6/30/08 Note: This restaurant is now closed. 

The evolution of Raleigh is fun to watch. When I was young, my parents, who once relocated to Houston for a year, were big fans of Mexican food. Back then Tippy’s Tacos were it; the only thing in town. They dragged me there kicking and screaming and I’d steadily order the corn dog. I didn’t like that weird stuff.

I have evolved and so has Raleigh. I crave Mexican or Southwestern food several times a week and almost never eat corn dogs. My favorite celebrity chef is Rick Bayless, and his PBS show is fantastic. For years the options around here were limited to El Rodeo variants. Jibarra opened the door to finer Mexican dining, and now Sedona gives us another great option.

Tucked away in a jinxed location behind the gas station at Pleasant Valley Promenade (map it), Sedona is the new concept by the owners of the site’s former oyster bar restaurant. The oyster bar and bar area occupy the majority of the restaurant’s space and the dining room has been minimally decorated to a southwestern theme.

Chef Michael Juers’ food is the star of this restaurant, though. The dinner menu is varied, yet moderate in length. Eleven entrees offer four seafood dishes and no vegetarian dishes. Four-colored chips are all fried well and come with a delicious red salsa and an interesting tomatillo salsa. I am not a huge fan of tomatillo variant salsas as the primary option, so I was thoroughly satisfied by this delicious option.

During one visit I enjoyed the pork tamales on the lunch menu. The tamales are excellent and come with “Colorado sauce”, which was a dark mole-ish sauce that did not overpower the pork. I am excited to see places offer meats other than chicken and steak in these dishes and this one had me satisfied. We also enjoyed the fat chicken enchiladas which presented a quite “grande” portion for lunch. They, too, are covered in the Colorado sauce.

Dinner was excellent. I had the Skillet Seared Beef Medallions which are coriander-rubbed, goat cheese topped, and sit upon three different chili sauces; green, red, yellow. What I loved about this dish was the variety that the three sauces offer. Each sauce was somewhat light (especially the sweet yellow one), and did not overpower the beef. As I made my way through the meal, I never found myself bored. The dish also comes with a sweet potato version of pommes frites. These were not a success, however, as they were tough and akin to eating cardboard.

Other dishes at the table were the chicken quesadillas (mild and perfect for children) and the chicken chimichangas. The chimichangas were beautifully prepared, sliced and on-ends, but had a strange surprise to the palate. The sauce heavily leaned toward an Italian red sauce. The dish was delicious, it was just almost a fusion type of thing. I can imagine this is not by design.

Another dish at the table was tricolor tortilla battered fried shrimp. This was a flop, though, because the tortillas don’t add enough interesting flavor to the shrimp. It did come with a sweet sauce that I didn’t love (I’m having trouble finding this on the online menu).

Service at one visit was fair while another visit was poor (15 minute wait for drinks and scant refills on drinks and chips). The restaurant was only about 10% full at each visit. Hopefully that will improve because the food deserves it. The menu’s prices are somewhat between the level of El Rodeo and Jibarra, mostly in the $15 range. There is a brunch menu now, though Sedona’s website is unclear as to when this menu is available.

Aside from the excellent food, the restaurant gave me a creepy vibe. This will surely fade as the restaurant fills and the wait staff smoothes out some glitches.