Binkley’s Performs Prix-Fixe Miracles
Phoenix doesn’t historically have a prix fixe dining culture. I couldn’t really tell you why—people here just seem to require a certain level of control. Like we all saw the same Burger King commercial growing up and innately require edits. Binkley’s was the first restaurant I can remember that really went for it big city style. You go, you sit down, and they just bring you things. Lots of things. It takes three hours to bring you all the things. And when you get home you’ll want to sit and contemplate. All the best things in life require contemplation.
Where: E. Phoenix | Website: binkleysrestaurant.com | Reservations: On the website
Reviews
Nov 4, 2018 / Chris Malloy
Phoenix New Times: You Can Eat a Dinner in Phoenix for $364. Should You?
You have to view dinner at Binkley’s not as dinner, but as an act of exploration, or as an event. The patio-to-bar-to-dining-room flow that allows you to waltz into the kitchen while chefs raze slices from fish that was gliding off the coast of Japan 36 hours ago is unique. The food is great, the service is greater, and you feel like a vacation is coming to a close when your meal does.
December 1, 2017 / Nikki Buchanan
Phoenix Magazine: Binkley’s
Three hours and change later, I can safely say the experience has been otherworldly, a perfect blend of everything I want in a stellar meal – lovely but casual surroundings, service that strikes the perfect balance between friendly and formal, rare ingredients, gorgeous presentations, unique dinnerware and plenty of time to relax and enjoy it all.
April 19, 2017 / Dominic Armato
AZ Central: Binkley's review: Phoenix's ultimate fine-dining restaurant can't get any better - or can it?
The new Binkley's is absolutely essential, in no small part because the Phoenix dining scene is more accustomed to following trends than shaping them. This is no cheap exercise in stripping fine dining of its finery. Scrappy upstarts that serve gilded dishes in crude environments are now commonplace. Binkley’s hook is that he has carved out a unique middle ground that marries haute and homey in a way that feels completely natural. It is neither snooty nor subversive. It is simply delicious, undeniably special.
Awards + Accolades
+2 Yumpoints
2022 James Beard Awards: Outstanding Hospitality - Semifinalist
+1 Yumpoint
2024 Foodists Awards: Exceptional Culinary Experience - Finalist
+1 Yumpoint | FEB 13, 2024 / NIKKI BUCHANAN AND CHRIS MALLOY
Eater: The 38 Essential Restaurants in Phoenix
A night at Binkley’s is like no other dining experience in town. Unfolding in a small house with the laid-back vibe of a dinner party, the 10- to 12-course prix fixe meal — a heart-stopping run of perfectly executed, beautifully plated courses made with luxurious ingredients ($265 per person) — begins at the bar, where clever cocktails and pub food are dispensed, then moves outside to the terrace (weather permitting), and finally into the cozy dining room overlooking the exhibition kitchen. From this vantage, diners can watch Binkley do his thing or even wander into the kitchen to chat him up.
+1 Yumpoint | FEB 1, 2024
Phoenix New Times: The Top 100 Restaurants
If you'd like to put on a helmet and launch yourself to the outer possibilities of eating in Phoenix, book a reservation at Binkley's. Entering Binkley's is like entering Rivendell. Your meal unfolds over roughly three hours in a house on Osborn Road, the 12-plus courses and river of beer, wine and sake steadily flowing into the night, mimicking the rhythm of a dinner party. From the first bite, all your personal troubles (and those of the wider world) begin to feel remote. Everything stills, and you're in the gentle palm of a master: Kevin Binkley, who's handily one of the very best chefs in Phoenix. The playfulness, technique, seasonality, ingenuity, and ultimately the flavor of his food says this loudly and clearly to all those who take a seat on the patio, nibbling oysters with peanut spaetzle and ham buttercream.
