Three BitesShank Admiration
Marilyn HawkesJanuary 1, 2017
Sweet, crispy “pig wings” take flight in Valley restaurants.
RecipesRecipe Friday: Barrio Queen Tamales
Marilyn HawkesDecember 22, 2016
If you’re thinking about serving tamales at your holiday gathering, there are plenty of places around town you can rustle up a dozen or two, including Barrio Queen. But if you’d like to try making them yourself, Barrio Queen’s executive chef Julio Mata says they aren’t that hard to make. “It’s just a little time consuming,” he says.
Mata shares Barrio Queen’s recipe with a couple of suggestions: 1. Make the sauce first so you can mix it with the chicken after it’s cooked. 2. Make sure the masa is smooth, using an electric mixer or mix by hand. 3. It’s better to have a couple of people to help assemble the tamales because it goes faster. 4. You can use Crisco if you’re lard averse and will get the same results.
Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q&As with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."
Today we're chatting with:
Paul Moir
Proper Meats + Provisions
110 S. San Francisco St., Flagstaff
928-774-9001, propermeats.com
In 2014, the folks behind Brix and Criollo Latin Kitchen opened Proper Meats + Provisions, a neighborhood butcher shop and deli housed in a downtown Flagstaff historic building. The shop features all local, farm-raised meats, poultry and cured products as well as a deli menu loaded with sandwiches to swoon over, including a house-made pastrami sandwich on grilled rye bread and a fried chicken po’boy. Co-owner Paul Moir recently talked turkey with PHOENIX magazine.
Any time you stop by Chompie’s, you’ll find the bakery case loaded with freshly made cookies, cakes, breads and other jaw dropping pastries. But in December, the local deli chain offers up festive baked goods, including gingerbread and Hanukkah houses and a variety of holiday cookies. You can also special order chocolate peppermint rugelach (a traditional Jewish pastry), made with cream cheese dough scented with peppermint extract and topped with crushed candy canes, according to Chompie’s co-owner Neal Borenstein.
He stocks a variety of rugelach year round, including the popular chocolate and cinnamon walnut varieties. “We make some of the best rugelach in the country,” he says. But if you're itching to try your hand at making some at home, Borenstein has shared Chompie’s recipe below.*
Cupcake lovers have reason to rejoice: National Cupcake Day is coming up on December 15. If you’re a fan of Sprinkles (and really, who isn’t?), you have even more cause for celebration since the inventors of the cupcake ATM release special festive flavors over the holidays. Think: gingerbread, drinking chocolate and brown sugar praline.
Sprinkles founder Candace Nelson was in Scottsdale recently to promote her new cookbook, “The Sprinkles Baking Book,” and shared the brown sugar praline recipe with PHOENIX Magazine.
Nelson is a fan of this particular cupcake because it has warm notes of brown sugar and molasses and “a wonderful textural element of the crunchy pecans on top.” To achieve a soft cupcake, Nelson offers this tip: Make sure the milk, eggs and butter are at room temperature to ensure even blending. “You don’t want to over mix it because that will make a tough cupcake,” she says.
If you’re looking for a booze-infused pumpkin spice latte to spice up your holiday season, pick up some Arizona Distilling Co. Copper City Bourbon and Teaspressa tea to make the recipe below. Teaspressa founder Allison Devane answers a couple of questions about the benefits of tea and guides us through the tea making process.*
Veg OutVeggie Hot Dogs
Marilyn HawkesDecember 1, 2016
No animals were harmed in the making of the veggie dogs at Scottsdale’s Simon’s Hot Dogs.
Three BitesExquisite Pain
Marilyn HawkesDecember 1, 2016
Caramelized or covered in fruit, French toast has surpassed the pancake as the Valley’s favorite b-fast fare.
Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q&As with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."
