Scottsdale’s newer resort rooms buy their views; El Chorro simply got there first. The adobe buildings went up in 1934 as a girls’ school, became a dinner house in 1937, and have been staging sunsets between Camelback and Mummy Mountain ever since. It’s technically Paradise Valley. Nobody who eats here cares.
The sticky buns arrive warm, free and relentless, and they have ended more appetites than dessert ever will. Pace yourself, then lean on the steaks and chops — or skip the dining room and use the bar the way locals have for decades, as a clubhouse.
When to go: the patio at dusk from fall through spring, when the lawn fire pits come on. Weekend brunch is the easier reservation and arguably the better hour.