Dining at Binkley’s in Cave Creek Arizona is an experience that can’t be compared to any other dining experience I had before and is certainly forking memorable.

Binkley’s doesn’t have the finest atmosphere as it is a small restaurant located in a strip mall. But if you reserve a spot on patio you might get a view of a beautiful cactus studded sunset.

At Binkley’s you can count on some molecular gastronomy, benson burners and a James Beard Nominated Chef to create you some unexpected, playful magnificent courses and get served many amuse bouches all night long. Dinner may take close to three hours so come with an empty belly, a big bank account and forking enjoy the show.

You have a choice of a la carte, multiple tasting menus and expert wine pairing choices. We picked the smallest of the tasting menus the four course tasting menu of one cold, one hot appetizer, a main course, and either dessert or cheese course.

Our meal started with an amuse bouche of miniature gherkins paired with smoked chicken liver   mousse, stone grain house made mustard and crostini and an offering from the bread basket and butter from France. The house made breads were really delicious and well made. The little salted brioche breads were really forking scrumptious.

We placed our order and soon receive another amuse bouche and a sparking glass of wine.

We receive a mini coffee cup filled with pear curry soup that’s finished with raisin oil. It doesn’t sound that great but honestly this was really forking delicious.

We received two more amuse bouches before our cold appetizer plates.

A forking Barbie Sized beef sloppy joe with a fancy potato crisp and the best tasting forking caper I ever had. The tiny sandwich seemed a little too much bread to meat but was packed with flavor and was delicious.

Tiny savory smaller than a marble sized donuts appear. They were filled with rich mushrooms and disappeared quickly.

Now our cold appetizers  arrive!

My husband had the Fruit De Mar. He was sort of excited to try Geoduck for the first time but couldn’t figure out what forking morsels were geoduck.

I had the Asparagus as my cold plate.

I had a very small but crispy puntarelle ( a kind of chicory)  on my plate. lots of little dots of liquid that tasted sort of mushroomy, a smear of caramelized onion creme fraiche and a mound of smokey sun choke salad and all harmonized like an orchestra in key.

This next amuse bouche photo is bad but I’m forking using it anyway.

Pellets of frozen grapefruit and blackberries arrive.

The most flavorful and my favorite plate of the evening arrives next.

The Black Truffle Acorn Squash Risotto. This was mind Blowing crazy good!

Fresh shaved perigord truffles and this magical delicious cream that just taste amazing on the best acorn squash I ever had.  You can always count on at least one mind blowing crazy good dish here.

My husbands favorite dish was also his hot appetizer.

It was called a Choucroute Garni and was made with bresaola, duck confit, trotter (pig feet), and root vegetables.

Next came an amuse bouche of house made tangelo soda.

 

I ate too much of the squash and was full by now but next was dinner.

I had the Ocean Trout. It was a very tiny portion and I was able to eat it. It wasn’t as complex as Binkley’s usually prepares and was forking good but sort of not what I was expecting from here.  I think the tiny crisp on top of the fish might have been an artichoke but I wasn’t sure.

My husband had the Cider Braised Pork.

He squealed with delight  when he saw the bacon (pancetta) on top of it. He said it was very good.

Now they forking bring over a Benson Burner kind of contraption and prepare table side hibiscus tea that’s flavored with fresh rosemary and meyer lemon.

An amuse bouche of candy apple cream brûlée arrives. It taste just like a creamy candy apple.

Followed by a really delicious mini root beer float.

Now my dessert arrives.

On a hot sizzling skillet and in some sort of bag arrives Butterscotch Pecans en Papillote topped with brown butter ice cream and a black pepper cinnamon twist along with salted pecans arrive.

The ice cream was very smooth and nicely flavored. The pecans were of a better quality than the ones I forking normally eat as they were very creamy inside and flavorful. I was already very full and couldn’t eat much of this. This wasn’t my favorite as it seemed like a melted pecan pie. Maybe I was just too forking full to enjoy this one.

My husband had a delightful cheese plate.

They gave us one more amuse bouche.

They were some kind of apple pectin fruit jells.

They thanked us for coming and gave us little bags of granola to take home.

Binkley’s  of Cave Creek Arizona is an experience like no other.