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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.
11 restaurantes, bares cerrados en Phoenix, Tempe, Gilbert, Scottsdale
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Cottontail Lounge 7277 East Camelback Road, Scottsdale The W in Scottsdale is debuting its new indoor-outdoor space, Cottontail Lounge, near the hotel s pool deck. Brunch and breakfast are served during the day and cocktails and light bites during the evening.
Copper 48 366 North Gilbert Road, Gilbert Nico s Heirloom Kitchen has rebranded as Copper 48 in downtown Gilbert. The menu still has favorites like pasta and short-ribs, along with some new additions like cauliflower wings.
Desi Fusion 1130 West Grove Avenue, #111, Mesa One of the latest Indian restaurants is on the southeast corner of Alma School Road and Southern Avenue in Mesa. Desi Fusion offers chaat, shawarma, and fusion-style menu items like fried rice and gobi Manchurian. This fast-casual joint also has pizzas, lassis, and desserts.
The most recent string of restaurant closures to hit metro Phoenix comes as a huge loss for the diversity of cultures represented in the Valley s food scene.
Two Caribbean restaurants have closed, an uptown Chinese spot has shuttered and longtime Middle Eastern and Mediterranean restaurant Persian Garden Cafe no longer serves falafel and dolmeh.
A handful of spots have closed in order to relocate or will reopen as new concepts dreamed up by the same owners.
For example, La Marquesa has closed and no longer serves Jalisco-style birria.
However, the owners have plans to open a new concept in the spot along McDowell Road early this spring.
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.
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