"We've been working on a new concept here for quite some time and this Saturday is going to be our last day as Salsa Brava."
John Conley said that in a Facebook video on a Thursday evening in September. Two days later, on September 12, his restaurant at 2220 E. Route 66 Blvd. closed after four decades. Five days after that, Brandy's Café closed its doors on South Beaver Street. Taken together, two of Flagstaff's longest-running dining rooms went dark in one week.
Look at who owns what, though, and both closings read differently. Both kitchens are still run by the same people, who are now putting them to work in other ways. That pattern holds for most of what has opened, moved or closed in Flagstaff since July. The new activity mostly comes from owners already working here who chose to merge, rebuild or add a second location.
Brandy's Moved Downtown and Folded Two Kitchens Into One
The Beaver Street café that closed on September 17 had more history than its name let on. The Arizona Daily Sun traces 18 S. Beaver St. back to 1976. That year Ed and Brandy Wojciak opened La Bellavia there, and in 1993 they followed it with Brandy's Restaurant and Bakery. Jamie and Kelsey Drayton took over the original Brandy's on East Cedar Avenue in 2014. In 2018 they brought the two restaurants together, and in 2019 they renamed La Bellavia as Brandy's Café.
Late in 2024 the Draytons bought Proper Meats + Provisions when founder Paul Moir stepped away after ten years. Back then, Jamie Drayton talked about "a lot of opportunity for vertical integration between Brandy's and Proper." That integration has now happened under one roof. Brandy's Proper Café is open at 110 E. Route 66, in the old Grand Canyon Café building. Proper had been using that space since 2018.
The building carries its own Route 66 story. Route 66 News reports that the Wong family ran the Grand Canyon Café for decades. Five local investors bought it in 2016, renovated it and reopened it, and it closed less than a year later. Under the new arrangement, two established local businesses share the room and its costs.
Here is how the new café works day to day:
- Breakfast: 7 a.m. to noon
- Lunch: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m., with nearly 30 sandwiches, including several breakfast sandwiches served all day
- Also on offer: pastries, espresso, beer, cocktails, and some of Proper's meats for purchase
Brandy's Restaurant & Bakery has not moved. Its location page still lists 1500 E. Cedar Ave. #40, open daily from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. So the Draytons have gone from three addresses to two, and both are still open. Both kitchens also have a strong local track record. Brandy's Restaurant won Best Brunch in last year's Best of Flag, and Proper won Best Lunch, Best Deli Sandwich and Best Butcher.
On East Route 66, One Block Now Holds Three Conley Restaurants
Salsa Brava's last-week numbers show how big the restaurant got. Conley said more than 4.5 million people had eaten there, more than 1,000 employees had worked there, and the business had given more than $3 million back to the community. Over the years it won Best of Flag for tacos, salsa, wait staff and Mexican food.
The building is staying in the same hands. Renovation for a new restaurant called The Fat Hen was set to start the Monday after the announcement. In his own post, Conley said, "This isn't goodbye. It's a new chapter!" He has not yet announced the menu, the meal hours or an opening date.
What is public is where it sits. On East Route 66, the street numbers for Conley's restaurants now run in a short row:
- 2220 E. Route 66 Blvd.: The Fat Hen, under renovation in the former Salsa Brava
- 2300 E. Route 66: Fat Bagels
- 2308 E. Route 66: Fat Olives
Conley has also put a stake in the business into his managers' hands. In October 2024, Flagstaff Business News described his model as manager-partners who hold shares. It named Kaiti DuPuy at Fat Olives and Ashlea Lindemuth at Salsa Brava. This September, Conley said he expects the new concept to last, and that part of his job is to "create and innovate under employee ownership." On paper, then, Salsa Brava's closing is a change of concept inside a group that already runs two other restaurants on the same stretch of road.
Downtown, Atria's Chef Is Opening Two More Rooms
The same thing is happening on Leroux Street. Chef Rochelle Daniel already runs Atria, and she is opening two new spaces at 101 N. Leroux St. One is Pompette, an all-day French bistro and bakery with both full service and grab-and-go. The other is Little Rich Girl, a cocktail bar and lounge downstairs that will serve bar food.
On September 10, the Greater Flagstaff Chamber said both were expected to open in late September. As of today, Pompette's website still reads "Coming Soon." The dates have already moved once. A Phoenix Magazine ticket page for a September 13 Cocktail Camp at Little Rich Girl still said the bar was "set to open in late June." Until regular hours are posted, the details below are plans, not a confirmed opening.
The Arizona Daily Sun and Northern AZ Luxury Living have published the planned menus and hours:
| Pompette | Little Rich Girl | |
|---|---|---|
| Format | French bistro and bakery | Downstairs cocktail bar and lounge |
| Planned hours | Counter service 8 to 11 a.m., lunch 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., dinner 5 to 10 p.m., daily | 4 p.m. to close, Tuesday through Sunday |
| Planned menu | Morning pastries, lobster rolls, wagyu skewers, short rib bourguignon | Caviar service, foie gras pâté, a smashburger, a cinnamon roll iced at the table, caviar-Parmesan tater tots served with vodka |
Once both are open, one downtown address will offer pastries in the morning, a bistro lunch, and cocktails late into the evening. The owner is a chef who has run Atria in town for years.
The Rest of the Summer Fit the Same Pattern
The smaller openings since July mostly come from operators who were already here.
El Tapatio opened its second Flagstaff location in early July at Fort Valley Shopping Center, just north of downtown, in the space Bow Wow Street Dogs used to occupy. Owners Manny and Letisia Gutierrez now run two Mexican restaurants in town.
Two of the openings on South Milton Road are national brands, and both are run by local franchisees. Tropical Smoothie Cafe opened in Greentree Village Shopping Center on July 8 and held its grand opening on July 11, with local franchisees Allie and Steve Palmieri. Baskin-Robbins has opened a new shop at 1431 S. Milton Road in Sherwood Forest Shopping Center. Owner and operator Jing Tu called it the team's third shop.
One closing this summer was a true ending. Brown Bag Burger + Bar served its last day on Monday, July 27, at 824 W. Route 66, Unit B1, in The Standard, after more than three years in Flagstaff under owner Ian Burns. Among the closings covered here, it is the only one with no follow-up concept announced by the same owner.
What to Watch Between Now and the Holidays
From here, the open questions are about the calendar. No date has been set for The Fat Hen's opening or its menu. Pompette and Little Rich Girl were due in late September, and the official site has not caught up yet. Brandy's Proper Café is serving now at 110 E. Route 66. The Cedar Avenue Brandy's is open as usual from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. every day.
For anyone looking for an old favorite, the owners have a simple map. The Brandy's breakfast now comes from two kitchens, one on Cedar and one on Route 66. Salsa Brava's owner still has Fat Bagels and Fat Olives running a few doors east while his old dining room is rebuilt. The chef behind Atria is getting ready to open two more rooms at the same Leroux Street address.
Restaurants like these help shape what daily life feels like in a neighborhood, and that shapes how a home there gets presented. If you are thinking about Flagstaff and want to know what life looks like around a particular address, Randall Dagenais Luxury Group is glad to talk it through, down to where breakfast is served this fall. Contact Us.
