Sweet Treat Spas | Sedona Monthly Magazine | Sedona Arizona art, restaurants, hiking and feature stories

Our Sedona Table

Santa Fe. Sonoma. Sedona. Our first book, The Sedona Table, out in April, proves Sedona is more than world-class art galleries and indulgent spas: We’re a dining destination. Here’s a sneak peek inside the 192-page book that’s part cookbook, part chefs’ biography, part photo album, part foodies’ delight and part Sedona history.

By Erika Ayn Finch
Photos by Debbie Weinkauff

The story behind The Sedona Table really begins with the November 2006 issue of Sedona Monthly. To say that issue was huge would be an understatement; foodies all across the United States sat up and took notice of our cover story profiling Sedona resort restaurants. Wine dinners, private chef’s tables and jazz brunches in northern Arizona’s favorite little hamlet? Who would have guessed? Before we knew it Three Forks Press, an imprint of Globe Pequot, the second-largest publisher of cookbooks in the United States, approached us to write a cookbook featuring Sedona’s burgeoning culinary scene in a beautiful, full-color coffee-table-book format. Naturally we jumped at the opportunity to tell the world what we already knew: Sedona had become a dining destination on par with places like Santa Fe.

Writing a book is much different than publishing a monthly magazine, as we quickly learned. First of all, the process is painfully slow. We signed our contract with Globe in September 2007 and I interviewed our first chef that same month. By April 2008 the book was written, but editing didn’t begin until June and finally wrapped up in October, just days before the book went to print. So to say this tome was two-and-a-half years in the making isn’t an exaggeration. In fact, I think many of the chefs featured didn’t think it would ever see the light of day – just another crazy Sedona scheme – because of the production time. I hope they will all be pleasantly surprised by what they will soon hold in their hands.

We were limited in the number of chefs and restaurants we could feature, and narrowing down a long list to only 12 locations wasn’t easy – not to mention the new chefs we absolutely adore who opened up shop after we’d already begun writing the book. In the end The Sedona Table showcases 14 chefs at a dozen different restaurants. Each chapter profiles the chef (or “chefs” in the case of Dahl & Di Luca Ristorante Italiano and the Cowboy Club Grille and Spirits), his or her corresponding restaurant and, where applicable, resort. The chefs all offer “tricks of the trade” and give us insight into their cooking habits away from the commercial kitchen. Finally, each chef provides us with five of their favorite recipes, complete with photographs, for a cookbook with a total of 60 dishes. The recipes run the gamut from easy to complex, breakfast to dinner, and healthy spa cuisine to decadent desserts. Truly, there’s something for everyone.

While writing the book we were often asked about our audience – is this a book for Sedona residents or visitors? Both and then some, we say. The Sedona Table will appeal to anyone who loves to cook, loves to eat, appreciates beautiful photography and scenery, or wants to know more about Red Rock Country. In April, pick up your copy locally at The Well Red Coyote (3190 W. Hwy 89A; 928-282-2284), Worm Book & Music Store (6645 Hwy 179 in the VOC; 928-282-3471), or nationally at Barnes & Noble bookstores and Amazon.com. Here’s a sneak peek at what you’ll find inside each chapter. Bon appétit!

Steven Bernstein and Yavapai Restaurant
As you sit in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows at Yavapai Restaurant, so close to the sheer red rock cliffs and spires of Boynton Canyon you feel like you could touch them, it occurs to you that there are few restaurants on earth with a view that can bring a hushed reverence to your table. This writer has only experienced the feeling on one other occasion, at Château Eza, 1,500 feet above the Mediterranean on the border of France and Monaco. Dining at Yavapai, located at Enchantment Resort, is a sensory experience, from the view to the sound of classical music softly playing in the background to the feel of the leather-covered menus to the taste of the southwestern-influenced Continental cuisine. It’s no wonder Executive Chef Steven Bernstein has called the Four Diamond Yavapai—named after a local Native American tribe—his second home since 2001.

Steven oversees the resort’s three restaurants: Mii amo Café, Yavapai, and Tii Gavo, a more casual lounge that still comes with Yavapai’s stunning views. Mii amo Café, located at the resort’s destination spa, Mii amo, offers weekly cooking classes and tea demonstrations. The restaurants serve only all-natural meats, fish flown in from Hawaii five times a week, and a variety of fresh produce, including mushrooms from Oregon and tomatoes and greens from Arizona. Steven’s food philosophy is simple: Quality is number one.

“I have no boundaries here—I buy the food from where I want at the level of quality I want. I know where everything comes from,” he says. “At Enchantment quality means more than saving a dime—we are a destination with travelers coming from all over the world to stay with us and dine with us. They are well traveled and they know their food—anything but the best isn’t acceptable.”

Steven’s team of more than 50 goes through four cases of avocados every day to make fresh guacamole—everything, from the salsa to the ice cream and desserts, is made from scratch. Locals and travelers alike rave about Yavapai’s Sunday brunch with live jazz, which includes a seafood station, lamb and caviar. Yavapai’s wine list includes 900 bottles with an inventory of 12,000, earning the restaurant numerous awards from Wine Spectator. During the warmer months you can dine on Yavapai’s terrace with the 220-room resort’s manicured lawns, adobe casitas and swimming pools spread out below.

