WILD GARLIC GRILL - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant moved into the space formerly occupied by 3 and 1/2 brothers which was a great casual burgers and sandwiches place until the brothers hired a new chef. So now there is wild garlic grill and they have not changed the dimensions or the inner architecture at all which makes the eating experience quite unpleasant.

The one room is  small and the tables are super jammed together especially the poor souls who are  at one of the several tiny 2 seaters in the middle of the space separated by perhaps 8 inches from their neighbor. There is no decoration or theme in the place. and when you enter the restaurant you have to go through a small narrow walkway and to the right is the open cooking area and I'll be damned but garlic grill lined the counter right next to the hot grill area with stools and then shoved in 2 or 3 high tables on the left side. which means you have to keep your elbows close to you when walking in or out otherwise you're going to upend someone's drink.

All that said and my bitching out of the way (oh, one more thing; as the restaurant filled up, the noise level was incredible.), the food was really good and the prices fairly reasonable and the portions were large and the service was very efficient.

bill had the steamed wrapped tilapia which he really enjoyed and i had mesquite honey chili marinated ribs which were most excellent. Lots of  tender meat on each
rib and the smoky sauce was great. This was accompanied by garlic mashed potatoes which were good. Bill has a leftover lunch from both the potatoes and the ribs which i couldn't finish.

There was also a wierd "salad"? on the plate which consisted of green stuff which i could not identify and also some other material which i had to discreetly take out of my mouth because it was like chewing cardboard. Could it have been a hip slick and cool exotic type of lettuce? i think some of it was rhubarb.

Jean had lamb which she liked although preferring the animal without all the sauce they put on and Tim had a grilled chicken salad which it seemed he enjoyed because the plate was so clean when he was through it was hard to imagine any food on it.

We would only go back with Jean and Tim.

LAVERNA'S COFFEE SHOP - TUCSON, AZ

After the absolutely decadent banana pecan pancake that Chris and I ate the last time i was here, both Bill and I wanted to go back and share that dish. We were on our way to Roma Imports for some take-out meals and Laverna's is right in that  neighborhood.

bill liked the atmosphere and the prices just like I did. The same waitresses were there as on my previous 2 visits. Service was once again prompt and friendly.

However, neither of us felt like eating breakfast so we had lunch. I was not impressed with their lunch or breakfast when i was here before so didn't expect much. But i was really surprised; pleasantly so. We shared a chicken salad sandwich and potato salad and a BLT and a cup of fruit.

Both sandwiches were excellent; lots of bacon and chicken salad; the lettuce and tomato was fresh (a lot of times, the lettuce that comes on sandwiches seems to me to be the leftovers from salads; the rejected leaves; like if they are concealed between 2 slices of bread the limpness of them won't be noticed.) The potato salad was great and the fruit was honeydew and canteloupe and both were very flavorful.

so now i need to come back AGAIN because i still need a banana pecan pancake fix.

THE COMPANY YOU KEEP

A good movie about the Weathermen, a radical group who was involved in protesting the Vietnam war in increasingly violent ways. and during one of their robberies (to finance their organization) a bank guard was killed. They all escaped and went underground.

The film takes place 30 years later.  One of the protesters - Susan Sarandon - decided to come out of hiding and this led to an aggressive reporter- played excellently by Shia La Beouf - pursuing the events that led to the killing of the bank guard and also the identities and whereabouts of the other members.

It was fast paced though there were spurts of talk about ideals and moral values and the passivity of American people and justifications. None of the dialogue took away from the movie's pace. Robert Redford, one of the Weathermen, now a lawyer decides to 'go on the run' before he's caught.  He wants to contact other members because he knows he wasn't involved in the robbery and murder.

There's a surprise twist at the end. I couldn't believe all the good actors; Chris Cooper, Sam Elliott, Brendon Gleason, Julie Christie. The beginning of the movie had some old footage of the riots in the 70's including the Kent State and Jackson State killings by the police. In the streets mass protests is what we need to even hope to end this progressive and steady march toward a total police state in this country.

Bill and I both gave this movie an 8.

CALLE-TEPA - TUCSON, AZ

 I was put off by the description of this restaurant "an inviting fast-casual outpost with a Jalisco food truck twist". all these new buzz words for food. We went here with Jean and Tim and none of us liked the food. Plus the atmosphere (because it was an "outpost" with a food truck twist??) was very noisy and unwelcoming and the music was way too loud. Most of the tables and the few booths were close to traffic corridors; either the people coming in or ordering at the counter or the waitresses delivering the food or by the salsa bar. so there was a lot of distracting movement.

