Phoenix chef Lawrence "LT" Smith appears first on the food magazine's list of 13 chefs. He helms the kitchen at Chilte, a restaurant on Grand Avenue that he co-owns with his partner Aseret Arroyo.
"The food at Chilte is courageous, ambitious, playful, and bold," the magazine says. "It's Mexican at heart and global in its imagination."
Chilte's success and recognition has been building for many years in the Valley. The concept started as a pop-up and then a food truck, driving around town and serving everything from bowls of ramen to Cubano sandwiches at events and outside breweries.
In early 2023, the Smith and Arroyo took the leap and opened their first brick-and-mortar location. The restaurant is located within The Egyptian Motor Hotel, a remodeled vintage motel, on Grand Avenue. Since then, the accolades have rolled in.
In September 2023, food magazine Bon Appetit named Chilte one of the best new restaurants in the country. Out of 24 restaurants on the list, Chilte was the only location in Arizona.
Then, in November that year, Esquire magazine released its annual list of the 50 Best New Restaurants in America. Chilte made the cut.
"A neon sign shines in the night. And in the old lobby of the Egyptian Motor Hotel, chef Lawrence “LT” Smith brings a carnal joy to new Mexican cuisine," Esquire's Joshua David Stein wrote. "Each bite is a wonder."
Food & Wine's recent list echoes that sentiment.
To determine the winners, staff fanned out around the country and "traveled to dozens of cities, logged tens of thousands of miles, and dined at hundreds of restaurants, searching for the most promising and dynamic chefs cooking today," the Food & Wine article explains. "What we found was 13 remarkable humans who represent the future of cooking in America."
