Story & Lesson Highlights with Stephen Jones of Phoenix

We’re looking forward to introducing you to Stephen Jones. Check out our conversation below.

Stephen, we’re thrilled to have you with us today. Before we jump into your intro and the heart of the interview, let’s start with a bit of an ice breaker: Who are you learning from right now?
Who am I learning from right now? oddly enough…….I have to say my 10 year old at the moment. This business is rough and through time a chef develops habits, traits that pulls them away…..I been learning to reconnect with my circle, being more present, laughing more, enjoying & identifying the good times and disconnecting from devices more often.

Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
Stephen has amassed a wealth of culinary expertise in his 43 years, which is not surprising when
you consider that he comes from a family of master chefs and cooks. A former football player, he
trained at Le Cordon Bleu in Pasadena, Ca while working at Watergrill, Table 8, and Nobu in Las
Vegas.
One of the highlights of his career was working as a sous chef at Bradley Ogden in Las Vegas. “I draw
on the experience of what we did there first and foremost, as we used the best local produce, meat, and
dairy,” says Stephen. He then served as Sous Chef of Mk Restaurant in Chicago before moving to
Phoenix. Then Chef Stephen served as Chef de Cuisine at Tarbell’s, and as Executive Chef at Latilla at
the Boulders Resort in Scottsdale, as well as opening chef of the downtown hot spot Blue Hound
Kitchen + Cocktails built within the City Scape shopping & entertainment venue in downtown
Phoenix. After leaving Blue Hound in the spring of 2015 chef Stephen went to work on his own
projects the larder + the delta, Walrus & The Pearl and DCM Burger Joint all located within Desoto
Central Market located on the corner of Central & Roosevelt in Downtown Phoenix in the heart of the
Roosevelt Row arts district. While at DeSoto chef Jones brought national spotlight to the mulit-use
space but it was his 8 seat counter only southern concept the larder + the delta that really took off and
became a fan favorite amongst the local community, being named travel & leisure magazine best farm
to table restaurant in 2016 was a highlight of the year for Jones and the larder + the delta crew. With
the momentum building for the restaurant to have its own brick & mortar, in the summer of 2018 Chef
Jones was able to open the larder + the delta in the Portland on the Park area of downtown Phoenix, In
2020 Chef Jones had honor or being nominated for the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s Best
Chef Southwest award and followed that with a second nomination in 2022 for Outstanding Chef
and most recently a 2025 nomination for best chef southwest,
Chef Jones has appeared on numerous television show such as Guy’s Grocery Games, CNN, Travel Channel,
Hallmark, PBS, NPR as well as beating Bobby Flay on Beat Bobby Flay. Chef Jones has also appeared
on multiple local news and radio shows. In Chef Jones down time you will find him coaching his son
Noah’s Flag & Pop Warner football teams as well getting a few rounds of golf in around the Phoenix
valley.

Appreciate your sharing that. Let’s talk about your life, growing up and some of topics and learnings around that. Who taught you the most about work?
My mother taught most about the value of work and having a good work ethic. My mother worked two, hell sometimes three jobs to help keep a roof over me and my brothers heads when I was younger. Watching her navigate that and not complain was something that I will forever remember.

Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
Absolutely, hell there have a few times I just wanted to throw in towel and walk away from this industry…. Then I realized anything that you love and are passionate about will do just that challenge you, push you in ways that will have you rethinking why you’re doing it and what’s it all for. You have push through your ceiling to get towards your dreams, so therefore I stay in the fight and continue loving what I do.

Sure, so let’s go deeper into your values and how you think. What would your closest friends say really matters to you?
Family, Food and Football

Thank you so much for all of your openness so far. Maybe we can close with a future oriented question. If you knew you had 10 years left, what would you stop doing immediately?
two things immediately: living to work and giving a damn about peoples opinions. Now, I don’t really do either of these now but there are times where I have moments but if I new for a fact I only had 10 left these two would stop immediately

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @chefstephenj