Confessions of a Serial Restaurateur

By Angie Johnson-Schmit

Prescott, Arizona restaurateur Barry Barbe has been delighting diners for almost two decades. Perhaps best known for his Spanish tapas inspired restaurant El Gato Azul, or simply “Gato” to locals, Barbe is not one to rest on his successes. Happiest with a full plate of restaurant related pursuits, Barbe is also the man behind Triple Creek Kitchen and Spirits, the restaurant at the new Hilton Gardens Inn in downtown Prescott. When he’s not at either of his restaurants, Barbe is busy growing his catering business, serving as a restaurant consultant, and working on opening his latest project, Tormé.

Barbe has a long history in the local restaurant scene. The culinary school graduate moved to the Phoenix area from Hilton Head, South Carolina in 1997. He and his family were not fans of the Phoenix heat and moved north to Prescott in the spring of 1998, where Barbe took a job at the now defunct Zuma’s. He opened five restaurants in 18 months, including Belvedere’s, N’awlins, Acme, El Gato Azul, and Monk’s. El Gato Azul proved to hit the sweet spot.

El Gato Azul is still going strong and Barbe has handed off most of the day-to-day operations. “It runs itself,” said Barbe. “After 18 years, if it doesn’t run itself, it’s time to sell.” Jeannine Woods and Simon, Barbe’s youngest son, have taken over the managerial roles at Gato. “He (Simon) grew up in the industry,” said Barbe. “He’s really grown into it.”

Barbe relies on his long-time crew, including chef Gaby Santana, to maintain El Gato Azul’s high standards. Santana started off as a dishwasher, but quickly moved up in the kitchen to head chef. “Gaby started with us about nine or so years ago and she just gets my tastes, my presentations, my flavor palate,” he said.

With El Gato Azul in good hands, Barbe was thrilled to take on the Triple Creek Kitchen and Spirits project. “I was in the process of shifting gears from day-to-day operations into more consulting,” he said. “I signed on last January with them to develop the Triple Creek concept.” While owned by Hilton, the Triple Creek restaurant is not like a traditional Hilton restaurant. “We want to do something that’s more integrated with the community and a little more unique for the property itself,” said Barbe.

Opening a new restaurant in 2020 came with its own challenges, but there were also some unexpected gifts.

They couldn’t do a lot of things normally involved in a restaurant launch, like a traditional grand opening event. The slow, protracted opening process “almost worked out to our benefit,” said Barbe. “We’re actually almost six months ahead of projection on forecast revenue.”

Pictured: Jennifer Garber, Gaby Santana, Barry Barbe, Stephanie Spence, Simon Barbe

The long soft-open “gave us time to really work out those kinks early on,” he said. Barbe will stay on as acting food and beverage director through the end of the year and will continue indefinitely as a consultant for Triple Creek.

However, after taking a closer look at the property, he fell in love with the possibilities. Barbe plans a total renovation, including installing an espresso bar, kitchen garden, custom landscaping, brickwork and fencing.

“It’s really similar to El Gato in that it’s a small kitchen indoor space with a large patio,” said Barbe. The main patio seats about 75 and will serve as the main dining area. “There’s actually a patio beyond the patio, and it seats about 40,” he said. The second patio will be used for private events like baby showers, wedding receptions, and birthday parties.

The new restaurant, dubbed Tormé after Barbe’s favorite jazz singer, will be reminiscent of a traditional Italian café with a gastropub twist. The menu will feature homemade pastas, light salads, and ciabatta sandwiches. Barbe has plans to put the two smaller buildings behind the main restaurant to use. “One is going to be a small tasting room,” said Barbe. “The other one is where we’re going to put a pizza oven.”

Barbe had planned to create two more projects that are different than any restaurant concept he’s done before. Tormé is one of these, and Barbe has another, as yet undisclosed project he hopes to open next year, provided he finds the right space. “What I liked about this (Tormé) is…it is something that has a manageable overhead,” he said.

“It’ll still be full service, because I’m a strong believer in that, but a limited menu that changes on a regular basis, and really just using good, high-quality product.”

