Best Handoff 2024 | Kevin Binkley to Stephen Jones | Food & Drink | Phoenix
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Best Handoff

Kevin Binkley to Stephen Jones

Jackie Mercandetti Photo

One 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.

Best Community Food Resource

Borderlands Produce Rescue

Feeling depressed every time you stop by the supermarket? You're not alone. Whether inflation, greedflation or old-fashioned price-gouging is to blame, the price of groceries is sky-high these days, and almost everyone is getting hit where it hurts. Before you start considering shoplifting as a solution, hit up Borderlands Produce Rescue to help stretch your food budget. Every Saturday morning, the Arizona-based nonprofit offers boxes of reclaimed fruits and vegetables in the parking lots of churches, schools and other local institutions through its Produce On Wheels With-Out Waste (or P.O.W.W.O.W.) program. For only $15, you get a 60-pound bounty of veggies and fruits, such as peppers, squashes, berries, cucumbers and tomatoes. Depending on the time of year, the cornucopia may also include melons and other seasonal fruits. Granted, it's rescued produce, so you'll want to eat, can or freeze it within a week or two, but it beats emptying your savings account to finance a grocery run or contemplating how pine cones from your tree might taste.

Best Flagstaff Import

The Toasted Owl Cafe

Flagstaff eatery The Toasted Owl Cafe flew down to Phoenix to open its first Valley location last fall. Located on Camelback Road in The Newton shopping center, this cozy brunch spot is filled with owl decor everywhere you look, from antiques to artwork, and it's all for sale. The restaurant is known for its giant and delicious cinnamon rolls, which make an excellent appetizer to share over coffee. Next, dig into a hearty burrito or steaming hot omelet. One of the best parts? The Toasted Owl has a second version of its large menu that's entirely vegan, meaning there's something for everyone in your group at this Flagstaff staple in Phoenix.

Best Tucson Import

Barrio Bread

Phoenix carb lovers rejoiced last year when James Beard Award-winning baker Don Guerra announced that he would be coming to Gilbert once a week to bake and sell bread. His bread is iconic for its use of local grain and its distinctively designed loaves, including one featuring a cactus inset in the outline of Arizona. Guerra's pop-up bakery at Hayden Flour Mills, where he sources those grains, immediately began drawing lines of guests eager to purchase boules, loaves and Sonoran bagels. And, so that you don't make the trek to the East Valley and come up empty-handed, Guerra has a preorder form on his website. In addition to the Gilbert pop-up, which has grown to include lunch service from Sonoran Pasta Co., Guerra's bagels are also available at Chompie's. Orders can be placed through Chompie's website, available for pickup on Saturdays at its Phoenix location. The bagels are a collaboration between Guerra and the New York-style bagel shop, deli and restaurant. Guerra adds his spin by using Sonoran white wheat and omitting oils and sugar.

Best One-Two Punch

Chef Angelo Sosa

We 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.

Best Restaurant

Valentine

Natasha Yee

It's hard to believe it's been nearly four years since Donald Hawk, Blaise Faber and Crystal Kass shacked up in Melrose with a midcentury modern furniture store, but this crew just keeps getting better and better. Kass, you might have heard, is now a James Beard nominee two years running, turning heads at the national level with stellar Southwest-infused pastries and wildly delicious desserts. Faber's beverage program — both at the coffee counter and Bar 1912 out back — is creative but thoughtful, knowing when to push the boundaries and when a subtle touch is best. And Hawk's inventive cooking continues to mature to the point where an old favorite coming off the menu is cause to celebrate, because you know you're going to love whatever comes next just as much, if not more. Valentine is a modern Arizona institution, firing on all cylinders for three meals a day, and one of the strongest arguments that the Phoenix dining scene has something to say.

Best New Restaurant

Pretty Penny

When a crew of culinary heavies and cocktails geeks shared they would team up to create Pretty Penny, it created some pretty big expectations. Together, Virtù alumni Chef Marcelino Ramos and Ivan Herrera, along with cocktail savants and bar owners Sam Olguin and Brenon Stuart, have risen to the occasion with this posh restaurant that shines on downtown's Roosevelt Row. The warmth of the team is palpable, from Herrera greeting guests with a smile and complimentary pour of bubbles to Ramos dropping plates and chatting with guests. The chef and his lean kitchen team are making incredibly complex, seafood-forward dishes in a minimal open cooking space. The menu rotates regularly, but a star dish that's been on since Pretty Penny opened in January is the Octopus Tostada. A blue corn tortilla is cut into strips and then fried. Those pieces are plated to resemble the formerly whole tortilla and topped with tender braised octopus, Oaxacan sour cream, silky dollops of avocado and a fiery black sesame salsa macha. Pair that with one of Olguin and Stuart's expertly crafted cocktails; the Passionfruit Negroni is a juicy boozy riff on the classic. And, if you're itching for a nightcap, stick around for one more round at Legends Never Die, the 20-seat bar hidden inside Pretty Penny.

Best Chef

Claudio Urciuoli

Urciuoli 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.

Best Pastry Chef

Crystal Kass

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.

Best Place to Take a Foodie

Uchi

The expansion of an out-of-town restaurant group can come with its fair share of questions. Will it fit the community? How can it hold up to the original? Is this place a chain? Walking into Uchi, an Austin, Texas, import from James Beard Award-winning chef Tyson Cole, those nagging questions are quickly answered. The space is airy and luxe with sandy wood and gold tones. There's a charged-up energy, but it's not overwhelmingly loud. And, that's also a good thing, because you'll want to take time to chat with your server — and they want you to. That's because the restaurant aims to create a sushi bar experience at every seat, so the staff works to curate the flow of your meal. While sushi is the main draw at Uchi, featuring splurgy options with fish flown in fresh from Japan's Toyosu Market or a 10-course omakase, the Old Town Scottsdale menu includes an expansive selection of hot and cold dishes, salads, tempura and inventive rolls. And, while this meal could be spendy, there are ways to be thriftier by popping in during happy hour or working with your server to curate an omakase that fits your budget.

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