Pardon us while we get nostalgic for a moment. Our first prickly pear margarita – on the rocks, with salt – was had at the wooden bar at the Cowboy Club. So were our first bites of fried cactus, sweet-potato fries and rattlesnake. When we were still tourists, we spent many hours on those comfy stools, staring at the set of bull horns above the bar and grilling the charming bartenders about what it was like to live in Sedona. It’s still a place we recommend to visitors, and not just because of those thirst-quenching margaritas. Back when the club was Oak Creek Tavern (it opened in 1946), movie stars filming in Sedona were said to have hung out at the watering hole. And in 1965, the esteemed Cowboy Artists of America was founded at one of the tavern’s tables. The Cowboy Club is a slice of Sedona history, and you can feel it the moment you walk through its swinging saloon-style doors.
The Cowboy Club and adjoining Silver Saddle Room specialize in “high-desert cuisine.” That translates to the aforementioned tangy cactus fries (served in a cast-iron skillet and with a side of prickly pear dipping sauce), homemade green-chili-and-cheddar cornbread, buffalo chili, juicy burgers, steaks and wild game such as elk. (The rattlesnake? It’s now available in sausage form and as part of the appetizer platter.) If you are really embracing the cowboy lifestyle, order the Cowboy BBQ Plate, which features 12-hour-smoked brisket and ribs, a chicken thigh, cilantro-peanut coleslaw (we love this dish), corn on the cob and raspberry-plum barbecue sauce. That same sauce is slathered on our favorite entrée, the “Famous” Baby Back Pork Ribs.
If you’ve saved room for dessert, share the ginormous hot fudge sundae that arrives on a slab of wood and with a silver serving boat of thick hot fudge. You’re going to be stuffed by the time you leave, but you’ll also be happy. – A Sedona Foodie.
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