Valentine

"A restaurant in Phoenix with chef Donald Hawk as a semifinalist for Best Chef: Southwest." - Nicole Adlman

"Valentine is a leader in innovating Sonoran cuisine, taking inspiration from both new and traditional desert cooking methods to create exciting dishes that expertly capture the identity of the Phoenix culinary scene. Perhaps no better example is their elote pasta. What’s more representative of Phoenix than a riff on a classic Italian dish combined with the flavors of Mexican street corn? The tagliarini pasta is made in-house with white Sonoran wheat and local eggs, and topped with a delicious goat cotija cheese from local Crows Dairy. The elements of the dish are familiar to any Phoenician’s palate, but the way in which Valentine brings together popular local flavors in a new way makes it worth returning to." - Mcconnell Quinn

"Valentine knows the way to our hearts: pastries, pasta, natural wine, and late-night cocktails. The atmosphere here feels familiar—think more living room than dining room, with retro modern leather chairs and soft lighting. The Melrose spot puts Arizona ingredients at the center of every dish, and we particularly love the brunch spread: the avocado squash toast and the churro waffles with dulce de leche are some of our favorites." - lauren topor

"Crystal Kass from Phoenix’s laid-back hangout Valentine is a finalist in the Outstanding Pastry Chef/Baker category." - Missy Frederick

"Valentine is a warm restaurant-cafe-bar-bakery hybrid that presents a bold vision of Arizona food. Co-owner Blaise Faber has dubbed its style New Southwestern. Chef Donald Hawk delivers in spades on the promise of innovative dishes tapping into regional traditions. He takes specific desert ingredients—tepary bean, i’itoi onions, cactus fruits—and creatively deploys them to give his food intrigue and soul. That prickly pear? It goes into gochujang for beef heart ssam. The mighty tepary bean? The fragrant, faintly smoky sidekick to ribeye with huitlacoche butter. Valentine’s coffee program is similarly inspired, and cocktail maestro Faber has devised unique tipples inspired by Arizona’s biomes. Oh, and Crystal Kass’s unique program has won national accolades. Valentine feels about as unique as a seven-armed saguaro." - Lizbeth Scordo, Chris Malloy