Angie's, the fast-growing chain from Salad and Go's original founders Tony and Roushan Christofellis, has opened its newest location in Phoenix, and it is unlike anything Angie's fans have seen before.
Earlier this summer, the chain announced its rebrand to Angie's — The New Fast Food alongside an expansion that would bring the franchise to 32 total Valley locations by the end of 2027.
The first of those new locations opened Oct. 20 at 17th and Glendale avenues in Phoenix and includes a drive-through, walk-up ordering and, for the first time, a full indoor dining room.
The menu includes all of Angie's previous menus combined from Angie's Lobster, Angie's Prime Grill, Angie's Burger and Angie's Chicken plus a few brand-new items.
All existing Angie's
locations will be slowly adopting the full menu and, eventually, the new signage, Tony Christofellis said. But buying new signs costs a lot of money, so he said it's not his immediate priority; the food is.
What's new on the menu at Angie's — The New Fast Food?
Angie's was born from a desire to offer high quality ingredients such as USDA prime steak, antibiotic-free chicken, wild-caught Mexican colossal shrimp, salmon and lobster at fast-food prices. One of the ways that the Christofellises are able to keep their prices so low is by using each ingredient in its entirety, such as buying a whole cow rather than only specific cuts of steak and using the excess beef for hamburgers, chorizo and taco meat.
In addition to the warm rice bowls, salads and lobster rolls that made Angie's famous, the restaurant has added two new categories to the menu: tacos ($3.99) and 12-inch pizzas ($6.99 to $8.99).
Tacos were added to the menu as a way to help ensure that all of the beef each restaurant was buying would be used and eaten. Steak sales increased tremendously in the months since Salad and Go's closing, Christofellis said, so he needed to add another beef dish to the menu that would sell at a high enough margin to ensure nothing would go to waste. Most of the taco ingredients were already used in other dishes, but the Angie's team developed a brand-new taco seasoning to complete the taco.
"Angie's is made for the Angies of the world," Christofellis said, referring to his mother, whom the chain is named after. "My mom was a Greek immigrant, she was a single parent, you know, money was tight. So, it doesn't do us any good to offer a $10 or $12 pizza. It's not going to resonate with our customer base and it's not going to achieve our mission."
'We're constantly getting better'
Despite the massive success that the Angie's brand has had in the Valley since debuting as Angie's Lobster in 2022, Christofellis isn't quite satisfied. He still believes that the restaurant and the food can get even better, and he and his wife experiment every day to try to find ways they can improve.
His latest project has been perfecting the chicken tender. Angie's used to source bigger chickens that would turn a darker shade of brown during cooking, but they recently switched to buying smaller chickens that produced more tender and evenly colored chicken tenders.
"We're constantly getting better," Christofellis said.
How to visit Angie's — The New Fast Food
The first of nine scheduled new locations of Angie's — The New Fast Food is now open in Phoenix from 6:30 a.m. to 10:00 p.m. daily.
Additional locations are planned to open within the next year in Mesa, Queen Creek, Maricopa, Casa Grande, Goodyear and Phoenix.
Details: 1739 W. Glendale Ave., Phoenix. angies.com.
Reach the reporter at eddie.fontanez@azcentral.com. Follow @ERFontanez on Instagram.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: New Angie's restaurant concept debuts new menu, perks for Phoenix fans
