Imagine the scene on a Saturday morning in my house during college bowl season...

Husband pulls out jalapeno flavored Cheez Its (which is a totally different story in and of itself), to which I say "oh, if you're hungry let's go grab something and then exchange Christmas gifts at the mall." Husband looks at me like I have just committed a murder. I convince him that it's not really THAT far away from North Scottsdale and that it could be fun.

An hour later (with no traffic might I add), we arrive. I have to say that we both looked at each other with that "this is it?!?!" face, as I think we both envisioned something more like The Farm at South Mountain. Although the atmosphere isn't quite as quaint, QCOM is still pretty darn cool. We each ordered a soup (cream of tomato and cream of mushroom), which were pretty good. My husband had an Italian sandwich (the "kalamata," I think), and I had a grilled vegetable panini. The food was filling and tasty, and it was really fun to eat outside and enjoy the crisp "winter" weather (if you can consider 50 degrees winter). 

We didn't take the tour since it seemed sort of silly (it just consisted of a short lecture outside and then a quick tour inside), but we did enjoy the samples set about the store....flavored pistachios, olives and tapenades. Overall, it was a very pleasant place to lunch, although it took us twice as long to drive there and back as we actually spent on the premises.

I guess we were supporting the local economy by visiting a local farm, etc....but the irony is that we wasted a whole lot of gas in our SUV in the process. Oh well. It was a nice Saturday in any event, and I'd return.