📍Added in February 2024: “I love drinking tea and matcha, and these guys make probably the best matcha in town. I love these guys. This place shows how much Phoenix has evolved—it’s a completely different city from what it used to be.”

📍Added in February 2024: “This is probably one of the best burgers in the city. It’s a smash burger—crispy edges, supersoft bun. This is a restaurant that’s feeding the soul.”

📍Added in February 2024: “One of my good friends opened this tea shop; he really geeks out about tea. This is a beautiful place, made out of concrete—that’s where the name comes from. It just feels good to come in here, drink tea, and have a great time.”

📍Added in February 2024: “This is another family restaurant: My friend Devan Cunningham, who came out from California, is the chef here with his mom. They have beautiful soul food: You’re gonna eat jambalaya, and you’re gonna have some of the crispiest wings—meaty and delicious.”

📍Added in February 2024: “This is my new restaurant. It’s a Sonora-style taqueria; everything’s on flour tortillas. The food has a lot of soul—it’s not just another taco. The platters are super special for me—that’s where it’s at.”

📍Added in February 2024: “Fish? In the desert? Are you kidding me? Well, my boy Nellie [Chris Nelson], who owns this place, has some of the best fish! He buys high-quality product from all over the world to please his customers. The quality and service he gives you is amazing. I recommend everyone go there on lobster day and get a lobster roll from them. People go crazy for it!”

📍Added in February 2024: “This is my favorite restaurant in the whole world! It’s the kind of place you only find out about through word of mouth, so I have to tell everybody about it. One family has been running it for 32 years, starting with their mom, who passed it on to their kids, who now run the whole operation. It’s far on the west side, but when you walk in, you get this beautiful, crystal-clear pho that feeds the soul. It’s magical.”

📍Added in February 2024: “This is one of my favorite stores in the city. They’re the ones keeping me up to date with my style. I go around cooking in expensive shoes and expensive shirts—just to look good. It’s a culture thing. I don’t have to tell them anything here; they just say, ‘Hey, yo, try this, get this style, get this shoe.’”

📍Added in February 2024: “This is probably a 40- or 50-square-foot little place—it’s one of those shipping containers—that they built into a beautiful store. You’ll find local wines, mezcals, natural chocolates, chips, salsas—everything you need. It’s right down the street from my restaurant, so I go there every day. I like to get a can of this lemongrass sparkling water called Dram; it makes me feel good!”

📍Added in February 2024: “When I met the family behind this bakery, it brought me back to my childhood. Growing up in Mexico, my dad and I would go to the panaderia, and I remember my dad telling me: ‘The heart of the baker is the biggest heart you’re going to find, because they want to see everybody happy.’ You have to go and try this place—they have the best conchas in Phoenix!”

📍Added in February 2024: “My friends just opened this store down the block from my restaurant. People get a tattoo, they walk around, and they eat a taco! It’s all a community.”

📍Added in February 2024: “I’m a terrible skateboarder, but this place is such a big part of the community. Right now, we’re working on an event with them for kids, and they’re donating shoes and shirts. It’s not just a skate shop—it’s a community skate shop, and that’s the beauty of it. It motivates kids to be happy.”

📍Added in February 2024: “Requinto is a pop-up from the amazing chef Erick Pineda that’s currently doing Sunday brunch at Linger Longer Lounge. It’s the best Mexican brunch in the city hands down; I’ll put my money on that. He believes in the product, he believes in the people, he’s representing Mexican culture and Phoenix culture. I can’t wait for him to open a restaurant!”

📍Added in February 2024: “Chris Bianco is one of my biggest mentors. He opened a new location of Bar Bianco in Town & Country. It’s classic good food, classic good drinks. It’s more than just a bar—it’s for the community. I love that. He just does it right.”

📍Added in February 2024: “This new restaurant in Arcadia is from three beautiful chefs. It’s a little more upscale, and the food is good and has a soul to it. They’re doing things with originality.”

“Go into Andreoli and you’re gonna feel so Italian. Giovanni [Scorzo] is an amazing chef and mentor. His restaurant is a staple of Phoenix. Everybody knows this place. You go here if you want to feel like home. They welcome you. It’s a restaurant and a market: I go in there, buy a couple things—they have an amazing selection of stuff, like Calabrian peppers—then I sit down and eat. Usually Thursdays, they do these amazing pizzas. His daughter, Francesca, makes the pastries—she’s killing it!”

“This is a higher-end shop where you’d go to buy your Comme des Garçons, your Margiela, your cool, crazy outfits. It’s locally owned by people I’m friends with, and they make it so personalized for you. I shop for clothing, accessories, their candles and perfumes are amazing—they have everything.”

“The Churchill is a great place to bring an out-of-towner. It’s a big indoor-outdoor venue with multiple kiosks. You can get a drink from one spot, a burger, a little wine, a pizza, play cornhole, have a craft beer, check out the stores—there’s lots of things you can do there. The way they’ve put it together is pretty awesome.”

“These are not your regular tacos. These are tacos from Chihuahua. Everything they make is very, very, very good and always very consistent. The burritos are delicious. I get the gorditas de rajas. They’re so good I’m craving them right now! Tacos Chiwas has locations across the Phoenix area; I usually go to the one in Mesa.”

