Best of 2009: Design + Culture + Living
This year Tucson Home expands its horizons in searching out the best of Tucson, looking at not only design, but also culture and living.
To get to the bottom of Tucson's tops, we turned to the Southern Arizona chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID), Tucson Pima Arts Council, and you, our readers! And so, without further ado, we give you the Best of 2009: Design + Culture + Living.
Loveable Lines
Favorite Public Architecture: Helen Schaeffer Poetry Center, Line and Space, LLC Architects
Structures such as the Meinel Optical Sciences Building and Stevie Eller Dance Theatre have brought bold modernity to The University of Arizona campus in recent years. In 2007, the lowerprofile but equally progressive Helen Schaeffer Poetry Center joined the list with its harmonious horizontal and vertical planes intersecting walls that lean both in and out, simultaneously sheltering and inviting access to one of the country's most distinguished collections of verse.
Helen Schaeffer Poetry Center, 1508 E. Helen St., 626-3765, www.poetrycenter.arizona.edu; Line and Space, LLC Architects, 627 E. Speedway Blvd., 623-1313, www.lineandspace.comPlanet-friendly Products
Best Eco-Friendly Resource: Originate Natural Building Materials Showroom
Wood made from wheat, stone made from paper, clay conjured from glass and granite—Originate Natural Building Materials offers a modern take on alchemy, giving builders, designers, and decorators earth-friendly magic that looks—and is—smart.
Originate Natural Building Materials Showroom, 526 N. 9th Ave., 792-4207, www.originatenbm.comBoss of the Build
Best Architect: Rob Paulus, Rob Paulus Architects Ltd.
Projects by the LEED-accredited staff at Rob Paulus Architects share a kind of industrial elegance, interweaving sustainable principles, durable materials, modernity, and inventive flair with each build site's unique characteristics. In recent years, the team has created some of Tucson's most distinctive properties: Ice House Lofts, Indigo Modern, and Barrio Metalico, to name just a few.
Rob Paulus Architects Ltd., 990 E. 17th St., Ste. 100, 624-9805, www.robpaulus.comIn Color
Hottest Color: Orange
As Van Gogh said, "There is no blue without yellow and without orange," but when it comes to post-70s American design, orange has mostly been neglected at worst, relegated to accent status at best (Golden Gate Bridge, excepted).
Delicious Design
Best Restaurant Decor: Sur Real
Like the mélange of seasonings that give Sur Real's Latin food its flair, the restaurant's decor by designer Rene Tinsley is an adventure: polkadots, red and green leather, strips of softly glowing neon and blown-glass lighting, all watched over by a silent guard of plasma TVs and gently waving leaf-like fans.
Sur Real, in Gallery Row, 3001 E. Skyline Dr. #133, 529-2644, www.surrealtucson.comBetter with Age
Best Antiques: Copper Country Antiques
"Going green" isn't always about cutting-edge technology. We're talking hanging clothes on the line, biking to work, and buying used. On that note, antiques make great gifts, which gives even noncollectors a reason to succumb to Copper Country's seductive 32,000 square feet of treasures from decades past.
Copper Country Antiques, 5055 E. Speedway Blvd., 326-0167, www.coppercountryantiques.comFinds from Afar
Best Imported Treasures: Colonial Frontiers
Colonial Frontiers' owners have filled their Lost Barrio warehouse with statuary, wall hangings and, above all, specializing in Colonial furniture handpicked on travels to India, Brazil, Burma, Peru, and exotic locales around the world. Many pieces have survived generations and silently assure you they'll outlast several more. And while there are finds for homes of any size, Colonial Frontiers does large very well. If you find yourself needing 12-foot doors for your castle, or, say, a clay pot as big as your dishwasher, head here.
Colonial Frontiers, 244 S. Park Ave., 622-7400, www.colonialfrontiers.comLandscapes You'll Love
Best Landscape Designer: Margaret Joplin, Design Collaborations/Pure Beauty
There's a dynamic tension in Joplin's designs—a friendly push and pull between formal geometry and whimsical fun. Beyond a deep understanding of what to plant where and why and how to shape a space, Joplin works with a mix of new, salvaged, found, and custom-designed elements—iron, brick, rock, wood, clay, and now cast glass and light—to bring outdoor spaces into their full, magical potential. DIY-ers can find these same landscaping elements and more at Joplin's nursery/home and garden boutique, Pure Beauty.
