FEBRUARY 2024 16 with Chef Donald Hawk of Valentine S outh-Korean-born, Phoenix-raised Chef Donald Hawk has spent over a decade gaining experience in the restaurant industry. He started at a pizza chain and worked through culinary school while taking notes from chefs like Claudio Urciuoli and Chris Bianco. Now, Chef Hawk oversees the kitchen at Valentine, a breakfast, lunch, and dinner spot in the Melrose District. Valentine captured national attention in 2022, when Esquire magazine selected them for a spot (#17 out of 40) on their annual list of Best New Restaurants in America. Third grade! I saw an ad for Scottsdale Culinary School and Le Cordon Bleu, and it piqued my interest. When I was 16, I started working at Barro’s Pizza and got my start in the industry. I ended up going to Arizona Culinary Institute right out of high school. None of them – they’re all actually in the medical industry. My dad is a cop, but we literally have someone in endoscopy, my nephew is a phlebotomist, some are nurses, one’s a physician, one’s a pediatrician, one’s a surgeon… there’s even an embalmer! It spans the whole family. Bacon – super easy. Or spaghetti and tomato sauce, probably. In 2012, I helped open Citizen Public House – it’s wild to see it be 12 years old now. I worked at Montelucia with Chef Claudio Urciuoli, and that was a special time because Pavle Millic was the GM, Ross Simon was the bartender, and Andrew Fritz was the lead server. Now, Andrew owns Citizen Public House. Everyone kind of expanded out, you know? I also worked on a Norwegian Cruise Line for a bit – that was really cool. In 2014, I opened the Bianco location at Town and Country. Yes! He’s great. He’s very down-to- earth, and he’s stuck by ‘do right by the food, do right to be a good person.’ I worked there when it was pasta only – there was no pizza. Valentine’s owners, Chad and Blaise, also worked for him, so it was cool that we all had that experience. I moved to Portland, Oregon and worked for Jenn Louis and a restaurant called Lincoln. I learned a lot about farm-to-table cooking and modern Italian dishes. I took some time off from the industry and then worked at The Gladly. I was supposed to work at a downtown restaurant, but the pandemic hit, so I ended up at Valentine. It’s kind of a funny story. I was originally asked to be here, and I said no. I don’t know why I said no [ laughs ]. I actually recommended someone else, and then that person went somewhere else. So they reached out again, and I’ve been here for a little over three years. Our opening day was Black Friday in 2020 – the best time in the world to open a restaurant! Seven a.m. is when we open for coffee. Nine a.m. is pastries and breakfast until 3:30, when we start lunch service, and 5 p.m. is when we open for dinner. At 6 p.m., our bar, 1912, opens. The cuisine is southwestern – but things that were here, in Arizona, before us. We put a modern take on those ingredients – elote spaghetti, for example. Our dishes use white Sonoran wheat that was grown in Tucson, beans from Sacaton, beef from Rovey Dairy Farms, local cheeses, and local corn. It’s southwestern enough that it doesn’t feel out of place. There are also some dishes that kind of reach – like, we had a shrimp toast that’s not southwest at all, but you can debate that because the shrimp come from Baja California, which is part of the southwest; the wheat has a Chinese influence because they came here to build the railroads and expansion in Chinatown in San Fran. It’s a lot of history. I don’t want to harp on it, but it’s what we’re trying to make happen. It’s kind of life and kind of people I know. I really like Chinese restaurants and Szechuan food. Someone once described our food as “Mediterr-Asian meets the southwest.” That dish was at The Gladly when I was there in 2016. I made it by accident, and it went on the menu and blew up. It was one of those ‘oh, you have to have this’ dishes. After years and years of making it, I wanted to make it a little more southwest. I was really happy selling it, and people really loved it, but I was just… we needed to make something else. Arizona’s birthday is February 14, 1912. It’s a history thing, not a kitschy Hallmark holiday thing. That’s also why our bar is called 1912. We try to be as Arizona as possible. 4130 N. 7th Ave. • valentinephx.com In the Kitchen
17 FEBRUARY 2024 The hours! There’s a lot of time put into it – it’s not for everyone. But I think that’s every profession. There are a lot of hours put into it. There’s a lot of good parts. My team is really blossoming here, and it’s great to see them do well. The guests – when the guests are happy – that’s a great feeling. When they say ‘thank you for the food,’ it makes me feel good. I still don’t believe it. I was reading something on my phone and saw that we were in the Wall Street Journal. I thought that was cool. Then I saw the Esquire list was out, and I was reading through that and saw a photo that looked a lot like our food. I saw Valentine and was like, ‘What!’ The coolest thing about that is that Arizona has been on that list for the past three years – first was Bacanora, then us, then Chilte and Lom Wong. And I’m friends with all of them. It’s really an honor to be on that list. Gio Osso was on it as well, and he’s a legend, so it’s really awesome. I never thought I’d get to where I am now – I’ve never experienced that much press in my life [ laughs ], but it’s the team. They really deserve it. Yes! Our pastry chef, Crystal Kass, was a semifinalist for Outstanding Pastry Chef last year. I was a semifinalist for the Emerging Chef category. I’ve never seen an Arizona restaurant get two different categories in two years, so it’s pretty crazy. Depends on the day, but I’m usually here around 7 or 9 a.m. and helping to cross-train the staff and get everyone up to speed. I work with the morning team and through the lunch rush. Then, I do paperwork or run errands. We work with a lot of local farmers around here, so sometimes I have to go pick up things at the farmer’s market or at meat shops. I’m usually here until 9 p.m. Nothing! I’ll go disc golfing. I don’t really go to a lot of restaurants, but there are a lot I want to get to – like Chilte and Bacanora. I plan to develop and grow the team at Valentine. We probably won’t open another location, but we’re working on a few things. We won’t relax because we’re not intelligent [ laughs ]. We’re figuring things out. I’m very humbled and grateful to be part of this restaurant. It’s been incredible.