TEMPE, AZ — As the sun sets over Mill Avenue, something wild stirs inside Filthy Animal.
Flames rise from the restaurant’s open kitchen as chefs prepare Asian-Mexican fusion dishes in full view of customers. The dining room, designed as an escape into the jungle, fills with music and energy during the dinner rush.
“Filthy, man. We’re just filthy,” Executive Chef Rene Vargas said when asked to describe the eatery in one word.
Filthy Animal opened in March 2025, transforming a former P.F. Chang’s into an immersive dining experience. Teddy Myers, founder of Pretty Decent Concepts, which has opened several concept restaurants across the Valley, said Filthy Animal was created in part to bring renewed interest to Mill Avenue.
“There wasn’t a lot of dining choices, and we knew that we were going to be the concept to possibly kick-start renewed interest in Mill Avenue,” Myers said.
Myers also pointed to Pretty Decent Concepts’ new eatery, Roman God of Fire, on the north end of Tempe’s downtown district as another example of his commitment to delivering hospitality experiences in the city.
The efforts haven't come without doubters telling him the concept wouldn't succeed in downtown Tempe, but Myers saw what others did not: Class A office space, a major university and thousands of hotel rooms within a mile.
“All of the metrics are there to be successful on the business side,” Myers said. “But I also see a community that is starved and really wanting to support a restaurant, and a restaurant group, that they can call their own.”
The Valley native and Arizona State University journalism graduate said his experience as a musician during early adulthood helped him deal with skepticism.
“You grow a thick skin when people tell you something’s not going to work or they don’t like your art,” Myers said. “You just learn to shut out the noise and appeal to the people that really love what you’re doing.”
Myers acknowledged that Arizona may not be the first place people associate with fine dining, but he believes the Valley’s restaurants can help elevate one another.
“A rising tide lifts all ships,” Myers said. “I think that we will all inspire each other to do bigger, better things and continue to push.”
An open kitchen fueled by fire
Vargas runs Filthy Animal’s kitchen, where dishes are prepared over an open, wood-fired girl. He described the cooking style as “primal.”
But the fire does more than cook the food. It drives the rhythm and atmosphere of the restaurant.
“The kitchen becomes alive,” Vargas said. “All the cooks, they work around the energy of the fire. It’s really energetic.”
That energy has helped Filthy Animal win over customers well beyond Mill Avenue. Yelp recently named the Tempe eatery its best new restaurant of the year, placing it ahead of a Michelin-starred restaurant and a steakhouse backed by NFL stars Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce.
Myers took the recognition with humility.
“We were humbled and honored, but we don’t look at hospitality as a competition,” Myers said. “It was a proud moment for the team to be acknowledged for all of the countless hours they spent to bring this concept to life.”
Vargas said the restaurant operates as one unified group rather than separating its kitchen and dining room staffs.
“There’s no back of the house. There’s no front of the house,” Vargas said. “There’s one collective team that comes here day in and day out and just tries. We all perform as much as we can, as best as we can.”
Fiction brought to life
The restaurant’s theme revolves around a fictional traveler whose adventures connect Japan and Mexico.
“There is this globe-trotting playboy who lives in 1970s Tokyo, who took an expedition through the Yucatán Peninsula and fell in love with the beauty and brutality of the jungle,” Myers said. “That’s the story we’re telling here.”
That fictional character’s world extends beyond the dining room. Filthy Animal is also connected to Drop Dead Gorgeous, a disco-inspired cocktail lounge that serves as the character’s nighttime retreat.
“That globe-trotting playboy needs a place to party, so Drop Dead Gorgeous is our answer to that,” Myers said with a laugh.
For Myers, both concepts are part of a larger effort to give employees a place to display their creativity.
“We’re trying to create a canvas so that the people on our team can showcase their talents,” Myers said. “So far, we’ve been blessed that we have enough people who like what we do that we can keep doing it.”
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.
