Destination Food: Cafe Poca Cosa

“The fish tacos above looked delicious although I did not taste them. Two of us ordered the plato Poca Cosa and each had a slightly different variation of tamale pie, beef and chicken, yumm.”


Destination food is an ongoing post describing outstanding locations where we have eaten in various parts of the country and the world. We have been known to plan destination points around foods we want to experience while on vacation. I found one such place while visiting Tucson, Arizona last week. The restaurant is called “Cafe Poca Cosa” which means little things in Spanish. I decided the sample platter would allow me a one visit “across the board” assessment of the restaurant. My conclusion was a complete and total revaluation of my preconceptions of Mexican food. The freshness of the ingredients and the creative blending of flavours elevated the meal beyond my exceptions. Dieter and I have realised the best restaurants have a creative chef, (usually an owner) that understands how to create a menu that show cases their love and skill in the kitchen. I cannot fully express our disgust of the formula based kitchens where kitchen help are trained in the finer points of microwave and can opener operation. Conversely a resident chef-owner cares about the quality of each plate going out of the kitchen. At Cafe Poca Cosa this passion about what gets served is obvious. I love this restaurant because the menu changes twice a day from breakfast to dinner and each day is different. According to the splendid table public radio audio review the Cafe Poca Cosa, kitchen is a constant parade of local farmers bringing in seasonal produce determining what dishes are written on the chalk board menu of the day. There is no printed menu. What could be better?

I was told the chef/owner Suzana Dávila is of Mexican decent and returns to Mexico for inspiration. I am telling you, this was Mexican food unlike anything I have ever eaten. I was so inspired when I came home I bought two new Mexican cookbooks hoping to make Mexican food to dream about. So far I can only dream of eating great food at Cafe Poca Cosa.

They have a new location:
Cafe Poca Cosa
110 E. Pennington
Tucson, Arizona 85701
520.622.6400

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