A dining destination? No, but we’ve evolved
Editor’s note: On Sunday, we started a conversation about what it will take to make the Valley a dining destination. Today, The Republic ’s longtime restaurant critic picks up where we left off. Recap the Sunday Living package, see a timeline of Valley restaurants by decade, and take a video tour of a landmark Phoenix steak house at dining.azcentral.com.
Let’s not waste any time debating whether the Valley is a first-tier restaurant destination. The answer is, “No.” We are not San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York or Chicago.
But we’ve come a long way — a very long way — from where we were even 35 years ago. Back in 1978, John and Joan Bogert published the Valley’s first restaurant guide, “100 Best Restaurants in the Valley of the Sun.” For the most part, it (unintentionally)
presented us as hicks from the sticks.
For example: The writeup of Sukiyaki, a Japanese restaurant, included a definition of sushi, because the Bogerts understood that local readers had no clue. The write-up also reassuringly noted that Sukiyaki served a “Happi hamburger” for “cautious American palates.” (Dinner for two, incidentally, was $12.50.)
At John’s Green Gables, the authors gushed that the butter for the crab legs “comes to the table over a flame to keep it warm. This is a big plus!” The exclamation mark says it all.
Among the “100 Best Restaurants” were grab-atray Piccadilly Cafeteria; three branches of the Red Lobster chain; and Bobby McGee’s, whose focal point was the salad bar piled in a giant tub.
But over the past 20 years, the Valley has grown way more sophisticated, and so has the restaurant scene. Three factors are responsible for nudging us up into the culinary second tier
First: Fine dining. We’re home to some of the country’s swankiest resorts and their signature dining rooms. The Valley also boasts five active James Beard Awardwinning chefs, as well as several other outstanding chefs with national reputations.
» Second: Diversity. BJ and the late Gilbert Hernandez came to the Valley in 1978 to open a Cuban restaurant. But the couple had to put off their first venture, Havana Cafe in Phoenix, for a decade because they discovered we were still a “cowboy town” and “not ready for it.”
But massive immigration — domestic and foreign — raised our culinary awareness and helped make once-exotic ingredients and dishes familiar. Today, some three dozen national cuisines have outposts in the Valley.
» Third: A growing base of independent restaurants, supported by an expanding pool of knowledgeable Gen Xers and Millennials. FnB, Citizen Public House, Rancho Pinot, Beckett’s Table, St. Francis, Crudo, Noca, Petite Maison, Marcellino and Posh — I could go on — wouldn’t be out of place in any first-tier city. They are the foundation on which a great restaurant scene has to be built.
So what’s keeping us from moving up into the first tier?
We’re not an international city — you can’t fly non-stop to South America, Asia or continental Europe from Sky Harbor International Airport. We’re not a national business or financial center. How many Fortune 500 companies are based in Arizona? Six, soon to be five, as US Airways completes its merger with American Airlines. We have fewer college graduates than most other large American cities. That translates to lower salaries and less disposable income.
Most of all, however, it’s our passion for chain restaurants. The Valley has the highest chain penetration rate of any major metropolitan area — 58 percent, compared with an average 45 percent rate elsewhere. The chains use the Valley as a testing ground for new concepts and products. Why? Because we are so reliably mainstream.
You can’t build a firsttier restaurant city on mass-market tastes. The supply of fine dining, independent chefs and ethnic restaurants depends on demand. And right now, there’s only so much of it.