T. Cook’s Lounge $2 Taco Night ~ Royal Palms Resort and Spa, Phoenix – We visited the Royal Palms a little over a year ago (video), and ever since then we have desired to get back to experience their $2 taco night.

As Chef Lee Hillson and his crew are preparing their contest entry for the upcoming Arizona Taco Festival, we were invited in to sample and vote for our favorite taco.  Chef Hillson will then use the patron’s ballots as a means to decide which taco to take to the competition.

We invited friends to join us and we all arrived at 6:30 to an absolutely packed house.  There was a jazzy lounge singer crooning as we settled back into comfortable chairs to enjoy our evening.

Over the course of the next few hours we noshed on gourmet tacos, pollo verde chimichangas with tomatillo salsa, poutine (shredded beef short ribs over sweet potato fries w/ braising jus), mini-kobe hot dogs, and washed it all down with a delicious red wine chosen by the Sommelier/Manager Matt Weston (aka Cork Dork).

This was no ordinary lounge food.  No, this was lounge cuisine designed by Iron Chef Lee Hillson who has cooked on more than one occasion at the James Beard House in New York, hosted a Friends of James Beard dinner at the resort, and has received the prestigious AAA Four-Diamond Award for the last six years running.

If you looking for a fun night out on the town, we can highly recommend that you grab some friends and head over to the T. Cook’s Lounge for $2 Taco Night.

Here’s a few photographs of our evening…

If you can’t see the slideshow, click here.

Disclosure: our wonderful experience was provided by the kind folks at T. Cook’s Lounge and Royal Palms Resort and Spa. Thanks! It was big fun!