Antonio Padilla is one of the best chefs to grace the Phoenix culinary scene. Padilla's start in cooking began in the home with his mother and grandmother, and his recipes reflect that. In May of 2026, Padilla brought his culinary concept into fruition: Alita. It is no surprise that the pop-up has been a success. Ändern had the honor to speak with Antonio about his start, the Phoenix food scene, and the impact of Ratatouille.

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I: Alita, your culinary pop-up concept, is over a month old; what would you want to say to your past self when first coming up with the idea?

 

AP: The biggest thing that I’ve learned over the last month, as boring as it sounds, is understanding the tax stuff. The backend stuff is super important so taking in a little more knowledge about what that looks like before jumping in. Then also relying on people: allowing people to help you. That’s the biggest thing I would’ve said like, “Hey dude, don’t try to do it all by yourself. Have people help you! Ask for help!”

 

I: Are you still working as a sous chef as well as the pop-up or is the pop-up full-time?

 

AP: No, so this is full time. The full time gigging has been really good because a lot of people have approached me with collaborative stuff. You know what I mean? Like this last weekend we had a five course tasting dinner at Futuro and it came up like “Hey, would you be down to do this thing?” And I was like, “Yes, totally!”

 

I: With the menu, do you keep it pretty much the same for specific seasons or do you like to sprinkle in some new dishes?

 

AP: When we originally started the menu, it was gonna be the wings, a salad, and a dessert. Kind of reminiscent of a candy that me and my sister used to eat a lot as kids, Paleta Payaso, but I do a Pavlova Payaso. I make a chocolate pavlova, fill it with custard, and make little gummies for the face. So that was the original idea of what I thought I was gonna do, but then after the first weekend of us just being super busy, I kind of had to pivot because I was going to run out of wings and I didn't have time to prep more. So I did another idea that I've had, which is an Albóndigas soup sandwich. Albóndigas is a super traditional Mexican meatball soup, and so I had the idea to put the meatballs inside of a sandwich with all the veggies that are typically inside the soup, on the sandwich and then serve the broth on the side, so it's kind of like a meatball sub French dip situation. We ran that as a special and at the time I was like, “I'll just do fifteen, because I don't know if it's gonna be a thing.” The first fifteen people that came and ordered, ordered that sandwich. It was super popular and sold out, so we were like, “Okay, well, now I guess it is a part of the menu!” We got rid of the dessert just because I don't think it's necessary right now, but we'll definitely pull it out for special events. Right now we have a watermelon salad just because it's summer, then the wings, and then the French dip sandwich. On top of that–if we have time– we drop the wings to prep something that I've been wanting to do for a while, and if the space allows for it we’ll definitely run specials.

 

I: How is the process of coming up with a recipe? Is it different every single time?

 

AP: The whole premise of the concept, the whole reason for it is nostalgic dishes that me and my sister used to eat growing up as kids. So a lot of the time, I'll just go back in the memory bank. Or I’ll hit up my mom and be like, “Hey, what was that one thing that you made for Mother's Day? That Monday weekend specifically, we called it chicken cake?" We don't really know what the name of it is but it's just cornbread with braised chicken on the inside and more cornbread.That's something that she used to make for us a lot. For the process of that, it was really just looking back and being like, “I remember what that tasted like. Let me try to get as close to what I remember it tasting like, and then from there tweak it a little bit.” That’s definitely been the process. There's a lot of ideas that, throughout the years I’ve been cooking, that I've been wanting to do. I've had the privilege of working at restaurants and kitchens where they'll allow you to cook things on the menu or a component that'll end up on the menu. There's still some stuff that I have to test out but I think that’s the beauty of what we do as chefs: continually creating.

 

I: You’ve spoken about how cooking has been a part of your entire life; through your grandmother and your mother. What was the moment you realized that cooking was a passion more than a pastime or hobby?

 

AP: One very specific moment in high school, I joined culinary class just so I could eat more. I was doing something and the teacher came up to me and said, “I think you should join the culinary club. There’s some extracurricular stuff we do after school.” So I did. She signed us all up for a competition and each person got a different category, some categories were doubled up–like two of us to a category. The one I was specifically in was for cooking: they said make a composed salad–which instead of a tossed salad is plated in a certain way to be visually appealing–and follow a recipe. The whole time I was also working at Taco Bell, so I sometimes wasn’t able to make the practices for the competition after school because I had to go to work. I remember the teacher being like, “You need to try to make some of these practices.” I said I’d try my best but didn’t make any of the practices. I ended up getting second place.

 

I: Wow!

 

AP: After that I was like, “Okay I think I’m onto something.”

 

I: What has cooking for your own pop-up taught you that is different from being a sous chef in restaurants? 

 

AP: Oh man, a lot! I’m still talking to the chefs like Chef René (Andrade); I ran into TJ (Culp) the other day; and other business owners. It’s honestly crazy, once you’re taken away from cheffing a restaurant: coming in, delegating the work, getting some of the work done yourself, in some ways keeping the morale up, doing the orders, the scheduling. Going from that to now having to do all of the tax stuff. I keep telling Mandy–who is my partner in this–a lot of times the work comes to us: clock in and they’ll come to the door. Now we have to wake up and go find work. We have to make the work happen; setting up collaborative things, setting up the pop-up, the catering, and all of that. The big difference is it doesn’t come to us anymore, we have to find it. We’re super grateful, but we’re also exhausted!

 

I: I’m sure!

 

AP: Another thing too that is super important, that I’m struggling a little with but I’m also keeping in the back of my head, is always be present. If a pop-up isn’t doing as well as we wanted or it’s not going how we want, just remember that you’re there and it’s happening. Tomorrow is another day.

 

I: If you had the world’s attention what would you like to share about Phoenix’s food scene?

 

AP: We’re coming. I was just talking about this the other day with someone that Michelin is coming to the southwest: Utah, New Mexico, Arizona. I think it is super cool that Phoenix is kind of like–and I don’t know about the other states–being here feels like we’re a bunch of hungry kids going after it. We’re all grinding. Every restaurant you go to–Restaurant Progress, Glai Baan, Long Wongs, Bacanora, Huarachis–there’s no missing. The city is swinging for the fences every chance that they get for it. Every single chance they get, they’re going to go as hard for it as they possibly can. Events like Viva Phoenix, everyone was getting after it with pop-ups and food vendors. It’s up and coming, you know? It’s exciting to be a part of.

 

I: That is really exciting because the city is growing in a lot of ways with businesses popping up, but it feels like food is at the core of that. More people who aren’t from Arizona or the U.S. are recognizing Phoenix has a huge food culture.

 

AP: Yeah and it’s super rich too. Even Native American food with the Fry Bread House, that is from here, literally right here! Sonoran food is right here, we’re in the Sonoran Desert. Where else are you going to get Nopales? 

 

I: Exactly! What is something that you’d like for people to take away from eating at Alita?

 

AP: I think the biggest message we’re trying to relay–especially with me going back into nostalgic dishes–I always tell people the scene in Ratatouille, where he goes back to being a kid. That’s the biggest message I want to relay. We’re all kids at heart in some way shape or form. That’s the impact I want to bring when it comes to a dish. I know the French dip sandwich is innovative and something I turned into for a bar scene, but at the end of the day when you take a bite, I hope it tastes like your grandma’s Albóndigas. Or when I make refried beans, those refried beans taste like your Mom’s refried beans. That’s the kind of impact I want to have with the community, that’s super powerful. It brings a lot of people comfort and warmth, they trust you in that moment. 

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Keep up with where you can find Alita next so you can enjoy Padilla's dishes that'll bring home to you right here.