elements
at
Sanctuary on Camelback
Phoenix, AZ

Fire sparks from the freestanding black iron fire pit. Quartzite floors the color of charcoal reflect the tones of gray in "earth/ether," a diptych by Kris Cox, one canvas on wood of pigmented lead, the other of pigmented wax. Golden sunflowers shine above the two ebonies of a community table intended for diners who want company.

Thus surrounded by the earth elements, we are seated in a booth with a front row view of early evening lights flickering in Phoenix’s Paradise Valley and framed by Mummy Mountain and the McDowell’s. elements, the restaurant at the Sanctuary on Camelback Mountain, hangs off Camelback’s north slope. Nearby, stately palms are silhouetted against the lapis sky. We watch as it turns to carbon.

A steely "onion bottle" vase, shaped like a red torpedo onion, holds reed-like snake grass. The salt and pepper sit in a ying/yang dish and a small cricket cage diffracts the flame of a candle. Beyond steel girders, the ceiling is pieced together with rough-cut ‘two by six’ lumber turned on its side.

Warm towels arrive and we begin our study of the elements menu. Chris Wiley, elements Executive Chef, creates a new menu every month to take advantage of prime seasonal produce. Food and Wine Magazine recently named him one of the ten best new chefs in America.

Starting with a daily elemental soup, February’s appetizers include the likes of chilled ginger shrimp with Asian slaw and Chinese mustard and foie gras with toasted apples, pistachios and calvados. Salads range from the traditional Greek with romaine, feta cheese, red onion and olives to the inventive roasted beets (local and organic) with goat cheese and orange vinaigrette.

Having devoured an elements Cobb chicken salad at a late lunch—crunchy lettuce, creamy avocado, tart-sweet tomatoes, crisp smoky bacon, sharp blue cheese and chopped egg—I segue straight to the main event.

The siren song of a rack of lamb calls, but I opt for the seared Ahi tuna. It arrives, crisp outside and still tuna-pink inside. Sliced and fanned out from a bed of bright green lightly-braised escarole, it sits atop fragrant jasmine rice studded with black sesame seeds. This succulent dish is animated by a soy-sesame vinaigrette.

Grilled salmon, sitting pretty on somen (Japanese wheat noodles) and snow peas, is strewn with bright greens and puddles of sesame-ginger sauce. It’s my companion’s very attractive choice. I filch a taste and find the flavors excellent, although the salmon is overdone.

Late lunch or no late lunch, the craving for a something sweet endures. I look over the dessert menu, hoping nothing will strike my fancy, but the minute I behold "liquid center chocolate torte with buttermilk ice cream," I’m smitten. An inspired and inspirational very dense chocolate torte arrives with warm chocolate oozing from its side. White buttermilk ice cream is melting off the top and adds a welcome sourness. Given this stupendous indulgence, I’d expect my companion’s simple pear sorbet to pale in comparison. However, the intensely-flavored sorbet perched in a crisp tuile and fragrant with almond, holds its own.

After dinner, we wander out past the lime green jade bar where I overhear a local state definitively that this is the best view in Phoenix. On the patio, another fire dances in the dark. We savor the view and our evening at elements where it seems that all the elements are joined together in our favor.

           By Kate Crawford  July 2002

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