Ribs, sushi and a martini? Cowboy Seafood will have it all

Some of Christopher Collins’ fondest memories with his dad were at food festivals and barbecue competitions. Collins’ father owned the Texas Longhorn Bar & Grill in Reno, Nevada. As a pre-teen, Collins was tasked with frying onion rings while his dad watched the meat, including award-winning ribs finished with a sweet-tangy Maui Wowie sauce that became a staple at Texas Longhorn.

“I will always remember those times with my dad,” Collins says.

Since then, the Phoenix chef has learned to do much more in the kitchen. His hospitality group, Common Ground Culinary, operates eight concepts around the Valley. There’s the Southern-leaning Grassroots Kitchen & Tap, the West Coast-inspired wine bar and bistro Saint Urban and the creamery and bake shop Sweet Provisions, among others. 

Barbecue and seafood are two areas where Collins has dabbled but never built a restaurant around, until now. He plans to open Cowboy Seafood in midtown Phoenix’s Park Central next spring. 

“This is the culmination of my culinary and life experiences,” Collins says. 

What to expect at Cowboy Seafood

The restaurant will meld smokehouse meats and elevated seafood dishes in an expansive space on Central Avenue.

Collins won’t lean on any one barbecue region, instead calling the style “Belt barbecue,” referencing the Bible Belt – shorthand for much of the South. St. Louis-style ribs, beef ribs and brisket will spend hours on Cowboy Seafood’s smokers, which will be assembled on a pad with stacks of pecan wood. House-made sauces and seasonings will be available at tables for diners to add to their liking. 

Cowboy Seafood will buck the counter-service format common at barbecue joints in favor of full-service dining in a rustic, industrial setting. 

“(Barbecue) is a labor of love. I don’t know why it hasn’t transitioned more to full-service style dining,” he says. “I want you guys out at date night Friday night, crushing a rack of ribs at a table with a martini.”

The kitchen will also be equipped with a custom-built Santa Maria grill and two rotisserie spits for chicken and pork loin. The restaurant will offer sandwiches, such as pastrami or brisket cheesesteaks, signature burgers, a French dip and a Nashville-style hot chicken sandwich.

Patrons can add on sides of pork belly baked beans, sweet corn creme brulee, red beans, coleslaw and baked potatoes that can be loaded up with trim meats. Salads will get their own twists, like the Big A** Caesar with bacon-cheddar biscuit croutons.

In addition to a smokeyard, Cowboy Seafood’s open kitchen will include the Saltwater Saint Raw Bar. It’s a seafood concept that Collins has piloted inside Saint Urban and The Collins. 

“Here, we’re going to blow that up,” Collins says, noting plans for Saltwater Saint to expand beyond raw items at Cowboy Seafood. 

Diners will see seafood on ice and chefs will shuck oysters, peel shrimp and roll sushi. They’ll also cook fish that will be flown in daily.

“As a chef, I love cooking with seafood,” Collins says. 

Weekend brunch will feature corned beef hash and smoked whole hogs, whose meat will be added to chilaquiles, benedicts and other dishes. Diners can end their meal with a treat from the “ice cream lab,” courtesy of Collins’ creamery Sweet Provisions. 

The restaurant’s 5,000-square-foot dining area will seat 80 at leather-wrapped booths, a long community table and a rectangular island bar that sits underneath an eye-catching marquee sign. The bar will serve signature cocktails, wine and local beer.

Expect kitschy and country decor, such as a taxidermied swordfish wearing a cowboy hat and art from the iconic Nashville letterpress, Hatch Show Print.

Once the restaurant is open and their mobile smoker is ready, Collins muses that he’ll take his sons with him to barbecue competitions. For now, he is “so excited” to open a restaurant in the neighborhood he calls home.

“It’s going to be so cool to pull into Park Central and have this be like a shining beacon of light,” Collins says.