After two years of planning, Citizen Public House had its grand opening on Jan. 16 — and has already built quite a reputation.
The concept of the restaurant is simple.
Located in Old Town Scottsdale, Citizen extends an inviting hand with a menu piled with delicious, completely original items. Start out the meal with one of the bar snacks, such as Kilt Lifter fondue with hunter’s sausage or the gorgonzola-emmental mac-n-cheese. Move onto the fair-trade coffee charred short ribs and end your meal with one of the bar's decadent desserts.
“Chef Bernie’s cuisine here is essentially American comfort food, with his own twist,” says operator and partner Andrew Fritz.
With a unique selection of food and drinks, the restaurant transparently boasts creativity.
“When it comes to food and beverage, we have two of the best people in this industry with Chef Bernie Kantak and Mixologist Rich ‘Richie’ Moe,” Fritz says.
Surrounded by both long-standing and new restaurants in Old Town Scottsdale, Citizen is hoping to make a name for themselves amongst the masses.
“We’re the new neighbors, so we’re still in the process of moving in,” Fritz says. “The staff will take time to engage with the guests and provide quality service. Starting on Feb. 1, the restaurant will be open for lunch as well.”
Although the food is what lures customers in, once venturing inside, the décor provides an inviting, social atmosphere that truly makes the experience.
“It is simple and timeless,” Fritz says. “The walls are cream-colored with framed black and white photographs of our grandparents, great-grandparents and other relatives.”
Chef Bernie has also contributed to the restaurant’s success thus far. Loyal patrons have followed him throughout his career, including his 11-year stint at nearby Cowboy Ciao, and have come to Citizen to experience the new and different style of cooking he is now offering.
After glimpsing the menu, one quickly realizes that pork asserts a prominent influence at Citizen. There's Tenderbelly fat heirloom popcorn, Tenderbelly pork belly pastrami and Tenderbelly pork tender loin.
“That’s what happens when I asked Chef ‘What do you want to cook?’” Fritz says. “He’s passionate about pork right now. Chef Bernie’s friend and former line cook Erik Duffy owns a meat purveyor named 'Tender Belly.’ It’s a local company… the pigs are bred humanely and organically without the use of antibiotics or growth hormones. You can really tell the difference in the quality.”
The restaurants that Fritz and Kantak appreciate inspired the simplistic, yet tasteful concept of Citizen.
“We like dining at bars, so we wanted to create a restaurant for our likes,” Fritz says.
And that is exactly what they did. With a bar as the focal point of the dining room, the restaurant purposely lacks a television so the experience is genuinely all about the food.
“My old mentor once said to me, ‘Everyone in the world, even the busiest people, take time out of their day to sit down, put work and distractions aside, and break bread with their friends, family or whomever,’” Fritz says. “Here at Citizen we wanted to create a room where people could do just that. Eating, drinking and socializing are all part of what we do as humans; it’s part of our culture.”
“We are going to do fun things here, and we’re always looking at the market for emerging trends and ideas. I see a lot of potential for growth here – stay tuned.”
Reach the reporter at mptanabe@asu.edu.
If you go:
Citizen Public House 7111 E. Fifth Avenue, Ste. E, Scottsdale 480-398-4208, citizenpublichouse.com Open daily 5 p.m. to 1 a.m.
