🍷 Ever since the sad passing of The Farish House founder and chef Lori Hassler after a five-year battle with ovarian cancer, I’ve been worried about the future of the restaurant, one of the true gems of downtown Phoenix’s dining scene.
Farish was never just another neighborhood restaurant. It was deeply personal, family-run, and full of European warmth – the kind of place that encouraged lingering. When Lori passed last July, the question became whether the bistro and wine bar could remain itself.
The good news: it looks like it has.
Gregory and Kathryn Cohen have purchased The Farish House, stepping into ownership not as restaurateurs chasing a concept, but as longtime friends, regulars, and believers in what Lori built.
“It was never our intention to be restaurant owners,” their daughter, Alexandra Cohen, says. “It was simply a dream we would fantasize about.”
The Cohens are a food-cultured family to their core. Gregory comes from a lineage of extravagant home cooks inspired by French and Sephardic traditions. He and Kathryn first met 30 years ago while working at Los Olivos Mexican Patio in Scottsdale, later reuniting through a shared curiosity for food, wine, and travel.
A career in wine eventually brought Gregory back to Arizona. What began as a buyer-seller relationship with Lori and her husband, Eric, grew into a close friendship.
As Lori’s health declined, her staff carried the restaurant forward as long as they could. Ownership would eventually need to change. That moment came quietly when Eric asked Gregory and Kathryn if they would consider buying the restaurant.
“In a momentary lapse of insanity,” Alexandra said, “we said yes.”
There’s a sense of poetic alignment here. Kathryn, like Lori, is a Tempe native, and they even graduated from McClintock High School the same year. Gregory was born in Lyon, France – one of the world’s great food capitals.
Alexandra studied marketing in France and has since returned home, now working dinner service alongside Gregory. Kathryn and Alexandra handle afternoon tea together on Saturdays.
The couple’s son, Zachary, who has Down syndrome, works at Craft 64 in Chandler and plans to join The Farish House team when schedules allow.
Crucially, the Cohens aren’t here to reinvent Farish. They’re here to protect it.
The menu will continue rotating seasonally, while preserving many of Lori’s dishes as part of an informal “cookbook.” The kitchen remains women-run, led by chef Stephanie Esquivel.
Gregory has expanded the wine program, with an extensive by-the-glass list and 30% off bottles every Thursday.
But above all, the focus is on the staff – the same team that carried the restaurant through grief and uncertainty. The Cohens’ goal is simple: take the weight of ownership off their shoulders and let them keep doing what they do best.
The Farish House isn’t moving on. It’s being carefully carried forward.
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