A gem in Yuma! My husband & I are enjoying a long weekend in the desert, spending time with friends and exploring this interesting town with it's rich history and it's little pockets of fun & surprising offerings.
Tonight the plan was for a more casual and laid back dinner, but we wanted special cocktails too. The original place where we planned to have dinner was closed, which was actually a great stroke of luck because we found ourselves here instead.
Such a lovely ambience when we walked through the front courtyard. We ended up waiting at the bar for a few minutes and had a chance to look over the cocktail menu and be greeted by a friendly bartender; Jose. It's a fairly substantive cocktail menu and many things looked very nice. After a quick wait, our lovely hostess came to get, us and led us past most beautiful cuts of dry aged beef on display in a sleek refrigerator, on the way to the dining room. Everything from sirloins to T-bones to fillets to New York strips. Gorgeous.
As luck would have it, we were able to be seated right next to the fireplace. A good start for the evening for sure. A four piece jazz band was playing, complete with trumpet. A couple of Miles Davis tunes, a little Coltrane, just fantastic. Who'd of thought? Apparently they are here every Friday night jamming away.
Bethany was our server and she was engaging, knowledgeable about the menu and a very nice person to talk to. We were lucky enough to have our new friend Jose as our the bartender and he apparently has a reputation of being one of the best in the area. I myself had a tamarind martini, my husband had an old-fashioned that was stirred with a little bit of muddled blackberry. Both were tasty and with generous (but still reasonable) pours. Shrimp cocktail is something that I usually don't order because it's so pedestrian. However, I had a yen this evening, and it was better than expected, ice cold, in a beautiful martini glass and the shrimp were big, fat and sweet. Husband had a wedge salad which was so good, and probably one of the best we've ever had. Listen, we've been waterfront on one of the biggest golf clubs in Memphis known for it's exquisite food and we thought their wedge salad was killer. Ha! Very impressive Julieana's! I opted after that for the French onion soup and the steak salad. I asked for my steak plain medium, neither well nor rare but unfortunately it was a little on the rare side. I guess that's better because you can always send it back to be finished more and not the other way around. In any case, it was delicious, perfectly seasoned and generous portion. The French onion soup was okay; while it had an excellent broth and perfectly melted cheese on the top, had a little too much bread underneath for my liking. My husband had the ribeye, which he found to be perfectly cooked and very tender. He also had the tomato risotto as a side.
Throughout the meal, we were able to sit back, relax and enjoy our cocktails, the crowd (which was fairly diverse with some loud, some quiet, some fancy, some more relaxed) and on the big patio where the band was everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves and the music. Seriously, I can't say enough about the band, a wildly competent jazz in Yuma? It just goes to show, culture is in places you least expect it, and it is quite appreciated. The things you learn when you travel, probably the biggest one being that nothing is as expected. And that's the fun of it. Yuma is up-and-coming and it's very enjoyable to witness and participate in. The staff here is really attentive, well-versed in their jobs, yet laid-back and friendly. We were really impressed because at regular intervals different members of the staff checked in on us to make sure we had everything we wanted; our drinks were full, and that we were enjoying our food. They are truly a great and well oiled team. A total winner.
A huge shout out also to Fernando, who engaged my husband in good conversation with regards to different Bourbons and the different ways of making a nice old-fashioned. Later on, he made a great flambé, which apparently he is famous for, as he is the focal point of the marketing piece when walking in the door.
Again, just a lovely experience and a fantastic place. We feel so lucky to have found it.This place is definitely now on our favorites list! Thank you everyone at Julieana's, you are so awesome! read more