PHOENIX — The Genuine near 16th and Bethany Home in Phoenix officially closed its doors on September 4.
The Genuine restaurant occupied a 1960s Ralph Haver-designed bank that was originally The VIG Uptown and later refreshed into The Genuine.
In a prior ABC15 interview, Executive Chef Jeremy Pacheco, Genuine Concept’s Culinary Director, said the space highlighted the building’s architecture, with the bank vault serving as the back bar, a wood-burning oven showcased inside, and daylight streaming through Haver’s original stained-glass design.
Co-founders Tucker Woodbury and Jim Riley announced the wood-fired kitchen’s closure as they relocate the corporate office and accelerate The VIG’s growth, with the building sold to a local hospitality company that will introduce a new concept to the neighborhood.
Woodbury and Riley released the following statement:
“Phoenix friends, we have some news…The Genuine will be closing its doors after today, for good. We didn’t make this decision lightly, after all The Genuine was housed in one of architect Ralph Haver’s coolest buildings, had a menu that you all loved, had a kitchen that innovated for the rest of our company, and even housed our corporate office which was tucked into the back. But the time has come for us to expand our corporate office and continue fueling the growth of The VIG and our other projects. We just opened the doors to our first East Valley location at Dana Park, are knee deep in developing an incredible new ground-up VIG at PV, along with a slew of other fun projects. The great news is that an innovative and excellent local hospitality company will be buying the building from us and bringing an all-new concept to the ‘hood, and we’ll be relocating all of our staff within other Genuine Concept locations.
We hope you can join us one last time today, September 4th, for $5 martinis all night long. Come say goodbye, or hello, or just get one of the best martinis in town for 5 bucks.
We’d love to see you.
Much Love,
Tucker & Jim
The video in the player below showcases ABC15’s coverage of the restaurant when it opened in 2022.
