Wunderkind chef expands his metro Phoenix restaurant empire. What to expect at Flour & Thyme

Chef Ivan Jacobo of Phoenix fine dining destination Anhelo is opening a new concept in Tempe. Named Flour and Thyme, he describes it as a more casual counterpart to his award-winning, multicourse downtown restaurant.

Jacobo opened Anhelo in the Orpheum Lofts building in 2021 and focused on prix fixe menus served at a communal table that were meant to be paired with wines from around the globe. “You don’t know what you have in common until you sit," Jacobo told The Arizona Republic in 2022.

At Anhelo, the focus is as much on service as it is on food. When a family brought their future Grand Canyon University son to the restaurant, the team sent him home with an emergency snack bag for college. When a husband called to make reservations for him and his pregnant wife, he asked if the chef would be OK with not serving them raw food. Not only did Jacobo accommodate them, but he started their meal with nonalcoholic champagne and sent them home with a baby gift and a card.

“I didn’t open a restaurant that downtown wanted, but one that downtown needed,” Jacobo said. “I’m going to do the same with Tempe. I'll do my absolute best to give Tempe my definition of best restaurant.”

What to expect at Flour and Thyme in Tempe

While Anhelo is a special occasion restaurant, with Flour and Thyme, Jacobo set out to create a place where people can become regulars, visiting a few times a week if they choose to.

“I like building relationships with the community, and I’m opening a restaurant where I genuinely would want to eat at.”

Cement top bistro tables and wicker dining chairs are livened up with fresh flowers and plants. Upbeat music sets the tone along with details like the use of handcrafted Mountain Sky Farm and Ceramics dishes. Patio seating features a two-sided fireplace. And the restaurant has its own dedicated parking.

Open for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the bistro's offerings will start with an over-the-top coffee service with creative infusions, like cheese coffee, Jacobo said, adding that they are hiring a pastry chef to make pastries in house.

What’s on Flour and Thyme’s menu

For brunch, expect dishes like crème brulee French toast and avocado toast with smoked salmon, pickled onions and soft poached eggs. For lunch, there will be sandwiches and salads.

Jacobo described the dinner menu as a “high-end tapas,” divided into land, sea and garden sections. Shareable dishes include a seafood crudo and steak tartare, whole grilled fish with blistered tomatoes, capers and white wine and a braised wagyu lasagna with aged pecorino and smoked olive oil. Dishes like the micro vegetables salad with yogurt espuma, vegetable trimming vinaigrette, charred bread crumble and goat cheese snow feel like a pared-down version of the dishes at Anhelo. Both restaurants will share a temperature-controlled dry aging room where Jacobo plans to make dry-aged tuna.

The restaurant will offer 170 bottles of wine, which Jacobo described as boutique-style and approachable, all priced under $20 per glass.

Flour and Thyme is slated to open in December for breakfast and lunch with dinner service starting in early 2024.

Details: 944 S. Mill Ave., Tempe. @flourandthymerestaurant on Instagram.

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Reach the reporter at BAnooshahr@azcentral.com. Follow @banooshahr on X, formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Top chef opening Flour and Thyme restaurant in Tempe. What to expect