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Kai Restaurant Review

Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa
5594 W. Wild Horse Pass Blvd. (Maricopa Rd.) Send to Phone
ChandlerAZ 85226
602-225-0100 | Make Restaurant Reservations | Menu
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This elegant restaurant celebrates Native American culture and Southwestern culinary traditions. Read our cookbook review of The New Native American Cuisine: Five-Star Recipes from the Chefs of Arizona's Kai Restaurant.

Cuisine

Open

Dinner Tues.-Sat.

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Dining room at Kai, Chandler, AZChef Janos Wilder, who has two restaurants in Tucson, acts as culinary consultant at the soft and subdued Kai, a Southwestern restaurant within the Sheraton Wild Horse Pass Resort & Spa (chef de cuisine Jack Strong has departed the stoves; the executive chef is Michael O'Dowd). The menu incorporates local ingredients (many of them grown or produced on the reservation) with French technique to create food that's both appealing to chile-weaned locals and accessible to tourists. Bacon-wrapped and roasted quail, an appetizer served on a johnnycake with caramelized onion and Hubbard squash purée, is a standout, as is lobster fry-bread, served with a salsa of fresh corn and avocado. The menu changes with the seasons but entrées might include pecan-crusted rack of lamb, napped with rich mole, or beef tenderloin with pasilla-pomegranate demi-glace. The don't-miss dessert is warm fry bread with Kahlúa ice cream and soda shop frills. Decorated with Native American artifacts and floor-to-ceiling windows that overlook mountains and desert, Kai is a good place to bring out-of-towners for a true taste of the Southwest.

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