Retirement isn’t exactly Janos Wilder’s thing.
He tried it.
He gave it three years.
His conclusion: “I’m not good at retirement,” he said.
On Sept. 28, he’s putting his apron back on, firing up the stoves and getting back to what he loves most: Cooking.
But his new venture, Studio Janos, isn’t a restaurant.
“You can’t call up for a reservation for two,” he said.
But you can reserve a private dinner for two, where Wilder will “be cooking and plating right in front,” he said, creating “exceptional experiences for my guests.”
Studio Janos is a 600-square-foot nook on the first floor of the VFW Loft Apartments, 124 E. Broadway, where Wilder will delve back into every thing that the James Beard Award-winning chef loves about food.
He’ll champion the heritage foods and farm-to-table ethos that defined his namesake Janos restaurant during its nearly 30-year run and his finale, Downtown Kitchen + Cocktails, that he had for the last 10 years before retiring in 2020.
He’ll host cooking demonstrations and classes and community discussions about the glories of Tucson’s culinary landscape that earned the city the prestigious UNESCO City of Gastronomy designation in 2015.
Chef Janos Wilder has taught cooking classes for a number of years, all while running his own award-winning restaurants. Classes are a piece of what he’ll do in his new space, Studio Janos.
And he’ll offer consulting services to restaurants and chefs.
“This is an opportunity for me to continue to do what I love but really on a scale that is hopefully manageable,” Wilder said earlier this month during a phone call from his summer home in Colorado.
Wilder has been working on the idea for a year and when he pitched it to his former Downtown Kitchen landlord, he offered him the small space in the VFW Lofts building.
It was perfect, the 69-year-old Wilder said.
“It was the same thing when I saw the Stevens House for the first time back in 1982,” he said. “I knew immediately this is what I needed.”
Studio Janos has a professional kitchen and dining area along with areas where guests can sit. Wilder said he will use the space for private caterings, where he will cook multicourse meals for people celebrating anniversaries, birthdays or other special event landmarks, or just get-togethers with friends.
“In my mind, there will be a corporate piece to this where businesses that want to have a board of directors dinner or entertain special guests or host a special dinner that they want to be private,” he said. “And I’ve had a lot of inquiries just from word of mouth from people saying, ‘I’m going to get a bunch of friends together.’”
James Beard Award-winning chef Janos Wilder will cater intimate dinners and dinner parties at his new venture, Studio Janos. It opens Sept. 28.
The clients can request the menu, but given his druthers, Wilder will steer them to the heritage ingredients near and dear to his taste buds.
“I would rather focus on the high-end art of cuisine with somewhat humble ingredients,” he said, “but that, of course, doesn’t mean I won’t use caviar sometimes.”
Studio Janos also features a complete video studio, where Wilder will film cooking shows that he plans to stream on a YouTube channel.
To book an event beginning Sept. 28, visit studiojanos.com or call 520-991-9780.
Watch now: New downtown pizza restaurant Jaime's Pizza Kitchen was named after owner Gabriel Moreno's grandfather, Jaime, who owned the popular Fourth Ave. bar and grill through the 80s and 90s. Here's vintage photos from the now-closed bar. Video by Ellice Lueders / This Is Tucson. Photos courtesy of Jaime's Pizza Kitchen.
