14 Sept 18th-Sept 24th, 2025 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | But what also made a comeback was a longing for something unique. Foster says the demand for live music that once shaped Mill Avenue’s personality is strong, and diners are looking for new restaurants to visit. CITY’S ROLE IN THE ‘FOOD REVOLUTION’ As a veteran restaurateur, is familiar with red tape. Over the years, he has voiced frustrations about how the city’s daunting permit gauntlet stifles small independents or first-time entrepreneurs. Rutherford says that in recent years, the city has taken steps to help facilitate the process. This includes making traction with both new and existing landlords. Of the downtown Tempe district’s roughly 400,000 square feet of retail space, Tempe owns about 30,000 square feet, or 7.5%, according to city data. This includes the Gov. Benjamin B. Moeur House and Hatton Hall, which next year will become a new restaurant from the owners of beloved Thai eatery Glai Baan. Rutherford says the city can be flex- ible in offering rents at the lower end of the market for city-owned buildings, including the former Illegal Pete’s space. Rutherford sees people who have returned to downtown for the first time in 10 years, curious to see how their old stomping grounds have changed. The same goes for restaurateurs, Foster says. “Interest here is high,” she says. “And that is through the sheer force of Mayor Woods.” Corey Woods, an enthusiastic foodie, was elected as Tempe’s mayor in 2020. He made updating the downtown Tempe dining experience a priority and did so by visiting restaurants around the Valley and approaching the owners. Colleagues also pointed out establishments that would fit. “We are bringing in restaurants that we are personally huge fans of,” Woods says. “It is not an accident.” These include the new Glai Baan concept, plus the Valley’s latest location of Proof Bread, slated to open this fall. Woods says chefs and restaurateurs are also reaching out to him, asking to get in on the action. “So many people are living, working and visiting downtown, so the clientele is built- in if you’re a restaurateur on Mill,” Woods says. “There’s a food revolution going on in the city of Tempe.” But that influx of out-of-town visitors and restaurants coming in from other parts of the Valley has spelled bad news for some longtime locals. CONSTRUCTION, PANDEMIC TAKE A TOLL For 13 years, Leslie Robin operated her vegan restaurant Desert Roots Kitchen in a shaded courtyard space along Mill Avenue. An unexpected and significant rent increase forced her to close it in April. Other factors took their toll as well. Streetcar construction discouraged patrons from the area. Business lunch crowds never fully rebounded from the pandemic. And a sidewalk project wreaked havoc. The current Downtown Tempe Refresh Project will bring brick sidewalks with mosaic designs and other amenities to Mill. Rutherford says the city acceler- ated the project. It’s due to finish by February, a year ahead of the original schedule. But for some small businesses, the damage was already done. “We thought it would pick up again, but it never did. It just got worse,” says Robin, who was able to relocate Desert Roots to a Sprouts-anchored plaza inside Rainbow Bliss Botanicals on Southern Avenue and McClintock Drive. “People complained about Mill and how hard it was to get down there.” Robin has called Tempe home for 25 years and lives near downtown. She often finds herself in conversations about how Mill Avenue isn’t the same as it used to be. She recalls past attempts by Downtown Tempe Authority to revive the area through programs designed to get more people downtown. Those efforts were either short-lived or missed the mark. A 2016 sidewalk-sitting ordinance, for instance, prohibited sitting or lying on public sidewalks or on blankets or chairs. It smothered the once-lively street artist and musician scene. “Mill used to be the cool place to go,” Robin says. “Vendors and artists on the street gave it a city feel. And that went away.” When people long for how downtown was, Robin believes it has little to do with vacant spaces or higher-dollar eateries. “It’s not about the empty storefronts or the new restaurants coming in,” Robin says. “It’s the vibe, or lack thereof, that people are talking about when they miss the old Mill.” She’s hopeful the new restaurants will bring new life. “You walk by these places that are closed,” she says. “But maybe this is the shift. If vacancies are filled, they will bring it back.” PRETTY DECENT CONCEPTS TO TEST BOOK-END THEORY Michael Monti recalls decades of watching downtown’s reinventions. Through the years, the southern or northern end of Mill Avenue would take turns thriving. Monti long thought that if both ends could get cranking at the same time, the area would become a super- charged destination. “It’s a dilemma we struggled with all the time,” Monti says. Pretty Decent Concepts, the creator of several Phoenix hotspots, including Wren & Wolf, is investing in this theory. The company has one restaurant off and running and a second slated to open in early 2026. Woods, a fan of Wren & Wolf, asked Pretty Decent Concepts owners Thor Nguyen and Teddy Myers if they would consider bringing a second location into the former P.F. Chang’s space on the northwest corner of University Drive and Mill Avenue. But Myers, an ASU alum, says the team declined the mayor’s suggestion. They felt Tempe deserved its own concept. “It’s such a great corner,” Nguyen says. “It’s iconic — the entrance to Mill Ave.” In April, Filthy Animal’s sprawling patio, with sumptuous seating, broad awnings and umbrellas that beckon pass- ersby to enter the dark restaurant, opened at that corner. Adjacent sleek speakeasy Drop Dead Gorgeous also debuted, welcoming customers into an even lower- lit space with the atmosphere of a ‘70s disco lounge. Around the same time, the Hayden Ferry Lakeside development team approached Nguyen and Myers, wanting them to open a restaurant there, on the northeast corner of Mill Avenue and Rio Salado. The result, come February, will be Roman God of Fire — or Roman for short. Pretty Decent Concepts will then have dining destinations on both ends of Mill Avenue, less than a mile apart, book- ending downtown. The aim is to “invigorate downtown Tempe the way Wren & Wolf invigorated downtown Phoenix,” Nguyen says. “Tempe is deserving of a great entertain- ment district.” When word got out about their first Mill Avenue concept, investors presumed it would be geared toward the college crowd. Nguyen and Myers were When Tempe Mayor Corey Woods, a proud foodie, was elected in 2000, updating downtown Tempe’s dining scene one of his objectives that appears to be coming to fruition. (City of Tempe) Mill Ave Moves On from p 12 >> p 16 Pedal Haus Brewery is a Mill Avenue mainstay and ASU staple, owned by Julian Wright. (Hector Arellano)
