You don’t need to live in Arizona to appreciate Phoenix’s local food scene. A handful of Valley restaurants have been showered with praise by outsiders in 2026, from national media outlets to celebrities.
Several Phoenix restaurants and bars have hosted celebrities before. Many have even been on TV shows. But that doesn’t make it any less exciting when a big name stops to support a local restaurant while they’re in town.
Here are four Phoenix restaurants that hosted celebrities in 2026, from actors to musicians to politicians.
Cocina Chiwas
Cocina Chiwas at Culture Makers 2026 event in Beverly Hills, California, saw Roberto Quintero (from left), Pam Holguin, Nadia Holguin, Jessica Alba, Armando Hernandez, Roberto Centeno, Jonatan Hernandez.
The Cocina Chiwas team — including James Beard semifinalists Nadia Holguin, Armando Hernandez and Roberto Centeno — was personally invited to Jessica Alba’s third annual Culture Makers event on June 9 by Alba herself.
The event was created to honor Latinx creatives in Hollywood, but Latinx chefs have also been given a spotlight at the event over its three-year run. It was the restaurant’s second year attending, Hernandez told The Republic.
Cocina Chiwas’ Culture Makers event menu included tiradito de pescado made with tuna, birria quesadillas, whitefish ceviche and three types of skewers: chicken and mole, steak and octopus.
Huarachis
Former Vice President Kamala Harris got lunch with Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego at James Beard Award-winning chef Rene Andrade’s downtown Mexican restaurant Huarachis on April 3.
After mingling and taking photos with restaurant customers, Gallego and Harris reportedly ordered carne asada tacos.
It was Harris’ second time meeting Andrade. She previously filmed a campaign video with the chef during her 2024 run for president at Andrade’s other lauded Phoenix restaurant, Bacanora.
Lasgidi Cafe
Chef Patience Titcombe of Lasgidi Cafe food truck interacts with a customer at a Kwanzaa celebration in Phoenix on Dec. 28, 2024.
Rapper Wale visited Lasgidi Cafe, a Phoenix-based African food truck, after his show at The Van Buren on June 1. The Nigerian food truck is run by chef Patience “Patty” Ogunbanjo. Her most famous dish is jollof rice, a West African staple.
A couple of hours before the show, a member of Wale’s team direct messaged her on Instagram and told her they would love to try her food before leaving Phoenix and asked her to drop off dinner for Wale and his team at The Van Buren.
The rapper loved Ogunbanjo’s food so much that he invited her to cook for him again before the D.C. show on June 20. One dish she plans to make in D.C. is her signature loaded suya fries, a dish comprising fries topped with marinated skirt steak in a peanut spice rub.
The Thread Cafecito
Canadian rapper bbno$ (pronounced “baby no money”) stopped by The Thread Cafecito, a downtown Phoenix Cuban coffee shop, when he was in Phoenix ahead of his concert at Arizona Financial Theatre on Feb. 21.
He posted a review of his experience there on his food-focused Instagram account @winedine59. His schtick on the account is to rate businesses either “5 or 9 cuz nothing’s a 10.”
He ordered an iced Americano, the beans for which he was told were roasted just four days earlier. He described the drink as “just perfect.”
“So bold, rich, kind of creamy, weirdly, I don’t know how that’s possible with no cream,” the rapper said in his Instagram video. “That’s a definite 9.”
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix restaurants celebrities loved in 2026
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