So my friend Claire and I were
looking for somewhere to eat one night and we wandered into the Royal
Sun Best Western Motel on Stone just south of Speedway because we saw 3
big billboards advertising home-made comfort food and who doesn't need
comfort food? The restaurant wasn't open yet, but the lounge was and
they had craft beers and who doesn't need craft beers? We walked in and
went, Hmmmm.
Thus fortified with Mudshark's Full Moon Citrus Ale
(talk about fortified - at over 8% alcohol this is not for weenies), we
corralled the food and beverage manager, Leah Uptain, and asked about
relocating our Tuesday Irish Music Session to the Royal Sun Lounge. She
was excited, we were excited, and just like that the Tuesday Irish Music
Session had a new home. It feels the way a pub with live Irish music is
supposed to feel - you'll recognize it even if you've never experienced
it before.
The bar is a nice size and the acoustics make our
always wonderful Irish music sound even better. And...I believe I
mentioned the craft beers.. there are 6, count 'em 6, craft beers on tap
(Borderlands Old Loco IPA, Prescott Liquid Amber, Four Peaks Kiltlifter
Scottish Red, Sleepy Dog Hefeweizen, Mudshark Full Moon Belgian Ale,
and a whole range of standard and imported bottled beers), plus very
generous Happy Hour specials on food and drinks, and really friendly
people.
And about that comfort food...
The restaurant looks like any motel restaurant on earth. Do not be fooled.
Get the roasted garlic and roasted
cauliflower soup (sadly only available on Wednesday). It's hearty,
creamy, and loaded with fresh vegs, but not thick or cloying.
There's a subtle under-hit of some nice spice I'm still trying to
figure out.
After the cauliflower soup, get the hot grilled chicken
salad. Lovely. Cold fresh spinach, red onions, apples and
tomatoes with candied walnuts and hot bacon and hot grilled chicken,
under a nice vinaigrette. Yow.
Then I tried the shrimp carbonara. This featured
linguine pasta in a very rich sauce with bacon, topped with nicely
cooked fresh shrimp. This is a serious dish. Very rich and a
bit heavy. If you aren't too hungry, share this with someone
else, because the first 5 bites will be enough.
Then I had the chicken picata. Hard to critique
because I adore anything with capers. It was very nice - light,
bright, caper-y and fresh. It was plated with linguine and I could
have eaten that all night.
The final entree I sampled was the hand-cut rib-eye.
The steak was cooked just right - medium rare - and the Jack Daniels and
mushroom topping was light and slightly sweet. It was served with a
cheese- and bacon-stuffed baked potato and a grilled zucchini medley,
which I wasn't crazy about. I might have gone with garlic and
mustard mashed potatoes instead, but I nit-pick.
To finish I ordered the homemade, hand-ground mesquite
bean crust pecan pie. Tender local pecans, naturally sweet local
mesquite-bean flour crust. Molasses. Yow. Come for the
dinners, come again and again for the pecan pie.
I didn't have the Double-stack Heart Attack Burger
featuring one full pound of meat, several slices of bacon and all the
trimmings for $12.99 because by then I waddling with food, but I'll get
to it sooner than later.
Now I have to go practice some Irish music.