We will be in Tucson over the next few days, staying at the Loews resort and are looking for dinner suggestions. We will have a car, but don't want to drive all over the place -- so, say, restaurants within a 20 minute radius or so. We are open to any good food -- especially Mexican and Southwestern, but also modern American, restaurants with craft beers, or upscale with good wine (Asian not so much for this trip). Thanks.
Edited to add: I just booked one dinner at El Cisne. Is that a mistake?
We have stayed at Loews over a dozen time.
Recommendations within 20 minutes for upscale with a good wine list:
Tavalino
Vivace
The Grill at Hacienda del Sol
If you change your mind on Asian, Ginza has great sushi.
Over 20 minutes:
Cafe Poca Cosa
Agustin Kitchen
Enjoy!
Jay, just want to report back on the dinners that we ate during our visit to Tucson. Unfortunately, we were not able to adhere to your recommendations, with the exception of Tavolino, but do appreciate your efforts:
Inca's Peruvian Cuisine: We had Mexican food on the brain, so we asked the concierge for a recommendation near the hotel. He suggested the Ventana location of El Charro and said that we should not require a reservation given that it was mid-week. But, when we arrived at El Charro, there was a 20 minute wait, so we decided to go to Inca's, located in the same shopping center, instead. The food here was fine (maybe just ok), if not spectacular. We started with a Ceviche Mixto, which was probably the best part of the meal -- maybe because we were very hungry. My husband had the Arroz con Mariscos, and I had the Pescada a lo Macho -- very similar seafood dishes containing shrimp, squid, and white fish, except that his was served with a tomato-sauce infused rice and mine with white rice. My dish must have been waiting for his, as my squid was overcooked, but his were fine. No dessert; draft beers. Service was very friendly. https://www.incasperuviancuisine.com/....
El Charro Café (Ventana): Another meal that was fine, but not terrific. Again, we stuck to fairly simply fare. My husband started with a small bowl of the chicken tortilla soup. My husband had the Carne Seca Enchilladas, which is evidently one of their featured dishes; he wasn't impressed. I had the "Enchilladas del Rancho," which were filled with pork carnitas; very good. Again, no dessert; draft beers. Again, very friendly service. https://www.elcharrocafe.com/el-charr...
The Flying V at the Loews Ventana Canyon resort: This was our "splurge," fine dining dinner. The standouts of the meal were the warm Brussel Sprout Salad that I had for a starter and the complimentary corn-jalapeno bread. Both were excellent. Everything else was competently prepared but, again, we were not wowed. My husband started with the Calimari, and had the seared Ahi Tuna for his main. He was a bit peeved that the tuna was served with a cumin rub; would have much preferred if it had simply seared, with sliced lemon for seasoning. I had a roasted salmon dish that was a special. He had a raspberry-port sorbet for dessert. Wine list was good, and included a Serghesio zinfandel (one of our favorites), which we very much enjoyed. https://cdn.loewshotels.com/loewshote....
Tavolino: My husband started with the grilled octopus. He said it was fine but again, felt the preparation -- with fingerling potatoes, olives, and celery -- was overly fussy; he would have preferred just octopus & lemon. I started with the beet salad, which was very good with one caveat -- it was accompanied by a goat-cheese-topped "crostini," that was really a cracker, not a slice of olive-oil brushed toasted bread. For the mains, he had the veal saltimbocca and I had the house-made fettucine Bolognese. Again, competently prepared but not more than that. He said that the pork saltimbocca that I made at home a few weeks ago was better. My pasta was perfectly cooked but way over-sauced. I had a glass of Valpolicello Ripasso, which was very good (and a generous pour). http://www.tavolinoristorante.com/din...
A few overarching comments:
1. Because I was attending a conference, many of these meals were preceded by a cocktail hour with hors d'oervres, so we were not as hungry as we might otherwise have been when we arrived. This was particularly true of our dinner at Tavolino.
2. I was very surprised by (and did not appreciate) the fast pacing of the dinners, especially at Flying V and Tavolino. In both cases we were in & out of the restaurants within an hour. Our main courses arrived almost immediately after our appetizers were cleared. As a result, we were still pretty sated with appetizers when the mains arrived. The pacing was less surprising at Tavolino, which is evidently very popular and we were there on a Saturday night on the early side; they undoubtedly wanted to turn the table. More surprising at Flying V, as we were there later and there were empty tables.
Thanks for the feedback.
One other thing that I meant to mention. We tried to arrange for dinner at the Grill at the Hacienda del Sol, which you had recommended and where I had eaten about 15 years ago but had a snafu with the reservation.
I initially tried to book on OpenTable but it said that only outdoor seating was available, which we did not want. So I then tried to call the restaurant directly to inquire about indoor seating; I reached a live person at the Lodge, who transferred me to the restaurant, where I was funneled into voicemail. I left a detailed message with a callback number but they never called me back.
The next day, I revisited Opentable and was able to book a table indoors there.
The next morning, which was the day of our reservation, I received an email from Opentable stating that the restaurant had cancelled our reservation.. So, I went back onto OT and reserved at Tavolino.
About one hour later, the Grill at HdS evidently called my cell phone to "confirm" my reservation for the evening. I was in a meeting at the time and the ringer was turned off, so I missed the call. In fact, I did not pick up their voicemail until a couple hours later. At that point,, I was disinclined to cancel at Tavolino. I did, however, call the Grill at HdS back just to let them know that I would not be there.
Very weird.
by Jen Wheeler | Need a spring vegetable guide to what's in season? Consider this your spring produce cheat sheet—complete...
by Rachel Johnson | Whether the kids are still distance learning or returning to a classroom, with school back in session...
by Kelly Magyarics | You’ve sprung for a gorgeous piece of enameled cast iron cookware; protect your investment by cleaning...
by Debbie Wolfe | Home chefs love wood cutting boards because they are durable and reliable. Wood boards are attractive...