Photos by Amelia Goe and Alexis Macklin
Location and Hours:14 E. Pierce St.
Phoenix, AZ 85004
Sun. – Sat. | 7 a.m. – 10 p.m.
★★★
Price Range: $3.00 – $24.00
Recommended Dishes: Baked Sweet Potatoes,
Chicken Salad sandwich
and The Flanched Flarney Garney
View all past Dine, Devil, Dine reviews with
the Downtown Dining Interactive Map.
Sophisticated but simple is how I’d describe the Phoenix Public Market Cafe. The new restaurant, owned and operated by Aaron Chamberlin of St. Francis, opened this year and has been serving all summer long. The Cafe has the best of both worlds, combining an urban layout with a simple menu that gets down to the point. No messing around here. You will go in loving the atmosphere and leave with a stomach full of quality food.
The Cafe is located on Pierce Street in between Central Avenue and First Street. The location is a prime spot for entertainment, especially during Open Air Markets on Wednesday nights and Saturday mornings.
Walking up to the Cafe you can find an outdoor patio that can hold a sizable number of people. It’s a cool hangout spot even in the Arizona heat. The bar inside is unique in that it serves Cartel Coffee along with its alcoholic beverages. Another unique factor is that dishes on the menu contain ingredients from local farmers including produce from the farmer’s market adjacent to the Cafe.
The wooden dining tables look sleek but give the place a relaxed and warm feeling. I was personally fond of the couches and benches, instead of your more traditional booth or simple seating. If you want to hang out for a few hours, the couches provide a perfect spot to study and relax. Not to mention the tables are perfectly arranged so you’re not too close to any neighbors, allowing customers to converse with friends without shouting over the noise. My favorite feature is the ceiling, which has an industrial-meets-barnyard aesthetic that really captures the essence of the Cafe – providing locally grown ingredients to the urban customer.
While the setup is nice, the reason people come to a restaurant is for the food, and the Cafe doesn’t disappoint. Breakfast is served from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. When I went at noon, it was calling my name. I ordered the Rooster Booster ($6.75). The dish is comprised of two eggs any style, bacon and toast. The dish was very simple, but that didn’t matter because the food was great. The eggs were soft and the yolk was creamy and delicious. When I first saw the bacon I thought it was going to be the soft, flimsy kind but I was very wrong. It was soft on the outside but when I bit in, it had a perfect crunch and crispiness that I wasn’t expecting but loved. When I finished my three pieces of bacon all I could think about was getting more. Finally, the multigrain toast was left waiting for me with homemade jelly. Needless to say I finished that pretty quickly. The toast was soft and chewy and the jam had nice flavor.
While my breakfast was satisfying I caught myself eyeing a lot of other people’s dishes. I saw a hamburger that looked fat and juicy which will definitely be the next thing I try when I go. When I was ordering, it was hard not to purchase one of the many pastries that are displayed on the front counter.
The menu is simple as well. Burgers and sandwiches are all about $8 with the highest prices ($10) being for the AZ Burger and the lowest being the grilled cheese ($6.50). All sides are $3 which includes the Baked Sweet Potato which is cooked with a chili lime butter and is a must-have item. On other visits I tried The Flanched Flarney Garney ($7.50) from the breakfast menu, which is a sandwich with tasty avocado, scrambled eggs, bacon, mayo and cheese. It comes with a slice of watermelon and a pickle — all things that I thoroughly enjoy in life. I also had one of the house specialities, Pork Chile Verde Pot Pie ($9.50), the chicken salad sandwich ($8.25) and the beans and rice bowl ($8.00) which was probably my least favorite dish.
The food and atmosphere are stellar, but Cafe has other special features that give it an extra something special. Shelves of local knickknacks and produce are placed right in the middle of the restaurant for customers to view and purchase. There is everything from chocolate bars to soap and everything in between.
My only complaints are that some dishes have pretty small portions and the breakfast menu is somewhat limited. The inclusion of some different styles of pancakes or waffles would be ideal. In addition, all the dishes under the egg section on the menu don’t come with potatoes. You have to order a side of potatoes for an additional $2.50, which is understandable, but on a student budget paying $10 is not extremely realistic.
Cafe is a “cool” restaurant. It has an inviting and unique vibe, and what you order is exactly what you are going to get. There are no surprises and I like it that way.
Amelia Goe contributed to this report.
Contact the reporter at jawill37@asu.edu
