I’m excited to announce my second book will be Phoenix Cooks. It will be published by Figure 1 Publishing in 2020, and will join the line-up of Figure 1 Publishing’s celebrated City Cooks series (their Instagram picture below). Houston and East Bay published this year, and next year will be Phoenix and Miami. An official launch party for Phoenix Cooks is planned for September, but each restaurant has pre-purchased books that will be available for sale in August. For all the updates, follow @phoenixcooks on IG, Phoenix Cooks on Facebook, and sign up for my newsletter.

As we get closer to the publication date, I’ll be sharing more details of the chefs involved, the 98 recipes for dishes and cocktails that will be featured, and the beautiful chef portraits and food photos by Joanie Simon of the Bite Shot and her team - assistants Rachel Richards and Ben Davies, and food stylist Ellen Straine - shot in her home studio.

The team

Tableware

Local Blue Door Ceramics (from Talavera)

Food stylist kit

For a fun behind-the-scenes discussion with Joanie and food stylist Ellen, check out this video:

The photo shoot took place over seven days, and was a highlight of this project. Figure 1 Publishing created an efficient schedule with the previous chef getting their portrait shot as the next chef was setting up their ingredients, which made for a lot of fun chef camraderie!

Chefs Ashley Goddard, Aaron Rickel and Steven Fowler

Joanie and her team kept the shoot light-hearted and stress-free, and it was such an honor to spend time with all the gifted culinary pros.

With Joanie and chefs Roberto and Rene of Ghost Ranch: Modern Southwest Cuisine

We wrapped up the last day with the entertaining power duo of chef Aaron Rickel and beverage superstar Bobby Kramer of Brickyard Downtown and The Hidden House in Chandler.

Thanks, Bobby, for making extra cocktails to celebrate!

Writing Phoenix Cooks has been a fantastic experience and given me a newfound appreciation for the work that goes into authoring a cookbook. Many, many hours were spent on restaurant visits, chef interviews, fine-tuning conversions for home-cook ease, testing recipes (thank you Joanie for your help!), researching unique ingredients, and then more hours making follow-up phone calls and emails for recipe clarifications (thank you to the wonderful PR teams and assistants who nudged busy chefs to meet my deadlines). And, of course, a heartfelt thank-you to the chefs, mixologists and restaurateurs who shared their time and signature recipes, I’m so very grateful.

With Justin Beckett of Beckett’s Table and Southern Rail

I will be adding more behind-the-scenes pictures in the coming months but, for now, here’s a sneak peek at some of the photo shoot fun.

Alex Stratta puts the finishing touch on his dish

Photo props

Silvana Salcido Esparza of Barrio Cafe

Glai Baan: Laab-Sided cocktails and Eggplant Salad

The Mission: Almejas al Vapor

Samantha Sanz of Talavera

Branden Levine of Sel

Currently, we’re at the stage where all restaurants involved have received rough proofs of their sections for corrections. Next step - off to the copy editor for round two. Thank you to the Figure 1 Publishing team: Editor Michelle Meade, art director and book designer Naomi MacDougal, copy editor Lana Okerlund and proofreader Renate Preuss.They’ve been a pure joy to work with on this project, one that is near and dear to my heart as I work to put a spotlight on the fantastic talent we have in the Valley of the Sun.