FOOD

Food & Drink

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Chic new eatery offers regenerative foods

BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer

Nico Doniele has always been frustrated with the lack of attention restaurants paid to where the food comes from.

Many restaurants in California source meat and produce from regenerative farms, which, among other things, seek to reverse climate change by improving soil health through practices that increase soil organic matter.

Doniele had an idea.

She met with her good friend Nick Neuman, who has had success as the owner of EVO in Old Town, to pitch a unique idea and mission.

“The idea is to look at food and its sourcing in a different way along with how we use it to heal the body,” said Doniele. “And my mission statement is, ‘let us eat to live and live longer to eat.’” Neuman loved the idea and decided to go into business with Doniele, giving birth to the new Scottsdale restaurant, Santé. The �irst step was �inding a location, and the two feel they could not have found a better location on Scottsdale Road and Tierra Buena Lane across the street from the Optima Kierland apartments.

After months of renovating the space, they feel they created a chic atmosphere that is comfortable for diners of all diets and tastes to enjoy food that comes from farms that do not harm the environment.

“This allows people to learn how to eat properly through well-sourced food in a fun and chic atmosphere,” said Doniele.

Doniele describes the interior of the restaurant as “bohemian chic meets 20’s and 30’s glam Hollywood regency” as evidenced by the 6-foot pink feather chandelier, �loral decorations and art covered walls.

While the two knew how they wanted the restaurant to look, the renovation work proved to be a larger challenge than Doniele or Neuman had anticipated due to supply chain disruptions.

“We had issues sourcing materials,” said Neuman. “Our tiles were ordered ahead of time from Turkey. We also had trouble �inding chairs and �looring as those items were either out of stock or on a backorder.”

They confronted a bigger challenge sourcing food.

“One of the hardest things we’ve dealt with has been sourcing our food,” said Neuman. “Because of how particular we are about where the food is sourced from, it has been more challenging to source food.”

Santé prides itself on its ability to source food from regenerative farms and local produce purveyors.

“We source our food from regenerative farms that work with nature by creating a carbon-neutral or carbon-negative atmosphere,” said Doniele. “We also go beyond organically grown. We look into how the animals are raised, how the earth and soil is treated and how the farm works on a dayto-day process.”

Because some menu items are harder to come by, the pair plans to adapt their menu around the items they can obtain.

“Because we know exactly what we want, we are creating our menu around that,” said Neuman. “If we can’t get a particular item, we will change our menu to match what we are able to bring in.”

Oddly, the two had almost no trouble at all �inding a staff that believed in the mission of the restaurant and were excited to open the doors on Dec. 14.

“Our staff has to have a good attitude,” said Doniele. “You can train people how to pour coffee and wait tables, but they have to have a good attitude and believe in what we’re doing for the earth.”

Additionally, Doniele made it a point to train staff on educating diners on the options that the restaurant offers to complement any dietary needs.

“We have all these great opportunities for people to eat together and be inclusive,” she said. “We want to create inclusivity with really beautiful vegan dishes and really beautiful meat dishes.”

However, the restaurant’s signature dishes are buttermilk brined chicken with pickled spaghetti squash, brown rice chicharron, olive and cherry gastrique and bison �ilet with onion puree, roasted yellow tomatoes, red wine and hemp reduction.

On the sweeter side of the menu, the restaurant offers items like cheesecake and cornbread.

It also has a full bar inside equipped with a variety of alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages including non-alcoholic cocktails and wines.

Guests can also reserve the restaurant’s private dining room for high-tea parties or to show a �ilm on its projection screen.

For those who may not have time to sit down at the restaurant, it also has a grab and go gourmet marketplace that sells salads, juices and breads as well as a coffee bar.

Neuman believes the restaurant will not only cater to a plethora of diners but will become a destination in the state.

“I believe in building a restaurant for the area that you’re in and I think this is an amazing area that will become a destination spot,” he said. “This is a one-ofa-kind restaurant that is going to draw in people who didn’t know that this was possible to do.”

Information: lovesante.com

Nico Doniele and Nick Neuman opened Santé in Scottsdale with an eye toward sourcing meat and produce from farms dedicated to saving

the planet. (David Minton/Staff Photographer) Santé in Scottsdale provides a chic atmosphere for diners to enjoy meals for all

diets. (Special for the Progress)