Tags
arizona, brunch, cocktails, farmers market, pho, restaurants, sushi, travel, travel tuesday, tucson
I went to Tucson this past weekend to visit my close friend, Jen, who recently moved there. I have only been to Tucson one time; to tour U of A and then I never returned. Ever. Except to see Matisyahu once.
This time I was prepared; I asked friends where I should eat. See, pre-college I didn’t care as much about food. It was only when
a) Food Network was my life soundtrack anytime I was in my dorm room
and
b) I had to cook for myself if I wanted home cooked meals
that I fell in love with cooking. So, the first time I went to Tucson I didn’t eat at any of the places I’m about to tell you about and that was a downright mistake. I did have a slushy from eegee’s, however, which had some redeeming qualities. I digress. Here’s where and what I ate in my 27 hours in Tucson this weekend:
Miss Saigon
Miss Saigon saved me, like a delicious superhero, from my breakfast- and lunch-less morning. I ordered Pho Ga (chicken pho) and Jen ordered Bun Tom Nuong (char-broiled shrimp over vermicelli and greens).
Everything was so delicious; my favorite part about this type of foods is the fresh herbs, and they were plentiful. I typically never finish a whole bowl of Pho but I totally did this time and I felt as accomplished as the one single time I ever finished a Chipotle burrito, except I didn’t even have to try this time because it was so good. I actually had to stop myself from drinking the broth afterwards. They brought extra Thai basil to dress up my pho, along with cilantro, bean sprouts, hoisin sauce and Sriracha.
Sushi on Oracle
Sushi is one of my favorite foods in the world, and I always get excited when I find restaurants with affordable and authentic fare. Sushi on Oracle delivered; I enjoyed Albacore with Ponzu, and Jen and I shared a Spicy Yellowtail Roll and a Vegas Roll.
The albacore was so fresh it melted in my mouth. The Spicy Yellowtail Roll was also very fresh and had a really nice, delicate yellowtail flavor without being too spicy. And the Vegas Roll is essentially the dessert of sushi; melted gooey cream cheese with soft avocado, succulent salmon and sweet eel sauce is all I need to be sent into sweet sushi-coma submission. I was beside myself for the rest of the night, all I could keep saying was how good it was.
Food Conspiracy Co-op
I have a weakness for organic/local/artisan grocers, so naturally, we went to the Food Conspiracy Co-op twice in the span of a day and a half. Twice. No one was surprised. The first time I stood in the spice aisle for way too long reading every label and then gawking at the river that became 4th street when a hurricane-like storm swept through. A tree fell on someone’s car and the power flickered; panic rose within me at the thought of the registers failing and not being able to take home all the teas and spices and medjool dates in my basket.
Don’t worry, I was able to purchase them. In case that visit wasn’t enough, I had to go back the next day to get more tea and more dates and some fresh figs because Jen had never had one and everyone deserves to eat a chilled fresh fig in the summer sunshine with one of their best friends. So we did that, and it was magical. I have tried 3 of the countless teas I bought and love all of them so far, and I am now completely obsessed with dried chipotle chili flakes. I have put them on almost everything savory I’ve eaten since I’ve been home. Jen is going to have to ship me a kilo or 10.
Cup Cafe at Hotel Congress
My sister’s friend told me I must order the baked eggs, and that it would be the culinary experience of a lifetime.
It was amazing.
I got the baked eggs. It was a culinary experience of a lifetime. I MEAN WHO WOULDN’T LOVE EGGS WITH LOX BAKED IN CREAM???? Yeah, no one, that’s what I thought. This dish typically comes with ham in it but lox was an option and I can’t pass up lox + eggs, ever. It was so good and rich and creamy and good. If you are in Tucson, get the baked eggs. Also, I had my first bloody mary from a bloody mary bar and felt really fancy about it and loved the whole experience.
Now you are ready to go forth and eat baked eggs and buy 100 teas and eat albacore with ponzu and the yummiest pho eva. Report back and let me know if you loved it as much as I did.
By the way, if you’ve ever wanted to watch me cook LIVE now you can!! Join me on Periscope, a new live-streaming app, and watch me cook, meal prep and answer all of your questions LIVE! You can find me @TsiporahBlog on Periscope 🙂
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The menu consisted of two different poke-style salads, one with salt-cured salmon and the other with cooked beef; cucumber salad; hawaiian purple sweet potatoes with toasted coconut; slow-roasted pork; teriyaki BBQ chicken; steamed ono with spices and fresh tomato relish, fresh greens with three salad dressings, my favorite of which was a lavender vinaigrette (of course) that I now need to re-create; traditional Hawaiian macaroni potato salad; poi; fresh pineapple and papaya; and lo mein. The steamed ono was my favorite thing on the entire buffet, and I went back for seconds. In addition, we loved the cucumber salad, lo mein, teriyaki BBQ chicken and the lavender salad dressing. They also served multiple mini desserts on a second buffet along with hot coffee and tea, unlimited various cocktails and flavored water, all of which were included in the price. They gave me a lovely fresh fruit plate since most of the desserts were not gluten free. 
The show was fun and the sunset was beautiful. It was a wonderful experience. 
{tsiporah} 