In 2018, he won 'Cocktail of the Year' from Restaurant Hospitality magazine, and the Annex has never looked back. Well, as things tend to do, the Annex began to take on its own identity, and when a young aspiring restauranteur named Nick Williams joined the team in 2013, he set out to turn the Annex into the best Cocktail Lounge in the state. He 'Annexed' the abandoned property immediately to the south of the Tinderbox Kitchen, and set out to build a Cocktail Lounge where 'he and his father would be comfortable to sit and enjoy a scotch while waiting for their table at the Tinderbox'. As usual, Kevin saw this challenge as an opportunity. His restaurant began to thrive almost immediately, to the point that we were turning people away on random Tuesday nights. What can we say though, Kevin is nothing if not tenacious.

The neighborhood had been known historically for its brothels, and more recently for its ever-present homeless population. In 2009, Founder Kevin Heinonen opened the Tinderbox Kitchen, a fine dining establishment in the Southside neighborhood of Downtown Flagstaff, and people told him he was crazy. The story of the Annex Cocktail Lounge is one of growth and adaptation. Hero gallery paused, press to play images slides Playing hero gallery, press to pause images slides Every Cocktail is a Story

Tinderbox flagstaff