Rediscover the some of your favorite but shuttered eateries at the Tucson Festival of Books.
The history and forgotten stories of some of the restaurants that helped shape Tucson’s culinary presence reemerge in Rita Connelly’s book “Lost Restaurants of Tucson.”
Local author and restaurant reviewer Connelly will share the culinary stage on the opening day of the book festival with Donna Nordin, the retired owner/chef of Café Terra Cotta.
Appropriately, Nordin plans to prepare Terra Cotta’s signature shrimp stuffed with goat cheese. Terra Cotta, revered by many as the jewel that put Tucson on the culinary map, closed in 2009.
The dish is a favorite of Connelly, who spent more than a decade writing about Tucson’s culinary scene after returning to Tucson in 1987. She continues to cover the scene on her blog wellfedfoodieblog.wordpress.com
The book, released on Dec. 7, is available locally for $21.99 plus tax at Antigone Books, Mostly Books, and Barnes and Noble. Also, online at ArcadiaPublishing.com and historypress.net as well as amazon.com
The history of Tucson’s lost restaurants has as much to do with the people as it does the places, says Connelly. The Gekas and Scordato families ran restaurants for decades.
Chefs Janos Wilder, Nordin and Alan Zeman were at the forefront of the New Southwest cuisine. Larry Colligan of Hidden Valley Inn and Diego A. Valenzuela of Gordo’s Mexicateria & Mexicatessan became local celebrities due to their television commercials and snappy catchphrases. And over time, a strong bond grew among the owners, chefs and diners.
Every restaurant in this book has a story, says Connelly.
