Vincent on Camelback

Vincent Guerithault first gained national acclaim at his first restaurant (which he did not own) in Pinnacle Peak, Arizona. In the early 1980s the then food editor of The New York Times, Craig Claiborne, dined there and afterward wrote, “If one may judge a restaurant on the basis of one visit but in the company of five other guests each of whom ordered a variety of dishes, I would declare Vincent’s to be exceptional.” In those early days Vincent’s food was nothing like his style of cooking is today. His early years reflected his background in classically prepared French haute cuisine. It was after Vincent moved to Phoenix that he began to see the possibilities of cooking with the cornucopia of southwestern ingredients.