The Garland was one of the first counter-culture restaurants in Tucson. I’m not sure when they opened but I know I ate there when my daughter was a baby and she turned thirty-five in February. It was veggie oriented with big salads, crepes, baked goods and what not.
Well, in doing a little bit of “presearch” for an upcoming review I called only to find that the number was no longer in service. There was no Facebook page either, even though there was a website. The menu on the website seemed to include a whole passel of new dishes including Vietnamese food and sushi. The omelets and crepes and salads were all there but the new stuff seemed a bit odd.
So I took a drive over and discovered that The Garland is no longer. I don’t know when it closed.
Instead there is a banner that reads, “coming soon…..zemam’s, too!” While I sat there, several women came to the door and knocked. Eventually someone let them in.
When I called over to the original Zemam’s on Broadway the guy I spoke with confirmed that they will be opening a new restaurant some time near the end of July. The original Zemam’s will remain open.
The menus will be similar but the new spot on Speedway will have a menu that features food from “other countries” the man told me. He didn’t mention anything specific — only that the countries involved are the ones the owners traveled in when they were in The Peace Corps.
This article appears in Jun 20-26, 2013.
Too bad about the Garland. It was there at least as long ago as 1993, from what I remember. But it’s about time Zemam’s found a way to expand; it’s spectacular and there has scarcely been a table free in that place since it opened back in what- 1995?