Scottsdale
Fire & Braids
Opened: June 2024
By our reckoning, the rise of the brewery/food-truck collab is one of the niftier Valley dining trends in recent memory. Case in point: this over-achieving Mexican mobile kitchen parked outside Pinnacle Brewing Company in North Scottsdale. The vaguely Oaxacan menu includes such brew-friendly noshes as the flavor-jammed turkey torta (pounded roast turkey breast pressed between a telera roll with fresh guacamole, spicy chorizo beans and a toasty penumbra of cheese, $16) and addictive street corn nachos (chargrilled elote, Oaxacan crema, cotija, poblano salsa and more piled on a plate of chips, $10). Tacos ($6 each, or three for $15) take center stage at Fire & Braids, available as carne asada; citrus-brined grilled chicken; al pastor; or a toasty-sweet, sesame-flecked chicken mole. Each is drizzled with avocado crema and crowned with an enlivening ping of cilantro microgreen. Paired with a pilsner inside the brewery, each is a little slice of beer-taco heaven.
The truck also fires off grilled, all-beef hot dogs ($11) served on chewy pretzel buns for less Latinized palates.
Wild Card: It’s a taco! No, it’s a quesadilla! No, it’s a quesataco – griddled to an alluring crisp and plumped up with melted queso ($7).
15111 N. Hayden Rd. | 480-442-7242 | fireandbraids.com
East Valley
Main Burgers
Opened: January 2025
If by some chance you ever wondered what Tacos Chiwas’ eponymous Chihuahua-style taco would taste like as a hamburger, well, here’s your answer. Chiwas power couple Armando Hernandez and Nadia Holguin are the benefactors behind this Mesa fast-casual grill, and the Chiwas burger ($9, single/$15, double) is one of three succulent burger options on their spry little menu, with queso asadero, roasted green chiles, minced ham and caramelized onions piled on a beef patty between a buttery brioche bun. By virtue of the onions and the cheesy-gooey interplay of the cheese and meat, it reminds me a little of an “animal-style” double-double at In-N-Out, albeit with a pleasant echo of green chile from the roasted Anaheims.
If a burger isn’t your bag, put a leash on Main Burgers’ Sonoran-style hot dog ($10), wrapped in bacon and wedged into a soft hoagie with pinto beans, roasted peppers, guacamole, cotija and grilled onions. It’s a joy to eat, if slightly short on chile zing. Vegetarians have exactly one option at Main Burger – the romaine house salad ($10) ordered without the bacon. Generously dusted with cotija and tossed with jalapeño ranch dressing, it has flavor in spades. The short-order kitchen churns out crispy, flavorful french fries ($5).
Wild Card: The Sonoran burger ($9/$15) swaps the asadero, ham and Anaheims for chiltepins, cheese costra (crust) and bacon.
161 W. Main St., Mesa | mainburgeraz.com
North Phoenix
King’s Döner
Opened: April 2025
Bring an army to this friendly, family-run fast-casual specializing in döner sandwiches, the wildly popular street food of Germany, where portions are insanely generous, prices are reasonable, and the food is fresh and delicious. Doner (minus the umlaut) is a Turkish dish you likely already know: seasoned meat (typically lamb or beef) cooked on a vertical spit, shaved into thin slices and stuffed into pita. At King’s, the No. 1 item on the menu is classic döner bread pita brimming with meat (choose from turkey, chicken, beef or gyro, $8, + $5 for beef), lavished with creamy sauces (one herby, one spicy) and topped with greens, radishes, tomatoes, onions, olives, jalapeños, pomegranate arils and sumac. King’s liver bread ($9) is simpler but equally fantastic: chopped chicken livers grilled with onions, bell peppers and garlic, smoothed with spicy sauce and stuffed into a pliant roll. Earthy deliciousness.
But the jaw-dropper is the King’s Plate ($20), a 3-pound combo of all four meats, set over a bed of rice, fries or grilled veggies (sweet, perfectly cooked zucchini, carrots, onions, bell peppers and mushrooms), the whole assemblage dolloped with sauces.
Wild Card: Save room (somehow) for international desserts such as flaky baklava, tiramisu, tres leches cake and Dubai chocolate pancake ($4.99-$7.99).
18409 N. Cave Creek Rd. | 480-330-6228 | kingsdoner.com
Central Phoenix
Kid Sister
Opened: May 2024
Sisters Casey and Courtney Lewandrowski are definitely doin’ it for themselves at this cozy, European-style wine-bar-cum-bistro, but they have help – namely, co-owner Dej Lambert and chef Isaac Mendoza (formerly of Progress). The cadre has created a winsome hangout that eschews the usual wine bar tropes, curating affordable, food-friendly wines from as near as Willcox and as far as Lebanon. Meanwhile, Mendoza offers a short seasonal menu of small plates and entrées based on European classics. Oeufs mayonnaise ($14) – a French bistro nibble of hard-boiled, jammy-yolked eggs topped with mayonnaise, white anchovies, pickled Basque peppers, tarragon and fresh dill – is rich, creamy and utterly delectable, while tuna crudo ($22), served in a bowl of chile-flecked citrus juices with fresh peaches, cucumbers and purple shiso, is wonderfully cool and refreshing. Flaky puff pastry cradles a tomato tart ($23) bursting with juices and all the bright, sweet, savory goodness of a roasted tomato enriched with nutty Comté cheese.
Squash risotto ($26) combines salty Pecorino with hazelnuts, Calabrian chiles and (for an extra $12) sweet crab meat. It’s excellent.
Wild Card: For dessert, a simple blueberry gelato ($14) with peach jam and toasted coconut and almonds is pure wow.
4810 N. Seventh St. | 602-633-9559 | kidsisterphx.com
