Best Underground Restaurant 2024 | Rough Rider | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best Underground Restaurant

Rough Rider

Kyla Hein

To get to Rough Rider, you have to take the elevator down from the ground floor — but not just any elevator. It's gotta be the middle one. But once you pass that test, you're in for a treat. That is, if there's space to get a seat. The small, rustic, Teddy Roosevelt-themed space is both parts cozy and bustling, like something out of 1900s New York or Chicago. With wood paneling and dim lighting, the aura is moody and perfect for a date night. And then there are the food and drinks. The restaurant is known for serving oysters and a range of other seafood dishes, as well as chops of meat like ribeye and duck breast. Shareable dishes like salads, baked crab dip and roasted cauliflower make good options for the not-quite-so-hungry. Rough Rider's seasoned bartenders can serve up any drink, but the house specialty is the joint's boozy tea punches. The tasteful libations and soothing ambiance make this the best subterranean spot in the Valley.

Best Authentic Arizona Restaurant

Fry Bread House

Lauren Cusimano

When Cecelia Miller moved to Phoenix, the Tohono O'odham chef realized there were few places to get a good Native American meal. She solved that problem in 1992 by founding Fry Bread House, which has been serving up irresistible Native dishes for three decades. The menu is simple — lots of fry bread and chumuth, red chile beef and some piping hot stews — but the tastes are incredible. Sit at a wooden table in the restaurant's small dining room and enjoy a fry bread taco or a hominy stew. Save room for a sweet fry bread, which you can get drizzled with honey, cinnamon or a combination of chocolate and butter. (Honey and warm fry bread might be the most blessed combination of ingredients in culinary history.) Miller died in 2020, but Fry Bread House more than keeps her legacy alive.

Best Hotel Restaurant

Chilte

Allison Young

Hotel restaurants don't always inspire confidence in diners. The high-volume eateries can sometimes feel like rubber-chicken room service delivered tableside. Not so at Chilte, which has helmed the brick-and-mortar restaurant inside Grand Avenue's Egyptian Motor Hotel since February 2023. Since owners Lawrence "L.T." Smith and Aseret Arroyo threw the doors open, the restaurant has received best new restaurant nods from Esquire and Bon Appetit, and was among New Times' favorite new spots in 2023. Chilte's yucca frites and Black Pink — a chocolate aguachile with shrimp — are perfect bites to kick off the night. Their quesabirria tacos continue to be among our favorites of the style, but don't count out their Mole de la Casa or rotating MSG — chef's choice of meat, sauce and garnish. And, because it's a hotel, Chilte has a taut menu of to-go items, ideal for guests or those hanging out at the Egyptian's outdoor bar and venue.

Best Weekly Specials

Chula Seafood

What started as a tiny Scottsdale fish shop with some poke bowls has evolved into a three-location restaurant group with a really nice fish case. But while the regular menu at Chula Seafood has received plenty of love, you could make the case that the team's best work shows up in the weekend specials. Chef Kyle Kent, along with his head chefs at each location, develop a fresh slate — one special for each restaurant — that goes out via a newsletter every Friday. They've included bangers such as a lusciously complex scallop khao soi (Uptown), crisply fried strips of turmeric-scented salmon belly wrapped up with lettuce and herbs Viet-style (Grayhawk) and a pastrami-spiced scallop sausage Seattle dog with grilled onions and cream cheese (Roosevelt). Every once in a while, a weekend special will find its way onto the regular menu, but for the most part, come Sunday, they're gone. Which makes for an agonizing decision every weekend: choosing a location.

Best Fast Food

Oscar's Pier 83

Oscar's Pier 83 answers a question that nobody asked: What if Long John Silver's were actually pretty good? That might sound like a backhanded compliment, but consider it an acknowledgment that inexpensive, order-at-the-counter fare is a reality of everyday life, and there aren't enough culinary wunderkinder to meticulously handcraft cheap, artsy dinners for everybody in town. Oscar's isn't going to make you feel like you're at a seaside shack in the Keys — this is deep-fried, quick-service fare — but with most meals priced in the teens, it charges just a dollar or two more than the international megachains, and the modest premium is well spent. Choose from half a dozen types of fish for your chippy platter or fishwich, and you'll get tender filets, freshly battered and fried, steaming hot with creamy tartar sauce or a nice cocktail sauce that actually has some kick. Plump fried shrimp are particularly good, hush puppies are well-seasoned, and the clam chowder is the inartfully thick and goopy sort that you hate to admit you kind of love.

