Attention last minute Christmas shoppers: local gift cards are awesome. There are quite a few local businesses we think you should support this holiday season, but here's something in particular:

Fox Restaurants is offering a gift card deal for the holidays: buy $100 in gift cards and get a $20 bonus card. Redeemable at Wildflower, Blanco, North and Zinburger, the gift cards are the ideal gift for any food lover in your life. Purchase your cards online, or at any Fox Restaurant. 

But wait, there's more!

FRC is giving away a $50 gift card (redeemable at any of their restaurants) to one of our readers. Want that person to be you? Enter here and we'll give you a call on Wednesday if you win!

After gleaning hundreds of pounds of dates last fall, Iskashitaa Refugee Network put their bounty to use by teaming up with Borderlands Brewing Co. (119 E. Toole Ave.) to create a unique new brew with local dates at the forefront. On Thursday, Dec. 17 local beer lovers can get their first taste of Borderlands’ Harvest Tucson Date Dunkelweizen, which resulted from those Iskashitaa-gathered dates.

Dates, which grow on date palms, are tricky to harvest. With fruiting trees scattered around Tucson, the Medjool dates, indigenous to Iraq, often end up going uncollected. However, this year, Iskashitaa worked in conjunction with Bartlett Tree Experts to get the fruit from the trees and into Iskashitaa’s hands. After harvesting any produce, Iskashitaa redistributes a portion to refugees, while also reserving a portion to make value-added products to sell at farmers markets. In the case of these dates, Borderlands also received some to make their Dunkelweizen.

You can try out the resulting beer at Borderlands on Thursday beginning at 6 p.m. For more information on Iskashitaa and their “Harvest Tucson” campaign to raise awareness about food waste, visit the organization's website. 

After four decades in the same location serving up over 20 different varieties of bread, Small Planet Bakery is closing its doors. The historic building that houses the bakery at 411 N. Seventh Ave. is to be demolished as a part of the Aviation Extension Freeway.

While many have taken up the torch around town baking artisan bread, Small Planet’s long history in local restaurants and farmers markets left an indelible mark on the city’s food scene. The building itself, which was built in the ‘20s, will be replaced by a new Seventh Avenue bike underpass. The closure marks more than a decade of talks between Small Planet and the city about the new development plans. Longtime owner Lucy Mitchell and baker Chris French will be retiring after 40 years running the bakery.

French spoke with the Weekly about some of the building and bakery's history in a March 2015 feature. You can say farewell to this Tucson food institution on Saturday, Dec. 12 beginning at 5 p.m. at the bakery’s location. Live music from Cassette Culture, Texas Trash and the Trainwrecks and more will provide the night’s entertainment.

It's official: Tucson is indeed a world capital of gastronomy. UNESCO announced their 2015 additions to the Creative Cities Network, and after the second year applying, Tucson's application to be recognized as a gastronomic site was approved.

As hashed out in last week's Tucson Weekly cover story, Tucson's application for the honor hinged largely on the region's 4,000 years of continuous agriculture, progressive native seed line preservation programs and the huge impact food-related jobs and businesses have on the local economy. Those reasons, among many others, were enough for the global organization to add Tucson to the network.

With the 2015 additions, Tucson became the first city in the U.S. to receive the gastronomy designation—one of 18 cities recognized for gastronomy through this program in the entire world. Ensenada, Mexico, Parma, Italy, and Phuket, Thailand, among several others, were also honored with the gastronomy designation. Other U.S. cities recognized this year include Austin (Media Arts) and Detroit (Design).

For more information on just what makes Tucson a creative city of gastronomy, check out The Road to UNESCO from the Dec. 3 issue of Tucson Weekly.

It's a scenario most of us are familiar with: you're working at a restaurant or two or three, trying to make enough money to get through college or life in general, and flu season hits. One of your coworkers is out of town, the other is also sick and another just won't answer their phone. Even if they did answer, it's not like you can afford to lose out on tip money for the day. So, you go in, try your best not to cough on someone's quesadilla and hope the six or so hours of sleep you get after is enough for your body to repair itself. Not only is this a germ nightmare when food is involved, it's also unfortunately common when you work for an employer that doesn't offer paid sick leave.

Well, during today's study session for Tucson's City Council, which begins at 1 p.m., officials will be looking into a proposal to change it so all employers will be required to offer paid sick leave. According to supporting materials for the day's session, four states and 20 cities already have put measures into place to ensure earned sick and safe time is offered. 
 

