Yes friends, your eyes are not deceiving you, I went to Tucson. I know that anything related to Tucson is against my religion being a Sun Devil and all, but I went to see this country lady.
Do you recognize her? It's Carrie Underwood! I have loved Carrie since her days on American Idol, and when she won and started putting out country albums, I loved her even more! The first time she came to Phoenix I had a conflict and couldn't go to the show....fast forward a year later and it is announced that she is coming back to Arizona....but this time to Tucson....yuck! But this is how much I love Carrie, I will head into enemy territory to see her! The show was awesome, and the picture above is of her in an old truck that literally was right over our heads! My sister and I had a great time, but not wanting to stay in Tucson for too long, we left and drove back to Phoenix right after the show!
We got to Tucson about an hour and a half before the show and wanted to grab some dinner. My sister and I are both Mexican food junkies, so we decided to check out some of the local food and plugged in our request to the GPS and let it guide us. Our GPS led us to the El Charro Cafe, which was an adorable, old, little building in downtown Tucson, it didn't look scary and the parking lot was busy so we decided to give it a try!
The restaurant is comprised of a couple of little old houses and patios, very cute, but very lacking in bathrooms! Once we were seated at a table indoors, we were presented with a basket of chips and two kinds of salsas, one red and one green. The chips were on the thick side for my taste, and not warm, but they were decent. The red salsa was milder than the green one, but still had some nice kick to it. Both were tasty, but not the chunky kind of salsa that I like the most.
My sister was wanting to eat lighter that night and decided to start with the Charro Salad. The menu didn't have much of a description, but she was treated to what she called the "most amazing salad ever!" The salad was mixed greens, with chunks of mango, roasted pepitas, dried cranberries and Casero cheese in a light vinaigrette. The presentation was beautiful, and she loved the combination of flavors; just the other day she mentioned how good it was and we were there 2 months ago!
In the last 6 months, my sister has become absolutely obsessed with shrimp tacos. She orders them wherever we go, and rules out places and picks places based on the availability of shrimp tacos! Well, this night she didn't get shrimp tacos, even though they had them on the menu, but she opted for Shrimp Ceviche Tostadas. The tostadas were on the appetizer menu, but the serving was 3 large tostadas, so definitely enough for a meal. The shrimp tasted so fresh with the lime, lemon and tomato marinade. The crispy shells with the cool seafood topping were the perfect dish for a hot summer night.
The menu at El Charro is huge, and I had such a hard time deciding what to order! There were many items that sounded good and were so different from some of the items that are typically found on menus, but we were in a bit of a rush to go to the concert so I got an old stand-by, a Green Chile Beef Burrito Enchilada Style with a side of beans! I like to measure most Mexican restaurants by their Green Chile, so I figured I would give it a try here. The beef was nice and tender, and the green chile packed just enough heat that made it flavorful but didn't make it so it scalded my mouth. The beans, well they were just blah, boring, no flavor, not good. And look, they didn't even garnish them with any cheese!
I don't think we could have stumbled upon a better place to eat on our trip to Tucson, for the most part the food was tasty, the building was historic (built in 1922) and they got us in and out in record time, letting us get to the show, which was our real mission for the night. I wouldn't go back if I was really in the mood for some good beans, but I would return just to try out some of their other intriguing dishes.
El Charro Cafe (5 Tucson locations)
311 N. Court Ave.
Tucson, AZ 85701
www.elcharrocafe.com
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