Metro Phoenix Dining Thread

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by biggus diggus

Churchill has reopened so we drove down to visit Captain Hamburger for lunch - we love their chopped salad that originally appeared at Cowboy Ciao - but it is the latest COVID casualty. Will not be reopening.

Unlike Foxy Fruit, Freak Brother, and Provecho, that restaurant had no exterior window facing the street. That may have made it more difficult to offer takeout during the closure of the Churchill's main space.

[PHXflyer]

Originally Posted by exit2lef

Unlike Foxy Fruit, Freak Brother, and Provecho, that restaurant had no exterior window facing the street. That may have made it more difficult to offer takeout during the closure of the Churchill's main space.

They do have a walk up window fronting 1st St, but they chose to not use it. I see on their website that they are starting delivery orders this Wednesday via a ghost kitchen at their sister restaurant, The Gladly. Strange, that they are keeping the name alive if they don’t plan on reopening. Also strange that they didn’t have takeout through all of this as that’s what their business primarily was to begin with. Hope they stick around.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by PHXflyer

They do have a walk up window fronting 1st St, but they chose to not use it.

Thanks. I somehow overlooked that detail. That particular space has seen two tenants so far while the rest of the food vendors have been steady since the opening. I wonder if there are other issues with that spot, or if it's just a coincidence.

[ASU Diablo]

Rough ride for Greenwood Brewing during the pandemic. Tentatively scheduled to open next month.

Megan Greenwood, the owner of Greenwood Brewing, compared the past two months of trying to get her fledgling business up and running to strapping herself into the biggest, scariest amusement park ride.

“It’s a total roller coaster – the lowest lows and the highest highs,” she said. “You feel it even more as a small business owner.”

Greenwood originally planned to open her brewery on Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix during February, but a last-minute design change moved the opening of Greenwood Brewing to late March. When the coronavirus hit, she actually felt grateful because she hadn’t staffed the taproom yet. Construction was still being allowed so she had a plan where they would finish the building in April and she’d start brewing beer.

In mid-March, Greenwood came in contact with someone who might have been exposed to Covid-19, so she was self-isolating at home when her brewing equipment was installed. Having her own system installed was something she had looked forward to for three years, but she had to watch it happen over FaceTime.

“It was exciting,” she said. “It felt so good, even with what else is happening in the world.”

By the end of March she was still unsure what the future would hold, but decided to take the money she was planning to use for the taproom’s tables and chairs and bought a canning line. Her original plan was to make beer that would be sold in her taproom or at other bars and restaurants. With the future of bars and restaurants on hold, she decided it would be smart to start canning her own beer immediately.

Yet as the shutdown stretched further into April, Greenwood realized she was not going to be brewing beer after all.

The people on the construction side of the project were not comfortable working because of the virus. For six weeks there was no progress made, and Greenwood wasn’t any closer to making any new beer.

“You have to respect that in these times, but we’ve had to shift the schedule again,” Greenwood said in late April. “I want everyone to be safe, but there is a byproduct of closing the company.”

To add insult to injury, Greenwood didn’t sell a single keg of her existing product until the second to last day of the month.

Greenwood had plans and a budget, but the continual delays were making it hard to stay within that budget. With construction not happening, revenue nearly at zero and an end date not really in sight, Greenwood laid off all three of her employees in April.

“No one wants to learn how to lay off staff,” Greenwood said. “I had to learn that [in April].”

This year was suppose to be about growing a team. Instead Greenwood had to let people go for a few weeks until she had a better idea of when she would be making a product again.

Early during Arizona’s stay-at-home order that began in late March, Greenwood said she felt she needed to stay busy to help the company survive. She spent time painting used furniture she bought off Facebook Marketplace for the taproom.

“I’ve been working on this for three years. We have to open. There is no other option,” Greenwood said. “I want to continue to be optimistic. There is no Plan B.”

She kept telling herself she needed to stay positive. Only later was she able to see what she thought was positivity was actually just her distracting herself from the gravity of the coronavirus.

“I refused to believe business was going to be impacted by the pandemic,” Greenwood said. “That was probably my ego.”

Slowly during April, Greenwood said she came to realize small tasks like painting chairs wasn’t going to help get things going any faster. As construction was picking up and statewide restrictions on breweries and bars were still in place, Greenwood decided to refocus some energy on the people she hopes will be drinking her beer soon.

