Vincent has been combining his expertise in classic French cooking with Southwestern ingredients for 40 years.
Vincent’s love for cooking began in his youth in France, where he worked at L’Oustau de Baumanière in Les Baux de Provence, and Maxim’s and Fauchon in Paris. He came to the U.S. in 1976 to be sous-chef at Chicago’s Le Français, and within 10 years opened his own restaurant here that helped put Phoenix on the culinary map.
As he learned about ingredients that were new to him like chile peppers, corn, cilantro, and masa, he was able to produce a hybrid cuisine based on the most exacting French techniques. During that period, many chefs hopped on the southwestern bandwagon that was beginning to gather speed, but none possessed the training or discipline of Vincent, who was able to apply a lifetime of French technique and craft to each recipe and presentation.
By careful thought and constant attention to detail, Vincent created an entirely new cuisine. Southwestern cookery had been developing along the lines of a marriage between California novelties and traditional concepts of Mexican food, but it was Vincent who focused his cooking to absorb the flavors of the Southwest into a refined, sublimated cuisine that no one else in America had attempted before.
In January of 1986, Vincent opened his own restaurant, Vincent on Camelback, which is still at its original location in Phoenix.
