While staying at Sedona’s Enchantment Resort, we had the wonderful opportunity to dine at the resort’s famous Yavapai Restaurant.
As this photograph shows, the AAA Four-Diamond Yavapai Restaurant offers remarkable red-rock views, and serves up cuisine that is capable of adding to the remarkable visual experience.
Watching the varying hues of red on these sandstone cliffs, as the sun began to set, was nothing short of extraordinary.
We didn’t experience it, but evidently at certain times of the month, the subsequent full moon rise is equally stunning at it rises to the view of those dining in the restaurant. Can you imagine?
As we were seated at our red-rock view table, we ordered a nice bottle of Pinot Noir, and set about to explore Yavapai’s offerings.
Carol started her meal with Squash Blossoms (Crispy Almond Crusted Blossoms, Cypress Grove Purple Haze Goat Cheese Mâche, Grape & Radish Salad, Blood Orange-Agave Nectar). Wow! Words fail to describe how good this was.
For my starter, I opted for Pan-Seared Hudson-Valley Foie Gras (Braised Moulard Duck Crêpe, Blueberry Champagne Glaze, Wilted Blueberries & Pistachio Studded Fromage Sorbet). What? Cheese Ice Cream? Let me just say, I have sampled Foie Gras all over the country, and this stacked up at the very top. And, what a wonderful surprise in the Fromage Sorbet! Absolutely delightful. I wanted seconds!
Buffalo Tenderloin w/ Quail Sausage
For our main course Carol went with a wonderful piece of Sea Bass, while I opted for the restaurants signature Cold Smoked Buffalo Tenderloin (House-made Quail Sausage, Sweet Potato Risotto, all topped with a Blackberry-Chipolte Demi-Glaze). YUM!
You can always count on me to go for the unusual proteins, and this Buffalo Tenderloin was out of this world. Especially surprising, and a wonderful accompaniment, was the Quail Sausage. I want to go back. Tonight!
What a great thing to enjoy a great meal, with a stunning view, my bride beside me, the staff offering remarkable service, Executive Chef Steven Bernstein preparing remarkable dishes, and a nice espresso to top it all off.
My senses enjoyed a remarkable journey at the Yavapai Restaurant, and I highly recommend you follow along.
Disclosure: this dining experience was provided by the nice folks at Enchantment Resort.
If I were asked to close my eyes, and recall the most spectacular place I have ever laid my eyes upon, the setting of The Enchantment Resort in Sedona, Arizona would likely be one of the first to my mind.
I found myself completely mute as we drove into Boynton Canyon where the perennial award winning Enchantment Resort finds its home.
This amazing resort is tucked into a canyon with breathtaking red rock splendor closely surrounding it on three sides.
This particular canyon is in fact so beautiful that many have come to believe that this place has special spiritual vortexes:
“The energy from these vortexes saturates the whole area in and around Sedona, and can be noticed in a subtle but general way anywhere around town. If you actually go to one of the vortex sites, which is where the energy is strongest, it can be a very uplifting experience. The energy you take in at one of these energy centers can stay with you and affect you positively for days afterwards.
Now, we are not personally persuaded to believe such things. Nonetheless, the place is so stunningly beautiful it is easy to see why some would desire to press spiritual beliefs upon the place.
If you have become a reader of this travel website, you will know that in my view a spectacular resort must offer more than beautiful surroundings. A resort might have incredible features, but if the experience with the resort’s team members are not equal to, or greater than their surroundings, then discontent is quick to follow.
Clearly, the Enchantment Resort shares this very important conviction as we found at every turn service that exceeded our expectations.
From the moment we drove up to the valet stand, to the moment where we sadly checked out at the front desk, we found every single team member united in a single mission to make our experience remarkable.
Thanks Enchantment Resort, we noticed and we salute you!
I hesitate to make this article so long that you won’t read the whole thing, but I simply must share a few highlights of our stay:
Our Junior Suite sat under the shade of the canyon’s cottonwood trees, was spacious, and very comfortable. I suppose the most discriminating of travelers would be disappointed that our room didn’t feature today’s flat screen televisions, but I understand that there is a major remodel of the resort in the offing.
I can’t begin to explain the beauty that surrounds the Mii Amo Spa. As you can see in the photograph directly above, there is unfathomable beauty awaiting to engulf you in its majesty after your spa treatment. When I walked out from my steam bath, a fairly strong wind blew through, and it looked to be snowing from the seedlings from the surrounding cottonwood trees. It was surreal.
I will tell you more in a separate post, but watching the sunset/moonrise from the resort’s Yavapai restaurant was awe-inspiring, highly romantic, and the cuisine was equal to its surroundings.
