Joey Maggiore’s path to restaurant success began with a flop.
In 2013, he opened an upscale seafood restaurant called Cuttlefish in Scottsdale, Arizona with a menu built around the things he loved cooking and eating. But for all his and his wife Cristina’s enthusiasm and efforts, it fizzled.
Rather than give up, he decided to lean into another passion: brunch. And in 2015, the couple unveiled Hash Kitchen with a menu and style befitting of the chef’s exuberant personality. ”Out-of-the-box and crazy, with a little Liberace style” is how his wife put it.
The oyster bar became a build-your-own bloody mary bar with house-made mixes and more than 70 toppings. He made hash of sweet potatoes and blue crab; topped fried chicken with poached eggs and hollandaise; and dressed up pancakes with cannoli cream and gold leaf flakes.
“Hash Kitchen was so left field and different from what everyone else was doing at the time that it was immediately successful,” Maggiore writes in the introduction to “Brunch King: Eats, Beats, and Boozy Drinks” (Figure 1 Publishing, $32.95).
Maggiore has since launched six other restaurant concepts and has appeared on Food Network and Travel Channel shows. “Brunch King,” like his other endeavors, captures his flashy persona — in photographs revealing his penchant for gold chains and disco balls, and over-the-top recipes made for Instagram. Chapters revolve around coffee and morning cocktails, French toast, pancakes and waffles, eggs Benedict and frittatas, brunch potatoes and hash, and signature dishes such as Billionaire’s Bacon and Ten-Layer Breakfast Lasagna. A playlist selected by DJ Ice, a popular Arizona deejay, sets the vibe for each.
I get sleepy trying to imagine starting my day with the Bedrock, a cocktail made by blending Fruity Pebbles cereal, cream and blue curacao with a cereal marshmallow treat garnish. But his Birria Breakfast Burrito — a large tortilla stuffed with hash browns, eggs, salsa and slow-braised beef infused with chiles — did find a way into my weekly menu.
That’s Maggiore’s idea of brunch. But for me and my husband, it made for a swell rib-sticking supper with leftovers for days.
Susan Puckett is a cookbook author and former food editor of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Follow her at susanpuckett.com.
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