After doing the Oak Creek Trail, the Missus and I picked up some stuffs from Whole Foods and had a simple lunch. By dinner time; well, I was ready for some "grindz". Luckily, our dinner destination was basically right around the corner from our accommodations. Even more lucky....I'd made reservations for dinner as there was already a line when we got to the place at 5pm! Our reservations were for 515! I pity the folks with no reservations.
We worked our way down the reservations line and got a nice table with some good distance from other folks. The service here was more friendly and things seemed much more laid back than dinner the night before.
The Missus really loved the chips here! In fact, She cleaned it out pretty quickly and our friendly Server quickly got us more!
After the days hike I was pretty darn hungry, so we actually ordered three apps and two mains!
And since this place is named "Elote" (corn)....well you know what our starters revolved around, right?
Things started with the Elote ($11).
There was a bit too much mayo in this, which nullified the sweet-smokiness of the fire roasted corn.
Next up the Huitlacoche Corn Soup (a small - $8).
You could really make out the corn here! Nice sweetness, the chili de arbol powder added some nice heat to the dish. Not enough huitlacoche to really make much of an impact in our opinion.
Sweet Corn Salad ($12).
We enjoyed the Chipotle Vinaigrette and this was nice and refreshing, but again it was kind of short in the elote department. But not bad overall.
We had explained that we'd like to dine "family style" and the folks here cheerfully accommodated us with separate plates and even plate changes! Great staff.
The Duck Carnitas ($29) was bit more chewy and fatty then I had anticipated.
Pasilla chilies, which have a nice fruitiness was a nice match and the guacamole really helped to refresh the palate cutting thru the richness of the dish.
The Smoked Pork Cheeks ($28) was my favorite dish of the evening.
The pork was indeed smoky and the texture was good, not falling apart but quite tender. And this part of the swine has a wonderful porkiness. I wasn't sure about the buttermilk-cumin drizzle, but it worked well in this framework, a bit of acidity, nice earthiness. I also enjoyed the cascabel chili sauce, a nice nutty-earthiness.
Overall this was an enjoyable meal, the service brought it up a notch.
Elote Cafe
350 Jordan Rd.
Sedona, AZ 86336
The next morning the Missus wanted to do one more hike on our way out of Sedona. She wanted to hike to the Devil's Bridge. During Her previous previous visit, the Devil's Bridge was packed with the "selfie crowd" and She never got to walk out onto it. And se we headed on over. Even though it was December, the parking lot was already filled when we arrived. A really nice guy in a brand new Corvette had parked....he saw us, waved and moved up to make room for us to park! What a nice guy!
The trail, other than the last portion up to the bridge is flat and easy to navigate. And you get really nice views of the Sedona "Red Rocks".
And when we arrived at the Devil's Bridge, there was only one couple ahead of us.
And that couple was the folks from that new yellow Corvette. We were just going to take a stroll on the Devil's Bridge and maybe do a selfie. But the really nice guy told me; "I'm going to rest here a while, so why don't you walk on over and I'll take a picture of you!" And he didn't take just one photo, but an entire set! You know, people like him really do make travels just so much better!
And so, our time in Sedona was up.
But there was one more stop for us left!
Stay tuned!
what great sights!
Posted by: kat | Monday, 13 June 2022 at 12:30 AM
The Devils Bridge was fun Kat!
Posted by: Kirk | Monday, 13 June 2022 at 08:21 AM