Native American in Phoenix

6 results

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Emerson Fry Bread

No address listed Central Phoenix

602-516-8228

Native American, Food Trucks, Street Food, Critics' Pick, Slideshow

Anybody familiar with our food truck scene knows that one of the longtime greats is Emerson Fry Bread, mobile purveyor of American Indian foods and gemlike drinks. Classically trained Loren Emerson, who is Mohave, Quechan, and Mexican, and Dine chef Roxanne Wilson are behind the truck, along with their kids. You can't roll up to this truck without ordering a drink. They come in tall Mason jars sloshing with ice. A nuclear-pink prickly pear lemonade kicks with the watermelon-meets-strawberry-meets-guava flavor of cactus fruit. The Sedona Sunset iced tea also has a cult following. Emerson's fry bread is puffy and pale brown with rich flavor and plenty of chew. You can eat it plain, sure. But souped up into a sandwich or taco, it catapults this truck into a league of its own. The classic order at Emerson Fry Bread is the Jazzy, grilled carne asada served as an Indian taco with no decorations. An upstart newcomer that has dethroned the former king, however, is this truck's mutton sandwich. Sheep leg grilled to high succulence and flaked onto fry bread with onion, chiles, and half of a baked potato, this gut-busting sandwich is one of the great simple pleasures of the Valley food scene. New Normal: Follow the Emerson Fry Bread Facebook page for current or upcoming service locations. Text 602-516-8228 for any quick pick-ups or questions.

7 articles
Fry Bread House

4545 N. Seventh Ave. Central Phoenix

602-351-2345

Native American, Southwestern, Recommended, Best Of, Slideshow, Essentials

The Melrose District, especially the Melrose Curve along Seventh Avenue in central Phoenix, is one of the most dynamic neighborhoods in the city, chockablock with mural-covered coffee shops and colorful new bars. The family-run Fry Bread House is a longtime Melrose staple that far predates the more recent arrivals in the neighborhood. It opened in 1992 and has been serving traditional Tohono O'odham food here ever since. The James Beard Foundation-recognized eatery offers a variety of regional menu items such as tacos, burros, stews and tostadas. We recommend the signature namesake pillowy fry bread — often stuffed with ground beef, beans and cheese or topped with sweet chocolate.

27 articles
Kai

5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd. Chandler

602-385-5777

Native American, Southwestern, Eclectic, Recommended, Best Of, Slideshow

Those wishing to experience the finest of what the Sonoran Desert has to offer — the native saguaro fruit wolfberries, the tepary beans and wild sumac — would be wise to throw down for an upscale evening at Kai Restaurant. For roughly two decades, Kai has taken the best of what the Gila River Community can grow and forage (the tribe owns the restaurant, which is on its grounds) and put those quintessential Sonoran ingredients through global, fine-dining filters. Dishes have included cactus key lime pie, buffalo steak with saguaro syrup, posole with Ramona Farms corn, wolfberry vinegar, chiltepin froth, and a circus of beautiful desert ingredients carried to new places. In 2022, Chef Drew Anderson took over from former head chef Ryan Swanson to lead Kai's efforts. Kai remains as intimate a place-rooted experience as you'll find in metro Phoenix, and even after all these years, is a thoughtful and thrilling place to eat.

46 articles
Red Feather Cafe

Indian Route 24, Sacaton Outside the Valley

Native American, Food Trucks

1 article
The REZ an urban eatery

No Address Central Phoenix

Native American, Southwestern, Best Of, Slideshow

If you spot the sign for the The Rez, an Urban Eatery, out in the wild, reach for your cash and head for this roaming restaurant. You can sometimes find The Rez in downtown Phoenix during the late hours, even till 4 a.m. on weekends, or possibly at a festival, farmers market, or special event where food vendors are crammed into neat little rows. The Rez offers Navajo cuisine, food stand-style, served by Renetto-Mario Etsitty — whose resume includes Tertio Wine Bar chef and ASU fine arts graduate, among other things. Etsitty is known for frying up Navajo tacos, and plating Navajo burgers, chilaquiles with blue corn chips, tamales, crepes, stew, and some incredible fry bread. (Vegan options are also plentiful.) The aguas frescas are a signature dish here; flavors include a prickly pear that packs a deep magenta punch and a green flavor that's a complex mix of honeydew, basil, pineapple, and jalapeño. New Normal: Still active in the downtown Phoenix area, still popping up with late-night eats. Keep an eye out.

1 article
The Stand

3996 N. Alma School Rd. South Scottsdale

480-519-1108

Native American, Southwestern, Slideshow

Though you won't see the roadside, open-air kitchen built from arrowroot and cactus ribs on Instagram food feeds, or in the pages of any glossy publication, The Stand on the Salt River Pima Maricopa Indian Reservation is one of our favorite places to eat in metro Phoenix. Here, the seats are stumps, the ceiling is the sky, and the fry bread from cook Cindy Washington will occupy your thoughts long after the meal is through. This Frisbee-sized fry bread is shaped from dough using vegetable shortening and born from a deep fryer. It rises dripping on the tines of a long, steaming fork. It's puffy as a marshmallow — chewy, lacy, and soft all at once. With some honey, the nuttier toasty notes of the grain awaken. Blanketed with gloppy red chile, rained with toppings, and supercharged into an "Indian taco," you have a sub-$10 meal for one that could feed two hungry people. Though fry bread isn't an indigenous food with roots in the deep past, people, including many Native Americans around Phoenix, still enjoy it. If you don't, well, when you hunger for a similarly satisfying meal, try The Stand's menudo. New Normal: Some outdoor seats are available around the eatery. Takeout is always an option.

5 articles

Native American in Phoenix

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