Tuesday, April 5, 2016
Tags: kevin fink , zona 78 , best new chef , food and wine , tucson , emmer and rye
Monday, April 4, 2016
So, nearly six months after taking over the restaurant at Mercado San Agustin, the mark of a Bostick-led kitchen became clearer in the way of a new menu. Studded with old favorites from Agustin menus past, such as the tartare and the Cioppino, adjustments were made to the new menu with a mind for keeping long-time customers engaged, while adding in the elements that both Kane and Bostick hold important.
Tags: agustin kitchen , coronet , sally kane , erika bostick , new , menu , sandwich shop , tucson , dining , restaurants
Thursday, March 31, 2016
Did we miss any?
Tags: 100 essential dishes , tucson , Slideshow
Monday, March 28, 2016
Intriguingly floral and bright, once you taste your first cholla bud, you'll be hooked. This native treat has been harvested in the area for millennia, and you can join in on the very Sonoran practice of cholla bud harvesting by learning from a master.
This year, cholla bud season came early, and ethnobotanist Martha Ames Burgess will be leading a class at the Mission Garden (929 Mission Lane) to show just how cholla buds were traditionally harvested and utilized in cuisine. Having learned from Tohono O’odham Elders, Ames Burgess is passing on what she knows, not only about carefully harvesting the thorny cactus flower bud, but also the ecology, taxonomy, nutrition, archaeology and traditional cultural ways to prepare and store them. The class will feature hands-on harvesting, as well as cooking in both traditional and modern methods.
The cholla bud harvesting workshop, which is sponsored by the nonprofit Friends of Tucson's Birthplace, takes place on Saturday, April 2, beginning at 8 a.m. Attendees are asked to wear a hat, long pants, closed toe shoes and your own filled water bottle. Tools will be supplied and those that join the class will get to take home their own modest stockpile of cholla buds. The class is $50, which includes instruction, informational guides, recipes and tools. Registration is required in advance and can be done so by calling 777-9270 or visiting the Friends of Tucson's Birthplace website.
Tags: cholla bud , harvesting , class , tucson , event , mission garden , friends of tucson birthplace , martha ames burgess
Tuesday, March 22, 2016
Eating out can get expensive really quickly, but on Saturday, March 26, you can go to a place where every dish you could possibly order is just $5. The touring Five Dollar Food Festival seeks to keep dishes cheap across the U.S., so you can afford to try as many as you possibly can. With a whopping seven stops in the metropolitan Phoenix area, the festival tour will make it’s only Tucson stop on Saturday, to offer a wide array of dishes, paired with live music, beer and more to keep you entertained throughout the event.
The festival at this time includes a diverse line-up of vendors offering everything from Japanese takoyaki (deep fried octopus dumplings) to Mexican tacos and chicken to artisan chocolates and more. Local food truck favorites such as American Flying Buffalo, Bugaloos soft serve and Don Pedro’s Peruvian Bistro are also slotted to attend the festival with craft beer and margarita options if you should get thirsty. Live music and performances will also be on display during the event.
The Five Dollar Food Festival will run from noon until 7 p.m. at the Kino Sports Complex (2500 E. Ajo Way). Tickets are available for $5 and all dishes will be $5 as well. The event itself is cash only, but you can buy your admission online in advance and find out further information on the Five Dollar Food Festival by visiting the festival's website.
Tags: five dollar , food , festival , events , cheap , tucson , food trucks , Image
Tuesday, March 15, 2016
Tucson’s very own craft whiskey distiller, Hamilton Distillers, and The Coronet’s Ericka Bostick are teaming up to serve up a special dinner that celebrates Whiskey del Bac. The event, which begins at 5 p.m. on Monday, March 21, will feature four dishes from Bostick paired with three cocktails.
Some highlights from the night’s planned menu include blue cheesecake with lemon blueberry jam, kumquat-glazed duck breast and grilled radicchio with pork cracklings. Cocktails for the event will feature Whiskey del Bac’s mesquite smoked unaged, mesquite smoked aged and unsmoked aged varieties.
Tags: coronet , tucson , erika bostick , whiskey del bac , hamilton distillers , dining , event , Image
Monday, March 14, 2016
Green beer is weird and gross, so let’s all vow this St. Patrick’s Day (Thursday, March 17) to give the stuff up and go for something more delicious and less dyed to celebrate the occasion.
Hotel Congress’ Cup Café (311 E. Congress St.), for instance, is offering three specials for the day, including house-cured corned beef and cabbage with boiled potatoes ($20) served all day starting at 11 a.m. Other offerings at the Cup are a cast iron shepherd’s pie with minced lamb and Irish cheddar cheese ($22) and an “Irish car bomb” cupcake ($4; Guinness cake, Jameson Mousse, Bailey’s frosting)—both of which will be served starting at 5 p.m.
