BY MADISON RUTHERFORD
Lisa Dahl did not arrive in Sedona in 1995 with the intent of starting a slow food fine-dining movement or building a restaurant dynasty.
She was originally drawn to the famed Northern Arizona spiritual enclave in the wake of tragedy, seeking healing after the death of her only son. In March 1994, while living in the San Francisco Bay Area, 23-year-old Justin was fatally stabbed after attempting to render aid to a robbery victim. “He tried to help someone and, in that act, lost his life,” Dahl says. “It called for me to try to be receptive to a higher calling, which is just what I’m here to do… somehow touch lives.”
Dahl turned to cooking as a tool to heal, a calling that quickly led to the opening of her flagship restaurant, Dahl & Di Luca Ristorante Italiano, in November 1995. She now oversees six restaurants – including Mariposa Latin Inspired Grill, Cucina Rustica, Butterfly Burger, and Pisa Lisa – in Sedona and surrounding areas. Though she’s been honored with Top Chef and Food Pioneer Foodist Awards from the Arizona Restaurant Association and dubbed the “Culinary Queen of Sedona,” Dahl doesn’t see herself as royalty, calling the moniker a misnomer that implies more glamour than her reality. “I don’t call it an empire… I didn’t call myself the pioneer,” she says. “Every day, there is something that has to get fixed, improved, handled.”
Dahl is more focused on growth – spiritually, personally, and creatively – than financial gain. “I still think about raising the bar in every way,” she says. “We’re always looking for new ways to be all that we can be and stay known for who we are, which is restaurants that leave you with more than just a place to eat and fill your belly… We’re places that you store memories.”
The self-taught chef-restaurateur carries a quiet confidence and humility. She views food as a vehicle for restoration, connection, and care and believes the industry is shaped as much by the people in her kitchens and dining rooms as the ingredients and preparation on the plate. “If people love it and feel it, then that’s so much of your joy. It’s so much of a two-way reciprocation,” she says. “I live for it… I am addicted to interactions with people… It’s the people that will keep you always wanting more.”
When she first arrived in Sedona, she struggled to establish relationships with reliable produce vendors. “In those early days, basil was an exotic ingredient,” she says. Early on, she partnered with Phoenix-based produce distributor McClendon’s Select, which still delivers twice weekly to her restaurants.
Her son’s spirit remains ever-present. “I miss him every day. He surrounds me,” Dahl says. “I have pictures of every kind you can imagine of Justin everywhere.” Her journey of transmuting profound loss into hope and healing is chronicled in Lisa Dahl: Blessed by Grace, a 26-minute documentary directed by James Beard Award-winning culinary photographer and creative director Eric Wolfinger, which debuted at the Sedona International Film Festival in 2025.
In 2024, she established The Lisa Dahl Foundation as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit focused on addressing food insecurity, supporting Indigenous populations, and expanding community gardening programs. “One of the most wonderful things that comes along with being a restaurateur is the ability to give in so many diverse ways,” she says. “How you heal yourself is giving to others.”
The next phase of her charitable arm is Project Soup Hope, which centers on her proprietary vegan and gluten-free soup – made with organic quinoa, legumes, lentils, and other nutrient-dense vegetables. Despite its plant-based composition, the soup is designed to be deeply hearty and layered with flavor, developed through a slow cooking process that gives it a richness often associated with meat-based soups. Dahl describes it as more than just a dish, positioning it as a restorative, purpose-driven offering that will eventually be packaged for retail and broader distribution. Proceeds from any soup served across her six restaurants also go directly to The Lisa Dahl Foundation.
Future plans also include developing a community garden and kitchen named after Justin, designed to “restore hope” in food deserts. The program will offer hands-on opportunities to learn how to cook and, ultimately, pathways into professional kitchens, using ingredients grown directly from the garden.
“I found solace in knowing that if I dug my purpose into my local community at large, that I could somehow take a bite out of food insecurity on a global level right in our backyard,” she says. “There’s so much hunger. I could start falling into despair over Gaza, Iran… but when I realized that an hour in any direction, there are people who don’t even have electricity or running water… I knew that’s what my foundation was going to do… It starts at home. It starts in the kitchen.”
Visit www.lisadahlfoundation.org for more information or to get involved.