"The purpose of these laws is to assist all workers in addressing their own health and safety needs and the health and safety needs of their families by requiring employers to provide a minimum amount of earned sick time, including time for the care of family members. Under Arizona Revised Statutes Section 23-364(I), the City of Tucson has authority to prescribe employee benefits related to earned sick time within the boundaries of Tucson." 

There's this unique thing that happens when you try a dish that's so well composed and executed that it instigates a weird little epiphany (comme "la petite mort," n'est-ce pas?) of what food can be. It's the kind of experience that, once you've had it, you're forever chasing the moment to come across it once again. It's like finding out you've been eating food codeine only to find out food heroin exists. Eating is never the same. 

Now, this isn't a hallmark of fine dining per se, as I've found it in pho broth and al pastor tacos, but it is a pretty good sign that wherever you've found it is the kind of place that serves food that's intentional, respectful of its ingredients and infused with passion. It's with that preface that Wilko's new menu and it's new chef (of five weeks), Jesse Curtin, come into focus.


That dish on Wilko's new menu is the cassoulet. The classic French dish has humble origins—it's basically the country's version of the casserole that was cooked slow and low while its maker worked. However, at Wilko, Curtin combines duck breast, haricots blancs (white beans), duck confit, lardon, pancetta and more to make a rich, hearty offering. The first thing you'll notice when the dish comes to the table is it's truly intoxicating aroma—herby, fatty and unctuous (trust me, no one likes that word but it applies here). Once you start to dig in, you'll uncover perfectly tender on the inside, delicately crispy on the outside duck breast atop a bed of the dish's other decadent other components. Curtin says the dish is inspired by his father, who was also a chef.

However, that isn't the only impressive showing on the menu. Tender tartare topped with shaved egg yolk (my new favorite condiment) and paired with arugula puree (my new second favorite condiment) and a kale salad with a perfectly tart lemon vinaigrette and a 64 degree poached egg are both good places to start. The salad in particular showcases the adept sense of balance and seasoning that the menu offers—suggesting that any dish, even if it is just a salad, gets equal attention.

If you're in the mood for something more Italian, the menu offers pappardelle all'arrabbiata, tagliatelle bolognese and gnocchi. As far as the gnocchi goes, you can expect expertly seared (in brown butter because of course) gnocchi atop a squash puree and beet oil with lightly cooked baby root vegetables placed artfully around the plate. It's bright, yet earthy, and insanely comforting. However, the most impressive accent to the dish comes by the way of the almond dust on the gnocchi. With pillowy gnocchi and squash puree, the dish could get a little, well, smushy, but that small touch adds an important textural layer that elevates the dish.

While this menu showcases a bit of where Curtin's cooking influences have come from in the past, referencing his work across the country from the now-defunct Charleston in New York to Oakland's Picán more recently, the new chef says he looks forward to showcasing more of the Sonoran desert's bounty on future menus. 

Of course, there were some very small tweaks that could be made to dishes, but overall Curtin's offerings are a breath of fresh air in the dining scene. For a chef who ended up in town after three tire blowouts stranded him between Oakland and Austin, it seems something is trying to keep this ambitious new chef here. So, cancel your reservations for this weekend and go to Wilko to find out what it is.

It’s that time of year where local businesses are cranking out masa and folks are stocking up on husks to start making tamales for Christmas. You likely have your own favorite recipe for tamales, which might be something classic like red chile or something you came up with like barbecue pork belly. Either way, you’re invited to showcase your tamal-making skills at Casino del Sol (5655 W. Valencia Rd.) for the 11th annual Tamal and Heritage Festival.

Members of the community are encouraged to put their tamal assembly lines to work in their home kitchens to compete, where entries will be judged in traditional red, traditional green, sweet and specialty categories. Last year, Judith De La Rosao took first place in the traditional category and Daniela Soto won for her sweet tamal. Those interested in vying for the tamal title this year can simply show up the day of the event with a dozen of their best tamales. 30 have already signed up online to participate. There is no fee to enter.

However, this event isn't just about the tamales. Roasted corn, street tacos, fry bread, cocteles de elote, Mexican-style hot chocolate and more will be available for purchase at different vendor tables, along with some tamal samples. Tamales will be for sale for through vendors by the dozen, half dozen or singles. Jewelry, bead work and art vendors will also be at the event, along with live Tejano and mariachi music and Azteca and Folklorico dancers.

You can just come to celebrate all things tamal at the casino on Saturday, Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. Entry is free and open to the public. For more information visit the casino's website.

For those thinking about bringing a couple chicks into the fold at home, you can spend the weekend learning about the best ways to build up your own coop with the Food Conspiracy Co-op’s chicken coop tour. If you're looking to get tips on the best way to bring up your brood or just interested in chatting with some fellow fowl enthusiasts, the tour is a good way to kill two birds with one stone... Wait.

