005 Best of Prescott Number 1

Episode 005 Best Of Prescott Number One Transcript

Scott 0:00
Again, very controversial question. Every city I’ve ever been in Mexican is one of those where it kind of divides people. My personal favorite for Mexican food is…

Conrad 0:10
I’m Conrad Walton, and this is Finding Prescott moving stories from people who decided to make Prescott Arizona, their hometown.

Conrad 0:27
We’re gonna call this episode The Best of Prescott. The last four guests that I’ve had, I asked them various questions about best place to eat, things to do, places to go, and these are their answers.

Conrad 0:40
The best high end place to eat in Prescott, probably going to be Murphy’s. I’m also going to say the Peacock Room at the Hasayampa Inn that’s just a block up off of the Courthouse Square,

Diane 0:53
When I want to go to have a high end dinner, I like to go up to the Hasayampa and I like going up there for sunset. The atmosphere is fabulous. The views are gorgeous. The waitstaff has always been pleasant. And they have a menu that sometimes a little bit different from the rest of what’s in town. Because the Hasayampa is on the Indian reservation, and I’ve been in there where they’ve served elk and venison, so they they try and kind of mix it up a bit change it around. And I just I always feel like I’m, I’m in a very elegant rest aurant when I go up to the Hasayampa Inn.

Conrad 1:34
And that’s the Hasayampa Inn?

Diane 1:36
Well, it’s the Hasayampa Resort.

Conrad 1:39
Up on top of the hill by the casino?

Diane 1:42
Yeah, the Hasayampa Inn downtown is not a bad place either. But because of the views and the surroundings. I like the casino. Okay, the resort.

Joey 1:54
My favorite high end place to eat here in town I’ve got to say is El Gato Azul. Don’t even know, it’s not super expensive, but it has a little bit more of upscale feel. And they have tapas that just blow your mind, in a wonderful environment, particularly Sunday where they often have live jazz in the evenings. El Gato Azul is the hit.

Scott 2:16
That’s a hard question. I’m not sure that Prescott is, just in general, a super high end place, but I think my best high end experience so far has been at Murphy’s.

Conrad 2:27
The best cheap place to eat?

Conrad 2:30
I’m not really sure of a good cheap place, I mean…

Diane 2:34
In and Out Burger.

Joey 2:37
Where I like for cheap eats, because I have four kids. Of course they love pizza. So then the question is, where’s your favorite pizza place? Bill’s pizza is that for a good best. I love Bill’s pizza. It’s right down off a square. And you know proximity to the hotspot and town doesn’t always mean great product. It can sometimes just mean convenience, but now it’s worth going downtown to Bill’s Pizza. I’ve, I’ve eaten mucho Bill’s Pizza in my life at this point, and I don’t ever regret stopping by for a slice.

Scott 3:08
I would say the best cheap place to eat is probably Spicy Streets Taco spot on Iron Springs. And so you can get out of there for like under five bucks depending on how hungry you are.

Conrad 3:24
The best pizza in Prescott, I think is the stinking rose pizza at Park Plaza, Deli and Liquor. It’s pepperoni and garlic and nobody can be around you for a day or two afterwards because of the garlic but well worth it.

Diane 3:41
You know I saw that one on there and you’re just gonna laugh. It’s, it’s Domino’s. Chicken Bacon Ranch thin crust. That is absolutely my favorite pizza ever.

Scott 3:52
Well, so I I am dairy free. So I am not a good expert at Pizza. Okay, if you are like me, you cannot have dairy I will tell you that Bill’s Pizza on the square which is one of the most popular pizza places in town. They do have some dairy free cheese on their pizza. So it’s a good option for both your dairy free friends and your dairy loving friends. So Bill’s Pizza.

Conrad 4:14
The best Italian food hands down has to be Rosa’s. We got to Rosa’s just about every week.

Diane 4:21
Asked Italian Yeah, I go to Rosa’s. Hands down. Yeah, it’s it’s the best it’s just noisy. That’s all.

Joey 4:28
I you know that my favorite Italian place in town I would say is Mama’s. It’s run by the same folks that do the Barley Hound, which is my favorite gastropub in town. And Skyler, the owner, I think he gets it. He gets vibe. He gets environment. He gets doing one thing and really doing it right. So yeah, I’d say Mama’s right down there on Gurley is the hit for Italian food.

Scott 4:55
So this is a very controversial question. Best Italian food for me. My favorite It is Papa’s.

Conrad 5:02
What’s the controversy?

