A few weeks back my husband and I decided to load up the tots and take a little jaunt over to Safford, Arizona and explore an Arizona culinary attraction: The Salsa Trail. The “trail” runs along Southeast Arizona’s Old West Highway and consists of thirteen restaurants, a tortilla factory and a chile factory.
When we pulled into the parking lot of the Best Western Desert Inn, our home for the night, the parking lot was filled with a rainbow of polished classic cars. The owners were walking around in hats and t-shirts that said, “I Survived the Salsa Trail.” It was the Classy Car Club from Wickenburg, Arizona in town for the weekend cruising the Salsa Trail.
Not only were the car club members friendly, the entire town welcomed us with open arms. Locals waved as we drove by, while a smile and warm hello became the norm every time we passed someone on the street. Even when I tried to push the double stroller up a curb and my children almost ended up splattered on the concrete locals ran up to help.
Over two days we hit five of the restaurants (Safford is home to eight of the restaurants, tortilla factory, and the chili farm) and believe me when I say this is an experience where polishing off an entire bowl of chips is not recommended. Our first stop was at the Salsa Fiesta in Wilcox. We ate a full lunch there, which was quite good by the way, but from then on we simply tasted the variety of salsas with a few chips. Each restaurant’s salsa was so unique and tasted so fresh.
After we all had our fill, we took the kids back to the Best Western to splash in the pool and watch a stunning Arizona sunset. The next day we hit the local coffee shop on Main Street called A Step Back in Time where barista Mikayla made us a couple of great cups of java.
Next, we crossed the street for breakfast at El Coronado Family Restaurant where it seemed everyone knew each other by name. The kids indulged in yummy pancakes while Jeff and I had some tasty breakfast burritos, with their special salsa of course. Delish! I can’t wait to go back and try the rest of the Salsa Trail restaurants.
