Rustler's Rooste birthday

" Back before there were fences here in the valley, a few outlaws made their living by rustling cattle in the middle of the night and then selling them to the local restaurants.  The rustler's lived in an old wooden cabin high atop a butte in the foothills of the South Mountains, hidden from eyes of ranchers and more importantly the sheriff." or so the story goes on the menu.  But before we get started Rustler's Rooste has a few rules such as "dancing with horses, dogs, coyotes and lampshades is not to be encouraged";  "If lead starts flying in here, grab your plate and eat under the table, it will stop in a minute" and "no hired hand shall be permitted to rustle any cattle or stock horses from the herd already rustled at the rooste".

As you first walk into the entrance you pass a bull with very large horns.  I looked around to see what his name was, I couldn't find a name plate so I just named him "Dinner".  Years ago when the rooste was a small cabin, there was a tin slide installed for a clever escape plan in case of bounty hunters.  The rustlers could just open up the cellar and jump down the slide to their horses.  This is still the case but now you go down the slide to your table rather than to your horse.  Jerry, who was celebrating his birthday on July 15 joined us as I celebrated my birthday too.  We were good sports to let Patti take a picture of us going down the slide.

The drinks selections were Pepsi products and since I had been up since 3am, I decided to get a Dr. Pepper so I could stay awake through the festivities.  Our first appetizer on the top of my list was rattlesnake.  This is a seasonal appetizer because it gets harder to rustle them up during the winter.  The snake is deboned, battered and deep fried served with a chipotle ranch dipping sauce.  Have you ever heard the expression "tastes just like chicken"?  This is a true story with rattlesnake but since it is full of muscles it tends to be more chewy than chicken.  It did have a nice crispy batter and the dipping sauce gives it a creamy kick.  For added garnish, Rustler's Rooste serves it with the deepfried backbone skeleton.  I don't recommend you eat the skeleton but it does make for a nice toothpick.

Next on our list was to order the Fresh Prickly Pear Cactus Fries.  Yes this is actually made from cactus, which is sliced into strips then battered and deep fried.  I was at first apprehensive about trying these because when I've eaten prickly pear cactus before it reminded me of eating green beans.  I couldn't imagine deep fried green beans being very appetizing.  But true to my motto, "if you haven't tried it, try it now", I had to try it.  These were less like green beans and more like pickles.  I've had deep fried pickles before and I found them to be more tart then I liked.  The prickly pear cactus fries were not tart but still had a pickle taste that contrasted with the batter and nicely topped off with the spicy kick from the chipotle ranch dipping sauce.  After our appetizers, we were served Indian fry bread and biscuits with butter as well as cinnamon butter.  The bread was hot and a good vehicle for eating the butter.  Then came a large bowl of salad  served family style for the entire table.  The salad had a variety of vegetables in it and already dressed with their house dressing.  If you are particular about how your salad is made or the type of dressing you like, you will need to voice this to the server up front.

 Rustler's Rooste is primarily a steak house, so we ordered steak.  Each steak comes with corn on the cob, green beans and cowboy beans.  Jerry ordered the "Rustler's Cut" which is a top sirloin steak.  This is a 10 oz steak and he chose to have it cooked "medium-well" and looks to be one of their more popular steaks.  We call this one "big".
Patti ordered the "Wagon Master" which is a New York Strip cooked "medium".  This is 12 oz of choice beef.  We call this one "bigger".  Despite being cooked medium, Patti found it to be dry.  All the juices seemed to be left on the plate rather than in the meat.  It did not even come close to the perfection of Frank's home grilled steaks. 
I got a good look at the cow out front and thought he could spare a few pounds, so I went with the "Trail Boss" which is a Porterhouse steak.  We will call this one "the Biggest".  Darn near two pounds of genuine aged Angus beef.  Of course, I prefer my steaks to still be mooing so I ordered it medium rare with a leaning towards the rare side.  My waiter asked if I needed any steak sauce, and I responded that if I needed steak sauce I shouldn't be eating this steak.  After taking a bite, I should have taken him up on his offer of sauce.  My steak was cooked perfectly but as temperature goes, it was lukewarm at best.  There was very little seasoning on the meat itself but don't get me wrong, the steak was still good, I just wished I had been able to add more flavor.

Since we were celebrating my birthday, we decided to go for the "Buckaroo Birthday" package.  This starts off with a server approaching your table while clanging a large dinner triangle and announcing to the entire restaurant that it is your birthday and we will all join in singing "Happy Birthday" to you.  When he reached the table he quickly takes a straw cowboy hat wrapped in an Arizona State flag bandana and places on your head while the everyone starts singing.  Once the song is over, he placed THE largest eclair I have ever seen in my life in front of me with two candles burning.  Of course, still being a young man, I was confident I could blow those candles out quickly.  But to my surprise the funny pranksters at the restaurant put relighting candles on the eclair.  After making another attempt at blowing them out, I licked my fingers and doused them rather than spitting directly on the dessert.  This eclair was excellently plated and extremely delicious and because of the size I did allow Patti and Jerry to share.  Even with sharing I still ended up bringing a quarter of it home.

 After every meal, each table is brought a can of cotton candy.  This is actually a nice unexpected treat and can be shared with the whole table.  We noticed on the menu that were no other desserts to choose from so if you don't order the Buckaroo Birthday this cotton candy is the only dessert available.  At least that we know of.

 Rustler's Rooste is a true Arizona icon and I would recommend bringing out of town guests here for a taste of "The West".  After dinner you can walk out onto their patio/balcony and enjoy a panoramic view of the Phoenix valley.  A great photo op can be had from just about any spot on the patio.

So if you are ready to try some true Arizona food and you are willing to try the snake more than the steak, Rustler's Rooste is definitely your place.  Because if you haven't tried Prickly Pear Cactus Fries, try it now!