A fresh, fun crudo that\u2019s different every time<\/strong><\/p>\nGrowing up in the mountain west, Smith was mostly familiar with the kind of Mexican food that came from a fast-food drive-thru. When he moved to Arizona and started to experience mole, salsas and other sauces that form the backbone of Mexican cuisine, \u201cit just blew my mind with all these flavors and all the combinations you can get,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Pretty Penny\u2019s al pastor-inspired crudo plate starts with a blue corn panna cotta made from tortillas steeped in cream and milk and set in a rimmed ceramic plate. The swirls of panna cotta are dammed by a vibrant yellow aguachile featuring passion fruit and fermented pineapple.<\/p>\n
The chef then slices thin pink-hued pieces of the fish. Those get a sprinkle of Maldon salt, then a slick of a ruddy red al pastor-style marinade that features arbol, ancho and guajillo chiles, citrus, clove, allspice, brown sugar and Coca-Cola.<\/p>\n
Once on the plate, each slice of fish gets a squeeze of aji amarillo crema and is dressed in more taco-inspired finery: thinly sliced serranos, pickled pineapple and red onion join verdant green bubbles of cilantro foam. The crudo comes with a bubbly chicarr\u00f3n that\u2019s not made from pork. Smith starts with tortillas that he steeps in water and salt. He adds tapioca to that tortilla broth, which he then dehydrates and fries. The result is crisp and light as air.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou get these textures that are just like a chicarr\u00f3n. It\u2019s fun,\u201d Smith says. \u201cI wasn\u2019t just going to throw tortilla chips on it.\u201d<\/p>\n
![\"An](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_4568-e1777418188861.jpeg\")
Pretty Penny\u2019s hamachi crudo takes inspiration from al pastor.<\/p>\n
Though there are some plates that the chef always wants to look uniform, for each hamachi crudo, \u201cI let the plate be the plate,\u201d Smith says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Even though the components that go onto each order are the same, they each look a little different, and have different pockets of intermingling flavors because of that free form.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat way your palate\u2019s not getting dulled,\u201d Smith says.\u00a0<\/p>\n
During our visit, some mouthfuls carried the tropical tartness of pineapple and passion fruit. Others sang with the warm spice of al pastor or the creamy richness of aji aioli and panna cotta. It\u2019s also possible to scoop a little bit of everything into one perfect bite on a chicarr\u00f3n.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The flavor may not remind you exactly of your neighborhood taqueria, but we\u2019ll bet you won\u2019t think about al pastor or crudo quite the same after trying this dish. Caviar may be king at luxe restaurants, but this hamachi makes the case for thinking outside of the tin before you place your order.<\/p>\n
Pretty Penny<\/p>\n
509 E. Roosevelt St.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pretty Penny’s crudo has several components, including a cilantro foam. Sara Crocker Sometimes chefs grind and iterate on…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":772955,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5131],"tags":[5229,5643,1587,141473,27144,1589,67,586,132,5230,68,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-772954","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-az","11":"tag-best-bites","12":"tag-chefs","13":"tag-phoenix","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-united-states-of-america","16":"tag-unitedstates","17":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","18":"tag-us","19":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116517271641988543","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772954","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=772954"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/772954\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/772955"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=772954"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=772954"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=772954"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_4556-e1777418389996.jpeg\")
![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_4504-e1777418749323.jpeg\"\/)
Chef Steven \u201cChops\u201d Smith brush the hamachi featured in Pretty Penny\u2019s crudo with an al pastor-style glaze.\n<\/li>\n![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_4517-e1777418613680.jpeg\"\/)
Aguachile fills the gaps between tortilla panna cotta.\n<\/li>\n![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_4537-e1777418502230.jpeg\"\/)
The al pastor-inspired crudo features taco toppers including Serrano peppers, pickled pineapple and pickled red onion.\n<\/li>\n![\"Chef](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_4566-e1777418248313.jpeg\"\/)
Steven \u201cChops\u201d Smith helms the kitchen at Pretty Penny.\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n