Kai is a native american fine dining restaurant in Chandler, Phoenix.
Kai at the Sheraton Grand at Wild Horse Pass is Arizona's only AAA Five Diamond restaurant, cooking Pima and Maricopa ingredients from the Gila River land.
Signature dishes: Tribal buffalo tenderloin, Great Plains bison, Cholla buds
Must order: The grilled tribal buffalo tenderloin with smoked corn puree, cholla buds and scarlet runner bean chile.
Tip: Open Wednesday to Saturday evenings only; the drive south to Wild Horse Pass is about 30 minutes from downtown Phoenix.
Address: 5594 W Wild Horse Pass Blvd, Chandler, AZ 85226, Phoenix
FnB in Scottsdale is Charleen Badman's vegetable-forward room in Craftsman Court, where the chef won the 2019 James Beard Best Chef Southwest award.
Signature: Braised leeks, Seasonal vegetables, Arizona wines
Order: The braised leeks with mozzarella, mustard, breadcrumbs and a sunny-side egg, a Food and Wine top-ten dish.
Tip: The menu changes with what local farmers harvest; Pavle Milic's all-Arizona wine list is the room's second draw.
The Mission in Old Town Scottsdale is Matt Carter's modern Latin room, drawing on Spain, Mexico and South America in a dark stone-walled dining room.
Signature: Tableside guacamole, Pork shoulder, Latin small plates
Order: The tableside guacamole and the slow-roasted pork shoulder; Carter won the 2024 Arizona Food Pioneer Award.
Tip: The patio under the church wall is the seat to book; lunch runs daily and dinner fills the bar early.
Virtù Honest Craft in Scottsdale is Gio Osso's Mediterranean room behind the Bespoke Inn, a courtyard kitchen with an early James Beard new-restaurant nod.
Signature: Crispy-skin branzino, Handmade pasta, Caper brown butter
Order: The crispy-skin branzino with caper-infused brown butter, a fixture on Osso's changing menu.
Tip: The fig-tree courtyard is the seat to request; the tasting menu is the deepest way into Osso's cooking.
Quiessence at The Farm at South Mountain is Dustin Christofolo's seasonal tasting room, plating produce picked hours earlier from the on-site garden.
Signature: Tasting menu, Garden vegetables, Seasonal mains
Order: The weekly tasting menu, built around whatever the garden cut that morning.
Tip: Set on a working farm off 32nd Street; the drive and garden walk are part of the evening, book the patio in cool months.
Different Pointe of View sits 1,800 feet up at the Hilton Tapatio Cliffs Resort, a AAA Four Diamond room pairing American cooking with a wide skyline view.
Signature: Tasting menu, Wine pairings, Mountaintop views
Order: The multi-course tasting with wine pairings, timed for sunset over the city lights.
Tip: Request a window or terrace table at dusk; the room is on North 7th Street, well north of downtown.
Cafe Monarch in Old Town Scottsdale is a family-run tasting-menu room on a string-lit alley, serving a changing eight-course menu of small, refined plates.
Signature: Eight-course tasting, Four-course prix fixe, Seasonal plates
Order: The chef's eight-course tasting, the deepest version of the kitchen's seasonal cooking.
Tip: The candlelit back alley is the seat to book; the menu is prix fixe only, no a la carte.