The restaurant boom is real. And probably not sustainable. But still good.

I’ve lived in the Valley since 1994, so I’ve seen it grow quite a bit. I remember really feeling like the city was hitting its stride in the late 1990s. Long-planned freeways were getting done, we had new sports teams, great new development projects were popping up. Things were getting … better. Our quality of life was improving and Phoenix was getting closer to that elusive “real city” status.

The economic downturn had an interesting effect on all that. Gone was the era of multiple cranes in the downtown skyline. In came a renaissance of local business and with it the most noteworthy change: ­­a shift in our culinary scene.

As has been detailed ad nauseum, the past few years have seen an explosion in (mostly) locally owned restaurants throughout the Valley. A few pockets have really killed it — downtown Gilbert, North Central Phoenix (I live there so I’m allowed to capitalize it) and Old Town Scottsdale.

But now the boomerang is coming back, and we’re starting to see some of the new local establishments struggle a bit — and longstanding restaurants battle fierce competition. So I asked the guy who’s arguably the dean of the local restaurant scene for his thoughts.

Here’s what Chris Bianco, the James Beard-award winning chef who one magazine once credited with “perfecting bread,” had to say about where we are as a food town and why this isn’t just a phase.

It’s not just about restaurants.

Bianco is famous for being a local pioneer in incorporating a “farm to table” approach to cooking, getting the freshest local ingredients sourced from Arizona farms. These sources, Bianco said, are more plentiful than ever before, and he enjoys rattling off his favorites in front of customers.

But in order for the boom to really be sustainable, Bianco said, we have to have more than just new restaurants. We have to embrace what it means to have a true urban core.

“The boom has many positive aspects,” he said. “But the city planners should be aligned on sufficient parking, transportation, and housing not only for the future customer base but affordable housing options to form a supportive workforce and a diversity of services for residents.”

The eagle has already landed 

There’s bound to be some attrition in the face of intense competition and some potential overbuilding of new restaurants.

“Unfortunately, most booms provide an out-of-balance shift to the hospitality side with many restaurant spaces to fill sometimes leading to a less-than-stellar operation filling a space trying to ride a wave of a perceived boom,” Bianco said.

But even if that’s the case over the next few years — or another turn in the economy changes the landscape — Phoenix isn’t going back to being a chain-driven culinary environment. There are too many great places open now, with more to come, and local diners now have an expectation of excellence.

Once a food town, always a food town

Success breeds success, and as Phoenix’s reputation as a culinary destination improves, it will help attract great chefs to our community. Acclaimed chef Scott Conant of Mora Italian is a great example — he could have located anywhere in the country, but picked Phoenix. The resorts help too, by providing more opportunities for signature, upscale dining experiences that need to be a little bit different to survive and thrive.

“As with most things, it can be great if as a community we are thorough, diligent and examine what a particular neighborhood or project needs instead of relying only on what we want to give it,” Bianco said

So yeah, the stats show that most new restaurants don’t make it past the first few years. And tough competition means that even some excellent restaurants won’t survive. But the impact of this current boom will last for decades to come, and has already had the effect of providing Valley residents with better dining options than they’ve ever had before.

And dining is like the arts (which I wrote about last month), or great parks and public spaces, or good schools, or anything else that enriches our communities — it makes our quality of life even better. So raise a fork and raise a glass, and support your local chefs.