El Chorro
In The Press
Featured Press
Phoenix Magazine, “2025 Arizona
Travel Awards: Best Restaurant”
Jun 2025
The rustic Paradise Valley restaurant, a staple in the Valley culinary scene, celebrates its past while embracing the future. Regulars enjoy iconic dishes like sticky buns, beef stroganoff and trout almondine, while foodies enjoy new, locally sourced dishes from chef Charles Kassels.
ICONIC Life, “The Best
of Arizona Restaurants”
Feb 2023
A historic restaurant in Paradise Valley and a landmark for locals, El Chorro has a long history of rich tradition and culinary excellence. The property was originally opened as the Judson School for Girls by Dr. John C. Lincoln in 1934, while he was building the neighboring Camelback Inn. The property’s 22 acres were later purchased by Jan and Mark Gruber in 1937, who converted it into a restaurant and lodge, and El Chorro was born.
Mezcal is in the driver’s seat for
Highway to Helayna, El Chorro’s
twist on a traditional sour
Oct 2022
The bar team at El Chorro travels to 18 East, which is Breakthru Beverage’s stateof-the-art cocktail lab in Phoenix, several times a year to research and develop its seasonal menus. “We start with a central theme, but then it is all about collaboration, creativity and seasonality when we start testing flavor profiles,” says Helayna Hudak, head bartender at El Chorro. “For the fall, we decided it would be fun to theme each cocktail around song titles.” Hudak also saw the new menu