Food & Drink News

👩🏽‍🍳 Local First Arizona, which has incubated more than 200 restaurants and food businesses since 2017 through its Good Food Boot Camp and community kitchens in Mesa and south Phoenix, has launched a third community kitchen in Maryvale.

Twelve female entrepreneurs – including immigrants from Haiti, Cuba, West Africa – are the first users of the new kitchen on the southeast corner of Thomas and 37th Avenue.

(Pictured: Fareedeh Afiune Pompa, owner of Muncheese Cake, which offers cheesecakes in a jar.)

Local First’s kitchens are aimed at removing barriers for people who otherwise could not afford to pursue their own food businesses. Shared kitchens in the Valley typically charge $40 or more per hour; Local First charges $8-$12 per hour.

In addition, users get free storage, cookware, and one-on-one mentoring from restaurant veterans.

Food entrepreneurs interested in joining a Local First community kitchen can apply here.

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💵 The owner of famed Phoenix soda fountain MacAlpine’s, which opened in 1929 but has been closed since 2020, has launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise $93,500 to reopen.

The diner, located on the northeast corner of Seventh Street and Oak, has raised more than $16,000 since Oct. 5. You can read its story here.

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🍕 Starting today, Fire & Brimstone, the wood-fired pizzeria inside Barnone at Agritopia in Gilbert, will be closed for two to three weeks to remodel the kitchen.

The kitchen will be expanded by taking over the former LetterCraft space next door.

The expansion will allow the addition of more menu items beyond pizzas and sandwiches. It also should reduce wait times.

Although Fire & Brimstone intends to reopen in November, the renovations aren’t expected to be fully completed until December.

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👨‍🍳🍻 When you’re known for making some of the best beers in Arizona, where do you look for a chef to head your first kitchen? In the case of Wren House Brewing, it’s Bacanora.

The Phoenix brewery is partnering with chef Derek Christensen (pictured), a longtime Wren House fan, to create the food menu for its upcoming European-inspired beer hall Südhalle (‘‘South Hall’’) in Ahwatukee.

The background: Christensen has spent the past two years at Bacanora, which was one of five finalists for Best New Restaurant in the U.S. at the 2022 James Beard Awards. He and fellow Bacanora chefs Rene Andrade and Roberto Centeno were semifinalists for Best Chef Southwest in this year’s awards.

• Christensen will continue at Bacanora, but also create the menu, hire and train staff, manage suppliers and sourcing, and ensure the food is well-executed at Südhalle, which is under construction in the Safeway/Trader Joe’s shopping center on the southeast corner of Chandler and 40th Street.

The menu: Südhalle will feature 24 taps with a mix of first-in-the-state European imports, local wines, and Wren House beers. The food will be an eclectic yet approachable mix of Euro-inspired burgers, snacks, and sandwiches.

• Before joining Bacanora, Christensen trained and worked throughout Europe, including Vienna, Hamburg, Budapest, and Zurich.

What’s next: Wren House co-owner Drew Pool says Südhalle is scheduled to undergo its final inspections at the end of next week, but without the kitchen to start. He expects training for the kitchen staff to begin in mid-September.

• Those interested in joining the Südhalle team should send inquiries to derek@wrenhousebrewing.com.

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✋ Remember when Little Miss BBQ announced last year it would open its third Phoenix location in the former Honey Bear’s BBQ building near the southwest corner of Central and Thomas? It ain’t gonna happen.

Owners Scott and Bekke Holmes have canceled the project due to increased construction costs and rising interest rates. The couple’s construction budget, originally $900,000, had soared $1.9 million, and rates have gone up from 3% to 7%.

‘‘This means the project would be barely profitable and if we dealt with a recession or meat costs keep going up, it puts us in a bad spot,’’ the couple posted on social media.

The location, announced in February 2022, originally had been scheduled to open last summer or, at the latest, last fall.

The Holmeses haven’t announced what they intend to do with the 2,400-square-foot building, which they bought for a reported $1.48 million.

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💵 Arizona Restaurant Week bills itself as a ‘‘statewide affair,’’ but someone apparently forgot to tell Tucson. More than 100 of the city’s best restaurants will participate in Sonoran Restaurant Week from Sept. 8-17 – the same dates as Arizona Restaurant Week.

The frameworks are similar. ARW participants offer prix fixe menus for $33, $44, or $55 per person. For SRW participants, it’s $25, $35, or $45. (Pictured: Food from The Parish in Tucson.)

ARW is present by the Arizona Restaurant Association, while SRW is produced by the website Tucson Foodie.

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🛠🚧 Downtown Chandler (see post) isn’t the only Valley city working on a food hall. Downtown Mesa also is planning one, although the concepts are significantly different.

What: Mesa is partnering with non-profit Local First Arizona, which already has a downtown community kitchen where would-be restaurant owners can learn to create a menu and other aspects of opening a business.

• The new food hall (pictured above in an architectural rendering) would be the next step for restaurant owners, providing them an affordable space to get actual experience in running their concept.

Where: The city has bought an historic 12,000-square-foot building next to the Nile Theater on the southwest corner of Main and MacDonald.

• Officials foresee one or two permanent anchor food stalls with four or five rotating ones.

Where to apply: Local First Arizona is accepting applications from restaurant concepts. Owners must be Mesa-based and have a city business license.

The timetable: The city hopes to begin construction in early 2024 with the opening in fall 2025.

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🛍🥤Nearly 20,000 people at two Valley outdoor shopping centers have taken advantage of Arizona’s new law allowing them to enjoy adult beverages in designated areas.

The law: Phoenix-based Vestar’s pilot Sip & Stroll program, which allows shoppers 21 and over to purchase an alcoholic beverage at designated restaurants and bars and then enjoy the beverage throughout the designated outdoor areas, became law on Jan. 12.

• Participants must wear a wristband and the beverages are consumed in a plastic cup.

The early figures: In the first six months, 11,707 wristbands have been distributed at Vestar’s Desert Ridge Marketplace in northeast Phoenix and 7,831 at its Tempe Marketplace.

Participating restaurants and bars: Artichoke Pizza, CB Live, Dave & Buster’s, Islands, Sid’s Garage, Whining Pig, Yard House, Spitz Mediterranean, and Fat Tuesday at Desert Ridge.

• Dave & Buster’s, Genghis Grill, Harkins Theatres, Gen Korean BBQ House, Kabuki, Smashburger, and Lumberjaxes at Tempe Marketplace.

Why it matters: Malls, which are major sources of Arizona tax revenue, say such amenities help them compete with online retailers such as Amazon.

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