Design Collaborations/Pure Beauty, 2719 E. Broadway Blvd., 623-8068, www.designcollaborations.com, www.purebeautytucson.comMake Your Home Happy
Best Furniture Shopping: Copenhagen Imports
This is not your mother's sectional. Or recliner. Or bedroom set. It's Tucson's best showroom of furniture-cum-art so sleek and contemporary you can practically feel your stress melting into clean-lined, Europeaninspired nothingness just looking at it.
Copenhagen Imports, 3660 E. Fort Lowell Rd., 795-0316, www.copenhagenliving.comEnviable Interiors
Best Interior Designer: Lori Carroll
Talk to any handful of Carroll's clients and you'll quickly learn she's mastered that most important tool of interior design: the ear. Beyond truly listening to what people want, the folks at Lori Carroll & Associates are black belts in line and scale, specs, color, creativity, texture, and the thousand other variables that converge in enviable interiors.
Lori Carroll & Associates, 2496 E. River Rd., Ste. 100, 886-3443, www.loricarroll.comLarger than Life
Best Public Art: Windows to the Past, Gateway to the Future
A 19-year-old woman wanders alone downtown looking for a job. Likewise for a young man showing off his new boots, and a couple just emerging from a movie at the Rialto. Fifteen thousand tiles installed over 4,075 square feet immortalize these folks and others in Windows to the Past, Gateway to the Future, by artist Steve Farley, at the Broadway Boulevard interchange east of downtown, re-creating 14 photographs of downtown Tucson from the 1920s through the 1960s.
Steve Farley, www.tilography.comFriend to Fine Art
Favorite Gallery: Etherton Gallery
While there's no formal hierarchy of Tucson galleries, most in the know would place Etherton top of the list. Understated signage does little to hint at the treasures waiting on the second floor of 6th Avenue's historic Odd Fellows Hall, where 3,500 square feet of premium gallery space offer art and photography lovers a quiet, contemplative garden of delight.
135 S. 6th Ave., 624-7370; Temple Gallery at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave., 624-7370, www.ethertongallery.comArt with Heart
Best Artist: Diana Madaras
Can a grouchy cat with a poodle haircut save Christmas? Best known for capturing the colors of the Southwest, Madaras recently turned her talents to a new project: writing and painting a children's holiday book inspired by her vet's in-office scowling mascot and her own departed feline friend. Madaras grew up in her dad's veterinary hospital—her deep-rooted love of animals shows in her work—and a portion of proceeds from sales of Kitty Humbug's Christmas Tail, the Kitty Humbug plush toy, and related giftables will go to Art for Animals, the charity foundation Madaras created to support animal welfare organizations.
Madaras Gallery, in Gallery Row, 3001 E. Skyline Dr #101., 615-3001; 1535 E. Broadway Blvd., 623-4000, www.madaras.comOpen-Air Arts
Favorite Arts Event: Tucson Museum of Art annual artisan markets
The schedule for this twice-annual event is comfortably consistent: Holiday Craft Market falls the weekend before Thanksgiving—perfect timing for unique holiday gifts—with a reprise, the Spring Artisan's Market, the last weekend of March. In 30 years, the event has grown from showcasing just 20 artists to more than 120, and because both artisan markets are juried—the museum's retail manger reviews and approves each artist's work in advance—count on seeing Tucson's very best.
Tucson Museum of Art, 140 N. Main Ave., 624-2333, www.tucsonmuseumofart.orgCultural Convergence
Favorite Festival: Tucson Meet Yourself
It's true, the endless parade of ethnic foods are a highlight of this annual event, but Tucson Meet Yourself deserves more credit than its "Tucson Eat Yourself " nickname allows. From a 3.1-mile walk/run to an annual car show to a corrido (Mexican ballad) contest , this three-day extravaganza celebrates our diversity through music, dance, fashion, storytelling, craft, and yes, most definitely, food.
Tucson Meet Yourself, 792-4806, www.tucsonmeetyourself.orgGlobal Goodies
Best Ethnic Market: 17th Street Market
Next time you're on a scavenger hunt and need to find Marmite, vindaloo, or pickled anything, make a beeline for the 17th Street Market, where you can truly eat your way around the world. Gourmets, take note—this market offers the real thing, not Americanized versions of global brands. And for everyone else, the snack and candy aisles alone offer an entire season of gustatory adventure.
