Top 3 Regional Restaurants in Tucson

Eating your way through Tucson is one of the great pleasures of visiting this southwestern city. Year after year, new restaurants push the bar even higher for dedicated foodies. Like a small Los Angeles, the city is spread out and many of its best restaurants are found in different parts of the city.

Here are three of my favorites:

EL CHARRO CAFÉ' traditional Mexican cuisine in historic setting.
Downtown Historic District: 311 N. Court Avenue, Tucson.

This is the oldest Mexican restaurant in Tucson - a colorful local institution in the heart of an historic barrio just minutes from the Tucson Museum of Art. In 1922 Monica Flin, a young widow from Mexico opened the first El Charro Café in her home and since then it has been a perennial favorite. USA Today calls it "One of the Top 50 Plates in the Country." Due to the variety of its menu, I suggest ordering several smaller side dishes: Here are my top picks:

Chef Carlota Flores' home made chorizos (sausage) tamales..........................$3.25 each
or $ 7.25 for a platter.

My Mexicans friends prefer: Pozole stew in a blend of hominy, pork and picante.
… spices…$6.50 bowl

For desert try "Tamales de Dulce" (desert tamales) sweet temptations of Dulce de Leche
(Carmel sauce), pumpkin with brown sugar or Mexican chocolate served with vanilla ice cream 
………………………… $5.25 each.

New locations at: 6310 E. Broadway, 100 W. Orange Grove and 4699 E. Speedway. Tel: (520) 622-1922.
Visit website: www.elcharrocafe.com  

VIVACE RESTAURANT, Northern Italian Cuisine in St Philip's Plaza, The Foothills
4310 N. Campbell Ave. Tucson. 11:30 TO 9 pm. daily. Closed Sunday.
Reservations recommended: (520) 795-7221.