← All articles · United States · 8 June 2013

Scottsdale

Scottsdale in June 2013, with dinner at Rustler's Rooste across in Phoenix: a live country band, checked tablecloths and a plate of fried rattlesnake.

Scottsdale was our base for the Arizona leg in June 2013, and dinner one night meant crossing to the far side of Phoenix for Rustler's Rooste, a western steakhouse on the slopes of South Mountain where the signature dish is rattlesnake. So obviously we ordered the rattlesnake.

The Rustler's Rooste steakhouse exterior at dusk with blue awnings, red checked patio tables and a fire pit — Rustler's Rooste at dusk, patio fire pit lit and string lights on.

A country band in cowboy hats playing on a stage inside the timber dining hall, under a large American flag and a cowhide on the wall — A live country band, a giant flag and a cowhide on the wall. The theme is total, and totally sincere.

A plate of fried rattlesnake pieces on lettuce with dipping sauce, served with the snake's ribcage across the plate — Fried rattlesnake, ribcage presented as proof. Tastes like chewy chicken, since you ask.

We can now say we have eaten rattlesnake in the desert while a band played. The American West, done properly.

Photos from Scottsdale and Phoenix

The rest of the day belonged to Old Town, a first brush with Cracker Barrel, and a hot walk around the Arizona State Capitol across in Phoenix.

Old Town Scottsdale street with western-style storefronts, an Old Town Boutique Shops sign and a Scottsdale Trolley stop — Old Town Scottsdale, where the boutiques wear cowboy storefronts.

Green and red Ollie the Trolley bus with a Downtown sign in its windscreen turning a corner in Scottsdale — Ollie the Trolley rolling its downtown loop past the palms.

Dileep at the counter of a Cracker Barrel country store with shelves of goods behind him — Our first Cracker Barrel: half restaurant, half country store, fully committed.

Dileep sitting in a wooden rocking chair on the Cracker Barrel front porch — The porch rocking chairs are for sale. We tested one thoroughly and bought none.

Stone memorial to Lt Frank Luke Jr with palm trees and the Arizona State Capitol behind — Lt Frank Luke Jr, 1898 to 1918, remembered in stone outside the Arizona State Capitol.

Dileep holding a long camera lens in front of a bronze equestrian statue on the memorial plaza by the Arizona State Capitol, Phoenix towers in the distance — Statue-spotting on the Capitol plaza, in Phoenix heat that discourages loitering.

The next morning pointed north: Sedona first, then the Grand Canyon.