Dining al fresco

Patio dining: The time is now

Tucson, Paris...dining al fresco is one of the joys of living here (or there). Tucson may even have the edge: most of the time there's no rude French guy blowing cigarette smoke on your fromage plate.

We're not trying to cover all of Tucson's patios here—that would keep us all here until this amazing patio weather takes a turn for the uncivilized temperatures in our future. So here are some of our favorites, old and new. We'll start our tour at the Blue Willow (above).

—Randy Harris, Metromix