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Arizona Restaurant Week 2010

In Etc., Media, Personal Ramblings, Restaurant News and Gossip on September 20, 2010 at 1:43 AM

Excited? Expected?

Foodly politics aside, events like the already in-progress Arizona Restaurant Week (Sept. 18th-26th) not only benefit local restaurants directly, injecting often sorely needed adrenaline into otherwise deserved-but-stagnate establishments, it also helps sell to a wider society our inherent dining offerings as a whole.

In a perpetually insecure state like Arizona, often plagued with the complacency of mediocrity⎯in seemingly everything⎯the truth is, Phoenix (and Arizona) truly does pull some credible tonnage in its dining arsenal that could spar with some of the best in the nation. We may not always hold the largest in sheer numbers, the breadth of diversity, and, we may not always rank highest in the hallways of Condé Nast, but sometimes we frankly deserve a little more respect.

This week is another opportunity to help connect the dots. Widely participated events like AZRW (and others) assist in encouraging everyday diners to break from their often staid, routine trade routes, allowing them to discover local eating in an updated light.

AZRW 2010

I’m happily participating in AZRW as much as I can. Everyone should sincerely do the same, particularly in regard to the independent, one-of-a-kind establishments we need thriving so achingly⎯not the sleazy, overtly corporate spots that weaseled their way onto the list of otherwise standout participants.

For the local food-obsessed community in particular, we should never be satisfied with marginal rankings or ignorant perceptions. If you love Phoenix, if you love Tucson, if you love Arizona, we need to do a better job at selling what we already have to be proud of. What am I most excited about, every year? Observing freshman diners trying new restaurants, eating new foods, all the while discovering there’s more to their respective communities and neighborhoods than initially assumed.

Dependent on the restaurant level, special AZRW, three-course prix fixe menus are set at either $29 or $39 price points⎯some of which even work a glass of wine into the price. A very reasonable negotiation if you ask me.

What restaurants look interesting to you? Make your reservations, now.

AZRW attack plans? Pundits I respect–
+ Chef, author, critic Gwen Walter’s organizing: HERE
+ PR wizard, “food nerd” Ty Largo’s pointers: HERE

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Wrap-Up: Dole California Cook-Off 2010

In California: Los Angeles, Cooking, Dole California Cook-Off, Etc., Media, Personal Ramblings on July 7, 2010 at 7:57 AM

And the winner is? Though close, not us.

Not knowing what to expect of Dole Foods’ inaugural California Cook-Off event, I tried to prep myself mentally for anything slung my direction. What blindsided me? How much fun I had.

When I first opened the e-mail last April (first announced HERE), the one including an invite to be a participating food blogger at the freshman cooking event, I will be the first to admit I considered it spam. (I get a lot of PR spam.) It took a subsequent week of dedicated back-and-forth correspondence before finally accepting that not only the invite was legit, but, that the invite was for me. Four days, three nights in Los Angeles, paid-for? Transportation arrangements and discretionary income supplemented? Wow⎯why not.

The competition presented six recipe finalists (of 4,000 such submissions nationwide) who traveled to Los Angeles, CA, and prepared their respective recipes (utilizing at least one Dole Foods’ product) in a live cook-off that was judged by lovable, well-known chef Ben Ford. Each recipe contestant was also paired with a “sous chef,” in food blogger form⎯someone who not only assisted them in the actual cooking of their dishes, but also someone who helped cover the experience via our own blogs and social networks.

Chef Ben Ford and Kathy Patalsky.

Leading up to the event, all recipe finalists and bloggers were kept in the dark about possible pairing designations. Knowing only a list of names and some basic information, we were each left to ponder curiously about who might be our team member. There was a finalist with a chicken burger recipe; one with a recipe that included stuffed bell peppers; one with a quinoa and bacon-wrapped scallops recipe; another finalist with a tofu-anchored recipe, with candied cashews over a mandarin-ginger rice; and, a finalist with a Thai-inspired chicken recipe with a fruit and avocado salsa. Of all the selected recipes, I must be frank: I feared the dish utilizing tofu most. Having countless friends who adhere to vegetarian or vegan eating habits, I knew well that unless deftly prepared, tofu can swing abruptly from delicious to, well, something completely opposite. I didn’t want to screw anything up…

(click “Read More” below to continue…) Read the rest of this entry »

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Coming Up: Dole California Cook-Off

In California: Los Angeles, Cooking, Dole California Cook-Off, Etc., Media, Personal Ramblings on June 3, 2010 at 4:52 AM

Recently, yours truly was selected to be one of several guest bloggers invited to help cover the Dole California Cook-Off later this month in Los Angeles.

