Dining in the Desert

Pat and I do not go out to restaurants all the often when we are back home as we both enjoy cooking, but it is nice to go out once in a while.  While we are travelling to new locations we will likely try out local establishments that feature local food.

When we were down in Yuma last week part of the trip was a stop at a local Chinese food establishment.  While this restaurant does not serve local food per se, it is a favourite of a lot of local people as the price and quality are very good.  This particular Lin’s is a fairly large restaurant with all you can eat Chinese and a smattering of American dishes.  We were there during the lunch period so stopped in.

This is a typical buffet style restaurant and the decor looks very reminiscent of a lot of restaurants that were built in 80’s.  It was clean, service on checkin and payment at the front was prompt and the food was great.  We all went back two and three times for refills and they were constantly coming from the back to refill the serving containers.

This particular restaurant is one of six others in Arizona and there are seven stores in Texas, so they have a solid market to be able to run a Chinese buffet in the southwest.  If you are in any of their locations I think they are worth a stop.

Last night six of us went out to a local pizzeria here in Quartzsite.  It is Silly Al’s and is one of the best pizza places we have been to.  The restaurant is quite large and is set up bar style with all kinds of rustic Arizona items hanging from the walls.  A couple of pool tables and a long bar at the back with the usual big TV screens playing football round out the atmosphere.  Bill and Pat mentioned that starting about this time of year it is incredibly difficult to get in and often they have come with lines out the door waiting for a table.

We were fortunate not to have to wait although the place looked about half full.  It was filling as we finished our meal so I think the timing was right.  Most every town will have their go-to pizza place and the way they do up their pizzas makes this the one in this town.  We will definitely go back for a visit to this place.

Prices here so far at restaurants are not too dissimilar to those in Canada.  In the case of Silly Al’s we each had a 10” Meat Lovers Pizza and a beer.  Total was $53 before tip and for that we have enough for lunch today as well so a good deal.

Clockwise from left: Bill, Pat, Pat, Kim, and Ken