Enchantment opened in 1987 on 70 acres of a private homestead in Boynton Canyon just southwest of Sedona. Its focus was on tennis, and the resort still boasts seven courts. Local Apache believe First Woman, the founder of their tribe, was born in the canyon. Several times each year the Yavapai-Apache return to the canyon at sunrise to hold sacred ceremonies, including one honoring First Woman.
The 24,000-square-foot Mii amo, a Native American term meaning “journey” or “passage,” plays a major role at Enchantment—the spa is only open to Enchantment guests or those who choose to stay in one of Mii amo’s 16 rooms and suites. Enchantment also offers a kids’ program, a 12,000-square-foot meeting village, a par-3 golf course and putting green, and mountain bike rentals.

Yavapai Restaurant at Enchantment Resort
525 Boynton Canyon Road, Sedona
928-282-2900

Andrea Carusetta-Blaut and Sedona Cake Couture
Andrea Carusetta-Blaut operates Sedona Cake Couture out of her fully licensed commercial kitchen overlooking Oak Creek. When she relocated from Florida to Sedona in 2004, her husband thought she was crazy when she brought her baking equipment with her. How could Sedona begin to match Andrea’s Florida average of 10 wedding cakes per week? Not surprisingly, Red Rock Country stepped up to the plate: Andrea routinely bakes 15 cakes a week during high wedding season. Culinary experts all over the world are sitting up and taking notice of Andrea’s works of art. In 2007 and 2008 she walked away with multiple awards from the National Association of Culinary Executives competition, and she’s been featured on the Food Network’s Cake Challenge. Andrea’s baking philosophy is simple: “My primary occupation is food as art; that’s ingrained in everything I do. A poached pear on a plate is not enough. I have to add pomegranate seeds and mint leaves.” Her signature flourish comes in the form of the edible chocolate leaves she creates using warm chocolate, a paintbrush, and maple, gardenia, lemon or orange leaves.
While she may spend most of her days in the kitchen that doesn’t mean Andrea has her cake and eats it too. “My husband does most of the cooking because I bake all day – and we only have dessert about once a week or else I’d weigh 1,000 pounds!”

Sedona Cake Couture
928-204-2887

Daryl Richards and The Grille at ShadowRock
Daryl Richards began cooking in his hometown of Phoenix when he was 17 – he graduated from the Scottsdale Culinary Institute in 1993 and became the executive chef at The Grille at ShadowRock at the 219-room Hilton Sedona Resort and Spa in 2006. The resort puts a high value on adventure and wellness, and Daryl has created a menu reflecting both themes. “Sedona is a destination where people come to try new things, especially international travelers,” says Daryl.

The menu at The Grille at ShadowRock includes items recommended by the spa so guests with wellness in mind can stay on track. Daryl says people are surprised when they order spa-recommended entrees and don’t receive “rabbit food.”
“There’s no such thing as bad food, but rather bad eating habits,” says Daryl.

The Grille at ShadowRock at Hilton Sedona Resort and Spa
90 Ridge Trail Dr., Sedona
928-284-4040

Nathan Schreiber and Storytellers
It’s fair to say the ambience at Storytellers steakhouse inside Cliff Castle Casino is unlike any other restaurant in the Sedona area. The intimate eighty-two-seat dining room resembles a red rock cave, complete with cozy booths in grottoes filled with Native American artifacts. Recessed kinetic lights slowly change colors to give the appearance of an Arizona sunset while a trickling waterfall at the entrance welcomes guests. Chef Nathan Schreiber’s background is as unconventional as Storytellers’ atmosphere; a Verde Valley native, Chef Nate, as his co-workers call him, worked at an A&W Root Beer stand and a diner in Cottonwood while playing basketball for a Cliff Castle Casino–sponsored team. He was offered a job as a line cook at the casino after its renovations in 2000 and worked his way up to become executive chef in 2005.

Everything is made from scratch at Storytellers, including more than 80 varieties of mashed potatoes and the soup du jour. Fresh fish is flown in from all over the world twice a week. Nate says his philosophy for managing Storytellers comes down to two factors: consistency and flavor.

As a northern Arizona native, Nate loves southwestern cuisine, which is obvious in the Storytellers menu. He works with regional ingredients from prickly pear to masa and chile and even agave as a natural sugar substitute. He says achiote and chilies such as poblanos are his favorites because each crop yields a different flavor. And in the 21st century even a steakhouse needs to offer items for vegetarians and vegans. Though not on the menu, word has gotten out that Nate will personally create vegetarian and vegan entrees for guests after a brief conversation about their likes and dislikes (by reservation only).

Nate knows it’s not traditional in Arizona to run a fine-dining establishment out of a casino—nor is it traditional for an executive chef to have no formal training. But he revels in being unique.

“I want to separate myself,” he says. “I don’t want to be traditional. I want Storytellers to have its own recipes, and I want what we do to be different from other restaurants. If everyone wanted the same thing, why would there be so many different restaurants?”

Storytellers at Cliff Castle Casino
555 Middle Verde Road, Camp Verde
928-567-7900

Book Signing
The Sedona Table will be on bookshelves at the beginning of April. The book’s author, Erika Ayn Finch, and photographer, Debbie Weinkauff, will sign copies at The Well Red Coyote (3190 W. Hwy 89A in West Sedona) on Saturday, April 18, from 2 to 5 p.m. You’ll also have the opportunity to meet several chefs featured in the book, sample their recipes and have each chef sign his or her chapter. Don’t miss out on this exciting literary and culinary event!