Unlike some of the city’s popular tourist spots, Juicy’s isn’t right on the water. Despite its more inland location, the restaurant is popular with locals and visitors alike. Bradley credits that to serving great food with a side of great customer service. “Our philosophy is that there’s never anything in our restaurant that’s just OK,” he says. “Is it fantastic? Is it really making you happy? Is it meeting your expectations?” That’s what he’s after.
Nevertheless, O’Connor later returned to the Empire State to start a cafe in Syracuse. She also was making pasta — a skill she’d learned from a friend in Tucson and honed with one of her uncles, who hails from Parma in northern Italy. On a visit back to Tucson, O’Connor rekindled her relationship with her now-husband and realized the Old Pueblo was where she was meant to be.
“In 2009, my father-in-law had started his own distributorship in the commercial fishing industry,” co-owner Mandy Heflin says. “Typically, you come to shore and someone just buys your whole boatload of fish, and then they take it to the next Point A, B or C. That year, Jim Heflin” — Mandy’s father-in-law — “decided he would start supplying some local San Diego spots, and that’s what got our minds rolling.”
“I love waffles!” gushes Amber Godina (pictured), who owns and operates the bakery from a caboose in Clarkdale. “When my brother and I were kids, it was what you ordered when you went out. It was the best treat you could get.”
The compulsion to order waffles every time Godina went to breakfast led to many disappointments. That started the self-taught baker on a crusade.
