Barrio Brewing

I was gone from Tucson for two years. When I returned in January '09 one of the new spots was Barrio Brewing. It's tucked on the south side of the railroad tracks between Park and the point where Toole becomes South Euclid Avenue.

This joint is owned by the Gentle Ben's people. Gentle Ben's moved all their brew operations to the warehouse district. I still want to know the machinations that went in to the decision to try to make a go of it as a retail restaurant as well. A friend of mine (I'll call him Jay so we don't piss off his boss) told me, "it takes some cajones to open up a restaurant next to the tracks where no one can find it."

But finding it is exactly what is happening. The word is obviously getting out, one satisfied customer at a time. The burgers are great, in spite of the lackluster bun. The fish tacos are righteous. (Don't go for the fries; get the beans, you won't be disappointed.) I'm not a big fan of their panini, but they've got some other good sandwich choices. I can't say enough good things about the Lizzie salad.

French dip lovers will have to go someplace else. They might as well call it cardboard dip. But that's the only true neg I have to say about the joint. Try the Touch of Grey or the cheese steak instead.

They have the basic appetizers, but the Spinach Artichoke dip rises to the top of the vat. Trust me, this ain't no Price Club spindip, not by a long stretch. And of course, there's the beer. But you know all that, because you've been going to Gentle Ben's for years. Friday happy hour is crowded.

Barrio Brewing is at 800 East 16th Street. I won't tell you exactly how to get there, that is what gps is for. I don't want to get blamed when you get lost anyways.

Tacos in Tucson

So I used to call this blog "If I Ruled the World." It was a place for me to rant, more or less, and try to bring some interesting stuff to light. Then I started looking for a new job, and I figured I had better make my blog "private" so that I would not have any potential employers thinking I was a nut for something I wrote about Tom Morello.

It's not hard to predict what happened next. I completely lost interest. Less readership, and with a move to Tucson, I had much less to write about anyways.

So I have decided to compromise. I deleted all my old posts. And I turned the privacy settings back to normal. But this is not going to be a rant blog. I'm going to write about restaurants in Tucson. I'm no foodie, not in the Anthony Bourdain sense. But I do my fair share of eating out. And within my own non-foodie circle, I tend to be a bit more up on restaurants than my friends.

The goal of my blog is going to be to fill a niche. The restaurant reviews in the weekly paper are completely worthless. And the daily paper does okay, writing-wise, but for the life of me I cannot figure out how they choose their spots. I'm hoping to write some reviews that give the general sense of food joints you actually want to go to (or in some memorable cases, STOP going to) without all the blah-blah-blah of the "professional" critics.

And with that I introduce to you: "Tacos in Tucson."

[Next time: Barrio Brewing, 800 East 16th Street]