AZ88 turns 20

AZ88 (Credit: John Severson/azcentral.com )

People always wonder about the name.

And they're always shocked at the explanation.

AZ88 is named for the state in which it lives, and for the year in which it opened.

Their faces always imply the same thing: "It doesn't look that old. And it doesn't feel like Arizona."

The restaurant is a modernist display case of style, enclosed by windows on two sides, bright white walls and floors reflecting a warm light, showing off everyone inside from all angles.

It could have been built last week, or 15 years from now. It could be in Los Angeles as easily as Miami.

But for 20 years, this Scottsdale restaurant and bar has served as a nightlife staple in a city where the average fad-driven hotspot lasts just a few years.

AZ88 has remained a destination because it knows when to change, and when to stay the same.

Parts of the hip hangout have changed non-stop to keep it up-to-date while maintaining its New York-style coolness. Other parts - the modern interior and sophisticated clientele - have remained timeless.

The Crowd

AZ88's patio is lit by amber-glowing kayak-shaped lights, hanging at precarious tilts above the white tables and curving plastic chairs. This area, designed to get people to think about being different, according to general manager Dale Jodoin, overlooks Scottsdale Civic Center Mall. The 21-acre expanse is home to the Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, the Mondrian Scottsdale, Pure Sushi and other buildings between Indian School Road and 2nd Street.

Guests trickle in from the grassy mall, men in black turtlenecks to sip Cosmopolitans; stylishly dressed couples to debate and gesticulate about politics, women with vaguely Parisian style to catch up over salads and cappuccinos.

When AZ88 opened 20 years ago, a quarter of its stylishly dressed regulars were barely out of diapers. Now they're at the bar, waiting two hours for a table in a restaurant that doesn't take reservations. They're elbow to elbow with nattily dressed 70-somethings, theater-going families, pre-clubbing pretty people.

"AZ 88 clientele is beyond description," said Jodoin. "That's the beauty of it."

The Décor

Some things stay the same. The walls are always white. The floor is always glittering white tile. The frosted glass tables are always lit underneath by votives.

And the bathrooms, even the stalls, are always mirrored rooms of neon-lit self-reflection, whether flattering or not. Blue in the men's room; pink in the women's.

"We were trying to make it an artistic space," Jodoin said.

The rest of the décor constantly changes, courtesy of Scottsdale-based interior designer and artist Janis Leonard, of Janis Leonard Design Associates.

AZ88's owner, Karl Kopp, hired Leonard in 1991,and since then, she's designed the spaces and created seasonal art installations for Kopp's restaurant and his two others, Elsa's on the Park in Milwaukee and Bar 89 in Manhattan.

Tonight, the installation is a crafty one of colored strips of tape, plunging from the ceiling above the bar.

Pushing a stroller, a young woman marvels through the restaurant's windows, "It's beautiful," she says, stretching out the 'u.'

Displays have ranged from the political - black and white photos of smoke draped over the bar after Arizona banned smoking inside public places - to the whimsical - giant silver Xs and Os, planted with flowers that bloom for Valentine's Day.

Come winter, people make pilgrimages to see the Christmas tree installations. Last year's was comprised of crunched gas cans and toy Hummers.

This year's tree is scheduled to debut Thanksgiving weekend, according to Jodoin. It will involve "lots of glass" and be "very dangerous."

"We've had trees made entirely of 1970 women's shoes," Jodoin said. "One had architectural wooden blocks, and one was cut out of glass."

The Scene

The menu - encased by glossy steel-edged red or black albums - is always the same. As Jodoin says, it's "bar food prepared well."

The most expensive treat - the tuna nicoise - is a $16 dish with seared Ahi tuna, red potatoes, black olives, green beans, pea pods and hard-boiled egg.

But martinis reign here, particularly the espresso - a concoction of vodka, Kahlua, Bailey's Irish Cream and espresso - served in a hand-blown glass that teeters on the silver tray carried by a white-shirted, black-tied waitress or waiter.

On the restaurant floor, they call guests "Hon" while recommending the signature AZ88 chicken sandwich grilled in buffalo sauce and topped with sautéed celery and bleu cheese dressing, $10.25.

As guest Courtney Aston, 27, put it, "I can't eat a buffalo chicken sandwich anywhere else." She was reclining on a patio sofa with a friend one night, saying of AZ88: "It has a good vibe."

The music is a mélange of classical for the lunch crowd and DJ-spun house and techno at night.

At AZ88 for eight years, DJ Mr. P-Body is the music manager. He has an impossible time describing the restaurant's signature sound, although it's often what people talk about when they mention what they love about the place.

One of the Valley's most booked DJs, P-Body oversees the other DJs who spin at AZ88 and the music played there. Years ago, it was something he calls "lounge international." But he dropped those funky deep-house beats when he started hearing them other places.

He now plays vintage soul, funk, new wave, dance, an eclectic mix designed to be progressive and interesting without being obtrusive.

P-Body likes to play songs that people "haven't heard in a long time."

"It reminds you of songs you've forgotten," P-Body said. "It reminds you of the good times in life."

He spins from a claustrophobic upstairs room that overlooks the entirety of the restaurant.

"I've always liked that little room," P-Body said. "It's a fabulous room. You can see everyone."

Kind of like the restaurant it's in.