Ocotillo Café

WEST TUCSON. If you're fortunate enough to be in Tucson sometime during January-April you are in for a treat. Those are the only months that the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum's Ocotillo Café is open for lunch, and a better foray into Southwestern cuisine is rare indeed. The menu is short and changes frequently, but exceptionally fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs grace every plate in some combination, giving color and zing to every dish. For example, a chile-cured sirloin is served alongside roasted garlic-chevre polenta and grilled machengo cheese, napolitos, scallions and red and yellow tomatoes; a vegetarian concoction sings with chile-flecked orzo, tomatoes, zucchini, yellow squash, napolitos, roasted peppers, fresh corn and eggplant in chipotle chile cream sauce. Food simply doesn't get much more flavorful.