FIRST RUNNER-UP: KEVIN BINKLEY of Binkley’s Restaurant and Café Bink

Who knew that one of the state’s most celebrated chefs started out his career with one simple question: Cup or cone? Kevin Binkley’s, chef of Cave Creek’s Binkley’s Restaurant and Café Bink, first job in the food industry was scooping frozen yogurt and making crepes at TCBY at the age of 14. After struggling to declare a major at East Carolina University, Binkley decided to turn his passion into his work path. “[I] couldn’t decide on anything I felt like I could commit the rest of my life to,” he says. “That’s when it dawned on me to go to culinary school and pursue the job I already had enjoyed.”
With that, Binkley attended and graduated from Scottsdale Culinary Institute. He opened the highly successful Binkley’s in 2004; he followed that up with the more casual eatery, Café Bink, a few years later. While his start might have been in frozen yogurt, the star chef now dishes up decidedly more decadent menu items (think foie gras and red wine-poached filet mignon). “[I have] the ability to create, taste and produce food that I am proud of,” Binkley says.

Chef Binkley’s Favorite…
Local dish: Ecuadorian tamales at Mi Cocina Mi Pais Foodie movie: “Babette’s Feast” Beer: Trappistes Rochefort 10 Bottle of wine: 2004 Domaine Jamet, Côte-Rôtie. It smells like bacon; I cannot get enough.