Elote Café

Construction for a new bridge gathered dust, orange cones, and lines of caution tape on highway 179. Traffic moved gingerly around the turn avoiding a run in with obstacles and rerouted on coming traffic. With only a handful of highways through and around Sedona, the directions seemed correct but the scenery difficult to decipher. However, nothing could stop my dad and me from walking up the ramp to Elote Café for expressive Mexican cuisine.

Our wondering through and amongst the red rocks still resonated as we sat down, met with a bowl of chips, salsa, and offer for a drink to start. One Chihuahua please. A thick, salt-rimmed glass clunked on the table, the only distraction that took my eyes from the inventive menu. This was not your typical Mexican mix. Spicy cabbage, smoked chicken, roasted snapper, Shaft blue cheese, and pumpkinseed joined the expected corn mesa, guacamole, salsa verde, and poblano chile as ingredients. Theses choices expanded the possibilities without muddling the original undertones of such cuisine.

Three dishes stood out, two of them signature plates for Chef Jeff Smedstad. Our appetizer, Elote- the restaurants namesake, constituted fire roasted corn off the cob mixed with a spicy mayo and cotija cheese. Chile and cayenne pepper sprinkled over the yellow mixture adding a needed zest to the rich quality. Its evidence cleaned up by scrapes of our spoon and corn chips.

With appetizer plates picked up, new dishes appeared, full of foods and spices. Standing in a sea of spicy ancho sauce, a lamb shank kept its balance as forks peeled off braised skin and tender pieces, which sometimes fell into the sauce in need of saving. Finally, when removed meat unbalanced the shank, it capsized, throwing slices of beets and red onion rings off its body.

A cheesy, festive mix loaded the other plate, which even though displayed mushroom in its title, overrode the fleshy fungus with many other tastes and slivers. Cheese stretched from beneath the pile as forks unearthed the tortilla chips soaked with sauce, which creamy nature overwhelmed the vegetables and flavors.

All dishes, abundant in taste and richness, caused an unfamiliar reaction at such a restaurant. For the first time, no stomach or saturated taste buds could accept a dessert, even though the flan and chocolate tamale sounded toothsome. A rotund Mexican hot chocolate with a little kick split between two finished the meal.

Full and satisfied, we carefully maneuvered around full tables and jackets thrown over chairs. The restaurant at seven in the evening flowed at full power, with waiters and busboys politely moving to let us free up a table and make our way out. Traffic here, construction there, and chairs in the way, our quiet day hiking rock formations and taking in remarkable landscapes saw a lively end at Elote Cafe.