After being sick all last weekend, I finally got out for Sonoran Restaurant Week (@sonoranrestaurantweek). I chose Flora's Market Run (@florasmarketrun) because although I had been there a few times (meetings and a reception), I had yet to have a whole meal experience.
I grabbed Mom and went last night, looking forward to their Sonoran Restaurant Week offering of a southwest salad, elote pizza, and a chai choco taco sundae, which fed us both for $45.
We started with the salad, which was fresh and crisp Romain, red onions, radishes, grape tomatoes, roasted corn, queso fresco, and chipotle ranch dressing. It was a flavor explosion! The roasted corn really stood out, underscoring the theme of this three-course meal.
Even though a kitchen staff gave our pizza to the adjacent table, it was worth the wait. This was one of the most unique pizzas I've ever had the privilege to eat. It definitely reminded me of the Elote street corn we'd get from the Corn Man walking the streets of residential So Cal neighborhoods. But it was also much more. The shredded mozzarella, corn, cilantro, tajin, and tangy pickled onions topped with more queso fresco all played together like an orchestra in my mouth. But what really hit was the perfectly cooked, light, airy, and crispy pizza crust—simple perfection.
Then, the desert! The Chai choco taco sundae. First, it was the chili chocolate flavor on top. Wow! While being so unique and, at the same time, perfectly recognizable with fantastic flavor. Then, it took me a minute to place the uncommon but incredible taste in the vanilla-flavored gelato-- even though it was in the name I had already read! Chai vanilla gelato. Yum! So good!
Each course could stand up independently, but combined makes for a truly memorable experience.
As we savored the satisfaction of an extraordinary meal, my mom told me of a time in 1969 when she was rear-ended with my two-year-old self in the car, directly in front of the then Rincon Market, to call my dad. That was the last time she was here.
Rincon Market opened in 1926 in the Sam Hughes neighborhood. Due to the pandemic, it was sold to the new owner and became Flora’s in 2021.
I was so disappointed when our server, Evelyn, told us that these dishes were a special presentation for Sonoran Restaurant Week and not a regular menu offering. I so wish they were because I would be back—regularly!
So don't miss your chance to get these items now. You have until tomorrow to get out before the Senpran Restaurant Week ends.
I guarantee my mom won't wait another 53 years to get back!