19 Feb 29th–March 6th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Making the Kitchen Her Stage Musician Kristen Martinez strikes a new chord with pop-up. BY SARA CROCKER K risten Martinez never felt like she fit into Phoenix’s music scene. Rather than compromise on her sound or give up, the noise rap artist worked to create her own opportunities in the Valley. “I had to build my own nights,” recalls Martinez,who performed as KonGeror and fronted the group GAHEDiNDIE, a precursor of her longtime project Moodie Black. “But I wasn’t waiting, I was always making my own things and building.” Now, 15 years after leaving Arizona, Martinez is back and again working to carve out her niche in Phoenix — this time with food. These days, fans can find Martinez dousing crispy taquitos with fiery guajillo sauce and cheese, stuffing handmade flour tortillas with eggs or carnitas and frying wings at her pop-up and food truck business, MB Foodhouse. Her homecoming is one that Martinez didn’t anticipate. In 2009 Martinez left Arizona to live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Los Angeles, where she later came out as transgender woman. She initially stayed away from Arizona, finding greater accep- tance elsewhere and vowing not to return outside of a tour or to visit her family. “I feel like people connect with the food better because it’s not as divisive as the music is, it’s not as subjective,” Martinez says, taking a break from prepping before a recent pop-up at Gracie’s Tax Bar. “I’m hoping I can bridge that weird disconnect with Phoenix, of getting them to embrace me through food, because I still feel like I’m this weird outsider with it. I am in a lot of ways with food because I don’t fancy myself a chef. I’m using what my family did and enhancing it.” MB Foodhouse serves ‘new era Tex-Mex’ Martinez calls MB Foodhouse’s menu “new era Tex-Mex,” drawing on comforting dishes from her childhood in El Paso, Texas, family recipes and riffs on classics. Martinez grew up cooking with her family, and as an adult, she continued to build her skills, first at a taco truck in Los Angeles and then working her way up from prep to a line cook at Minneapolis’ Italian Eatery. MB Foodhouse was born in Minneapolis, first appearing at Moodie Black’s Moodhouse Fest in 2019. The pop-up continued during the pandemic. “I couldn’t tour anymore,” she says. But, she concedes the shift to cooking also allowed her to reset after feeling burned out. “I’d be struggling for 16, 17 years with Moodie Black at that point,” she says. “I felt I was so focused on this thing that I wanted that I was pushing it away. I was so enveloped for so long that I had to get out. The only thing I could think to do was to do something completely different. When I decided to do tacos, in my mind I thought, I’m going to do this because by doing these tacos all this amazing stuff will happen for Moodie Black.” The ravenous response in Minneapolis caught Martinez off guard. MB Foodhouse quickly grew from pop-ups to a stint at Five Watt Coffee and a residence at the food hall North Loop Galley. As the pandemic abated, good news came in the music world, too. Iconic Arizona musician, vintner and restaura- teur Maynard James Keenan invited Moodie Black to support Pucifer’s summer 2022 tour. After the tour, Martinez opted to leave the food hall in favor of a trailer that would allow more flexibility. Then, Martinez’s life changed after splitting with her partner of 16 years. “Once that happened, I just felt like I had to go,” she says. MB Foodhouse stopped serving in Minneapolis on April 2, and Martinez started her trek back to Arizona, intending to set up shop in Cottonwood, where mentor Keenan’s Merkin Vineyards and restaurant are located. She bottled wine at Merkin while working to get licensed and get her trailer up and running. “They gave me a lifeline,” she says. Just as the Foodhouse was ready and she went to unhitch the trailer, “the hitch breaks, rolls down the hill, busts into a bunch of trees, goes halfway down the hill, breaks the water tank … a whole ‘nother disaster immediately,” Martinez says. Feeling tapped out, she returned to the Valley. “Being back in Phoenix, it’s been chal- lenging,” she says. “Now I’m just Moodie Black front-woman Kristen Martinez is back in Phoenix, this time serving Tex-Mex through her pop-up, MB Foodhouse. The pop- up’s wings are brined, smoked and finished in a fryer. Martinez then tosses them in a spicy, sticky tamarind sauce. (Photos by Sara Crocker) ▼ Food & Drink Food & Drink Where Options Abound New food hall Tempe Eats brings 8 dining concepts to the Valley. BY SARA CROCKER W hen dining out, Teresa Nguyen had a conundrum – she’s an adventurous eater and her boyfriend has more basic food tastes. When looking for a spot that could please them both during their travels, she often found the variety they craved under one roof at a food hall. “This way we didn’t have to compro- mise,” Nguyen says. With a desire to share that experience with others, Nguyen has opened Tempe Eats near Southern and Mill avenues. The eight-restaurant food hall has been a four-year “labor of love,” Nguyen says. She also owns Yogi’s Grill, a fast- casual teriyaki and sushi franchise in Tempe Marketplace, and started thinking about Tempe Eats during the pandemic. She piloted some of the Tempe Eats concepts inside Yogi’s during that time. “The food hall was a good way of bringing more of what I love and sharing that variety with more people,” Nguyen says. Like a food court, but elevated An avid traveler who has been to more than 70 countries, Nguyen wanted to create a dining experience that draws on some of her favorite places and foods, while also giving people space to connect with their loved ones. Growing up, Nguyen and her five siblings would gather around the dinner table sharing their good and bad news of the day. “Really for us, it was about, people want to connect … so let’s make this food hall about connection, community and variety,” Nguyen says. Food halls – think the mall food court without the mall and where the Orange Julius has been replaced with a local independent eatery – have ebbed and flowed here in the Valley. The format is seeing a resurgence with the opening of Tempe Eats and two more halls in the works for Chandler and Mesa. When Nguyen talks with people about Tempe Eats, she agrees with the mall comparison, but adds that it’s “like a food court at the mall but elevated.” And, there are a few other key differ- ences. Nguyen and her team oversee all of the restaurants and bars inside Tempe Eats. Also, ordering is all done >> p 23 >> p 20
