At age 73, chef Vincent Guerithault has no plans of slowing down.
By Matthew Johnson & Mirelle Inglefield
Four decades is a long time in the restaurant business, but don’t tell that to one of the godfathers of Arizona cuisine, chef Vincent Guerithault – he’s not counting.
“Don’t count the years. Make the years count,” says Guerithault, chef/owner of Vincent on Camelback.
Since opening his eponymous restaurant in 1986, Guerithault has delighted diners with fabulous French technique while incorporating Southwestern ingredients, an award-winning wine list and dramatic desserts. But his recipe for success is not something you can taste.
“Whatever you do, you have to be passionate,” Guerithault says. “Start small and work long hours to be the best you can be. If you’re not passionate in what you’re doing, it’s not going to work.”
Guerithault and his wife Leevon passed that lesson down to the next generation, raising their three sons to work in the kitchen and learn from their award-winning father.
“It taught the boys if you want to be successful, you’re going to have to work hard, regardless of what you do,” Guerithault says.
The couple’s eldest is an engineer in Pittsburgh and helps maintain the restaurant’s website. Their middle son still lives in the Valley and is in his third year of medical school. The youngest, Christian, works alongside Dad in the kitchen at Vincent.
“They grew up in the kitchen, so they know the challenges. They could open their own place if they wanted to,” Guerithault laughs.
The chef says his family tops his list of accomplishments, but his major culinary awards aren’t bad, either. In 2003, Vincent on Camelback was named one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants by Restaurant magazine. Ten years before that, Guerithault was named Best Chef: Southwest by the James Beard Foundation, the first chef in Arizona to win a prestigious James Beard Award.
The accolades make sense when you consider the path that brought him to Arizona.
Guerithault trained in kitchens in the south of France in the late 1960s (Wolfgang Puck was his classmate) before moving to Le Français in Chicago in the ’70s. The blizzard of 1979 convinced him to move west, and while his plan was to land in California, Pinnacle Peak developer Jerry Nelson snagged him for Oaxaca, a split French-Mexican concept in North Scottsdale. He earned a huge following in the early ’80s while running the French half of the restaurant, where he also taught cooking classes (something he continues to this day). His fans followed when he struck out on his own and opened Vincent on Camelback in 1986. Even 40 years later, Guerithault has no plan to slow down.
“It’s great to eat and drink, but after two or three weeks [off], I start to go stir crazy,” he responds when asked about taking time off for vacation, let alone retirement. “I need to be back in the kitchen working. I don’t play golf or watch TV. I don’t know how to do anything else.”
To illustrate his point, Guerithault says he started taking piano lessons five years ago and admits that he can only play for 30 minutes at a time and still fights to find the right keys. The struggle, though, is worth it in his eyes.
“I’m never going to become a concert pianist, but the challenges [of learning a new skill] help me relate to the kitchen. I’m never going to improve if I don’t practice.”
Fans of Guerithault clearly believe that practice has made his menu perfect, with classics such as his lobster chimichanga, smoked salmon quesadilla and duck confit tamales standing the test of time. His mastery of French-Southwest fusion remains his calling card.
“There’s a lot of things we do that are still very French. Lots of butter, lots of foie gras, lots of cream,” Guerithault says. “But we make it interesting with a little touch of the Southwest.”
On February 6, the restaurant is hosting a tasting event to sample some of France’s finest Champagnes. Learn more about upcoming specials and events at vincentsoncamelback.com
PHOENIX magazine celebrates 60 years in 2026 and to honor our great city, we’ve launched the PHOENIX magazine Anniversary Club. Read more anniversary stories here.