In addition to Triple Creek Kitchen and Spirits and the soon to launch Tormé, Barbe has his fingers in a few other pies. While Barbe has always done catering, it was not something he advertised or focused on until recently. He has teamed up with Jennifer Garber, Bridal Expert and founder of the Bridal Expo at the Prescott Resort, and is catering events through his Greenway Catering business. “She (Garber) is the driving force behind Greenway now,” said Barbe. Greenway caters everything from small events in private homes to events at Sam Hill Warehouse with over 300 guests.

To add another entrée to his already full plate, Barbe has also been working for the past three to five years as a restaurant consultant. He described his consulting company, CGS Hospitality, as “a management company for people that are either existing restaurant owners or people who want to open a restaurant.” His goal is to work with people who want help taking their restaurant concept idea and making it into a reality, from menu and décor to the financials.

You'd be hard stretched to find another community where a group of like-minded businessmen and operators generally care about and communicate with each other in a non-competitive way.

- Barry Barbe

It’s no secret Barbe values the community he lives and works in, but he also sees it as a responsibility. “For years, I’ve looked at it almost as a type of tithing,” he said. You would be hard pressed to find a nonprofit in the area that he hasn’t supported in one way or another, but he sees it as beneficial to himself, as well as to the community. “I think it’s not just an obligation, it makes your job more than a job. It’s more than a paycheck,” he said.

He is especially proud of his staff and their participation in the Gato Community Gifts program and the Gato Grants program. Employees can choose to have a certain amount of money withheld from their regular paychecks, which Barbe matches dollar for dollar. Those participating will gather on a regular basis to nominate a nonprofit to receive the funds. The entire group discusses and then votes and ranks their choices. Those who are given the grants are then invited for breakfast and given the opportunity to talk about how that money will be used.

There is another smaller and more specific community that Barbe is deeply involved in, and that is the fellowship with other local chefs, restaurateurs, and restaurant workers. “You’d be hard stretched to find another community where a group of like-minded businessmen and operators generally care about and communicate with each other in a non-competitive way,” he said. “It’s just a very unique business climate to be in that you don’t feel like you’re a hundred percent on your own.”

Barbe seems to enjoy that camaraderie. “I always consider us more colleagues than competitors,” he said. He has numerous examples of the restaurant community helping each other out or collaborating on community events. “To me, when people talk about community and Prescott, that’s what it’s all about,” said Barbe. “I know if you’re successful, I’m going to be successful,” he said.

The restaurant business has changed quite a bit since Barbe first landed in Prescott. One of the best things is that as the entire area has grown, so has the number of high quality restaurants. Prescott Valley, Chino Valley and Dewey-Humboldt all boast a variety of food options that simply didn’t exist as little as 10 years ago.

With that growth comes new opportunities for circles of support that extend across town limits. Barbe, for one, is happy to see it. “I think if we can kind of extend that…into what the people are doing in Essence and things that are going on in Prescott Valley, I think it’s just going to make the whole industry stronger,” he said.

Barry Barbe’s Chorizo Empanadas

Serves: 6

Method: Baking

Minutes: approx. 45

Difficulty: 4/10

Dough Ingredients

3 cups flour , 1/2 tsp. salt, 2 tbsp. finely diced fresh rosemary, 8 oz. butter, 1 egg, 1/4 to 1/2 cup water (as needed)

Instructions for Dough

• Combine liquids.

• Pulse flour, herbs, salt, and butter until pearl sized.

• Slowly add liquid until dough consistency is reached.

• Roll out in disk and cool for 10 - 15 minutes.

Chorizo Ingredients

1 pound ground pork, 1/2 cup tequila, 2 tbsp. red wine vinegar, 3 tbsp. house seasoning OR 1 tsp. chili powder, 2 tsp. cayenne pepper, 2 tbsp. paprika (not smoked), 2 tbsp. ground garlic, Salt & pepper to taste, Cilantro to taste

Filling Ingredients

Chorizo, 2 cups mashed Yukon Gold potatoes, cooked 2 cup shredded cheddar cheese, Fresh cilantro,

Instructions for Chorizo

• Combine all, sauté until cooked through and drain excess oil.

Remaning Steps:

• Roll dough and cut in 3” circles, brushing edges with egg wash.

• Fill with 3 tsp. filling.

• Fold over and seal edges.

• Bake at 350° for 12 - 15 minutes until lightly brown on outside.