Thanks again to our friend Laura Dragon of {9}TheGallery, the folks at Bragg's Pie Factory Diner, Chris Klein and Chris Duran of Glass Lab/Metal Lab, Beatrice Moore, the Grande Dame of Grand Ave and Jen Urso of Frontal Lobe Community Art Space. We had a wonderful time and learned so much!

This may be a red letter day in Phoenix. Well, technically about a month ago was a red letter day in downtown. It was the day that Scratch French Pastry and Pallet opened in the long-vacant Canvas building at 2nd St and Roosevelt.

For how long were we forced to look at that empty building, once full of hope, defaced by neglect and empty promises?

But no more, my friends, no more! Today, we rise again!

Sorry. Pastries and beer get me all melodramatic. 

First, a little back-story. I spoke with co-owner Noelle Liao last November about their plans to open a downtown version of their successful Scottsdale French pastry shop, called Scratch, in Canvas. Back then she estimated that they would be ready to open by about April, and she was right on the dot!

Now, for those of you downtowners who may be thinking that something from Scottsdale can't be all that good, listen to this story. Noelle, who has family in Arizona, was a model working internationally when she met her husband, Duc, a Vietnamese-Chinese fashion photographer, raised in France.

Bada-bing, bada-boom, they get married, have a couple children and decide to settle in Scottsdale. Well, "settle" is relative. Duc still jets off to Europe regularly for photo shoots. Plus, they both spent years researching and preparing for their excursion in to the world of pastries. Duc was classically trained at Le Cordon Bleu and together they spent a year preparing and researching where to open in Scottsdale. 

After over four years of rave reviews, they are taking the opportunity to join us here where all the action is. And, here's the other reason they are worth a visit: they made a name for themselves serving very reasonably priced fair. They have sandwiches around $8, pastries around $5 and 19-ounce beers for $4 at their daily happy hour. This happy hour is getting some  positive reviews already, too.

Noelle told me that they were inspired to begin this business because of the time that they spend in France. Their weekends, highlighted by causal times spent at the local pastry shops.

Now this, my friends, is why we want to celebrate Scratch. Not only is the back-story über charming and trés internationale, but they are truly trying to share with us an incredible memory and giving us a chance to experience that same feeling.

NOTE: Chef Duc Liao is making a special French cheese pastry called a Gougère for the first 30 people in the door.