Dominic Armato

The Republic | azcentral.com

Ocotillo is a collaboration between GM David Johnson and "co-chefs" Sacha Levine and Walter Sterling

The trio have opened a 140-seat restaurant in Phoenix that operates at an atypically high level for its size

Ocotillo makes contemporary Arizona cuisine more approachable and affordable for casual diners

Critic's rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Too often, those who live elsewhere in the country think of the Sonoran Desert as a barren, brown landscape devoid of life but for a bit of prickly scrub and a handful of irascible creatures, best avoided.

We know better.

Take ocotillo, a striking breed of desert flora that rises from the soil and, with just a bit of rainfall, explodes into a lush, verdant plant crowned with stunning crimson flowers.

What better namesake for a restaurant that evokes the spirit of the desert, reflecting its natural beauty and culinary legacy?

Ocotillo, the restaurant, is both of the Valley and for the Valley, presenting local flavors in a way that locals can embrace.

It’s also a reunion, years in the making. General manager David Johnson and chefs Sacha Levine and Walter Sterling have history, a trio of old cohorts who worked together at Sol y Sombra a decade ago. When the Scottsdale restaurant shuttered in 2009, they scattered to pursue other opportunities, but kept a pot quietly simmering on the back of the stove.

That pot reached a rolling boil in September, when Ocotillo opened its doors — or perhaps more accurately, its gates. With the help of Labahn Ryan Architects, they’ve transformed nearly an acre of central Phoenix real estate into a community gathering place that includes the restaurant, a beer garden and coffee shop, an oasis of modern design that’s as ambitious as it is stylish.

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The scene

Ocotillo fronts a stone-walled courtyard bathed in desert hues, natural wood and orange-tinged steel punctuated by colorful brush and a lawn designed for events but more often occupied by tumbling kids. The covered beer garden is a casual, boisterous galley filled with picnic tables and flanked by a long, open-air bar.

Inside is a versatile space that might see diners overlooking the kitchen at a brilliantly lit communal table; tucked into a dim, reclusive booth near the bar; seated among the bustle of the main dining room; or hidden on a quiet(er) corner of the patio. Visually serene in polished woods and satiny leather, it’s a loud and energetic restaurant when filled, and it’s often filled.

Johnson, Levine and Sterling have cracked the code, bringing an unusual level of character and quality to an eatery that seats 140. Conventional wisdom would hold that a restaurant of its size and scope shouldn’t be this good, but Ocotillo delivers and the neighborhood is responding.

Thankfully, Johnson is a wily veteran of the industry who can handle a crowd. He has built a waitstaff with a casual countenance to match the restaurant’s feel, while ensuring they (mostly) remain sharp. He also has assembled one of the Valley’s more curious wine lists, a charmingly quirky collection of uncommon varietals, carefully categorized and classified with his “Wine Key,” a list of 126 flavor components — each with its own icon — ranging from typical (oak barrel) to terrifying (wet dog).

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The food

Lunch is solid, and a good value. Monstrous sandwiches, like the crispy falafel burger ($10), with slabs of tender beets and a cool feta-yogurt sauce, join a selection of vegetables and mains also available in the evening. Missteps, like a smoky brisket sandwich ($12) that’s lost in too much barbecue sauce, can be found in the afternoon service, but are the exception rather than the rule.

Unlike so many Sunday cash grabs, Ocotillo’s weekend brunch is thoughtfully composed. A thick blue corn pancake ($10) is griddled to a light crisp and served in its cast-iron pan with agave butter and maple syrup. And if we can turn a burrito into breakfast, why not a chimichanga ($12)? Stuffed with scrambled eggs and beans and drenched with a bright green chile sauce, it plays lighter than its deep-fried inspiration might imply.

But the nighttime is when this desert flower blooms.

Sterling and Levine have chosen to bill themselves as “co-chefs.” It’s difficult to know where one’s influence ends and the other’s begins, and perhaps that’s exactly the point. Together, they’ve assembled a menagerie of dishes that bring big flavors, vibrant hues and a bit of locally sourced wit.