Over at Kingfisher (2564 E. Grant Road), chef Jim Murphy will be transforming the seafood-centric spot with a taste of Dublin. Throughout the day, you can sink your teeth into a classic Reuben sandwich for lunch, while dinner will offer the traditional combo of corned beef, cabbage, new potatoes and Irish soda bread.
If you're looking for more craft beer for your St. Paddy's celebration, 1912 Brewing Co. (2045 N. Forbes Blvd. #105) is offering an employee corned beef and cabbage cook-off where the talented brewers and staff will show that their prowess for crafting flavors extends off the brewery floor and into the kitchen. The event begins at 5:30 p.m.
And, for a more upscale dining experience, chef Ryan Clark of PY Steakhouse at the Casino del Sol (5655 W. Valencia Road) will be serving up a three-course, prix fixe menu from March 17 through 19. The menu will offer Arizona prime corned beef that was brined in a special blend of pickling spices for two weeks before being paired up with potatoes and braised cabbage. A spring lamb stew and apple pie with and Irish whiskey merengue will be served as well for the meal, which is $45 plus tax and gratuity. Best of all, the steakhouse's bar has an estimated over 200 different whiskeys that you can sample while you dine, which should firmly plant you in the celebrating mood even if you decide to celebrate after St. Pat's day proper.
Tags: st. patrick's day , tucson , corned beef , hotel congress , cup cafe , kingfisher , jim murphy , 1912 brewing company , py steakhouse , casino del sol , ryan clark , whiskey , events , dining , irish
Friday, March 11, 2016
For Pi Day, the brewery will be joining forces with Pie Bird Bakery to offer up four mini pies teamed with four beers for a pie and beer flight.
The night's lineup will off the NW IPA with a blackberry orange pie, a Bavarian Hefeweizen with a strawberry rhubarb pie, the Breakfast Stout with a chocolate raspberry pie and the Lil' G IPA with a peach pie.
The event runs from 4 until 10 p.m. at the brewery location at 115 E. Broadway Blvd. It's free to attend. For more information on this and other upcoming Pueblo Vida event's, you can visit the brewery's website.
Tags: pi day , pie , tucson , beer , pueblo vida , brewery , pie bird , bakery , event , flights
Thursday, March 10, 2016
While there’s much to celebrate in the gastronomic world of Tucson lately, there’s also a lot of work to do and that doesn’t just mean giving money to your new favorite restaurant. After all, many of those pioneering autonomous organizations that helped win the city of Tucson its recent acclaim grew from a genuine need from the community and a lack of state funding or interest. One of the biggest food-related social justice issues to plague the Old Pueblo still is that of food deserts.
While it may seem like the term “food desert” is pretty much a given here in Tucson, know that it actually means “geographically isolated areas where access to healthy, affordable foods … is limited or non-existent because of the absence of full-service grocery stores within easy travel distance,” and those can exist anywhere—regardless of natural climate.
Unfortunately, according to a new study from Making Action Possible Dashboard for Southern Arizona (or MAP Dashboard for short), tens of thousands of people living in the city could be living in one of those food deserts where getting the nutritious foods that everyone needs (and enough of those foods) is nearly impossible.
The MAP Dashboard study, done in conjunction with UA’s Eller College of Management, Community Foundation of Southern Arizona and Southern Arizona Leadership Council, found that, depending on the criteria used, anywhere from 81,000 to 156,000 people in Tucson are currently living in food deserts.
Tags: food desert , tucson , map dashboard , program , food insecurity , arizona gives day , gastronomy , map dashboard , ua , making action possible
Friday, March 4, 2016
Yes, corned beef and cabbage is the most common dish served on St. Patrick's Day, but there are plenty of other delicious meals that are sure to wow your green-season party crowd. And they definitely do not include green food coloring.
1. Pan Fried Salmon with Citrus Vinaigrette (total cook time- about 45 minutes)
This healthy meal features one of the Emerald Isle's staple foods— Salmon. (It also happens to be one of my favorite foods as well.) Plus, this recipe is a perfect use for all of that citrus being forced on you by friends and family with fruit trees in their back yards.
What you'll need: asparagus, extra-virgin olive oil, fresh orange juice, fresh lemon juice, fresh lime juice, shallots, chives, Salt and freshly ground pepper, vegetable oil and, most importantly, skinless salmon fillets
Find the full recipe here.
Tags: Irish , Ireland , food , st. Patrick's day , stew , bundt cake , salmon , asparagus , yum , recipe , citrus
