"Phoenix's enduring fine-dining benchmark — chef Vincent Guerithault has fused French technique with Southwestern flavour for nearly 40 years. Book the seven-course Discovery Menu."
Vincent on Camelback has anchored the Camelback Corridor at 3930 E Camelback Rd since the 1980s, and remains a fixture of our Phoenix guide and our French map. Chef-owner Vincent Guerithault helped invent Southwestern fine dining and has kept the room at the top of the city's table for decades.
He won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 1993 — one of the earliest national honours for an Arizona kitchen — and still cooks the menu nightly.
Guerithault trained in classic French kitchens before moving to Arizona, and his cooking marries that technique to Southwestern ingredients — chiles, blue corn, regional game. The kitchen's long-running signature is the duck tamale with Anaheim chile and raisins, a dish that helped define the genre; the daily-changing menu also runs to veal sweetbreads and game, with mains around $32-36. The seven-course Discovery Menu is the way to see the full range, with optional wine pairings.
It is precise, generous cooking with a sense of place, and it is why the Beard committee took notice early.
The room is warm and grown-up rather than flashy — white linen, soft light and the kind of quiet that suits conversation, a contrast to the louder rooms that have opened around it. Service is polished and seasoned.
Dinner runs Wednesday to Saturday from 5pm, and the small, special-occasion-minded dining room rewards a reservation.
Vincent on Camelback is built for an anniversary, a proposal, or a dinner to impress clients who appreciate a classic. For other Phoenix rooms in this tier, compare T. Cook's, Christopher's at Wrigley Mansion or Bacanora.
Not for a quick, casual bite or a budget night out — it is a formal, daily-changing fine-dining room where the seven-course tasting and à la carte both run to special-occasion prices.
French-Southwestern fine dining from James Beard winner Vincent Guerithault in Phoenix. The signature is the duck tamale with Anaheim chile and raisins, and the kitchen's seven-course Discovery Menu changes nightly.
Chef-owner Vincent Guerithault, who opened the restaurant in the 1980s and won the James Beard Award for Best Chef: Southwest in 1993. He still cooks the menu nightly.
At 3930 E Camelback Rd, in the Camelback Corridor of Phoenix, Arizona.
It is high-end $$$$ dining, with à la carte mains roughly $32-36 and a seven-course Discovery Menu priced above that, plus optional wine pairings.
Dinner is served Wednesday to Saturday from 5pm. The dining room is small, so reservations are recommended.
Dinner is served Wednesday to Saturday from 5pm and the room is small, so reservations are recommended. Find it at 3930 E Camelback Rd in the Camelback Corridor, Phoenix.
Affiliate disclosure: Restaurants for Kings may earn a commission when you book through our reservation links, at no cost to you. Our scores are editorial and never paid for.
Vincent on Camelback anchors part of our Phoenix guide — James Beard winner Vincent Guerithault's French-Southwestern cooking on Camelback Road.
See the Phoenix guide →