Best Happy Hour

Buck & Rider

Jackie Mercandetti Photo

Whoever said you can't find good seafood in a landlocked state has never been to Buck & Rider. It's a stellar showcase of fresh catch flown in daily, and the good folks there spoil us even more with their lively and affordable happy hour. It runs a generous 3 to 7 p.m. (though not in the main dining rooms) and includes oysters with a choice of savory and spicy garnishes for $2.50, plump and sweet Sea of Cortez shrimp for $3 each, a smattering of top-quality dishes at the rock-bottom price of just $10 and dirt-cheap drink specials — even on high-end cocktails. Dishes include sushi rolls du jour and a heaping plate of Baja shrimp ceviche so good you'll think you can walk outside to Médano Beach in Cabo. For that one kooky person in the party who's anti-fish, Edna's Picnic Chicken Snack holds its own against most other fried chicken bites around. And don't miss the creamy smoked trout dip with watermelon radishes and saltines. It's ideally paired with The Direct Martini, served tableside.

Best Breakfast

Fàme Caffe

Jackie Mercandetti

People have been lining up for Fàme Caffe's breakfast since opening its doors on Central Avenue in 2015. The midtown counter-service cafe has a farmhouse aesthetic that's cozy and comfortable. The eatery has been a perennial favorite thanks to a menu that seamlessly incorporates American, Mexican and French options. Fuel up with a breakfast sandwich of egg, bacon, cheddar and tomato on a buttermilk bun. Shake a few drops of housemade hot sauce onto chilaquiles. Or, find a seat at the broad community table and make plans to linger over pain perdu-style Frenchie Toast and a mimosa. No breakfast is complete without coffee; try Fàme's horchata latte, a cinnamon-forward espresso drink made with house horchata.

Best Brunch

SugarJam The Southern Kitchen

Tirion Boan

Chef Dana Dumas started serving at her North Scottsdale brunch restaurant in 2022. And while many brunch spots have opened around the Valley since then, no one can touch her French toast. Along with egg and cinnamon, the bread gets a dunk in Grand Marnier, which caramelizes into a crackly crust when it hits the griddle. Served with rum pecan syrup, this is the best French toast in town. But Dumas doesn't stop at sweets. Try her buttery grits topped with giant shrimp or flavorful fried catfish. The menu is rounded out with eggs and bacon brunch staples along with cocktails and mimosas. On the weekends, DJs make the brunch experience into a party. Quieter weekday mornings are perfect for savoring the delights from the kitchen.

Best Restaurant Patio

Cibo

Jacob Tyler Dunn

In a city like Phoenix, patio season is brief, a delightful sliver of time between months of oppressive heat and those couple of weeks in winter when it's actually too cold to sit outside. Therefore, we want our outdoor dining time — while it lasts — to be on a patio that's worth the wait. For almost 20 years, Cibo has boasted one of the best patios in town. The Italian eatery set in a 1913 bungalow in downtown Phoenix has a courtyard filled with trees, string lights and cozy tables. It's the perfect backdrop for one of Cibo's artisanal pizzas (we're partial to the Da Vinci, which is topped with burrata, basil and pecorino Romano cheese) or perhaps a warm bowl of gnocchi in a fontina cream sauce. And of course, we never leave without ending our meal with the Nutella crepe. At Cibo, the food and the patio atmosphere team up, making every visit a feast for the senses.

Best Secret Patio

The Churchill

The Churchill

Hemmed in by multiple restaurants and bars, the courtyard at The Churchill is often a busy place to be. During popular hours, tables and chairs become a hot commodity, and even standing room can be hard to find. But there's an additional area that few seem to know about, and it provides the best seats in the house. After grabbing a beer at The Brill Line and snagging a burger at Stoop Kid, head toward the north end of the building. To the right, you'll find the restrooms, but to the left, there's a staircase leading to a hidden rooftop. One floor up, you can leave the loud crowds down below and enjoy a view looking out over downtown Phoenix. Watch as the nightlife scene picks up for the evening while you enjoy your dinner and drinks in a much more peaceful environment.

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