The Best Restaurants and Bars in Gilbert / E. Chandler

List
Written By Chris Hall

Where: The area south of the 60 and east of the 101. It covers Queen Creek and that weird sliver of SE. Mesa as well, but we’ll just keep that quiet.

Gilbert’s my home turf, so I spend a lot of time debating whether or not I’m in a great part of town or a food desert. On one hand, we’re pretty spoiled—I have friends from more typical suburbs that visit and can’t believe how much good stuff we have. But on the other, aside from the downtowns and Joe Johnston’s self-propelled food oasis, the good stuff is pretty far apart and tends to be veerrrry busy. What we need is infill. Neighborhood bars and restaurants. Anything walkable. We’re getting there.

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Coffee • Breakfast • Lunch • Dinner • Drinks

Coffee / Carbs

4 YUMPOINTS

1. Peixoto Coffee Roasters

If you’re looking for good coffee in Gilbert/Chandler, your search will probably take you straight to Peixoto. The real question is which location is best? Chandler was the original spot, and is right in downtown, making it a convenient stop if you’re looking to fill your day with stuff in the area. And it recently got a facelift, so everything’s shiny and new. The Gilbert location though is on another level. It’s really not much bigger, but the buildout looks like nothing else in the SE Valley—it looks like something you’d find in LA or SF. It’s beautiful.

2. Mythical Coffee

The other really good coffee shop in these parts is Mythical Coffee in the Gilbert Town Square complex. The complex itself makes very little sense to me—it’s like a failed attempt at a walkable downtown area that seems to be revitalizing in spite of itself—but don’t think too much about it. What you're here for is coffee (and maybe a treat across the street at The Great Gadsby Bakery), and the coffee here is excellent. The spot is cool too, but it tends to fill up fast, so you might have to be patient if you’re looking to sit inside.

Breakfast

American / 3 Yumpoints

1. Joe’s Farm Grill

Joe’s Farm Grill is an extremely well-executed neighborhood restaurant serving up extremely well-executed diner food. I wouldn’t call anything elevated—Joe’s isn’t really out to win any James Beard Awards, but when you want a really good burger, hot dog, or salad, and want a cozy place to let your kids run around a bit outside while you wait, there’s nothing better. Oh, and the breakfast! Most people go to Joe’s for lunch or dinner, but I secretly think the best meal is breakfast. It’s not fancy, but it’s a little more subdued than the rest of the day, and the scrambles are excellent.

American / 3 Yumpoints

2. Matt’s Big Breakfast

Right down the street from Joe’s, in the Epicenter complex, is Matt’s Big Breakfast. In my opinion, there’s no better American classic breakfast than Matt’s. The scrambles are great, the Chop and Chick (it’s a pork chop with runny eggs and a side of potatoes) is my favorite breakfast dish ever, and the amount of rosemary they put on their home fries is somehow aggressive and perfect at the same time. The only reason I have it at number 2 on this list is that Joe’s is a true Gilbert original, and that has to count for something, right?

Lunch

Italian / 5 Yumpoints

1. Source

Also in the Epicenter complex (this is becoming a trend) is Source, a surprisingly good Mediterranean/Italian spot run by locally famous Chef Claudio Urciuoli. If you ever went to Pa’La, his last spot, you know exactly what you’re getting here: the high-end version of traditionally simple ingredients (lots of Italian grains and olive oil), made extremely well, served up on compostable plates. There’s also wine—you should always get some wine.

Brewery / 3 Yumpoints

2. Arizona Wilderness Brewing Co.

If the SE Valley didn’t have so many good cocktail bars, this would go in the drinks section, but if we’re being honest with each other, the very best time to be at AZ Wilderness is lunch. After you order your two obligatory beers (I always go with a weird sour or a saison), the food menu is surprisingly solid. I usually go for a burger or some of those confit chicken wings (so good), but the secret star of the show might be the Foodist Award winning vegan bahn mi.

Dinner

Japanese / 3 Yumpoints

1. Shimogamo

Every time I go to Shimogamo, I feel like the SE Valley doesn’t quite deserve it. We’re all rolling in with our suburban clothes and simple palettes, and Shimogamo is over here serving up chicken heart and soft bone yakitori like we’re Vancouver sophisticates. But then my 8 y/o picked both skewers up and ate them all. And then he delicately maneuvered a piece of salmon roe off the nigiri plate we were sharing, like this was the cuisine he was meant to grow up with. So maybe we do deserve Shimogamo—us olds just have to keep up.

Seafood / 3 Yumpoints

2. Buck & Rider

Also in the Epicenter complex, Buck & Rider has become a SE Valley phenomenon. I have theories. My first is that when Joe Johnston was filling the place up, he probably went to Hillstone first. Judging by his Instagram feed, I know Hillstone is one of his favorites, and it’s the perfect thing for the Gibert crowd. There’s a little something for everyone, you can dress up or down based on the occasion, the service is impeccable, and kids are very welcome. They probably passed on Gilbert, so the next choice was Buck & Rider, a place with a very similar ethos, just with a seafood focus. It’s clearly doing the job—unless you eat dinner at 5:30 like I do, it’s always slammed.

Drinks

Cocktail Bar / 8 Yumpoints

1. Undertow

Every once in a while I’ll meet someone who doesn’t like Undertow. I’m usually considerate of people’s opinions (my wife would disagree strongly), but I can’t help but contort my face when they’re talking. “You don’t like Undertow?” I say. “Do you not like cocktails? Tike bars? Fun?” My brain just can’t wrap my head around it. Undertow is my very favorite thing in the Valley—food, activity, whatever. I’d take a 90-minute date night at Undertow over absolutely anything else.

Cocktail Bar / 5 Yumpoints

2. The Brickyard Downtown

The Brickyard Downtown is the closest thing you’ll find to downtown’s Bitter & Twisted in this part of the Valley. The theme here is “good cocktail bar” and the list of drinks is impressively long. The secret star of the show though is the food, which is all surprisingly good. And it turns out that if you pair a trio of great cocktails with something suitably delicious, it all tends to land a bit more evenly. Phoenix New Times is partial to the lamb chimichangas, so I’d maybe start there.

Cocktail Bar / 4 Yumpoints

3. The White Rabbit

A lot of speakeasy-type places offer a fake speakeasy experience. They might have an entrance that doesn’t have a lot of signage or a secret door that is fairly easy to find, but the White Rabbit takes their secret entrance seriously. You have to go on the website and sign up for their VIP list to get the monthly password, then you have to find the secret door in the basement. It’s a lot, but it’s really kind of fun, especially knowing that it’s all worth it in the end. The drinks are great, the vibe is cool, and there’s no better place to be in downtown Gilbert.

Chris Hall
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