Larry Rusk

Ellen it is a pleasure to make a recommendation, have it followed, and have it appreciated. Thank you.

Tucson isn't the worst place to be trapped when it comes to food. Most of the restaurants are guilty only of trying too hard to be like "big city" restaurants. You will do best to stick to the less fusiony, less pretentious restaurants. I lived in Tucson for two years and never ate fabulously but also never ate too badly. If you're in New York probably the only thing in Tucson that is better than what you have there is Mexican and Southwestern food. Most of the Mexican is "Sonoran style," but it will be familiar. One of the most famous Mexicans is also one of the best. It's called Café Poca Cosa (88 E. Broadway Blvd., 622-6400). Another good one is La Pianola (840 E. Ft. Lowell Road, 792-0711). Just eating at the taco stands and Mexican bars is also great. Here is a good article from Tuscon Weekly the best restaurant info source around the area: http://www.tucsonweekly.com/tw/2001-08-16/chow.html You can search around that site for lots of intelligent Tucson restaurant reviews. A good typical Tucson Southwestern is Old Pueblo Grille (60 N. Alvernon Way, 326-6000). Owned by a man named Bob McMahon who is sort of the Danny Meyer of the area. Not quite but sort of. As close as they come around there anyhow. You will find no good Chinese (is it too late to get out of your dinner plans?) but plenty of good enough Japanese. The best but also a bit overrated is Sachiko Restaurant (1101 N. Wilmot, 886-7000). A good Japanaese restaurant that thinks it is a great Japanese restaurant. The place I like for easy sushi is Yuki's Sushi (7153 E. Tanque Verde Road, 546-9854 and a branch also at 2962 N. Campbell Ave., 326-7727). A good Vietnamese place exists: Hoa Mai (2547 E. Broadway Blvd., 319-8420) If you're looking for fine dining restaurants with Mobil Stars or other critical acclaim nationwide and in the guidebooks there are six or seven in the area almost all of which are at the resorts and which are good but overpriced. It seems they are all called "The [something]" Room for some reason. The Gold Room. The Tack Room. The Ventana Room. Also like Rosie just said Janos restaurant probably the only one I would recommend to you but still expensive by local standards, maybe as much as Blue Hill would cost in New York?