Owner Nancy Kuhlmann will keep the landmark Chianti bottle.
Longtime bar owner Nancy Kuhlmann closed her namesake Fort Lowell Pub at 746 E. Fort Lowell Road on Feb. 19 and 24 hours later gave new life to the Boondocks right around the corner at 3306 N. First Ave. Kulmann decided that Boondocks, which had been a destination for live music, sizzling burgers and cold beer since 1980, was such an institution that she would keep the name. She added her name to the sign out front so that her Nancy’s Fort Lowell Pub clientele would know where to find her.
After months of holding on against the odds of the multiyear Ina Road/Interstate 10 highway interchange reconstruction project, Miss Saigon at 4650 W. Ina Road quietly shut off the “Open” sign. The owners insist it’s not permanent; once Ina Road is back up and running, so will they, they said in August, six months after the road work had claimed as casualties Chuy’s Mesquite Broiler, Waffle House, Hooters and Jack in the Box. Meanwhile, Heng Chao and his family at Donut Wheel, 4524 W. Ina Road, just east of the tip of the construction zone, are a stubborn lot. Despite a dramatic downturn in business, they have hung in there. Loyal customers have made pleas on social media for customers to make the detour off Orange Grove or Cortaro Farms roads to support the shop, which the Chao family has owned since 1997.
Tucson’s Tamale Man Perfecto Léon opened his second restaurant, the fast-casual cousin of his south-side flagship Perfecto’s at 5404 S. 12th Ave. The new place, Perfecto’s Mexican Grill Express at 1055 E. Irvington Road near South Park Avenue, features the family’s trademark tamales and a concept that loosely follows the Chipotle model of create your own bowl, burrito or taco.
