New country bar 'Whiskey Roads' set to open this weekend on Tucson's northwest side (2024)

Ralph and Velveia Bankhead like to think a little heavenly intervention led them to the 1950s-era gas station-turned restaurant on the corner of North Fourth Avenue and East University.

It all started with a business networking meeting at their Phoenix church three years ago. Velveia Bankhead was the keynote speaker, and one of the guests, fellow church member Cianna Kirksey, pitched her and her husband Mike’s ATL Wings restaurant chain.

Not long afterward, the Bankheads visited the restaurant in west Phoenix — there are eight locations in the Valley — and discovered something Ralph Bankhead called life-changing.

Alexandria's Pearl serves up Egyptian food, with a full menu and a buffet.

The menu includes traditional fatta, kabsa and koshari.

Prep & Pastry may have moveddown the street, but the owners quickly turned the original space into a trendy lunch spot.

Named after chef Kyle Nottingham's son,August Rhodes Marketspecializes in gourmet salads and sandwiches on housemade baguettes.

Read more about Prep & Pastry's move here.

Italian restaurant Bacio Italiano took over the 2,800-square-foot space that for two years housed Red’s Smokehouse & Tap Room, which closed last year.

Among the items on the menu,Bacio Italianoserves Neapolitan style pizzas with a New York flair. The dining room is airy and minimalist, fashioned around a massive domed pizza oven imported from Italy.

In 2019, Baja Mar expanded with an additional location on South 12th Avenue.

The seafood restaurant also serves as a market. Plus, kids eat free on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays.

Barro's Pizza opened its second Tucson-area location in January.

The first location opened in 2017 in Marana, at 5884 W. Arizona Pavilions Dr. It was the Phoenix chain's first location south of Casa Grande.

The chain now has more than 40 locations, most in the greater Phoenix area.

The menu includes classic dishes such as pizza, pasta, salads and subs.

Black Standard Coffee is a new coffee subscription business owned by Tucson couple Jason and Rachel Kish.

Black Standard Coffee is a direct-trade business that purchases their beans through "farm gate," which means that the buyer negotiates directly with the coffee farmer.

They sell their freshly-roasted beans wholesale, through subscription or by the bag on their websiteblackstandardcoffee.com.

The coffee is also served atDogs-n-Donuts, an east-side bakery that specializes in sweet treats for dogs.

Read more here.

The Blind Pig focuses on dry-rubbed and Cajun barbecue and seafood.

The restaurant sits in the spot that was home for nearly seven years to The Fix, which served mac and cheese. That restaurant closed in early May.

Read more here.

Bowld was recently welcomed to the Vail area.

The restaurant boasts meal prepping and catering services, in addition to a menu of bowls and "rowls," which are veggies, meat or cheese wrapped in a different kind of meat or tortilla. They're available grilled or breaded and fried.

The menu also includes salads and burgers.

After more than two years of waiting, The Boxyard, a shipping container food hall on Fourth Avenue, officially opened in January.

The bar portion has 15 beers on tap. For food, you can nosh on Sonoran dogs, Vietnamese food and barbecue.

Read morehere.

A New York City native brought his favorite Brooklyn flavors to a spot just south of the University of Arizona stadium.

John Ryan launched his New York-style deli, dubbedBrooklyn Rolls, at1628 E. Sixth St., in the old home of Abe’s Place, in July.

Ryan was born in Canarsie, Brooklyn, grew up in Midwood, not far from where Ebbets Field once stood, and is a New York University alum.

A bout of homesickness led to the creation of Brooklyn Rolls.

“I missed Brooklyn,” Ryan said. “I missed the food, the people.”

Read more here.

Buffalo Wings' menu is fairly simple, with wings, appetizers such as potato skins and jalapeno poppers, and sides including buffalo fries and potato salad.

Plus, our food reporter Andi Berlin said it's the only place she knows of in Tucson that sells both buffalo wings and boba slushes.

