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Step 1
Bring your appetite to the Calico Cow. Portions are generous, and dinners include a trip to the bounteous salad bar, which includes greenery along with pasta, potato and macaroni salads. This is 1950s style food, not spa cuisine, so plan on indulging. Dinner for two, with cocktails, will average $40. Check out the old-time decor inside the restaurant, which was once a country club and then a roadhouse back in the 1940s. Inside the spacious dining rooms, windows are lined with dusky velvet drapes, wallpaper is flocked Victorian and tables are arranged with plush chairs in faded rose-colored velvet.
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Step 2
Settle into a booth or table and order one of the restaurant’s specialty cocktails like a chocolate martini before ordering, or go for a glass of Southern-style sweet tea. Stay with the tried and true and you won’t go wrong, menu-wise. Choose from meat loaf, shepherd’s pie, fried fish or pot roast for an entree. Don’t miss the house-made mashed potatoes and gravy.
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Step 3
Opt for dessert. Specials include Tennessee tiramisu (banana pudding), done up Southern-style, or bread pudding with vanilla sauce prepared in-house with croissants instead of the traditional white bread. Stay for easy listening with a soloist on weekend nights. The separate bar area is cozy and congenial, popular with locals including a few newscasters and a local politician or two.
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Step 4
Consider having the chef/owner Susan cater your next party. Roasted chicken, individual meat loaf sandwiches, homestyle soups and pot roast are all tasty and can be home-delivered for a crowd. The restaurant is also open Monday through Saturday for breakfast and lunch and Sunday brunch.
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Step 5
Calico Cow Restaurant is located at 8525 North Central Avenue, Phoenix, AZ 85020, about a 15 minute drive from downtown Phoenix and Sky Harbor airport. For directions and more information, call 602-235-9480.
