New Reasons to Love Downtown Tucson - Urban Pita and New Years Eve Events

Hello, happy holidays! Hey, we've got a really cool show for you today. We're going to introduce you to a really great place in downtown Tucson that has just arrived. They've been here a few weeks, I think, but we'll find out for sure because I haven't seen it in a few weeks, right? If you haven't caught on, it's called Urban Pita. We're going to meet the owners and tell you a little bit more about that, and then we're going to show you some great stuff coming up that you're not going to want to miss out on for New Year's Eve, so you can make plans right now because you're gonna need to get your reservations in. There's a whole bunch of fun stuff going on, and I'm gonna show you a house that is coming up on the market that you want to know about, or one of your friends knows about. And let's run over right now, and we're gonna meet Jeff and Freddie, and you'll see— we'll meet Jeff first. You're gonna see Freddie hanging out, right?

Let's say hi to Tommy.

Hey, Tommy!

Dennis Jensen's in Mexico saying hi.

Okay, so Dennis Jensen's live, is watching us right now from Mexico because he's on a little vacation for Christmas. Thank you very much.

Hi, Dennis!

So this is Jeff and we have Freddie in the background.

Hey Freddie!

And these are the owners and partners of Urban Pita, right? That's right. When did you open since I made the whole thing up about 2 weeks ago?

Uh, no, it's just over a month ago.

Over a month ago they've been open. So you have a cool concept down here because you stay open late.

Yes.

Yeah, until—

Yeah, we cater till 3 AM Thursday through Saturday. Wow. And then midnight Sunday through Wednesday.

Wait, whoa. Okay, so what I'm hearing is if you're out downtown and you're hungry because maybe you've had a cocktail or something, uh, this is a great place to run over. Is there anybody else open that late?

Uh, Empire Pizza downtown. So, but there's 4 blocks away, right?

So if— and you're going to be over here because you got Wi-Fi next door and Club Congress across the street, right?

Uh, playground one block away.

Playground's a block away. So, and this— I, when I'm down here, it seems like it— if everybody comes down to this area and starts merging down here because there's a lot of fun things to do next door.

Yes, right.

So, um, if you next door, if you remember, we were on live a couple weeks ago and then we showed you this beautiful yard that they've got with the pool tables and, uh, lots of fun stuff, like a little outdoor yard patio thing going on. And, uh, you're really right next door.

Yes.

So I could— so could I run over there after drinking over there? I could just run over here and grab some food?

Absolutely.

Awesome. So you've got nice, nice seating in here. I love the layout and the design. Was that you?

We did it together. It was our concept from the ground up.

Nice. And we started on the chalk drawing, and, um, you had an artist chalk that whole board?

Yes. Uh, it's a couple of buddies of ours from Empire Empire Tattoo.

Oh, okay.

They're a fantastic artist, did a great job on that. Everything's, uh, from chalk.

So they are fantastic artists because you have to realize they went— they, they are used to small scale, right, because they're tattoo artists. And to go large scale like that with chalk is crazy. There's even depth. Like, that's beautiful.

Yeah, those guys are great. Yeah, you gotta give a big shout out to those guys.

Yeah, Empire Tattoo. Where are they located?

Um, Midtown.

Midtown, okay. And then, uh, the walls Beautiful. It's a gorgeous wood. What is that made out of?

Uh, we reclaimed a bunch of pallets, um, cut them down, stained them, whitewashed them, and then did that. That's all our design as well. Um, everything in here that's wood or metal, we designed from the ground up. It's all us.

Ah, beautiful. So tell us about, um, the menu, because obviously everybody— I— so the rave around town so far right now, the rave is something called a breakfast.

Yeah, is that right?

You have a breakfast? Uh, a breakfast?

We, we do, but it's, it's kind of an off-menu item.

We have a couple of secrets. Talking about that secret, okay, maybe that needs to come live on the menu. Yeah.

And then a couple of secrets, um, that are there. But, uh, the majority of the menu, um, we tried to keep it small.

Yeah.

And focus the menu on being fresh and high quality.

Right.

Everything we do in-house. Um, the only thing we don't make ourselves is the Euro cone because we don't have a 2-ton giant press. We can't make that, so we just don't. But we buy the best one we can get. It is halal, which is kosher. It's top quality. It's the best of the best. So that's the only thing we don't make. Everything else we do ourselves. Chicken we marinate ourselves. All the vegetables, all the sauces, everything else we make from scratch by hand. All us.

So the chicken, you were talking about the chicken that's over there. We can see on the rotisserie there's the chicken and then there's the beef lamb on the rotisserie. Over there, and that's the chicken that you marinate.

