Best Destination Dining 2008 | Binkley's Restaurant | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best Destination Dining

Binkley's Restaurant

You think it's a hike up to Cave Creek for dinner? Consider that foodies from around the country fly into town just to try chef-owner Kevin Binkley's inventive, French-influenced American cuisine, and then see how you feel about going the extra mile for a top-notch gourmet experience.

Of course, it'll all make sense once you're comfortably seated in the cozy, low-key dining room, sipping on a fantastic wine, enjoying attentive, doting service, and nibbling on a series of surprising amuses bouches between courses. Everything's beautifully presented and crafted from the best ingredients available, from the simplest salad to the most sophisticated seafood dish. Needless to say, it's worth the drive — and it sure beats trekking to New York or San Francisco to eat at other restaurants of this caliber.

Best Local Eatery We're Glad is a Chain

Thai Basil

What is it in the desert soil that's making Thai Basil flourish? We're not sure, but we suspect it has something to do with locals' taste for fiery food. (Surely you didn't think we limit ourselves to spicy Mexican cuisine, did you?) In just three years, Thai Basil has grown from one modest eatery (a dressed-up former sub shop near ASU) into a burgeoning chain with additional locations in Ahwatukee, Chandler, and central Phoenix. And if you count Thai Elephant, a popular downtown eatery run by the same folks, that makes five restaurants. Obviously, they're doing something right, from friendly service and a clean, cheerful atmosphere to craveable food that haunts you until you give in to another splurge (belly-wise, not budget-wise). We're hooked on the creamy, complex curries, the toothsome pad Thai, and the namesake Thai Basil, with fresh basil, plenty of vegetables, and a choice of meat in a fragrant garlic sauce. Strong, sweet Thai iced tea and sticky rice with ripe mango are essential, too, considering how well they soothe our taste buds after a "Thai hot" meal.

Best Local Eatery We Wish Were a Chain

Matt's Big Breakfast

Matt's Big Breakfast

Matt and Erenia Pool, we love you guys. And, boy, we'd love to clone you — or at least your fantastic little, er, big breakfast joint. The buzz on Matt's Big Breakfast has been strong ever since it opened a few years ago, and indeed, there's always been a bit of a wait for a table. The growing popularity of the downtown farmers market, just a block away, has given more exposure to Matt's homey dishes, from perfect, fluffy pancakes to fresh-squeezed local orange juice to savory egg scrambles. And after a visit from the Food Network, which featured Matt's Big Breakfast on an episode of Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives earlier this year, the restaurant's hungry customer base blew up into a daily mob. We know Matt's has become a success precisely because it isn't a chain — it's a friendly, family-run spot where food made from scratch, with top-notch ingredients, is always the priority. So perhaps we'll never see a Matt's empire across the Valley — but it's nice to dream, isn't it?

Best Place to Take a Foodie

Noca

Evie Carpenter

What happens when a food-obsessed restaurant fanatic teams up with an equally passionate young chef with an impressive résumé? You end up with Noca, one of the most highly anticipated restaurants of 2008. Without a doubt, Eliot Wexler is the city's most tireless gourmet, who not only became a regular at the best dining spots in town but worked a yearlong stint, unpaid, for acclaimed local chef Kevin Binkley — all to quench his thirst for culinary expertise. Wexler's plan to open a restaurant picked up speed when he recruited talented chef Chris Curtiss, who'd worked at some of San Francisco's top-rated restaurants with French Laundry alum Ron Siegel before coming to Phoenix and turning heads at downtown's now-defunct Circa 1900.

Together, Wexler and Curtiss have assembled a staff of seasoned professionals to give their fledgling operation the kind of polish that most newbie restaurateurs would kill for, and they've sourced the best ingredients available, from Bob McClendon's organic produce to fresh seafood from the same supplier that Sea Saw's Nobuo Fukuda uses.

That said, Noca's atmosphere is refreshingly unpretentious, and the ingredient-driven cuisine is far from fussy. In fact, it's playful at times, from the "caviar" of organic eggplant, served out of a caviar tin with warm blinis, to the "milk and cookies" dessert, featuring fresh chocolate chip cookies and a frothy malted vanilla shake. Ultra-fresh crudo dishes and luscious handmade pastas are not to be missed, while the juicy pork chop, paired with crispy, melt-in-your-mouth pork belly, will make you smile from the first bite to the last. Even the Simple Supper, a wallet-friendly three-course tasting menu, is craveworthy. But really, it's no wonder Noca appeals to foodies — it's run by the biggest one of them all.

Best Place to Take a Slow Foodie

Rancho Pinot Grill

These days, it's not too hard to come by restaurants that feature some kind of local, seasonal produce, but Slow Food isn't just about an approach to cooking — it's a full-on worldview. So if you're looking for a place to show your favorite Slow Food fanatic a good time, head to Rancho Pinot Grill, where you'll be in like-minded company. After all, chef Chrysa Robertson helped launch the local convivium (in Slow Food-speak, that's the Phoenix chapter of the international organization) and has led the way in celebrating organic ingredients from local sources. Rancho Pinot's menu is both homey and effortlessly sophisticated, with favorites such as ricotta gnocchi with rustic meat sauce, heritage Berkshire pork short ribs braised with hominy, cotija cheese, and radish-cabbage slaw, and grilled lamb chops on flageolet beans with roasted garlic and preserved lemon. Dishes like that are easy to love, no matter what your philosophy.

