Just to the northeast of Nogales is the town of Patagonia, on the border between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan desert biomes. It has a nice little main street with a city park that runs alongside Route 82, and several good places to eat.
The one I would draw to your attention, however, is
the Velvet Elvis at La Mision. Housed in a rebuilt saloon, the building itself is interesting.
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The interior would not be out of place in Santa Fe, either.
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But we are not here to talk architecture, but food. This place has as its main focus pizza, a food that I don't care much about one way or another. In this situation, however, the pizza is actually something I would look forward to eating. In fact, it was so good that photos of what we enjoyed are in short supply.
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The pizza crust is made onsite, and it reminded me very much of bread served in Milan. It has a rich, thoroughly toothsome taste without being doughy or too baked through. So good my daughter collected all the pizza bones and put them in her pocket for eating later on while hiking.
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The two best pizzas were the Southwest Diva and Ein Katroffel Pie, with the Southwest Diva toppings (olives, pepperocinis, etc.) setting your day alive.
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And the soups were also hearty, tasty, served with fresh salted rolls, and otherwise outstanding. We ate at a lot of different places between Patagonia and Nogales, but the Velvet Elvis would be the one I would visit again even though pizza is their speciality.