Yeah, the shawarma chicken. The shawarma is the spices that it's marinated in. And then the gyros, the lamb and beef combo. Nice.

So what's, uh, what if somebody was coming down here this weekend and they were going to be out with, and they had, they're going to buy one thing to eat, what would you tell them to start with?

To start, I would say get the combo, which is the meat plate. Yeah. So you're going to get gyro and you're going to get chicken and you're going to get a side of hummus. Oh, and this little Greek salad and some pita to scoop everything up with.

Nice.

Yes. Um, and so the, um, what was I gonna ask you? Oh, so I see the Greek god's eye. Is that what that's called? What is that called?

It's referred to as the god's eye, right?

And it's to ward off, um, we were in Greece last year for about 30 days, by the way, if you forgot. Uh, that was an awesome trip for me. Um, it's to ward off like jealous thoughts or something. I was trying to get the whole idea of that.

There's a lot of interpretations of it. Um, we basically just have it as kind of a symbol to watch over us, you know.

Love it.

It's kind of just a think happy thoughts idea is, right? You know, there are different interpretations of it. Yeah, that's what we're going with.

I love it. It's, it's a good karma thing kind of. Nice. Um, what time do you open?

All right, so we open at 11 AM, okay, Monday through Friday, okay? And then Saturday and Sunday we open at noon, okay?

And then I also noticed you got great seating inside, and then outside there's some stand-up bar seating as well. So on a beautiful day— I think it's gorgeous outside right now—

I would stand outside.

It's beautiful out there. What is it, 50 degrees? But it feels really nice because, you know, in the sun in Tucson, 50 degrees is warm. Um, and yeah, it's really nice outside. You're on a really great part of the area. So the light rail runs right by here, right? So, so if we're on the light rail and you jump and you parked at Mercado or you parked at University and you're riding the right light rail, you would pop off right over here. You could get right here really easily.

Absolutely.

Nice.

Very good. Thank you so much for letting us come in and hang out with you. We still appreciate it. And we're going to stay in here and finish our fun stuff that we want to tell them about today. Yeah, New Year's Eve party's coming up.

Big time.

Nice. What are you doing?

I'll be DJing at Hi-Fi.

Nice.

Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa. Okay, so tell us what's happening at Hi-Fi for New Year's Eve since you already know.

Uh, Hi-Fi New Year's Eve. And you're a DJ? I am a DJ. I'm DJ Dibs.

Secrets?

Oh, I didn't know you were DJ Dibs.

I am.

No!

Oh, this is all coming out right now.

I DJ for Hot 98.3. I DJ many clubs downtown. Hi-Fi, Waste to Grain, O'Malleys, um, have a good time doing it. New Year's is going to be Hi-Fi. We're doing a black and white bash, uh, second annual. We're doing it, it's gonna be ridiculous. Giveaways at the door, costuming, everything. We're going to the nines with it. It's gonna be a blast.

And so you can then— they can pop over here for food.

We're gonna be open late for pita afterwards.

Absolutely.

New Year's Eve, champagne toast, lots of fun at Hi-Fi. He's DJing. And then we can pop over here and get that combo plate, which is kind of like— my stomach's growling right now.

I'm thinking about this The late night move is the, uh, the jumbo pita. We have a regular size and we have a jumbo.

Wait, you call it the late night move?

Yeah, the late night move.

That's the move.

The move is— I gotta get the language down. Uh, I got it. It sounds like everything will be off the hook. Absolutely.

Yeah, you used to do that.

Okay, and the move is to get a jumbo pita.

Jumbo pita afterwards.

Afterwards, jumbo pita. Awesome, thank you so much.

Thank you guys.

Have a great day. So we're gonna have a bunch of other things that we want to talk about to you. Let's just keep going this way, so we'll get you over here. And then, um, there's so much stuff going on. I mean, seriously, you have to— we're gonna have to read off a list. I mean, that much stuff is happening, so bear with me, okay?

This is my job today.

Yeah, it's your job today.

Ready? Yes.

So, uh, we have comments and questions.

Oh yeah, okay. Yeah, go ahead.

Um, okay, give me a second.

Okay.

Uh, Robert Hansen said good morning from Palm Springs.

Hey, good morning!

We had a nice smiley face of Dennis Dennis is always a smiley face.

We love Dennis. I'm a little bitter and jealous because he's in Mexico on a beach somewhere.

He is.

Yeah, I should have—

and then Tom wants some more lemonade.

Tom, really?

We didn't find it last time.

Yeah, I couldn't find lemonade for him last time.

