7 Phoenix restaurants with national acclaim
A city’s dining scene can look very different from the outside than it does from the inside.
The Valley boasts a vast array of diverse restaurants. But those that make a name for themselves on a national level are considerably fewer, and they do so for all kinds of reasons.
As a hot restaurant test market, Phoenix has witnessed the birth of national chains like Peter Piper Pizza, P.F. Chang’s and successful Sam Fox concepts such as North Italia, Flower Child and the Oprah Winfrey-backed True Food Kitchen, now its own brand.
But ask diners around the country
The first time I spotted a jackfruit, it intrigued me so much I felt compelled to take a selfie with it and post it on Instagram, especially considering it was bigger than my head.
Jackfruit has a tough, horny outer layer that’s bright green when it’s underripe and covered with brown spots as it ripens and turns sweet, bearing an exotic sweet scent.
Mexico grows most of the jackfruit year-round that’s commercially available in the U.S., peaking during which independent Phoenix restaurants they’ve heard of, and these are the most likely responses you’ll get.
Barrio Cafe
For a city stuffed to the gills with yellow cheese Sonoran-American food, there’s a bit of irony (or justice) in the fact that our most widely recognized Mexican restaurant is Barrio first-stop meal for scores of visitors.
Silvana Salcido Esparza’s signature destination was founded on the notion that border Sonoran fare is just one tiny subset of Mexican cuisine. The six-time semifinalist for a James Beard Award Cafe, a international
brings dishes like cochinita pibil, chiles en nogada and pescado en pipian verde front and center in a town where burros, enchiladas and chimichangas reign supreme.
Details: 2814 N. 16th St., Phoenix. 602-636-0240, barriocafe.com.
Binkley’s
For most of the past decade, the nation’s vision of fine dining in Arizona could be distilled down to one word: Binkley. Having honed his craft at The Inn at Little Washington and The French Laundry, Kevin Binkley set up shop on the outskirts of civilization up in Cave Creek in 2004. That he quickly became one of the Valley’s most famous chefs, recognized 10 times by the James Beard Awards (four as a finalist), is a testament to the passion and focus of a chef obsessed with excellence.
Now ensconced in a central Phoenix bungalow, Binkley has turned his restaurant into something deeply personal. He welcomes diners as though they were guests in his home, to linger in the kitchen, help prepare dinner and marvel over dishes that are as precise and playful as his food has ever been.
Details: 2320 E. Osborn Road, Phoenix. 602-3884874, binkleysrestaurant.com.
Don & Charlie’s
The Valley is busiest during spring training, and during spring training, no restaurant is busier than Don & Charlie’s. Don Carson opened his namesake restaurant in 1981, and the chummy Chicago-style tavern and steakhouse, bedecked with enough sports memorabilia to fill a museum, has become an icon for baseball fans, journalists and players alike. It’s an oldschool spot for devotees of an old-school sport, serving killer shrimp cocktail, burgers, chops — both gussied up and stark naked — along with Carson’s signature charred ribs.
But as baseball charges headlong into a new era of instant replay and pitch clocks, so too might Don & Charlie’s. Pending city approval, the restaurant may soon close to make way for a boutique hotel.
Details: 7501 E. Camelback Road, Scottsdale. 480990-0900, donandcharlies.com.
Durant’s
Speaking of old school, if dinner at Durant’s doesn’t make you forget which decade it is, a couple of their martinis should finish the job. I’d call Durant’s the kind of place that doesn’t exist anymore, except that it does, right there on Central Avenue where Jack Durant left it.
The room — all brass fixtures, dim lights and red leather — probably didn’t need much of a retrofit to prepare for the filming of “Durant’s Never Closes,” the 2016 movie that — not unlike the restaurant itself — looks great, even if might leave you feeling somewhat unsatisfied. But if the steaks, oysters Rockefeller and sauteed chicken livers aren’t exactly good, they’re