Gallo Blanco, located in the Clarendon Hotel in Phoenix. The restaurant specializes in authentic Mexican-style cuisine
and will be closing soon. (Nikki Bradford/ The State Press)
Although the circumstances were melancholy, the environment was lively on Saturday at the Gallo Blanco Café + Bar at the Clarendon Hotel.
People were immediately welcomed by enticing live music, smiling staff and tantalizing aromas of unique Mexican cuisine. Guitarras Latinas played an energetic set during dinner hours as restaurant patrons enjoyed signature Gallo Blanco dishes like pollo asada and chicharrón de queso. For a moment, it was easy to forget that one was in downtown Phoenix and not in modern Mexico City.
Restaurant owners Doug and Denise Robson engineered the Gallo Blanco concept back in 2009. Doug Robson used his creative culinary expertise with his Mexican-born roots to develop this urban hotspot. Their mission was to build an authentic Mexican restaurant with price points that wouldn’t exclude friends, families or locals, he said.
When they took over the space in 2009, there was much to do to fulfill this mission. As the first executive chef, Robson developed the creative elements of the restaurant such as the menu and environment. He took a classic dish like guacamole and put his own twist on it with citrus, spices and cotija cheese. It is this distinctive style that contributed to the restaurant's culinary success.
In 2009, Phoenix New Times awarded it Best Hotel Café Phoenix. In 2013, Arizona Republic restaurant critic Howard Seftel named it one of the Top 10 resort and hotel restaurants in metro Phoenix.
After six years of Gallo Blanco operating at the Clarendon Hotel, the two entities parted ways.
The Robsons and the Clarendon Hotel were amid a continuous conflict and the two “were at a stalemate where neither one could function,” Robson said.
“A lot of people don’t realize that this has just been an ongoing dispute between DR Hospitality and the Clarendon,” he said. “We weren’t able to resolve the differences.”
Ben Bethel, owner and general manager of the Clarendon Hotel, said the hotel is planning an interim menu for a few days to accommodate hotel guests during the transition.
"We've brought in a transitional consultant to ensure uninterrupted operations the very next morning,” Bethel said.
He added that performances by Flamenco Por La Vida will continue every Wednesday. Flamenco is a form of Spanish folk music and dance, and the group has been an important part of bringing an authentic Spanish cultural experience to the restaurant.
Flamenco Por La Vida developed over the past five years at Gallo Blanco located at the Clarendon Hotel. It wrote on its Facebook page, “We were generously given a space to share our passion for flamenco and culture at one (of) the most prestigious cultural hangouts of all of Phoenix.”
As the two establishments part ways, Robson said he would like to see a gracious split. He plans on focusing on his family and their other establishment, the Otro Cafe on 7th Street just north of Bethany Home Road.
“We wish the Bethel family and the Clarendon the best,” he said.
Reach the reporter at randrew3@asu.edu or follow @rachelandrewss on Twitter.
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