My friend and colleague recently moved from Tucson to Denver (I know! There's no accounting for taste!). Like everybody else that knows her, I wanted to take her out to dinner one more time before she left and gave her a pick of any restaurant in town. Over the two years that I've known her, my friend and I have eaten at (literally) hundreds of Tucson restaurants. We have introduced each other to many new and exciting places that quickly became favorites. (After all, there are so many to choose from in Tucson, Oro Valley, Marana, Green Valley, etc.)

It was no surprise to me that she chose El Charro for our little celebration. It was, however, a surprise that she chose the new location in Oro Valley, rather than the downtown location which we had deemed a mutual favorite.

Neither of us had been to the new location but were very interested in checking it out. We were both very impressed with the ambiance. It's huge and beautifully decorated! The service was absolutely outstanding and the food; ahhh, the food was just as fantastic as it is in the downtown location. Luckily we were relatively successful at not filling up on the salsa and chips (which is quite a chore as the salsa is absolutely addicting). For dinner, my soon-departing friend had the Topopo salad and I had the Flautas Famosas. My friend even ordered a special little concoction for a dressing, which was presented to her perfectly. I, as usual, ignored my fork and knife and dove into my guacamole-sauce covered chicken flautas with my fingers. After all, flautas are finger foods, right?

After the salsa and chips, an amazing dinner, a couple of beers and margaritas, we decided not go be too gluttonous and order desert. (Was it too late to not be labeled gluttons?) 

This was indeed, a bitter sweet dinner, but one my friend and I will both remember. I'll miss our dinners and lunches together, but am so glad that our little celebration/commiseration dinner was so perfect in every way. Great company, food, service and ambiance; who could ask for more?