The east side restaurantBZ's Pizzaclosed in the summer of 2017 after itsshopping center's anchor Safeway pulled out.

But now it's back on the southwest corner of Pantano and Wrightstown. The new spot has 30 draft beers and a menu that includes pasta and seafood entrees like cioppino and lobster ravioli along with the signature thin crust pizzas.

It’s hard to miss Carnitas Estilo Michoacán Los Gordos as you travel down East 22nd Street in midtown Tucson.

The mobile eatery is housed in a former school bus, painted bright pink. It sets up in the middle of a large dirt lot amid several car dealerships, between South Swan Road and South Columbus Boulevard.

Located in the old Fanny's space across from La Cocina,Ceres Pasta + Breadis a cafe that serves handmade pasta.

Working with a small team of mostly women,Carolyn O'Connorarrives at 5:30 every morning to make at least 20 pounds of fresh pasta. She prepares a small but rotating selection of pasta styles, available for take-home cooking or freshly-prepared during the daily lunch service. The two main varieties are thin tagliolini and wide tagliatelle, both egg noodles popular in Northern Italy. You choose a noodle, and then choose whether you want tomato basil, pesto, cacio e pepe or meaty Bolognese sauce.

Read more here.

Charred Pie serves up wood-fired pizza, in addition to salads, pasta and sandwiches.

The Mediterranean-inspired Charrovida, the newest restaurant from the El Charro family, opened in May.

It is the third new concept that the Flores family has launched in three years.

Charrovida, 7109 N. Oracle Road, is a Mediterranean-Sonoran fusion restaurant that borrows from plant-based and sustainable-foods philosophies, a passion for Flores family matriarch Carlotta Flores. The emphasis is on healthy, but with an El Charro focus on flavor and innovation.

Read morehere.

Tucson’s newest Iron Chef took the plunge and opened her own restaurant.

Technically, it’s the second iteration of the restaurant if you count the eight years Wendy Gauthier had been running Chef Chic out of the commercial kitchen/cafeteria of the Arizona Daily Star’s south side plant.

The menu atChef Wangis so large, it takes a four-ring binder to list everything they serve— including many dishes you may not have seen before.

Chef Wang, or Zhuang Yuan Lou if you speak Mandarin, is essentially a Northeastern Chinese restaurant. The spot is a partnership betweenBaoge Chen and Chef Hongquan Wang, who are from the city of Shenyang in the Dongbei region of China.

The restaurant is inside an old Mariscos Chihuahua on Grant Road, and has a suburban vibe that led This Is Tucson's food writer Andi Berlin's lunch partner to call it "The Cheesecake Factory of Chinese food."

Read morehere.

Opened in the8,700-square-foot building that used to house Twigs Bistro and Martini Bar at the Tucson Mall, Churrasco de Brasil is similar to the successful Fogo concept.

Diners pay a fixed price which includes trips to the 30-item salad bar and as much meat as you can handle. Diners will flip over a red card to display a green color when they are ready to begin, signaling the meat servers to come to their table.

Servers offer up 12 to 15 different types of lamb, pork, chicken and beef. This includes the iconic picanha or sirloin cap, which comes out in half-ovals topped with a thick layer of fat.

Read more here.

Crema Coffee opened in Marana in the beginning of April. In addition to coffee, the shop offers pastries in partnership with Sweetster's Bakery, according totheir Facebook page.

Although Isabella's Ice Cream moved out of their Fourth Avenue location in 2018, ice cream hasn't left the street.

Brothers Zech and Noah Bergeron took overDesert Dream Ice Creamery, after closing its former location on Speedway and Campbell Avenue.

Now in Isabella's former location on Fourth, the Bergerons make their own ice cream flavors like Coyote Tracks and Elvis Pretzel with help from the original owner.

The former La Salsa building on North Wilmot Road and East Speedway is now home to a local purveyor of high-quality hamburgers.

