Buck and Rider: LGO Hospitality to Open Seafood Restaurant in Phoenix This Fall

Later this year LGO Hospitality will open Buck and Rider, an upscale-casual restaurant specializing in high quality seafood at 4225 E. Camelback Road in Phoenix. The restaurant will offer a raw bar, sushi, and steaks and will fly seafood to the restaurant daily from around the country. 

"In my opinion it will be the first real seafood [restaurant] in Phoenix," says LGO Hospitality Partner and COO Adam Strecker. 

The restaurant is expected to open in late August or early September and takes over a piece of property on the southwest corner of 44th Street and Camelback. The location was formerly the home to Carmel's, a neighborhood coffee and breakfast spot, and Havana Cafe, a Cuban restaurant that had been open for more than 25 years. 

LGO Hospitality has already razed the buildings that were on the property in order to make way for the approximately 208-seat seafood restaurant. In addition to a large dining room that will feature concrete floors and exposed wooden ceilings, Buck and Rider will offer a 100-seat patio that faces northeast, designed to give diners a view of Camelback Mountain.

The restaurant will also feature an open kitchen — as in a kitchen with no walls to separate it from the restaurant's dining room. Strecker says the idea is to be as transparent as possible with diners by allowing them a completely unobstructed view into the kitchen. 

As far as the menu, Strecker says the company is focused on sourcing the highest quality seafood and will use purveyors from various regions to do so. Prices, he says, will reflect that goal, though the restaurant will be value-driven like the other LGO Hospitality restaurants.

There will be a menu of "core items," Strecker says (such as salmon and crab cakes) that won't change seasonally; it will be augmented by a raw bar menu that will change daily based on seasonally available seafood and what's fresh. That's where you'll find options such as oysters, lobster, clams, and ceviche. 

Buck and Rider will also serve "modern" sushi rolls and high quality steaks, though Strecker says they haven't decided if that will mean Prime steaks, grass-fed beef, or otherwise. The restaurant won't be trying to compete with Steak 44, an upscale steakhouse also located at the intersection of 44th Street and Camelback, and steaks aren't going to be a "core part of the restaurant," he says. 

Initially, Buck and Rider will open for dinner only and will add lunch service later down the line. The company also plans to open a walk-up window from which diners will be able to order more casual meals such as miniature lobster rolls and fish and chips. 

LGO Hospitality, which was founded by Bob Lynn, already has several popular restaurants in the Arcadia neighborhood, including Le Grande Orange Grocery, Le Grande Orange Pizzeria, Chelsea's Kitchen, and Ingo's Tasty Food. Buck and Rider will be the company's first seafood restaurant in Arizona and, like the company's other restaurants, Strecker says it will offer a young, casual, and accessible vibe. 

For more information check the LGO Hospitality website. 

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