FARM TO DINER How working with the land drew an awarded chef to a tiny diner in Mesa. BY SARA CROCKER I t’s a bluebird day in Eastmark, the massive suburban enclave 35 miles southeast of downtown Phoenix. A palm-lined path from the neighbor- hood’s entrance leads in one direc- tion to some expected perks of suburbia – a community center, a pool. In the other, the fin of a candy cane-red Valentine diner peeks out. Erich and Yvonne Schultz opened Steadfast Diner on Jan. 10. The couple are farmers who live nearby. They have grown vegetables and flowers on the one-acre Steadfast Farm since 2018. To helm the kitchen, they’ve tapped their friend Derek Christensen, a James Beard Award- nominated chef who was also, at one time, the Schultzes’ farm hand. The executive chef exudes nonchalance behind yellow-tinted glasses, a knit beanie, and a thick beard with a softly curled mustache. Christensen moves deftly through the small kitchen space built onto the back of the diner as he plates double smash burgers at double speed. In this quiet fringe of Phoenix’s wide sprawl, he may be the fastest thing on two feet right now. “In the kitchen,” he says, “there’s very little time to think.” He’s spent years cooking at places around Arizona and the country, including at chef Rene Andrade’s celebrated Sonoran eateries Bacanora and Huarachis Taqueria. Last year his calm under pressure — and his date clafoutis accented with mesquite — helped him win the Food Network culi- nary cook-off “Chopped,” along with the $10,000 grand prize. Also last year, he stepped away from full-time kitchen work. It was a time to slow down. “The stress and adrenaline of the kitchen is fun, but you also need to be able to walk around in the dirt,” he says. He spent months focused on painting and more flexible cooking gigs. He launched a European-inspired pop-up called Nordborg at Sauvage Wine Bar and Shop and crafted the menu for Wren Südhalle. Then came along this opportunity at Steadfast. Part of the promise: he could get his feet back onto dirt. Which is how you can find one of the most famed, in-demand chefs in the state buzzing over a hot flame in a twee diner in east Mesa. Christensen wanted the chance to work with the Schultzes once again. But even more alluring was the chance to work a kitchen firmly planted in a small farm. He wants to show people where their food starts its journey. As he explains his latest move, walking outside the diner with the Schultzes, his Birkenstocks scuff the top layer of dirt along a path that connects the diner’s patio to the farm’s entrance. “No matter what you’re cooking, no matter what you’re doing, if you have the resources of a farm 100 feet from your kitchen, that’s wild, that’s huge,” he says, motioning to tight rows of greens. “What people are eating, literally, is right here.” On this afternoon, many of Steadfast’s crops are covered by protective nets, to protect against wind and frost. Erich and Yvonne point out the nursery and prep areas. The whirl of what Erich calls a giant salad spinner, which they use to pull water from washed salad greens before pack- aging, can be heard humming from the farm path. People are trimming flowers for immaculate bouquets wrapped in brown paper. It feels downright idyllic, even romantic. A working farm sustaining a restaurant amidst suburban sprawl. That’s what the trio hopes will draw customers to the diner. It also may be a change of pace for guests. People visit restaurants for their consistency, the knowledge that what’s on the menu one day is generally there the next. Yet farms have to respond to weather, to seasons, to pests. Implicit in the entire venture here is a faith — far from assured — that guests will embrace this unpredictability. “That’s part of the whole ethos,” Christensen says. “Nature is flexible, nature is weird, nature doesn’t promise you anything.” To create a menu that reflects the farm, Christensen says he’s built in flexibility without cutting corners. Capital Farms beef and Noble Bread will be available each day. But what’s in the grain bowls and salads could change. And, that’s the point. “That’s kind of the beauty of it,” Christensen says. “We’re not supposed to have everything all the time.” The Farro Bowl is one of the diner’s farm-fresh dishes. The menu draws from diner classics and infuses ingredients from the Schultzes’ neighboring Steadfast Farm. Steadfast Diner’s Crispy Chicken Sandwich is topped with a hot honey aioli.
