There are so many deserving people who make the Valley dining scene run that it is difficult to narrow the field down to a few. But we did. Here are this year’s movers and shakers in the food and beverage scene who took home a Best of Phoenix 2021 award. Best Restaurant The Larder + The Delta 200 West Portland Street, Suite 101 The imaginative New Southern cuisine, invented and impeccably executed by Chef Stephen Jones at The Larder + The Delta, is like no other cuisine in town, and no other Koch feels even remotely similar. Its hot chicken goes well with any fried chicken in Arizona. He also serves creations such as tuna crudo with rhubarb vinegar and wafer-thin radish, unreasonably delicious pork cakes and a legendary buffalo cauliflower. There are always next-generation ingredients woven into his food in beautiful, hitherto unknown ways: special vinegars, pickles, smoked ingredients, pea beans and rice. His kitchen has so much richness and yet so much lightness and finesse. In addition, Jones’s cuisine is firmly rooted in American history, both near and far. Posting in his bar always feels like a celebration. We are lucky enough to be able to eat here in Phoenix. Click to enlarge Valentine’s Chef Donald Hawk, Chad Price and Blaise Faber. Jackie Mercandetti Best New Restaurant Valentine 4130 North Seventh Avenue Few restaurants capture the weirdness of our desert city like Valentine, which embodied a grand vision of modern Southwestern cuisine. Where to start with this restaurant Everything from pastries to coffee to food for breakfast to the design of the front bar to the rear bar is not just to the point, but about three levels more thought out than expected, creative, delicious and completely rooted in our region. Donald Hawk (along with a capable team) hits some staggering heights in the kitchen, including an Elote pasta, smoked chicken, and a 2.0 version of his glorious brown butter crudo. Antonia Kane kisses the baked goods, from heirloom cereal biscuits to mulberry Viennoiserie. Blaise Faber and Chad Price have absolutely made this place buzz from its earliest days. We are absolutely thrilled to see where Valentin is leading the years – and, of course, the top of southwestern cuisine. I Support Local Community Journalism Support the independent voice of Phoenix and help keep the future of the New Times clear. click to enlarge Chris Bianco from Tratto. Chris Malloy Best Chef Chris Bianco In the dark first summer of the pandemic, Chris Bianco used social media to post inspirational messages and videos. He adapted himself, rolled out a New York cake, moved Tratto and Bar Bianco, published a late-night menu, kept adapting. Sous chefs and other important cooks of the Bianco micro-empire set off for new occupations. Somehow, despite the fluctuation of the main actors, the quality has not given in an inch. Pizzeria Bianco still produces their legendary pizza and even stunning chicken cacciatore and other specialties. Pane Bianco remains a sandwich and Sicilian pizza utopia. Tratto still serves pasta at least one level higher than any other Italian eatery in town. Most importantly, Bianco has remained a friendly leader throughout. click to enlarge Rene Andrade from Bacanora. JM Photo Best New Chef Rene Andrade Rene Andrade is in some ways not a new chef. He has cooked in well-known restaurants in the valley. He recently oversaw the kitchens of the Ghost Ranch and the now closed Tempe Public Market Café. Now, having moved in the midst of the pandemic, Andrade has become a chef with a restaurant that channels his past and experiences. This and the wonder of eating at Bacanora feel completely new. Sure, he has help from friends and family at Bacanora, which has already become one of the most exciting and soulful restaurants in town. For Bacanora and the future now waiting after the young chef’s career change, Andrade is Phoenix’s best new chef. click to enlarge Jennifer Kümmel, founder of The Joy Bus and The Joy Bus Diner. Katherine Davis-Young Best Collaboration James Beard Foundation Women of Arizona Earlier this year, the James Beard Foundation Women of Arizona, a movement that includes 15 cooks, launched a range of tasting menus to take away in metropolitan Phoenix. Each menu offered a starter, main course and dessert – a three-course meal from three local chefs that packed various local restaurant offerings into one meal. Participating restaurants and their respective chefs (and owners) included FnB and Charleen Badman; Songbird Coffee House and Erin Westgate; Maya’s Cajun Kitchen and Maya Bartlett; 24 carrots and Sasha Raj; Lori Hassler of The Farish House; Lori Hashimoto from Hana Japanese Eatery; Jennifer Kümmel, founder of The Joy Bus; Danielle Leoni in the Breadfruit & Rum Bar and more – which makes it one of the most comprehensive who’s who collaborations among female chefs in the Valley … maybe at all. The group was encouraged by the Let’s Talk national group, part of the James Beard Foundation Women’s Leadership Program, and they still have a lot to do. We’ll watch – and eat. click to enlarge head chef Danielle Leoni. Danielle Leoni Best Hero Danielle Leoni Chef Danielle Leoni is a James Beard Award nominee and a pillar of sustainable gastronomy in Arizona – let’s dare say the land. Here’s a short résumé: She has an Executive Master of Sustainability Leadership from ASU, the James Beard Foundation has awarded her a Seafood Sustainability Seal, and she is a member of the Seafood Watch Blue-Ribbon Task Force at the Monterey Bay Aquarium. But none of that mattered when COVID hit. Within a few weeks, she closed her restaurant, The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, wrote an open letter to Governor Doug Ducey on behalf of local restaurants, and founded the Arizona Small Restaurant Coalition. But their pandemic work had only just begun. Since then, Leoni and her Breadfruit team have been delivering high quality, local Jamaican food to A New Leaf and the Roosevelt Community Church to feed homeless families. She has joined the James Beard Foundation Women of Arizona Alliance to promote women-owned restaurants in the Valley. And on one of the most memorable election days in history, Leoni was part of Chefs for the Polls – a non-partisan initiative by World Central Kitchen, which fed the voters at the Camelback Center (free) on November 3rd. Click to enlarge Danielle Carlock discussing the new plants on Mesa Community College’s Red Mountain campus. Lauren Cusimano Best Seed Pusher Danielle Carlock During the pandemic, Scottsdale Community College faculty member Danielle Carlock did some interesting work. Carlock’s sabbatical project aimed to tackle food insecurity for students through a farmers’ market-style event at the SCC where Carlock would hand out free vegetables and edible plants from the campus food garden. However, when SCC closed due to COVID, it instead expanded the other part of the project: the free Maricopa Native Seed Library, which focuses on native plants – environmentally specific to Maricopa County – and seeds that are not readily available at Valley nurseries are (many of them Carlock collected himself in the field). These native seeds are free to students, faculty, and the public. They come in packages of 20 or so that can be picked up or sent through the mail. Food plant seeds include kale, lettuce, firecracker penstemon, Sonoran white wheat, Salt River Pima pea, and desert chia. And now, Mesa Community College’s Red Mountain Campus is home to many of the parent plants, making it sort of a showroom for the seed library. click to enlarge Bridget Pettis from Project Roots. Project Roots AZ Best Urban Community Farm Project Roots AZ Co-founded by former Phoenix Mercury player Bridget Pettis, a non-profit urban farming organization Project Roots AZ grows fresh fruits, herbs and vegetables on land in the Spaces of Opportunity garden in Phoenix and in Local First at community garden in Mesa. The founders and staff of Project Roots AZ not only provide land to grow their own groceries, but also make community building a large part of their activities, yoga classes, box deliveries, and running a soup kitchen from their mesa. Space out. Project Roots AZ’s gardening rewards can also be found at the Downtown Phoenix Farmers Market.
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