Native American – mmm-yoso

Roadtrip (During Covid) – Dinner at Kai and Caffeine Fix From WhereUBean Coffee (Phoenix)

June 23, 2022 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Caffeine Fix, Fine Dining, Memorable Meals, Native American, Phoenix/Scottsdale/Chandler/Central AZ, Road Trip, Travel

We could have easily just headed home upon leaving Sedona, but I had one more overnight stop in mind. On this road trip, I had decided to bookend our travels with some more upscale meals. On the way to Zion we stopped in Las Vegas for dinner at Partage. On the way back home, I decided we should spend a night at the Sheraton at Wild Horse Pass and have dinner at Kai Restaurant, the only AAA Five Diamond and Forbes Five Star restaurant in Arizona. Beyond those accolades, I was fascinated by the menu which is described as having "distinct interpretations of Native American cuisine using fresh local ingredients for elevated dining." I thought it would be a nice end to our road trip.

Upon checking in to this rather posh resort, we relaxed in our room.

We had a nice view.

We got ready for dinner and left our room a bit early to do some shopping in the gift shop before heading off to the restaurant. With Covid measures in place, it seemed like reservations were staggered and until one third way through our meal, we were the only folks dining. The service, while discreet is definitely professional and polished; the Servers all knew our names, crumbs cleared off the table between every course, silverware changed, and still, the service wasn't hovering and did not feel stuffy in the least.

The decor is low-keyed, the walls festooned with the craft and artwork of the Pima and Maricopa Tribes and each menu has distinct artwork featured on it as well. I was told that the watercolor on my menu was of the Maricopa Butterfly Dance.

The meal is tasting menu only, with several choices for the "Birth", "Beginning", "The Journey", and the "Afterlife". We decided to share a wine pairing with dinner.

The Amuse was a very nice Sablefish wrapped in Basil Flower. The Olive Oil served with the bread was outstanding and we were told it was from Queen Creek Olive Mill.

As always, the Missus and I shared our course which would give us tastes of a good range of items.

The Escargot with Wild Mushroom was an interesting mix of textures, the truffle crema added some decadent touches to the dish. There was a bit more sweetness then I expected in this dish from the black garlic, bread, and the caramel goat cheese.

We both loved the "Pee-Posh Garden".

While it might have seemed to be a bit much when reading the ingredients on the menu, it was a symphony of textures and flavors, from the fermented white asparagus, to the crunchy and mildly sweet pecan "soil", to the pickled beets, nutty-sweet sunchoke puree, and buttery confit potatoes.

I'm sure you know if foie gras is on the menu, we'd be ordering it, even with a $20 supplement. The fois gras was nicely seared, the interior nice and smooth, rich, earthy, though the roasted and compressed apple was perhaps a bit on the sweeter end of the spectrum for us.

The Pork Cheek and Crisp Belly was nice and "swiney". Perfectly done; the Anasazi Bean adding a nice, sweet-earthiness to the dish.

The mains…ummm "Journey" were prepared well, if a bit on the "standard" side.

The "Kachk", black cod with fennel puree was cooked well, nice and creamy. We appreciated the fact that the fennel puree did not overwhelm the dish.

This could have used a bit more aggressive seasoning in our opinion.

Kai's signature dish is the Grilled Tenderloin of Tribal Buffalo was cooked to a perfect medium rare.

It is of course buffalo….thus a bit on the "toothsome" side. A bit milder in flavor than what I expected, the corn puree and saguaro syrup made this a bit sweeter than I like as well.

The cheese plate was quite routine.

Dessert was served with some fanfare…..

Both desserts were outstanding and not overly sweet.

The Chocolate and Queen Creek Olives.

The Mousse "stones" where wonderful, so decadent and creamy inside, with the "hidden" olive cake adding a touch of savoriness, and the lemon foam had just enough cirtus-acidity for the dish.

The Cactus Melange was also stellar.

That Nopales and Lime sabayon was outstanding and it's really hard to describe the taste of the nopales sherbet.

We loved the parting gift.

Definitely not a inexpensive dinner at almost $600 with tip.

Kai
5594 W Wild Horse Pass Blvd. (At the Sheraton Grand At Wild Horse Pass)
Phoenix, AZ 85226

After dinner we took a stroll around the property.

The next morning we headed home; stopping for coffee and a light breakfast at WhereUBean Coffee.

Nice, relaxed coffee stop; really friendly staff. When I grabbed a Earl Grey cake for the Missus, the guy working pointed me to the "Happy Little Accident" discounted slice….he must've known how much I paid for dinner the previous night!

The Missus got a pour over and I an Americano….

And soon enough we were on our way.