Ben Rine, who co-owned and operatedBrushFire BBQfor ten years, launchedDivine Bovine Burgersin the 2,000-square-foot space in February.

Rine was looking for a new opportunity in the food service industry since selling BrushFire's two locations more than a year ago.

“I took a year off because you only get one life and I wanted to spend time with my kids,” Rine said. “But we’ve all got bills to pay. I didn’t sell 25 BrushFires, and I’ve wanted a burger restaurant for a while.”

Rine said Divine Bovine offers 15 different types of burgers, all made with “ridiculously high-end ingredients.”

Dutch Bros.Coffee, the Oregon-born, hip and happening coffee shop with the sugar-sweet nice baristas, expanded its reach in Tucson.

Dutch Bros. introduced itself to Tucson with its first location last October at 120 S. Wilmot Road.

El Antojo Poblano refers to the city and state of Pueblo, southeast of Mexico city.

You can find huaraches, cemitas and delicate molote pockets of fried corn masa at El Antojo Poblano— Tucson's new food truck that parks in a vacant lot at St. Mary's near Interstate 10.

Read morehere.

According to the restaurant's website, El Chinito Gordo's menu is inspired by Central Mexican recipes passed down through generations.

The menu includes enchiladas, tacos, a chorizo burger, chile rellenos and more.

The quaint cafe is tucked back behind The Coronet, which moved into the historic Cushing Street building near the Tucson Convention Center.

Chef Erika Bostick has created a small but colorful menu that showcases the fresh produce of Southern Arizona. Since the tiny kitchen doesn't have a flattop, she craftily prepares scrambled eggs using a sous vide machine and serves an array of "platos" like fresh corn masa gorditas with baby greens and black bean spread.

Read more here.

Fried Rice Hut is an unassuming dinner spot near Davis-Monthan Air Force Base.

Yuko Takatori's menu is almost entirely made up of fried rice and deep-fried meats, but that doesn't mean the food is greasy. They also have tasty apple and cinnamon hand-pies that look like sugary egg rolls from the outside.

Tucked into a little nook on Congress Street,Heemee Coffee and Bakeryhas a minimalist aesthetic with white clean walls and a pastry case full of whimsical treats. But back in the kitchen, there's a veritable assembly line of people busting butt.

This new downtown cafe makes its own baguettes, cupcakes, sweet buns and Japanese cream puffs from scratch. The pastries are a mix of American and French cafe staples with unique creations from Korea and Japan.

Tucson's east side just got another destination for locally produced craft beer and wine.

Hop Street Lounge is located in the Palo Verde Plaza shopping center at 7215 E. 22nd Street, halfway betweenArizona Beer Houseat South Kolb Road and East Broadway andBlackRock Brewersat East 22nd and South Pantano Road.

The new venture offers up to 35 beers on tap, eight wines, coffee, kombucha and more than 600 bottles in coolers.

Eight television sets show the sporting events of the day, and seating in the space includes couches.

Irene Heiman was selling real estate in her childhood home of Hawaii and she was doing pretty well, making money while making a name for herself.

But she would go to sleep every night with this gnawing feeling that she wasn’t doing what she was meant to do in this world. Around 2014, the mother of three said she heard a voice that told her to open a doughnut shop.

A Turkish restaurant is taking up residence in the old May’s Counter Chicken & Waffles space on East Speedway nearly 10 months after the popular UA-area restaurant closed.

Ja Ramen opened in the former home of the restaurant Hoki Poki, which closed in July.

Chef-owner Ja Le said his focus is on curry dishes and ramen, the noodle soup that has gained in popularity over the past few years.

One of his specialties is ramen served with slow-cooked, chashu-braised pork belly or pork shoulder.

Jewel's Noodle Kitchen is owned by Ronghua Zhu who hails from Beijing and has filled her small menu with Northern Chinese specialties like dumplings and housemade wheat noodles.