17th Street Market, 810 E. 17th St., 792-2588, www.treasureshidden.comPower Plays
Best Theater: Arizona Theatre Company
As Arizona's professional resident theater, ATC has delivered 41 seasons of top-quality performances. That, alone, offers reason enough to love the company, but here's another: as a nonprofit, ATC continually strives to keep its work within financial reach for the entire community, heavily subsidizing ticket revenues with grants and donations. A full season starts at just $99—less than $17 per show—and Tuesday previews before Friday openings are a mere $10 a seat. Bravo.
Arizona Theatre Company, at the Temple of Music and Art, 330 S. Scott Ave., 622-2823, www.arizonatheatreco.orgMust-See Songstress
Favorite Musician: Lisa Otey
When she's not working with Tucson's Gaslight Theatre or Invisible Theatre or teaching master classes (open to students of all ages and abilities), you can often find jazz and blues chanteuse Lisa Otey mesmerizing audiences at resorts, clubs, and restaurants around town. Otey can take her voice from crème brûlée to habanero salsa one minute to the next, and whichever flavor you catch, she serves up a musical meal you won't forget.
Lisa Otey, www.owlsnestmusic.com/lisaoteyReel Entertainment
Best Movies: The Loft Cinema
Yes, it's the place to see the latest French film so subtle you need the director to explain it (fortunately, The Loft has probably brought him in for opening night), but it's also where to catch a Monty Python sing-along, documentaries, anime, the darlings of Cannes and, of course, midnight screenings of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. While the googol-plexes satisfy a certain craving with their cushy stadium seating and big-budget blockbusters, visit The Loft to rediscover the magic of film.
The Loft Cinema, 3233 E. Speedway Blvd., 795-7777, www.loftcinema.comPrimo Vino
Best Wine List: The Dish
Tucson's proof that good things come in small packages, The Dish seats just 30-some diners at a time. But here, wine is a big deal. While their 20-25 wines by the glass are always changing, for bottles, the "wine list" is the adjoining wine shop (plus a $12 corking fee), The RumRunner, with more than a thousand labels at your fingertips.
The Dish, 3131 E. 1st St., 326-1714, www.dishbistro.comHome Grown
Best Place For Plants: Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery
So it turns out supply chains are a big nasty when it comes to global warming. The reusable shopping bag is great, but all the transport in making it and getting it to you, not so much. At Mesquite Valley, the owners travel the world to keep their fingers on the pulse of garden cool, but the vast majority of their plants and trees are grown there on the nursery's 24 acres. There is one thing you can't buy at Mesquite Valley—the staff's expertise: this they give away for acres on end.
Mesquite Valley Growers Nursery, 8005 E. Speedway Blvd., 721-8600Healing Revisited
Most Luxurious Spa: Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa
Miraval takes the "healing" experience at the heart of the spa concept and explodes it into every corner of wellness, from the signature Equine Experience to the organic Sonoran Mud Wrap, fitness programs, and leaping off of a 25-foot pole (the Quantum Leap). You get the idea.
Miraval Arizona Resort & Spa, 5000 E. Via Estancia Miraval, 800-825-4000, www.miravalresort.comWay to End the Day
Best Perch for Sunsets: Gates Pass
When Thomas Gates purchased land to clear passage through the Tucson Mountains in 1883, it was, no doubt, a purely practical pursuit. Today, Gates Pass has a purely impractical purpose: the reigning spot for locals and visitors alike to drink in one of the most magnificent sunsets of the Southwest.
To visit Gates Pass, follow Speedway Boulevard west into the Tucson Mountains.Think Small
Best-Kept Shopping Secret: Blue Willow Restaurant, Bakery, and Gift Shop
The plant-lined patio is a popular spot for alfresco dining, but getting there, you pass through one of Tucson's smallest but best-stocked card and gift shops. Where else offers kissing poodle salt and pepper shakers, handmade jewelry, handbags, calendars, and the infamous wind-up Nunzilla, all in a space you can cover in 10 steps?
Blue Willow Restaurant, Bakery, and Gift Shop, 2616 N. Campbell Ave., 327-7577, www.bluewillowtucson.comHot Dog!
Favorite Guilty Pleasure: Sonoran Hot Dogs at El Güero Canelo
Picture a soft, warm bun overflowing with beans, tomatoes, fresh and grilled onion, jalapeño sauce, mustard, and mayonnaise, all smothering a hot dog that's been grilled and wrapped in bacon. Parody as food be damned—Sonoran dogs rock. Get your dirty little secret at the original, open-air location south of Irvington Road or in modern, air-conditioned comfort on Oracle. Either way, just don't tell your doctor.