Scott 5:03
Well, there’s people who like Papa’s. Some people like Rosa’s. And there are definitive feelings in both camps between the Papa’s people and the Rosa’s people. I really like Papa’s there there ziti is fantastic. They have a good soup. It’s kind of like a classic Italian place.

Conrad 5:19
Best Mexican food.

Conrad 5:21
Kind of a tough one a lot of people like Linda Mexico not gonna saying bad about them. Casa Alvarez behind the dinner bell, Casa Alvarez is probably the best Mexican food in town. Casa Perez and Prescott Valley and way out and Dewey.

Diane 5:37
Oh, I’m gonna go with Lindo. I really like their their food.

Joey 5:41
Oh, man. This should be in things that I don’t like about Prescott, cuz I have not found, I haven’t found a great Mexican restaurant yet here in Prescott. I don’t know. Maybe you could recommend one Conrad, I know. They really are all kinda “okay”.

Scott 5:55
Again, very controversial question. Every city I’ve ever been in Mexican is one of those where it kind of divides people. My personal favorite for Mexican food is Taco Don’s. It’s not a sit down place. It’s very casual but their chicken fajita burrito and the breakfast burrito are amazing. If I’m going to sit down for Mexican food, I’m going to go to lindo, Mexico though.

Conrad 6:16
The best breakfast place. I am not a breakfast guy. I don’t do mornings.

Diane 6:22
Oh, this is a toughy there are so many. But I probably, oh shoot, the one downtown on the square.

Conrad 6:32
Lone Spur?

Diane 6:33
Lone Spur. Thank you. Yeah, I just like the atmosphere. It’s fun to go in there.

Joey 6:37
Okay, the best breakfast place in town in my view, is a little bakery called Pangea. It’s out near Walmart. It’s it’s the gal has been baking for some time but she’s just opened this place out there. And it’s a French bakery so you get stuff like quiche and their coffee’s phenomenal and, you know, they’re making muffins are great they’re rhubarb pies, so so just they don’t, they’re not doing a full big breakfast yet, but it’s my favorite place to go for coffee and a quiche. Hang out down. Yeah Pangea.

Conrad 7:12
I know where that is. It’s right next to lindo, Mexico.

Joey 7:15
There you go, which isn’t bad for Mexican. Lindo is probably, you know, that’s the best that I’ve found.

Scott 7:21
My family’s favorite breakfast place is Lone Spur. It’s on the square. It’s classic cowboy, huge portions. But if we’re in a hurry, the breakfast burritos from Taco Don’s are our go to.

Conrad 7:35
The best Asian food. Tara Thai on the square.

Diane 7:41
Oh, no question here. It’s Tara Thai downtown on the square. The Tom Yum or Tom Ka soup is just out of this world.

Joey 7:51
There’s a Thai place. I think it’s called Thai Express.

Conrad 7:55
It’s right across from my office. It’s on

Joey 7:57
Yeah.

Conrad 7:58
Sheldon and Cortez.

Joey 8:00
Yeah, that’s pretty good. That’s a pretty good joint.

Scott 8:02
So my wife is really passionate about Thai food so she prefers, and because of that, I prefer, the Thai how to impress get Valley it’s called Toi’s Thai and it’s off of 89 A and Viewpoint.

Conrad 8:17
The best unknown small store. I’m probably gonna say Oogs Hogan. It’s right off the Courthouse Square on Cortez. It’s got a lot of historic heritage Indian jewelry and Indian stuff, baskets.

Scott 8:32
I really have fun going through, It’s in between Prescott Brewing Company and Lone Spur, and it’s got like the coffee shop and art gallery and it has The Spice Traveler place and then downstairs is The Meadery and you could spend a long time in all those places kind of wandering around. So we go to The Spice Traveler to get all of our like cooking spices and teas and stuff.

Conrad 8:56
Best Place to take an afternoon hike?

Conrad 8:58
Between Costco and by Linx Lake, the Highland center. There’s a bunch of cool trails up in there.

Diane 9:06
Well for me, it’s Granite Mountain. That’s my favorite hike. If I want to take a kind of a morning hike Lynx Lake on Sunday mornings, so that you hit Linx Lake Cafe at about 11:30, 12 o’clock so you can have a Bloody Mary and brunch.

Joey 9:25
So there’s a place I call it the African trail, I think it’s actually called The Flume Trail. And it’s off, it’s out in the Dells, off Granite Dells road, which comes off 89. And you just head down the road a little bit and the path is on your right and I call it the Africa Trail because as soon as you go up between these two rocks and come down, you just feel like you’ve stepped into Africa. And you go all the way down into a valley where there’s a beautiful little stream, and then at the end of the trail, there’s a wonderful waterfall that really gets going particularly in the spring time.