Today we're chatting with:
Chef Derek Christensen
Tinderbox Kitchen
34 S. San Francisco St., Flagstaff
928-226-8400, tinderboxkitchen.com
When Tinderbox Kitchen opened almost eight years ago on South San Francisco Street, the surrounding businesses included a strip club, a tattoo parlor and a dance club. At the time, Flagstaff didn’t have much in the way of fine dining restaurants, according to Tinderbox’s head chef Derek Christensen. The cuisine was centered on upscale comfort food – meat loaf, macaroni and cheese and Salisbury steak – but Christensen says the focus is now on a seasonally changing menu. He also oversees the kitchens of the adjacent Annex Cocktail Lounge and Tourist Home, a breakfast and lunch restaurant that also features to-go specialty items.
My Wine Cellar in Ahwatukee has long been a popular spot for Valley wine enthusiasts. In early October, Shannon Rush, who served as the wine bar’s manager for the past three years, purchased the restaurant from owner Zoya Vora-Shah.
Rush has recently upgraded the restaurant’s interior and patio and the changes will be unveiled at the wine bar’s sixth annual wine festival on Sunday, Nov. 20, from noon-3 p.m., when guests can sample up to 20 wines from around the world for $20.
To go along with the restaurant’s new digs, Rush is expanding the menu to incorporate tapas-style shareable dishes, including the miso braised pork shoulder listed below. This dish is the creation of My Wine Cellar’s chef Tim Yulwel. “He has a lot of Korean and Japanese background in his cooking,” she says. The recipe pairs Asian flavors with tortillas for an interesting and tasty fusion.
Q&AFlagstaff Food Boom: Chef Panda Clark of SoSoBa
Marilyn HawkesNovember 16, 2016
Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q & A's with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."
Today we're chatting with:
"Panda" Clark
SoSoBa, The Non-Stop Noodle Shop
12 Historic Route 66, #104, Flagstaff
928-774-3471, nonstopnoodleshop.com
RecipesRecipe Friday: Fresko Lamb Souvlaki
Marilyn HawkesNovember 10, 2016
After opening 28 restaurants as an executive chef for Thirsty Lion and other corporations, Kody Harris decided it was time to launch her own place. She got out a map, drew a 10-mile circle around her Ahwatukee home and started looking for locations. On November 8, Harris opened Fresko, a Mediterranean restaurant with an emphasis on Greek cuisine. “My parents are Greek immigrants. A lot of these recipes come from my family.” The lamb souvlaki marinade and tzatziki recipe that follow come from Harris’s mother.
Q&AFlagstaff Food Boom: Chef Caleb Schiff of Pizzicletta
Marilyn HawkesNovember 10, 2016
Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q & A's with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."
Today we're chatting with:
Caleb Schiff
Pizzicletta
203 W. Phoenix Ave., Flagstaff
928-774-3242, pizzicletta.com
Everyone loves apple pie, right? If you’re a fan of the fabulous fall fruit, you’re in luck because during November more than a dozen Valley restaurants are featuring recipes using CaseWerks Apple Pie Liqueur to celebrate CaseWerks Pie Month. SoSoBa, The Nonstop Noodle Shop in downtown Phoenix is participating by using the beguiling liqueur in apple-glazed pork belly steamed bao buns. SoSoBa co-owner Tyler Christensen says that even though SoSoBa is primarily a noodle shop, every now and then they make bao buns – "our version of a slider.” Christensen is sharing the recipe because he says bao buns are a great holiday party food. “It’s something you can prep ahead and it’s ready to go. And you look like a rock star. It’s a cool, unique thing to serve.”
Once known for its lumberjack college kids, good skiing and decent drinkin' scene, Flagstaff is quickly making a name for itself as a foodie town (and we're not just talking about the phenomenal pizza). To explore the burgeoning culinary scene up north, we're running a series of Q & A's with the personalities behind the chef hats behind the town's restaurant renaissance we're calling the "Flag Food Boom."
Today we're chatting with:
Brian Konefal
Coppa Café
1300 S. Milton Rd., Flagstaff
928-637-6813, coppacafe.net