No Arizona restaurants made the big best lists this year. Craig Outhier says it doesn't matter

Bon Appetit and the New York Times just came out with their annual Best Restaurants list for 2025. There’s innovative Korean cuisine in New York, African food in New Orleans, barbecued turkey legs in Kansas City and upscale steaks in Miami.

But, one thing that’s missing? Any restaurant in Arizona.

Craig Outhier says it doesn’t matter. Outhier is the editor of Phoenix Magazine, which is currently compiling its list of the Best New Restaurants of 2025 across the state.

Kiersten Edgett/KJZZ

Full conversation

CRAIG OUTHIER: I mean, in those particular lists, the Bon Appétit list, which was the 50 best, I think, restaurants in North America right now. I mean, that's not a lot of restaurants when you're considering a whole continent. I looked at that list and there are no Texas restaurants on there. That's much more shameful considering they have four times as many people as we do.

But overall, I would not put much stock in these national lists, and here's why. It's not like the Bon Appétit editor has a bunch of reporters that went around to every major North American city and tried every restaurant and got together and compared their notes. That's not the way it works. They make what are essentially arbitrary decisions that are often driven by narrative, as well as food quality, but often narrative. And maybe we didn't have a great narrative this year. That was my take on this.

Greater Phoenix had a restaurant that appeared in a Bon Appétit list a couple of years ago. It was the Best New Restaurants in 2023. And there's a great Mexican restaurant called Chilte on Grand Ave. That's a great narrative. It's run by a chef who's a former NFL player, [Lawrence] Smith, runs it with his wife, cooking upscale reimagined versions of her family recipes. Great narrative, great food.

I mean, you look at, for instance, even the Michelin Guide, you know, which is the world's probably preeminent food list. Arizona's never had a restaurant that's been Michelin starred, and the reason is they've never sent a reviewer here. That's how they send reviewers to a particular city. They try out restaurants. They decide whether or not to give them a star. They've never even bothered to send one to Phoenix. So how do you even begin to gauge whether or not we have a Michelin quality restaurant here when, you know, the reporters just simply aren't out there to consider it?

LAUREN GILGER: Yeah, let's back up then, Craig, and talk about what's happening in the local Phoenix restaurant scene right now. You're preparing Phoenix Magazine's Best New Restaurants issue as we speak. Tell us where we stand. What's on your radar? 

OUTHIER: In 2025, I think the restaurant scene in Phoenix is actually thriving. I can't recall more restaurants opening at a single time. I think the Valley's gotten larger. There's more people here. We can sustain more restaurants, more restaurants open, probably more closed. But I think it was a pretty good year. The best year ever? Probably not.

But what I have seen, and our dining critic Nikki Buchanan, I think is also seen, maybe we didn't have a lot of those premier owner operated, little scrappy chef-driven restaurants open this year. I think what we've seen this year are more what someone mentioned to me or termed a “vibe-driven restaurant,” which is, you know what I mean.

Well funded, very specific kind of energy and a lot of recognizable touchstones. I'm thinking of Sexy Roman in Scottsdale, which opened in the W Hotel that's been in the works for two years. It's a physically impressive restaurant. They have a cart that comes out and does martinis. The steaks are amazing. The list is amazing. It's a giant menu. The scene and the vibe is intense.

That's the kind of restaurant that I think is thriving right now in Phoenix. The food's very good, too. It just doesn't fit the kind of standard that, for instance, a Bon Appétit or New York Times editor is looking for.

GILGER: That's interesting. OK, vibe-driven. Can you give us a preview, something that might make the top of this list in terms of Best New Restaurants here? 

OUTHIER: I'll give you a couple that are in the running for our restaurant of the year. We don't really rank them. But, another vibe-driven restaurant by a local company is Filthy Animal in Tempe on Mill Ave. And it's completely vibe-driven. It looks like you've walked into, you know, a ride at Disneyland in some ways. It's jungle-themed. The food is fantastic. I mean, it really is inspired food, global. I wouldn't call it jungle food, you know, but it's a fun place to go. There's a cocktail bar next door. That's I think one that we're definitely considering.

You know, I like Sexy Roman a lot. It was a fun restaurant. And then there are a couple of nice little owner-operated places that we are hoping to shed some light on, too. Saint Pasta in downtown Phoenix, which was a food truck at one point over at The Pemberton. Now it's its own brick and mortar. Several restaurants like that. So there's your, there's your taste to what we got.

GILGER: OK, a good little preview. I like that you got Filthy Animal and Sexy Roman there. What names! Talk about vibe-driven.

OUTHIER: And Saint Pasta, which sounds, right, sounds like a joke.

GILGER: OK, I wanna ask a question about some of the other end of the spectrum a little bit because they're important in the overall restaurant scene, I think in people's minds. 

Are you feeling kind of nostalgic or sad over places like Durant's, like Cheese ‘n Stuff, some of these very Phoenix classics changing hands and maybe changing a lot in the process, right? What's considered right now a Phoenix classic? 

OUTHIER: I mean, is there like a standard or a threshold in the number of years it's been open? I would say 30 years. I mean, we are Phoenix, you know, it's gonna be really hard to find that 200-year-old colonial restaurant here.

I think we were all kind of sad to see Durant's go or close momentarily. It's being reopened by the Mastro family, and they're from State 44, and they're eponymous steakhouse, and they're fantastic and I'm sure they do a great job there.

I think the overall health of the restaurant industry is debatable. I dug around the numbers a little bit. Revenue has continued to go up for the restaurant industry here. It's doubled essentially since 2015 to around $25 billion annually, but that's also attended by much higher prices as we know, dishes and the cost of going out to eat is almost doubled in that time as well.

And receipts actually, you know, the U.S. Census Department and OpenTable, I think looked at the actual number of “covers” as the restaurant industry calls it, or people who actually sit and eat. And that was down 2% between 2023 and 2024. It shows you that the rising revenue is almost entirely about higher food costs and higher menu costs and prices.

GILGER: Right? It makes sense. Last question for you then, Craig. I mean, where do you see the restaurant scene going? I mean, obviously the economy is a little up in the air right now, but what's your prediction for what might be on that list next year in 2026? 

OUTHIER: I'm glad you asked me that because we are publishing a sneak preview of 2026 restaurants in our Best New Restaurants issue, which is getting new stands in early November, by the way. There are a couple of really exciting ones. I mentioned Filthy Animal. That's by a restaurant group locally called Pretty Decent Concepts.

They have a steakhouse that will open, I believe in November, called Cleaverman in the old Hooters spot at the Arizona Center. It used to be the best restaurant in Phoenix, I think sadly. And then there's an interesting project I'm excited about. Maybe it'll be on our list next year. There's a restaurant called Market by Jennifer's in Arcadia Lite. She's reconceiving that completely and opening a restaurant called Hornbill, which I understand is Singaporean food, which is great because I don't believe we have one of those in the Valley, maybe in Mesa, in the great Asian dining district. And then she's partnering with Jason Asher, the cocktail maestro, famous for UnderTow.

So that's an incredibly promising project. So there's a lot of exciting stuff coming up in 2026, and like I said, overall, there's more energy and more restaurants I mean than I can ever remember.

GILGER: Yeah, all right, well, here we go, lots to watch for and lots to enjoy now.