Lara Mulchay is sharing her love of cheese with downtown Phoenix in a new restaurant called Craft+Culture: Cheese and Charcuterie. The restaurant will feature a variety of cheese, meats, pastries, sandwiches and dinner specials, as well as Arizona-brewed beer and wine. The eatery will be located on the first floor of the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel on the corner of Central Avenue and Adams Street, in a space formerly occupied by Starbucks.
Mulchay and her husband, Joel LaTondress, created the concept of Craft+Culture and developed a business plan, which they submitted in the “Canvas” competition hosted by the Renaissance Hotel. They were selected as one of the five finalists.
At the end of January, their idea was unanimously crowned the winner and they were given $50,000 to bring their idea to life. Mulchay hopes to be open by the end of April.
“We feel really confident that they will be great partners,” said Jon Erickson, one of the competition panelists. “We are the guinea pigs, both them and us. We are finding out some things as we go along. They are committing to this for better or for worse, like a marriage.”
Craft+Culture will attempt to not only appeal to hotel guests, but also students and business people downtown with a variety of food and ordering options. Guests will be able to dine in or order a grab-and-go package after creating their own cheese+charcuterie boards.
“Lara is passionate about, above everything else, cheese,” Erickson said. “She truly exhibits hospitality in all that she does and together her and Joel will make the shop a success.”
Mulchay’s upbringing fostered her love for cooking and dining. She grew up in Phoenix with parents who insisted upon traditional family dinners where everyone sat and ate together. Each weekend, her family would go to restaurants where she and her siblings were exposed to a variety of new foods and encouraged to try everything once.
When Mulchay was ten, her family went to Europe. It was on this trip that she tasted a variety of delicious dishes that opened her eyes to the quality and integrity of European food. As she grew older, Mulchay spent more time in the kitchen, which allowed her to discover how much she was interested in cheese.
“Cheese makes everything appealing,” Mulchay said. “I don’t eat cheese on my hamburgers, though. I like to taste everything.”
Her developing passion influenced her to open Petit Fromage, a shop where she established connections with fellow cheese lovers. Although she closed the shop in 2010 after the economy declined, she continued importing and distributing cheese and educating others about her passion.
“I love to learn, and if you love to learn it’s easier to teach people,” Mulchay said. “I found something that really interested me: cheese.”
Now, with Craft+Culture, Mulchay has the opportunity to introduce a new eatery to the downtown community.
“It’s a dream come true for us. I want it to be right and I want it to be the best it can be,” she said. “It’s literally a blank canvas and we are making it our own.”
She said she is keeping an open mind and willing to take things one step at a time as they work to get the space ready for business. They hope to establish a patio seating area and a community table inside to encourage discussion and conversation.
“I want to be able to authentically put out really good food here in downtown Phoenix,” Mulchay said. “We want to be the ones to bring it and break new ground.
For Mulchay and LaTondress, working together on a project like this is something they have always wanted to do.
“It’s great! We met at a cheese shop and we have the same passions for food and food service,” LaTondress said. “Lara is a super hard worker. She is really passionate and dedicated to what she is trying to do in terms of the business.”
Contact the reporter at rbouley@asu.edu
