Once upon a time, massive chains dominated the Arizona restaurant game. However, over the past 20 years, chefs like Beau MacMillan, Mark Tarbell, Kevin Binkley, Christopher Gross, Matt Carter, Charles Wiley, and Gio Osso have led the charge in transforming the way we think about dining out. They have elevated our palates while putting the local culinary scene on the map. Fine dining in Arizona in particular has benefitted from this evolution, and – as a result – both homegrown talent and up-and-coming chefs from across the country are flocking to the 48th state to showcase their talent.
David Brito
David Brito is the executive chef at The Wrigley Mansion (one of the most renowned locations for fine dining in Arizona), both leading Geordie’s and all special event dining operations. His vision is to create menus that celebrate globally inspired cuisine but also to put together plates that are both as breathtaking as the Mansion views and as awe-inspiring as the property’s storied history. While no easy feat, Brito has the raw talent and quiet confidence to back up this dream. In fact, he earned his high-ranking position after blowing the minds of James Beard Award winner Christopher Gross—who famously leads Christopher’s at Wrigley Mansion—and Wrigley Mansion CEO Jason Caballero when they were guests of his at Café Monarch, where Brito led the kitchen until 2023 (yes, after Levine). Prior to that role, Brito also mentored under James Beard Award winner Alex Stratta at the Omni Scottsdale Montelucia and worked alongside Swanson at Kai, among other hotspots. While his menus change regularly, do not miss ordering his dry-aged duck, foie gras, or Wagyu beef anytime they are featured.
Conor Favre
Conor Favre is a fine dining executive chef at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess, overseeing dining operations at Bourbon Steak, La Hacienda, Ironwood American Kitchen, and Toro Latin Restaurant & Rum Bar as well as special events, pool, banquet, and in-room dining. The Scottsdale Community College culinary program alum cooked in various positions at Mountain Shadows, Arizona Biltmore, and Sheraton Wild Horse Pass before moving to California in 2015 to serve as food and beverage director at the St. Regis San Francisco. When the Fairmont Princess came calling in 2017, he made his way back home for the role of a lifetime. To give an idea of scope, Favre works with a dozen in-house executive and sous chefs, plus about 100 other food and beverage staff, while partnering with celebrity chefs Michael Mina and Richard Sandoval on their concepts. Furthermore, there is usually a major event or program, such as Christmas at the Princess, happening with its own culinary and staffing needs. Essentially, Favre is leading a culinary army, and making it look not only easy, but fun.
Ryan Swanson
Many know Ryan Swanson’s name from the many years he spent as executive chef of Kai, Arizona’s only Forbes Five-Star and AAA Five-Diamond dining experience where he celebrated ancient Native American cooking techniques and native heirloom ingredients. The work he did in that kitchen even earned him a James Beard Award nomination for “Best Chef – Southwest” in 2020. But, alas, Arizona lost Swanson to the East Coast in recent years when he took a role on the leadership team at Ocean House in Rhode Island. But guess what? Swanson is now back and better than ever, serving as the executive chef of L’Auberge de Sedona and its signature eatery, Cress on Oak Creek. In the months since taking on the role, Swanson has launched a bucket list chef’s tasting menu that any true foodie must try, not to mention a Sunday brunch for the ages. The sky’s the limit for both L’Auberge and Swanson together.
Jason Alford
The marriage of Mediterranean and Japanese cuisines should seem odd. But thanks to Jason Alford, the executive chef of the truly inspired Pa’La Downtown, it is a match made in heaven. Alford launched the ambitious Phoenix eatery with partners after more than a decade as the chef de cuisine at Roka Akor, where he mastered the fine art of the Japanese robata with the ultimate in fine dining fare. Out to top himself, Pa’La is especially adept at wood-fired tapas and seasonally focused eye-catching entrees. Seamlessly blending his Asian culinary prowess with a very Italian vibe, Pa’La is a must visit destination for fine dining in Arizona.
Branden Levine
Branden Levine is executive chef at Sel, an intimate restaurant offering progressive American cuisine and out-of-this-world plating. He is a graduate of the Culinary Arts program at Johnson & Wales University, and even worked in kitchens for a safari company’s culinary operations across Kenya. Branden also spent some of his time at Charlie Palmer’s iconic Aureole in Las Vegas in the early 2000s. After a chance visit to see his wife’s family in Arizona, Levine relocated here in 2012. That’s where his star shot into the stratosphere. Over the past decade-plus, Levine served as executive chef of Café Monarch, competed on both “Chef Wanted with Anne Burrell” and “Beat Bobby Flay,” and opened the highly respected Sel in 2016.
Ben Wald
Ben Wald is the executive chef of both Café Monarch, named among the most romantic restaurants in the country, and its ultra-high-end dining destination next door, Reserve. In addition to being a graduate of the Culinary Bachelors program at Johnson & Wales University, Wald worked under culinary icon Alain Ducasse—and his 21 Michelin stars and counting—at L’ecole in Paris and at the three-Michelin star, Forbes-Five-Star, and AAA-Five-Diamond Inn at Little Washington, before making Arizona home. Wald is as much artist as artisan, bringing an Old-World approach to service—expect him to touch every table during a meal despite his busy kitchens—right along with some of the most inventive, interactive, and surprising dishes of food in the country. Both of his tasting menus, which change regularly, are once-in-a-lifetime musts, with one course more extraordinary than the last.
Ivan Jacobo
Ivan Jacobo is executive chef at Anhelo, which moved from its original location at Heritage Square into a beautiful, custom-designed space on the ground floor of the 1930s-era Orpheum Lofts in Downtown Phoenix in 2021. The concept is Jacobo’s (very talented) soul on a plate, celebrating ingredients from around the world and classics-done-right in a fine dining setting. The crazy thing? Jacobo never stepped foot into a professional kitchen, other than to eat, before his first day of culinary school in 2009 at age 18. Jacobo chose the path due to his love of The Food Network and quickly finding he had an innate talent. Before launching Anhelo, Chef honed his skills at the Verrado Country Club and Tempo Urban Bistro, and even had his own successful food truck and series of pop-up dinner events across town.
written by: alison bailin batz | photographed by: luke irvin