WhereUBean Coffee
4804 E Chandler Blvd.
Phoenix, AZ 85048

It had been a fun road trip:

Starting with our first visit to Las Vegas in over 8 years.

And then to Zion, Angels Landing, and a Ghost Town.

Moving on to Mystery and Monument Valleys.

And I even got to do my best Forrest Gump impression and "Stand on a Corner".

We even got our "selfie" moment at a sandstone arch.

Thanks for coming along!

Roadtrip (During Covid) – Mystery Valley, Monument Valley, and Lunch at Goulding’s Stagecoach Dining Room

May 29, 2022 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Flagstaff/ Sedona/Winslow/Northern AZ, Mexican Restaurants, Native American, Road Trip, Travel, Utah

On our full day in Monument Valley we had gotten a private tour. Since Monument Valley is on Navajo land, the only "real" way to visit is to hire a Navajo Guide. I had also wanted to see Mystery Valley as well. So, I booked a private all day tour with 3 Sister Navajo Guided Tours. Based on our short hike the day before and the amazing sunrise; I just knew it would be money well spent. And it was. Our guide Amory was raised in Mystery Valley, he clarified a lot of things for us, one thing we learned quickly is that the Navajo call themselves Dine', which means "the People". Amory also passed on things he learned from his grandmother and was a great guide.

There was just so much information, so much to learn, that if I ever return, I'm going to take notes. As it is; I'll mostly share photos with you all.

There were two reasons I really wanted to visit Mystery Valley, which is still inhabited….we passed farms raising livestock along the way. I really wanted to see the various arches and the Anasazi ruins.

We were taken in a four wheel ; a must for a tour like this.

That's the Square House Arch above, which was the first stop. Which then led to one of the places I really wanted to see; the vehicle maneuvers along some fairly slick rocks, we stop and Amory walks us into a small valley and points up.

This is known as the Square House Ruins.

A closer look.

During the tour Amory told us what he learned from elders and his grandmother. Seeing these ruins high up, we are often told that the Anasazi used ladders to get to these dwellings.

Amory was quick to point out the walls of the canyon.

He told us that that over time floods had eroded the soil away and pointed out former soil levels. So ladders weren't necessary at that time.

He also asked us to take a look around to see if we noticed anything…….and then pointed out the petroglyphs…..

And then pottery shards…..

Which we had totally missed! We'd be paying more careful attention for the rest of the trip!

It seemed that every turn yielded another arch – this is called the Honeymoon Arch – see how it meets in the middle?

This is the Stout Arch.

This is the Baby House Ruins.

The House of Many Hands.

See the hand prints?

It was just plain amazing.

Soon, it was time for a lunch break. Amory took us back to the hotel.

And we got in the car and drove into Utah and over to Goulding's Lodge, which was once upon a time really the only place to stay near Monument Valley. Since the restaurant in the View Hotel was closed due to Covid, the only other real option for us was Goulding's Stagecoach Dining Room.

It pretty much a diner…..and service was a such

The Missus got the Turkey Soup with Fry Bread.

Fairly bland and dry turkey meat.

I got the Navajo Taco.

This fry bread was kinda "doughy" and not as crisp as the version at Amigo Cafe. Sour cream and generic salsa, shredded lettuce, diced tomato, and chili con carne…….

Very generic, simple food for the masses.

Goulding's Stagecoach Dining Room
1000 Gouldings Trading Post Rd.
Oljato-Monument Valley, UT 84536

Walking out of the restaurant we ran into this friendly fella'.

I went to the car and got him a treat; which he quickly gobbled up. We had finished lunch fairly quickly, so we went to check out the gift shop. Guess who was waiting by our car when we got out of the shop? It was great "valet service"!

Goulding's has quite a history and Harry Goulding is credited with bringing Hollywood to Monument Valley.

The original Trading Post is now a museum.

And of course the star of many of those movies needs no introduction….

And when She Wore a Yellow Ribbon was filmed in Monument Valley, structures on the grounds of Goulding's were used in the movie.

We headed back to the View and met back up with Amory and then headed into Monument Valley.

First stop was John Ford Point.

Which was one of Director John Ford's favorite filming points.

It's got quite a view!

Because we had a guide, we were able to get off the main road and thru various gates; getting some wonderful views.

That's the "3 Sisters" above.

And there are arches here as well. That's the Mocassin Arch above.

While looking at my photos, I noticed that they really don't do scalar justice to the arches. So, take a look at the photo of the Big Hogan Arch above and then for a reference point take a look at the photo to the right.

And all of the arches and rock formations have names!

It can be quite overwhelming!

The last two stops where mainly for taking photos!

And it was so easy to compose some pretty nice photos……

Which made this an unforgettable day!

Thanks for stopping by!

