Where to eat in Tucson

I read somewhere there are more than 1,800 restaurants in Tucson. With restaurants ranging from fast food to fine dining everywhere, that number is really believable. Plus, pick a cuisine and Tucson probably has a restaurant serving that style of food.

During our time in Tucson, we’ve sampled the food at quite a few restaurants, our favorites more than once. Here’s a list of restaurants that we’ve eaten at and can recommend.  The list is heavy on Northwest Tucson restaurants because that’s where we lived, but we’ve eaten at places all over the city.

·       Texas Roadhouse has several locations in Tucson, but we like the Texas Roadhouse at  8459 N. Cracker Barrel Road in Marana best. It has the best food and service. Take the Cortaro Road exit off Interstate 10.

·       Cattletown Steakhouse and Saloon is said to be the best steakhouse in Tucson. It has the crowds for the Saturday night steak special to prove it. It’s located at 3141 E. Drexel Road.

·       Panda One is a small restaurant serving Chinese food, including the best beef and broccoli I’ve eaten outside of China.  Don’t let the empty parking lot fool you – their food is good! There’ve been times when there’s only been a table or two of eat-in diners, but there’s a steady stream of people coming in for take-out. Panda One is located at 3670 N. Oracle Road.

·       Red Lobster has several locations in the Tucson area, but we like the one at 5061 B, Oracle Road best. The food and service are outstanding.  We’ve eaten at Red Lobsters in five states, and it doesn’t get any better than this Tucson location.

·       El Molinito has three locations in Tucson; we’ve only eaten at the one at 3675 W. Ina Road, but have been back several times. Their enchiladas are excellent.

·       Wisdom’s Dos is a good place to stop if you’ve spent a day exploring south of Tucson or shopping in Nogales, Mexico. It’s located at 4 Plaza Way in Tubac. They do a land office business with their cerviche; one taste and you’ll understand why. They automatically add a 15 percent tip to your bill for service, which seems to be pretty much non-existent, but they’ll take it off if you ask.

·       Frost is THE place to go for gelato. Their gelato is sinfully rich but lower in calories than regular ice cream.  Pick a flavor, any flavor, it’s all good. We’ve had gelato at two of their locations: 7131 N. Oracle Road and La Encantada Mall, 2905 E, Skyline Drive.

·       Sauce Pizza and Wine has three locations in Tucson. We’ve only been to the one at 7117 N. Oracle Road, which is right next door to Frost. The pizza is outstanding, with heavy crowds on weekends and evenings. Outdoor seating is available.

·       La Parilla Suiza is a chain of Mexican restaurants in Arizona. We have, however, only eaten at one of their three Tucson locations: 2720 N. Oracle Road. The restaurant specializes in the cuisine of Mexico City, not the Tex-Mex that I’m used to. It’s quite good, however, so we’ll go back.

·       The Curry Leaf is considered one of the best Indian restaurants in Tucson, and I have to agree with that assessment. Good food and good service are front and center at this small restaurant at 2510 E. Grant Road.

 

Tucson museum honors U.S. horse soldiers

Museum of the Horse Soldier

If you thought the era of horse soldiers ended with Teddy Roosevelt’s charge    up San Juan Hill or even with World War I, you’d be wrong Horses are still be used by the U.S. Army today, as mounts for Special Forces in Afghanistan. This tidbit comes courtesy of Tucson’s Museum of the Horse Soldier.

The museum, which opened in 2013, honors horse soldiers from the Civil War through World War II. It displays original uniforms of both officers and enlisted men, their saddles and their weapons.  Implements used by the men who cared for the horses –veterinarians and farriers – also are displayed. Photographs of the men and their mounts hang prominently on the walls.

Museum of the Horse Soldier

Just insides the entryway is a statue of a horse in a stall. Other horse statues are intermingled with the uniforms in glass cases. The second floor has bronze statues, including one of Custer’s Last Stand, that are miniatures of life-size statues found elsewhere.

