19 Dec 5th-Dec 11th, 2024 phoenixnewtimes.com PHOENIX NEW TIMES | NEWS | FEATURE | FOOD & DRINK | ARTS & CULTURE | MUSIC | CONCERTS | CANNABIS | More than Food How fine dining has evolved in Phoenix. BY GEORGANN YARA I t wasn’t that long ago when pristinely ironed white tablecloths, jacket- required dress codes and a wine list filled with difficult-to-pronounce names defined a fine dining restau- rant. This even applied to Phoenix, a collared shirt and khakis kind of city. The legendary Mary Elaine’s at The Phoenician was perhaps the Valley’s most famous fine dining destination. When it opened in 1988, it drew elite diners noshing on rare caviar bearing a price tag akin to a small mortgage and sipping offer- ings from a wine list worth millions. When it closed in 2008, a new, less formal version of fine dining was on the rise. Contemporaneous restaurants helmed by legendary chefs and James Beard Award winners like Christopher Gross and Vincent Guerithault carried the elegant mantle but modernized it along the way. In recent years, a new wave of fine dining venues has emerged with a different approach, fueled by the pandemic shut- down and a younger generation of diners that make reservations after perusing Yelp or Instagram and, for the price, want to experience more than just great food. A welcome pour of bubbles, watercolor prints that accompany menus and meticu- lous service from the time the reservation is placed are among the ways Phoenix’s haute restaurants are accommodating expectations while redefining the category. When Anhelo chef and owner Ivan Jacobo learned the couple at one of his tables was from Wyoming for a weekend wedding and had never been to Phoenix, he called one of the five pedicabs he has on speed dial and arranged a surprise post- dinner ride and tour of downtown Phoenix. “Fine dining is not just beautifully plated food. From the moment you walk in the door to the moment you leave should be a full-blown experience where staff genuinely cares about the guest,” he says. “Just because you serve wagyu on a white tablecloth doesn’t mean fine dining, in my eyes.” So what does fine dining mean to chefs driving the genre in Phoenix? It’s about a lot more than the food. Focusing on a feeling Jacobo, who is in the process of moving Anhelo from the Orpheum Lofts to Old Town Scottsdale by next February, acknowledged his venue lacks Christopher’s at Wrigley Mansion’s unpar- alleled city views or the ultra-romantic ambiance at Cafe Monarch. So he makes up for it how he can. Besides the pedicabs, attention is paid to guests’ notes on the reservation platform as to why they are visiting or whether they are celebrating a special occasion. The couple that’s dropping their child at ASU is sent home with a care package of candy, ramen and other dorm-appropriate items for their new Sun Devil. The couple cele- brating the future birth of their baby receives a basket of toys for their new addition. Guests who opt for the 10-course tasting menu enjoy one course in the wine cellar. A fromage cart circulates at the end of the meal. “I grew up not being able to afford this, so I’m constantly seeing how we can improve the experience that Anhelo is,” Jacobo says. “I want people to come to our restaurant because of the way the restau- rant makes them feel.” At Kai, the signature restaurant at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass, every menu, made of desert pine, includes an original watercolor painting by Gila River Indian Community artist Joshua Yazzie. They serve as visual partners to verbal stories told by staff of the history, land and people of Arizona’s Indigenous communi- ties that inspire the venue, explains general manager Kevin Shirley. An 8-by-10-inch copy of the painting is available to guests who wish to buy a memento. “This is something that isn’t done else- where,” says Shirley, who has been with the restaurant for 15 of its 16 years as a Forbes Travel Guide Five-Star star restau- rant — the only Arizona restaurant with this distinction. This fall, James Beard Award semifi- nalist chef Stephen Jones opened a revamped version of The Larder & The Delta that boasts a 12-course tasting menu with Southern flair. In the former home of Binkley’s, guests linger over the two-hour extravaganza that starts at $155 per person with the option of supplements like Royal Ossetra Caviar, black truffle and foie gras that run as high as an additional $125 each, and two levels of wine pairings that can go up to $225. As he sees it, that’s just the starting point. “What fine dining encompasses is a hospitality experience from the moment the reservation is placed to the follow-up call,” Jones says. “It’s the whole circumfer- ence of the dining experience.” Three decades ago, the signature restaurant at a brand new sparkling resort called The Phoenician was the epitome of that experience in Phoenix. ‘THE fancy place’ When Mary Elaine’s opened, it came with a men’s jacket requirement and The Phoenician’s deep pockets, allowing it to form the best kitchen team the city had seen, says Vincent Guerithault, who opened Vincent on Camelback in 1985. When the chef moved to Arizona in 1979 from Chicago, dirt roads stood where highways are today and pricey steakhouses comprised the fine dining arena. Mary Elaine’s stood out at a resort that was already turning heads. And then came head chef Alex Stratta. “It was very luxurious, but the food was extraordinary,” Guerithault says. “To me, Alex was and still is the best chef and most talented chef that Phoenix has ever seen.” Stratta, a two-Michelin star chef and James Beard Award winner, joined the team in 1989, six months and several chefs after it had opened. He stayed through 1998, before heading to Las Vegas to start restaurants for high-profile hotels and resorts. He recalls Mary Elaine’s being part of a bigger picture. The lavish Phoenician set a new standard of no-holds-barred luxury in the Southwest. “It was THE hotel restaurant at THE hotel,” Stratta recalls. “It was all about luxury, opulence and overindulgence… THE fancy place at THE fancy place.” While diners felt at home with the restaurant’s high-end exclusive wine list, that didn’t always apply to Stratta’s French-Italian dishes that weren’t as ubiq- uitous as they are today. Risotto, for example. “You’re selling rice for $37? And for $68 with white truffles?” Stratta says of diners’ reactions. “This kind of food wasn’t proposed to them at that level yet.” Back to the basics, but in jeans Stratta says the fine dining landscape evolved from being strictly associated with hotels to standalone spots. Recently, it has been “going back to the basics.” Jones says this homecoming of sorts provided stability post-pandemic. Many chefs are going back to their culinary training, which is often rooted in fine dining. Because the fine dining model requires reservations and often a deposit or James Beard Award-winning chef Vincent Guerithault has hosted presidents, governors, celebrities and other high-profile guests since opening Vincent’s on Camelback in 1985. (Courtesy of Vincent’s on Camelback) Anhelo chef and owner Ivan Jacobo is working on plans to relocate his restaurant and open a new one. (Courtesy of Anhelo) A dish from The Larder & The Delta’s 12-course tasting menu. Blue crab, sea urchin and tarragon sit atop yellow corn grits. (Courtesy of The Larder & The Delta) Chef Stephen Jones opened his revamped The Larder & The Delta that boasts a 12-course tasting menu this fall. (Photo by Katie Leveen Photography) >> p 20 ▼ Food & Drink