Roadtrip (During Covid) – LP Espresso (Page), Amigo Cafe (Kayenta), and the Lee Cly Trail (Monument Valley)

April 15, 2022 mmm-yoso American/New American Restaurants, Caffeine Fix, Flagstaff/ Sedona/Winslow/Northern AZ, Mexican Restaurants, Native American, Road Trip, Travel

We left Zion fairly early in the morning. I was looking forward to our next stop; Monument Valley…after all, my late Mom was a big time Western fan, and I recognized photos from Monument Valley as scenes from some of her favorite Westerns. Plus, Monument Valley, located in both Arizona and Utah and on the Navajo Nation Reservation is not quite as heavily visited as other places we've been to.

We headed out the East exit of Zion National Park, down the 89 thru Kanab. We decided to stop in Page, which we were somewhat familiar with, to grab some provisions and for a coffee break. We took a short stop at the Glen Canyon Dam Bridge before heading into Page.

A nice little stop to stretch our legs…..

In Page we stopped to fuel up and then at the Safeway for water and a couple of other items; then drove over to LP Espresso for our caffeine fix.

Part espresso/coffee bar, part wine/beer pub, the young ladies were very friendly, though our Espresso and my Cold Brew (???) took a while.

There's not much choice for decent coffee in Page……so we took what we could get.

LP Espresso
612 North Navajo Drive
Page, AZ 86040

From here we headed down the 98, then to the 160 East. At the point where we needed to take the 163 (no, not THAT 163) North to get to Monument Valley is the town of Kayenta, which is part of the Navajo Nation. I had marked off a place to grab lunch, Amigo Cafe, mainly because I wanted some Fry Bread.

The restaurant is located past the usual fast-food suspects, right as you take the left onto highway 163.

This small restaurant was doing some steady business. They had some great Covid protocols in place and we had to actually sign in and leave our contact information for contact tracing. The Navajo Nation was hit hard by Covid-19 and at one time had the highest per-capita infection rate of COVID-19 in the US. But due to their response they've beat back Covid and according to several articles I've read is now one of the safest areas with regards to Covid in the nation.

All the tables were cleaned super well, all employees (and customers we saw) wore masks. The staff was friendly and warm.

The Missus got Pork Posole with Fry Bread ($10).

Which was on the bland side and really needed more porkiness and seasoning. The base also needed more chili paste as this was lacking in the fruity-smokiness of dried Guajillo and Ancho chilies. The Fry Bread was light, crisp, and yeasty, reminding the Missus of youtiao.

She was also provided with some pretty plain guacamole and chips.

I got the "Navajo Taco" ($11).

Basically Fry Bread (think of it as a unsweetened funnel cake if you will) with a smear of refried beans, shredded lettuce, onion, and tomato. A side of Spanish rice was also provided. Very Ameri-Mex toppings.

Well, the fry bread was a bit oily, but yeasty, and I got to try it out.

The folks working seemed to know all the other customers, so I'm guessing quite a few locals eat here. The service was very nice and efficient and I thought prices were quite reasonable.

Amigo Cafe
US Hwy 163
Kayenta, AZ 86033

From Kayenta you head up Highway 163 and then take a right on Indian Route 42 right after crossing the border to Utah. Taking the right on the roundabout takes you right back into Arizona, take a left, you're in Utah….straight ahead is Mexican Hat. Many folks stay at Goulding's Lodge down Monument Valley Road. But I decided that we should stay in the only hotel in Monument Valley; the View Hotel. There's only one entrance to Monument Valley, you drive up to the booth and pay the entrance fee, $20 per vehicle. We got to the hotel; which was also under Covid restrictions, so the restaurant was closed and so forth, a bit early. So of course the Missus wanted to "stretch Her legs"……. There are two hikes in the area; the Wildcat Trail and the Lee Cly trail, a 2 mile loop that we took. These are the only two hikes you could take without a Navajo guide. The trail starts just East of the hotel.

And yes, Monument Valley was every bit as beautiful as I thought.

From the left to the right; the "West Mitten", the "East Mitten", and "Merrick Butte".

A wonderful, pretty easy hike to the South of the hotel.

Upon completing the hike our room was ready. The View has hotel rooms, cabins, and a camping area. I took a top floor room for both this view at dusk.

And the night sky…..it was so totally dark, we saw so many falling stars……

Because of Covid, the hotel restaurant was closed, but bag meals, basically brown bag sandwiches and chips were provided. We were enjoying the view so much that we really didn't fdeel like driving out for dinner. Also, no alcohol can be sold on the Navajo Nation.

We walked over to the gift shop before picking up our sack meal. We really liked the gift shop and ended up buying some certified Navajo items as gifts.