The 10 best new restaurants and bars that opened in metro Phoenix in 2023
There were some heavy hitters who opened shop in Phoenix this year. A returning James Beard Award winner teamed up with two other Valley icons to open Hai Noon in a renovated Scottsdale Motel. Rene Andrade, one of Phoenix's most beloved chefs, debuting Huarachis taco shop downtown. And restaurateur Sam Fox finally welcomed guests to The Global Ambassador, his culinary-centric hotel. On the bar front, we welcomed Savauge natural wine bar from the owner of a popular downtown bottle shop, the first U.S. taproom from Hermosillo-based brewers Buqi Bichi and a very cool vinyl-centric cafe called Central Records. There were so many exciting openings, it was hard to narrow it down, but these spots stood out from the rest as some of the very best new additions to the scene.
Here's a look at the 10 best new metro Phoenix restaurants that opened this year.
Bad Jimmy's
Bad Jimmy's opened at the very end of the year, but boy were we ready for it. After stints working in top Phoenix restaurants, like Pizzeria Bianco, James Piazza struck out on his own in 2020 with a smashburger pop-up that has been a Valley-wide obsession ever since. His brick and mortar menu focuses on the burgers that made him famous: a double cheeseburger with two crispy, griddled local beef patties, onions and pickles. The burger is a symphony simple ingredients, perfectly assembled. The fries are solid. But the clencher is the fact that the counter-service spot also has a full bar where Stephanie Lorenzano makes a mean old fashion. She also offers crisp Toki highballs, cans of beer and a decent selection of wines. Dishing up lowkey, fun vibes and high quality food and drink, Bad Jimmy's is exactly what the downtown Phoenix dining scene was missing.
Details: 108 E. Pierce St., Phoenix. @badjimmys on Instagram.
Barrio Bread
James Beard Award-winning Tucson baker Don Guerra is now baking in metro Phoenix. In September 2023, he partnered with Hayden Flour Mills in Gilbert, where he bakes one day per week using heritage grains and selling the loaves for pickup. Place an order online by noon on Saturday for pick up on the following Tuesday between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m. There are no wrong choices at Barrio Bread, but if you can only order one loaf, don't miss the Sonoran epi, essentially a baguette shaped like a wheat stalk, made using Hayden Flour Mills Barrio blend, BKW hard red wheat flour, water, sourdough culture and Sonoran sea salt for a loaf with a bit of acidity, a crispy crust and airy crumb.
Details: 932 N. Colorado St., Gilbert. haydenflourmills.com. barriobread.com.
Cocina Chiwas
Cocina Chiwas is the passion-project of Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin, the powerhouses behind Tacos Chiwas and co-owners of Bacanora and Espiritu, and you can tell. The welcoming, modern restaurant is built around an open kitchen where the mesquite grill that Hernandez built takes center stage. A deceptively simple menu is filled with surprises. The roasted beet salad may sound like a throwback, but it tastes vibrant and inventive thanks to the addition of crema Jocoque and roasted elote and poppyseed vinagrette. And the parrillada, a classic Mexican mixed grill, comes stacked with meltingly tender skirt steak, punchy al pastor and a sweet-spicy papas con chorizo along with diner-style rice and beans and a stack of corn tortillas. The bar keeps things just as interesting with a massive collection of local spirts, like Whiskey Del Bac, agave spirits from raicilla to sotol and an excellent cocktail lineup, our favorite of which involves muddled cilantro. The magic is in the details.
Details: 2001 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe. cocinachiwasaz.com.
Course
"Chopped" champion Cory Oppold opened an aptly named multi-course fine dining restaurant in Scottsdale in May 2023, where the chef showcases course after course of artful plates in either five-course menu offered Tuesdays and Wednesday or a 10-course dinner menu offered Thursday through Saturday, both of which change seasonally, as well as a playful six-course Sunday brunch that draws inspiration from his childhood favorites.
Details: 7366 E. Shea Blvd., Suite 106, Scottsdale. 480-687-0491, courserestaurantaz.com.
Fabio on Fire Panini and Gelateria
Open since June 2023, this sister restaurant to Fabio on Fire was opened by chef Fabio Ceschetti and features a food counter, gelato case, small market area and dining room. Aside from the housemade gelato, he makes sandwiches on a unique Italian bread made with a 72-hour fermented dough layered with imported specialties like pecorino spread, pistachio pesto and 18-month-aged prosciutto di Parma and burrata sourced from his hometown of Puglio.
Details: 24775 N. Lake Pleasant Parkway, Suite 101, Peoria. fabioonfire.com.
