A beautiful day, a beautiful setting, beautiful food … I was totally impressed by Day 1 of West of Western. The two-day culinary festival, featuring 25 of the Valley’s top chefs each day, moved to the Phoenix Art Museum last year. I missed the 2008 fest, so this was my first time at the museum’s sculpture garden.

It’s a steep ticket — $85 for a day ($150 for both) — but that gets you as much food and drink as you can consume in five hours. The “lines,” if there were any, were maybe two or three people long at each tent. Plus, there’s live entertainment and you can amble through all of the museum’s galleries.

From the easy parking (free) to the dozens of helpful museum guides on duty, this is one well-run event, now in its fifth year. I was thinking about only going for one day, but now I’m definitely going back tomorrow. Here’s what I found Saturday (also read my Day 2 report):

Just a few days short of its first anniversary, Chandler small-plates restaurant Cork was the big hit of Day 1 and had the heaviest traffic at its booth, which was manned by chef Brian Peterson and owner Robert Morris.

The south Chandler restaurant offered six dishes, all streamlined versions of items on its menu, which changes every other month. Smoked antelope with Cypress Grove’s Midnight Moon chevre cheese on a tomato herb cracker was gone quickly.

Cork also paired a seared scallop with a braised short rib with hunter’s sauce. It also did a King crab salad with spinach almond hummus and a mac-and-cheese made with Widmer’s aged cheddar and barbecued pork belly. Robert’s wife, Danielle, made two fabulous desserts: a chocolate chile pot de creme and a banana cream pie shot with caramelized banana and an Oreo crust.

Marc Hennessy is chef of BLT Steak at the Camelback Inn.

Hennessy’s dish was grilled Kobe skirt steak with brown butter crouton and a chimichurri sauce.

A festival-goer samples one of LV Bistro chef Forest Hamrick’s offerings from the Fairmont Scottsdale resort.

Hamrick did a spice-rubbed loin of lamb with dried fruit chutney (left) and a salmon ceviche on a compressed cucumber with saffron and organic apple slaw (right).

Master baker Ben Hershberger’s bread table at The Phoenician resort’s tent was ravaged by other chefs even before the festival opened to the public. Anyone who’s eaten at The Phoenican knows why. I went back later for a second slice of the olive bread.

Victor Casanova, chef at The Phoenician’s Il Terrazzo restaurant, chats with a festival-goer.

Casanova was giving out hand-seared diver scallops with Tuscan farro, sugar snap peas, butternut squash, cherry tomatoes and a lemon vinaigrette.

Some people take a break on the sculpture garden’s sunny patio.

One of the biggest surprises of Day 1 was District, a relatively unknown restaurant at the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. Chef Nathan Crouser’s Sloppy Joe sliders, made with buffalo on challah buns, were popular, but I liked his mac and cheese even more.

The creamy mac and cheese had chunks of pulled chicken and spicy andouille sausage from Schreiner’s in Phoenix.

The first cooking demonstration of the day featured The Phoenician’s Paul Carter (left) and his “sous chef,” who bore a striking resemblance to Phoenix mayor Phil Gordon.

Mel Mecinas, the acclaimed chef at Talavera at the Four Seasons Scottsdale, sears some scallops.

The scallops (left) were accompanied by baby spring vegetables and a mushroom cream. Mecinas also did ahi tuna poke with a pappadom cracker.

But my favorite thing at Talavera’s tent were the chocolate croquettes with candied pineapple. Delicious!

Inside the museum, the Wine Hall, which offered samples from more than 100 winemakers, was packed.

There also were wine seminars all day.

The Wine Hall also hosted a couple chocolatiers, including Lisa Reinhardt’s Wie of Chocolate.

Wei of Chocolate makes several kinds of organic dark chocolate.

The spirits weren’t limited to wine. Roka Akor was dishing out shochu, which it poured through a block of ice.

Speaking of Roka, back outside the Scottsdale restaurant set up a small version of its robata grill to make my favorite item on its menu, Korean-spiced lamb cutlets.

Roka chef Bjoern Weissgerber also was handing out butterfish tataki with white asparagus and yuzu (left) and maki plates with a spicy tuna roll and California roll.

Seen walking around the festival: Sol y Sombra chef Aaron May.

Back at the Sol y Sombra tent, May was offering a trio of tapas or pinchos: Octopus with arugula and pink grapefruit on grilled flatbread (left), Caribbean sweet shrimp with piquillo pepper and pimenton (center) and bacon-wrapped dates with Cabrales sauce.

Chef Michael Stebner from True Food Kitchen grills ahi tuna.

The tuna was used to make sliders with avocado and wasabi aoili. They were paired with a Tuscan kale salad with lemon, organic olive oil and parmesan.

Meanwhile, at Stebner’s former restaurant, Olive & Ivy, chef Clint Woods has moved up from Tucson, where he opened several Sam Fox restaurants.

Woods made an heirloom beet salad with Arizona pistachios and goat cheese dressing (left) and veal and spinach ravioli with shaved parmesan and mizuna greens.

James Saio is the latest chef to oversee Taggia at the Firesky Resort in Scottsdale.

Saio made a simple but tasty piadini stuffed with butternut squash and topped with mascarpone, arugula and speck.

A band called Dry River Yacht Club performed for the crowd.

Master baker Jeffrey Yankellow and his Simply Bread staff went beyond just bread.

They made a sopressata and aged provolone panini with roasted red peppers and pesto that was amazing.

Steven Zimmerman is chef at ICON, the restaurant at the Wyndham Phoenix.

Zimmerman made cocoa butter seared scallops with fresh field greens from Scottsdale’s Singh Farms and a truffle vinaigrette (left) and mushroom-miso consomme with tofu noodles. He also was handing out shots of a refreshing pomegranate-agave limeade.

As it got hotter during the mid-afternoon, I ducked inside to check out some of the artwork in the museum. I need to come back when I have more time.

The festival also was showing several food-related films, including “Endless Feast — Phoenix” and “A Gift from Talking God: The Story of the Navajo-Churro.”

Meritage chef Smail Yaakoubi made house-smoked beef short ribs with polenta and crispy shallots.

Mucho Gusto’s Chad Withycombe brought his green chile posole with slow-roasted pork and hominy in a tomatillo broth made with green chiles, cilantro and fresh lime juice.

Diners enjoy a shady break with a close-up view of Magdalena Abakanowicz’s sculpture entitled “Five Dancing.”

Pinata’s Latin Kitchen chef Carlos Marquez made cochinita pibil, a Mexican slow-roasted pork dish with cotija cheese, cilantro and lime.

The Wild Thaiger’s Olashawn Hasadinratana, sporting a huge bandage over her nose, made a green papaya salad with shrimp.

Chef Carolyn Ellis, who made grilled corn cakes with pulled pork and lime, had the shortest distance to travel. Her Arcadia Farms Cafe is located at the museum.

(Read my Day 2 report)

Posted in: Phoenix • Festivals • Restaurants • West of Western |

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