Photograph by Nicole Roegner Big Bin Burger from Bin 239 in Prescott.

A dedicated diner could spend months touring the Valley and still barely make a dent in the wealth of notable destination restaurants to be found here. And with myriad new openings planned for 2008, the list keeps getting longer (what a delicious challenge).

But sometimes a road trip is in order, and fortunately for Phoenix travelers, equally remarkable eating opportunities abound outside our big city.
Here are some small-town culinary gems scattered throughout the state. Some are tried-and-true favorites, others are new to the limelight, but all are independently owned with hands-on chefs dedicated to the highest-quality cooking.

Canela
3252 Highway 82, Sonoita
520-455-5873 • canelabistro.com

Arizona makes wine. It’s true. There are full-fledged wineries, and good ones at that, in tiny Sonoita southeast of Tucson. There are also ranches, like the A Bar H Farm and Josh’s Foraging Fowls, which raise heritage-style, free-range, grass-fed meats and poultry.

So it makes perfect sense that two artisan chefs, John Hall and Joy Vargo, would open a fine-dining bistro in this remote area, focusing on local food (including from their own organic garden) to showcase their New England Culinary Institute training. They were lured from Seattle by John’s father, a resident of Patagonia.

The charming brick-and-tile café holds a wealth of surprises: roasted squash soup brightened with curry cream and local apples; sweetbreads crisped with roasted pear, Parmigiano-Reggiano and apple saba; Canadian Cove mussels gilded with housemade bacon, Golden Boy tomatoes, queso fresca and grilled bread. Those are just appetizers, by the way.

Entrées, which change based on the season and chef’s whim (sometimes the menu changes every two weeks), might tempt with a paprika-braised leg and seared breast of game hen atop mushrooms, lamb chorizo and corn bread; or roasted rack of lamb splayed over pine-nut and raisin couscous alongside turnip-apple gratin in a drizzle of red wine sauce.

Macy’s European Coffeehouse, Bakery & Vegetarian Restaurant
14 S. Beaver St., Flagstaff
928-774-2243 • macyscoffee.net

When ex-Californian Tim Macy opened Macy’s European Coffeehouse in 1980, he claimed he had the first commercial coffee roaster in Arizona. Whether that small fact is true, there’s no disputing that today, even the most popular Starbucks would be challenged to claim the number of fans this tiny, rough-and-tumble storefront does.

It can be hard to secure a table or service here, but it’s worth the elbow pokes for the superb coffee and excellent vegetarian, vegan, dairy-free and wheat-free food served here.
 
All hard-bean coffee varieties come from small, organic growers and cooperatives; are roasted on-site; and are presented with the same prestige as fine wine (one brew is poetically described as “medium-bodied, fairly acidic, very rich and overwhelmingly aromatic”).

And while food recipes are geared toward good health, flavor isn’t sacrificed, with creative dishes like couscous blended with apricots, Sultana raisins, almonds, cinnamon and brown sugar; or banana-walnut vegan Belgian waffles with organic maple syrup and non-hydrogenated margarine.
 
A thick black-bean burger almost passes for beef, plunked on a whole-wheat sesame bun with a side of blue-corn chips. And while gyro “meat” is fashioned from strips of seitan, it’s juicy and good, generously tumbled with Greek seasonings and slathered with creamy cucumber sauce. The pasta, by the way, is homemade.  A team of bakers whips up treats like the berry cream Danish, streusel muffins, tofu berry cakes and vegan pecan sticky buns. They’re perfect with spiced organic apple juice or, of course, a steaming cup of coffee.

Photograph by Nicole Roegner Pastel de Elote from Café Elote.

Café Elote
771 Highway 179 (in the Kings Ransom Sedona Hotel), Sedona
928-203-0105 • kingsransomsedona.com

The red rocks and vortexes have sucked in two fine Valley talents lately. After seven years at the upscale Different Pointe of View in the Pointe Hilton at Tapatio Cliffs, chef Ivan Flowers has set up shop at the Gallery on Oak Creek at the Amara Resort and Spa. Look for his debut menu sometime this spring.

In the meantime, the newsmaker in the ’hood is Jeff Smedstad, former chef-owner of Los Sombreros in Scottsdale. His new Café Elote in Kings Ransom Sedona Hotel brings a taste of what’s made Sombreros so popular all these years, featuring expressive regional Mexican specialties like crispy shredded duck adobo flautas.

Dinner includes fluffy homemade tamales; tender braised chicken tacos in Puebla mole; rich shrimp chilaquiles in a molten salsa verde of cheese and crema; and crisp-edged, gloriously meaty carnitas. A must is the signature side of elote, a bowl of roasted corn kernels lightly tossed in spicy mayo, lime and Cotija cheese.

Save room, too, for the passionately good pastel de elote, a sweet, skillet-griddled corn-cake puddled in cajeta (caramelized goat’s milk) under a scoop of homemade ice cream.

Bisbee Breakfast Club
75 Erie Street, Bisbee
520-432-5885 • bisbeebreakfastclub.com

The main food attraction in Bisbee has always been teeny tiny Dot’s Diner, an adorable 1930s-style diner with a small, classic menu of hamburgers, hot dogs, French fries and milkshakes. It’s next to the Shady Dell campground, boasting a sleek lineup of vintage aluminum travel trailers available for overnight or weekly rental.
 
But the buzz in town, since the original owners recently sold Dot’s, is their new venture, The Bisbee Breakfast Club. Pat and Heather Grimm took over a former Rexall Pharmacy, upgraded the Dot’s concept to an in-house bakery, started using locally roasted coffee beans and real maple syrup, and expanded with a lengthier breakfast and lunch menu.

The Eggs Zorba are delish, scrambled with red onion, spinach, black olives, tomato and lots of feta, while the El Guapo is handsome with its shredded chicken, chiles, jack/cheddar, avocado and green sauce seeping into a side of crispy hash browns.

Burgers are monstrous, like the Gooey Louie, dripping with homemade Jim Beam barbecue sauce, Swiss, bacon, mushrooms and onions. And this offbeat salad is surprisingly successful: coffee-charred chicken breast with artichoke fritters, feta, boiled egg, tomato, olive and onions on field greens.

Desserts are homemade. You’ll dream about the made-from-scratch blueberry crumble with ice cream, a thick slice of banana cream pie, and the bread pudding with Southern Comfort topping.

Mattina’s Ristorante Italiano
318 E. Oak Street, Kingman
928-753-7504

Chef-owner Carlo Peddycoart is a hoot, regaling customers with colorful (if suspicious) stories of the background of his restaurant’s concept and décor – a converted 105-year-old house on a quiet street a block from Kingman’s downtown pawnshop Mecca.

A mafia theme rules, from mobster artwork on the walls to the “Six Dead Guys in a Trunk” escargot, the “Swim with the Fishes Scampi,” “Big Paulie Pollo Parmigiano” and “Fettuccine Gamberi Gambino.”
 
Diners come all the way from Las Vegas, he insists, for his “Capone,” a 16-ounce prime New York strip steak char-grilled at 1,200-degrees. A few bites in and the quality is obvious, with beef aged on-site for up to six weeks and hand-cut to order from Nolan Ryan grass-fed cows.

Vegetables and herbs come from local organic growers (who knew they had such things in Kingman?).