From the award-winning team behind The Collins Small Batch Kitchen, Grassroots Kitchen & Tap, The Macintosh, and The Neighborly, Common Ground Culinary announced its newest concept, Cowboy Seafood, coming to Park Central in Midtown Phoenix in 2026.
A first-of-its-kind restaurant pairing BBQ Belt-inspired, competition-level barbecue with an elevated seafood and raw bar program, Cowboy Seafood represents the next major evolution in founder Christopher Collins’s culinary journey, and the boldest expression yet of his signature hospitality philosophy.
“Cowboy Seafood is the culmination of everything I’ve learned in my career,” Collins says. “It’s two programs that Common Ground already does exceptionally well, both seafood and barbecue, brought together and taken to their absolute peak. This is food I love to eat, cooked with intention and served in a space designed to feel alive.”
At Cowboy Seafood, guests will experience competition-worthy barbecue smoked over a custom dual-spit Santa Maria grill and a state-of-the-art J&R Manufacturing smoker, the same Texas-built equipment used by some of the nation’s top pitmasters. Collins and his culinary team traveled to Mesquite, Texas to collaborate with J&R’s fourth-generation team, ensuring Cowboy Seafood’s smoke program is both authentic and technically precise. True to his competitive drive, Collins plans to take the program on the road. “We’ll be entering competitions, attending festivals, and developing a mobile rig for catering and events,” he says.
The restaurant’s signature smoke flavor comes from a blend of oak, pecan, and dried corn husk, a technique Collins describes as giving a “sharp, bright smoke at the start that fades into a long, clean burn.”
Balancing the barbecue is the Saltwater Saint Raw Bar, an evolving in-house concept within Common Ground Culinary’s portfolio. This full raw bar will feature oysters, shrimp, pokes, and sushi rolls, alongside eight fresh cuts of fish, daily prepared grilled, pan-seared, broiled, or blackened.
Designed in collaboration with Ideation Design Group and developed with Plaza Company, Cowboy Seafood’s 5,000-square-foot space captures both the rugged charm of a Southern smokehouse and the freshness of a coastal eatery. The interior blends raw wood textures with blue-and-white tile, glass, and neon signage, creating a layered, lived-in warmth.
Among its distinctive design elements: an eight-foot taxidermied swordfish wearing a cowboy hat will be visible through the Central Avenue-facing window, an emblem of the restaurant’s playful duality. Inside, guests can gather at a 12-seat community table, a 22-seat island bar, or booth-lined dining areas that accommodate 80 guests indoors and another 80 on the patio.
“It’s an elevated dining experience with a twang,” Collins says. “You’ll hear music, you’ll see friends sharing a bottle of wine over ribs and sushi. It’s casual, lively, and soulful. We want people to come for the food and leave remembering how it felt to be here.”
Cowboy Seafood also reflects Collins’s lifelong connection to barbecue, and to his family’s history in the industry. His father, Wally Collins, owned the Texas Longhorn Bar & Grill in Reno, Nevada, and won Best in the West at a national barbecue competition in 1994 with his now-legendary “Maui Wowie” sauce, a tangy-sweet blend of chili, plum, and pineapple that may make an appearance on the new menu. “That was a core memory for me,” Collins recalls. “Watching my dad work the pit and seeing how food brought people together. That’s the energy I want Cowboy Seafood to have.”
Located at Park Central, Cowboy Seafood joins a thriving corridor that serves as the heartbeat of a revitalized Midtown. Surrounded by new residential developments, a dual-branded Hilton, and the growing Phoenix medical and university district, Park Central is buzzing with life from morning through late night. “This neighborhood has character,” Collins says. “It’s where I live, it’s where my kids go to school, and it’s where I want to create something that reflects everything we love about Phoenix.” The debut location at Park Central in Midtown Phoenix will serve as the foundation for future opportunities, with plans to expand the brand to additional markets across the valley.
