The Boulders’ fancier rooms charge you for the granite. Spotted Donkey, the resort’s casual cantina at El Pedregal, puts the same twelve-million-year-old rock pile behind a big patio at prices that stop well short of resort level.
The bar carries more than 45 tequilas and ages cocktails in oak, so the barrel-aged margarita is the move. Pair it with the chimichanga and don’t overthink the rest; the menu is the classics, played straight — chimichangas, enchiladas, fajitas.
When to go: winter weeknights, from late afternoon through dusk. Book the patio ahead on winter weekends.