The Best Places to Eat in Phoenix, by the Record
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Rank 198. Cafetal Coffee
Colombian Coffee
The coffee here traveled from a family farm in Colombia to a mural on the wall mapping the whole journey, and eventually into your cup. This Tempe coffee shop serves arepas and pandebono alongside the usual avocado toast, and regulars at the counter tend to get greeted by name. The seasonal menu turns over often enough to reward repeat visits, and the vibe leans comfortably toward long mornings with homework or nowhere particular to be.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Coffee Shop · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
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Rank 198. Don Guerra's Barrio Bagel & Slice
Sonoran Bakery
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Tucson Import · Best of Phoenix
- Eater The Best Bakeries in Phoenix, Arizona
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A coffee shop tucked among antique stores and auto garages in Old Town Peoria, which tells you something about the neighborhood and something about the owners' confidence. Driftwood keeps things bright and unhurried, pulls from both local and national roasters, and runs a menu that ranges from straightforward espresso drinks to things called Cereal Killer Lattes. A small shelf of local ceramics and art lines one wall, in case the matcha wasn't enough.
- Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Matcha · Best of Phoenix
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Sandwiched between carburetor and machine shops on Buckeye Road, this cash-and-linoleum Mexican diner has been feeding the neighborhood long before the concept of "hole-in-the-wall chic" existed. Breakfast is the reason to show up: chilaquiles drowning in red or green salsa, Sunday menudo, and hearty caldo stews that have no interest in being photogenic. Phoenix New Times has named it Best Mexican Diner, and Eater flagged the machaca as one of Phoenix's most iconic dishes.
- Phoenix New Times 2023 · Best Chilaquiles · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Mexican Diner · Best of Phoenix
- Eater Machaca · The Most Iconic Dishes in Phoenix
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Rank 198. SugarJam
Southern
Challah soaked in Grand Marnier, griddled until the sugar crust cracks like a crème brûlée top, is the thing people come back for at this Southern brunch spot in Scottsdale. Catfish and grits, chicken and waffles, and a waffle so light it barely holds its own weight round out a menu that swings comfortably between sweet and savory. Weekends bring a DJ and mimosas on every table; weekdays are quieter and the wait is shorter.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Brunch · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Brunch · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 198. Taco Boys
Mexican
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Rank 198. Taco Boys
Mexican
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Rank 198. Taco Boys
Mexican
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Rank 198. Taco Boys
Mexican
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Rank 198. Taco Boys
Mexican
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Rank 212. Aruma Cafe
Mexican Coffee Shop
Baby pink tiles and floor-to-ceiling windows set the mood at this Mexican coffee shop inside Tempe's car-free Culdesac community. Daytime runs on carajillos, mazapan lattes, horchata, and breakfast bites; Thursday through Saturday it pivots to wine, amari, and ceviche. The team behind Tacos Chiwas brought the same ease here, and the cozy booths fill with people who seem in no particular hurry to leave.
- Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
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Rank 212. Bar Capri
Italian
The curved brick entryway opens into an oblong room of deep green walls, gold candelabras, and picture frames, which is a lot to pull off inside a Tempe strip mall. Bar Capri is an Italian restaurant and bar with the bones of a big-city neighborhood spot: cocktails and a tight wine list from a back bar, lasagna and arancini coming through the kitchen window. Tiramisu closes things out, and nobody seems in a hurry to leave.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
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- Phoenix New Times Our top 10 favorite restaurants in Tempe
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Rank 212. Bobby-Q BBQ
Barbecue
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Rank 212. CATCH
Sushi
A steak-and-sushi restaurant inside Scottsdale Fashion Square, which tells you exactly who the room is built for. The menu runs from raw fish and specialty rolls through wagyu and pasta, so you can arrive with shopping bags and leave with a bill to match. The herb-roasted branzino, served over lemon rice, has drawn particular attention from local critics. Not cheap, but the kitchen takes the food more seriously than the setting might suggest.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times Herb-Roasted Branzino · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
- Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale
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Rank 212. Fourtillfour
Coffee
A roll-up garage door on a repurposed corner house sets the tone for this tiny Old Town Scottsdale coffee shop, which doubles as a weekend car show venue. The counter fits maybe two people standing, but a shaded patio and a quiet garden out back absorb the overflow. Weekend mornings bring themed gatherings of Porsches or vintage off-roaders, which pairs better with a lavender honey latte than you might expect.
- Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
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Rank 212. La Zozzona
Italian
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Rank 212. Main Burgers
American
White tiles, pastel trim, and a cartoon burger grinning at you from the wall set the tone at this retro counter-service burger joint on downtown Mesa's main drag. The team behind Tacos Chiwas and Espiritu kept things deliberately simple: a short menu of semi-smashed burgers, hot dogs, loaded fries, and aguas frescas. The Sonora burger, stacked with griddled cheese, chiltepin, and bacon, is the one people talk about.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times Sonora Burger · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
- Phoenix New Times The top 10 burger joints in Phoenix
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Rank 212. Pita Jungle
Mediterranean
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Rank 212. Provision
Coffee
A three-level, sunlight-flooded cafe in uptown Phoenix that also runs a full cocktail program, which makes the brunch crowd's priorities refreshingly transparent. Provision is a modern coffee shop doing the classics alongside seasonal lattes and mocha with Oreo crumbles, with quiche, pastries, and sandwiches filling out a menu that gives people a reason to stay well past the first cup.
- Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
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Rank 212. The Green Woodpecker
Modern Mexican
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Rank 212. UnderTow
Tiki Cocktail Bar
The whole room is built to look like the cargo hold of a 19th-century ship, portholes and all, which sets the stakes early at this immersive tiki bar on Indian School. The cocktail menu runs from classics to the team's own riffs on the genre, leaning into the full theatrical bit without apologizing for it. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top tiki bar, and the Spirited Awards put the bar team among the top four in the U.S.
- Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner: Barter & Shake · Outstanding Hospitality Group
- Spirited Awards 2024 · Top 4 Finalist · Best U.S. Bar Team
- Foodist Awards 2023 · Winner · Most Creative Handcrafted Cocktail
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Two-thirds of this coffee shop's floor space belongs to the roasting operation, not the tables, which tells you everything about where the priorities are. Bags of beans, multiple roasters, all the gear, and baristas who actually want to talk through the difference between a washed process and an unwashed one. The website specifies that specialty coffee newcomers are in a safe place here, and they mean it.
- Phoenix New Times The 10 Best Coffee Shops in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best coffee shops in Phoenix
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Rank 233. Fàme Caffe
New American
Fresh rosemary on wooden tables and a bottle of house-made hot sauce waiting when you sit down sets the tone at this counter-service cafe. The farmhouse-chic room has soft bistro lights, chalkboard menus, and a walk-up window that made takeout brunch a neighborhood ritual. The line down the block on weekends is the real menu recommendation. Phoenix New Times named it best breakfast in 2024.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Breakfast · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best brunch restaurants in Phoenix
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Rank 233. Happy Baos
Northern Chinese
Tucked just off the food court at Mekong Plaza, this Northern Chinese bao shop has outlasted neighbors that came and went while it quietly became a fixture. Handmade dumplings arrive chewy and properly sealed, with steamed buns and xiao long bao filling out the menu. Dan dan noodles and a cucumber salad round things out for anyone who wants something beyond the folded stuff. Phoenix New Times named it the best dumplings in Phoenix.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Dumplings · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Dumplings · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 233. Harlow's Cafe
Diner American
Wood-paneled walls and a parking lot that fills before most people have checked their phones: Harlow's is an old-school Tempe diner that hasn't felt the need to update anything. Booths pack in early birds and retirees at dawn, then hand off to the hangover crowd around nine. The coffee is black, the burritos are large, and the servers are the kind who remember how you take it. Phoenix New Times named it one of the ten best brunch spots in Phoenix.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Old-School Diner · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best brunch restaurants in Phoenix
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Rank 233. Joe's Diner
American
The bright yellow building in Phoenix's Melrose District is hard to argue with at 7 a.m. Joe's is an old-school diner with booths, round group tables, and road signs on the walls, the kind of place where the coffee is black and nobody's trying to impress you. Weekends bring a line out front, which the regulars seem to take as confirmation rather than inconvenience. The biscuits and gravy and oversized burritos do the heavy lifting.
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Classic Diner · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix
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Rank 233. Killer Whale Sex Club
Cocktail Bar
The walls at this dim Roosevelt Row cocktail lounge are lined with polaroids of patrons who've shed a little more than their inhibitions, all tasteful enough that you'd call it art if pressed. The drinks from the veteran team change often and lean experimental, which pairs nicely with the dark, slightly conspiratorial atmosphere. Named a Regional Top 10 Honoree at the Spirited Awards, it earns the recognition without trying too hard to.
- Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Top Mixologist/Bartender · Brenon Stuart
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Cocktails With a Side of Tasteful Nudity · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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Rank 233. Maeva
Fine dining French
Dark walls, checkerboard tile, and a four-course French tasting menu in a Gilbert strip suite, which is not a sentence anyone expected to write. Maeva runs all day, so you can stop in for a lavender latte in the morning and then come back dressed up for dinner. The kitchen does a la carte too, but the tasting menu is the main event, with servers who steer the pairings and explain each plate without making you feel like you're being graded.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best new Phoenix restaurants of 2025
- Phoenix New Times Chicken Soup en Croute · The 10 best bites we tasted at Phoenix restaurants
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Rank 233. Pizzeria Virtu
Wood-fired Pizza
A wood-fired pizza spot set inside an actual house, backyard patio and all, in a neighborhood that otherwise runs on bottle service and valet queues. Chef Gio Osso, known for finer dining elsewhere in the Valley, keeps things loose here: simple salads, pies with charred, bubbled crusts, and toppings that lean toward chestnut honey and rapini pesto rather than the standard playbook. Bring a bottle and a friend who won't mind lingering.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Pizza · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 12 best restaurants in Scottsdale
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Rank 233. POMO
Neapolitan Pizza
A wood-fired oven big enough to anchor the room sets the tone at this Neapolitan pizza restaurant in Scottsdale, where the dough is certified by the Verace Pizza Napoletana Association, which is Naples's way of saying they're watching. The menu fans out across Italian regional cooking, with a lean toward pasta, but the Margherita is the honest measure of the place. Outdoor spaces and a lively room mean the noise level is part of the deal.
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At Sizzle, the servers run the grill, so you can just sit there looking relaxed and cosmopolitan while someone else does the work. This Korean barbecue spot builds its menu around pork or beef sampler platters, with different cuts arriving in waves alongside banchan, salad, and steamed egg. Soju cocktails filled with fresh fruit handle the drinks side. Phoenix New Times named it the top Korean barbecue in the area.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Korean Barbecue · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Korean Barbecue · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 233. The Eleanor
Breakfast American
The counter stools and cozy booths have the feel of a midcentury diner, which is exactly the point: The Eleanor is a breakfast and brunch spot built as a deliberate antidote to Scottsdale's party-brunch scene. Pancakes, hash, and biscuits and gravy share the menu with avocado toast and Buddha bowls, and the grab-and-go fridge means you can linger over slow coffee or bolt, your call.
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Breakfast · Best of Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best breakfast spots in Phoenix
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The communal high-top near the entrance is the first thing you notice, and on social hour nights it's the last thing you want to leave. Beckett's Table is a neighborhood restaurant in Arcadia doing Southwestern comfort food with the kind of ease that comes from a chef who's been cooking since childhood. The fork-tender short ribs and a fig-and-pecan pie that the city seems to have adopted as its own keep regulars coming back without much deliberation.
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Rank 243. Board & Batten
Modern New American
String lights, a sprawling patio, and a wedding venue next door set the tone at this cozy modern bistro tucked behind an office park in Mesa. It reads like an elegant garden party that wandered off and found a better location. The menu rotates with the seasons, leaning toward steaks, fresh seafood, and handmade pasta, with shareable starters and a dessert list worth saving room for. A Phoenix New Times top 50 pick.
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Rank 243. Brunch & Sip
Southwestern Southern
The fried chicken biscuit comes with a wooden skewer through it just to hold the whole thing together, which tells you something about the kitchen's ambitions. This Southern-Southwestern brunch spot from the family behind Lo-Lo's Chicken and Waffles leans into the occasion: tableside bananas Foster, a full cocktail menu you can nurse past noon, and a cheerful indoor-outdoor room that has enough energy to feel like a party without scaring off anyone's parents.
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Rank 243. Cultura Mexicana
Mexican
Frida Kahlo shares wall space with a pink-legged chameleon and a saguaro the size of a doorway, which tells you a lot about this cheerful Mexican brunch spot in downtown Glendale. Weekend mornings fill with families and kids while the drinks arrive dressed up: horchata in a jar with a peanut dulce de leche rim, cafe de olla in mismatched earthenware. The pambazo, a football-sized sandwich dunked in guajillo chile, is not a thing you order by accident.
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Rank 243. Da Vang
Vietnamese
The cracked-laminate menus at this Vietnamese restaurant in a Phoenix strip mall are entirely on purpose. Fourteen kinds of pho anchor the menu, portions are generous enough to require a to-go container, and the hot coffee with sweetened condensed milk is a good reason to linger. Prices hover around $15, the room is multi-roomed and no-frills, and the com tam dac biet piles broken rice with what feels like the entire menu on one plate.
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Rank 243. Eric's Family Barbecue
Barbecue
The smoker out back is a salvaged propane tank, and the brisket it produces comes out in thick, wide folds that smell of mesquite and barely hold their shape. Eric's is a cafeteria-style BBQ joint in Avondale where the wood-only smoke method is a point of pride, and the smoked turkey and dry-rubbed ribs carry it through. Sides like cheese-dusted elote keep the backyard cookout spirit intact. Phoenix New Times named it among the top 50 restaurants in the metro.
