The Arizona Golf Resort & Event Center aims to recapture its reputation as the premiere golf and fine dining destination in Mesa. After an overhaul of upper management, the resort is reviving its place as a community staple by reopening its dining center, revamping the golf course, and renovating the banquet rooms and pool grounds. Executive Chef, Bill Gomez, sat down with AZ Courier News and discussed the large undertaking along with the new restaurant—Enchantment at the Course—and its slated grand opening on St. Patrick’s Day.
We’re completely under new management. We’re resurfacing the golf course, redoing the pro shop, and reopening the restaurant. And when I was hired, I was asked to bring this restaurant back to life. And that’s why we are reopening the dining room to the public, and remaking the whole atmosphere of Arizona Golf Resort. It has been basically bar food for the past three years. Fried food, hamburgers, and sandwiches. And the golfers come in and that’s what they have. But, now we want to open up to the entire community again. As a new restaurant, and a new atmosphere, so those who come to dine will be doing so in a beautiful restaurant, and those who want to come in to have a drink, can and will be able to take advantage of whatever event that’s being held that night in the bar.
Annabelle’s used to be one of the best restaurants in Mesa. It was a staple, along with the golf course. So, what we’re doing is rebuilding that reputation and bringing back that atmosphere. By reintroducing the dining room and renaming and rebranding everything all together. The new restaurant will be named Enchantment at the Course and will be New Mexican fine cuisine. It’s a huge dining room, very elaborate and very beautiful. The bar and lounge used to be the 354 Lounge, and now it’s the Zia Lounge. So, everything is taking a big turn for the best.
While developing the restaurant’s new identity, I looked at the other restaurants within a radius of 20 miles. What do they have and what don’t they have? We have a lot of Mexican restaurants, steak houses, Italian restaurants, a lot of everything. And what I saw missing was the New Mexican cuisine, something that I’m very familiar with coming from Hatch, New Mexico. So, we’ll have blue corn enchiladas, carnitas, pork adovada, and hickory pork belly. And, along with New Mexican cuisine, I’m bringing in fine steaks: prime ribeye, New York strip, filet mignon. And we’ll have salmon and other kinds of fish, too. Also, I plan to make four specials every week. And that will be the hook to get people in. Whether it’s Italian, Mediterranean or Asian food. Whatever comes to me that week, I’ll make it into a special, along with our regular menu. So, there’s going to be a mixture. Great New Mexican staples, great steaks. My sous chef, Karen Molina and I, along with the rest of the kitchen, will make everything from scratch. Nothing will come out of a can. All the chilies, all the sauces, everything.
You’ll get that fine dining experience without the price. So, people can say, “I went to a nice place, enjoyed a good meal, great atmosphere, wonderful service, and an exceptional view.
Also, the new Zia Lounge has Dixieland Jazz dancing until eight o’clock on Wednesdays. Friday night we have Karaoke until nine, and Saturday I’m bringing in comedy night. So, this will be turned into a comedy club every Saturday. And we’ll have a full-fledged patio. Also, we’ll have pool parties starting in May, once it starts getting warmer. There are a lot of bookings already starting. So, we’re pretty excited about that.
There are a lot of hats in this place. Wallace Nelson is director of golf operations, and then we have Yulanda Blanco-Castillo, the event sales manager, and myself with the restaurant and bar. Of course, I don’t want to forget anyone—all of the maintenance, and everyone else that works behind the scenes. There are a lot of great employees here. A lot of employees make this place run. And we are all working together to change everything at a hyper speed. We’re all here working together to succeed. It’s exciting.
Arizona Golf Resort & Event Center
Address: 425 S Power Rd, Mesa, AZ 85206
Phone: (480) 832-3202
