Oh how I love Joe’s Farm Grill in Gilbert Arizona, a suburb 20 minutes from Phoenix International Airport. Several years ago on a trip to Phoenix for a Spring Training trip, one of my buddies “G” suggested we check it out. We’re all fans of the show Diners, Drive Ins and Dives hosted by Guy Fieri on the Food Network, and he featured the place on his show. In our eternal quest for good food, this place had hit the mark for him on a previous trip, so it made the list of places to come back to when in PHX . Well several years later, I still come here when I have the time to make it out to Gilbert. Joe’s is just one of those cool places to eat that has a great vibe, excellent fresh food (mostly local) and an incredible atmosphere. The restaurant is in an area called Agritopia that is a 12 acre urban garden in the middle of the city. Now granted Gilbert is not a large city like Phoenix or Los Angeles but it is large enough and quite sprawling. Driving from one end of town to the other you cross malls, shopping centers and tons of new and old construction homes plus the random farm. So having Agritopia is not really unusual but it sure is cool. The farm has citrus, olives, dates, and seasonal vegetables and apparently back in the 60’s they grew cotton and alfalfa and a bunch of other stuff too. Now it’s mainly used for seasonal ingredients for the restaurant. Joe’s was a family homestead built in the 60’s and sometime in the early 2000’s it turned into a restaurant. It has a cool 60’s Eichler feel, and is just a homey open place with alfresco dining outside too. I wasn’t able to get many exterior shots, it got too dark while I was there, but I did get a few.

On this trip I had a shrimp platter that was just amazing, it was fresh and had just the right amount of breading, it came with fries and cole slaw (I choose Asian). I also got the daily special Milk Shake it was butter pecan and vanilla ice cream with caramel. Just writing this makes my mouth water, oh and it had a radioactive maraschino cherry. No I didn’t try it, not a fan of maraschino cherries, no matter what color. For $20 bucks this was a good meal, probably for Phoenix a little on the pricy side, but in SF where I live it would be a bargain. I’ve had several other items on previous trips from the Ahi Tuna, Pizza, Chicken Burger and Pizza to name a few. On every visit I have never been disappointed, it has always been fresh and tasty. The only downside long lines on good weather days or on weekends. I’ve had to wait in line 45 minutes to order. You order first at the open kitchen/counter and then take a seat, but once you order food comes up pretty fast.

Next time in Phoenix make sure to check it out.

http://joesfarmgrill.com/
3000 East Ray Road
Gilbert, AZ 85296
(480) 563-4745