Restaurant will return
The Larder + The Delta will return to downtown Phoenix in a storefront space in Portland on the Park, on Portland Street west of Central Avenue.
The Larder + The Delta is soon to return, and as chef Stephen Jones promised, it isn’t moving far.
In July, Jones parted ways with DeSoto Central Market, a food hall in downtown Phoenix where he ran the popular six-seat counter, and began searching for a dedicated space for his contemporary Southern fare.
It didn’t take long. The Larder + The Delta has landed.
Jones has secured financing and signed a lease for a storefront space in Portland on the Park, a luxury condo development on Portland Street west of Central Avenue. That’s just around the corner from The Larder + The Delta’s previous home at DeSoto.
“I’ve looked at all of the restaurant spaces downtown. All of them,” Jones told The Republic in an exclusive interview. “And this spot just made sense to me. It feels like a neighborhood.”
It’s that neighborhood feel Jones hopes to capture in his cozy new digs, one of the most anticipated openings of this restaurant season.
The Larder + The Delta will seat 72 guests, split roughly in half between indoor and outdoor seating. The cooking will take place in an open kitchen surrounded by a U-shaped, 16-seat bar.
The restaurant will be able to utilize the adjacent Portland Parkway Park, which runs the length of the block, for special events, Jones added.
Jones is shooting for a March 1 opening.
When it reopens, The Larder + The Delta will serve lunch and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays, along with brunch on the weekends.
Jones is keeping the menu tight: “It’s 18 items, including dessert. I never want it to get bigger than that.”
Fans can expect the return of some old favorites, such as the fried cauliflower, hoppin’ John and Low Country perlou.
But Jones has been researching and experimenting, and will also be introducing new items like Delta hot tamales and a charred corn dish that’s spiked with cayenne peppers he has been fermenting for more than a year.
Before opening his own restaurant, Jones worked at a number of wellknown spots in the Valley, including Tarbell’s, The Boulders Resort and Kimpton Hotel Palomar Phoenix. Last year, he won $30,000 in “Guy’s Grocery Games: Impossible,” where he competed against British celebrity chef Robert Irvine in Guy Fieri’s Food Network show.