The menu was highly annoying and difficult to read or to find out what the price was. the types of food were in big blocks of color with loads of additives to every dish and the font was different in the blocks and sometimes there were 2 fonts in one block. dizzying.

I ordered a barbacoa quesadilla (the meat was nicely flavored but there wasn't much of it and most of the cheese which was way too prominent taste wise was cheddar; i don't like cheddar cheese in or on mexican dishes.) with black beans and rice. The beans were tasteless; the rice was Veracruz which was white rice with  a few veggies. It wasn't bad so i brought that home for my lunch today. We also ordered a side of guacamole which was good but not outstanding and again this lacked any real flavor.

The tastelessness was Bill's comment on his chicken tacos, Jean's comment on her shrimp quesadilla and Tim's comment on his chicken tortilla soup.

So this "outpost" won't be added to our list of favorite Mexican restaurants.

KENTUCKY FRIED CHICKEN - TUCSON, AZ

I haven't eaten at KFC for many many years though we used to have dinner there a lot when we lived in Portland. I've been building up a head of craving steam for a chicken pot pie and KFC has one so we headed there after our Mt. Lemmon hike. And now i'm back in the KFC fold and intend to go back.

The chicken pot pie was absolutely delicious; just the right amount of everything; all white meat chicken, potatoes, peas and carrots and the crust was flaky and buttery. Plus it was the right temperature; i thought for sure it would either be cold in the middle or at a temperature so high it would melt my tongue. The portion size was good. And their coleslaw is still delicious!

Bill got a one breast combo and he was just as satisfied. I noticed they no longer have corn on the cob as one of their sides and for the organic health crowd they now offer green beans.

NOW YOU SEE ME

This is a highly entertaining and extremely fast-paced movie. We both gave it an 8. I love heist and robbery movies and this one also had magic in it which i like also.

The 4 Horsemen are extremely popular Las Vegas magic acts and at the beginning of the film they are shown performing their separate stage shows. Woody Harrelson is a mentalist and Jesse Eisenberg is a sleight of hand card player; there's a flim-flam con man and also an escape artist. All of them come together on the stage after they all receive a mysterious invitation Tarot card. And the plan that's revealed to them involves 3 separate acts.

The first is picking someone from the audience and robbing his bank which is in Paris. The second involves emptying their patron's bank account (played by Michael Caine) while increasing the audience's accounts. and the third is the robbery of a safe. The reason for all this comes very clear as the movie progresses and there are some delightful and unexpected twists at the end.

The action is endless and the dialogue (especially the patter between Harrelson - who i don't think has ever done a film which i haven't liked and Eisenberg) is wonderful and funny and sharp and perfectly timed  and the magic acts themselves are mesmerizing.

Mark Ruffalo plays his usual role: unshaven and slightly befuddled and confused in a cute teddy bear way. He's an FBI agent who wants to put these guys in jail. He does manage to arrest them for a brief time and takes them to the police station where he questions them and this is a great scene; very energetic and interesting.

Morgan Freeman is a blogger whose life long career has been to debunk all magic acts. His role continually switches in the movie. and he's looking better and better with age. He's pretty suave and cool in this role and of course, all wise and knowing. At least he's not narrating in this movie; just good acting.

YOSHIMATSU - TUCSON, AZ

We haven't been here since Tucson #1 because the menu is huge and to my eyes and brain, arranged in a very confusing illogical way plus the type is really really small. So I've always gotten overwhelmed and irritated.

but this time, I had already decided what i wanted to eat; vegetable tempura and gyoza (pork and veggie filled dumplings with an excellent spicy sweet chili sauce; oh, as an aside- Bill and I had lunch at Mcdonald's in nogales after my dental appt. a couple of days ago. I tried one of their new chicken wraps. Crispy chicken with cucumbers and lettuce with a sweet chili sauce; excellent. I never thought i'd ever say that about McDonald's which for the most part, i avoid at all costs; not as much as Burger King but close to it.).

Ok, back to Yoshimatsu. I also ordered a house salad which was beyond wonderful; big bowl of extra crisp and fresh lettuce and cucumbers and tomatoes and about 1/2 of an avocado with soy-ginger dressing. Yummy. and i ordered too much food. Kent had a couple of the dumplings to "help me out". The tempura and dipping sauce was perfect.

So we will be back and i'll probably order the same thing but no dumplings.
The atmosphere is really nice too; lots of lacquer and gold and red.