CALF_News_June_July_2021

42 CALF News • June | July 2021 • www.calfnews.net By James and Lawren Coope Contributing Editors  CALF BEEF REVIEW Vivace Tucson, Arizona BEEF? Where’s the Really Exceptional T hrough the years, I’ve been fortunate to visit some pretty incredible places, and I’ve enjoyed some amaz- ing food along the way. Sometimes the place – a prime location with million-dollar views of the sparkling lights of the city on one side and a panoramic view of the Cata- lina Mountains on the other – along with the food, are equally memorable. Vivace is one of those places. I first visited this place 32 years ago. Full disclosure, it wasn’t even Vivace at the time. It was actually a place called Antho- ny’s. I was an 18-year-old kid looking for a nice place to take my senior high school prom date out for dinner. Anthony’s, with its amazing view and upscale/romantic reputation, was the perfect place to impress someone. I made the reservation and, while I can’t recall how I ever figured out how to pay for that meal, I do remember saving some money by asking my good friend Doron to chauffer us to dinner in his dad’s Mercedes. He was a great driver, my prom date and I enjoyed a nice meal, and I’ve always remembered the incredible views and atmosphere of this special place. Not long after that senior prom in 1989, I left Tucson to head off to college in Colorado. I’ve always loved the occa- sional return trip to Arizona for reunions and to catch up with my friends. Fast forward to 2021, we’re climbing out of this pandemic abyss, and I’m getting ready to turn 50. It had been a long winter here in Colorado, and the idea of a birthday celebration back in a sunny and warm destination like Tucson felt like the place I needed to be. I ended up renting my first VRBO house in a beauti- ful neighborhood up next to the Catalina Mountains, just a couple of miles from Vivace. It had been a while since I had to plan things in Tucson, so I looked up the trusty Yelp rankings and called a couple of old friends for restaurant recommenda- tions. Interestingly enough they all had Vivace at the top of the list! We had some good friends eventually join us in Tucson for the trip, but my wife, Lawren, and I traveled down a day early. Over the years, we have made a couple of trips to Italy, and Vivace’s Northern Italian cuisine sounded like the perfect first dinner destination on our trip. Vivace has been part of the Tucson community since 1993, and it’s a place where the locals go to celebrate. Of course, the opportunity to sit outside and enjoy that view once again was absolutely appealing! As we drove up to Vivace, I was reminded of the unique beauty of the place itself. Nestled a few hundred feet of eleva- tion above the valley floor below, the sparkling lights of the city in the distance were in full view. The warmly lit palm trees in front of the restaurant, along with the incredible bougainvil- lea plants in bloom were in stark contrast to the cold, wintry scene we left in Denver just a few hours before. We walked into