19 Jan 2nd-Jan 8th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Coming In Hot The 12 most exciting restaurants and bars opening in 2025. BY SARA CROCKER E ach year, the Valley sees a flurry of new restaurants arriving on the scene and 2024 was no exception. There were splashy arrivals from award-winning and celebrity chefs who planted their flags with their first outposts in Arizona. There were revered chains that attracted lines to try their pastries and revived bottomless breadsticks. It was a year when local chefs took a leap to start their own spots, expand their offerings or make triumphant returns in new locations. There were plenty of great stories and places to savor over the last year. Now, as we welcome the New Year, we’re getting excited for what lies ahead and anxiously awaiting the arrival of several new restau- rants, breweries and bars. Here are 12 spots around the Valley that we can’t wait to visit in 2025. Title 9 Sports Grill Opens in January 4221 N. Seventh Ave. Interest in women’s sports reached a fever pitch this year. Restaurateurs around the country have responded with sports bars dedicated to women’s athletics. Soon, Phoenix will have its own as well, thanks to two Melrose District hospitality veterans and women’s sports boosters. Title 9 Sports Grill is scheduled to open on Seventh Avenue, just north of Indian School Road, at the end of January. Boycott Bar and Dahlia Tapas, Tequila and Wine owner Audrey Corley and Short Leash Hotdogs & Taproom co-founder Kat Moore helm the sports bar. The duo will honor women’s achievements in more ways than ensuring the Phoenix Mercury games are on the TVs. The owners have teased an elevated bar food menu with items named for notable athletes and a drinks selection that includes beers, ciders and spirits crafted by women makers. We also can’t wait to see the trophy room that will showcase the awards and stories of women athletes, as well as the artwork that will memorialize iconic Arizona sports stars. George & Gather Opens in February 336 S. Washington St., Chandler Finding a restaurant that can accommodate a range of dietary needs can be challenging. A new spot coming to downtown Chandler called George & Gather aims to change that. The all-day eatery is the brainchild of first-time restaurant owners Amber and Mike Kovarik. Amber worked in the mortgage industry, while her husband focused on the supply side of food service. But, they decided to take the leap to provide some- thing they feel is missing from the East Valley city: a restaurant that showcases clean foods in a communal setting. The Kovariks have partnered with Flagstaff chef Fiona Nicholson to consult on the menu, which focuses on local and organic produce and eschews GMOs and seed oils. “I am basically building the dream restaurant that I would love to have,” Amber told Phoenix New Times in October. George & Gather’s 80-seat space will be open all day, offering a counter- service breakfast and full-service lunch and dinner. Formation Brewing Opens in February 925 N. Fifth St. There are plenty of out-of-staters who have been expanding to or eyeing Phoenix, and brewers are among them. Case in point, the team from Colorado’s award- winning Denver Beer Co. is working on opening a new brewery in the heart of downtown Phoenix’s Roosevelt Row. Formation Brewing will serve beer on 24 taps and offer a food menu that’s anchored by Detroit-style pizzas. Among Formation’s brews, which will be made on-site, are four signature sips that their new desert digs have inspired: Cloud Drifter Hazy IPA, Desert Racer Pilsner, Sun Crest Tart Peach Ale and Western Winds West Coast IPA. The bar will also serve craft cider, cocktails and nonalco- holic options including housemade hop water, available in several flavors. The brewery is anticipated to open in February, with a grand opening celebration slated for March 1 that will include complimentary tastings, live music and giveaways. Wren House Brewing Co. Opens in March 12650 N. Tatum Blvd., #106 When the team behind Wren House Brewing Co. opens a new location, they aim to make that spot different and unique from the local brewery’s flagship tasting room on 24th Street in Phoenix. For its third Valley taproom, the brewer has selected PV – the redeveloping dining, entertainment, housing and work hub on the site of the former Paradise Valley Mall in North Phoenix. There, Wren House will