An urban, New York City-style eatery full of graffiti has opened at The Churchill today to bring a twist on the classic artisanal baked good.
Stoop Kid is the newest dining addition to The Churchill. Located in the former booth of Commander Hamburger, the shop will provide a variety of foods from pizza to bagel burgers.
Steve McMillen, the owner and creator of Stoop Kid, said he took his experience from co-owning and managing coffee shops like Berdena’s Fine Coffee and Ocotillo in the Valley to help him create his own restaurant exactly how he wanted it.
“I became so enamored with specialty coffee in the same way that one would be by booze, beers or wines, or whatever,” McMillen said. “I totally got into coffee in the same way.”
McMillen developed a passion for authentic bagel sandwiches while living in New York after high school. He said that one of his favorite parts of being in a city is finding unique restaurants, especially if they serve bagels.
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“That’s something I seek out, just like a grungy little store on the corner that sells me whatever on a bagel,” McMillen said.
As a downtown resident himself, McMillen said he has always felt like Phoenix needed an urban hole-in-the-wall bagel shop like Stoop Kid.
McMillen is aiming to market his restaurant to Phoenix residents who have been missing other coffee shops that have closed this year, such as nearby Be Coffee + Food + Stuff, which is still temporarily closed during the pandemic.
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“Given Phoenix doesn’t have that bagel plug so far, it was just kind of like a niche that I wanted to hit,” McMillen said.
Stoop Kid is McMillen’s venture to combine his passion for food and coffee with the urban grunge aesthetic that he grew up aspiring for. He decided when a spot opened up at the Churchill in March that it was time to bring quick convenient New York-style bagel sandwiches to downtown Phoenix.
McMillen said he jumped at the opportunity to have a space in The Churchill because he was inspired by how involved Kell Duncan, co-owner of The Churchill, has become in the downtown community.
“All the other business owners at The Churchill are younger; they’re fired up and ready to help everyone else.” McMillen said, “And there’s just a cool community spirit that exists in that space.”
The inspiration for the name Stoop Kid — also an iconic character that some 1990s kids might remember from Nickelodeon — came after McMillen saw the space, a graffiti-clad shipping container in The Churchill, for the first time.
“I don’t know why my brain immediately went to ‘Hey, Arnold,’” McMillen said. “Kind of suburban New York, Washington, or Portland where all the kids are hanging out in the stoop.”
Stoop Kid’s menu will feature a rotating selection of sandwiches on a choice of an egg, onion, or asiago bagel, provided by New York Bagels N’ Bialys in Scottsdale. Vegan and vegetarian options will be available too.
Customers can choose between a couple of hearty breakfast sandwiches or two choices of burgers. Of the four items currently on the menu, McMillen said he’s recently been loving the yam and cheese bagel sandwich. Stoop Kid will also be serving coffee all day.
McMillen said that he wants the spot to be a quick and cheap every-day spot for people living downtown.
“I want people to come back regularly,” McMillen said. “We’re pricing things a little bit lower, so that we can be that daily spot for people.”
Stoop Kid is now open at The Churchill from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. for their grand opening. They will be regularly open weekly Tuesday through Saturday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m. and Sundays from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Contact the reporter at ammedi16@asu.edu.
