Devoured Culinary Festival Adds Chefs, Restaurant Crawls

The Devoured Culinary Festival (which has replaced West of Western) is shaping up to be quite a production. It’s set for Saturday-Sunday, March 13-14, at the Phoenix Art Museum.

The West of Western festival began in 2005 in Downtown Phoenix. It was an immediate success, drawing a sophisticated foodie crowd and higher-end Valley restaurateurs eager to connect with potential patrons. The event moved to Phoenix Art Museum in 2008.

Organizers have already lined up an impressive list of 35 participants, and promise more to come.

Confirmed are Barrio Café, Bernie Kantak, Caffe Boa, Chelsea’s Kitchen, Cheuvront Wine & Cheese Cafe, Christopher’s, Cibo, Coronado Café, Cowboy Ciao, Crudo, Different Pointe of View, District, Estate House, Fez, FnB, Green, Hana Sushi, Il Terrazzo, Kai, Mabel’s on Main, Maizie’s, Modern Steak, Nine 05, Olive & Ivy, Parlor, Phoenix Public Market, Prado, Petite Maison, Postino, St. Francis, Switch, Talavera, Ticoz, True Food Kitchen and Udder Delights.

Some restaurants will be participating both days; others, only one. (The final schedule has not yet been worked out.) Meanwhile, five chef demonstrations have also been announced: James Porter (Petite Maison), Aaron May (Mabel’s on Main), Christopher Gross (Christopher’s), Payton Curry (Caffe Boa) and Gio Osso (Estate House). At least one more chef is soon expected to be added to the list.

There will be an extensive wine, beer and spirits program at the festival as well, including many Arizona producers. Raymond Sokolov, the “Wall Street Journal’s” restaurant and wine writer, will be giving a one-hour seminar each day.

Advance tickets can be purchased online at protix.com, or by calling Protix at 1-866-977-6849. Single-day tickets cost $79.50 ($74.50 until Feb. 1); the two-day pass is $111.00.

You can also purchase single-day tickets in person at the Phoenix Art Museum for $57 (a considerable savings over Protix). However, the museum does not sell two-day passes. One-day tickets at the door will be $75.

All ticket prices include a $2 per-day contribution to Cox Charities.
Although the details are not yet finalized, other festival events will include a light-rail lunch crawl and two dinner crawls.

For updates, go to phxartmuseum.org/devoured.