On our first full day in Sedona, the Missus wanted to head out to Her favorite trail here; the West Fork of Oak Creek. It turns out that JJ loved it here too. There are 13 river crossings and the in and back hike is 6 1/2 mils long.
Once in the canyons, we came across ice….in the streams…..
And on the canyon walls.
But this didn’t deter JJ in the least.
And he had fun crossing the streams.
Returning to El Portal, we took a short nap, then decided to head to uptown so the Missus could do some shopping. We enjoyed the views from the Oak Creek Scenic Overlook.
And we took a short “tea break” at the Sedona location of the Spice & Tea Exchange.
Yes, it’s a big time chain, but some iced Oolong after a busy morning did just fine.
We then walked back to our room and had a nice nap. We headed out a bit early for “dinner”, because….well, JJ needed his beef tartare fix at Creekside. So arrived for happy hour and got a table out front.
I had a nice HH Old Fashioned.
The Missus got a margarita. We got some chips……
And JJ got his beef tartare……
Creekside American Bistro
251 AZ-179
Sedona, AZ 86336
And then we headed off for our dinner; which was in Tlaquepaque Arts & Shopping Village at a French Restaurant named Rene’s. I did read that it has the same ownership as Creekside, but the menu looked interesting.
We arrived and were seated in the patio area. Our Server was super friendly. And we really liked the menu. So many items that piqued our interest….we finally settled on 4.
And I celebrated with an Old Fashioned.
Like many places these days; Rene’s charges for bread. Though I gotta say; this one may be worth it.
The bread had been lightly toasted, was quite rustic. The bread came with an olive oil-balsamic dipping sauce, tapenade, and pesto. We really enjoyed the herbaceous-garlic forward pesto the best.
The Steak Tartare was next. This was the only “clunker” of the meal as the steak was really chewy and had a metallic finish.
Too bad, because we enjoyed the chips and homemade cornichons. And that egg yolk looked so lovely. Bummer!
Of course we had to get the Seared Hudson Valley Foie Gras.
This came with some wonderful pork belly! Kind of overkill, but we enjoyed the sweet-tart glaze on the pork. The brioche and the Port wine reduction edged on being too sweet, but in the end it complimented the wonderfully seared, savory bomb that was the foie gras. Such nice offal-ly flavors.
And the Pate Maison was also a winnah!
It came with more of that lovely bread. The duck liver pate was so rich and buttery, the fragrance of black truffle danced in the air. Wonderfully textured….with that lovely gelee topping the pate. The mustard and other accoutrements paired well with bites of the pate.
This was our favorite meal of the trip. Service was laid back and nice…..in fact, we made reservations to return the following evening!
Rene At Tlaquepaque
336 Az-179 Tlaquepaque Arts & Crafts Village
Sedona, AZ 86336
And just like the previous evening….I ended the night relaxing on the patio with JJ.