introduce drinkers to cask ales in a space that is “Arizona meets English pub,” co-founder Drew Pool told Phoenix New Times in November. This latest location allows the team to lean into English beer styles, though it’s not completely new territory for the brewers, who won a Great American Beer Festival Awards bronze medal for Hooks and Dun, an extra special bitter, in 2023. At PV, Wren House will have a nano- brewery on site to create and condition its cask ales, which are typically unfiltered brews that are fermented and conditioned in casks, making them naturally carbon- ated. They’re hand-pumped through a beer engine as opposed to being pulled through a tap line with the aid of carbonation. The PV location will have 20 standard taps and four beer engines, which will serve a rotating list of beers with the aim of high- lighting the nuance the process can create when applied to beers that may be familiar to drinkers, such as the award-winning hazy IPA, Spellbinder. Main Burgers Opens in early 2025 161 W. Main St., Mesa The owners of Main Burgers have already given us a taste of what they can do. Their sibling concept and neighbor, Espiritu, has a killer dry-aged burger piled high with classic toppings – bacon, cheddar, cara- melized onions – along with a chiltepin aioli. In October, owners Roberto Centeno, Nadia Holguin and Armando Hernandez announced they’d bring more burgers to downtown Mesa with this new fast-casual, late-night-leaning spot. The menu format will be akin to In-N-Out Burger, with simplified options of single or double patties, with customizable additions, including a selection of cheeses and toppings such as pickled jalapenos. When Hernandez told Phoenix New Times about the forthcoming spot, he described the patties as “semi-smashed” and thicker than a traditional thin smash burger. Those can be paired with fries, tater tots or loaded versions topped with nacho cheese and bacon. The burger shop will also offer a take on a Sonoran hot dog. Originally antic- ipated to open in late fall 2024, we’re eagerly awaiting the announcement for its opening in the New Year. Little Pickle Opens in early 2025 2425 E. Camelback Road Among the Biltmore-area eateries that restaurateurs Rick Phillips and Peter Hearn will debut at Esplanade, we’re craving the revival of Little Pickle. The deli is one of three spots from 151 Hospitality that will form a “block” of restaurants in the office campus that’s getting a full refresh of eating and drinking options. Little Pickle first arrived at Esplanade in 2023 as a pop-up. In six months, the deli garnered praise for its stellar breakfast and lunch dishes, including house-smoked salmon on New York-style bagels and pastrami sandwiches. It’s clear we’re not the only ones hungry for Little Pickle’s return. After the deli took leave from Esplanade as construction got underway, food drops featuring those fan-favorite items would sell out within a day. During the first quarter of the New Year, Little Pickle is anticipated to make its return. In addition to serving breakfast and lunch, Little Pickle will offer catering – sure to be a boon for its neighboring office workers. Filthy Animal Opens in early 2025 740 S. Mill Ave., Tempe The hospitality group Pretty Decent Concepts was on a tear in 2024. The team, which is behind Phoenix hotspots Wren & Wolf and Trophy Room, launched the highly anticipated immersive bar expe- rience Carry On and the much more casual Creampuff Donuts this year. They also announced five new concepts in the works for downtown Phoenix and Tempe. Among them is Tempe’s Filthy Animal, a restaurant that will feature live-fire cooking inspired by a fictional traveler “who fell in love with the beauty and brutality of jungle-style cooking in the Yucatán but had a penthouse in Shanghai in the ‘70s,” Pretty Decent Concepts co-founder Teddy Myers told Phoenix New Times in November. An added Hospitality veterans and Melrose District neighbors Audrey Corley (left) and Kat Moore have teamed up to open a women’s sports bar. (Courtesy of by Title 9 Sports Grill) The house-made pastrami at Little Pickle is a revelation, and owner Rick Phillips plans to reopen the restaurant soon. (Photo by Dominic Armato) Espiritu in Mesa serves a burger with two thin grilled patties. Its owners plan to open a fast- casual burger joint, Main Burgers, just down Main Street. (Photo by Tirion Boan) >> p 20 ▼ Food & Drink
