Using a photo of blue, black, cream and red aprons hanging on a rack of hooks, Valentine's executive chef and James Beard Award semifinalist Donald Hawk announced plans to hang up his own.
“I never thought I would be hanging up the apron but life has a way with its timing,” Hawk wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
The chef has led the kitchen at the award-winning Melrose restaurant since it opened in November 2020. Valentine, founded by Blaise Faber and Chad Price, pays homage to the state and its history through an all-day menu and bar.
Since opening, the restaurant has gained a loyal following for dishes like its elote pasta and hiramasa crudo. The buzzy spot has also earned national recognition, including being named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America in 2022.
Hawk was a semifinalist in two James Beard Award categories, in 2022 for Emerging Chef of the Year and this year for Best Chef Southwest. He was Phoenix New Times’ Best Chef in 2023.
“Over the past 4.5 years, Donald has been one of the biggest creative forces behind VALENTINE, and a pivotal part of where we started, and where we’ve ended up,” a post from Valentine’s Instagram account said.
Hawk will cook at the restaurant until June 1, the post said, and chef Nico Zades will be promoted and take over the kitchen.
“I’m really excited to see the growth even more of (Zades) who will (be) taking over my position,” Hawk wrote. “I’ve watched him grow for years and can’t wait to see him go even further tha(n) I did.”
Hawk plans to retire from the kitchen and relocate to Las Vegas, according to the Valentine post, “to join his partner in the world of wildlife biology.”
There was an outpouring of support for Hawk from fellow chefs online.
“I’ll miss you tremendously,” wrote Crystal Kass, Hawk’s Valentine colleague and current James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. “But so happy for you and what’s next. I now have an excuse to go to Vegas more often lol.”
“Wishing u a happy healthy trail ahead,” chef and restaurateur Chris Bianco shared.
“Phoenix will miss you,” Voyager Bake Shop wrote, “but what an impression you’ve left.”
The restaurant encouraged diners and friends to come in over the next two weeks to “share a meal or a memory, and help us send (Hawk) off.”
In Hawk’s post, he thanked the Valentine crew and Faber “for giving me my first chance.”
“I’ll never forget my time here. I would do it all again in a heartbeat if they asked me,” the chef wrote. “I’m just happy that I got to be part of a community that Arizona is. Fortunate enough to call Phoenix my home and lucky to have been serving this city for most of my life.”
“I never thought I would be hanging up the apron but life has a way with its timing,” Hawk wrote in an Instagram post on Wednesday.
The chef has led the kitchen at the award-winning Melrose restaurant since it opened in November 2020. Valentine, founded by Blaise Faber and Chad Price, pays homage to the state and its history through an all-day menu and bar.
Since opening, the restaurant has gained a loyal following for dishes like its elote pasta and hiramasa crudo. The buzzy spot has also earned national recognition, including being named one of Esquire’s Best New Restaurants in America in 2022.
Hawk was a semifinalist in two James Beard Award categories, in 2022 for Emerging Chef of the Year and this year for Best Chef Southwest. He was Phoenix New Times’ Best Chef in 2023.
“Over the past 4.5 years, Donald has been one of the biggest creative forces behind VALENTINE, and a pivotal part of where we started, and where we’ve ended up,” a post from Valentine’s Instagram account said.
Hawk will cook at the restaurant until June 1, the post said, and chef Nico Zades will be promoted and take over the kitchen.
“I’m really excited to see the growth even more of (Zades) who will (be) taking over my position,” Hawk wrote. “I’ve watched him grow for years and can’t wait to see him go even further tha(n) I did.”
Hawk plans to retire from the kitchen and relocate to Las Vegas, according to the Valentine post, “to join his partner in the world of wildlife biology.”
Chef Donald Hawk (left) with Valentine founders Chad Price and Blaise Faber in 2021.
Jackie Mercandetti Photo
“I’ll miss you tremendously,” wrote Crystal Kass, Hawk’s Valentine colleague and current James Beard Award nominee for Outstanding Pastry Chef or Baker. “But so happy for you and what’s next. I now have an excuse to go to Vegas more often lol.”
“Wishing u a happy healthy trail ahead,” chef and restaurateur Chris Bianco shared.
“Phoenix will miss you,” Voyager Bake Shop wrote, “but what an impression you’ve left.”
The restaurant encouraged diners and friends to come in over the next two weeks to “share a meal or a memory, and help us send (Hawk) off.”
In Hawk’s post, he thanked the Valentine crew and Faber “for giving me my first chance.”
“I’ll never forget my time here. I would do it all again in a heartbeat if they asked me,” the chef wrote. “I’m just happy that I got to be part of a community that Arizona is. Fortunate enough to call Phoenix my home and lucky to have been serving this city for most of my life.”