Greenwood, a former engineer who quit her job in 2016 to focus on the brewery full-time, wouldn’t be this close to opening her own restaurant if it wasn’t for the community she already cultivated. During 2018, she raised $68,000 with a Kickstarter campaign to open her own taproom. She used that money to help get better terms on her SBA 7(a) loan.

So many people donated to her taproom project not necessarily because how her beer tasted, but what it represented. Greenwood Brewing is one of the few female-owned breweries in the country, and Greenwood wants to hire as many women as possible to run the brewery with her. Brewing a beer for women by women is her goal.

On May 6, Greenwood rehired her marketing manager. The two of them are working on reengaging her followers and letting them know the taproom could be open as early as June.

Since starting the brewery in 2017, Greenwood has used her website and social media channels to highlight female entrepreneurs that – in Greenwood’s mind – haven’t had their stories told before. She has interviewed female pilots, photographers and other brewers for her “Herstory Spotlight.”

Ideally Greenwood wants these stories to be shared over a pint of her beer, but until that can happen she wants the stories being told online. By refocusing on telling these tales, Greenwood reminded herself about what inspired her to take this risk in the first place.

She is optimistic, but also realistic about opening again. The brewing equipment is set to start running the first week of June. Then Greenwood said she hopes to have people drinking beer in her taproom or purchasing it to go later in the month.

Not only would that give her a sense of accomplishment, but also some revenue to mark down on her balance sheet.

Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...-pandemic.html

[PHXFireBirds]

By any chance, does anyone know what the building directly south of Sazerac will be? Also what about the building directly south of Matt's Big Breakfast? I'm assuming that's probably an expansion to MBB.
Also, I heard that glass building directly south of Taco Chelo (on RoRo & 5th St) is going to be a brewery. Is there any truth to that?
Thanks.

[Phxguy]

Originally Posted by PHXFireBirds

By any chance, does anyone know what the building directly south of Sazerac will be? Also the building directly south of Matt's Big Breakfast? I'm assuming MBB is expanding.
Thanks.

The building south of Sazerac was supposed to be a bar called ‘The Lucky Lounge’ owned by TNS and had an opening date in May. Don’t have any further knowledge on it, seems like its been quiet for a while.

The building south of MBB is another bar, I believe. They’ve made plenty of progress in renovations, only a matter of time before a liquor license.

[PHXFireBirds]

Originally Posted by Phxguy

The building south of Sazerac was supposed to be a bar called ‘The Lucky Lounge’ owned by TNS and had an opening date in May. Don’t have any further knowledge on it, seems like its been quiet for a while.

The building south of MBB is another bar, I believe. They’ve made plenty of progress in renovations, only a matter of time before a liquor license.

Awesome. Thanks @Phxguy. Also, I heard that glass building directly south of Taco Chelo (on RoRo & 5th St) is going to be a brewery and the house directly to that will be a bar of some sort called something like "Tap It". Is there any truth to this? I know that project is called "The Blocks" by TNS.

[ASU Diablo]

Originally Posted by PHXFireBirds

Awesome. Thanks @Phxguy. Also, I heard that glass building directly south of Taco Chelo (on RoRo & 5th St) is going to be a brewery and the house directly to that will be a bar of some sort called something like "Tap It". Is there any truth to this? I know that project is called "The Blocks" by TNS.

The Blocks of Roosevelt Row is actually owned by Desert Viking. But hopefully that brewery rumor is true for the 2-story glass building We need more breweries!!

[ASU Diablo]

Update on Punch Bowl Social locations and new investors. Hopefully this means it gets to reopen in near future...

Punch Bowl Social will close down its location in Denver's former Stapleton Airport over a dispute with its landlord, but the founder of the “eatertainment” chain said Tuesday that he expects to announce a partnership with a new funder at some point in the near future.

The Denver-headquartered concept closed all 20 of its nationwide locations in mid-March as the coronavirus pandemic ramped up, and its future looked like it could be in question when its primary investor, Cracker Barrel Restaurants (Nasdaq: CBRL) told founder Robert Thompson on March 15 that it would not guarantee a loan or put any more money into the company. It faces a harder road to reopen under operating restrictions in most states, as it operates large spaces that combine craft cocktails and scratch-made food with games ranging from bowling to miniature gold to virtual reality.

Thompson told the Denver Business Journal on Tuesday that two restaurants will not reopen — one in Schaumberg, Illinois, and the Stapleton location that opened in November 2017. The same landlord operates both sites, and Thompson said he simply could not come to a lease agreement with it “that reflects the new economy.”

