19 April 18th-April 24th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | Shiny and New Phoenix culinary heavyweights team up on Roosevelt Row’s newest restaurant Pretty Penny. BY SARA CROCKER O ver the past few years,Sam Olguin and Brenon Stuart have incrementally been upping the ante of cocktail- making on their block of Roosevelt Row in downtown Phoenix. Together, they own Pour Bastards Hospitality, the group behind Killer Whale Sex Club, Disco Dragon, F.Y.P.M. and the recently closed Pour Bastards Modern Cocktails, located on the corner of Fifth and Roosevelt streets. The spot is where the duo has toyed with three different cocktail concepts since 2022, in part because they’ve been biding their time to partner with two friends from the culinary world. With Pretty Penny, which opened on Jan. 19, the wait is over. It pairs chef Marcelino “Mars” Ramos and hospitality pro Ivan Herrera – both alumni of Scottsdale’s Virtù family of restaurants – with the cocktail geeks. “This was always what we wanted to do,” says Olguin, the hospitality group’s creative director and co-owner. “The Pour Bastards transition to here was just, like, finishing it.” Olguin and Stuart have handed the reins over to Ramos and Herrera to build an elevated dining experience in the heart of Roosevelt Row. The dishes can be paired with wine or the bar team’s creative sips made using modern cocktailing techniques. “Brenon and I are going to take a back seat to let Ivan and Mars shine,” Olguin says. “Ivan’s hospitality is second to none. Marcelino in the kitchen is fantastic.” ‘We all have good taste’ The men have known each other for years, following each others’ career arcs and always promising to do something together. At the end of last year, Ramos and Herrera were ready. “I’ve always loved what they’re doing. I’ve always wanted to team up with them,” says Herrera, Pretty Penny’s director of hospitality. Pretty Penny’s tagline — and its social media handle and website — is “In Taste We Trust.” “The idea of ‘In Taste We Trust’ is that we all have good taste,” Olguin says. Once the partnership was solidified, it didn’t take long for the concept to take shape. The team made the transition from cocktail lounge to fully fledged restaurant in about a month. “This place was completely renovated and reconceptualized,” says executive chef Ramos. “It was crazy. We developed the menu, the wine list, the cocktails all in that timeframe.” The dining room also got an update, with greenery, light wood tones and wainscoting enveloping the space. The bar that once anchored Pour Bastards is gone, replaced by an open kitchen and chef’s table. The minimal kitchen is outfitted with three induction cooktops, prep stations and little else. Ramos says the team also uses a large outdoor grill and an oven that is tucked behind the kitchen; otherwise, what guests see is the space and equipment the kitchen team works with. “It blows my mind every day the level of food they cook out of 70 square feet,” Olguin says. The restaurant serves seafood-forward, internationally-inspired small plates. Dishes include a duo of bluefin tuna, seared scallops and a blue corn tostada topped with chunks of braised octopus. Also available are caviar at cost and seafood towers brimming with oysters and prawns. Ramos says the menu nods to the chefs he’s learned from throughout his career, from Virtù’s Gio Osso to German Sega, a chef and mentor he has worked withacross several restaurants, from The Boulders Resort & Spa to Virtù Honest Craft. “There’s so many different layers of inspiration, and for me paying homage to different chefs,” Ramos says. Ramos previously worked at Virtù Honest Craft and Piccolo Virtù. He and Pretty Penny sous chef Bryce Barbian were working at Piccolo Virtù when it was named Phoenix New Times’ Best New Restaurant for 2023. The restaurant shut- tered in December. On the drinks menu, wine is a focus, and guests are greeted at their seats with a complimentary pour of prosecco. But, the same creative tipples that the Pour Bastards team crafted continue to flow, albeit with less focus on edible garnishes now that “there’s so much food,” Olguin says. He adds that he was happy to give up the bar space and prefers to showcase the chefs’ work. For Ramos, cooking while surrounded by guests allows for a different kind of connection. “To be able to come out and talk to the guests and have them see you cooking the food, it creates an experience that you can’t beat,” he says. Mourning a loss in the kitchen When building out Pretty Penny’s kitchen team, Ramos also tapped former Virtù colleague Christopher Martinez. Both Ramos and Herrera met Martinez at Virtù around 2016. The chef moved on, working on the East Coast and returning to cook in other Scottsdale restaurants. The team says Martinez passed up a job offer at a fine dining restaurant to rejoin them at Pretty Penny. As a founding member of the kitchen, Martinez contrib- uted several dishes to the menu Pretty Penny serves. “He’s one of the most talented chefs I’ve ever been around,” Herrera says. But then, the fledgling Pretty Penny team was dealt a devastating shock. They learned that Martinez had died by suicide on Feb. 26. “It’s a huge loss with Chris. Irreplaceable,” says Ramos, who The founding Pretty Penny team (from left) Ivan Herrera, Sam Olguin, Brenon Stuart, Bryce Barbian, Christopher Martinez and Marcelino Ramos. (Photo courtesy of Pretty Penny) ▼ Food & Drink Food & Drink A Decades- Long Legacy Unwrapping the 52-year history of DeFalco’s Deli. BY LAUREN TOPOR D eFalco’s Deli, the Italian eatery and market located on Scotts- dale Road, is a celebrated Valley institution with a local history that stretches back to 1972. But its story be- gins before that — and across an ocean. The enduring legacy of DeFalco’s Deli begins with Giovanni (John) DeFalco and Dora DeAngelis. John’s family had immigrated to the United States from Abruzzo, Italy via Toronto; Dora’s family moved from Rome. The two met in Michigan, got married, and then did the next logical thing — they opened a neighborhood tavern. The Venezia Inn was located in Melvindale, a suburb of Detroit. The inn was successful, but “it was too cold in Michigan,” says Andrea Moran, DeFalco’s vice president and granddaughter of the pair. After a family trip to visit Dora’s sister Eleanor in Arizona, the DeFalco family decided to make the move from the Midwest to the Valley’s warmer climes. John, Dora, their son Jerry and his wife Judith (Judy) opened the first Arizona store in 1972 at the Wagon Wheel Shopping Center on the corner of 44th Street and Thomas Road. “They all started together and then incorporated the business in 1974,” Moran says. DeFalco’s operated out of that loca- tion until 1984 when the family received notice that the building was being demolished. The deli found new digs at 68th Street and Thomas Road. However, 17 years later, history seemed to repeat itself and DeFalco’s needed to relocate, again. This time, the building was being converted into a design center. In 2001, DeFalco’s >> p 20 >> p 21 DeFalco’s first-ever and best-selling sandwich is the Italian Combo. (Photo by Lauren Topor, Good Karma Photo)
