If you find yourself driving through the Sonoran Desert west of Tucson, Ariz., especially after a rainfall, it is advisable to pull over to the side of the road and take a deep breath.

Unlike nearby southwestern deserts, like the land-locked Mojave, the Sonoran benefits from a somewhat tropical climate influenced by the nearby Gulf of California. Parts of this desert get as much as a foot of rain per year.

Visually, it’s greener than many of its counterparts and dominated by the majestic saguaro cactus, whose verticality lends an exclamation point to the otherwise level plane of the desert floor.

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That floor is populated by a rich variety of plants and trees providing the fragrances notable to any visitor: creosote bush, velvet mesquite, desert sand verbena and a pungent, cilantro-like wild herb known as papalo.

This Sonoran feast for the senses is the inspiration for a new barbecue joint in nearby San........

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