But while he is disappointed to give up the renovation of a historic Denver site that also served as the headquarters for the chain, he said he is confident in the bigger-picture future for the company even as he searches for new HQ space. He has had conversations with about 40 private-equity firms, high-net-worth individual or funds of various types since mid-March and said that he hopes to have an announcement in the “near to mid-term” about how the company will proceed.

Punch Bowl Social had planned to open a restaurant on Roosevelt Street in downtown Phoenix this spring, but coronavirus closures in the Valley prevented it. The company had built out a 15,000-square-foot former industrial building with an 8,000-square-foot patio and hired staff. The 123 staff members were laid off before the location opened.

Phoenix is still listed among six locations coming soon from the company on its website.

“In the current economic conditions, the fact that we have been able to field this much interest shows that everybody understands this is not a Punch Bowl problem but a global problem,” Thompson said. “As sure as you and I are on this phone, Punch Bowl Social will reopen.”

In fact, Thompson said he is close to reopening one of the concept’s restaurants — either in Georgia or Texas, which both have more lenient restrictions on restaurant and entertainment operations — to see how it will function in a coronavirus-addled world. Aside from cleaning far more frequently, he does not see operations changing greatly, though, as surveys have revealed that as much as 82% of millennials and Gen Z members, which make up the primary customers for the concept, are ready to return now to gatherings.

Punch Bowl Social will maintain its original location, on Broadway in Denver, but will not reopen under the state’s existing guidelines, which limit restaurants to a maximum of 50 customers inside no matter their size. That location can house 1,000 people under its fire code, and Thompson said he believes it is “silly” that the state imposes the same crowd restrictions on such a facility as it does on a small eatery, a concern that’s been echoed also by the Colorado Restaurant Association.

When he does ink a deal with a new funding partner, he will have to have to undertake an extensive restaffing process, as Punch Bowl laid off or furloughed some 2,300 workers and has been operating with a skeleton staff of 39 people during the pandemic. The closing of the Stapleton and Schaumberg facilities, which will reduce its locations to 18, will mean the permanent loss of jobs for about 150 workers, though Thompson said he will try to fill open positions at the Broadway location with Stapleton workers when it reopens.

Thompson said that while he does not anticipate any more location closings, the future of all of the restaurants depends on his landlords’ willingness to renegotiate leases that reflect the revenue losses the chain has accrued and the ones it will take going forward. And he said that is an important message that property owners of any restaurant space must understand if they want to keep their storefronts and stand-alone real estate occupied in the next year.

“We still have some work to do with other landlords. Most of them that we’re in this together and that we’re taking a hit as a restaurant,” he said. “We’re asking the landlords to take hits. The landlords have lenders, and the lenders will need to take a hit. If we don’t all take a hit, I think that’s just tone-deaf. And I think we all need to work together in this economy.”

Source: https://www.bizjournals.com/phoenix/...n-closing.html

[Phxguy]

Originally Posted by PHXFireBirds

Awesome. Thanks @Phxguy. Also, I heard that glass building directly south of Taco Chelo (on RoRo & 5th St) is going to be a brewery and the house directly to that will be a bar of some sort called something like "Tap It". Is there any truth to this? I know that project is called "The Blocks" by TNS.

I would welcome a brewery if that’s the case for the glass building. We can always use more! Not sure what’s in store, their website doesn’t reflect any changes and hasn’t been updated in a while. Although Desert Viking has a good record of attracting retailers, despite not achieving 100% occupancy in its downtown properties, I do wonder how leasing might be affected for a space this large.

And you are correct, the house directly south of that (909 N 5th St) had a liquor license pulled about 2 months ago for a bar called ‘Tap It” or “Tap That” something along those lines.

[PHXFireBirds]

Originally Posted by ASU Diablo

The Blocks of Roosevelt Row is actually owned by Desert Viking. But hopefully that brewery rumor is true for the 2-story glass building We need more breweries!!

AMEN to that!

[Obadno]

[QUOTE=ASU Diablo;8946835]Update on Punch Bowl Social locations and new investors. Hopefully this means it gets to reopen in near future...


Yeah interesting that they said the ones they plan to close, other than rumors and grapevine has Punch Bowl actually said they plan to Abandon the Downtown Phoenix location?

[exit2lef]

Nook is closing its downtown location:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBRkiaUH...d=p6zvcag1833b

Interesting coincidence with the news of the possible demolition of the Steinegger Lodge next door.

