Regular Chow Bella readers should easily be able to rattle off names of Phoenix's elite chefs like Eddie Matney and Michael de Maria, but according to the
O'Neil Associates/ASBA Arizona Economic Indicators Monitor, the average joe on the street has no idea.
Three thousand local businesses were asked to voice their pick for the Valley's top chef/restaurant owner to complete this report. So how did Phoenix's bastions of culinary experience rank?
According to the O'Neil Associations' report: "By far, the most common response was, 'I've never heard of any of these people' (63%). Among those actual persons who were cited, however, Sam Fox (13%) and Mark Tarbell (10%) dominated responses. Others who were cited included Eddie Matney (4%), Vincent Guerithault (4%), Christopher Gross (3%), Robert McGrath (1%), and Michael de Maria (1%)." -- Jonathan McNamara