Your 2 favorite eating spots in Tucson and Scottsdale/Phoenix
 

While chefs change based on anyone's visits the past 6-9 months what were the 2-3 best meals-not fancy ($60-$75 with tip)in Tucson and in Scottsdale and the part of Phoenix near Scottsdale vs. all the way in center city that you would go back to.
We plan to splurge and go to Arcasia (spelling-off) at the Boulder's one night. I hope it is as good as our last 2 visits 2001 and 2003.
We want places that take an honor reservations.Italian, Barbeque(real). and Chinese.Not Longhorn or similar chains.

elements at Sanctuary on Camelback has a great, Asian influenced atmosphere and food. Beautiful view of Camelback Mtn at Sunset. Ask for a booth that faces Camelback. The restaurant overlooks the serene infinity pool. At least $60-75 pp though. Not sure if you meant pp or total for 2.

I suspect elements will be above the price you have set, even at $65/pp if you have alcohol. Skip the place at Boulders this year and consider Los Sombreros or Barrio Cafe for some regional food (hell, Chinese? You can get this better elsewhere). If you insist on Italian, I'd vote for Sassi or Leccobaffi. Less expensive Italian? Franko's. BBQ places here tend to be dives, so I don't think that's what you want.

My vote goes to the Havana Cafe - great Cuban food- and reasonably priced.

I LOVE Barrio Cafe! yum! great suggestion

StanKase: We did these three restaurants last Spring. They are not expensive, but they are good and offer some variety.
Dos Los Molinos, a New Mexico (lots of chilies) style Mexican Restaurant is located in the old Tom Mix House. They don't take reservations, so the wait can be very long (two and a half hours or more, at least in peak spring period). But the patio is pretty, the Margaritas fine and the chips and guacamole excellent. Warning, the food here is very hot and they don't offer a milder version. The restaurant has a kind of "spring break" ambience, but it was good and fun.
The next night we went to Frasher's Barbecue. We had the St. Louis rub pork ribs and chicken. The house salad was excellent, the broccoli cooked to perfection and the garlick smashed potatoes fantatsic. The servings were ample, the dinning room pretty, the service friendly without being obtrusive and the owner/chef stopped by our table to see how we liked our dinner. He is a very amiable fellow and we had quite a chat since he knew a lot about San Francisco, our area.
The next night we traveled to Phoenix to find a little Mexican Restaurant we had read about, San Carlos Seafood. They do serve traditional Mexican food, but the seafood is very well prepared. As we usually do, my wife and I ordered two different entrees with the idea of splitting them. She got shrimp stuffed pablano chiles with a Veracruz sauce and I got the the garlic sauted fish fillet (this turned out to be redsnapper). The servings were huge and included rice, beans, a Mexican Salad and tortillas, flour or corn. Couple of Dos Eqquis Beers and we were in heaven. This one is out of the way, but I would recommend it.

There are many good restaurants in Tucson. I love North, Firebirds, Bluepoint, J Bar, Cafe Poca Cosa, and for inexpensive, authentic Mexican food, Mi Nidito. You can't go wrong choosing any of these places.