Although past iterations of the event specifically highlighted household chicken keeping, this year’s event has grown to include the “farm scale” operation at ReZoNation Farms in Avra Valley—the very farm that supplies the co-op with some of the eggs that they sell. Stops for the eighth year's event also include Las Milpitas Farm at the Community Food Bank, an herbal hen mix maker called Holistic Hen and more. The co-op itself is on the tour this year, providing information on their farmer loan program, local egg samples and some helpful chicken raising ideas. The tour is self-guided.

The chicken coop tour kicks off at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Dec. 5 and runs until about 3 p.m. that day. Tickets for the tour are $5 and available now at Food Conspiracy Co-op (412 N. Fourth Ave.). Tickets, along with more information, are also available on the co-op's website. Discounts on chicks and laying pellets at three local stores are included in the ticket price.

Prepare to feel a flurry of mixed emotions, Tucson, because, while the restaurant scene is not necessarily growing or shrinking, things are changing over at the historic diner space at 902 E. Broadway Blvd. Chaffin's Diner has announced that they are selling their restaurant to the folks behind Phoenix-based Welcome Diner.

Chaffin's, which is known in town for their massive menu and gigantic portions of satisfying greasy spoon diner fare, was built in 1964 and has been run by the owners, who are also the joint's current namesake, for 15 years. However, on Tuesday, Dec. 15 at 2 p.m., Chaffin's will be closing after the "difficult decision" to sell, stating that their "employees and customers have become more like a large family." The restaurant's current owners "appreciate being able to be a part of the community for so long," according to a statement sent to Tucson Weekly.

Welcome Diner will take over after renovating the space, though future owners Sloane McFarland and Michael Babcock intend to keep the space's mid-century character largely intact. Like the pair's Phoenix restaurant, the new space will offer Southern-inspired diner fare with biscuits, fried chicken, burgers with peanut butter and bacon on top, fried green tomatoes, po'boys and more at the forefront. 

The current kitchen crew behind Phoenix's Welcome Diner, led by Babcock, first worked off of a food truck in the Valley called Old Dixie's Southern Kitchen before taking over a 1940s-era roadside Valentine Diner in the city's Garfield neighborhood. Last year, Babcock and McFarland opened their second joint restaurant venture, Welcome Chicken + Donuts, to almost universal acclaim. The concept pairs unique donut offerings like chocolate rose pistachio, chipotle limon and pear thyme with crispy double fried chicken with an assortment of Asian-inspired glazes. If that doesn't seem like it goes together, just trust me when I say it does.

Although Chaffin's will be shuttering in two weeks' time, the Welcome Diner crew were not ready to release an estimated opening date for their concept.

Working with a dual purpose to both serve Tucson's refugee population and to actively eliminate food waste, Iskashitaa Refugee Network helps connect the people with the food and fruiting trees to the people who need it. Through innovative gleaning initiatives, the organization collects thousands and thousands of pounds of produce, including citrus, carob, pomegranate, dates, olives and more, that would otherwise be left on the ground to rot.

In celebration of the community surrounding Iskashitaa, the organization will be hosting their third Refugee Thanksgiving Day event in the courtyard between Desert and Patio Courtyards Apartments (1411 and 1417 N. Alvernon Way), and Las Casitas (3835 Fairmount St.) to serve up the the multiculturalism, generosity, hospitality and gratitude that the holiday seeks to celebrate.

Serving over 150 U.N. refugees from Afghanistan, Congo, Somalia and more, the event seeks to draw attention the growing refugee crisis, which is the largest since World War II. The meal will feature a diverse array of foods prepared using those same edible plants that Iskashitaa gleans throughout the year. Prepared by both refugees and members of the community, traditional Thanksgiving dishes will be served alongside Nepalese fermented pomegranate seeds, pickled pumpkin seed paste, mole poblano, Somali sambusas, Afghan kadu (pumpkin stew), and chile verde. Vegetarian and vegan options will be available.

The event will also highlight a special campaign suggesting people “Save a Turkey, Stuff a Pumpkin” this Thanksgiving to cut down on waste. 

Iskashitaa's Refugee Thanksgiving Day event takes place on Thursday, Nov. 26 from 2  until 4 p.m. While it is largely intended for refugees and volunteers, Iskashitaa is inviting anyone interested in their mission to join in on the celebration. If you'd like to lend a hand to Iskashitaa for this or other events, call 440-0100 or e-mail [email protected].

And, remember, it's almost citrus season, which means you should start thinking about scheduling an Iskashitaa gleaning for that backyard bounty.