In a year when several East Valley luxury resorts are replacing their signature restaurants with celebrity-chef-driven steakhouses — such as Bourbon Steak (Fairmont), BLT Steak (Camelback Inn) and J&G Steakhouse (The Phoenician) — at least one resort is catering to a different palate.
The new InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, built on the grounds of the razed La Posada in Paradise Valley, has unveiled Prado, a Spanish-influenced restaurant that takes its name from the famous Madrid museum.
It’s an entirely appropriate moniker: Chef Claudio Urciuoli’s dishes — surprisingly affordable, at least by resort standards — deserve to be on display.
Although Spain is the world’s leader in avant garde cooking, the country’s cuisine is firmly rooted in the simple life of centuries past, whether it be a huge bowl of lentil soup ($7), dark and earthy, or a plate of roasted beets sweetened with a touch of honey ($9).
• Check out the dinner menu for Prado (pdf)
• Check out the tapas menu for Mbar (pdf)
• Related: Spanish cuisine is red-hot in the East Valley (Nov. 20, 2008)
• Related: Small tapas play big role in Spanish cuisine (Nov. 20, 2008)
• Related: Prado opens at new East Valley resort (Nov. 4, 2008)
Urciuoli’s rustic menu visits all parts of Spain (and beyond), but the largest portion is devoted to meat and seafood grilled over a wood fire, a technique favored in the Andalusia region in the southern part of the country, which serves as the inspiration for the Montelucia.
The grill highlight is a thick rib eye steak ($31, pictured at left) paired with burrata, the creamy Italian cheese Urciuoli helped introduce Valley diners to a couple years ago when he opened Taggia in Scottsdale. It’s an intoxicating combination.
North African influences, common in southern Spain, are evident in a bed of couscous with almonds and raisins supporting a near-perfect slab of grilled salmon ($24).
Paella, Spain’s national rice-based dish, is available but (like at most Spanish restaurants in the Valley) only in servings for two ($38). But you can get a baked version known as arroz al horno — the saffron rice playing host to pork ribs, spicy sausage and blood sausage — in single but huge servings ($19).
Of course, Prado also offers a full range of tapas, Spain’s traditional small plates, but only in the open lounge area known as Mbar. Here’s a tip, though: They’ll let you order one in the restaurant if you ask nicely.
Use that pick wisely on a few shavings of jamon de bellota ($18), a dark brown ham from free-range black pigs that feast on acorns in the forests along the Spain-Portugal border. One taste will reveal why it’s considered the world’s finest ham.
Be sure to save room for one of Prado’s fabulous desserts, such as crema catalana ($6.95, pictured above), a Spanish version of crème brulée; ring-shaped churros with a hot chocolate dipping sauce ($6.95); or a dark chocolate tart, sprinkled with chili powder, with olive oil ice cream ($6.95).
I guarantee you won’t find any of them at an upscale steakhouse.
Prado
Where: InterContinental Montelucia Resort & Spa, 4949 E. Lincoln Drive, Paradise Valley
Open: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily, 5:30 p.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Thursday and 5:30 p.m. to 11 p.m. Friday and Saturday.
Prices: Appetizers $7-$18, entrees $17-$31, desserts $6.95.
Info: (480) 627-3004 or icmontelucia.com.
First Tastes offer first impressions of new East Valley restaurants. Full reviews, based on multiple visits, aren’t written until restaurants have been open at least a couple months.
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