Scott 10:00
I think one of the best places to ask me to hike is Constellation Trail. There are really defined trails on the Peavine and around Watson lake. But I feel like when you go to Constellation, you can kind of make your own path. There’s some really good viewpoints off of Constellation. I’m a fan of that.

Conrad 10:19
Best place to walk a dog. I’m going to say Courthouse Square. You can go down there any day of the week, and there’s somebody walking their dog down there.

Diane 10:28
Oh, I would say at my house, but I don’t want everybody to come walk their dog at my house.

Joey 10:35
The best place to walk a dog is Willow lake. I’d say. it’s really easy. There’s a dog park out there. And you can let them run around the dog park and then go walk around the lake. And that’s just a great area.

Conrad 10:49
Best place to ride a bike has got to be the Peavine Trail. It’s out by Watson Lake in the Dells.

Diane 10:56
I don’t ride but I know that probably the best place would be The Peavine Trail that you start out by the Humane Society. It’s the old railroad bed that used to run from downtown Prescott out to Flagstaff and they’ve converted it into a nice wide hiking and biking path. And it’s just gorgeous. Gorgeous.

Joey 11:19
My favorite place to go biking around are the trails just across from Thumb Butte. So if you, if you go to Thumb Butte, and then across that street, there’s a parking lot and then from that parking lot are a bunch of great mountain bike trails that aren’t too, too aggressive, but you really get some nice views and it’s a great place to go bike around.

Scott 11:38
Pevine trail.

Conrad 11:39
Best place to play golf.

Diane 11:40
Well, there’s only one place I can play golf and that’s out at the airport. It’s two it’s basically to nine hole courses. So you can play nine, you don’t have to play the full 18 and for me, nine is enough. I can’t I can’t play 18 anymore so I play the North course it’s shadier.

Joey 12:01
I do not play golf my friend but the Hassyampa but looks pretty cool. We walk through that area quite often and it’s a beautiful course.

Scott 12:09
So my favorite place to play golf is Capital Canyon. This was the old Hasayampa and it has the best views. I do enjoy StoneRidge in Prescott Valley but it is just really hard especially on windy days and so I prefer Capitol Canyon. If you know somebody is a member you can get in.

Conrad 12:25
Best historic thing to visit or see that’s not on the square. I’m gonna throw out the pink car in Walker on the corner of Walker road and Pink Car road. Go to WalkerCommunity.com and read my story about the pink car.

Diane 12:41
There is another small historic ruin, on your way to Lynx Lake Cafe on the east side of the road. There’s a small turnout there you can go hike to some small ruins out there.

Conrad 12:55
The best place to explore for me, I’m an off road guy. Got a four wheel drive truck. But if and if you’re good with with dirt roads, I would go down senator highway.

Joey 13:07
I’m gonna again, because I’m such a fan of West Prescott, out here near Thumb Butte, there’s just so many hikes that each has its own thing and you can get some really tremendously varied flora and fauna, varied views. West Prescott. Just start at Thumb Butte and you can find all kinds of cool stuff.

Scott 13:28
So some friends and I do night hikes and we’ll get we’ll go out like at 8:00 and then wrap up like at midnight and so we’re often hiking out off of Iron Springs Road, in between Iron Springs Road and Thumb Butte. And so there’s some cool places to explore out there in the dark. So it’s some fun views. And yeah, it’s been really interesting.

Conrad 13:52
The best church. I’ve got to say that Cornerstone Prescott meets it Yavapai Community Center in their big auditorium. We got a lot of churches around here. Yeah, there’s a lot of good churches.

Joey 14:04
You know best is such a relative thing. I would say if, if you’re looking for some good solid evangelical Christianity, Canyon Bible Church is, is, is great. I’ve heard really good things about The Heights. If you like more than megachurch, big church vibe. If you’re somebody who prefers more of a “smells and bells”, liturgical thing, come join us at St. George. That’s where me and my wife’s heads are at these days. So St. George Orthodox Church on Gurlie. We really love that for the more traditional, almost a bit of a Catholic type feel. And, but there’s tons of great churches and great people here in town.

Scott 14:51
Oh, so I will not answer my church because I think that’s narcissistic. I really have have great friends at The Heights church off of 89. They do some really incredible work in the community. I really appreciate what they do.

Conrad 15:03
Nice answer…

Conrad 15:04
Best place to go for an evening of entertainment. I’m going to say my living room watching Netflix, but that’s probably not a good answer for you. But I’m going to say the Yavapai Community College. They have a big performing arts center there.

