My friend is still getting the lay of the Tucson land and had read about our Tucson Iron Chef, Ken Foy. We needed a Monday, late-ish dinner venue and this was open. Ashley was our bartender/server and advised that the Cucumber Martini was their most popular - a really lovely fusion of three different cucumber sources along with three types of citrus ($14). My friend gravitates towards good bourbons so she got the Pecan Old Fashioned ($14). Both were deeelicious. We were bummed to learn they were out of their famous escargot so we ordered the Wild Mushroom w/ Baked Brie ($17) - warm, savory, if a bit salty. Their incredible (dense, chewy) bread that is gratis with dinner ended up being a perfect pairing for the brie and Ashley readily brought us a second helping to help polish it off. We also split the Pappardelle Diablo entree (pasta with crab and chorizo in a pepper/cajun cream sauce - $31). As expected, it's a bit heavy-rich, with decent amounts of shredded crab and crumbled chorizo. We nearly closed the place down and, dutifully, left a gracious tip to our all-purpose hostess, bartender, waitress, and superwoman, Ashley. Parking is ample/free in their private lot and ambience is cozy. I read that Dante's might be pivoting to a more "local/bar" theme later this year, to include a simpler-foods menu and maybe even pool tables. I'm not sure that's going in the right direction, especially with Culinary Dropout across the street but then I appreciate the thin margins and challenging economy of running a restaurant. Whatever Ken does will be worth trying! read more