Pavle Milic

Born with gracious hospitality genes – a gift from his Colombian mother and Yugoslavian father – Pavle Milic entered the restaurant business at the age of 16 and has never looked back. His front-of-the-house career includes time spent at the storied Franco’s Trattoria in Phoenix, Anne Rosenzwig’s fine-dining Arcadia restaurant in New York City, and to Restaurant Budo in Napa Valley. During his stint in the California wine country, Milic embraced the interconnected relationships between food and wine, and farmers and winemakers. Upon returning to Arizona in 2007 to help open a new restaurant, Milic was soon approached to oversee the service staff of Prado at the Montelucia in Paradise Valley.

A serendipitous evening shift spent helping an old friend at another local restaurant put Milic back in touch with another longtime friend, Charleen Badman. The two exchanged phone numbers and were soon plotting the opening of their own restaurant, FnB. From the beginning, just as Badman cultivated relationships with the best local farmers, Milic sought out top Arizona winemakers with his efforts culminating in an all-Arizona wine list. In 2014, Milic released his own wine label, Los Milics, in collaboration with noted Arizona winemakers Kelly and Todd Bostock of Dos Cabezas Wineworks in Sonoita. In 2017, Milic’s wine program at FnB was awarded a James Beard Nomination for Outstanding Beverage Program.” Milic and Badman were inducted into the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame as “Best Restaurateurs” in 2013.