The annual awards celebrate the people and places making an impact on our Valley community, whether that be through arts, culture, music, goods and services or food. Whenever you're hungry, the food section is filled with restaurant recommendations to visit all over the Valley.
But a few special awards highlight the people behind the scenes, whether they're dreaming up the next menu or working in the kitchen to make sure a delicious meal hits your table, these Phoenix chefs deserve recognition of their own. Meet the 2024 Best of Phoenix chefs of note.
Chef Claudio Urciuoli shows off his skills at Source, his Mediterranean restaurant focused on organic ingredients and their producers.
Courtesy of Source
Best Chef - Claudio Urciuoli
Source3150 E. Ray Road #104, GilbertUrciuoli isn't just tremendously talented, he also has an ethos: "I don't believe in expensive food," says the former fine dining chef. Making excellent food affordable (or affordable food excellent) was a holy grail of the restaurant industry even before recent price hikes, but precious few can deliver bang for the buck like Urciuoli can. At Source, he builds on his previous work at Noble Eatery and Pa'La, offering fine foods at lower prices by sourcing the highest possible quality of inherently lower-cost ingredients, then carefully preparing and seasoning them with the sensibilities of a fine dining chef. Using heritage grains, pristine produce, tinned seafood and premium vinegars and oils, he weaves pizzas, sandwiches and salads with a finesse rarely seen at the $10 to $15 level. His food is the kind of fresh and satisfying fare that you feel like you could eat every day, and at Source's prices, you probably can. It's a style of cooking Urciuoli has championed for over a decade, and 2024 feels like his time.
“I feel like I never stop thinking about what’s next," Valentine pastry chef Crystal Kass says. She enjoys regularly updating the pastry and dessert offerings at Melrose restaurant Valentine.
Sara Crocker
Best Pastry Chef - Crystal Kass
Valentine4130 N. Seventh Ave.Valentine pastry chef Crystal Kass has been on a heater. On the heels of a James Beard Award nomination in 2023, Eater named her one of five "Pastry Chefs Defining Restaurants Right Now." Valentine regularly ends up on lists locally and nationally for its work, often citing baked goods and desserts coming from Kass and her team. And in 2024, the pastry chef racked up a second nomination from the James Beard Foundation, widely recognized as the top honor in food. It's for good reason. Kass' inventive, craveable pastries and sweet endings to a meal pay homage to Southwestern ingredients, just as the rest of the restaurant and bar do. That may mean a beautifully laminated white Sonoaran wheat pastry stuffed with the fixings for a Sonoran hot dog. Or, to kick off dinner, a pretzel that is baked then fried for a rich, crisp exterior that can be slathered with guinea hen butter and local honeycomb. No matter what you order at Valentine, don't skip dessert. Kass rotates those items regularly, often working spicy and savory elements into these uniquely Arizona treats.
Jones has been cooking in the Valley for years. But The Larder & The Delta is embarking on a new adventure.
Chris Malloy
Best Handoff - Kevin Binkley to Stephen Jones
The Larder & The Delta2320 E. Osborn RoadOne of the Valley's biggest pieces of food news came this spring when Kevin Binkley, a titan of the Phoenix fine dining world for 20 years, announced he would close his eponymous restaurant in August. In that very same announcement, Binkley shared that he'd already found a successor for the home-turned-restaurant on Osborn Road: Chef Stephen Jones. The two-time James Beard Award nominee behind the popular modern Southern restaurant The Larder & The Delta was without a space after failing to come to terms with his downtown landlord. Binkley, an 11-time James Beard Award nominee, said Jones was his first choice because "we love him, not just as a chef but as a person," he told New Times. Jones took over the space in August and launched his 10- to-12-course tasting menu in September. While it's bittersweet to see Binkley go, he's admirably passed the torch, and we cannot wait to see where Jones takes The Larder & The Delta for the eatery's next chapter.
Chef Angelo Sosa (left) and his team, including chef Penny Tagliarina, opened Kembara at the J.W. Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa.
Mary Berkstresser
Best One-Two Punch - Chef Angelo Sosa
Tia Carmen and Kembara5350 E. Marriott DriveWe were already frequent visitors to the JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Resort & Spa because of Tia Carmen, Chef Angelo Sosa's award-winning eatery serving exquisite Latin-inspired cuisine. That restaurant opened in 2022, then Sosa, not content to rest on his laurels, opened Kembara at the resort in late 2023. Now, we head to north Phoenix more frequently than ever. Kembara's menu inspired by Asian street food keeps us coming back for dishes like the Tuna Thai Jewel, a melange of tuna, jicama, kiwi and basil in a silky broth topped with edible flowers, and the chicken khao soi, a southeast Asian soup fragrant with curry and coconut. If we're not in the mood for any of that, Tia Carmen's tomato salad with corn, basil, pickled onions and serrano chile or ember-roasted purple yam with queso sauce and housemade mole never fails to hit the spot. Tia Carmen had already made JW Marriott Desert Ridge a hot dining destination; now, with Kembara, the resort is a must-visit for Phoenix foodies.
Kristen Martinez launched MB Foohouse as a pop-up and food trailer in Phoenix in 2023 before moving to the kitchen at Yucca Tap Room.
Sara Crocker
Best Return - Kristen Martinez
Moodie Blacks25 W. Southern Ave., TempeKristen Martinez said she'd never return to Arizona, but life had other plans. The noise rap artist who founded musical act Moodie Black toured with Puscifer in 2022 and moved back to the Valley in 2023, but her focus since returning has been on food. While Martinez was living in Minneapolis, she built a successful eatery centered on what she calls "new era Tex-Mex" that pulls from childhood memories growing up in El Paso, Texas. First getting off the ground in the Valley with the food trailer MB Foodhouse, serving taquitos, tacos and wings, Martinez has taken Moodie Blacks inside the kitchen of Tempe's Yucca Tap Room. There, Martinez is serving a growing menu that includes smash burgers, hot chicken tortas and a selection of brunch bites on the weekend. And, there's more good news for fans of Martinez: She hasn't hung up her mic and is beginning to book shows for Moodie Black, too.