As a food blogger, requests for product reviews, kind offers of free meals and event invites of varying quality inevitably spill my direction. Most of the time however, I decline. Being that this silly website of mine is more ‘labor of love’ at this point, accepting such sponsored solicitations has never been my prerogative.

Despite Dole Foods not exactly being a mom-and-pop outfit (I lean less corporate, it’s true), I accepted this particular invitation because of its generous scope. Plainly, it promises to be a fun, diverting experience. Besides being graciously accommodated by Dole Foods, I will also have an opportunity to meet scores of talented, interesting and like-minded people along the way–fellow bloggers, chefs, home cooks, you name it.

The premise of Dole’s California Cook-Off is simple. Everyday home cooks submitted their tried-and-true recipes utilizing particular Dole products, and the chosen finalists will then be shuttled to Los Angeles for a competitive, live cook-off event at the Epicurean School of Culinary Arts. The ultimate winners will be ranked by a panel of local food industry notables, including chef Ben Ford (as in actor Harrison Ford’s offspring) of Ford’s Filing Station. The ultimate winner takes home, among other things, a $1,000 cash prize, and the printing of their recipe on selected Dole canned food labels.

Myself and the other selected bloggers come into play in the form of kitchen assistance. Each of us are being coupled with a recipe finalist, acting as de facto sous-chef, helping to prepare their submitted dishes for said judging. We will also be reporting about the event via our respective blogs.

Ironically, among the diverse list of guest bloggers chosen nationwide, I was pleasantly surprised to discover Erin Forney, the personality behind Food Tramp Diaries, will joining me as well. Always nice to share such an experience with a familiar face.

Stay tuned.

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Justin’s Roundup: September 2009

In Justin's Roundup, Media, Personal Ramblings, Restaurant News and Gossip on September 13, 2009 at 3:49 AM

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For lack of a more clever moniker, I’m branding recently accumulated bullet-points under “Justin’s Roundup.” This will be the first such post of many like it to come, as an efficient way to relay pressing tidbits constantly amassing with more brevity. Think of it as a routine newsletter. Sort of. Here goes:

• Details are flowing in about Hillside Spot, the new gourmet specialty market and casual eatery in Ahwatukee (NWC 48th St. and Warner) helmed by the ever-controlled Gallo Blanco chef Doug Robson and former Olive & Ivy alumn Patrick Fegan. Located in the space vacated by the Coffee Plantation a couple of years ago, Hillside Spot currently serves breakfast and lunch, with a dinner menu being added in 2010.

• Five Guys’ first of two introductory Arizona locations is currently under construction on Mill Avenue in Tempe, inside a renovated space vacated by former java institution the Coffee Plantation. Expect the subsequent second location also in development to debut in Mesa, at Dana Park. After that, an eventual 40-50 locations are planned statewide. Gulp. My original story, go HERE.

• Smashburger’s first Arizona location is also currently under construction in Tempe, near University Drive and College Avenue. Opening date has been confirmed: Friday, October 2nd. Original story, go HERE.

• Downtown’s Public Market is close to unveiling its latest growth spurt next month with the Urban Grocery and Wine Bar. Opening tentatively set for the second or third week in October. For more in-depth info and pics by yours truly in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE.

• Royal at the Market, a stylish, pocket-sized coffee shop brought to us by some of the same principals behind the noble (and slightly larger) Royal Coffee Bar on Jackson St., just south of Downtown. Owners are hoping for a quiet, individual opening sometime in the next two weeks. For more in-depth info and pics by yours truly in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE. Update 10/05/2009: Royal at the Market is now open!

