![]() Keep walking east, past the historic Nile Theatre and antique stores, to República Empanada, a restaurant that specializes in, you guessed it, empanadas. Next door’s Oro Brewery Company brews up inventive nano-brews like Give Peat a Chance, a smoky stout with a hint of chocolate. The side of housemade potato chips only adds to its worthiness. Worth Takeaway on Main Street serves up stellar sandwiches, like the Crispy Chicken, a deep-fried slab of seasoned chicken topped with honey sriracha sauce, pickles, and local bibb lettuce. Stroll downtown Mesa, a once-sleepy farm town that’s stepping up its food and beverage game. Nearest light rail stop: Country Club/Main Street Nearby, you have the oldest-remaining residential block in Phoenix with Pizzeria Bianco, Chris Bianco’s famous pizza joint Bar Bianco for a drink while you wait and The Rosson House, a Queen Ann Victorian that dates back to 1895. On one side you have the Arizona Science Center, an interactive, hands-on museum where you can tour the solar system in a state-of-the-art planetarium and feel what it’s like to be in the middle of a hurricane, tornado, or wildfire in the “Forces of Nature” Immersion Theater. History and science combine at Heritage Square. Nearest light rail stop: Eastbound: 3rd Street/Jefferson, Westbound: 3rd Street/Washington One stop west is The Van Buren, an 1,800-capacity music hall with an impressive lineup of headliners, including Billie Eilish, Lizzo, Dua Lipa, and Sting. Just look for the Melinda mural and red light bulb. The entrance is north of the hotel in the alleyway between Central Avenue and First Street. Speaking of speakeasies, it’s easy to miss Melinda’s Alley, a weekends-only basement bar below the Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel. Valley Bar, an underground speakeasy that’s equal parts dive and chic, hosts everything from poetry readings to punk bands. You can order a classic like an old fashioned, but flip through the prolific Book o’ Cocktails, and more than likely, you’ll be sipping something original that’s a mix of bitters, tonics, infused spirits, and fresh herbs. ![]() Nearest light rail stop: Eastbound: Jefferson/1st Avenue, Westbound: Washington/Central Avenueįor inventive cocktails in a swanky setting, Bitter & Twisted Cocktail Parlor is panache personified. After eating, stroll Roosevelt Row, an artsy stretch of coffee shops, restaurants, indie galleries, and outdoor murals that runs along Roosevelt Street from 7th Avenue to 7th Street. MBB has been flipping, frying, and scrambling since 2004, and the 50-seat, counter-style joint still draws a huge crowd for breakfast and lunch. ![]() The diner-style menu is loaded with griddle cakes, salami scrambles, thick-cut bacon, and waffles with real maple syrup. It’s not a dainty, avocado toast kind of place. The next time you find yourself looking for an adventure in addition to alcohol, do yourself a favor and visit a bar that’s intentionally trying to hide from you.įollow Dorian’s Arizona adventures at light rail stop: Roosevelt/Central Avenueīreakfast is definitely the most important meal of the day at Matt’s Big Breakfast. No expense was spared to transform the industrial hallway into an unforgettable speakeasy. Melinda’s Alley is less of a place to get a drink and more of an experience. I was instantaneously transported to my days of sampling fresh cider at the apple orchards near the New England home of my youth. I found it had the perfect balance of sweet and tart with aromas of fresh sliced red delicious apples and honey sweet bourbon. Simply put, this concoction is a masterpiece. My bartenders current favorite, the New Carre’, containing bourbon, cognac, bitters and an apple cider shrub was my libation of choice. Cocktails start around $12 and the menu is completely recreated every Wednesday (so in all likelihood the drink I am describing here is no longer in existence). The drink menu consists of about a half dozen original artisan crafted cocktails scrawled on a gold-framed chalkboard. You will find two bar stations, vintage knickknacks and art deco furniture positioned in classic sitting room arrangements. The space is long and narrow and engulfed in a dim red light. To enter the cellar speakeasy, head down a narrow alleyway next to the hotel and look for a single red light affixed over a doorway cut into a mural covered wall.Īfter walking down a couple flights of cement stairs you enter a sub level corridor that has been converted in to a speakeasy. Hidden beneath this luxurious hotel lies a cozy hidden bar called Melinda’s Alley. The third and final stop on my Valley-wide tour de speakeasy (check out part I and II) led me to the basement of Renaissance Phoenix Downtown Hotel.
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