Flowers cover the fireplace at Vivace Restaurant, 6440 N. Campbell Ave.

 Rebecca Sasnett, Arizona Daily Star

If a good meal is the way to your significant other’s heart, imagine where a great meal, made with ingredients known anecdotally for their ability to inspire intimacy, might take you.

While we have every confidence you and your partner are doing fine, maybe even excelling, in the Netflix and chill department, with Valentine’s Day fast approaching, perhaps it’s time to experiment ... with the meals you eat beforehand.

Below are some of foods considered to be aphrodisiacs and where to find them in Tucson.

Chocolates at Monsoon

Monsoon Chocolates, 234 E. 22nd St.; monsoonchocolate.com

Get your valentine one of Monsoon’s chile-infused chocolates and you get to check two romance boxes: hot peppers and chocolate.

According to simplychocolate.com, chocolate contains tryptophan, one of the building blocks of serotonin that plays a role in arousal, and phenylethylamine, a stimulant that is apparently released in the brain when you fall in love. And the capsaicin in chile peppers is known to boost testosterone levels and increase libido, according to eatsomethingsexy.com

Hey, we couldn’t even make this stuff up.

At Monsoon, which celebrates its fifth anniversary this summer, owner and head chocolatier Adam Krantz crafts at least two chile-infused bean-to-bar chocolates — the chiltepín pepper and chile mango, both with a hint of heat.

If spicy isn’t your thing, you can mix-and-match from Krantz’s 18 signature collection concoctions including the Sonoran Sea Salt Dark Chocolate, Grapefruit Fennel Pollen, the swirly beauty of Pepper Rose or one of their five vegan offerings — Matcha Sesame Rice Milk, Masala Chai, Coconut Caramel, Cocoa Nib Horchata or Passionfruit Lime.

Hours: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

Oysters at Agustin Kitchen

Agustin Kitchen sells weekly between 650 to 800 oysters sourced from Washington State, Maine or Canada depending on the season.

Agustin Kitchen, 100 S. Avenida del Convento; agustinkitchen.com

Oysters, the ultimate when it comes to aphrodisiac foods, are the goddesses of the big open sea. These little bivallve mollusks contain essential nutrients and specific amino acids and serotonin that feed into the “neural pathway of pleasure response,” according to comments by Michael Krychman, a leading clinical sexual counselor, made to Smithsonian magazine a few years ago.

There are a number of restaurants that serve oysters, which, obviously, are not locally-sourced; we are in the middle of the Sonoran Desert, after all. At Agustin Kitchen in the idyllic setting of Mercado San Agustin, oysters are served raw on the half shell by the half-dozen or a la carte. General Manager Neil Scott estimates the restaurant sells weekly between 650 to 800 oysters sourced from Washington State, Maine or Canada depending on the season.

Hours: 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, until 10 p.m. Fridays, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturdays, and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Sundays

Asparagus at Vivace

The Asparagus & Parma Prosciutto at Vivace Restaurant features grilled asparagus stalks dressed in sweet and tart balsamic reduction over a bed of greens topped with prosciutto and light shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

Vivace Restaurant, 6440 N. Campbell Ave.; vivacetucson.com

Owner Daniel Scordato had never heard that asparagus was among the foods considered to be romance-inducing. But according to health.com, asparagus is right up there with chocolate, chile peppers and oysters in the category of foods that put you in the mood. Asparagus is rich in essential blood-pumping nutrients including vitamin B6 and folate, both of which can boost arousal, and vitamin E, which stimulates sex hormones in both men and women.

Scordato had no idea when he put the Grilled Asparagus & Parma Prosciutto on Vivace’s menu 20 years ago.

While not as popular as some of his more mainstream dishes, Scordato said they sell a surprisingly good amount of the dish, which features grilled asparagus stalks dressed in sweet and tart balsamic reduction over a bed of greens topped with prosciutto and light shavings of Parmigiano Reggiano cheese.

“What I like about it is instead of a salad, this has the big stalks of asparagus and prosciutto, which goes great with the asparagus and the parm shavings and the balsamic,” he said.

Vivace, which will celebrate its 29th year in business right around Valentine’s Day, has been booked up for Feb. 14 for weeks. Scordato suggests people book a table for a few days before or after the holiday.

Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 8 p.m. Mondays through Thursdays, until 8:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays; closed Sundays

Avocados at Seis Kitchen

The Avocado Breakfast Burrito is one of Seis Kitchen's most popular breakfast dishes.

Seis Kitchen has three locations: 130 S. Avenida del Convento; 1765 E. River Road; and 9740 N. Oracle Road. seiskitchen.com

With the amount of avocados making their way through local restaurants, it’s a wonder Tucson residents ever leave the bedroom at all (except to maybe eat more avocados).

Considered by some throughout history as a symbol of fertility, avocados are served all sorts of ways in town. They come on our sushi rolls at restaurants like Sushi Cho, 1830 E. Broadway, and are served on toast at trendy breakfast spots such as Toast 101, 4699 E. Speedway, and Café a la C’Art, 140 N. Main Ave., downtown.