The Museum of the Horse Soldier is located at 6541 E. Tanque Verde Road, Tucson’ (520) 722-2706. It is handicap accessible. Admission is charged, cash only. The museum, located in the Trail Dust Town complex, is open from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday. IF the museum is locked during open hours, as it was when we visited, the manager can usually be found in Trail Dust Town.  

Tohono Chul features Sonora Desert vegetation

A garden at Tohono Chul Park

Lush greenery isn’t something that is usually associated with southern Arizona, but it’s a term that comes easily to mind at the Tohono Chul botanical garden in west Tucson.

The park brings together the diversity of the Sonora Desert through vegetation, birds, butterflies, arts and education. Outdoor seating areas for classes, concerts and other programs are scattered throughout the 49-acre park. You’ll find bird sculptures sitting in trees and pottery pots arranged in fountains. And always there is the lush vegetation, from vine covered archways to meandering streams to a wide variety of cactus, including some kinds we’d not seen elsewhere in Arizona.

Most of the trails are paved, making this small corner of Tucson handicap-accessible. Benches are plentiful for visitors who just want to sit and enjoy nature, or rest their weary feet.

Wide paved trails accommodate wheelchairs

The land used to be occupied by prehistoric Native Americans. As you walk the trails, be on the lookout for a chunk of petrified wood, determined to be 750 million years old, and a large flat boulder bearing petro graphs. Ancient pottery shards have been found within the park’s boundaries.

The museum’s gift shop, which seems more like an art gallery, is located in an adobe hacienda. The idea for the park was conceived by later owners, Richard and Jean Wilson, who had been buying up snippets of land that were part of the original homestead. They decided to turn it into a park rather than let it be developed. The park was dedicated as a nature preserve in 1985.

Tohono Chul is located just off Ina Road at 7366 N. Paseo del Norte in Tucson. It is closed on major holidays but otherwise open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily. There is an admission charge.

More photos of Tohono Cnul are available on my YouTube channel.

National park honors iconic cactus

Saguaro National Park landscape

The Saguaro cactus stand tall and proud in this section of the Sonora Desert, reminding us of fir and pine trees in a forest.

Saguaro National Park was established in 1933 to protect and preserve these symbols of the American West as this cactus is found only in a small area of the desert that surrounds Tucson, Arizona. Tucson itself separates the national park. The west section is known as the Tucson Mountain District while the east park section is known as Rincon Mountain District.

View from the visitor center

The west district that we visited isn’t just desert, but also contains mountains more than 4,600 feet high. (Mountains more than 8.600 feet high can be found at Rincon.) Desert scrub and grass lands lie at the base of the mountains.

The Saguaro is the nation’s largest cactus and they’re visible almost as far as the eye can see. Other varieties of cactus, including the ocotillo, can be found there, though the Saguaro dominates the landscape. Its blossoms are the Arizona state flower.

Wild animals, including coyotes, desert tortoises and a variety of rattlesnakes, can be seen in the park.

The west section offers a five-mile gravel loop road giving visitors a glimpse of the park. There also are hiking trails, though walkers should be on the lookout for rattlesnakes during the hot months. Hikers also should be sure to carry lots of water with them.

Tucson Mountain visitor center

The park is open to vehicles from sunrise to sunset daily, though hikers and bikers can use the park around the clock. Camping is not available. Both park sections have visitor centers that are open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.

The Tucson Mountain District might be considered the poor man’s Arizona Sonora Desert Museum. That museum, located just a couple of miles away, charged admission of almost $20 per person per visit in 2014. The national park charges just $10 per vehicle for a weekly pass. The landscape isn’t that much different, though the desert museum several indoor exhibits in air-conditioned buildings.

The Tucson Mountain District can be reached by taking the Speedway exit off Interstate 10 in Tucson and heading south. Follow the signs to the desert museum, only keep going past the museum turnoff.

For more photos of the park, please see my Saguaro National Park slideshow.