Arizona Chef’s Week returns with 10 days of lavish dining for a discount

There’s a mix of pride, acceptance and shared misery among the full-time Valley residents who brave the summer together. Swapping tips on staying cool and safe becomes part of everyday conversations. Local restaurants do their best to beat the heat, too. The slower season can make or break these eateries.

Enter Arizona Chef’s Week. The Arizona Restaurant Association launched this 10-day prix fixe dining event last year, offering deals on three-course meals from “smaller, independent and chef-owned establishments that find the slow summer season particularly challenging.”

The Chef’s Week returns at a time when other events, led by Valley communities and fellow local business boosters, have emerged to support restaurants during the tough summer months.

The restaurant association’s 10-day event builds on the organization’s popular biannual restaurant weeks, held in the spring and fall. This summer’s Chef’s Week starts on Friday and runs until Aug. 9.

“Summer in the Valley of the Sun is a historically slow time for the hospitality industry, and that slowdown can hit our locally owned and chef-driven establishments pretty hard,” Arizona Restaurant Association President and CEO Steve Chucri said in a news release. “Arizona Chef’s Week serves as a time when chefs can showcase truly unique menu items for a fraction of their regular price, while giving culinary enthusiasts an incredible meal.”

This summer, 70 Valley restaurants will offer three-course meals featuring special seasonal dishes along with some of their most popular items for $55 or $66 per person. Diners hungry for a more exclusive experience can attend a new chef dinner series. Popular and acclaimed restaurants will host diners during these ticketed, one-night-only stands, including two Phoenix classics: Beckett’s Table and Tarbell’s. 

What to expect and eat at Arizona Chefs Week

Diners can visit the upscale East Valley sushi counter and Japanese restaurant Shimagamo, the vibey surf-and-turf Mesa Mexican restaurant Espiritu, the Old Town comfort staple Citizen Public House, the flashy Tempe hotspot Filthy Animal and the James Beard semifinalist restaurant Indibar, among dozens of others.

Among those menus, Indibar diners can start with guacamole papdi and a meaty tasting platter before tucking into a bold curry made with bone-in Cornish hen that’s accompanied by dal Bukhara, rice, naan and raita. Choose a tropical passion fruit kulfi with mango, tres leches and pistachio for a fresh, frozen end to your feast.

Diners can opt for a farm-to-table fine dining menu from Quiessence at The Farm at South Mountain. Kick off a chef’s week dinner there with a miso zucchini soup, followed by scarpinocc pasta made with Hayden Flour Mills flour. The small pasta parcels are filled with ricotta and served with duck confit, shishitos, fried sage and summer squash. Cap the meal with Quiessence’s housemade ice cream. 

Head to the downtown Chandler restaurant George & Gather for a summery peach and burrata salad, a bowl of chorizo and beer-braised mussels with toasted Barrio Bread and key lime pie.

Chef Benjamin Graham’s menu of the all-day Old Town restaurant Beginner’s Luck features comforting limited-time items during every course. Start with a roasted corn and green chile chowder, then dig into the chef’s fried chicken entree with braised collard greens and Cheeto mac and cheese. Finish the meal with a chocolate toffee pretzel bread pudding. 

Tickets are also still available for two of the four chef dinners. Beckett’s Table will host a communal, family-style dinner with a “Trust the Chef” menu, which will be revealed at the event on Aug. 5. (Tickets are $79.) Meanwhile, Tarbell’s will team up with Roxx Vodka on a four-course dinner that features two Roxx cocktails on Aug. 6. The menu includes a celery root salad, smoked carpaccio, an entree featuring duck three ways and a berry-and-basil tart to finish. Tickets are $89, plus tax and gratuity.