Road, Scottsdale. hainoonaz.com.
Poppy's Office
The new speakeasy from the owners of Liberty Station Tavern, Poppy’s Office, is now open in Scottsdale directly adjacent to the restaurant. The speakeasy is a tribute to the late Paul Keeler of Keeler Hospitality Group, who died at the age of 73 on Oct. 9, 2021, due to COVID-19 complications.
The name Poppy's Office came from Paul Keeler's grandchildren, who were the first to call him Poppy. Eventually, Paul Keeler became known as Poppy to his friends and community, according to his son Matt Keeler, who opened the speakeasy after the idea came to him "in a dream."
Poppy's Office features a replica of Paul Keeler's personal office immediately upon entering the speakeasy. The bar offers cocktails inspired by “Poppy-isms” plus tacos and chips and salsa.
Details: 34422 N. Scottsdale Road, Suite 160, Scottsdale. 480-602-2906, poppysoffice.com.
Quartz
Quartz is an experimental cocktail bar in downtown Phoenix. The owners wanted to open a bar influenced by Mos Eisley Cantina from Star Wars, a place in the middle of the desert where people get away from it all and meet on neutral ground for fun.
The bar is divided into two sections. The front bar is inspired by tangible components of the desert, like rocks, with the drinks inspired by gemstones. Back bar drinks are on the wilder side based on the histories, cultures and animals of the desert. Camel fat and black olives are among the more unusual ingredients.
Details: 341 W. Van Buren, Phoenix. quartzphx.com.
Mr. Baan's Bar & Mookata
The owners of beloved Phoenix restaurant Lom Wong have opened Mr. Baan's Bar and Mookata in downtown Phoenix next to the restaurant. Mookata translates to "pork on a grill" and is a Thai dyi barbecue consisting of a rounded grill surrounded by broth with various marinated meats that guests grill themselves. The drinks menu includes "lots of highballs and whiskey sodas and cocktails that showcase the flavors of Thailand," said co-owner Alex Martin.
Details: 218 E. Portland St., Suite B, Phoenix. 602-675-0522, mrbaans.com.
Voodoo Doughnut
Portland-based Voodoo Doughnut made its Arizona debut this September in Tempe, to the delight of its cult-like following. The doughnut shop offers dozen boxes in three types: regular, classic and vegan. The regular box includes their award-winning Bacon Maple Bar, Chocolate Coconut, Grape Ape, Homer, Maple Blazer Blunt, Marsha Mathers, Oh Captain, My Captain, Portland Cream, Raised Glazed, Sprinkle Cake and Dirt.
Details: 1324 S. Rural Road, Tempe. voodoodoughnut.com.
Gilbert wanted restaurants. But residents hate idea of being 'another Old Town Scottsdale'
Reach the reporter at endia.fontanez@gannett.com. Follow @EndiaFontanez on X, formerly Twitter.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: The biggest metro Phoenix restaurant openings of 2023 were polarizing
