Visiting Phoenix Arizona

Visiting Phoenix Arizona

Phoenix is a city that is close enough to Los Angeles to make it more than a layover stop, yet far enough away from L.A. to make it a great getaway destination; and, while even 36 hours seems like too short of a time to get to know Phoenix, that was enough time for me to consider Phoenix as a future vacation spot.

The view from my room at the Hotel Palomar
Phoenix City Center

So let's talk basics: Phoenix is a short one-hour plane ride from either LAX, Burbank or any of the other SoCal airports; or a five-or-so-hour drive through the desert.

If you own an awesome car and don't mind driving through vast lands of nothingness, do the drive. But if you're like me and just want to get to wherever you're going, just fly to Phoenix and rent a car.

While I went to Phoenix in what was considered one of the hottest weekends of the year (We're talking more than 115 degrees - in the shade!), I still had the opportunity to enjoy a few things in my short stay there because of the central location of the hotel I was staying at: The Palomar Hotel.

The Palomar Hotel is located in the City Center of Phoenix, a vibrant urban outpost of a state largely misunderstood by many because of it's political pendulum that that has recently garnered national attention.

The Palomar hotel is one in a mini-chain of boutique hotels owned by Kimpton, one of my favorite hotel chains because of their dog-friendly policy, evening wine receptions, stylish rooms, and quality toiletries from C.O Bigelow. 

Each Kimpton Hotel has a restaurant in-house, and the Hotel Palomar is no different.

Blue Hound Kitchen + Cocktails is the hotels namesake restaurant, serving both lunch, dinner and weekly happy hour specials.

Headed by Chef Sean Currid, which was named one of Arizona Valley's top chefs by Arizona Foothills Magazine, the Blue Hound Kitchen + Cocktails boasts an extensive contemporary American menu that elevates seasonal ingredients using classic french techniques.

Sean Currid with my friends from Totah Designs

Chef Sean Currid, who I was brazen enough to ask for a table reservation via Twitter, was kind enough to send my table a selection of dinner appetizers, that included the light yet flavorful deviled egg's, Seared Ahi Quinoa Cakes, and a fantastic Summer Peaches and Cream Mascarpone with ice-cream, dessert to end our meal.

Every dish was presented beautifully; and our lunch main courses, from my Mt Lassen Trout dish, to the kale salad, were inventive and highlighted the uniqueness of each of its ingredients.  We were also enticed by the cocktail menu created by head Bartender & Mixologist Stephanie Teslar, but decided to try the craft cocktails later that evening.

After a somewhat relaxing night stay that included a city-wide blackout, The Palomar Hotel made-up for their unplanned restaurant closure to giving me the key to the kingdome: Their mini-bar.

Let me tell you something about the Kimpton family of hotel's minibar: Gummy Bears! Juices! Fresh Nut's! And artisan what-not's. So no, dinner didn't happen - but a mini-sugar rush while overlooking a completely (in-the-dark-city) did.

The next morning I woke-up SUPER hungry and planned to meet my friends Marissa and Aggie for breakfast. Again, because I was staying in the City Center, all I did was meet my friends in the hotel lobby and walk a few feet to our breakfast spot.

A quick pick by me, ended-up being Aggie's favorite breakfast spot in Phoenix: The Breakfast Club.

The Breakfast Club is a family-friendly cafe-style restaurant with an extensive breakfast menu that has both traditional American fare and Southwestern dishes that are made using local artisanal ingredients, serving coffee from a local roaster and freshly made juices. The most unique breakfast item being smothered corn bread with a fried egg and salsa.

Before saying my good-byes, Marissa took me to the Phoenix Art Museum; which you can read more about here; and just like that, my time in Phoenix was over.

Until we meet again, hopefully next time in the fall, Phoenix will remain on my getaway destination list.

Ana Lydia

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Visiting the Phoenix Art Museum

Visiting the Phoenix Art Museum

When I finalized my trip to attend Phoenix Fashion Week, I connected with my friends Marissa and Aggie to plan time to see each-other during my short stay in Arizona. Thankfully, these ladies are absolutely amazing and planned a YUMMY South West Breakfast, where I got to meet the LOVELY Sophie Kay and nuzzle with the cuteness that she is.

After breakfast, Marissa took me to the Phoenix Art Museum to meet her horse (You'll see what I mean later on), touch my first Palo Verde, walk in the middle of the sky (video at end of post), and see the Frida Kahlo commissioned painting "The Suicide of Dorothy Kay." As a huge museum nerd and art fan, it made me so happy to be surrounded by so many beautiful works of art, at what happens to be the largest museum in the South West.

Some of the exhibits that I saw included the permanent Contemporary Collection, which is the most active and growing area in the museum.

We were also given a tour of the "From New York to New Mexico, Masterworks of American Modernism from the Vilcek Foundation Collection," which is on display until September 7, 2015.

It was there that I was introduced to the works of American modernist painter Marsden Hartley and saw my first Georgia O'Keefe sculpture.

We also saw the "One-of-Kind, Unique Photographic Objects from the Center for Creative Photography," which unfortunately I couldn't document with photos. But I do want to share the names, quotes and/or a quick overview from the photographers that spoke to me:

I was trained as a painter and was drawing with photographic detail and large scale before picking up a camera for the first time. As this body of work evolved, I got to envision the making of the negatives as drawing with light. - Patricia White  

The negative is like the composites score and the print is like the performance. Not only is each print (even from the same negative) a necessarily distinctive object, but that variation between orients was a desirable reflection of the changing mood and experience of the artist. - Ansel Adams 

Betty Hahn - Used her photographs as a canvas, and decorated each picture with her paintings or drawings to create a unique visual perspective on simple panoramas.

These are just some of the highlights from my visit to the Phoenix Art Museum, that also included a stop at the Museum Store - and of course I picked-up some goodies. My favorite? I GORGOUS summer scarf that I promise to share picture of very soon!

It goes without saying that I'm looking forward to visiting the museum again and spending time at the sculpture garden and viewing the fashion collection - which I didn't get to see this time around.

Learn more about the Phoenix Art Museum and their current exhibits here: https://www.facebook.com/phxart

Ana Lydia

P.S. Marissa and I walked in the sky!

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