Valley of the Sun: An Evening Out

We had decided early on that our trip wouldn't be complete if we didn't try out one of the reputable restaurants in the area. Living in the Bay Area, we have great access to amazing eateries (not that we actually go out all that often, but it's nice to know they're there), and access to good restaurants is certainly something that is important to us.

With that in mind, we decided to make reservations at Sierra Bonita Grill, an upscale Southwestern style restaurant in northern Phoenix.

We had high hopes for Southwestern food in the south, and this place certainly didn't disappoint. After a surprisingly not too stressful afternoon of house hunting, we knew margaritas were in order, and didn't waste any time.

Ed had a very fresh squeezed margarita, which featured lots of fresh lime juice and was quite refreshing.

I decided to splurge a little with the house specialty, the Margarita Chingon (not to be confused with chignon - a hairstyle). Chingon, according to the urban dictionary, is Mexican slang for something hard-core and/or really awesome. The description touted it as having locally made tequila and something else special. I was intrigued and, have to say, it was pretty delicious. One of those deceptively strong drinks that very well mixed.

We, of course had to get the house-made guacamole and 3 salsas,

I had a amazing steak with stuffed polano chile. The steak was cooked so perfectly, it honestly made me feel much better about moving here. An area that can cook a perfectly medium rare steak can't be all bad, right?

Ed got a pretty stunning looking Osso Bucco, which was equally good (though it's pretty hard to beat that steak). 

We both managed to finish all of our meals, and had a great meal just reflecting on this first trip to our new home. It was definitely full of ups and downs, but it gave us a much happier, more optimistic picture of our move.