John Henry’s fills the space most recently occupied by the comic-book-inspired gallery Constant Con, just north of the East Pennington Street intersection.

The new Oro Valley restaurant brought the art of the Persian kebab to a casual setting, with counter service and an open kitchen where you can see your meat being grilled.

Start with a classic skewer of ground beef kubideh and go from there. They also plan to serve traditional stews such as ghetme and ghorme sabzi.

Located inside Alibaba Restaurant, Just Noodles serves up a menu filled with noodles.

The menu includes wonton noodle, tomato egg, chili spice, chicken with sesame, and more.

Kukai opened quietly in February at the Mercado Annex, making it the second food vendor in the shopping area.

And you may recognize the familiar face of Setsuko Mochizuki inside the shipping container kitchen. Her husband Kazuo Senda is the owner ofSamuraion Oracle Road, which has been Tucson's go-to rice bowl joint for more than 30 years.

Kazuo is partnering with his son-in-law Michael McCormack at Kukai, crafting a menu that feels like Samurai meets Instagram. They're making everything from onigiri rice balls and ramen to thosetakoyaki octopus balls you may have lined up for at Tucson Meet Yourself.

Read morehere.

Le Buzz Caffe opened its second location in December.

The new location sits in the Palomino shopping center, near Fort Lowell Road. The first location is at9121 E. Tanque Verde Rd., near Catalina Highway.

The menu is the same as the original location for now, so look out for those European pastries and fluffy omelettes.

Lemonshark Pokeis owned by guitarist Tobi Miller of the The Wallflowers.

Who is this man? He's formerly a semi-famous rockstar and currently a businessman in California who's opened a franchise of poke restaurants.

At Lemonshark Poke, diners can make their own poke bowl, or get one of the house combinations like the Maui Heat Wave pictured here with spicy salmon and spicy tuna.

The Libertine opened in June in the spot that once housed The Coronet.

Ran by the The Coronet's owner, The Libertine is a casual bar with a kitchen serving small plates.

The Coronet moved out of the Ninth Street space and reopened in the location that was once home to Cushing Street Bar and Restaurant.

Read more here.

A long-closed restaurant whose steer skull façade has served as a roadside attraction for generations of travelers heading to and from Mexico recently reopened.

Tisha Atkins Carey had a hard time feeding her son Ka’Deem when he was growing up.

The football coaches at Canyon del Oro High School and later the University of Arizona would reach out to her when her 5-foot-10 running back son would nibble his way through team meals.

“He was a real picky eater,” she recalled. “I would get calls from the high school and UA asking me for advice.”

Her best advice: Mama’s cooking — homemade broccoli and cheese with rice; hot links and hot wings; mac and cheese; fried chicken; and Philly cheesesteaks like the ones she ate as a child growing up in Trenton, New Jersey.

More Japanese food has graced Tucson's west side.

Maru Japanese Noodle Shop is a casual counter-service spot from the people behind Yoshimatsu, just with an emphasis on ramen and udon noodles.

In addition to the familiar beef and curry udons, the restaurant also does a spicy tantan udon, sweet tofu kitsune udon and a cream udon with a sauce similar to fettuccine alfredo.

Small snacks, such as takoyaki balls and onigiri, are also offered.

Nearly two years after Le Cave’s closed amid a flurry of failed health department inspections, Fernando Mendez opened Mendez Bakery and Tortillas at 1219 S. Sixth Ave.

Mendez said that from the time they set out the “now open” sign on June 12, they had customers from the neighborhood trickling in, many of them curious to see how Mendez has cleaned up the place and to catch a glimpse of the display cases filled with empanadas, tortillas and fresh baked rolls.

The old Manna From Heaven fry bread spot on St. Mary's Road is getting new life as a contemporary Mexican restaurant.

