Hey everyone, We will be traveling from Los Angeles to Flagstaff, Scottsdale, Tucson and Bisbee then back to Los Angeles (still trying to figure out where to break up the trip from bisbee to LA, maybe Salome?)
I noticed most of the threads were quite old for some of these areas, I would very much appreciate some reccs. for food and drink in any of these towns and also anything I should stop for along the way.
Thanks so much! Chowhound has never done us wrong all around the world!
It might make sense for you to skip Scottsdale on the first leg and hit it on the return instead. Flagstaff is only 2 hours from Scottsdale, and there is only 1.5 hours separating Scottsdale from Tucson and Tucson from Bisbee so it might make sense to skip one and instead hit it on the way back. I grew up in LA with family in Bisbee so we made that trip countless times and it's actually not that bad doing it in one day. I have lived in Tucson, Flagstaff and Bisbee so if you have any more specific questions I would be happy to answer them if I can. Full disclosure, it's been a good ten years since I've lived in either Tucson or Bisbee but I lived in Flagstaff just a year ago. Tucson is a great food city, but as I mentioned it's been 10 years or so since I lived there. I know Bison Wiches is still on 4th Ave and serving up some of the best sandwiches you will find and Tucson has some of the best Mexican food you will find anywhere. Bisbee is an artist community and always has some good eateries thou they tend to come and go frequently. Ana's seasonal Kitchen seems to be the one getting the most buzz right now. I haven't eaten there myself but my friends all rave about it. I'm gonna know the most about Flagstaff because it's the most recent and there's a lot of places I could recommend but a lot depends on what you like. IIf you like Asian style noodles try Sosoba for lunch, it's in an alley off rte 66 near downtown, next to Flag Brew. Flag Brew is also a good spot for lunch and a beer with live music on the weekends. If you like a good variety of craft beers check out Hops on Birch. No food but great beer and good atmosphere. Beaver st Brewery has good food and good local beer. The lumberjack is owned by the same people as Beaver st but I don't like their food as much, still a fun place. Everyone seems to love Karma Sushi, but I'm not a huge fan, the quality is okay but I really like Japanese food and they are too Americanized for my taste. There's a lot of good places and I've been to most of them so if you have questions about a specific restaurant or bar just ask, I'll probably have an opinion. Don't know much about Scottsdale, except there are some ridiculously overcrowded clubs if your into that type of "scene".
I forgot to mention the Tinderbox. Flagstaff, and Arizona in general are pretty informal and all the restaurants I've mentioned are casual but if you want something a little nicer, Tinderbox and Brix are really good choices. Someone else mentioned Sedona and I second that. It's only a half hour from Flagstaff. There are a lot of spots you can park your car and take a picnic lunch down to Oak Creek. The famous slide rock is in Sedona but I much prefer hanging out at one of the other locations without the big crowds. Slide rock is a must if you have kids though, they will love it.
Thank you SO much, esp for the bisbee tip. I am having a really hard time digging up food tips on both bisbee and tombstone. We have been to sedona many time; it is totally magical. This time we were trying to hit some different places-and the reason we are going to Phoenix first is because we got a great weekday rate at the biltmore and it's our one splurge for the trip!
Oh, and we like everything, and would love any more tips on Bisbee. Anyplace great for breakfast? I heard Bisbee breakfast club and Dots diner were good. I was also thinking about going to Cafe roka-is it worth it? We live in LA and eat really well here, so I don't really have the need to go to the fanciest place in town. Do you know any restaurants in sonoita or tombstone? I'm having a really hard time finding anything there!
If you would like to see a real Western town, i think you will enjoy Bisbee much more than Tombstone. If you actually read up on the History of Southeast Arizona, Bisbee was a much more important City than Tombstone. Tombstone is basically famous for one shooting incident, which I'm sure you know about. I always felt Tombstone had a fakeness to it for the sake of tourism. A lot of people wearing cheap looking cowboy and Indian costumes and a lot of the buildings are recently build facades that are made to look like old west. Just my opinion, but Bisbee is the real deal, a lot of really cool old buildings and history. The stock exchange bar for example, was actually a real stock exchange at the turn of the century, complete with chalkboard walls where they would write the up to date stock information. The museum in grassy park is cool but I'll let you in on a little secret and it's free. If you go to the public library next to the post office, on the bottom floor there are tons of old photo's with Bisbee history. It's better than the museum in my opinion and totally free. The museum is cool too, and has a lot more than just pictures. Dot's diner is cool because it's made out of an old mobile home. It's good diner food but not go out of your way good. Bisbee breakfast club is good, mostly normal fair but well done. I still think your best bet for breakast is Ana's seasonal kitchen. It's in old Bisbee "The historic District" which is where you'll be wandering around anyway. Dot's Diner and Bisbee Breakfast Club are both in Lowell which are not areas for site seeing. Never been a big fan of Cafe Roka and being from LA I doubt it will impress you much either. It's good for a small town, but nothing special. Mostly pastas and the like. A lot of people, including locals do like Roka so that's just my opinion. I have a lot of friends on Facebook who still live in Bisbee and at least one who lives in Tombstone so I'll post something asking about restaurants and let you know what I find. Sonoita is a very small rural community, Why are you going there? Unless it's changed a lot in the last 10 years I don't think there's much there in the way of restaurants. A few small vineyards in the area but not much else.
WOW!! Thank you so much. This is exactly the kind of info I am looking for, you are SOO helpful. We are coming from Tucson down to Bisbee and I was planning on taking the I-10 to Route 83, and then heading south to Sonoita to try out a few wineries. ( Maybe Callaghan and Dos Cabezas, Flying leap or Arizona hops and vines-Any recommendations?) I heard it was a beautiful drive around Sonoita. Then we were going to head east on 82, to the ghost town of Fairbank, then up to Tombstone, and south on 80 to Bisbee. We just thought tombstone might be fun to drop into on our way to Bisbee where we are staying for three days. We might be hungry along the way and was just looking for a place to eat lunch in either Sonoita or Tombstone. We are traveling with our 14 year old and we love history, we are hunting ghost towns from some books along the way!
And thanks for the Cafe Roka info. I was thinking we might skip it. I'd much rather eat more casual and save some money I think, then eat the kind of food we can get here easily. Any good mexican in Bisbee?
I don't know much about the wineries. Tachos tacos is the old standby for Mexican food but it's just a taco stand and its in San Jose which is the least interesting part of Bisbee. It does have good Mexican food but nothing you can't find in LA. Poco is a vegan Mexican Restaurant in Old Bisbee and definitely worth a trip. Also Naco Mexico is only 10 minutes away so if you have your passports why not have lunch there. It's a perfectly safe little border town. Naco has a few good restaurants but it is a small town so don't expect too much. Agua Prieta, Mexico is your best bet for really good Mexican food and good shopping, it's about a 40 minute drive from Bisbee.
Dot's Diner has been closed for quite some time.
Arizona has a bunch of good wineries - https://www.arizonawine.org/winetrail...
There is a B&B in Tucson called Peppertrees. I absolutely recommend it. Nice suites and the owner is a pastry chef. The breakfast there is completely amazing and different every day. This was a poached egg, lightly breaded and fried, with veggies, fresh fruit, and apple cinnamon waffle. And I'm pretty sure that orange juice comes from their own tress.
Stay there if you can. It's better than any other food I had in town.
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