Spilling the tea on the 9 sauciest food stories of the year

For the Phoenix New Times food team, covering the local dining scene includes exploring the Valley’s best new restaurants, reviewing food and drinks, reporting on news events that impact your grocery budget and rounding up lists to guide you to the best bars and restaurants in town.

In addition to all of that delicious work, we also dig into the city’s juiciest food dramas. And in 2025, there was plenty to sink our teeth into.

Over the last 12 months, the world of food overlapped with landlord disputes, immigration cases, spats with the health department, unusual political affiliations, a mysterious fire and a social media sensation dubbed “Pastrygate.”

The arguments were heated. The tea got spilled. And in the case of one winery, everything burned to the ground. Here are the sauciest food stories of 2025.

Coffee creep kills Xanadu

In late March, the downtown Phoenix coffee shop Xanadu abruptly closed. The next day, most of its staff quit. Then in April, its remaining staff briefly reopened their place of work, only for it to close again. This all occurred after its owner and founder, Randall Denton, was sentenced to a year in prison. Roughly a year earlier, Denton was caught in a child sex sting attempting to pay $250 for sex with a fictitious 14-year-old girl. Things got even more complicated when records showed that a Phoenix school board president bailed out the cafe owner, leveraging her house to pay $12,500 for his bail. In late April, she resigned. Her name appeared in our headlines once again in July, when she allegedly ducked a lawsuit summons.

The wheels on the taco bus fell off

One of the most unique taco trucks in town came to a halt earlier this year, when its owner was arrested in July. Homeland Security Investigations had been watching El Taco Loko, its owner, restaurant, multiple food trucks and the unique taco bus, for months before they raided the business and the owner’s home. After a non-guilty plea was followed up with a guilty plea, the owner was sentenced to 20 months in prison. Once he is released, he will likely be deported. The business owner was undocumented and charged with the illegal possession of firearms and employing undocumented immigrants to work at his businesses. Some of those workers lived at his house, along with another home that the business owner ran. During the raid, HSI also picked up 12 undocumented workers, and the business owner’s wife, who they later released. The story continues to develop, however, as The Arizona Republic reported that the wife was detained on Christmas Eve. 

CRUjiente’s sad goodbye

The unfolding of events leading up to CRUjiente’s closure was an emotional roller coaster with a sad ending. In April, the chef and owner announced that their beloved Arcadia area Mexican fusion restaurant would close at the end of the month. But then, the space received such an overwhelming outpouring of support, the landlord of the building allowed the restaurant to remain open for another month. Customers reveled in the hope that CRUjiente’s famous margaritas and Korean fried chicken tacos would stick around. However, the owners and the landlord were unable to come to an agreement by the end of the extension, so CRUjiente closed for the final time at the end of May.

Coronado Vineyard’s fiery exit

A dramatic saga of events continued for a former Valley restaurateur when his southern Arizona winery set ablaze in July. Doajo Hicks ran locations of Throne Brewing Co. in Phoenix and Peoria, and owned The Pairing Room, a short-lived downtown Phoenix eatery. In the summer of 2024, Hicks’ staff accused him of failing to pay them, withholding their tips and providing checks that bounced. Multiple staff members sued him for wage and tip theft. In some of the suits, former staff members won scheduled payments, but those were later paused when Hicks filed for bankruptcy. Hicks’ last remaining business was Coronado Vineyards in Willcox. The winery, its tasting room and shop were closed for the summer when a fire broke out on July 6. Hicks had filed for a different type of bankruptcy for the vineyard. It later burned to the ground and was deemed a “total loss.”

The Bing Bistro switcheroo

The evolution of one Gilbert restaurant highlighted a potential loophole in Arizona’s restaurant health inspection process this year. After months of failing inspections, it changed its name and continued serving customers. Stellar 66 opened on Baseline Road in April 2024. In subsequent months, the restaurant had cleanliness and safety problems, which peaked when a health inspector “observed two whole lamb heads with organs cooking on the cook line” that had been purchased from a “backyard slaughterhouse in Laveen.” That finding resulted in a visit from the USDA and state agricultural department. Roughly a year after opening, the restaurant quietly shut down. But the same owner flipped the restaurant into a second location of his other Valley restaurant, Bing Bistro. The original Scottsdale Bing Bistro also had issues with the health department. So while the owner hoped to leave Stellar 66’s unsanitary history behind and convince customers that a new restaurant had taken its place, the problems persist. 

Mayo Clinic’s caffeine woes

When a local coffee truck was banned from setting up at Scottsdale’s Mayo Clinic, it was a head scratcher. Why couldn’t night shift nurses get a little caffeine to help them through their late hours? However, the reasoning soon became apparent. The truck’s name is Graveyard Shift Coffee. Its logo is a skeleton in scrubs. And its menu features drinks called the Bloody Eye, the Formaldehyde and Murder Spice. Graveyard Shift sets up at many different hospitals around the Valley, and typically parks in areas only visible to staff, not patients. But some at Mayo, a hospital that focuses on cancer research, didn’t see the funny side. The business posted about their ouster, and received an overwhelmingly supportive response, with night shift nurses across the state calling for the truck and its creative, macabre coffees to come to their hospitals. 

Xolo’s political roller coaster

At some restaurants, the owners’ political leanings are readily apparent. But at one Moon Valley Mexican restaurant owned by a gay couple, customers got a shock. It was revealed on social media that the owners of Xolo are Trump supporters. After the post revealing their politics went viral, the restaurant went on a roller coaster ride. First came the online backlash, along with general confusion about how an interracial gay couple who own a Mexican restaurant could support an administration so openly antagonistic of Latinos and the LGBTQ+ community. The restaurant and its owners were blasted online, and even received threats against them, which they took to the police. But gradually, the tides turned and the restaurant was flooded with a new clientele. Fellow Trump supporters flocked to Xolo, altering the customer base and personality of the colorful Mexican eatery.

‘Pastrygate’

An online influencer quickly learned that she picked on the wrong business this year. A food influencer known as @glamoramaaa posted a scathing review of JL Patisserie. It just so happens that the Valley bakery is an award-winning local favorite with a social media presence of its own and a devoted fan base. After the influencer ripped on the bakery’s coffee, quiche and expertly crafted pastries, JL Patisserie’s owner Jenna Leurquin clapped back. In her video, Leurquin calmly explained that the influencer had approached her about a collaboration. She explained that they didn’t have the budget for a collab, so the influencer asked for a free meal in exchange for a positive review. When Leurquin didn’t immediately agree, the influencer visited the next day to film her video, the result of the so-called blackmail. In Leurquin’s response, she acknowledged everyone’s differences in taste, but set the record straight on some falsehoods the influencer shared about their baking processes and ingredients. The back and forth blew up online, gaining broad attention and ending up in national headlines. Local food industry folks went to bat for JL Patisserie and social media creators made parody videos. Eventually, the drama wound up on big-time influencer Keith Lee’s feed, inspiring him to visit the bakery, post a glowing review and leave a large tip for the entire staff. The lines at JL Patisserie continue to grow and the influencer’s pages remain deleted.

A crime of passion at Mon Cheri

Lots of folks love Mon Cheri, the flower-drenched bar and restaurant in Scottsdale. But one pair of lovebirds made love in the Old Town spot, a passionate decision that ended in their arrest. In late October, the restaurant’s cameras caught a pair of robbers who broke into the restaurant, stole cash, liquor and the host phone and engaged in “alleged amorous activities.” The restaurant shared a clip from the video, with the caption “Help.. they violated our roses.” Police were able to use the footage, along with community tips, to locate and arrest the lovebirds turned jailbirds who traded romance for handcuffs about a month later.