Mestizos is the product of Patricia Gomez of Nogales, Sonora, who's cooking a mixture of Sonoran and Sinaloan mariscos dishes, as well as recipes from farther south in Mexico. The menu is still being built out, but Patricia recommended the blue corn quesadillas and the Tacos Mestizos, which are actually more like empanadas.

The main draw atMian Sichuan(not to be confused with the former MiAn sushi downtown) is volcano noodle soup with Sichuan peppercorns and American cheese.

This new shop in the Tucson Mall area has a small menu of spicy noodle dishes and soups.

For the past four years, Brian Jerome Peterson and his partners have peddled their fresh-roasted coffee at area farmers markets.

But those nomad days are behind them.

In late January, Peterson and his partners John Howard and Matthew DeVore openedMission Coffee Importsin the small street-front space at606 N. Fourth Ave.that was home for nearly a decade to Revolutionary Grounds Books & Coffee.

Read morehere.

The old Rosati's Pizza on Sixth Street and Campbell is now a Mexican restaurant calledMomo's.

Owner Mauricio Racano has crafted a menu of Sonoran staples as well as dishes from Mexico City, where he's from. In addition to tacos, nachos and Sonoran hot dogs, you'll find a whole section of enchiladas with uncommon fillings like shrimp and Mahi Mahi.

There are also burrito bowls and tortas, which you can get with something called Cabo meat: a mixture of chorizo, ground beef and green chile. They also serve beer, and make their own aguas frescas.

This new food truck takes Sonoran hot dogs into uncharted territory.

Not only are they wrapped in bacon, but they're also slathered in a juicy mound of birria.Monster Sonoran Hot Dogsmakes two sizes, a six-inch and a footlong Big Monster Dog, which is tucked into a bright red bun from Alejandro's Tortilla Factory.

The Arizona Republic speculated thatthis may be the best Chinese food in the Phoenix area. Lucky for Tucsonans, a location opened up in the Old Pueblo.

The Sichuan menu caters to adventurous eaters who enjoy dishes such as rabbit with pickled pepper and baby ginger.

Read more here.

This casual mariscos spot on South Fourth Avenue serves food from the coastal town of Guaymas, Sonora. This means you'll find shrimp co*cktails, ceviche, various tostadas with octopus, crab and more.

Pescaderia y Taqueria Yamialso has a small market up at the front where you can purchase seafood to-go.

Pirata Luchi opened in December, serving up seafood, from enchiladas to tostadas.

Downtown weekend revelers with late-night hunger pangs have a new dining option, located within the plaza area at Hotel Congress.

The historic hotel, which is celebrating its 100th year in 2019, recently installed a food trailer meant to accommodate evening traffic, including bar hoppers and post-concert crowds, until 2 a.m., Thursdays through Saturdays.

Dubbed Plaza Eats, the trailer offers a mix of favorites from the hotel’s Cup Café — menu items like the Picacho nachos, lettuce wraps and a plant-based Beyond Burger – and classic international street foods.

Read morehere.

At Potwhale, guests cooks their own meats, noodles and veggies in a pot of boiling broth at the center of the table.

Potwhale swims an extra mile by letting you choose from several different broths.

When Dino Volpi opened his Purple Penguin Candy Emporium on East 22nd Street earlier this year, he was hoping his independent sweets shop would bring back memories for Tucsonans.

The store specializes in selling the candies, chocolates and craft sodas from your youth, no matter what part of the country you hail from.

Grow up in the Pacific Northwest? Have an Idaho Spud with all of its cocoa-marshmallow, soft chew goodness.

Midwest residents can pick up a Cherry Mash, a chocolate shell with cherry-flavored filling, still made in the small Missouri town where it was created in 1918.

If you’re a transplant from Pennsylvania, a few bottles of Pennsylvania Dutch Birch Beer might satisfy your thirst for home.

The Red Light Lounge is manned by Donald Murray, formerly of The Dusty Monk.

He's doing interesting co*cktails Red Light Lounge, including a Bacanora margarita and drink with Tequila and Pimm's called the Inglaterra.