Mr. Baan's Bar and Mookata
James Beard Award semifinalists, Alex and Sunny Martin of regional Thai restaurant Lom Wong took over the space adjacent to their restaurant in November and opened Mr. Baan's Bar and Mookata. The bar serves drinks like the Som Tum Smash, inspired by a salad of the same name and charcoal grilled skewers called ping yaang during the week, and DIY mookata on the weekends. The table top charcoal mookata grill features a moat of vegetables and broth to enjoy along with slices of meat and seafood you cook yourself for a classic Thai experience you won't find anywhere else in Phoenix.
Details: 218 E. Portland St., #B, Phoenix. 602-675-0522, mrbaans.com.
Pyro
In November, the group behind Palma and Ghost Donkey opened Pyro, a Japanese izakaya and American bistro mashup. If that sounds like a questionable combo, you aren't wrong. Despite our skepticism, the menu of shareable plates, which include raw offerings like an outstanding fluke crudo topped with smoked chili, nori oil, dried black lime and fleur de sel, noodles, sandwiches and hearth-grilled meats, were so good, we had to include it on our list. For dessert, seasonal ice creams like a Japanese sweet potato ice cream and an ube pana cotta offer stunning finishes.
Details: 4300 E. Camelback Road, Suite 125, Phoenix. 602-755-0049, pyrophx.com.
Quartz Bar
We really didn't want to like Quartz Bar. The concept was so over-the-top with the combination of drinks inspired by birth stones, Star Wars references and a separate back bar where drinks were concocted as odes to the deserts of the world. (What does any of that even mean?) But we had to find out for ourselves. The Cave, a reservation only area that serves more experimental drinks (one server described them as "challenging"), is where the wow-factor is. The front bar doesn't look like much, but when you step into the back, it feels like a mirrored ode to the 1970s disco era, but with millennial sensibility in the muted pinks and cozy arched alcoves. The drinks are downright bizarre, featuring ingredients like fizzy olive, hay, camel hump fat, mint water and Berbere chili-spiced tequila. Some drinks were strange and delightful, some were just strange, but not a single one was boring. What sold us on the place was the fact that the bartenders are not cocktail snobs, but cocktail nerds, their earnest passion for the envelope they're pushing makes it rabbit hole you'll want to fall down with them.
Details: 341 W. Van Buren, Phoenix. quartzphx.com.
Source
Chef Claudio Urciuoli earned his aclaim at the helm of Pa'la woodfired restaurants in Phoenix. This year, he struck out on his own to open an ingredient-driven, affordable Mediterranean restaurant and market at Epicenter at Agritopia in Gilbert. Urciuoli said he developed a simple menu he would serve to his family, with starters like smoked prosciutto, Parmigiano Reggiano and house bread and Controne chickpea hummus, chermoula and za'atar flatbread; sandwiches like Island Trollers albacore tuna or a vegetarian made with hummus spread, roasted poblano, mushroom, baby artichoke braised kale and fennel on ciabatta. There are a couple house pizzas and, of course, loaves of fresh-baked bread, like the demi baguette, sourdough, ciabatta and focaccia, all the more tempting because of Urciuoli's track record baking at Noble Bread.
Details: 3150 E. Ray Road, Gilbert. 480-687-7732, eatatsource.com.
Ava Bakery (with a caveat)
Technically Ava Bakery opened a smidge too soon to be on this list, soft opening in Nov. 2022, but given their temporary two month closure after a sprinkler leak caused water damage, they've still only been open about a year. Besides that, for several of us on the dining team, it's already become indispensable, so this list just doesn't feel complete without it. The unassuming bakery in north Phoenix faithfully churns out fresh baked Iranian flat breads, sangak (thinner) and barberi (about an inch thick), as well as classic Persian sandwiches served on freshly baked baguettes, like bandari, a simple, savory sandwich of sauteed onions, tomato, tomato paste, peppers and sliced beef hotdogs with a little kick of spice.
For breakfast, they offer a Persian breakfast — cheese, jam, honey and fresh bread — and omelet made with tomatoes mixed with softly scrambled eggs, with harder-to-find specialties haleem and kaleh pacheh offered on the weekends. Haleem is a hearty porridge of wheat and shredded meat topped with sugar and cinnamon and kalleh pacheh is lamb head and foot soup, not for the faint of heart, but a pure taste of home for those who crave it.
It's one of those places that become part of the rhythm of your life, such a go-to that it's hard to imagine where we went for breakfast for fresh Persian bread before they arrived.
Details: 814 E. Union Hills Drive, C-6, Phoenix. 480-906-9757.
Keep them talking: 22 Arizona restaurants made national headlines in 2023: Here's why they were recognized
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: 10 best new Phoenix restaurants of 2023: Tacos, burgers, Italian food
