My family recently enjoyed a long weekend in Sedona and one of the highlights of the trip (other than being together) was our dinner at the Silver Saddle Room. This is part of the famous Cowboy Club restaurant which is renowned for catering to the Western movie stars in the 1940s and ‘50s (think John Wayne, James Steward, Rock Hudson, Gene Autry, Joan Crawford-to name a few) as well as the site where the Cowboy Artists of America was founded in 1965.
The restaurant is now owned by Tom Gilomen, a generous and gracious man who loves fine dining and has a passion for sharing it with others. I am free flowing with my complements toward Tom for several reasons: his daughter Lauren used to work here at Idea Hall; he donated a trip for 8 to Sedona including gift certificates to his restaurants to CASA for their annual travel auction (one of my favorite charities), and he’s an advertising guy by trade.
So back to the Silver Saddle Room… this restaurant offers a one-of-a-kind fine dining experience in luxurious cowboy style. The restaurant is casually elegant with comfortable suede booths and fine appointments such as western paintings, a cactus skeleton and of course… a silver saddle.
Upon settling into the booth, we were presented with a great wine list and shortly thereafter a “gift from the chef” to tempt our pallets. The menu is truly a Western experience complete with specialties like tempura rattlesnake, buffalo brochette, and cactus fries as starters. In family-style, we ordered the sampler platter so we could try it all. And then, we each ordered a different main course so we could try as many items as possible. But before dinner was served, we enjoyed a taste of prickly cactus sorbet to cleanse our pallets. Our favorite entrées were the campfire ribs (some of the best I’ve ever tasted!), pork chops with sweet potato fries, cedar plank salmon, and the wild game stew. Now, I would have never had the guts to order the wild game stew, but our good friend Joe who grew up in Oklahoma did and it was just wonderful. We all raved about it! It was made with a variety of wild game slow simmered in gravy and homemade brown ale. I would highly recommend it for those of you willing to take a risk and/or appreciate the taste of the great outdoors. And then (of course!) we decided to sample several deserts. When you go, you must have the warm flourless chocolate cake. By far, this was the family favorite. The vanilla bean crème brulee served with fresh berries was decadent too. I hope next time you find yourself amongst Arizona's most spectacular red rock formations, you’ll take the time to enjoy a wonderful meal at The Cowboy Club’s Silver Saddle Room. I strongly recommend making reservations.
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