The number of restaurants in the Scottsdale area is almost overwhelming. Since it is a resort area there are options to suit any food craving or dining style from formal to casual. When visiting Arizona, having some authentic Mexican food, or even just some southwestern food, is a must. There are also plenty of outdoor patio options, but during the summer heat, most people stayed indoors. There are also several brewery options that offer good pub food with a variety of local beers that were perfect on a hot afternoon, although not as many options as we have in Colorado.
We should have known that this trip was going to be full of good food when we arrived at our resort on Saturday night to find out that the restaurant was offering a prime rib special. Two prime rib dinners, starter salads, and a bottle of wine for $40 and the prime rib was cooked to perfection. We almost always share a single dinner, so it was way too much food for the two of us, but it was too good of a deal to pass on.
We definitely took advantage of the many Mexican restaurants that are in the area. From a traditional pork carnitas burrito served enchilada style with fresh ingredients to a half of chicken with oregano, lime, and aji rocoto that was spicy, but delicious. We also had a wonderful pork and green chili queso and crab and shrimp stuffed chili rellenos. We love good Mexican food and we certainly were not disappointed with what we had in Scottsdale.
Obviously, we had more than just Mexican food over the seven days that we spent in Scottsdale. One of the things that we found interesting was that almost every menu had some variation of macaroni and cheese on it, some with meat, some without, so we had to try one of each during the week. Another interesting treat were the pork wings appetizer that were bone-in pork shanks with a spicy barbeque sauce. We also had some salmon cakes and an interesting devilish egg dip as appetizers and really unique burger.
We definitely enjoyed the food that we ate while we were in Scottsdale. Clearly, with all of the restaurant choices available, you can spend quite a while in Scottsdale and never eat at the same place twice, but some of them are so good that you just have to go back again and again. Perhaps we will revisit Scottsdale in the fall at some point so that we can eat our way through more of the many choices.