Erika Muñoz, co-owner of the popular, homegrown Seis Kitchen concept, says that each of its three restaurant locations goes through about 1,000 avocados a week.

“We use avocados all over the place,” said Muñoz, who, with her husband Jake Muñoz, opened the third location in Oro Valley last summer. “It is a beautiful fruit.”

You can find avocados driving the flavor behind the in-house guacamole, which is used to accentuate several dishes; a dollop of guac on your veggie nachos grandes or spread across your shredded chicken taquitos plate.

The avocado takes centerstage with the restaurant’s crispy avocado taco dish, where slices are coated with a Mexican beer batter, thrown into the fryer, then served with cabbage, cilantro and shredded cheese on top.

“They hold up nicely in the fryer,” Erika Muñoz said. “There is a such a nice balance between the crunchy outer layer and the soft inside.”

One of the restaurant’s most popular breakfast dishes, Muñoz said, is the avocado burrito, which consists of a sliced whole avocado, roasted green chiles, fluffy eggs, potatoes and cheese wrapped in a large flour tortilla.

Hours: All three locations are open at 8 a.m. daily. Visit seiskitchen.com for more information.

Strawberries at HeeMee

The strawberry shortcake is a popular dessert choice at HeeMee Coffee + Bakery.

HeeMee Coffee + Bakery, 20 E. Congress; heemee.online

If you and your loved one find yourselves wandering the streets of downtown on any given Tuesday-Saturday, consider stopping into HeeMee Coffee + Bakery for treats made with the sweetest of all aphrodisiacs, the strawberry.

Ancient Romans considered the strawberry a symbol of Venus, the goddess of love, and HeeMee, a purveyor of coffee and pastries downtown since the summer of 2019, makes good use of it.

Amid the red bean buns and chocolate Nutella nut cookies are strawberry pistachio cookies, slices of strawberry cream cake (which can be pre-ordered as a full cake) and shortcakes about the size of your average cupcake topped with strawberries, blueberries and blackberries.

Valentine’s falls on a Monday this year, so plan to visit a couple days ahead of time.

Suspiros Cakes, a bakery chain based in Mexico with several locations in Tucson, including one at 5606 E. Broadway, also carries strawberry cakes.

Hours: HeeMee is open from 8 a.m.-1 p.m. Tuesdays-Fridays and 9 a.m.-2 p.m. Saturdays

Italian food at Nate’s

Owner and Chef Nate Martin, left, and Cook Gus Barragan sprinkle cheese onto a plate of lasagna at Nate's Italian Kitchen.

Nate’s Italian Kitchen, 7074 E. Golf Links Road; natesmetrodeli.com

OK, so singling out an entire genre of food might be overdoing it a bit, but Italian cuisine is so rich in known aphrodisiacs, from artichokes to basil to asparagus, that we feel justified in our assessment.

Italian restaurants can be found all over Tucson, from Mama Louisa’s up the street from Davis-Monthan (2041 S. Craycroft Road) to the upscale Tavolino Ristorante Italiano in the foothills (2890 E. Skyline Drive).

For far east-siders, an intimate Italian restaurant in an unassuming strip mall at East Golf Links and South Kolb roads, has been offering up foods to get you in the mood since May of last year.

Chef Nate Martin opened up Nate’s Italian Kitchen amid the pandemic after running a ghost kitchen with 10 different concepts off of East Tanque Verde Road for most of 2020.

Martin, who wanted that interaction with the customers, said the brick-and-mortar restaurant took off quickly.

“I posted on Facebook that we were going to try a soft opening and maybe 50 people showed up,” he said. “The following weekend, there was a line out the door.”

These days, Martin says his kitchen staff is putting out up to 180 takeout orders a day, with 60-80 tables dining in.

“It has been crazy,” he said. “I have had zero time to focus on anything but cooking.”

One of Martin’s claims to fame is his large portions. If you bring a date to Nate’s, our advice is to share a plate. Not only will you be able to nibble on the same gargantuan plate of spaghetti and meatballs like Lady and the Tramp, you’ll have plenty to pack into doggy bags for lunch the next day.

“Italian foods are like a shared thing,” Martin said. “Plus, I like to eat a lot. That’s why our portions are so big.”

Nate’s will be amping up the romance this Valentine’s Day with a five-course dinner that includes a charcuterie board, a soup, salad, a dessert and your entree of choice from a list that includes chicken saltimbocca, a pan seared ribeye, tonnarelli puttanesca and a Chilean sea bass.

The restaurant, which just obtained its B.Y.O.B. liquor license, will have several seatings throughout the day and it is $120 per couple. Call 339-4099 for more information.

Hours: Nate’s is open from 11 a.m. -10 p.m. Tuesdays-Wednesdays; 11 a.m.-11 p.m. Thursdays; and 11 a.m.-2 a.m. Fridays-Saturdays

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