Rush Bowls, a Colorado-based smoothie shop, opened in the former Desert Dream Ice Cream on Speedway and Campbell Avenue.

Rush Bowlsoffers a range of frozen yogurt, granola and acaí bowls and even has something for your dog, according to the website.

Luis Gonzalez and his family started making pupusas about five years ago at food festivals like Tucson Meet Yourself, and gradually worked their way up to evening and weekend farmers markets.

Sentinel Peak Brewing Company headed east with a second location.

The midtown craft brewer took over theStillhouse Grill and Barwhich was rebranded Sentinel Peak East, said Jeremy Hilderbrand, who co-owns the 5-year-old craft brewery with two fellow firefighters.

The original Poco and Mom's space on Kolb Road has gotten a refresh, complete with a license plate ceiling and Danny Martin and Jessica Gonzales murals brightening up the space.

The menu atSonoran Brunch Companygoes for an eclectic Tucson hip vibe, with bright takes on huevos rancheros, chorizo skillet pie and more.

When walking near the bingo hall at Casino del Sol, you'll come across the eclectic menu at Sweetscape Desserts.

The dessert shop was created by Chef Ryan Clark and his culinary team. The menu includes gelato, shakes, floats, sundaes, breakfast sandwiches and more.

But you'll probably be drawn in by the colorful donuts from pastry chef Gina Skelton. Her whimsical flavors include fluffernutter, fruit cereal and maple bacon.

Travis and William Miller, the brothers behind the popular Serial Grillers chain of burger and pizza restaurants, are focusing on tacos and burritos in their newest restaurant venture.

The brothers, who also own the midtown taproom Craft, A Modern Drinkery, opened Toro Loco Tacos Y Burros in the recently closed Papa Locos Tacos & Burgers at7940 E. Broadway.

But Toro Loco is not a Mexican take on Serial Grillers, Miller was quick to note. The menu of specialty burritos and tacos is made with carne asada, chicken, barbacoa, shrimp and carnitas and emulates to some degree the taco shops you find around the beaches in San Diego.

Read more here.

You may have seen Jose Zavala's colorful corn tortillas atAmerican Eat Co., but now the local chef is opening his own storefront.

Tortillas by Che Westhas a variety of non-GMO handmade corn tortillas in creative flavors like garlic green onion, Hot Cheetos, El Pato and more.

He's also selling a variety of flour tortillas and pan dulce from La Estrella Bakery.

After months of construction and remodeling including installing a “garage” door, Trident Grill IV officially opened on July 4.

It is the fourth installment of the Trident concept from the trio of Nelson Miller, Danny Gallego and Jason Machamer. And it’s the trio’s second restaurant opening since December, when they launched Trident Pizza Pub in the old Grimaldi’s Pizzeria at 446 N. Campbell Ave.

The owners for several months had been renovating the 4,065-square-foot space at 2912 W. Ina Road that was home to CiCi’s Pizza, which closed in spring 2014.

Read more here.

Wendy Garcia has been a tireless ambassador for vegetarian Mexican food at her popular midtown restaurant Tumerico.

In June, she opened her second outpost of Tumerico along bustling North Fourth Avenue.

The location at 402 E. Fourth St., on the corner of North Fourth Avenue, offers a scaled back menu of grab-and-go meals and snacks to complement a full beverage menu of lattes, juices and teas. On weekends, she offers a limited made-to-order menu mirroring what’s offered at the original location, 2526 E. Sixth St.

Whiskey Roads, a country-music themed restaurant/night club across from Foothills Mall, opened in the beginning of August.

The space once housed Romano's Macaroni Grill.

Wings on Fire opened in the Rita Ranch area earlier this year. The wing restaurant serves a variety of flavored wings including lemon pepper, honey mustard and spicy barbecue.

Also on the menu: salads, sandwiches and hot dogs.