Best Place to Take a Wine Geek

Fine's Cellar

We'd call this the best wine bar in town, except that Fine's Cellar is so much more than that — it's a casual breakfast and lunch spot, a laid-back espresso and gelato bar, a wine boutique, and a hip bistro all rolled into one. You don't need a single sip of syrah to appreciate chef Cullen Campbell's cooking, but it sure does taste good with a nice glass of vino. Housemade duck confit bratwurst with truffled sauerkraut; outstanding sweet potato fries with three kinds of dipping sauce; braised beef short ribs with polenta fries, bacon vinaigrette, and Nebbiolo reduction; and roasted butternut squash gnocchi are just a few of the options that friendly, knowledgeable servers can pair with interesting wines available by the bottle, glass, or taste. And whether you're a curious dabbler or a hardcore wine connoisseur, proprietor Mike Fine — former owner of the celebrated Sportsman's Fine Wines & Spirits — is always happy to chat about his favorite labels and latest finds.

Best Place to Take a New Yorker

Kai

Jackie Mercandetti Photo

Sometimes you just have to turn the tables. Got a New Yorker pal who's hard to impress? Yeah, we feel ya. It's not always easy coming up with something that outshines the allure of the Big Apple, but after years of racking our brains, we've come up with a bunch of ways to show off the joys of living in Arizona. Dinner at Kai is one of the highlights. We guarantee that in the City That Never Sleeps, there's no fine-dining spot with the kind of cuisine they serve at this high-end eatery, whose distinctive menu revolves around indigenous Arizonan ingredients done up with traditional techniques — a sort of haute Native American, if you will. Think grilled tenderloin of buffalo with smoked corn purée, barbecue scarlet runner beans, saguaro blossom syrup, cholla buds, and mushrooms.

There are enough intriguing, unusual things on the menu to spark the curiosity of even the most jaded gourmet, although even traditionalists will find something to love (like the juicy bone-in New York strip). The bonus at Kai is the view, if you can swing a table near the windows. It's the opposite of a cityscape, but just as breathtaking.

Best Place to Take an Adventurous Eater

Roka Akor

Nicole Hoffman

Don't be scared off by our brazen Best Of category name here; Roka Akor has plenty of options for folks who're just looking for accessible Japanese food, like edamame, California rolls, and skewers of grilled chicken. For us, that's all fine and good, but that's not really the true allure of Roka Akor. We're here for the more adventurous gourmet eats, like foie gras with umeshu plum and nama nori, or the rice hot pot with an unusual assortment of Japanese mushrooms. A sushi roll stuffed with Korean roast pork, shiso, and chile cabbage is yet another reason to skip the California roll. And for pure drama, we're fans of ebi no kushiyaki, a whole grilled wild Madagascar prawn that looks like a shrimp on steroids. Seasoned with spicy yuzu kosho chile paste, and plated with its giant head perched alongside a skewer of meat chunks, it's a dish that'll make you either drool or dive under the table.

Best Seafood Restaurant

Eddie V's

For being the best seafood spot in town, it's a little bit surprising that Eddie V's doesn't really scream "ocean." Yeah, there's a giant fish sculpture over near the kitchen, but besides that, the place is pretty quiet about its top-rung status. Instead, this classy restaurant lets the seafood speak for itself: sweet, briny oysters on the half-shell, crab cakes full of tender lump crab meat, and expertly prepared fish dishes, like melt-in-your-mouth sautéed lemon sole in a Parmesan crust. Prime steaks and generous side dishes like truffled macaroni and cheese are worth a look as well, although if you're really craving the catch of the day, you'll be plenty occupied with the seafood selections. The atmosphere is suitably refined, with waiters in white jackets and black ties gliding through the serene dining room, which glows from smooth, cream-colored ceiling lamps. And if all of that doesn't make you float away in sheer bliss, then be sure to order the molten chocolate cake, just to be safe.

Best Upscale Steakhouse

Bourbon Steak

Heather Hoch

Since it opened earlier this year, celebrity chef Michael Mina's Scottsdale outpost has certainly raised the bar on luxury dining in the Valley. Located at the posh Fairmont Scottsdale resort, Bourbon Steak takes premium ingredients and serves them up in the most decadent way possible, whether it's crisp French fries sizzled in duck fat, Colorado rack of lamb poached in olive oil, or prime steak poached in butter before it hits the wood-fired grill. Rich, melt-on-your-tongue A5 Kobe beef — the real deal, imported from Japan — will run you nearly two hundred bucks, but it'll also blow your mind. Truffles, bacon, and foie gras round out the savory options, while molten chocolate cake and mascarpone cheesecake are a couple of sumptuous desserts that you shouldn't resist. If all that leaves you too stuffed to move, don't worry — the surroundings are so glamorous that you won't want to leave, anyway.

Best Of Phoenix®

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