Desert Rain Cafe

Our drive through the desert took us through the Tohonam O’odham reservation.  We planned to stop there for lunch.  The Desert Rain Café had been recommended for its traditional foods.  At this informal restaurant you order at  the counter and the food is brought to your table once prepared.  All our dishes were delicious.  David had the special: slow cooked pork ribs with a prickly pear cactus glaze, salad, whole wheat tortilla, and a bowl of tepary beans.  Tepary beas are a bit like lentils in texture and flavor.  Janet had grilled chicken breast, corn chips, cholla pico de gallo, and salad.  The cholla pico de gallo was amazing: cholla flower buds with tomato and peppers.  Excellent.  (Wish I had ordered an entire side dish of it.) The salads were dressed with a prickly pear vinaigrette dressing – just the right combination of sweet and sour.  The only problem with this restaurant was that I would have liked to try about five other things on the menu.  If we are ever in Sells again, we will be stopping.  Warning to other travelers:  The cafe is open only Monday –  Friday.

We found a place to spend the night on some BLM land near Tucson.  Free camping on land with a view of the west side of Tuscon.

-- Janet (text) and David (photos)