Take a bite out of Tucson restaurants. Consider brunch, a spicy food truck, a beet treat, a fish out of water, and chocolate yumminess.
Casual Elegance
Tavolino Ristorante is the place to be for a leisurely Sunday brunch. Ribbons of natural light crisscross the spacious room where wine glasses shimmer on crisp white tablecloths. Sit at a table or plush black banquette seating. What's on the brunch menu? What about homemade sausages, two poached eggs, cannellini beans, roasted red peppers and foccacia? For a sweet tooth, try the Nutella pizza topped with fresh berries, walnuts, powdered sugar, and maple whipped cream. Your mama probably didn't make French toast alla' Italiana with custard foccacia, caramelized apples, and maple butter. A Tucson Foothills favorite,Tavolino (photo Amy Haskell)
Twist and Shout
In the Tucson food truck community when one food truck praises another for being the best – people take notice. Food truck fanatics seeking Indian street food have been lining up at The Twisted Tandoor. Owner Mukhi Singh says his menu reflects authentic Indian food, the kind his mother and grandmother made not the kind usually served for the American palate. The Twisted Tandoor uses outer bark cinnamon, black cardamom vs. the more common green cardamom, and asafetida. Singh even grows curry leaves in his backyard. Try the tandoori chicken plate with basmati rice, onion and tomato salad, fiery green chutney, and a squeeze of lemon for tang. The Twisted Tandoor
Just Beet It
The deep red roots of the table beet, the garden beet, or simply the beet are eaten grilled, boiled, or roasted as a cooked vegetable, cold as a salad after cooking and adding oil and vinegar or raw and shredded alone or with other salad vegetables. At FEAST, the bodacious beet is held to a higher standard in the Roasted Beet Cake. For your pleasure, a savory cake of roasted beets with caramelized onions and garlic is served over sautéed spinach with braised fennel and red wine syrup then topped off with goat cheese lumpia...a light rustic dish for a bastion of beet lovers and vegetarians. P.S. The menu changes monthly so if you have a beet craving, beat it to FEAST now
From Freeways to Grasslands
Take Greg LaPrad, a prominent chef from Quiessence and transplant him to the middle of Southern Arizona wine region's borderland. What do you get? Overland Trout, a Sonoita restaurant named after 1880s cowboy slang for bacon. Overland Trout's menu celebrates rare high desert culinary bounty along with indigenous ingredients and neighboring vineyards. As for trout, yes, it's on the menu and comes from the Sea of Cortez via the Port of Guaymas via Rodriguez Seafood in Tucson. The OT Trout Platter features smoked trout roe mousse with roe on fresh cucumber, trout rillette on crostini with radish and celery, and trout and bacon deviled eggs. It's a platter somewhat reminiscent of a good Jewish deli and a recipe Julia Child might whip up. Overland Trout
Sugar Sweet
Neighborhood bakeries have all but vanished in Tucson but to feed your sweet tooth consider dropping by Broadway Village's Sugar Sweet Bakery for their small but addictive selection of satisfying cookies and cakes. Some of the cookies and the classic brownie are gluten free. Cakes are served by the slice; whole cakes can be ordered in advance. According to a friend, the Chocolate Chocolate Cake was the best she ever had. Except for a hard bench, there is no seating as it's a take-and-go type of place. Should you get thirsty, they serve lemonade and rich chocolate milk with house-made chocolate syrup. Sugar Sweet Bakery
