Lately, living in Tucson has felt like a chore. It's a small town compared to where I grew up and Tucson has a the amazing reputation ( completely unjustified) for being a "small" city, ahem excuse me Town. The reality? Tucson is home to over one million people, and nearly 200 square miles of the old west. So why in all this wide-spread goodness do I seem to always eat at the same five places even though there are countless other places to check out...?? Habit, laziness, and admittedly I am picky and sometimes I just like to know what I am going to get before I actually fork out the bucks and the time to check out new places. ....

What a bore this all can become..... so this weekend, Jon and I did something different. NEW PLACES all weekend long! Two to be exact. Looking for inspiration I found that one of my favorite Tucson digs, Feast, belonged to TucsonOrignals.com. The site outlines some of the best locally owned places to grab a bite to eat in this little old western'ish town.





First Up: Friday night dinner at La Paloma, Resort & Spa; "J Bar"
Owned by Janos
http://www.janos.com/

We arrived at Janos bar and grill to a nicely, understated small southwestern flare... it's nice but not too nice, if you will. Janos sits ontop of the city and looks out onto a wonderful night sky filled with lights along the horizon.. we grabbed a table outside and immediately began scoping the wine list.

The Velvet Devil! by Charles Krug. SCORE!...... For Antojitos CRISPY CALAMARI