Small vegetable plates are all chaos and color, picture-perfect produce thrown together in brash, wild presentations that belie their carefully balanced flavors. Asparagus ($14) — peeled, blanched and chilled — rests beneath creamy burrata with roasted tomatoes and a dash of fruity aleppo pepper. A full head of roasted cauliflower ($9) is a delicious and delightfully indelicate affair. Attack it with a steak knife, but know that its herbed kale pesto is strong enough to fight back. Meanwhile, for the heirloom tomato gazpacho ($9), the garnish is half the dish. Poured around a rustic, chunky salad of cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet Arizona peaches and whole basil leaves, it’s a bit of intentional anti-refinement that’s refreshingly effective.

Meatier small plates, including a delectably chunky barded country pate ($14), are no less vivid. Grilled lemongrass pork steak ($14), like a number of dishes on the menu, comes to Phoenix by way of Vietnam, dressed with pungent pickles, crunchy peanuts and a bouquet of fresh herbs. And chicken meatballs ($9) are elevated to must-try status by a shockingly light, crispy crust and punchy green curry.

Sterling and Levine have eschewed the sheeter in favor of the extruder, bringing a cadre of lesser-known fresh pasta shapes like campanelle, radiatore and creste di gallo to the menu. Baked lumache ($19), like many of the pasta dishes, is saucy both in spirit and composition, paired with aggressively spiced Sicilian sausage and an abundance of tomato and cheese. Others, like casarecce with pork ragu ($19), play more like meat dishes accented with pasta, an approach that works only because the pasta is strong enough to stand up to the bold, non-traditional treatment.

The crispy whole fish ($42) is gorgeous. Intended for two, it’s stuffed with ginger, deep-fried and served head to tail in one piece, with lime wedges, shaved vegetables and a fiery red curry sauce to accent its tender, deep-fried flesh. Beef ribs ($29) with mole espresso barbecue sauce are an intoxicating, chile-crusted lot. Though vegetarian, the cassoulet ($16) — built on pasta, beans and roasted vegetables — is almost as hearty.

But nothing exemplifies the spirit of Ocotillo more than the Ocotillo chicken ($17), a dish Sterling describes as an “ode to Arizona.” A perfectly roasted half chicken with sweet, lacquered skin is swathed in a glaze of honey, citrus and chiles, then set atop cold potato salad studded with crisp whole pecans and slivered Arizona dates. It’s as straightforward as it is irresistible, a worthy signature dish to bear the restaurant’s name.

Desserts delight, for the most part. On one visit, a trampoline-like panna cotta ($8) appeared to have been made with an oops of gelatin. But a simple stone fruit tart ($8) and black sesame ice cream ($8) from Sweet Republic with a drizzle of tart yuzu marmalade both satisfied.

There is a culinary lineage at work here, a vital artery through which the essence of contemporary Arizona cuisine flows. Levine spent years working with Charleen Badman of FnB, and both she and Johnson spent time at Rancho Pinot with Chrysa Robertson. Though not involved with Ocotillo, Badman and Robertson are present in its menu, contemporaries who — along with Sterling and Levine — are bringing form to a unique local style.

As a matter of necessity, due to its size, Ocotillo may not have the boutique charm or the attention to detail of a restaurant like FnB or Rancho Pinot, but to put out food this good, this consistent at this scale is an impressive accomplishment.

In some ways, we may be witnessing the first step in the mainstreaming of contemporary Arizona cuisine. The food-obsessed among us have watched it develop over the years, trading notes scrawled while perched in the corners of the Valley’s most venerated culinary nooks. But Ocotillo has figured out how to capture that spirit, making it more accessible and more affordable for a casual dining crowd, and that is no small thing.

The desert’s charms are sometimes overlooked by the casual observer. But when ocotillo blooms, nobody can miss it.

Reach Armato at dominic.armato@arizonarepublic.com, at 602-444-8533 or interact with him on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.

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Ocotillo

Where: 3243 N. Third St., Phoenix.

Hours: 11 a.m.-10 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays, 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Sundays.

Details: 602-687-9080, ocotillophx.com.

Price: $30-$50 per person, excluding beverage, tax and tip.

Stars: 4 (out of 5)

Restaurant review rating scale

Stars based on food, service and ambience

5 — Excellent

4 — Very good

3 — Good

2 — Fair

1 — Poor