Risky Business

The Good: Great menu at good prices. Great atmopshere.
The Bad: Can't think of any

Andy and I visited Risky Business last night for a friends birthday. We haven't been to this restaurant in over a year, so it was like trying something completely new.

We had a hard time deciding what to eat. They had a great selection of food at decent prices. Being on a diet, I chose the shrimp salad and Andy chose mussels from the appetizer menu. We also shared an caramel apple martini.

The mussels were delicious. They had a great mix of spices and the broth was delicious. He finished the rest of his bread with dipping it in the broth. The salad was great with all the feta, corn, avocado, and sun dried tomatoes.

Lastly, the drink was fantastic. There was enough alcohol that I got a slight buzz. The flavors came through and it was hard to not order another.

Being a local restaurant, we will definitely visit again especially since there are four locations in Tucson.

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Something Sweet Dessert Lounge

The Good: Nice and Casual Atmosphere; Great selection of Desserts; Good Service

The Bad: Very small parking area. 

Andy and I wanted to visit Something Sweet for a while.  The dessert lounge has won best dessert place from Tucson Weekly.  Many co-workers have really enjoyed it.

The lounge was pretty busy when we got there.  We were quickly seated by the waitress.  The menus had a large selection of beverages along with a extremely big selection of desserts including pies, cakes, and cheesecakes.  It took us a long time to decide what we wanted and we settled on the raspberry swirl cheesecake and tiramisu.  Along with the desserts, we ordered two teas.

The teas were first served to us.  I really liked the fact that we got our hot water in little teapots.  :)  The desserts came pretty quickly afterwards.

The tiramisu was delicious!  The biscuit layers were extremely nice and went very well with marscapone cheese layers.  Nothing was too over-powering and everything went very well together.  The presentation was great too!

The raspberry swirl cheesecake was delicious.  Having made cheesecake a lot, I've gotten to be very picky with cheesecakes.  The cheesecake had a nice texture to it and the crust was perfect.  The raspberry swirl did not overpower the rest of the cheesecake either.

Overall had a great experience at Something Sweet Dessert Lounge.  The service was great and the desserts were superb!

El Parador Tropical Garden Restaurant

The Good: Nice Decor, Chips and Salsa, Good Service

The Bad: Low Quality Food

We visited El Parador today for a dinner-get-together with people from work. I was excited for dinner after looking at their website that was nicely designed and the food sounded delicious. 

The restaurant was nicely decorated with Christmas lights, shrubbery, and paper flowers.  From the outside, the place definitely didn't look like a restaurant, it looked like an oasis.  

We arrived a little late and had missed the waitress.  The other people that arrived had chips and salsa served to them.  While we waited, we tried out the chips, which were good, not too salty with a decent crunch.  We got some salsa after all the drinks were served and the orders was taken.  The salsa was nicely seasoned and it had a decent spiciness to it. 

One of people at my table had ordered guacamole and it was fun watching it being made table side.  I really enjoy making guacamole myself, and really liked watching it being made.  The guacamole was nice and fresh, and salt was added by the customer.  The overall tasted was fresh and healthy.

Food was served almost right after the appetizers were brought out.  Everyone got their food at the same time, which was great because we all got to eat together. 

For dinner, I ordered the Smoked Salmon Salad, while Andy ordered the Arizona Chicken.  I was extremely glad I asked for the dressing on the side because it had a really bad metal after taste to it.  The salad was served without the avocado and the jicama tasted old.  The salmon and salad was ok and enough to fill me up for dinner. 

Andy's Arizona Chicken was a little better than my salad, but not by a whole lot.  The chicken was very bland and so was the side of buttered vegetables.  The twice baked chile was the most interesting on the plate, which had a good taste to it.

Overall, we did not have a good experience at El Parador and we will not be visiting again.

Monkey Burger

After reading a great review in Tucson Weekly, Andy and I really wanted to try out Monkey Burger located on Speedway. We finally tried it out today and left really satisfied and full.