All right, so we have a really long list. Ooh, Paris! Yes, Paris. Holiday party at Rick Bronze.

I've been there. Have you been?

No, I haven't.

Okay, I've been to Paris.

Does Vegas carry Does a purse count?

No, well maybe it's a mini version.

So yeah, so they have a special holiday party with Rick and Jeffrey Osborne with sax. Nice.

Yeah. So wait, where is this now?

New Year's Eve? It's at Rick Braun's New Year's Eve Getaway.

Okay, New Year's Eve Getaway, that's on our website at seetucsonhomes.com on the things to do. So all of, by the way, so when you want more information, either give me information on the Facebook channel you're on right now, or or just go to SeachesOnHomes.com and there's a things to do button at the very top and all of these things are listed. If one of these items is not listed, tell me on Facebook and I'll get it up for you onto the Facebook thread, right?

Yes, absolutely.

Okay, so I just want to get that in there.

That's fine. And then your next one. We have the Carriage House. It says ring in the new year with a 5-course meal. Whoa. Somebody can pick it for you.

So have you been to Yana's downtown?

No, I haven't.

Note to self, Tony Ray Baker is a foodie. And, uh, Yano's Downtown, if you're gonna do the carriage house, he's gonna do pairings.

Very nice.

My favorite thing over there is they have a Cuban sunset cocktail with some calamari that's knock your socks off.

That sounds yummy. So they have live music, and the cool thing is the proceeds go to the Ronald McDonald House. Oh, that's awesome.

That is really nice.

Yes. So, oh, this looks really fun at the Five Palms Steak and Seafood. You get to dress up between 1920 and 1990. Well, now that's a long range.

I think they might have messed that up. Go ahead and go back to the site. Don't trust me on that one. I typed that out really super fast. It might be '20s attire, I think, is what they're going for. I think it was an Art Deco thing happening. Okay, I'm sorry.

Uh, see twostarhomes.com.

Yes, that's what he said.

Into a theater, a glow-in-the-dark party. I think that's pretty cool.

The Rialto. Okay, so I'm gonna try it. It's X-I-X-A, I think it's pronounced Ziza, is going to be there. Um, it sounds like a sneeze, so I didn't want to say Ziza, but there it is. I think I'm pronouncing that horribly, but, um, they're gonna be there. I don't know what the glow-in-the-dark party, but it definitely has my attention.

Glow in the dark, does that mean the lights are off and we're all glowing?

There might be some paint involved, I don't know.

Oh, okay.

Then we have the Westin La Paloma, which— this sounds cool. You have a dinner theater variety show, candlelit table served 3-course dinner, gypsy fortune teller.

I know, right? I want to do that.

Yeah. And then it has a comedy murder mystery, whodunit. I love that.

Clue.

Oh yeah, so Clue at La Paloma is going on. Yeah, wait, with gypsies? We got Clue and gypsies at La Paloma.

Gypsy's going to tell us who did it.

Who did it?

There you go.

That's cheating. That's awesome.

Plus you can dance with the DJ all night long.

That sounds so much fun. Nice. And now we're going to bring it back downtown.

Yes. So Club Congress— Congress, excuse me. Maybe I— they had— ooh, they had Elvis and Sinatra.

Nice. And they're right across the street, so you can come back over to Urban Pita for some food after Club Congress.

Nice.

Yeah, nice.

Yep, it's a Prohibition party. Old Vegas theme style with casino games and all of that. Fun. Now this one's interesting. Tucson Dragway, they have a Hangover Nationals drag racing tournament.

Oh wait, is that on the date? Okay, it is New Year's Eve. James says it's New Year's Eve. Okay, um, I would think the hangover would be New Year's Day. That's what I was thinking, but hey, okay, maybe there's— oh, maybe the idea is to stop you from getting a hangover. Oh, there you go.

There you go.

And then I don't think Uber's taking you to the Tucson Dragway. Well, they will, but, uh, Uber or taxi, right?

And now this one, H20 Disco.

So that's H2O like water, discotheque, right? H2O Water. Yeah, that's the new LGBT nightclub. They're opening in downtown, uh, New Year's Eve. And that's, uh, it was the H2O Club before. It has an Aqua Deck, which is a level, um, like level Is it water? Water everywhere. And then there's a sky deck on level 3 and it's outside and it's stunning and beautiful. Yeah, so very cool. They're opening up in downtown on New Year's Eve.

Yeah, check it out.

Best cover in Tucson.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's gonna be just fantastic. So, um, Santa.

Yeah, Santa's and Puppies at Miracle on Congress. Is this also on New Year's Eve?

That's today.

That's today.

