Phoenix

A quick trip 24 hour trip to Phoenix for me. Grabbed a morning flight on United and checked into the Doubletree Paradise Valley Scottsdale Resort. After looking around in Phoenix, I had an Amex offer on a Doubletree stay and I wanted to book a spa resort to get a treatment as well as pool time. I had not stayed at this particular Doubletree before and was looking to find one with an onsite spa. The website is a bit vague and I had assumed the spa link was to services offered onsite. When I checked in, the front desk informed me that the spa was by appointment only and it was through an offsite partnership. I didn't investigate further but assume that they must have some type of space at the hotel to do massages and probably focuses on convincing guests to do in-room massages.

Doubletree Paradise Valley Scottsdale King Room

Despite the lack of spa facilities, I found the hotel very relaxing. There are two pools and the green space inside the complex makes you feel that there aren't many people in the hotel. I liked the fact that the rooms on the first floor had outside patio space. At the right temperature, it was pleasant to work outside.

The bar is right outside the fenced in pool area. I enjoyed my carne asada fries and daiquiri. For the price point, it was not unreasonable and the food was good and plentiful.

For dinner, went out to The Parlor. It was listed as one of those "great pizzas" list you can come across and I had bookmarked it in Yelp to try. Ordered the arancini as an appetizer, sweet potato gnocchi and the spicy Florentine pizza as entrees with the chocolate cake for dessert. I really liked the gnocchi and the chocolate cake was good but the addition of the amarena cherries kicked it over the top. Overall, I would come back for the pasta but I don't know if this is the "best pizza in Phoenix." I would still recommend Pizza A Metro over this establishment.

The Parlor Gnochi and spicy Florentine pizza

On the way back to the hotel, I grabbed some pastries from La Grande Orange. Picked up a number of tasty treats and was not disappointed at home.

The next morning, grabbed breakfast at Asadero Cocina and Cantina (hotel restaurant). For a $5 upcharge, you can have the hot items in the breakfast buffet for Diamond members. Since most of the items you'd want is hot, it seemed a reasonable price for something outside of oatmeal, yogurt and fruit. I had some eggs provencale (something you don't see very often in buffets) and steak potatoes with skillet cornbread. The cornbread is pretty addicting especially the edge pieces. I like crunchy textures.

On the way to the airport, drove by The Local Donut. I ordered a box of doughnuts to take home and try. The doughnuts were tasty and reasonably priced! The rise of "gourmet" doughnut shops has not impressed me. Places like Voodoo Donuts or Doughnut Plant has trendy doughnut variations yet are never as good as my local favorites and usually twice the price. Local Donut defies both by offering unique flavors ie Margarita and Mango Tajin with the usual ie red velvet and maple bacon. If I lived in Phoenix, this would definitely be on my go to places.