TPQ Foods
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The restaurant group behind Pa’La Wood-Fired Kitchen and Tortas Paquimé will open two new West Valley restaurants this spring.
TPQ Foods, which runs both locations of the Phoenix restaurant and the casual Valley-wide torta shops, is readying eateries in Goodyear and Glendale that riff on the group’s original concepts.
Magdaleña will feature live-fire cooking but take culinary inspiration from Latin America. The restaurant, named after a rose variety, will debut in Goodyear’s GSQ in late May. Magdaleña will join more than a dozen restaurants and stores in Goodyear’s growing downtown hub at McDowell Road and 150th Drive, including Copper & Sage and Kura Revolving Sushi Bar.
Paquimex will take fan-favorite dishes from Tortas Paquimé and build on the menu with new plates and a limited bar. The fast-casual restaurant is planned to open in Glendale this spring.
When Omar Alvarez moved to Arizona more than 20 years ago, he settled in the West Valley. Since then, the TPQ Foods founder has watched the west side of town explode with growth, “but it doesn’t really have anything special” for diners, he says.
“That’s really what we wanted to bring… a special project, a special restaurant, for that community,” Alvarez says. “Looking at expansion, we get a lot of requests for the West Valley.”
TPQ Foods
A Latin American-inspired live-fire restaurant
Alvarez again partnered with executive chef Jason Alford and hospitality veteran Gilles Kolakowski, from the Mediterranean and Japanese-inspired Pa’La, to bring Magdaleña to life.
To put together the menu, Alvarez, Alford and chef Marcelino Ramos (formerly of downtown’s Pretty Penny) drew from their experiences and travels. Alvarez has roots in Chihuahua, Mexico, while Ramos has spent time in Puerto Rico and around South America. Alford has leaned into the Japanese influences found in Peru.
“We just blend our ideas and visions together and create something special,” Alford says. “We’re trying to create something that doesn’t exist yet.”
The menu features “a lot of things we truly enjoy at home or that we actually travel to go try,” the owner adds.
A parrilla anchors the kitchen, fueled by Japanese charcoal and a blend of woods. The shareable menu will focus on grilled meats and seafood, including steaks sourced from K4 Ranches and a Puerto Rican Kan-Kan-style pork chop.
Diners will also be able to choose from shareable salads, grilled vegetables and tapas that include a Peruvian-style ceviche featuring aji amarillo. Meals at Magdaleña begin with a play on bread service, where servers will create a “super simple but absolutely delicious” taco tableside on a house-made corn tortilla.
The bar features only Latin American wines and spirits, “to bring people into the journey and really bring them out of their comfort zone,” Kolakowski says. Magdaleña’s wine list builds on the large collection of Mexican wine curated at Pa’La by Kolakowski and his team, as well as bottles sourced from countries across South America.
Although Magdaleña has some of the trappings of a steakhouse, Alvarez says the space will have “chic,” softer design elements, such as warm woods, earth tones and marble. The restaurant will feature live music and a patio for al fresco dining.
“Every guest is a regular, either already a regular or is a regular in the making,” Kolakowski says. “The goal is to greet people like they’re in our home.”
What to expect at Paquimex
Alvarez’s team will also open a much more casual spot in the West Valley with Paquimex. This new counter-service eatery will build on the flavors of Tortas Paquimé, the restaurateur says. He opened his first torta shop in 2002 and has grown the chain to include seven Valley locations. Paquimex will open this spring at the southwest corner of Olive and 51st avenues.
“You’ll still find all the sandwiches that define us,” he says.
Diners will be able to opt for one of those with chips and salsa from a well-stocked salsa bar, or try new menu items, including street-food-inspired shareables and plates of enchiladas or chiles en nogada. At Paquimex, there will be a curated selection of margaritas, palomas and mezcal-based tipples that can be sipped inside or on the restaurant’s patio.
Alvarez is hopeful both new eateries will grow beyond the West Valley in time. For now, he and their team want to get those two new spots off the ground.
“We are excited to bring both of the concepts to life,” he says, “and hope to see everybody that has followed us for a long time.”
Magdaleña
Opens in late May
1900 North Civic Square, Goodyear
Paquimex
Opens this spring
5149 W. Olive Ave., #120, Glendale