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- AZ Central Best Uptown Phoenix coffee shops for curling up with a book · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
- AZ Central Best bars in metro Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times The Top 100 Bars in Phoenix
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Rank 243. Lon’s at the Hermosa Inn
Southwest American
Cactus, olive trees, cream umbrellas, and a fountain doing its thing: the patio at Lon's is the whole reason to come for weekend brunch. The Old West dining room inside is a backup plan, not the goal. Southwest staples like chilaquiles and huevos rancheros share the menu with oysters and salmon Benedicts, which is a range that sounds odd until you're sitting there with a blood orange mimosa and stop caring.
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- Imbibe Where to Drink in Phoenix
- AZ Central Best Uptown Phoenix coffee shops for meeting friends or making new ones · The ultimate guide to the best Phoenix cafes
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Rank 243. Malegria Latin Cafe
Central American Mexican Coffee Shop
A shaded patio tucked behind a corner cafe on Grand Avenue is a good argument for slowing down on a weekday morning. Malegria is an all-day Latin cafe drawing on Mexican, Guatemalan, and Salvadoran cooking, so the coffee comes sweetened with piloncillo or horchata, and the breakfast sandwich arrives on bolillo bread with fried plantains and crema verde. The crowd tends to linger, which the patio quietly encourages.
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Rank 243. Merci French Cafe
French
The pastry case sets the pace at this all-day French cafe in Scottsdale: grab a croissant on your way out, or settle into the chic little dining room for a proper quiche with a flaky crust and a side salad dressed in a vinaigrette so good they bottle it for sale. Crepes, eggs Benedict, and omelets round out the menu. French conversation drifts out from the kitchen, which feels less like ambiance and more like a genuine reflex.
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Turquoise booths and a menu that hasn't needed rethinking in decades: this Scottsdale franchise of the national pancake-house chain has been the neighborhood's default breakfast spot for a long time. The Dutch Baby, finished with lemon and whipped butter, is the order that regulars treat as non-negotiable. Griddle-focused, diner-priced, and reliably packed on weekend mornings with people who had the good sense to arrive early.
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Rank 243. Que Chevere
Venezuelan Caribbean
Thick griddled corn arepas, stuffed or served alongside shredded beef and rice, are the spine of this Venezuelan Caribbean restaurant in downtown Mesa. The team graduated from a food truck to a brick-and-mortar, and the kitchen still rolls out hot cheese sticks every morning. The patacon swaps buns for fried plantains, and the cachapa, a sweet corn pancake, earns its own detour. A bar handles tropical drinks.
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Rank 243. Rayoog Cafe
Middle Eastern
A Middle Eastern breakfast cafe in the Gilbert suburbs, Rayoog has other locations in Jordan and Iraq, which gives you a sense of what this place is actually for. The move is to come with people willing to share: platters arrive loaded with eggs, hummus, falafel, yogurt, fava beans, and baba ghanoush, and the signature trays stack two metal teapots on top of a ring of small sweet and savory dishes, which is a genuinely dramatic way to start a morning.
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Rank 243. Tambayan Filipino Food
Filipino
Yellow booths, green walls, and neon lighting make Tambayan look like someone decorated with pure enthusiasm, which turns out to be the right call for a Filipino homestyle restaurant that spent years as a pop-up and food truck before landing a permanent spot on Camelback. The halo halo, layered and rainbow-colored, is the dessert equivalent of that same energy. Phoenix New Times named it the city's top Filipino restaurant.
- Phoenix New Times The top 50 restaurants in Phoenix right now
- Phoenix New Times 2025 · Best Filipino Restaurant · Best of Phoenix
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The owl-themed knick-knacks, artwork, and furniture covering every surface are all for sale, which is either charming or a lot to process before coffee. This casual brunch cafe imported its loyal following from Flagstaff, where lines used to stretch down the street on weekends. Giant cinnamon rolls, football-sized burritos, and a full vegan menu cover the table. The Newton location sits conveniently next to Changing Hands Bookstore, for after.
- Phoenix New Times The 10 best brunch restaurants in Phoenix
- Phoenix New Times 2024 · Best Flagstaff Import · Best of Phoenix
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Rank 243. Vovomeena
New American
A pastry case you have to walk past before you even reach the counter is a clever design choice for a breakfast spot. Vovomeena runs a casual line-order setup near downtown Phoenix with a genuinely neighborhood feel, leaning on local suppliers for eggs, sausage, and coffee. The Pain Perdu swaps bread for banana bread pudding, and the chile-corn Johnnycakes remind you this is the Southwest.
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- Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist · Top Chef · David Bowman
- Foodist Awards 2023 · Finalist: After’Mac’ Mac & Cheese · Best Dish in a Supporting Role
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Rank 284. Birrieria Obregon 2
Mexican
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Rank 284. Chicago Hamburger Company
Chicago-style American
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Rank 284. Drunken Tiger
Korean
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Rank 284. El Fogon Taqueria
Authentic Mexican
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Rank 284. Estero Beach
Mexican
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