🍽️ May delivered several notable new food and drink spots, including a French bakery built on a Gilbert native’s obsession, a century-old Buffalo legend nine years in the making, and Tokyo’s most viral noodle shop landing in Mesa:
Sablé Boulangerie
Gilbert native Will Porter trained in Paris and made plated desserts at the Burj Al Arab before coming home to open this tiny walk-up pastry lab beside Liberty Market. He imports flour from a single French mill never previously brought to the U.S. and ran nearly 30 dough tests to adapt recipes to Arizona humidity.
Ted’s Hot Dogs
Nine years after first announcing it, the fourth-generation Buffalo chain that’s been a Tempe institution since 1983 finally opened its second Valley location. The Chandler build pays tribute to the original Buffalo stand with wood paneling, white tile, and 900-degree cast-iron charcoal grills – plus the brand’s first-ever drive-thru and a walk-up ice cream window.
Udon Shin
Chef Narahara Shinji’s Tokyo noodle shop, famous for block-long lines in Yoyogi since 2011, has opened its first U.S. location inside Mesa’s Mekong Plaza, brought over by the team behind Mensho Ramen’s Arizona arrival. Thick handmade udon, house dashi broths, crispy tempura, and the viral Carbonara Udon.
212° Shabu Shabu
The team behind Three Thirty Three has opened a second lakefront concept at The Watermark. Named for the boiling point of water, it puts guests in charge of cooking A5 wagyu, toro, Kurobuta pork, and lobster tail in simmering broth at built-in table ranges. Ube cheesecake, yuzu sorbet, and a Vietnamese coffee espresso martini round things out.
Starfish Scottsdale
8390 E Vía de Ventura, Scottsdale
Orange County’s Starfish Hospitality Group, with popular locations in Laguna Beach and Newport Beach, has made its first move outside California. The 5,200-square-foot McCormick Ranch space serves more than 70 shareable coastal Asian plates drawing from Thailand, Korea, Vietnam, China, and Japan.
Poolboy Taco
Gadzooks founder Aaron Pool invented his namesake taco – tomatillo chicken, sweet-and-spicy cornbread, jalapeño ranch, and cotija on a house-made 50/50 tortilla – during a game of beer pong, then took it to pop-ups in Aspen and Hollywood before landing a permanent home in the former Gadzooks space.
Let’s Toast
100 E Camelback Rd #164, Phoenix
Husband-and-wife team Sumin Kim and Sean Atkinson have graduated from one of the Uptown Farmers Market’s most popular Saturday booths to a permanent storefront at Uptown Plaza. The star is the Bulgogi Cheesesteak: marinated ribeye, mozzarella, fried egg, and house sauces on buttered Japanese milk bread.
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