B K - TUCSON

Wanted to eat here before we moved because the drive would be about 30 minutes one way from our new townhouse  so our visits to BK will be significantly curtailed.

The restaurant is on 1st avenue between grant and glenn. I love it here. the service has always been friendly and prompt and the atmosphere is noisy and festive and joyful. Lots of families come here for their excellent Mexican food. They have an awesome salsa bar; varieties of dips and sauces and salsa's that i've never seen any place else; including lots of thin sliced crisp cucumbers and radishes. Oh and their cheese is absolutely out of this world; very finely grated with a hint of sharpness underneath the creaminess.

We usually always get the same thing. Bill gets a bowl of charro beans (most excellent; tastes like rich chili) and 2 carne asada or pastor tacos. I get a sonoran hot dog (though i didn't last night because i had a chicago dog at Luke's for lunch) and 2 shrimp tacos. There is always lots of tiny breaded shrimp on each taco and it comes with its own dipping sauce.

They have 3 or 4 tv's on the wall and they usually are tuned to different channels; always a sports game or two, and then music video's and a soap opera (Mexican) and on top of that cacophony there is piped in mariachi music.

Yes, this is a deafeningly happy place.

BRIDGE OF SPIES

An excellent (9 star rating from both of us) cold war spy movie which takes place in 1957. No one in the theater was less than 50 years old; to be expected.

Tom Hanks plays an attorney who was selected to represent Abel, a Russian spy. Abel was a great character. He was gentle, an accomplished artist, a man of few words who progressively became friends with his lawyer Jim  Donovan. (Hanks)  Donovan is reviled and verbally assaulted for representing a spy and for not being patriotic and a 'real American'. His house is fired into also.

Donovan represents Abel to the best of his legal and moral ability, using all his skills and knowledge to get him acquitted.

At the same time, another plot is being developed involving several pilots one of them Gary Powers. He and some others were selected to fly special planes and take pictures of the Soviet Union. They were NOT to allow themselves to be captured. It was either complete a successful mission or die. Well, Powers didn't do this so he was taken prisoner and jailed after  the Russians shot his plane down.

Donovan is then enlisted to broker a prisoner exchange; Abel for Powers. Powers was not well thought of either; Donovan at one point said he was held in contempt almost as much as he and Abel were. This is because the american people believed that Powers gave secrets to the Russians for his release.

This was an extremely well acted movie and even though it was over 2 hours long, it captivated me totally. A lot of suspense and tension and I loved the relationship between Donovan and Abel.

HA LONG BAY - TUCSON

Now that we are going to be "east siders" this restaurant is in our 'hood and we're glad of it. Excellent Vietnamese food with an extensive menu. Its located on Tanque Verde near Sabino Canyon Road; closed on Monday.

Its beautifully decorated; very colorful. There are several tv's soundlessly showing scenes of Vietnam and/or cooking demonstrations.

Bill and i shared (once again) their vegetable wonton House soup. It comes in a large white bowl and the broth is the most aromatically delicious i've ever tasted. However, you can barely see the broth for all the delectables; carrots, broccoli, onions, celery, pork slices, shrimp and pork stuffed wontons.

Our other shared dish was a Bun entree. This is a glass noodle dish with lettuce and carrots and bean sprouts and topped with, in our case, lemon grass chicken (to die for) and an egg roll. Then in a separate small bowl, there is fish sauce to put over the noodles. We always have a Bun dish when we eat at a Vietnamese restaurant; there is always a large variety of toppings.

And we also had a pot of green tea.

Wonderful meal at the end of our first Tucson #3 hike. We had to go up the Catalina Hwy because the temp was almost 100 in the city.

GREEK HOUSE - TUCSON

We were so glad to see this place still open after our months on the road. Its located in the University district; speedway near campbell. Parking is several buildings down; near Bentley coffee house and a tattoo place.

The food is excellent. Counter ordering. Its got lots of silver tables; no booths. The large TV is always blaring a sports game. Service is prompt and friendly. The only options for silverware is plastic which I don't care for and which caused some  difficulty with cutting  the sausage.

That's what bill and i had; greek sausages. Very flavorful and spiced but not hot. We also shared a Greek salad which is almost bounding over the plate with green peppers, tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumbers, and a thick scattering of feta cheese. We got the creamy mediterranean garlic feta dressing which is absolutely delicious; i could almost drink it.

Of course i overdid it; dipping not only my veggies in it but also the pita bread and the sausage. Beware: LOTS of garlic is contained therein.

Not sure if it was the garlic or all the tomatoes I ate but i had to treat my gut's petulance at what i was putting in it. Was the dinner worth some gas, bloat and having to take a Tagamet and a Pepcid AC? Hell, Yes!!!!!!!!!

THE OINK CAFE - TUCSON, AZ

This restaurant is on Broadway and Kolb in a location vacated by the excellent Heist pizza place. Oink is open for breakfast and lunch and their culinary hook is 8 different varieties of bacon; sugar cured, honey, apple smoked, jalapeno, etc.

Unfortunately, the bacon that came with my breakfast  was disappointing and i couldn't even finish it. it was also greasy and almost cold which could have been due to the subzero air conditioning in the restaurant. The bacon came with 2 scrambled eggs, tasteless and only lukewarm home fries that, by the way, were supposed to contain sauteed onions and red and green peppers; the peppers must have been on vacation and i saw one onion; and a biscuit (there was a choice of toast, english muffin, fruit or maybe cottage cheese) which was good; nice and warm.

Jean's pork sausage link was delicious and if by a far far stretch of the imagination i was to come back here, i would order that and stay away from the bacon. Oink! Oink!

FRANKIE'S SOUTH PHILLY CHEESESTEAKS - TUCSON, AZ

Last time here for us. though since we are moving to the east side we will be quite a distance away from this restaurant anyway.

This most recent visit and the one before (between road trip 1 and 2) were highly disappointing.

Finding gristle in the meat; hardly finding any onions; deprived of the right amount of gooey white american cheese; and a bun which is not crispy on the exterior and soft on the inside. They advertise that they still get their bread from Philly but its gone down in quality; tastes like a slightly stale subway roll.

and their french fries are not good.

So there!!