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Earlier this year, an impending rent hike forced Persian Garden Cafe, a family-run staple near Phoenix College, to close for good. Now it s back in business albeit in a different form.
Mahmoud Jaafari opened Persian Garden Cafe in 2001, in the building that once housed Mary Coyle Ol Fashion Ice Cream.
Like for many restaurants, business waned during the pandemic. When property owner Arizona Partners, a Scottsdale developer, proposed raising the rent every year for the next five years, Mahmoud and his wife Afsaneh bowed out.
But with the help of Mahmoud s son Joseph Jaafari, as well as Joseph s fiancé Jake Hylton, the family business is getting a reinvention. Now known as Persian Garden, the family offers meals for pickup and delivery twice a month, while partnering with other local businesses and artists.
Grace Stufkosky
Arcadia’s UnderTow Space Will Now Be …
The underbelly of Sip Coffee and Beer at 3620 East Indian School Road was once famously home to UnderTow. But since the tiki bar moved in with its parents next door at Century Grand (with a second location coming in 2021 to Agritopia in Gilbert), there’s an opportunity for a new venture in the subterranean space. The petite spot will soon be 36 Below, another basement bar serving extremely high-end cocktails from the looks of it. According to ABC15, 36 Below will be overseen by Sip’s owner Josh Katz, his business partner Maurice “Moe” Murillo, and mixologist Sheldon Wiley also known for being a Guinness World Record-holding super-fast bartender. The opening is set for March.