Ava Bakery Makes Me Want Way More Iranian Food in the Valley
My kids and I are on a One Piece bender these days, and it’s hard not to see parallels with my regular life. The Straw Hat Pirates start in the East Blue, and that’s basically the comfort zone. In food, for me at least, that’s mostly N. American food, and the European cuisines we’ve adopted as our own. But then I’ll go to a place like Ava Bakery and it’s like I’ve entered the Grand Line, where everything is just more. Maybe I wouldn’t feel like this if I had it every day, but Iranian food just has so much flavor. Even in the simplest of sandwiches, the tastes are just so satisfying. One day I’ll muster up the courage to get the brain / tongue combo sandwich.
Where: N. Phoenix / Website: Nope / Reservations: Nope
Reviews
May 7, 2024 / NIKKI BUCHANAN
Phoenix Magazine: Dining Review: Ava Bakery
Ashkan and Diana Taheri’s small Persian bakery and restaurant was nominated for a 2024 James Beard Award in the Best New Restaurant category, so naturally, I had to see what the fuss was all about. For this committed carbaholic, the fuss is, first and foremost, about the revelatory sangak – a thin, golden-brown sourdough flatbread, made with whole wheat, dotted with sesame seeds and baked on a bed of small stones, just as it has been for a thousand years.
February 20, 2023 / Bahar Anooshahr
AZ Central: Persian sandwiches have arrived in metro Phoenix. Here's what to order at Ava
As I sipped my tea, I enjoyed listening to the happy hum of regulars stopping by to pick up sandwiches and bread. I'll become a regular for the bread alone, and the sandwiches will keep me coming back, but it's the hospitality at Ava that sealed the deal.
Awards + Accolades
+2 Yumpoints
2024 James Beard Awards: Best New Restaurant - Semifinalist
+1 Yumpoint | JANUary 16, 2024 / FELICIA CAMPBELL
AZ Central: 100 essential restaurants in metro Phoenix: The best places to dine in 2024
Ashkan and Diana Taheri opened Ava Bakery and Restaurant in north Phoenix on Seventh Street and E. Union Hills Drive in November 2022 and since then I’ve been more times than I can count. I visit weekly to pick up fresh baked sangak and barberi breads and at least a few times a month for classic Iranian sandwiches like sausage bandari served on their fresh baked bread or for a breakfast of haleem, a sweet-savory porridge, tomato and egg omelet or the simple Persian breakfast of fresh bread, cheese and homemade carrot preserves.
+.5 Yumpoints | DECEmber 28, 2023 / FELICIA CAMPBELL AND BAHAR ANOOSHAHR
AZ Central: The 10 best new restaurants and bars that opened in metro Phoenix in 2023
It's one of those places that become part of the rhythm of your life, such a go-to that it's hard to imagine where we went for breakfast for fresh Persian bread before they arrived.
