Ken’s Creekside Sedona

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One of the things I enjoy most about travelling is researching and visiting the best restaurants each city has to offer. And there are no shortage of top quality restaurants in Sedona, Arizona. One of the places we were excited about checking out was Ken’s Creekside American Bistro. It turned out to be one of the best dining experiences we had in Sedona.

 

The restaurant itself has a pretty casual bistro style, but also features a large patio over looking a great view of lush woods, a creek and the stunning red rock mountain back drop. On this cool night, we sat inside, but still enjoyed the view with our table next to the window. The restaurant was full and had a relaxed but energetic atmosphere. Our server was brisk, yet friendly and attentive.

But what really brought us to Ken’s Creekside was the food. It is absolutely outstanding! For starters, we ordered the house salad which featured mixed greens, apples, pecans, Gorgonzola, onion and bacon along with an order of Corn Spoonbread, baked fresh to order. The salad was excellent, all the flavours coming together beautifully. And the corn bread was out of this world – crispy crust filled with fluffy bread and sweet corn served in a little cast iron pan – a great start to our meal.

Things really took off for us when our main courses arrived. We are trying to work in more vegetarian meals in our diet, so we decided to try the Vegan Taco Platter. In a word – WOW! Crispy, roasted eggplant tacos, charred kale, roasted salsa & borracho beans on the side. Sometimes vegan dishes can be a bit underwhelming, but this dish was incredible. Super flavourful with complexity and different textures – I could easily eat this dish once a week! Next we had the Tart Flambe (crispy thin crust pizza) with chicken, jalapeno and caramelized onions. Again, absolutely delicious. Perfectly cooked and super tasty!

Now I have to make special mention about our final main course selection – the Duck Confit. I am a bit of a duck confit aficionado. I generally like to order items off a menu that I wouldn’t normally make very often at home. I do make duck on occasion, but normally stick with fish, chicken, pork and beef. I have to say that the Duck Confit at Ken’s Creekside is the best I have ever eaten (and that’s saying a lot). The skin was super crispy and yet the meat was incredibly tender and juicy. The wild rice, green beans and green apple chutney were the perfect complement. I was so inspired by the dish that I did my own version when we returned home from Sedona.

My version featured brown basmati rice with dried cherries and almonds. The dish was good, but the duck in particular was not as juicy as Ken’s. I think I will make it a goal of mine to acquire the recipe for Ken’s Creekside Duck Confit – I may be missing something in the preparation. Overall, it was an amazing culinary experience and should not be missed when travelling to Sedona. Highly recommended. For now, back to the cage.