If you’re looking for a new place to study, socialize, grab a drink or satisfy your hangriness, The Churchill is the place to be. Four restaurants, two bars, local retail shops, live music and games make up the plaza on 901 N. 1st Street. Promoting creativity and community, The Churchill is a warm welcome for all downtown residents.
Walking into the plaza, I was immediately hit by an abundance of fresh fruit crowding the window sill of Foxy Fruit. Attack of the healthy––run!
Kidding.
Kind of.
From mixed berry acai bowls to pitaya smoothies, the mother-daughter owned restaurant can fulfill any of your sweet fruity cravings. Just ask owner Cameo Rose who boasted the fresh ingredients, saying they’re vegan friendly, plant-based and organic.
Words like “vegan” and “organic” tend to have me heading the other way and shaking my head. But Foxy Fruits was like a treat masked in nutrition. Take my word for it, those bowls taste so much better than they sound if you’re on the ‘religious consumer of fried fast food’ diet like me. My personal favorite, the PB & J Coco, had velvety almond milk, raw cacao, strawberries oozing sweetness and a house-made gluten-free granola to top it all off.
Mind you, those were just the highlights. Altogether, the ingredients made me feel like I was starting this delicious, healthy lifestyle.
For the many of you who are more active than me, Foxy Fruit is also a great place to get your daily dose of protein powder after a long workout or exercise. Rose says she hopes that after eating their food, customers will feel well-nourished and satisfied.
“My food isn’t just food, it’s healing food. I want people to feel like it’s added value to their mind, body and soul,” Rose said.
Foxy Fruit’s neighbor, Freak Brothers Pizza, shares a similar goal of promoting a healthy lifestyle for their customers. Nathan Coury of Freak Brothers Pizza said they encourage a healthy diet by using 100 percent organic, fresh dough and provide vegan and gluten-free options for different diets.
To be blunt, I am a firm believer that Chicago’s deep-dish pizza stands above the rest in the pizza world. And as a Chicago native, I was fully ready to take on this wood-fired concept, curious to see how it would compare to my hometown’s deep-dish greatness.
But as the connoisseur I am, hailing from the Windy City, I can confidently say that the Freak Brothers Pizza’s Pesto Madness is a whole other story. Never would I have thought that a combination of just pesto, banana peppers and grape tomatoes could pack such a flavor punch.
But I didn’t stop there. I was fully determined to achieve a self-induced food coma. So, I ordered a Korean infused hot sandwich from Breadwinner to top off my enormous meal.
Sandwiches usually get me thinking of the generic Subway 6-incher with the typical ham and swiss filling, but Breadwinners dives into a rich pool of ingredients to create unique and mouth-watering sandwiches for their customers.
Incorporating duck carnitas in “El Pato” or pork belly strips in “Reuben’s Belly,” these bizarrely compelling combos left me ready and excited to try more. Just not tonight—food baby in full-effect.
After three meals I was ready to retire my taste buds and relax. Lucky for me, I didn’t even have to move that far…The Churchill had comfortable lounge chairs, tables and overhead fans that convinced me to stay just a little bit longer. I successfully fell into a 10-minute food coma before talking myself into doing some homework (like the good student I am).
Most of the time it’s difficult for me to focus on studying in a dark and secluded coffee shop, but The Churchill’s openness to the sun and cool breeze left me awake and alert enough to get my work done.
I noticed the crowd was growing as the evening progressed. Students and families with younger children awaited the live music that comes from the weekly DJ’s.
“It’s like a daytime hangout spot and a night time party spot,” Rose said. “Anything you want to do, Churchill has it.”
While teenagers can be found dancing along to the beat of the music, many of the families are seated at their tables, forks ready, prepared to eat at another Churchill restaurant: Provecho. The restaurant promotes traditional Guadalajaran food and hopes to introduce their culture to the public.
“We are not drowning our food in cheese and sour cream,” Xochitl Navarrete of Provecho said. “It’s all original spices and recipes from our chef who spent months and months in Guadalajara.”
It seems that customers of Provecho with ties to the culture have been brought back to their childhood when tasting their food. Nostalgic entrees such as “torta ahogada” and “carne en su jugo” have backstories tracing back to the culture and history of Guadalajara.
As it nears toward midnight, The Churchill is still lively. The party doesn’t stop until 2 a.m. Thursday through Saturday. Grab a drink at the Brill Line or have a modern twist on classic cocktails at The Pobrecito! The Churchill definitely has room to satisfy many moods and palettes.
Contact the reporter at gzabat@asu.edu.
