Downtown’s new all-day cafe invites customers to slow down and settle in

When a new spot opens in town, we’re eager to check it out, let you know our initial impressions, share photos and dish about menu items. First Taste, as the name implies, is not a full-blown review but instead a peek inside restaurants that have just opened – an occasion to sample a few items and satisfy curiosities (both yours and ours).

Before Matilda’s officially opened, ravenous fans of First Place Coffee mobbed the downtown Phoenix cafe at preview events. The owners of the popular mobile coffee truck are behind the new all-day cafe and in the past eight years, they’ve gained a loyal following for unique seasonal coffee and matcha drinks. During the renovation of the craftsman-style bungalow that houses Matilda’s, the team invited people to stop by for “lawn service.”

Fans dutifully lined up to order coffee from the window of First Place Coffee’s 1970 Chevrolet P10 truck parked curbside by the house. Couples, groups of friends and parents out with their kids picnicked on the front lawn, sneaking into the backyard to order breakfast sandwiches from Mas Amable’s pop-up kitchen.

Those teasers of the upcoming cafe’s food and drinks only seem to have whetted diners’ appetites.

The new cafe is named after the coffee truck, which the First Place team lovingly calls Matilda. In the month since the cafe opened, crowds have formed lines that sometimes snaked out of the glass door and through the lawn, flooded into cozy tables and horseshoe booths inside and onto the patio in front and behind the house. They’re still getting comfy on blankets draped across the front yard, too.

The response has been beyond what the First Place Coffee and Matilda’s owner, Devon McConville, anticipated. 

“We’ve just been super busy and adapting,” she says, noting her team put systems in place to keep those lines moving.

McConville tapped into a growing desire for casual spots where people can linger over a coffee, a cocktail or an entire meal. It only takes a few minutes strolling through Matilda’s to see that the perceived death of third spaces — that dear social destination outside home or work — may be exaggerated.

“I think what people are looking for now are really community-oriented spaces that feel very comfortable and welcoming,” she says, adding that Matilda’s can be the type of spot people visit multiple times a week.

McConville has dreamed about opening this kind of place since she founded First Place Coffee more than eight years ago. She worked in finance as a regulator but often escaped to a nearby coffee shop. 

Now, Matilda’s serves as a refuge for others.

Along with creative coffees and teas, McConville wanted her cafe to offer a full food menu and a curated bar. She tapped chef Matt Celaya, the founder of a collective of chefs behind the roving wood-fired pop-up Mas Amable, to run the kitchen. Celaya and crew rolled out breakfast and lunch when the cafe soft opened on Feb. 18, featuring toasts and plates of soft scrambled eggs to start the day, followed by hearty sandwiches and shareable salads. In the weeks since, the team has added apertivo snacks ideal to pair with a late-afternoon cocktail.

Starting on Friday, the chic cafe debuts dinner service. The kitchen has slowly rolled out a few of those dishes already, including pork ribs and Bianco Ragu, as the cafe’s hours have extended into the evening.

If Matilda’s other offerings throughout the day are any indication, the cafe should see a swell of guests after dark, too.

What to order at Matilda’s

Stepping inside Matilda’s, it’s hard not to get distracted by the chic space. McConville worked with the design studio Need to Know to update the former home of the cozy downtown cocktail destination Garden Bar. 

Oxblood tiles wrap the coffee bar and wood details hug the edges of the walls. Clusters of artwork, plants, books and vintage decor form curated vignettes around the space. A retro coffee pot and carved horse sit above a copy of “Designing Coffee.” The stack is abutted by cookbooks from Tartine and Chez Panisse. A gold trophy, vintage wedding photo and navy blue hardcover copy of “Tom Sawyer” sit on a beam above the ordering counter. 

Large menus flop over a magazine rack hung by the door. Matilda’s offers a mix of classic coffee and tea drinks, along with a popular rotating seasonal menu, and a taut selection of breakfast and lunch bites, snacks and treats made by Phoenix bake shop, The Dinersaur.

On a recent visit, we opted for the Neapolitan latte with matcha from the cafe’s spring-inspired menu and an espresso tonic jazzed up with a house tamarind-pineapple syrup. Influenced by food runners whisking plates into different rooms of the cafe, we also ordered a hulking grilled cheese and Matilda’s riff on a classic Caesar. 

After ordering, guests seat themselves. Grab a bottle of water and a few glasses for your table from the credenza by the bar, then scope out each room, or head out the back door to the patio.

The drinks and food arrive nearly simultaneously. These iced sips have the colorful layered composition of well-crafted cocktails. The Neapolitan is split between verdant green and soft pink. The latte delivers on its promise of both vanilla and strawberry, an ideal pairing with earthy, floral matcha. The espresso tonic gets a burst of tangy tropical sweetness from a house pineapple-tamarind syrup, adding more complexity to the classic, refreshing coffee drink.

The meal, like the space, is simple but sophisticated. The grilled cheese and Caesar salad are big enough for two to share. 

“I’m home,” my lunch date remarks as the aroma of griddled bread fills the table. 

The sandwich comes on double-wide slices of brioche, slathered with mayo to encourage the exterior to crisp on the flattop. Gooey fontina and white cheddar stream down the edges of the bread like a melted candle. We chose to add Matilda’s maple-glazed bacon, which brings a rich contrast to the simple yet decadent sandwich.

Matilda’s Caesar dressing uses miso to deliver umami notes. It’s a smart riff, but the real standout with this salad is the addition of crunchy accouterments. Spiced pepitas, cotija, chives and thin, horizontal slabs of radish join the expected croutons and Parmigiano Reggiano. Those other, less expected ingredients add layers of satisfying flavor and texture to the salt, pepper and snap that make Caesar the king of salads.

Nothing we ordered was shockingly out of the box, but the team’s thoughtful execution reminds us that there’s beauty in the familiar. Even on this short menu, there were items we’d like to go back to try for breakfast or lunch, including a sweet toast with seasonal preserves and ricotta, or a turkey sandwich layered with Calabrian chile spread and lemon aioli.

Matilda’s is still understandably attracting lines, but we lucked out during our weekday lunch. The line was only a few people deep, and we received food and drinks in about 15 minutes. No matter when you visit, know that this cafe is not the kind of place to stop when you’ve only got a few minutes to grab something and go. 

Everything about this cafe encourages customers to slow down. So, take a deep breath, listen to the bubbly beats emanating from the sound system and relax. What’s the rush anyway?

Matilda’s

822 N. Sixth Ave.