“There’s such a diversity of places in downtown Phoenix, and it didn’t use to be like that. Mount Sunny is a wellness store where you go to get acupuncture, cupping, get your vitamins, get the clothing they make. All the stuff they have going on is just good for the body. It’s pretty cool what they’re doing. This is a place you go to take care of yourself.”

“This is a cool spot with tacos from Sonora. I go there for lunch or a quick bite and get the taco de barbacoa or a vampiro. I grew up eating vampiros—it’s like the crunch of a tostada with your cheese and meat on top—and my preference is carne asada. It’s like a memory for me.”

“I’ve been cooking since I was seven years old, with my grandma. During the pandemic, I was part of another restaurant, and I was like, Ya know what? If this world ends, and I didn’t try something of my own, I’m gonna be very disappointed in myself. I quit my job and opened Bacanora. It’s Sonoran-focused cooking, over a wood fire, and it’s all specials—it changes every day. If you come 30 times, you’re gonna have 30 new dishes. That’s the beauty of what we do.”

“Glai Baan is a Thai street food restaurant in a little house. It’s very intimate. The staff is lovely, and the food is always consistent. Man, I didn’t know I loved Thai food this much until Glai Baan! The chef is from Thailand, and going here is like eating on the streets of Thailand. It’s very, very good food that you’re probably not expecting in Arizona.”

“Everyone knows Pizzeria Bianco, but I can’t not put it on this list. I love everything about it. I love Chris Bianco; he’s my favorite human being in the world. I love every single restaurant he has. It’s food that’s made out of love. You’re going to be stoked from the moment you sit down to the moment you leave.”

“Futuro is run my good friend Jorge [Ignacio Torres]. In Spanish, futuro means future; it’s a story he’s telling you about what the future might be. He has pastries, he has coffees, he has food on weekends—it’s like everything in one. They have this beautiful room where they cut hair, a beautiful white space where you’re going to find the craziest conversations. One day you’ll see a football player, and next to him is an artist. It’s a middle point where all kinds of people get to meet.”

“The name says it all, right? It keeps progressing! The guy behind this place, his name is TJ [Culp]. I’ve never met a bolder person! His concepts are very intimate and fun. He’s like a punk rock star. His food is, like, rebellion. You don’t know what to expect. He does killer dishes. It’s a little fancy, a beautiful little restaurant: a place to take a cute date.”

“1912 is a beautiful, chic bar inside a restaurant called Valentine—kind of like a speakeasy because you come through the back door, and there’s a neon sign in front that says ‘cocktails.’ They have record players playing different music, and these guys have some of the best drinks that I have seen. It’s an amazing thing they’ve got going on.”

“I wear glasses, and these guys have the most rare, amazing everything, from sunglasses to prescriptions. They’re based here in Phoenix, but they have locations in California too. The person who owns it, Christy [Kimball], is one of those caring people; she’s very lovely.”

“I own this space, but I go there a lot! One day we thought, Why don’t we open a bar? And we found this location and just went and opened a bar! We have a good selection of agaves—that’s what we focus on—we have local wines, we cook over an open flame. One day my brother’s making American food; next day Mexican, next day a katsu swordfish sandwich, next day a mushroom taco. The beauty is you don’t know what to expect!”

“The Greater Good is my barber. This guy, Jessie [Ponce], is a true artist. He doesn’t only do hair; he gives the space to local artists and photographers and people who make clothing. He’s a very artistic person, and he’s like a funny therapist. He’s my barber, but we’re friends too.”

“I’m a man, I cook all the time, and the first thing people see is my hands, so I want to take care of them! This is where I get my nails done. Everybody who works in this place is friends; they’re family. My friend Buddha—Jimmy [Nguyen] is his real name—is a true artist on the nails. He brings different cultures together in this space, and that’s why I love it so much.”

“Undefeated has stores all over the world. These guys at the Phoenix location make you feel like family: We are family, we are culture, let’s make this culture together. It’s really cool to get to have that place where you can find your cool shoes and get all dressed up.”

”What I love about the Phoenix Art Museum is that they want to give both international artists and artists who are coming up on the local art scene an opportunity. They have some pretty cool shows up right now. They do food there, and we’ve partnered with them to do events. If you come to Phoenix, you should check it out.”

”Manor is a shoe and clothing store, and one of the only places to carry streetwear, like Stüssy. It’s like the local Phoenix Undefeated. The owner, Jeremy [Davis], makes it such a personalized experience.”

“Since I’m a chef, people might think I’m supposed to be so tough, but it’s so important to take care of yourself! Skin by Ruby is right behind my restaurant; she does a lot of cool stuff, like facials and massages—everything that has to do with skin. I try to support a small business like ours. I go once a month or so. It’s so cool what she does.”

“I go to the farmers markets all the time. There are two specific people I always go to: Mi Catering and ArepaBabe. Mi Catering does burritos, and if you’ve never eaten a Sonoran burrito, man, they’re good. ArepaBabe does Columbian food, and she’s known for her arepas. They’re amazing.”