Valentine knows the way to our hearts: pastries, pasta, natural wine, and late-night cocktails. The atmosphere here feels familiar—think more living room than dining room, with retro modern leather chairs and soft lighting. The Melrose spot puts Arizona ingredients at the center of every dish, and we particularly love the brunch spread: the avocado squash toast and the churro waffles with dulce de leche are some of our favorites.

Valentine is a warm restaurant-cafe-bar-bakery hybrid that presents a bold vision of Arizonan food. Co-owner Blaise Faber has dubbed its style New Southwestern. The kitchen delivers in spades on the promise of innovative dishes tapping into regional traditions.

A coffee shop and cocktail bar with killer pastries as well as brunch and dinner options, Valentine is a favorite among Valley foodies looking for a quick bite or a place to spread out and get some work done for a few hours. They offer a handful of specialty drinks, like a cacao cold brew, a desert honey macchiato made with bee pollen and honey cream and a totally unique and surprisingly delicious squash latte. Attached to a vintage furniture store specializing in stylish mid-century modern pieces, you might just leave the shop with a killer new piece for your home in addition to a cup of coffee.

Melrose district favorite Valentine will offer a cookie and confection box, featuring 28 sweets for $55. The treats featured in each order are native seed halva; matcha thumbprint cookies with prickly pear jam; puerquitos, or piggie-shaped Mexican piloncillo spiced cookies; langue de chat, a mesquite white chocolate sandwich cookie; mole brownies; pine cone syrup-flavored marshmallows; and pineapple pate de fruit, rolled in sugar and tajin. Boxes can be ordered on Valentine’s website, and will be available for pickup after 11 a.m.

Acting as an entry point to the Melrose neighborhood, Valentine takes everything that is hip about the American Southwest to a whole new level. You’ll find midcentury design chic (thanks to its fellow tenant Modern Manor), and depending on the time of day you go, a flurry of drinking and dining options. The churros and Chiltepin Shakerado are must-haves for brunch, the elote pasta is a dinner essential, and cactus(!) ice cream rounds out this dining experience.

For pastries, daily breakfast and brunch, or posting up with a laptop on a workday, there’s no place better than Valentine, an all-day restaurant in the Melrose neighborhood. Co-owner Blaise Faber calls Valentine a New Southwestern restaurant. Indeed, arcane desert plants find a creative role in just about every dish (and drink): white Sonora wheat in croissants, chiltepin peppers in lattes, O’odham squash in the bread used for breakfast sandwiches.

Crystal Kass, pastry chef at Valentine in the Melrose District, was a finalist for the 2025 James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef/Baker. Known for its modern take on Southwestern cuisine, Valentine has become a destination for inventive dishes and Sonoran Desert flavors—especially Kass’s stunning desserts, which showcase indigenous ingredients in unexpected ways. Her inventive desserts have put Phoenix’s pastry scene on the national map.

Chef Donnie Hawk’s lauded talent is captured in the Valentine Burger available on the daily brunch menu till 3:30 pm. Picture double patties formed from local Rovey Farms beef groundin-house, cheddar, house dill pickles, lettuce, and Valentine sauce spiked with charred Fresno chiles and their pickling liquid. For a Southwestern take on the potato bun, pureed butternut squash is added to the dough to add a mellow sweetness and golden hue.

Famous pizzaiolo and James Beard Award winner for Outstanding Restaurateur in 2022, Chris Bianco loves a meal at Valentine. Chef Donald Hawk and pastry chef Crystal Kaas have made a menu of dishes with Arizona-centric ingredients. In a recent Instagram post, Bianco called his meal at Valentine "a truly special 3 meal point restaurant with a fantastic late night bar @1912_phx round back for the late night owl in you.

I hear about Valentine from more Tucsonans than any other Phoenix restaurant. Start with the white Sonoran wheat pretzel with guinea hen butter and Arizona honeycomb. The twice-cooked potatoes with yuzu aioli were amazing, but fair warning — it’s a large portion and you HAVE to save room for other dishes, like their famous crispy cauliflower with native tahini, stonefruit escabeche, and wolfberry harissa.

For the best pastries in Phoenix (and a great space to work!), head uptown to Valentine. One of the best restaurants in Phoenix, they offer a full menu of sweet and savory dishes, but we can’t stop thinking about the sweets. Valentine’s pastries are infused with a Southwestern flair, like their sugar swirl bun with rotating Southwestern flavors like churro and hibiscus.

4130 N 7th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85013http://www.valentinephx.com/. Located in the Melrose neighborhood of Phoenix, Valentine is an eclectic restaurant located in a former filling station adorned in Mid-Century Modern style. Their brunch menu elevates traditional breakfast items with an Arizonan flare, sourcing ingredients unique to the American Southwest.

When you’re looking for a spot that has it all, any time of the day, Valentine is your go-to. This easy-going Phoenix restaurant focuses on fresh interpretations of local Arizona cuisine. A popular destination for morning pastries, brunch and dinner, Valentine is the perfect blend of cozy coffee shop and trendy dinner spot.

Valentine in Phoenix is a must-visit spot for anyone looking for delicious food and a friendly, welcoming atmosphere. The decor is simple yet inviting and the service is genuine and sincere. The wagyu beef burger and tater tots were a standout dish, as was the elote pasta and chicken.

No other establishment brings southwestern cuisine to the forefront than Valentine. This restaurant in Phoenix includes southwestern ingredients to create delicious dishes. Chef Donald Hawk uses ingredients from his Korean ancestry with desert crops to create a unique cooking style.

Valentine PHX: A new chef-driven, neighborhood coffee shop, bar, and restaurant located in the Modern Manor building with Phoenix’s Melrose District. Diners will find a variety of breakfast sandwiches, waffles, sandwiches, bowls, tacos, and heartier dinner options on the menu.

When you think of restaurants annually up for James Beard Awards, you think of restaurants with focus. Restaurants that don’t try to do everything, because it’s usually impossible to do everything well. Valentine though… they do do everything well.

Vintage furniture warehouse fronted by an eclectic modern Southwestern restaurant, featuring a coffee shop, lounge and an Arizona-themed cocktail bar in the back.

4130 N 7th Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85013Phone: 602-612-2961 Visit Website. View this post on Instagram. A post shared by Valentine (@valentine_phx)