Chef Silvana Salcido Esparza is as distinctive a figure as the Phoenix food scene has produced, a deeply thoughtful impresario of Mexican cooking. She has basically created a new high Mexican cuisine, by refusing to traffic in tacos and tamales and so forth, instead focusing on the ingredients and flavors that move her. You have two venues to try. One is her original Barrio Café, 2814 North 16th Street. (www.barriocafe.com; tel. 602/636-0240; no reservations), where she made her name, turning a once-marginal neighborhood into a culinary must-visit. Here she mixes various meats and vegetables with flavorful chili-based sauces—like a poblano stuffed with pear, apple, apricot, and pecans, and finished with cilantro and pomegranate.