• As previously mentioned, Hula’s Modern Tiki in Midtown is now open. For more in-depth info and pics by yours truly in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE.

• St. Francis quietly opened its doors to the public last week, and I was there opening night. For more in-depth info and pics by yours truly in the Downtown Phoenix Journal, go HERE.

• The annual Arizona Restaurant Week begins this Saturday, Sept. 19th. With even more worthy eateries throughout Phoenix (and Tucson) added to the list this year, make reservations now. Every participating restaurant offers a unique three-course tasting menu, priced $29 per person, or $58 per couple. Folks, that’s a deal.

• Nobuo Fukuda continues his confidential sorting of Midtown real estate for his much anticipated, still as-yet-untitled new Japanese eatery. As many already know, his previous restaurant, Scottsdale’s nationally acclaimed Sea Saw, shuttered this past June. Since that unfortunate hemorrhage fans in the interim are being blessed with the chef’s freelance work. Notably, the recent dining event he hosted at Downtown’s Welcome Diner, and an upcoming gig at NOCA later this month. Expect the location of his new Midtown eatery to be publicly announced soon.

• Need new reasons to support local, independent restaurants? Check out the latest statewide campaign Dine 4 AZ.

• Adventurous local chef Matt Carter (Zinc Bistro, The Misson) humbly opened his new Downtown venture last month, the upscale Asian restaurant Nine|05, in a completely re-imagined indoor-outdoor space. Let the misinformation and remaining confusion end now—this restaurant’s concept, menu, décor and atmosphere are all new, unique, and completely unrelated to the location’s previous occupant: Fate, chef Johnny Chu‘s once-loved Asian bistro which shuttered a month prior (those “fatefully” sentimental can find the venerable Chu down the street at his subsequent concept Sens).

• Remaining open during construction, Sanctuary Resort’s trophy restaurant Elements (Executive Chef Beau MacMillan) finally began its planned renovation and expansion last month. To be completed by this winter, highlights include: new kitchen almost entirely exposed to the main dining room, a new bar area for solo diners (and parties wanting front-row seating to the kitchen’s action), and, thanks to the added feature of new floor-to-ceiling, folding glass windows surrounding the main dining space, a reconfigured indoor-outdoor experience will exist for patrons during Phoenix’s more pleasurably-weathered months.

• Precious, quirky independent candy shop Smeeks finally opened in late July on Midtown’s northern fringe. Brought to us by the same owners of neighboring Frances clothing boutique, Smeeks is located along the same commerical strip facing Camelback Rd., barely west of Central Ave.

• Do you remember Justin’s Grub of the Week? Yeah, me either. My weekly designation of foods loved and adored will be revisited in brief time. Does somebody smell burnt popcorn?

• New reviews, previews and impressions coming soon of 25 Degrees, Metro Brasserie, St. Francis (more in-depth coverage) and Postino Central.

(Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more.)

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Summertime Hiatus 2009: Complete

In Etc., Massachusetts: Cape Cod/Islands, Personal Ramblings on August 7, 2009 at 5:37 AM
Highland Light, Truro, MA.

Highland Light, Truro, MA.

As all good things demand completion, my annual summertime holiday to the New England seaside nirvana that is Cape Cod has concluded. Though it’s always sad to leave, I thankfully return bearing replenished spirit, motivation, and more than anything, a satisfied belly full of sea-sourced eats. Oceanic goodness of course, that I will highlight in subsequent entries.

In regard to this absence, as each new Phoenix summer presents itself, with its uniquely blistering, oppressive brand of heat, life in this city becomes increasingly harder to withstand.

As a young child, remedies for the searing summertime onslaught often seemed so elemental. Entire afternoons were spent floating in the backyard pool, bumping around on the Slip ‘n Slide with varied neighborhood chums, or chain-sucking my way through family-sized boxes of Otter Pops, the cranked kiln that is Phoenix’s summer sky seemed never to phase.

Unfortunately, tricks like these have become far less effective with age. Sometimes getting away is the only answer. Much like snowbirds who make annual winter pilgrimages to destinations south and west, here in Phoenix I yearn for such respite on the opposite end of the calendar. Notably, May through September.

