Wednesday, April 25, 2012

CELEBRATION AT THE ASYLUM

Yesterday, my beloved SWMBO took me to Jerome, to the historic Jerome Grand Hotel, to the Asylum restaurant to celebrate my birthday.  The building apparently once housed a mental asylum, thus the name of the restaurant.



It's got great ambiance, sitting in a majestic old building on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Verde Valley of Arizona.  The red rocks of Sedona are clearly visible in the distance.

But let's get a closer view.  Dirty martinis.


Then, since it was mid-day, from the lunch menu, we both chose hot pastrami sandwiches and french fries.


The pastrami was marvelous, just the way I like it.  Also swiss cheese and grilled bermuda onions with a dash of mayonnaise.  The sandwiches were delicious.


Not to mention the fries.  Apologies to one of my readers but there was no puddle of ketchup with these.  SWMBO had some but just salt on mine were very tasty.


An Argentine Malbec wine from Mendoza was the perfect accompaniment.  $8.00 a glass seemed like a bargain to me.


Then on to dessert.  For me a creme brule cheesecake with blackberries and lots of whipped cream.



For SWMBO, perhaps a mistake.  A Chocolate Mousse Cake, which was too rich for her although I liked it.



The Asylum covers their very nice tablecloths with white butcher paper and provides a jar of color crayons, then invites you to scrawl on the paper.  This is the work of SWMBO.



Over the years, we have gone out for a meal to celebrate birthdays and anniversaries and holidays.  Invariable it seems that I am disappointed . . with the food, the service, the ambiance, or whatever.  This time everything was perfection.  As I said we had been to the Asylum before, several times.  But as I was leaving, I asked our excellent waiter, Dan, if there had been an ownership or management change in the past year.  He said absolutely not.

In which case, they have ironed out some changes, hired excellent people, inspired the kitchen and made this one of the truly fine restaurants of Northern Arizona.

The Asylum.  If you get to these parts, visit it.

9 comments:

  1. We love that place!! We were there in a thunder storm once and it was awesome to see the lightening strikes in the valley below and the sudden waterfalls on the mountain behind.

    Happy Birthday, Bruce!

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  2. I'm so glad you had fun! And I would have finished off SWMBO's dessert for her :)

    Oh, & I'm like Tess - where's my puddle of ketchup?

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  3. Oh my! That looks delicious. What a great way to spend a day...the anticipation, the pleasure of the moment, and the afterglow. (Yes, I'm still talking about lunch. Haha!)

    ;)

    S

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  4. I love this place too! But, I must say, these photos are giving me cravings! It all looks so yummy.

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  5. The food looks incredible and the atmosphere wonderful. I always knew you'd end up in an asylum, but I didn't know that I'd want to follow you there. Again, Happy Birthday.

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  6. Wow, that looks great. Maybe I will need to go someday.

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  7. Damn! That made me gain 5 pounds and now my mouth is watering...

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