21 Feb 16th–Feb 22nd, 2023 phoenixnewtimes.com phoenix new Times | cONTeNTs | feeDBacK | OPiNiON | NeWs | feaTuRe | NighT+Day | culTuRe | film | cafe | music | ‘For Love of the Food’ Why pop-up deli Little Pickle is a big deal. BY DOMINIC ARMATO W hen you sink into Little Pickle’s glorious pastrami, your eyes will roll back in your head. If you also feel a faint pang of anxiety, that’s the knowledge that the kitchen it emerged from has a looming expiration date and an uncertain future. Swimming in the scent of caraway and cardamom, spice-crusted slabs of tender hand-carved brisket ooze with glistening, smoky fat. It’s hard to believe that a sand- wich this good might soon have to wander in search of a proper home. And while that may be a culturally poignant notion, Little Pickle deserves better than to live its life as an itinerant Jewish deli. If it were any other time or place, this sandwich alone would instantly cement Rick Phillips and Aaron May’s latest project as a permanent, beloved fixture on the Valley’s restaurant scene. But in this post-pandemic Phoenix, crafting great food is the easy part and figuring out how to turn it into a sustainable business is where the challenge lies. Little Pickle has a fighting chance thanks to an awful lot of veteran know- how. Phillips is known locally for MercBar, Bootleggers, and the Arizona Taco Festival. May launched Over Easy, Goodwood Tavern, and The Lodge Sasquatch Kitchen before finding fame on the Food Network. Between them, they’ve run enough restau- rants over the years to fill the glass canyons of The Esplanade multiple times over. And yet, when the duo chose this posh Biltmore development to launch Little Pickle — Phillips handling the day-to-day, May consulting remotely from California — the market felt so uncertain that they opted to workshop the idea first. “I don’t know whether to blow it up or strip it down,” Phillips says of their five- month experiment. And when Little Pickle’s current incarnation disappears in April or May, either — or neither — could happen. Little Pickle’s storefront home is slated for demolition in May as part of The Esplanade’s forthcoming renovation, but while it may be a pop-up, it doesn’t look the part. A room that once housed popular watering hole Ten has thrown out the brick archways and welcomed in the sunlight, illuminating an airy, colorful space with a smattering of tables, orange accents, and a wall dedicated to Keith Haring. On the surface, Little Pickle is less Jewish history and more Jewish kitsch, from the “Matzo Baller” T-shirts to the photos of Meyer Lansky and Bugsy Siegel that line a makeshift conference table upstairs. But don’t be fooled. Deli super- fans who pine for the full-fledged Barney Greengrass or Canter’s experience with sablefish and noodle kugel would do well to recognize that Little Pickle wraps a weekday coffee and sandwich shop format around a Jewish deli’s soul. Get too haughty about what is and isn’t “proper” and you’ll be turning your nose up at some glittering gems laid out before you. Take The Works Bagel, for instance. Phoenix has venerated Jewish delis that will smother a crumbly bagel-shaped piece of bread with commercial cream cheese and packaged lox, but Little Pickle’s version is a wake-up call. It starts with the bagel. Phillips subscribes to the theory that water from New York is key. I’m more inclined to credit institutional knowledge, but whether it’s a matter of nature or nurture, the bagels he slings are stellar. They’re made to Phillips’ specifications by a buddy back in New York, par-cooked, shipped to Arizona, and finished in the oven on site. They’ve got the thick skin, resilient ▼ Café A Warm Welcome Dominic Armato joins Phoenix New Times with a new monthly restaurant review. BY TIRION MORRIS W e have exciting news around here that I, your friendly neigh- borhood food editor, am eager to share. Longtime dining critic, avid home cook, and food extraordinaire Dominic Armato is joining Phoenix New Times with a new monthly restaurant review. Starting this issue, he’ll cover and critique Phoenix’s most interesting restaurants along with the culture and context behind them. Armato was born and raised in Chicago, where he grew up on plenty of hot dogs and Italian beef sandwiches. His father’s love for cooking and his mother’s family’s recipes inspired Armato to dig deeper into the local food scene and into the international cuisines available on his doorstep. A career in voice acting for commercials, cartoons, and video games took him to Los Angeles where he delved into the world of cooking with California’s bounty of fresh ingredients. A return to Chicago later in life led to frequent business trips to China, Japan, and Europe. His time spent abroad grew Armato’s appreciation of Japanese food in particular, which he still seeks out often today. After bouncing from Chicago to Baltimore and Boston, Armato and his family landed in Phoenix in 2010. He launched PHXfoodnerds, a community food discussion site modeled after a forum he’d been part of in Chicago, and his food writing led him to a year-long freelance gig with Phoenix Magazine before he became the dining critic at The Arizona Republic. It was at the Republic where I met Armato. I quickly came to know him as someone with a wealth of knowledge about Phoenix food, which was not only extremely valuable to the team and those who read his articles, but inspiring to me, the new-to- Phoenix nightlife reporter. As time went on, Armato and the Republic went separate ways, and a few years later, I joined the team at Phoenix New Times to run the food section. Now, the stars have aligned for Armato to share his quips on the pages of this newspaper. Ahead of his first review, Armato answered a few questions about his new monthly series. How did you get started in food writing? Give us a brief history. About 20 years ago, I was traveling constantly for work, and I kept a journal to remember the restaurants I visited. My wife said her parents would Dominic Armato Little Pickle’s version of a bagel and lox is a wake-up call. >> p 23 >> p 24
