Top Valley chef, local olive oil maker revive prime Arcadia restaurant

The latest Valley hospitality partnership started like a math problem. What happens if you put a restaurateur and an artisan olive oil maker in the same massive space with oodles of potential? 

This fall, diners and shoppers will see how it all adds up.

In Good Spirits Hospitality, the restaurant group helmed by chef Bernie Kantak and hospitality veteran Andrew Fritz, is teaming up with Queen Creek Olive Mill to open an all-day restaurant, shop and speakeasy. The Olive Farmer will open in the former modern Mexican restaurant, Santo, and the hidden bar, Pecado, on Osborn Road and 44th Street. 

It was a space the In Good Spirits team had in their sights for years, even before Santo set up shop. Energized by the success of their all-day Old Town spot, Beginner’s Luck, Kantak’s mind wandered to the idea of a “more grand” restaurant and market. Then he met Queen Creek Olive Mill owner Perry Rea.

“I felt like it was too big for just me, and he felt like it was too big for just him,” Kantak says. “I love the building, Perry loves the building. It’s going to be so much more than just a restaurant.”

The partnership materialized after Kantak and his team — who are also behind the Old Town staple Citizen Public House, the Phoenix New American eatery The Gladly and sushi and matcha bar Minnow — ventured to the southeast Valley for a tour of the mill. The chef was blown away by the magnitude of the operation, from the mill’s products to the food its team makes. Rea pitched him on the idea of working together, and they began planning The Olive Farmer about a year ago. 

“Collaborating really seemed like a no-brainer,” Kantak says. Rea agrees.

“The thing that excites me the most is that In Good Spirits, that whole group, has a passion for quality ingredients and doing things the right way,” Rea says, “just like I do over here at the olive mill.”

Kantak is a two-time James Beard Award semifinalist who plans to pull on his culinary influences and memories for this new concept. The chef grew up in an Italian neighborhood in north Syracuse, New York, where pizzerias, bakeries and meat shops were on just about every corner. Rea appreciates how Kantak creates experiences in each of his eateries.

“He’s not even Italian, but I’m going to turn him into one,” Rea says with a laugh. “It’s going to be a perfect match between the olive mill and everything that he does in all his restaurants.”

What to expect at The Olive Farmer

Along with Kantak, The Gladly chef Adam Harms and the mill’s Agostino Trentacoste are putting their heads together on the menu, which will use the mill’s oils, vinegars and other products. 

Though the menu is still in the works, Kantak describes the restaurant as “more of an Italian deli during the day,” with classic Italian and Italian-American fare at night. Pastries, breakfast sandwiches and coffees will be available in the morning, transitioning to salads, pizzas and panuozzo-style sandwiches made from pizza dough and stacked with imported meats and cheeses.

“I’ve been wanting to do a sandwich place for forever,” Kantak says. “Because sandwiches are fucking amazing.”

Trentacoste is a “flour savant,” Kantak says. The Palermo-born certified pizzaiolo and “flour technician” will craft pastas and breads from imported flour in a dedicated room the team has dubbed the “Flour Lab.” The offerings will include slow-fermented focaccia and pizza dough, and customers will be able to see pasta extruded and dough made from two windows. 

The focaccia and pizzas will be baked in a deck oven, Kantak says. The style of pizza? Trentacoste only defines it as “Italian,” Kantak says.  

Kantak plans to make an eggplant parmesan inspired by one that chef and restaurateur Gio Osso made for him, as well as lasagna, pasta alla vodka and bolognese.

A yet-to-be-named local purveyor will make gelato for The Olive Farmer. At the restaurant’s dual coffee-and-gelato bar, expect more than espresso toppers, Rea says, teasing that sparkling wines will also be among the affogato options. 

“It’s Italian-American with probably some things that are Italian and probably some things that are not so Italian,” Kantak says of the food, quipping that he’s 2% Italian. “It’ll be familiar but a little bit different, but delicious nonetheless.”

In addition to frozen treats, sweet options will include a multitude of Italian cookies, cannoli, cakes and other bakes crafted by the mill’s crew and In Good Spirits’ pastry chef Benjamin Cadriel. The kitchen will also offer a “robust” takeout menu, Kantak says, along with take-and-bake options and a bottle shop.

ISSIMA, The Olive Farmer’s hidden sister bar, sits behind the restaurant. Kantak describes it as an “escape” that’s “like a whole different world” when stepping inside. Bartenders will lean into lower-ABV vermouths and amaro-based tipples, as well as Italian-inspired cocktails that likewise make use of the mill’s oils, vinegars and citrus.

The mill’s olive oils, vinegars, sauces, and skincare line Olivespa, along with a curated selection of local and imported goods, will be available in the market. The Olive Farmer will bring the mill’s products back to shoppers outside the East Valley, after the mill’s Kierland Commons shop shuttered in January 2025. 

It’s a lot under one roof. This new all-day eatery and shop will offer a venerable smorgasbord of options that the team hopes will be at home in the family-friendly Arcadia neighborhood. 

“I think there’s an emerging market for places like what we’re going to do,” Kantak says. “It’s a place to shop and gather and have fun, and also, when you’re lean on time and you’re like, ‘Oh my God, I need to feed the kids,’ you can just drop in.” 

The Olive Farmer

Opens this fall
4418 E. Osborn Road