Sonoita Welcomes Route 82 Market
The Fuel Stop Grill and Gas Station, once a famous landmark in Sonoita, has been vacant and forgotten for almost two years. Recently, Patagonia resident Lora Bryant reopened the doors, calling her new establishment “Route 82 Market.”
Bryant graduated from Patagonia Union High School and traces her local roots back to the 1880’s, when her grandmother and grandfather arrived in the area and established the 800-acre Fortune Ranch.
The grill is open from 6 a.m. to 8 p.m., serving meals with a Mexican accent. The breakfast menu includes four choices of burritos, biscuits & gravy, huevos rancheros or steak and eggs. The lunch and dinner menu feature chimichangas, tacos, tostadas, quesadillas, and six choices of burritos. Bryant is proud of her home-made dressings and salsas and boasts that everything is made from scratch and not from frozen ingredients.
The new owner plans to add a full grocery store in addition to the grill, where she will feature fresh organic heirloom vegetables grown in the 3,000 sq. ft. greenhouse in her back yard. She’s also invited local growers to provide their produce for the market.
Route 82 Market, located at 3270 Highway 82 in Sonoita, is a welcome addition to local business.
News From the Sonoita Fairgrounds
The first equestrian event of the year in celebration of the Fairgrounds Centennial Celebration is the Kentucky Derby horse races on May 2-3.
Committee Chairman Deborah Fellows promises a new and better race weekend to enhance the big year-long party. The fairgrounds has been painted and repaired and upgraded to make the event the best ever.
There will be a bigger Turf Club, a new beer garden, and four locations for race betting, including a new facility under the grandstands. Also new this year, the event will offer live instruction on betting for beginners starting at 11a.m. each morning.
There will be eight races run each day and special commemorative blankets and buckles will be awarded to winners and jockeys. Offsite betting for other races will be available this year and a simulcast of the Kentucky Derby will be televised Saturday at 3:30 p.m. Favorite Derby drinks will be available, including Mint Juleps on Saturday and Margaritas on Sunday.
Over 5000 race enthusiasts attended last year and more are expected this year. New activities and the opening of more buildings are anticipated to make this celebration the best ever. Deborah Fellows says “how much more fun can you have than at Race Day at the Sonoita Fairgrounds–where you get parking, programs and entrance fees all for $10.00?”
Come Getcha Some Barbecue
BBQ pit-master Russell Compton serves up barbeque meals in downtown Sonoita every weekend. Russell owns the familiar converted recreational vehicle often seen parked at the intersection of Highway 82 and 83. He calls his food truck “R.B.Cue” (his initials are RBC) because he says, “It’s my product. It’s my name.”
Twelve years ago Russell left his life on a ranch in the oil fields of West Texas and came to Arizona with a smile, a cowboy hat and a love for cooking. Living on a ranch, he says, taught him how to cook beef. His unique recipe for BBQ sauces became well known, and one day a friend of his said, “This is good. Why not try to sell it?” Good idea.
Russell has worked as a race horse trainer and construction framer, but now at age 59, he’s preparing sandwiches and combination meals with beef brisket, pulled pork, or sausage. His combo meals offer sides of Texas beans, potato salad or cole slaw.
His specialty is made with USDA beef brisket cooked over mesquite wood “slow and low,” and coated with his secret dry rub. The BBQ sauce which is poured on top is also a secret recipe which he says he “will never reveal.”
Russell parks his remodeled RV at the Sonoita crossroads every weekend, Friday through Monday. The rest of the week is spent preparing food. He also does catering at the Fairgrounds and for local organizations. On Saturday nights Russell provides the popular Rikki Tikki Karaoke at the Wagon Wheel in Patagonia with his wife Kelly, a former jockey, who works at the Circle Z ranch.
Stop by and see Russell at the four corners and take home a plate of his beef BBQ dinner. For catering call him at 520-289-6251