Lastly, you simply must get out and hike the Boynton Canyon Trail. This 5-mile trail is approachable from the Mii Amo Spa, and will take you back into the beauty, and solitude of this remarkable place. In my opinion, it would be nearly criminal not to get out on this trail. After a mile or so, the sounds of modernity will drift away, and the cool breeze sounding its way through towering pines, and the endless red rock vistas will simply take your breath away.
Well, I hope you get the idea. Sedona’s Enchantment Resort is simply a place you must visit in your lifetime. I promise that you will greatly enjoy your stay, and you will be blessed with fond memories that will constantly stir to be told to your family and friends.
I find myself constantly amazed at the creativity of the human being.
I have been trying to get my wife to go camping for years. When I showed her a picture of glamping (glamorous camping), she proclaimed, “I could do that!”
Seizing the opportunity, I then asked, “how about staying in a yurt in Big Sur?” To my surprise she said, “sure!”
OK! That does it, we are going to go glamping in a yurt.
For your own personal research, here are a couple website to explore:
During our stay at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort, we were excited to dine at the resort’s newest restaurant experience: La Hacienda.
The reborn La Hacienda restaurant combines the celebrity culinary talents of Robert Sandoval with the well known local AAA Four-Diamond Executive Chef Forest Hamrick in the kitchen.
“Richard Sandoval brings the vibrant flavors and ingredients of Mexico into the culinary spotlight, combining the bold taste of classic Mexican cuisine with timeless European cooking techniques. This lighter, ingredient-driven approach showcases a bold new taste for La Hacienda, which offers guests an upscale, sophisticated dining atmosphere for the modern day, while still cherishing the traditions of the past. Mexican-born and trained at the Culinary Institute of America, he is considered the “Father of Modern Mexican Cuisine.”
With the new La Hacienda boasting a tequila bar featuring 110 varieties of tequila from 36 different labels, we figured we had better start out with the nation’s #1 selling mixed drink: the margarita. Our waiter (pictured with Carol above) recommended the Organic which was a wonderful blend of Partida Silver, agave nectar, and fresh lime. YUM! I had two!
Our Antojitos (appetizer) was one of the great highlights of our evening’s dining experience.
Hamrick and Sandoval
The Ceviche Tasting, which consisted of Camarone Ceviche (shrimp, avocado, & chile habanero), and Mahi Mahi Ceviche (mahi mahi, citrus-tomato, & chili serrano) was absolutely out of this world. The expert blend of sweet, sour, and heat provided my palate with a taste sensation never before experienced. Seriously, I wanted to lick the little bit that was left upon the plate. It was that good! Incredible!
We had only began our meal, and we were already commenting that if the rest of the meal can keep pace with our margarita and antojitos, then we were certainly in store for an epic meal!
Next, Carol chose Ensalada Con Almendras (mixed greens, pea shoots, cranberries, caramelized almonds, goat cheese, and a spicy vinaigrette), while I opted for Sopa de Elote (roasted corn, cream, huitlacoche).
What is Huitlacoche you ask? Well, Huitlacoche is the fungal, culinary delicacy ustilago maydis that grows on ears of corn. Inhabitants of Mexico and indigenous people from the Southwestern United States enjoy this rich, smoky ingredient in foods like tamales, soups, quesadillas, appetizers, and ice cream. While farmers treat huitlacoche as an infectious affliction that ruins corn crops, it has a long history in the cuisine of Aztecs, Hopi, and Zuni.
Let me just say this about my Sopa. When my palate encounters a taste that it greatly enjoys, there arises inside me a little boy that desires to get up and dance with joy. My right leg actually started this rapid, involuntary up and down movement as I forced my body to stay in my seat. My goodness, that was good Sopa!
For our Platos Fuertes (main course) Carol elected Costilla de Res (braised beef short rib, vegetable escabeche, crema fresca potato puree, with a chile habanero-guava sauce). Major comfort food on the part of my bride-for-life. On the other hand, I went for the Atun (pistachio chile ancho crusted tuna, sweet potato, green apple salad, with a mole verde).
My tuna was very, very good, but I noticed that Carol’s eye’s were beginning to roll back in her sockets each time she sampled her braised short ribs.
Sadly, when it came time to consider desert we simply had no room for anything more. Even more disappointing was that we didn’t even have room for La Hacienda’s famous flaming table-side coffee. We simply couldn’t eat another thing.
Listen, this was absolutely, and without any reservation the best Mexican cuisine we have ever encountered! It wasn’t at all heavy as some Mexican cuisine can tend to be, and we were exposed to a few new tastes that were simply celestial.
I am greatly pleased to live only 9 miles from La Hacienda as we can easily go back again, and again, and again!
For heaven’s sake, make a reservation at La Hacienda. We highly recommend it!
Disclosure: this incredible dining experience was provided by the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Resort.
The Roaming Boomers
While staying at Sedona’s Enchantment Resort, we had the wonderful opportunity to dine at the resort’s famous Yavapai Restaurant.
