Cafe Poca Cosa's "El Plato" is always a surprise.
This week’s question: If you had to pick a dish from a local restaurant for your last meal, what would it be and why?
Features writer Gabrielle Fimbres
Easy. The Pastel de Elote from Cafe Poca Cosa is heaven on earth, comfort food in its finest form. That would send me on my way with a smile on my face.
Metromix editor Polly Higgins
I’m feeling all pasta-y: the gnocchi in gorgonzola cream sauce from Caffe Milano. It’s melt-in-your mouth good. Then, I’d walk over to Barrio and get my favorite dessert in town, their chocolate custard, and pair it with their genius mixologist’s Air Mail cocktail, which has lime juice and Champagne.
Book reviewer Larry Cox
It would be the carne seca dinner at the main El Charro restaurant downtown. I had never tasted carne seca before I moved to Arizona in 1996. It is a perfect blend of flavors and textures and has remained one of my all-time favorites despite its high salt content. I also like it because southern Arizona is one of the few places that has the perfect conditions where the meat can be cured and prepared. If El Charro was closed the day of my last meal, I would pick a tamale pie and a steak covered with chiles at El Corral on River Road.
Events coordinator Elsa Nidia Barrett
I love surprises. For that reason I’m choosing Cafe Poca Cosa’s “El Plato” for my last meal. You can never go wrong with this chef’s choice of three items. Everything on the menu is absolutely delicioso! Chicken, beef, pork and seafood dishes prepared Oaxacan-style are served – all topped with a huge salad of green vegetables and fruit. My mouth waters just thinking about it.
Calendar editor Rogelio Yubeta Olivas
The two dishes I’d pick are no longer available, but this is make-believe, so we’ll pretend they are. I’d first have the turkey pipian that El Torero used to make. It is the best pipian I’ve ever had and so different from all the others I’ve tasted. For the uninitiated, pipian is a sauce made from pumpkin seeds, chile and spices. Most restaurants serve the red chile variety. El Torero’s was pink-cream colored.
For dessert I’d have the capirotada (bread pudding) bread that El Rio Bakery used to serve. The chef there took the pudding, made it into a loaf and served it by the slice.
Arts writer Chuck Graham
Wow . . . well, this question is way too appropriate. But for my last meal I would like to go out in a blaze of glory, or at least a blaze of margaritas. So I would head over to Guadalajara Grill, my personal favorite Mexican restaurant, and order a tray full of Bandera Margaritas and the super-sized Pancho Villa maxi-combo. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh . . . then you could take me away.
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NEXT WEEK’S QUESTION
What was the stupidest dare you ever accepted?
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