The term “go big or go home,” is often hyperbole, but not when talking about local celebrity chef and serial restaurateur Joey Maggiore. Known for his gold chains, eye-popping recipes, and charisma to spare, Maggiore is the force behind a slew of locally grown concepts that are blowing up nationwide, including The Sicilian Butcher, The Sicilian Baker, The Mexicano, The Italiano, The Rosticceria, and Hash Kitchen, a brunch experience that must be seen to be believed. At last count, the boldly plated, never understated eatery had grown to six locations across Arizona as well as restaurants across Utah, Nevada, and Texas either recently opened or set to open very soon.
To say the menu at Hash Kitchen is wild – think cocktails in plastic roller skates and disco balls; bacon topped with 24-karat gold flakes; and pancakes infused with Fruity Pebbles and topped with strawberry mascarpone – would be an understatement. The food and drink are complemented by a live DJ on weekends, art installations on multiple walls, and Arizona’s largest build-your-own bloody Mary bar with more than 60 toppings from which to choose.
“While I certainly want guests to keep flocking to the best brunch extravaganza in town, I also want to help our guests get the party started at home, too,” said Maggiore. “Enter my debut cookbook, which shares secrets to pulling off the best meal of the day in extraordinary ways.”
Titled “Brunch King: Eats, Beats, and Boozy Drinks” and available now at all Maggiore concepts as well as on Amazon, the book is big and bold in every sense of the word. As much a collector’s item and coffee table book, Brunch King boasts a step-by-step guide to cooking and plating 70 of Maggiore’s signature morning dishes and is complemented by rich photography that will have readers wanting to lick the pages.
“Your grandmother’s cookbook, this is not,” laughs Maggiore while detailing his chapters, including Gangsta Sweets, with recipes for crème brûlée bruschetta, cannoli doughnuts, and bread pudding French toast sticks, among others, and Let’s Get Cracking, a definitive guide to going wild with the versatile egg.
The cookbook is also unique in that it features morning cocktail builds, too. And yes, they are just as flamboyant, by design. Think mimosas topped with cotton candy and a cocktail that offers a boozy take on Cocoa Krispies that manages to snap, crackle, and pop (see recipe).
The book is equal parts love letter to his ever-growing reputation as the undisputed king of morning fare, a truly educational book on how to think outside-of-the-box at breakfast and brunch, and homage to his culinary hero: his father.
Maggiore fell in love with cooking by doing so alongside his father, culinary maestro and award-winning chef Tomaso Maggiore.
“My father, who led Tomaso’s Italian Restaurant for more than 40 years, was a driving force in helping re-define the culinary landscape in Arizona,” said Maggiore, noting a gala in his late father’s honor to raise funds for the Tomaso Maggiore Culinary Arts Foundation will take place at the Westin Kierland Resort on Oct. 12. “Beyond that, he was an amazing mentor and is an ever-present inspiration in my life.”
Now a father of three himself and leading The Maggiore Group with his wife, Cristina, Maggiore hopes the book will inspire others to cook audaciously and have as much fun in the kitchen that he and his family have had together for decades past and will continue to together for decades to come.
For more information, visit MaggioreGroup.com.
"Brunch King: Eats, Beats, and Boozy Drinks" boasts a step-by-step guide to cooking and plating 70 of Maggiore’s signature morning dishes.