Though I don’t currently enjoy the flexibility in life to accommodate such long annual excursions (someday), my wayfaring ritual to New England every month of July definitely helps to mitigate some of my summertime dread and angst.

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New England-style clam chowder. Captain Parker's, Yarmouth, MA.

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Lobster roll heaven. Sesuit Harbor Cafe, Dennis, MA.

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Incredible cream. Falmouth, MA.

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Decent wine tasting. Truro, MA.

Though I would readily wither away the remainder of my life along those breezy, grassy beaches and charming seaside villages of Cape Cod – stuffing my face with hearty chowders, fresh-peaked shellfish, regal homemade ice creams, and one-to-many “world famous” lobster rolls – I earnestly admit I had a jonesing to return home.

(Weather never taken into account, of course.)

If for nothing else, this blog. Lately in Phoenix, if beloved restaurants aren’t suddenly throwing in the towel (Sea Saw, Tapino’s, Fine’s Cellars, to name just a sample), exciting new spots are incessantly buzzed about, with a particular niagara of eateries beginning to debut over the next few months alone. In less words, I cannot wait.

In finality, during this particular breather, big thanks are deserved for all of the positive feedback and e-mail I’ve received due to my absence. If anything, motivations for this website have definitely been fortified.

* Now accepting donations, via PayPal. Working freelance has many perks, but dry spells definitely exist:

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Grub Love: Hot Dogs

In Cooking, Food: Hot Dogs, Grub Love, Personal Ramblings on May 22, 2009 at 12:17 PM
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A recent roadside pit-stop in Hannagan Meadow, AZ.

Don’t call it a comeback.

Suffice to say, it’s due time these tasty little sausages received some extra love and attention. Our burger-dominated world has all but suffocated the hot dog.

Now relegated to the back corners of questionable delicatessens, urban food carts, stadium takeaway, and being the go-to quick fix for soccer moms galore, hot dogs have taken a virtual back seat in our ever-evolving culinary consciousness.

Don’t feed me bullshit about how you don’t eat hot dogs because they might contain varied, surly pig parts, or how you “don’t eat pork,” when you honestly have no religious convictions against it.

Food shouldn’t be scary. So, get over it.

I personally prefer myself a pork filled casing, and there should be no excuses to the contrary. Without being laboriously professorial, pork hot dogs are okay to eat, and in fact, are often substantially more flavorful than other meat varieties.

Trust me, try one.

Pork aside however, from franks all-beef, to those kosher, turkey and veggie, there is still no reason the downtrodden hot dog shouldn’t (or couldn’t) be as popular or “trendy” as their fellow ground and bunned rivals.

In an era where gourmet burger bars are the ultimate in trend-dom, it’s sad to see hot dogs continually placed on the proverbial back shelf of Americana. Hot dogs can be just as white collar.

As a little Justin who ate, I grew up on the real deal. Though in the beginning I admit that I liked my links “plain, with ketchup only please,” I have since evolved into a full-blown wiener disciple.

Hot dog talk, don’t get excited.

Sonoran Hot Dog (El Guero Canelo, Tucson, AZ)

The perfect frankfurter should have a firm casing that gives a light snap when you bite into it, and a rush of smoky, sweet and salty as you ingest it.

Personally, I love everything on my dog. Mayo, mustard, ketchup, chunky dills, onions, sauerkraut, hot sauce, you name it – I’ll top it, eat it and love it.

Politically, I also equally support our country’s most prominent regionals. It can be a Chicagoan, a thickly frank covered in a variety of chunky, hearty accoutrements, the more sparely topped, thin and extra-long New York version, or the ever-growing Arizona contribution to the national hot dog scene: the Sonoran Dog. Always wrapped in bacon, held in soft bread and smothered to your heart’s delight with, among many possible variables, spicy, roasted peppers, chopped onion, pinto beans and drizzles of glossy mayo. Seriously heaven-sent.

I also love a good chili dog – extra spicy, with a heaping blend of ground meat, onions and kidney beans, touch of mustard underneath, and smothered with cheddar on top.

I’ve expanded my borders across the Pacific, going slightly Asian, with a touch of good Chinese mustard, scallions and a lengthy drizzle of Sriracha.

