golfkat Travel Blog

Did you know that the sun shines an average of over 300 days a year?  That is more sunshine than Florida!

Arizona has more National Parks and National Monuments than any other state.

Sedona and Arizona have more mountainous countryside than Switzerland.  It also appears to have more celebrities, chocolate and guns.

Sedona is located in the southern part of the largest stand of Ponderosa pines in the world.  So, if that is the case where are the Cartwrights, and did they film Bonanza here?

Actually, we have seen most of the sites, and also taken a helicopter ride over the magnificent red rock areas.  And I have hiked most of the trails.  And window shopped all the tourist stores. So, why do we keep returning?  I love the vortexes, of course!!

I like to think that it is really magical, almost spiritual.  If you have not been here, you should give it a try.  To top it off, this young lady who worked for me said her husband’s family was from Jerome, the old copper mining town up in the hills a little southwest of Sedona.  How did a Portagee end up in Arizona, and where did they keep their dairy cattle?

Tomorrow will be a full day of dining, starting with breakfast at the Coffee Pot Cafe, located near the base of the red rock called the Coffee Pot.  Dinner (tonight, actually) will be at the world reknown Elote’ Cafe in Oak Creek.  In between, we may hike, do some retail therapy, converge harmonically with nature, or just take a long afternoon nap by the pool.

The Elote is THE place to eat here.  Their website says their cuisine is inspired by the markets of Mexico.  Owner and chef, Jeff Smedstad, traveled through Mexico for 15 years!!  He ate in local cafes, shopped for food in local markets, and spent time with families in Mexico, to learn the subtleties of the cuisine.  But I can guarantee you, this is not your average Mexican restaurant!!

For example, these have been some of his main dishes:

Lamb Adobo – Braised Rosen Farms “Shepherds Pride” Colorado Lamb shank served with sweet & spicy ancho chile sauce  28.00
Buffalo Mole Poblano – Buffalo short ribs braised in traditional mole poblano  26.50
Striploin Asada – Grilled all natural Harris Ranch N.Y. Strip with guajillo chile sauce rajas and avocado  27.00
Sea Bass Asado – Grilled Corvina Sea Bass with lime aioli, spicy cabbage and salsa verde  24.00
Camarones en Chipotle –  Grilled wild mexican Shrimp with roasted tomato – chipotle sauce and elote lime crema  24.00
Carnitas – Slow-roasted all natural Idaho Pork shoulder with arbol- tomatillo salsa and guacamole  21.00
Smoked Pork Cheeks – Served with cascabel chile sauce, grandma’s corn cake
and buttermilk cumin drizzle  20.00
Smoked Chicken Enchiladas – House smoked organic free range Chicken with salsa verde and chipotle crema  19.50
Roasted Squash Chile Relleno – Seasoned butternut squash with corn, jack cheese, mole verde and pepita crema  17.50

As they say here, everything is rouge!

Many, many, make that throngs or hordes of tourists here, mostly due to spring training and gorgeous weather.  Shirtsleeves, bermuda shorts, and sandals are the preferred lack of clothing style here.

Note above, I am partial to the corn based dishes and the pork cheeks.  Not only that, we were first in line!!  Never in the short and sweet history of dining at Elote have we been numero uno!  Things got even better from there.  First, they opened 20 minutes early, because of us.  Just kidding, but they did open early.  Topping that, they had a great sparkling wine from New Mexico’s Gruet Winery, and unbelievably, in the true half bottle size of 375 ml!

Dinner quickly escalated from here, with their great corn chowder, and their signature Elote’ corn appetizer.  I had to have the pork cheeks again, even better than I remember.  Sheri had the sea bass, quite good with just a pico de gallo, and a melange of greens, mostly kale, Hunter Pence’s favorite veggie.  Superb so far, right?

It turns out that the name Elote’ is derived from the Nahuatl word for corn or cob.  Jeff says corn is king in his kitchen.  The corn comes year around from the nearby Verde Valley.  The signature Elote’ corn dish is inspired by a traditional snack sold by street vendors or eloteros in Mexico.  More corn news when we get to Scottsdale on Wednesday.

But a young man in line with us suggested the pecan pie with pecan ice cream for dessert.  Neither one of us would put pecan above peach or coconut cream pie.  But this masterpiece was truly life altering.  I will never shun a good pecan pie again, ever!

So, a great first day in beautiful, red rocked Sedona, except for the thundering hordes of tourists.  Traffic here is about as heavy as rush hour on the Capitol Beltway in DC.  A parking lot would move faster and more efficiently.   Yeah, I know, stop bitching about being stuck here for 4 days in beautiful red rock Sedona.  Find a vortex, and just chill out, right?