Kelly the Culinarian: Tasty Tucson Tours: Mt. Lemmon, Part I

Monday, August 27, 2007

Tasty Tucson Tours: Mt. Lemmon, Part I

Mt. Lemmon is about an hour and a half away from Tucson. It's in the middle of the Coronado National Forest and sits 9,000 feet above sea level. Mt. Lemmon is referred to as a dessert island because it's typically several degrees cooler than Tucson.

At the top, there was a cool, refreshing breeze that accompanied the pine trees and running streams. You can picnic, hike, rock climb and camp, but there's a $5 fee. Summerhaven sits at the top of the mountain and it a big tourist trap. There's a very limited amount of businesses there because a recent fire destroyed everything at the top -- the charred trees are immediately visible.

Beyond the beautiful vistas, the pie is kind of famous. There's a Mt. Lemmon Cafe in Summerhaven that people rave about. We sat down and were immediately taken aback at the prices -- $7 for a piece of pie?! And an extra $2 for a la mode? Seriously?

But we chose our pie anyways, we were already there, after all. And we waited. And we waited. And we waited some more. We watched the wait staff take a smoke break. This place was dirty. This place even smelled like wet dog. I shouldn't have ordered anything after watching this whole dialogue. But I was hungry.

This is what $22 worth of pie looks like. I got the chocolate cream pie, which is in the foreground. The one to the left is black cherry or sour blackberry, we think they swapped them. Then the one on the right is strawberry rhubarb. The fruit pies were tart and tasty, but would have been better with the $2 ice cream scoop. I liked my chocolate pie -- it was really creamy and had the consistency of chocolate pudding with a hint of coffee in the background.

Regardless, not worth $7 a slice and definitely not worth the crappy, dirty service. I guess if you're there, you might as well, but there's fudge that's fantastic, but you'll have to wait until tomorrow to hear about that!

15 comments:

FH said...

Beautiful scenery and food too. Lucky you!:)

tigerfish said...

Sometimes, we don't have a choice on food prices when traveling, and esp. near the mountains, unless we pack-our-own which might be a hassle too.

East Meets West Kitchen said...

Guess they always charge more for the ambience, in this case the scenic view. They know when the tourist are coming, don't they?

ZoeyBella said...

Really nice shot of the landscape! And the food sounds amazing :)

Taylor said...

For $7 a slice, maybe they could throw in some real plates! Oh, well.

Lynne Daley said...

I love Tucson! We tried going up Mt. Lemmon several years ago, but rocks had spilled onto the main road, so had to turn back. Mission San Xavier del Bac is my favorite place to photograph. Nice post on Mt. Lemmon.

A Mature Student said...

Nice scenery. Were the desserts tasty even though they were pricy.

I supposed being a tourist place, they can charge anything and get away with it?

KellytheCulinarian said...

Because of the recent fire, there's really nothing else up there so they can jack up the prices. I wouldn't go again -- the pie just wasn't that tasty.

Mansi said...

Hi kelly,

First time on your blog!

This colorado post is great! Increased my urge to see those mountians in person all the more!!

stay-at-home mum said...

Wow. expensive pie.But sometimes you just have to pay extra for the ambience.

Cate said...

Ouch - $7 a slice?! Well it looks good!

backStreetGluttons said...

us of a . beautiful and unique .
land of unlimited opportunity.
wish we were there ( again )
then at least can savour some Culinarian dishes !

LTodd said...

As Sarah said, "$7 pie made out of twigs, berries and snot."

Cynthia said...

Food aside, you seem to be having a lovely time travelling.

Marianne said...

The pie certainly looks appealing. Too bad it wasn't worth the $7! Looks can be deceiving I guess.