About Us
Once called “the epicenter of creative Arizona cuisine” by Food & Wine Magazine, as well as named "Best New Restaurant" by nearly every major publication in the Phoenix area upon its debut in 2009, FnB has continued to receive acclaim both locally and beyond for its richly flavored, globally accented seasonal menus, continually showcasing the best of Arizona's abundant farming and agricultural community. Over the years FnB has also been highlighted in the New York Times, Travel + Leisure Magazine, Forbes Magazine, and many others.
Tucked inside the charming and historic Craftsman Court, in the heart of downtown Scottsdale, FnB owes its praise and passion to its owners, Chef Charleen Badman and Front of House Manager and Beverage Director Pavle Milic.
Pavle Milic also helped FnB earn national recognition early on by curating the first Arizona-only wine program, perfectly complimenting Charleen’s thoughtful, locally inspired cooking. To this day, Pavle continues to champion Arizona winemakers by featuring the state's best on FnB's ever-changing menus, as well as crafting his own boutique wine label, Los Milics, which he produces in collaboration with the celebrated Dos Cabezas Wineworks of southern Arizona.
Over the years FnB has also been highlighted in the New York Times, Travel + Leisure Magazine, Forbes Magazine, and many others, as well as being nominated in 2017 by the James Beard Foundation for Outstanding Wine Program, an honor only 20 restaurants received in the United States. Recently, FnB received Phoenix Magazine’s Best of the Valley 2017 awards for Most Exciting Wine Program 2017 and Best LOcavore Restaurant 2017 Reader’s Choice. In 2019, Chef Charleen Badman was named Best Chef of the Southwest by the James Beard Awards.
Stop in to check out the rotating monthly lists that allow guests to travel the world of wine without a passport, and sample the specially curated small plates, known as FnBites. Plus, join the monthly Sunday Schools, in which guests get a crash course in the respective month’s themed wine list.
As chef and co-owner of the award-winning FnB restaurant in Scottsdale, Charleen Badman is one of Arizona’s most celebrated chefs. A James Beard winner for Best Chef of the Southwest 2019, Charleen is known as the “veggie whisperer” for her ability to coax the very best flavor out of locally grown vegetables, which are featured prominently – although not exclusively – on the FnB menu. Her unfussy, yet boldly flavored menu changes seasonally, and sometimes even week-to-week with tweaks based on what’s currently available from local farmers.
Charleen and FnB have won numerous awards, including a “Best New Restaurant” designation by every major Phoenix news media outlet in 2010. That same year, Food & Wine magazine selected Badman’s braised leeks topped with mozzarella, mustard, breadcrumbs and a sunny-side up egg as a “Top Ten Dish.” In 2013, Charleen and co-owner Pavle Milic were inducted into the Arizona Culinary Hall Fame as “Best Restaurateurs.” Prior to opening FnB in late 2009, Charleen was the sous chef at Café Terra Cotta in Scottsdale, the chef de cuisine at the famed Lobster Club in New York City and the chef/co-owner of the Greenwich Village restaurant, Inside. Charleen is a past President of the Phoenix Chapter of Les Dames d’Escoffier, an international organization of women culinary leaders, an alumnus of the James Beard Boot Camp for Policy and Change and the founder of the nonprofit organization Blue Watermelon Project, comprised of a group of chefs, restaurateurs, and community food advocates that work with students, parents, educators, and the community to assist schools in rethinking relationships with food.
Born with gracious hospitality genes – a gift from his Colombian mother and Yugoslavian father – Pavle Milic entered the restaurant business at the age of 16 and has never looked back. His front-of-the-house career includes time spent at the storied Franco’s Trattoria in Phoenix, Anne Rosenzwig’s fine-dining Arcadia restaurant in New York City and to Restaurant Budo in Napa Valley. During his stint in the California wine country, Pavle embraced the interconnected relationships between food and wine, and farmers and winemakers. Upon returning to Arizona in 2007 to help open a new restaurant, Pavle was soon approached to oversee the service staff of Prado at the Montelucia in Paradise Valley.
A serendipitous evening shift spent helping an old friend at another local restaurant put Pavle back in touch with another longtime friend, Charleen Badman. The two exchanged phone numbers and were soon plotting the opening of their own restaurant, FnB. From the beginning, just as Charleen cultivated relationships with the best local farmers, Pavle sought out top Arizona winemakers with his efforts culminating in an all-Arizona wine list. In 2014, Pavle released his own wine label, Los Milics, in collaboration with noted Arizona winemakers Kelly and Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas Wineworks, of southern Arizona. In 2017, Pavle's wine program at FnB was awarded a James Beard Nomination for Outstanding Beverage Program." Pavle and Charleen were inducted into the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame as “Best Restaurateurs” in 2013.
Voted best place for "stories about wine and food in Phoenix" by the Phoenix New Times in 2014, Stay True Radio is a local recording studio located immediately above FnB that produces the popular Stay True Radio podcast. The show features a regular line-up of interesting guests and subjects, where host and co-founder Pavle Milic discusses all things Arizona food and beverage with top local winemakers, influential tastemakers, artists, and much more. Want to explore more? Join the conversation: StayTrueRadio.org