Wren House taps Bacanora chef for Ahwatukee food menu

Derek Christensen is a chef at Phoenix’s celebrated Sonoran restaurant Bacanora. The critically acclaimed restaurant was a James Beard Award nominee for Best New Restaurant in 2022 and, the chef team of Rene Andrade, Roberto Centeno and Christensen received a nod for Best Chef Southwest this year.

Christensen has been a long-time friend of the Wren House, previously hosting pop-up dinners with his experiential culinary events company, Moonrise Standard.

“We’ve kind of grown together in a lot of ways and we share similar visions of quality products and quality experiences,” says Wren House co-founder Drew Pool. “He shares that vision from a food perspective.”

Christensen will develop the Wren Südhalle menu, which he describes as “simple, delicious European-inspired food.” He’ll also hire and train the staff and work with purveyors – but will continue cooking at Bacanora.

“He’s the vision, the chef, the trainer,” Pool says of Christensen’s role at Wren Südhalle.

The Wren House team announced plans for the beer hall last May and will start pouring drinks on Saturday. The kitchen will follow.
The food menu will feature burgers, sandwiches and snacks that take inspiration from Europe.

“The vision for the menu is approachable yet finely crafted food,” Pool says.

Christensen has worked in kitchens in France and Italy and traveled throughout Austria and Germany. He’ll mine those experiences for the menu while keeping it familiar.

“It’s going to be super fun,” he says.

Among food offerings will be a pretzel with beer cheese, loaded fries and smash burgers. One burger will be a spin on a bratwurst, featuring a beef patty, brat patty, beer cheese and housemade pickles, Christensen says. He’ll keep the menu short and spotlight quality ingredients.

“They have such a solid standard and brand and I’m excited to create that same standard of food,” Christensen says.

Wren Südhalle will feature 24 taps. About half will be Wren House beers, Pool says, including specialty options the brewer will make just for that location, as well as imports – including some that haven’t been available in Arizona before. Among those, Pool says, are beers from Eggenberg Brewery in Austria – a brewery whose roots date back to the 14th century.