Many towns and cities across the county can boast things like, the best donuts or burgers , but only one place can boast about having the best Mexican food, being ranked as a top foodie destination in the country and the place where John Dillinger was captured. That city is Tucson, Arizona. The place I’m reviewing today is the Hotel Congress located downtown at 311 East Congress street.
Built in 1919 the hotel catered to the growing cattle industry and the travelers from the Southern Pacific Railroad. The hotel was quaint and a perfect resting place for the travelers from the East. Maybe it was the quite and seemingly small town feel that attracted a certain guest and his crew. On January 22, 1934 a fire started in the basement and spread to the third floor, where John Dillinger and his gang were laying low. The desk clerk called upstairs to alert the gangsters and by way of aerial ladders they escaped. The gang gave a very generous tip to two firemen who hauled their luggage($28,000 and a small arsenal) to a house not far away. One of the firemen recognized John Dillinger from a picture in True Detective Magazine and called the police. After a five hour stakeout the gang was captured without firing a single shot. The small town Tucson Police department had done what the FBI had failed to do for years, capture John Dillinger. From that day on Hotel Congress has enjoyed it’s fame.
Today, it is still a hotel but has a hip night club scene and food that has won many awards. I ate at the Cup Cafe, that started in 1990. The decor is somewhere between the roaring twenties and cowboy couture.( if that’s a thing). As you enter the lobby you’ll notice the existence of not one but two wooden phone booths, and they actually work! You can feel the 1930’s as though you walked back in time. Our waitress was a lovely young women who like many had landed in Tucson from somewhere else. The diversity of the population is one thing that gives the city and Hotel Congress its inviting feel and probably why many come to visit and end up staying.
The menu was creative and extensive yet not so over whelming that you cant decide what to order. There’s something fun about being able to order breakfast at lunch, yet strangely you couldn’t get dinner appetizers till 4pm, but a little smile and a please and thank you can go a long way. So we started the meal with an appetizer of bread and herb butter from the Bario Bakery a local joint making delicious bread and baked goods. It’s summer in Tucson and it’s hot, so salads seemed to be the order of the day. We asked for three of their four salads and of course one order of pancakes and bacon served with a banana rum syrup.
One of the things about living in Tucson is you get great produce, it might come from Yuma, Arizona or California or Mexico, but its always fresh. Seafood is only an hour away by plane from California or the Gulf of Baja, so that too is also fresh. I had the Southwestern salad with roasted corn, pico de gallo, mixed greens , avocado and a Mexican cheese called Asedero, and a lively cilantro lime vinaigrette. The Hotel salad sported chili pecans with a pomegranate pecan dressing. The Nicoise had no surprises but was non the less tasty and fresh. I was very impressed with the pancakes as they were fluffy yet had a texture that you could sink your teeth into and lets face it a banana rum syrup is show stopping. it makes you want to pause and simply be, while the flavors meld together.
Hotel Congress also creates their own desserts, but there wasn’t enough room after eating and tasting the different dishes. Next time I’ll know better and save a little space for the key lime pie or a thick slice of chocolate cake. If you ever get to Tucson I recommend you give Hotel Congress and the Cup Cafe a try. Remember it’s also a hot spot for night life so if you want a quieter relaxing meal you should go at lunch. The atmosphere the service and the people made it an enjoyable afternoon to hang out with friends and watch the city in the hot desert sun.
As always if you have any questions or comments please leave them in the box below. Until next time Boone Appétit!
Very nice! A great place and the dessert case is amazing! Definitely save room next time or have it “to go”.
Hi Claudia,
I sometimes forget about dessert only because I’m not only overwhelmed by so many menu items at all the places I eat, but I’m trying to save calories for the next post!(Not very successfully!) I probably should do one post of desserts only. Thanks for your comments!
Wow, Charlie! Great post! I want to go! 🙂
Hi Jenn, you most certainly should plan a trip out here. Look into January or February when you’ve had enough of winter, where you are.
Want. Those. Salads. That’s the way to eat in the heat of summer, Charlie. The Southwest is often judged “too hot”, but golly, it’s no picnic in the Northeast at this time of year, either. The color palette is a sea change from the lush greens we know, and it seems to telegraph a dependency on water “from away” that might make an east coaster feel uneasy. But there’s so much rusty and sandy beauty. And those salads have everything–color. both saturated subtle, crunch and creaminess, a range of size and shape to the ingredients. Hope they tasted as great as they looked. Can there be too much lime cilantro vinaigrette or pico de gallo in the world? I think not. Looking forward to your next stop!
One of the thing you learn quickly is to plan your day much like a lizard. You do stuff in the mornings and evenings and take a siesta in the afternoon. There is an amazing blending of cultures in the cuisine. Chili’s are a big part of it but they also serve a purpose, by making you sweat a little they help you to cool off as the dry heat assists in evaporation. Water certainly is a commodity out here but people know how to conserve it. I do often think that if we can build a pipeline for oil from Alaska all the way to Texas why not one for water from the east to the west? They could trade electricity made from solar power,if we can get our act together on that front.(That’s another blog ). Thanks for the comments Barko!