Like I’ve always contested, gluttony as a cardinal sin needs revisiting.

Without further hesitation, for sheer versatility alone, I hearby bestow the homely hot dog as ultimate GL.

May it hold its head high, rising from its lowly social castings, and re-take its rightful place in our culinary heritage.

Hot Dog on FoodistaHot Dog

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Grub Love: “Sapporo Ichiban Chow Mein”

In Cooking, Food: Japanese/Sushi, Grub Love, Personal Ramblings on May 6, 2009 at 1:39 PM

This week’s honor starts with a discovery I made very young.

My grandmother Lena (mother’s side) grew up on a small Kansas dairy farm during the Great Depression. A timely (or untimely?) result of this childhood, her penny-pinching scruples were notorious. Unless a particular occasion was deemed special, she was militant about keeping food costs to the minimum.

Unfortunately, this was an admirable financial trait never adopted by her grandson.

When my grandparents eventually moved to Arizona several decades ago, being exposed to the vast and diverse offerings of our much-larger supermarkets (in comparison to rural Kansas at the time), Lena fell in love with one exotic item in particular⎯cheap, instant ramen noodles.

Lena had a stubborn, “Midwestern palate,” but quickly became a fan of the pre-cooked Japanese noodles. In fact, she would purchase them by the basket full.

This was not only my own first exposure to ramen, but also to the suburban world’s cult reaction to the budget-friendly eats (read: buying oversized quantities and hording).

Every Tuesday after school was ‘visit grandparents day’. My mother would leave work early and drag me to my grandparents house for an afternoon of naggy chit-chat, Wheel of Fortune and, of course, an early evening “snack” of instant ramen.

Needless to say, ramen noodles were definitely the afternoon’s highlight. Most kids received candy or baked goods when they visited grandma’s house⎯I got a bowl of ramen.

In fact, some of my very first memories of cooking at all were on those said Tuesdays, sitting atop my grandmother’s favorite green-padded kitchen stool, watching and helping her prepare my ramen noodle soup. Which, at the time, I considered a very complex preparation.

Fast forward a decade or two, my love of instant ramen noodles was starting to wane a bit. I became bored with them. Not because they weren’t fundamentally good, but my palate had since matured⎯I craved more bang for my cooking efforts.

One lazy day, browsing the grocery store several years ago, I stumbled upon my current instant-noodle love: Sapporo Ichiban’s Japanese Style Noodles Chow Mein (there has to be a more efficient name).

Though these are not ramen noodles (think yakisoba), they tend to fall into the same breed of foods. Packaged identically, they are both dried, instant, pre-cooked Japanese-style noodles.

Unlike traditional instant ramen, which is intended to be a soup, these yakisoba-style noodles require little cooking water. The individual packages also include additional, more complex flavoring components, as opposed to what is essentially just packets of dried stock with the ramen variety. Overall, the finished product is more pan-fried side dish, than ramen’s more brothy, soupy example.

In my own pantry, this item has become a considerable player in my often hectic cooking rotations. Though my grandmother Lena ultimately never instilled her budget-friendly food tenets in me, her large stockpiling and frequent usage of these instant noodles have been adopted wholeheartedly.

For cooking, mix in left-over proteins, varieties of seafood, or go strictly vegetarian. These noodles can provide an empty canvass for creating a very satisfying dish, particularly when time constraints don’t always allow for more creativity.

During moments of post-work inertia, a generic, consistent and comforting favorite of mine is stir-frying pre-prepared noodles with drips of sesame oil, soy sauce and Sriracha, folding in handfuls of crushed peanuts, raw bean sprouts, sliced scallions and rips of pineapple. Feeling golden, I will have prepared a lazy, well-rounded dish that feeds the stomach gracefully.

Thanks grandma.

My next GL award goes to these instant noodles of a very long, unnecessary name. Again, just think instant yakisoba and you’ll be just fine.


Moment of Geek, Thanks to Julia Child

In Cooking, Media, Personal Ramblings on May 2, 2009 at 11:41 AM

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My own associations with Julia Child are, for lack of a better word, dicey. It seems like everyone heavily interested in food or cooking has their own story that can one-up the other person’s. Well, there will be no one-upping here.