Today you gotta come down here. So Santa's still down here working like crazy. He's at the workshop and today They're bringing puppies in from the Humane Society to help adoption. So these guys need a home and they're gonna be at Club— uh, Club— no, at Congress, uh, Miracle on Congress.

Santa is there, by the way.

Santa's already there. He's already working. And, um, don't forget there's coloring and there's a hot chocolate and peppermint and all kinds of fun in there. But the puppies, I think, arrive from noon to 4 today. So you gotta come down and see the puppies.

And they're playing Santa The White House is coming to town. That's what they were playing earlier. So it was fun.

And then we're gonna go on to this house that's coming up right near downtown Tucson. So if you want to be part of all of this and you want to live in the area, this is your chance to get in on this before it is even finished. And it's— this is a— check that out. So that's a nice drawing of the, um, front of the house.

Beautiful.

I colored in the moon— I mean the sun. I colored in the sun.

It could be a moon.

No, I have a moon. Look, we got a moon here. So there's the moon. That would be the back side of the house. Okay, I'm sorry, these are really rough drawings right now. They're at the beginning, uh, but this has— we've— the dirt is bladed and it is under construction already. We're gonna give you a floor plan. This is about 1,400+ square feet, 3-bedroom, 2-bath with a cute courtyard. That would be the little tree right there, and that's supposed to be a tree. That's a big tree. I colored that in myself. Uh, well, I didn't really color it. I used a machine, a computer. But anyways, this is, um, right near the Mercado, so about 6 blocks of walk and you could be at Mercado, downtown, light rail, all the fun stuff. And by the way, if you want to know what's coming into downtown Tucson and the Mercado, I have all the plans and all the development stuff going on. I'd love to show it to you because, yes, amazing things. There's like 6 new towers coming into downtown. There will be like 6 to 8 story towers. Isn't that crazy?

Wow, that is crazy. We're gonna have a real downtown.

We have a real downtown. There's a bowling alley coming in with neon, and there's a big furniture store, and there's new restaurants. There's a lot of new apartments coming in.

Ah, you heard about that.

Yeah, it's gonna be— oh, and there's 2 hotels now. Yeah, the new Marriott that's finishing up right now. It's supposed to finish by summer of 2017. And another Marriott is supposed to be coming in at the Ronstadt Center.

Yeah, right?

Two boutiques. So we're not going to be back again until next year, 2017, because on Saturdays are— it's Christmas, and then the next Saturday is New Year's, and I plan to be probably sleeping. I'm exhausted. So we've been working crazy. Like, you think today is like— these winter months slow down, But business has been very busy. We've worked with a lot of buyers and sellers right now, which is very fun. Keeping us out of trouble on the holidays, which I enjoy. And so we'll be back in 2017.

So make sure you come and see us.

Yeah. And so I just want to do a shout out. Please Uber or taxi or use Lyft to come down to these parties on New Year's Eve. It's worth the money. $10. It's worth the price of a cocktail or something, right? Also, we want to remind you that if you have any need for information, go to seetucsonhomes.com. The easiest way is to reach out to just talk to me. Call 520-631-8669 and I will answer the phone, and if I don't, I will call you back. Very true. Yeah, and then anything you have questions about, please reach out to us. We do know what's happening down here. We're happy to like tell you anything about downtown or real estate, houses, buying, selling.

Questions.

Yeah, we love it all. So I want to say to you, thank you.

One-stop shop.

Yeah, we are a one-stop shop.

Tucson ambassadors of real estate in downtown Maricopa. So I want to say thank you very much for following us. We started this show a few months ago. We're having a blast with it. We would appreciate any feedback you can give us, your comments. If you like the— do the like on our page. You can comment to us and talk to us. We'd love you to share this, and they get notified if they like it. Oh, and we get notified?

No, they do.

Oh, you get notified? They get notified. James is giving me help here. They get notified.

If you like the page, you'll get a notification.

Oh nice, awesome.

Alright, so, uh, I don't know if they heard me say it, and I want to repeat it.

They get notified if they like my page. Nice, got it. Is that what I want to say? Technology, right? Okay, and Facebook is so quickly ever-changing. Oh my gosh, every day there's a new button, and I love it for that. But, uh, I don't. Thank you for following us. We really like being here with you, and we love doing what we do, and you make that possible for us.

Absolutely.

And we want to wish you a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and all the other holidays, and Happy New Year. And we'll be back in 2017 and have more fun, and we'll show all the fun things coming in downtown Tucson.

Absolutely. Thank you guys.

Happy holidays.

Happy holidays. Merry Christmas.

Happy holidays, everyone.