John Wise

Yeah, this is mundane, uninspired, and on the verge of pathetic, but I was so busy all day that finding a photo was low on the list of priorities.

Lunch here, though, is excellent. Tee Pee Mexican Food has been a local Phoenix favorite now for more than 40 years. The place is not upscale; it is retro by every measure. The food makes up for any lack of ambiance, although if noise from a busy clientele is your version of ambiance, then this is the place you must get to. Tee Pee may be best known for its Chili Relleno, which is ginormous. I love the enchiladas and green corn tamales; the green chili burrito comes in a close third, while the homemade salsa will force you to eat way too many chips before your meal arrives. Be warned, the plates are delivered sizzling at finger-burning temperatures.

Tee Pee is located at 4144 E Indian School Road in Phoenix, Arizona, and is open seven days a week. During lunch and weekends, the wait can be quite long, upwards of an hour for weekend dinner guests. George Bush ate here last year; I give him credit for finding good eateries.

Other must-visit Mexican restaurants while in Phoenix:

Los Dos Molinos – 8646 S Central Ave – Awesomely spicy hot food served up New Mexico-style from old cowboy movie star Tom Mix’s former home. Closed July for vacation.

Barrio Cafe – 2814 N 16th Street – South Mexican cuisine is the specialty here, and you will not be disappointed by stopping in; the food is terrific. An example item from the menu: Filet mignon in a chipotle/tamarindo red wine sauce served over a grilled nopal cactus pad and chorizo.

Carolina’s – 1202 E Mohave Street and 2126 E Cactus Road, Carolina’s offers great Mexican fast food and has been the winner for many a year of the New Times’ Best Tortillas title in Phoenix, Arizona

Before picking up Caroline this afternoon, I stopped in Tempe at the Rio Salado College administrative building and bookstore. Caroline needed a book for an English course she is taking online with the school. This year, Caroline has gotten serious about earning an American university degree while still living here.

I went shopping today at Henry’s Marketplace, one of our favorite grocery stores. Henry’s is part of the Wild Oats chain the difference being less an emphasis on purely organic foods and significantly lower prices.

We buy approximately 80% of our food items from Henry’s. Today, a typical day, we purchased the following: tomatoes, green bell peppers, fresh spinach, radishes, fresh beets, red cabbage, red leaf lettuce, jicama, white corn on the cob, peaches, nectarines, apples, red bananas, fresh blueberries, raisins, frozen strawberries, shelled walnuts, carrot juice.

This wasn’t all of our shopping today; we also stopped at Food City for small 5″ corn tortillas, Menonita cheese, jalapenos, avocados, and Herdez salsa. Our last stop was Indo Euro Foods for paneer cheese, green chilies (Thai style), curry leaves, and a bag of puris.

Combine these ingredients with the potatoes, brown rice, carrots, green beans, ginger, garlic, mint, cilantro, red onions, orange juice, flaxseed oil, soy yogurt, garbanzo beans, Kala chana, grape seed oil, olive oil, lemons, soy milk, oatmeal, eggs, and one of the widest ranges of spices you may ever see in one kitchen, all of which we already have, and we have most everything we need to prepare breakfast and dinner for the better part of the next week.

Update: in the spring of 2009, Whole Foods acquired Wild Oats, and the world of grocery shopping grew darker. Then, in 2017, Amazon bought Whole Foods because life didn’t suck enough.

Following a busy day where Caroline took a mid-term and the final on the same day (got an A for the class) along with her eval for taking an English class, we later had dinner with Kirk K. at The Persian Room for nearly three hours before we headed south to Tempe to see the Bollywood film Maine Pyaar Kyun Kiya starring Salman Khan and Sushmita Sen. Maine Pyaar was a nice little romantic comedy, although I probably wouldn’t recommend it to someone seeing their first Hindi film.

I learned today that some interesting concerts are coming up. On September 10th is Aruna Sayeeram, a Carnatic vocalist, and the following night is Amjad Ali Khan, who is said to be a master of the Sarod. On October 15th is a return performance of Veena Sahasrabuddhe, whom Caroline and I saw perform a couple of years ago; she is GREAT! To learn more about any of these concerts, check either the Fine Arts Association of Arizona or AZ India.