The restaurant was very unique. It had cool looking graffiti wall art. The space was really opened and modern with metal furniture. Although it was dinner time, it was not overly busy.

The menu was not super big but it had a good selection of burgers, salads, and sides. It took Andy and I a few minutes before we were able to pick what we wanted. Andy chose the madness burger with french fries and I chose the south shore burger with a house salad.

The food came out pretty quickly and nice and warm. I forgot to ask for no dressing on my salad but it wasn't too badly dressed. The french fries was very good too and there were a ton of it. Both burgers were great. The south shore had a great mix of spice in it and the pineapple salso on it was great. The madness burger had a great kick to it.

Overall the food was great. In its great location, we will probably visit it again.

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No Anchovies (870 East University Boulevard)

Andy and I were walking around campus area today. Dinnertime rolled around and we decided to stop at a bar/restaurant named No Anchovies. What really sucked us in was the "pizza by the slice" sign. We really enjoyed pizza by the slice while we were in New York and we can never say no to pizza. :)
When we walked in, we saw a good selection of premade gourmet pies. After some time we decided on three slices .- hawaiian, barbeque chicken, and margherita. For 11, we got so much food. The food was delicious. Each slice had great amount of toppings and the crust was delicious, perfect thickness and not soggy at all.
We will definitely try to come back again. There was plenty of seating area and the bar prices seemed pretty reasonable.

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Cupcakes in Tucson, AZ

LA Latte from Cupcake
Originally uploaded by carmenkchan19

While on a small shopping trip for others, Andy and I decided to stop at Cupcakes. They specialize in cupcakes for weddings, birthdays, or just desserts.

The restaurant was cute and refreshing. The person behind the register was extremely friendly and went through the cupcakes for us. Andy and I decided to just share one because we had just had a big lunch.

After much debating, we decided to on the LA Latte, which was a coffee flavored cake with vanilla frosting and cinnamon sprinkles. Overall, I would say the cupcake was OK. The first bite was good, the 2nd bite was OK, the third just started getting a bit too sweet. The ratio of the frosting to the cupcake was just too much. I don't think I would go there again for dessert.

Papa Murphy's

Murphy's Combo from Papa Murphy's
Originally uploaded by carmenkchan19

One of the staples of my house is Pizza. We have it at least once a week whether it's going out or staying at home. Although it may not be the healthiest food, it's wonderful after a bad or good day of work.

A favorite place of ours is Papa Murphy's. They make pizzas that one can take home and bake. We've tried many of their pizzas, ranging from gourmet meat lovers to the thin chicken delights and they've all come out great. Papa Murphy's also offer sides such as cookies and cheesy bread sticks that one can take home and bake. All were delicious!!

One may ask, "What is so special? I can just go to the frozen section and buy the same food for much cheaper and bake it too.". My answer to that is "Don't knock it till you try it."

Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria

Rocco's Hot Sticks
Originally uploaded by carmenkchan19

Rocco's Little Chicago Pizzeria is a great place to get wonderful appetizer and really good pizza. We were introduced to this place by Andy's sister. Rocco's is not a chain. It cannot be found in multiple places in Tucson, nor any other city in Arizona.

Rocco's is opened 6 days a week and closed on Sundays. They have great lunch and dinner menus. The lunch deals occur everyday, including Saturdays, and run from 11 to 4. The lunch menus have smaller portions and good prices and are a great way to try out things from the regular menu such soups, salads, sandwiches and wings. The dinner menu has a larger variety of appetizers, pastas, salads, and pizza.

We went to Rocco's for our New Year's Eve dinner. We ordered a large portion of the spicy hot sticks and a large stuffed Angry Samoan. It was definitely more than enough food for the both of us. The spicy hot sticks came with a large amount of ranch, which is better than any other ranch I've ever had. The pizza came out right before we finished our appetizers. Pizza is always covered in lots of sauce and cheese. There's never a shortage of toppings either. Every bite was delicious!


We came home with half the pizza which will last us for two meals. As 2009 comes to an end, I suggest everyone to try out Rocco's at least once in 2010.