El Güero Canelo, 5201 S. 12th Ave., 295-9005; 2480 N. Oracle Rd., 882-8977, www.elguerocanelo.comCelebration Station
Best Special Occasion Restaurant: The Grill at Hacienda del Sol
Awards and honors from ZAGAT, Wine Enthusiast, Wine Spectator, National Geographic Traveler, and others. Fresh ingredients from the resort's own garden. More than 2,000 varieties of wine. As if you needed another reason to celebrate at Hacienda del Sol's The Grill, here's one more: eat here and you can boast a meal served up by Ramiro Scavo, Tucson's reigning Iron Chef.
The Grill at Hacienda del Sol, 5601 N. Hacienda del Sol Rd., 299-1501, www.haciendadelsol.comFunky & Fun
Best Place for Gifts: Bohemia
If this were The $20,000 Pyramid (how quaint), I'd start rattling off "colorful, funky, fun, art, handcrafted, kitsch" until finally you'd frantically shout out "Gifts you can buy at Bohemia!" Representing more than 200 artists, most of them locals, this combination gallery/gift shop is all the above and more.
Bohemia, 2920 E. Broadway Blvd., 882-0800, www.bohemiatucson.comGet Fresh
Best Farmers Market: Tucson Farmers Market at St. Philip's Plaza on Sundays
Unlike many others, the Tucson Farmers Market at St. Philip's on Sundays stays true to the original concept, barring crafts in favor of fresh, locally grown food. With some 50 vendors, acoustic live music, and welcoming smiles for kids and critters, it's the perfect stop before Sunday brunch.
Tucson Farmers Market at St. Philip's Plaza on Sundays, 4280 N. Campbell Ave., www.stphilipsplaza.comInaugural Nosh
First Place to Take Out-of-Towners to Dinner: Café Poca Cosa
The "little thing" of Poca Cosa's name may have once been apt. Today, it's almost ironic. With an ever-changing selection of fresh ingredients—Poca Cosa doesn't use freezers—chef-owner Suzana Davila consistently produces fare fit for monarchy in an urban-chic ambiance. If ever you need to defend Tucson against charges of provincial hickdom, whisk your unsuspecting visitors here and watch them eat their words.
Café Poca Cosa, 110 E. Pennington St., 622-6400, www.cafepocacosatucson.comLandmark Libation
Best Signature Cocktail: Martini Caprese at Maynards Market & Kitchen
Besides clam diggers, Caprese salad may be Capri's finest gift to the world. The word, by the way, is pronounced "ca-PRAY-zay," and I tell you this because timidity about pronunciation should stop no one from unwinding with the adult beverage delight that is Maynards' martini Caprese: basil-infused vodka garnished with cherry tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, the tiniest balsamic hint, and a zesty basil leaf. Clever never tasted so good.
Maynards Market & Kitchen, 400 N. Toole Ave., 545-0577, www.maynardsmarkettucson.comTake a Hike
Must-Do Outdoor Excursion: Sabino Canyon
The Santa Catalina's Sabino Canyon is a "best of" all to itself—the best of the Arizona's Sonoran Desert, accessible by hike, stroll, or tram, and home to waterfalls, wildflowers, whitetail deer, gentle tarantulas, and a level of natural beauty found seldom anywhere in the world.
Sabino Canyon, 5900 N. Sabino Canyon Rd., 749-2861, www.sabinocanyon.comSweet Spot
Best Place to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth: Frost Gelato
Frost is as much a visual treat as a dessert-lover's dream. Gleaming glass cases showcase mounds of frozen, creamy deliciousness beneath accents in brushed steel and cobalt blue glass, all in a clean, bright shop staffed by unnaturally chipper youth. And by some lapse of natural order, gelato has less fat than ice cream. Go now, before the laws of physics change.
Frost Gelato, in Casas Adobes Plaza, 7131 N. Oracle Rd #101, 797-0188; 7301 E. Tanque Verde Rd., 886-0354; in La Encantada, 2905 E. Skyline Dr. #286, 299-0315, www.frostgelato.comCool for Kids
Best Family-Friendly Weekend Venture: Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum
From its popular Raptor Free Flights to its new Running Wild program, live animal demonstrations are just one of many attractions that light little eyes with wonder at this world-renowned zoo, natural history museum, and botanical garden rolled into one.
Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum, 2021 N. Kinney Rd., 883-2702, www.desertmuseum.org