Janos Wilder
Janos Wilder owns and presides over Janos (150 N. Main Ave.), one of Tucson's premier innovative restaurants. He recently opened Wild Johnny's Wagon, between the restaurant and the Tucson Museum of Art.
BEST CULINARY INSPIRATION
For me, it's the regional food--the chiles, fresh cilantro, cabrilla, the organic produce, the prickly pears. It nurtures me and is an inspiration for what I do. It's everyday. My food is really specific to where we are. If we were in the Northwest, it would be completely different. We create it from where we are, and our food is very much a part of Tucson. I love to work with the cultural idioms, the culinary icons, like the relleno or the tamale. They're ubiquitous in Sonoran cooking, but you explode the idea and they become full of possibilities.
BEST DESERT OASIS
Tucson to me is being out in the desert, out hiking. When we hike we seek water, like Sycamore Canyon, Catalina State Park, Sabino Canyon. The water there is the relief of the desert. We have our favorite spots, like in Sabino Canyon. You can be two minutes off the main road and be essentially isolated. Nature is so accessible here.
BEST FAMILY ENTERTAINMENT
Everything we do is family oriented. Like going to see Wildcat basketball games--what a terrific thing to do. Hiking is the same way. With my hours, we don't go out much at night. My free time is very much related to family time. That's what there's so much of here, family things.
BEST RECEPTIVE FEATURES
Tucson is not a showy town, it's more down to earth, more honest. It's a young town, a growing town, full of possibility. As a businessman, being in that environment is exciting. When we came here in 1982, back from France, we'd left our things in storage here because my wife's parents are here. We decided it was the perfect place to start a restaurant. We were able to come here, open a restaurant and make a mark. It's very hard to do that in most places. Tucson was very receptive to us.
BEST TRANSPORTATION HUB
I love the Tucson International Airport. It's so small you can get in and out so fast. It's also a really friendly and user-friendly airport--we always bump into people there.
BEST PLACES FOR A FOOD GURU TO DINE OUT
We usually eat out in South Tucson or the big Café Poca Cosa (88 E. Broadway). I love what chef Suzana Dávila does with chiles there. We tend to frequent smaller ethnic places, or sushi, or more casual and informal family restaurants. I don't like to see so many chains or fast-food places, which probably isn't different than anywhere else. You can drive 10 miles and see them all repeat themselves three or four times.
