Entertainment Magazine: Tucson: Aussie Cantina
Australia via Tucson by way of Ireland
with a nod to Mexico
Irish music is no longer hosted at Aussie
Cantina: New location at ROYAL SUN Lounge at the Royal Sun Best Western
Hotel at Stone and Speedway on Tuesdays from 6:30 to
9:00. No cover charge, great craft beers on tap, wonderful
food and very generous Happy Hour treats and prices. For more
information contact Terri Haag, 520-490-9786 or email: [email protected].
By Terri Haag
Many years ago I briefly visited
Australia on my way to Indonesia. One evening in Cairns I saw
birds as big as dogs roosting in the trees directly above my head.
At least I thought they were birds
until they abruptly swung under the branches by their feet, folded up
their wings and swayed gently to sleep, upside down, which was when I
realized they were huge bats. (I moved out from under them.)
I also watched immense flocks of
thousands and thousands of cockatoos all whirling off at once in a noisy
white and yellow tapestry against vivid blue skies. I did not
however get to even see, let alone eat, even one kangaroo and I’ve been
grumpy about it for years.
So when our Tucson Irish Session
music group learned that a new place called the Aussie Cantina had
opened right around the corner from our usual Irish music session haunt,
the Auld Dubliner, we were like, Yay! When I learned they served
kangaroo, I was like, “YAY!”
As the Aussie Cantina’s publicity
goes, “‘Roos are the Australian version of deer —digitally captured by
photographers, hunted by eager sportsman, and eaten at the occasional
barbeque.” And the Aussie Cantina is the only restaurant in
Tucson that serves it. In addition to kangaroo, Aussie Cantina
serves lamb chops, something called L’Amberguesa (ha ha: lamb
hamburger), traditional sausage rolls and the obligatory meat
pies. So far there’s nothing featuring Vegemite, for which I am
personally thankful.
The fun of the Aussie Cantina
starts when you walk in and realize that a.) They serve interesting
food, b.) They have a LOT of beer (24 different versions on tap) and c.)
They have a very cool wall-sized graphic of Australian people enjoying
the same things you came for, namely food and a lot of beer. The
food—I’m not kidding—is amazingly good. At our table the
only ones not caroling with delight and urging friends to, “Oh wow, taste this!”
were mumbling something like, “Gurphhel mrrrgh yum,” and shoveling it
in. (And the owners just dropped the food prices. Sweet.)
The pub, which bravely staked out
territory on Sixth Street between Fremont and Santa Rita, just east of
Park, combines a house built in 1912 with two other rooms on multiple
levels, adding lots of garage doors to open or close depending on the
weather, creating something very similar to a genuine Aussie pub.
The owners call the décor “shed chic,” a reference to sheep-shearing
sheds across Australia. For verisimilitude they salvaged an old
tin shed from Bisbee, reclaimed wood from a bait barge off the coast of
San Diego, and re-purposed pews from a church in Montana. For all
the diversity, it came together perfectly and best of all it feels…
well, friendly. “In Australia, the pub is the center of everything
in the community,” say the owners.
Of course there are the ubiquitous
big-screen TVs for game watching and a large music area with a small
stage. As acoustic musicians we weren’t keen on the TVs, but the
latter was of big interest. Bob Denton, the Tucson Irish Session’s
virtuoso banjo player and Tuesday session leader, walked in for a drink
one evening. “It was obvious that we needed to play here,” grinned
Denton. “We were already looking for a venue that was the right
size, had the right acoustics, the right atmosphere, good food, good
location, and of course, a lot of beer.”
Little did Denton know who was
granting him music space. Glenn Murphy, the owner, CEO and
official “Aussie” in Aussie Cantina, began his career as an apprentice
chef at the Hilton Hotel in Perth, West Australia, in 1975, then took a
rather wide detour from his goal of becoming a head chef to work as an
audio engineer for some of Australia’s most famous rock groups, back
when they were still playing the pub scene. Murphy worked with
INXS for awhile and then was a tour manager and audio engineer for a
band called Rusty & The Ayres Rockettes, a little-known group with a
(then) little-known guitar player named Keith Urban…
In 1998, Murphy was passing through
Tucson on his way back to Australia, when he decided to stay for a
while. He managed The Keys, and owned and managed Backstage and
The Rhino Pub, which is the current location of the Aussie Cantina. He
also met Sally and they married. Now the aptly named Murphys eat supper
in their restaurant while listening to the airs, jigs and reels of the old Old Country, played by professional and semi-professional Tucson musicians*. Not Keith Urban perhaps, but damn good.
With the Tucson Gem and Mineral Show
happening now through the middle of February, the Murphys have plans,
including discounts for dealers—especially Australians—on certain days, a
city-wide didgeridoo contest, ‘roo-tasting specials and more.
(Watch this space for details.)
So, Glenn… good on ya, Mate. Throw some more Skippy on the barby and we’ll be out for the tucker and the tunes.
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