Diane 15:19
Um, actually lately it’s been the Elks theater. They have had some fabulous live bands and entertainment in there and the Elks has been updated and revamped and improved, and it is an amazing, gorgeous place. We are so fortunate to have it in town.

Joey 15:38
You know, it’s probably lame, but again, I don’t go out much but I love the movie theater here in town. At Frontier Village. It’s got the giant Lazy Boy chairs. It’s seldom crowded. It’s got a great sound system is a world class. A class, movie theater.

Scott 15:58
The Performing Arts Center. Yavapai College probably has the best lineup of different people who come through. Comedians, musical acts, you can stream Broadway shows, kind of whatever you’re into, you can probably find there in a given season.

Conrad 16:12
The Best Art Gallery? We’ve got a lot of art galleries. The student Art Gallery at Yavapai Community College. Just to the right of the Performing Arts Center, and they’ve got some pretty cool displays in there.

Diane 16:25
I’m very fond of almost all of them on the square. I’ve, it’s tough for me to pick one out. I like Newman down there. Tiz always has good stuff. I’m not much of a cowboy Western, so I’m not in The Phippin. But the art is amazing.

Scott 16:44
My friend Jerry stuff is in the art gallery above that place I mentioned before on the square where The Spice Traveller is so I’m going up there and seeing his newest work. He’s a landscape photographer.

Conrad 16:55
So the best day trip, do what everybody tells you about Sedona. Everybody knows about that one, but when you’re in Sedona, drive north, go up Oak Creek Canyon. The drive up Oak Creek Canyon is just gorgeous. Well worth the drive. Go in the springtime when the, when the leaves are poppin and they’re bright green, or go in the fall when the leaves are dying and they’re yellows and pinks and reds. It’s just beautiful up there. Don’t forget Wickenburg. If you go south out of town, down the 89A. Go down to Wickenburg. We ran into a real live rodeo down there on the side of the road. There’s some great places to shop and to eat. Wickenburg is going to be your little secret. unknown, “You didn’t think of that” kind of a place for a day trip.

Diane 17:42
Probably for me, Sedona. I think Sedona is still small enough that you can go and enjoy it. It’s, and it’s so different from Prescott.

Joey 17:52
Oh, this is easy. So the best day trip as you get up early in the morning, and you drive to Jerome and you have breakfast at the Mile High Cafe. Their oatmeal is absolutely sensational. And then you drive down into Sedona. You go out and hike. The Cathedral Rock hike is not bad. And really you get that deep Sedona, amazing rocks and things. And then on your way back, swinging Cottonwood. Cottonwood is crazy. It’s like two or three blocks of the coolest, hipsters, big city neighborhood, and they just had a whole couple blocks up and teleported it in in the middle of this valley. And so you’re gonna find street musicians and really vibey shops and some of the best restaurants in the area right down there in little cottonwood. So you go have dinner in Cottonwood, and then you jump back on the 17 and head home. That is a awesome, very doable trip.

Scott 18:47
I am a huge fan of Sedona. So if I’m going to get a day I’m going to go to Sedona. I don’t typically go in the summer because it’s just really really warm and there’s not a lot of shade, but if it’s fall, spring or winter Sedona is my favorite spot to go. I go hiking and then I find a coffee shop and then my favorite Mexican food in northern Arizona is in Sedona. So I just kind of make a multipurpose trip.

Conrad 19:14
What’s the name of your favorite Mexican?

Scott 19:16
So my favorite Mexican food and actually all of Arizona is in Sedona. It’s called Ellote Cafe. Only open from 5:00 to 9:00pm. Five nights a week. You have to get there early. You have to wait in line. But we’ve bought the cookbook from there I’ve made their ellote, their carnitas. They are there the best. There is also, if you go hiking, there’s a great trail by the airport. If you finish that trail or before you go on that trail, there is a little tamaleria, tamale place, right off of there, like the top five Yelp. If you search for it, you’ll find it, and they they have amazing, amazing tamales.

Conrad 19:56
I want to thank you my listeners for choosing this podcast to spend your time and attention on. If you’d like to help me out, please review this podcast where you get your podcasts. If you want help or have questions about moving to Prescott, give me a call or text me at 928-925-4428. You can send me an email at Conrad at finding prescott.com that CONRAD at finding prescott.com. You can contact me through that website. There’s contact form there for you. All of the show notes are going to be there and you’ll find all the information about this episode there. If you do contact me, one of my team members or I will reach out and we’ll try to answer all your questions and give you any kind of help you might need.

Conrad 20:43
And remember, the key to life is gratitude. So stay thankful