This is Joel Miller, his wife, Lois, and his daughter Maizie Miller’s first restaurant adventure. These high-flying owners all previously had long-time careers in the airline industry. Joel is a retired pilot; Lois worked for Alaska Airlines and Maizie was in customer service for United Airlines for 16 years. During their years of traveling, all spent a great deal of time in restaurants and lounges. In fact, Maizie, for whom the restaurant is named, grew up in the Phoenix area, but worked in many lounges in Chicago and Maryland, and also lived in Europe for a time.

    Joel explained, “When Maizie stopped flying and was looking for something new to do, the location became available and we pursued it. It was the perfect size and had built-in customers due to its location. The site was a shell and it took us seven months to complete the construction from scratch.”

    This is truly a family owned and operated business. Maizie manages it, Lois is the hostess and handles the running and errands and Joel oversees the operations. Maizie’s sister, Ilene, sometimes pitches in as a server or floor manager. Since none of them were trained in this business, the family brought in individuals with restaurant and managerial skills and background to serve as their consultants for a year.

    “I’d love to see Phoenix get an urban downtown feel. We are trying to create the big city feeling in a neighborhood hangout,” Maizie noted.

    The menu was developed after many weeks of meetings between Maizie and one of the chefs, who came from a local country club. He has since been joined by a second soux chef.  

    “We have created our own concept of an American bistro. Our food and service are what brings customers in and back and we’ve been tremendously successful to date,”

 Joel said.

    The menu is extensive for a neighborhood bistro. Starters include a variety of tasty favorites from crab cakes and dipping shrimps, to bruschetta, to cheese, spinach and hummus dips, and mozzarella kabobs. There are homemade soups and a full selection of fresh salads with chicken, tuna, salmon and steak.

“Our most popular salads are the Renee which combines apples, pears, cheese, strawberries and walnuts with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, and the bistro steak salad served atop spinach leaves,” Maizie revealed.

She added, “Customers love our hot buffalo dip appetizer, which is made of cream cheese and blue cheese, shredded chicken and hot sauce and served with chips and pita bread.”

It’s a family affair at Maizie’s cafe, with (from left): Maizie, Joel, Ilene and Lois Miller (photo by Jan Jacobson).

Lunch and lighter night choices include the paninis, sandwiches and wraps. Guests can choose their selection and have it made their way. Each is accompanied by a side of fries with chipotle sauce, slaw, fruit kebab, cottage cheese or noodle kugel.  The groovy grilled cheese is a favorite as are the three signature Angus beef burgers, all with the stuffing inside for extra flavor.

There also is pizza and chicken and several tasty pastas like salmon, shrimp and basil. If you have room for desert, choose from the New York Cheesecake, Chocolate Indulgence and Strawberry Tall cake.

Saturday and Sunday mornings begin with a breakfast brunch, starting at 8 a.m. Pick from the funky toast (French toast) and building your own omelets, to breakfast burritos and pizza, or the traditional classic—bacon and eggs.

When the kitchen closes at 10 p.m., customers can pick from the “late night grub” choices like chips and salsa, hummus, cheese plates, bruschetta and desert options.

    Restaurant hours are Sundays 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., Monday-Thursday 11 a.m. to midnight, Friday from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 2 a.m.  Drop in weekdays between 4 and 6 p.m. to enjoy happy hour when well drinks and all draught and bottled beers are just $3, and you can take $2 off any glass of wine, and  pick from several select appetizers for just $5 each.

Maizie’s is located at 4750 N. Central Ave. (just south of Camelback). Reservations are encouraged for parties of five and up. For more information, visit www.maiziescafe.com or call 602-397-6079.