Thanks for all the suggestions for Tucson and Santa Barbara. We only stayed a few days in each city, so we couldn't try all the places unfortunately.
Tucson
North - Surprisingly good for a mall restaurant, albeit a 'lifestyle' mall
(btw, the supermarket in this mall, "AJ's", is a real experience).
A bit on the trendy side. Fried calamari appetizer was unusual that
it wasn't fried crispy, but it was quite good. Grilled artichokes were
very good especially with that tasty aioli. Moderately priced. GRADE: B+
The Grill - High end place in some resort. Very disappointing. Mediocre food
and way overpriced entrees. Salmon was tasteless. Duck entree was
lame. No flavor. Very expensive. GRADE: D
Il Minuto - Authentic Mexican food. I mean *authentic*. Informal, very casual
place. Beef soup good, not great, but its the real mexi-thing. Enchilada
was very good (its traditional not like the fake mexican restaurants, so
you might want to order more sauce or more gringo cheese). Chicken burro
(ie, not "burrito") was quite good. Freshly made tortillas. Cheap. GRADE: B+
Casa Molina - Looks like a texmex/mex chain restaurant. Food is surprisingly good.
Enchiladas were quite tasty. Chile Rellenos were *great*; not filled
with that junky cheese like other places. Seems like they used large
Anaheim peppers instead of Poblanos and the egg batter was right on the money.
Regular margaritas were *potent*. Not that expensive. GRADE: A
Santa Barbara (seemingly dozens and dozens of restaurants)
Domo Arigato - Fun Sushi place. Very fresh seafood, even the shipped-in stuff like
the Japanese scallop (tasty), the northeastern fluke and the toro. The toro
was mouth-wateringly exceptional one night. And of course the local uni is one
of the highlights. Santa Barbara uni is bigger and milder than its New
England cousin, which seems more earthy and a deeper orange color. Try the
uni sashimi with lemon and shiso leaf. Good selection of sakes. Its an
american sushi place with the large portions and the obligatory huge list of
absurdly named rolls, but its still enjoyable. Very crowded at California dinner
time (6-8pm), so you might need a reservation if you're not a NY diner who wouldn't
even blink about having dinner at 10pm. A bit on the expensive side, especially
if you like uni and toro (which you cannot possibly pass up). GRADE: A
Bouchon - Wow. Totally, totally impressed. Everything was phenomenal. American sturgeon
was way good. Venison was exceptional (although I should have listened and
gone with the syrah and not the pinot). Banana tart/cinnamon ice cream dessert
was mind-bogglingly good; even the espresso was tasty (one of my personal
restaurant barometers). Not overly formal, but a bit on the expensive side. GRADE: A+
Thanks for all the recommendations.
Frank G.Arizona