I was taken by her from as far back as I can remember. Before even reaching proper manhood, and I was already obsessed – with her cooking, her demeanor and positive vibe, and her genuine love of all things food. I spent many childhood years trying, or pretending rather, to cook like Julia. I was too young to wield a proper kitchen knife, let alone even attempt to prepare one of her recipes. I merely loved to watch her.

My unhealthy early-childhood preoccupation with Julia Child even spilled over into my social life. When other children wanted to come over to my house and watch afternoon cartoons, instead of He-Man or Thundercats, I always insisted on watching Julia Child’s cooking shows on PBS. I was a total brat, and needless to say, this self-imposed social alienation didn’t go over so well with the superhero crowds. Many potential childhood friends were lost over the years, I’m sure.

As I grew older however, my once pronounced compulsion to be like Julia Child unfortunately eroded a bit. In fact, I’d say dormant until just in the past 5-10 years, when my no-boundary love for all things food re-emerged so strongly. Her affable and honest personality made her a magnet for both food snobs and philistines alike – she alienated no one. Though I am regretful that she isn’t still around to follow in real-time anymore, I know she lives on in my smelly, used collection of her famous cookbooks. And of course, thankfully PBS still plays re-runs.

Inspired by this real-life blog, Julie & Julia opens this August. I can’t wait–

Do you have a Julia story of your own? It’s not hard to one-up me.

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Grub Love: Frozen Peas

In Cooking, Grub Love, Personal Ramblings on May 1, 2009 at 1:07 PM

Frozen Sweet Peas

I know what many of you might say. Any self-respecting food nerd would gasp at the idea of using frozen vegetables.

Well, I cannot wait to disagree. I am coming out of the snob closet for my favorite frozen treat⎯peas. While I will agree that the vast glut of vegetables in our markets’ frozen food aisles are of depleted quality, frozen peas have time and time again, won over my frozen, green heart.

Betty Crocker no longer rules the dinner table, and we need not avoid these icy beads any more. Never again must we be relegated to those mealy, re-stimulated and often grossly under-seasoned versions we all grew up tormented by. I’m not your psychiatrist, but it’s okay to eat peas once frozen again.

More-so than for simply taste (because I know fresh are inherently superior), for sheer versatility alone, frozen peas are my kitchen’s number-one staple food item. If I were to write a cookbook someday (you know, over that rainbow), I would begin with one of those clichéd lists of my top five or ten recommended food items to always keep stocked in your pantry or fridge. You know, like the basics⎯quality olive oil, kosher salt, coarse pepper, blah, blah, blah, but also: packages of frozen peas.

Frozen Peas

These toothy green pearls will save for the ages, and can participate in almost any dish. They can equally help finish an otherwise boring meal, turning it into something much more gratifying.

Best of all, peas are ethnically blind. Besides being an underrated side (* don’t overcook and under-season folks) to a-many ubiquitous American meat-and-potato dinnertime constructs⎯as well as dedicated players in soups and stews⎯I constantly add them to stir-frys, pasta dishes and Mexican spreads alike. We’re talking worldly little balls.

Again, it goes without mention that fresh organic peas are always preferred. In a pinch however, I don’t often have the time (and the resulting patience) to de-pod a heap of peas every time I cook. Having a stockpile of the frozen version on hand, at all times, ensures that taste, variety and convenience cannot all be entirely, and mutually exclusive.

Without further adieu, my first GL (Grub Love) award goes to those sweet frozen peas.

Frozen Peas

Green Peas on FoodistaGreen Peas

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Entry 1

In Etc., Personal Ramblings on April 24, 2008 at 8:47 AM

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Well, here I go again. Yet another “serious” attempt at food writing in a public forum.

I’ve now had several food-related blogs over the years, however none so dedicated as I hope this one is to become. This website will be a forum entirely about food, from my vantage–restaurants (particularly in the Phoenix area, though I do travel), cooking, food features and stories, entertaining, you name it.

Anyway, I shant run on. My name is Justin, and yes, it really is great to meet you.

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