[TJPHXskyscraperfan]

Originally Posted by exit2lef

Nook is closing its downtown location:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBRkiaUH...d=p6zvcag1833b

Interesting coincidence with the news of the possible demolition of the Steinegger Lodge next door.

Steinegger Lodge? What and where is that?

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by TJPHXskyscraperfan

Steinegger Lodge? What and where is that?

It's the building we're discussing currently in the Phoenix Development thread. It's an historic structure, currently vacant and boarded up, wedged between the Hilton Garden Inn and the Renaissance hotel. Preservations are on alert because the owner has sought a demolition permit. There's no actual relationship between the demolition and the closure of the restaurant; it's just an interesting coincidence that both are happening in adjacent buildings at the same time.

[exit2lef]

I stopped by the new H Mart in Mesa. That's the Korean grocery store chain that has been in "coming soon" status for years. They've finally opened in the shopping center on the southeast corner of Dobson and Main. That plaza has long been dead with a vacant anchor and only a few stray tenants around the edges. Yesterday, it felt lively for the first time I can remember. Not only is H Mart there, but most of the rest of the space is full, much of it with Korean-oriented businesses.

H Mart itself is sort of a wonderland. When you first enter (masks required), it feels sort of like a mini-Ikea as you wander through a section devoted to housewares. There are rice cookers, tabletop grills, and even Hello Kitty toilet paper now that the hoarding is over. Beyond lies a big grocery with a definite emphasis on Korean goods. Think abundant fresh produce, a full-service meat and seafood section, and aisles full of noodles and sauces. In one corner, there's an entire section devoted to kimchi.

On other side of the store are spaces leased to small food service tenants. There's a bakery called Paris Baguette, which blends European and Asian bread and pastry traditions and a linear food court with specialized stalls offering noodles, tofu dishes, and even chicken wings, all in a Korean style. Even with some of the tables off limits due to the virus, it was bustling. A children's play area is visible in one corner, although it is shrouded in shrinkwrap until conditions are safe to unveil it.

Definitely worth a visit. Despite the pandemic and the racist sentiments it has sometimes enabled, this represents a major expansion of Mesa's Asian business district.

[muertecaza]

Originally Posted by exit2lef

I stopped by the new H Mart in Mesa. That's the Korean grocery store chain that has been in "coming soon" status for years. They've finally opened in the shopping center on the southeast corner of Dobson and Main. That plaza has long been dead with a vacant anchor and only a few stray tenants around the edges. Yesterday, it felt lively for the first time I can remember. Not only is H Mart there, but most of the rest of the space is full, much of it with Korean-oriented businesses.

H Mart itself is sort of a wonderland. When you first enter (masks required), it feels sort of like a mini-Ikea as you wander through a section devoted to housewares. There are rice cookers, tabletop grills, and even Hello Kitty toilet paper now that the hoarding is over. Beyond lies a big grocery with a definite emphasis on Korean goods. Think abundant fresh produce, a full-service meat and seafood section, and aisles full of noodles and sauces. In one corner, there's an entire section devoted to kimchi.

On other side of the store are spaces leased to small food service tenants. There's a bakery called Paris Baguette, which blends European and Asian bread and pastry traditions and a linear food court with specialized stalls offering noodles, tofu dishes, and even chicken wings, all in a Korean style. Even with some of the tables off limits due to the virus, it was bustling. A children's play area is visible in one corner, although it is shrouded in shrinkwrap until conditions are safe to unveil it.

Definitely worth a visit. Despite the pandemic and the racist sentiments it has sometimes enabled, this represents a major expansion of Mesa's Asian business district.

Thanks for the review. My mouth was watering while reading it! I will definitely check H Mart out soon.

[biggus diggus]

Curious what racist sentiments have come up regarding this store, not often I hear about racism towards Asians around here. I always thought Koreans especially flew under the radar most of the time.

[exit2lef]

Originally Posted by biggus diggus

Curious what racist sentiments have come up regarding this store, not often I hear about racism towards Asians around here. I always thought Koreans especially flew under the radar most of the time.

To my knowledge, there have been no specific acts of racism directed against this store. I was referring more generally to incidents around the country directed towards people and organizations of east Asian origin based on the perception that the pandemic is the “Chinese virus.” When such incidents occur, they are often undifferentiated because the perpetrator has no understanding of the cultural and historic differences among China, Japan, Korea, and other nearby nations.

[biggus diggus]

I must live under a rock, people are mistreating Asian looking folks because they're stupid enough to think Asians share responsibility for the pandemic?