EatFreshAZ - For Arizona Localvores!

Hidden Treasure and Locavore 6!

2009-01-21T09:47:00.003-07:00

Let's start with the easy part; Tapino's hosting "Locavore 6, Affinity" on February 2nd. Make a reservation, bring a friend or 10, and enjoy locally produced food from our Great State of Arizona! It's been fantastic every time so far, and it'll be great again.

Now, as for the other - our hidden treasure. Somehow (I forget exactly how), I came across a piece of information that rather stunned me. That information is that there is a French bistro in Goodyear, Arizona, of all places!

It's called "Bistro Bernard." And it had three strikes on me before I even investigated it. First off, it's in a city that perhaps is not noted for its international flavor. Sure, the Goodyear company is there, but the majority of people in the area are farmers and ranchers who, let's be frank, are probably about as interested in French food as they are French films. No offence at all meant to the farmers and ranchers of this state, it's just not something they're normally associated with. Second, it is in a strip mall. A French Bistro in a Strip Mall? Yikes! And third is it's about an hour drive from my home. For an hour drive, I damn well better be impressed.

Upon arriving, our party of four entered the smallish restaurant's lobby area and took note of the 50's Bistro decor with its hanging Tiffany-esque lamps and type-cast wall decorations. Honestly, I rather liked its attempts at some authenticity. But only a couple of the tables were occupied so when I finally got the attention of the single German server I was a little taken aback when he asked if I had a reservation. No crowd awaited seating, but still, yes I had one.

We were seated in a far back corner at a neatly set table with butcher paper on the tablecloth and of course flowers in the middle. Something that caught my eye and perhaps lowered my expectations was salt and pepper on the table. Most of the time when spending a good amount of money on a meal, or eating somewhere where gourmet cooking is advertised, it's assumed that the food will be properly spiced and salt and pepper are normally not on the table.

On our way in we noticed a chalkboard with a couple of specials on it. Onion soup, of course, and a halibut entree that looked pretty good. The menu was full but not expansive, covering most of the meat groups and nearly all of the basics, and our waiter - the German we discussed earlier - informed us of a few more specials not on the menu or the sign board. I was greatly relieved to hear the escargots were a special appetizer as I'd not seen them on the menu.

Sorry, a little give-away there. Our appetizers were the escargots, a tart of portobello mushroom, and a roasted vegetable soup. The escargots came in a parsley butter sauce with pine nuts and small roasted garlic cloves. The snails themselves were tender and delicate, in a manner rarely found even in good restaurants. The addition of the pine nuts and garlic was brilliant and not overpowering of the other flavors. The portobello tart was also delicate, with diced mushrooms on a very thin piece of phylo-like dough. But the standout star was the roasted vegetable soup, which was rich and thick with deep vegetable flavors. Other offerings included something called a "tomato tartare" (which, oddly enough, included roasted tomatoes - isn't tartare raw?).

Our entree choices were the halibut special, which came with asparagus and mashed red potatoes, a flatiron steak ordered medium well, served with "pommes pont neuf" (oddly enough, French fries in a log cabin stack), pork loin medallions with a potato-cake like arrangement, and roast Guinnea fowl with a mushroom sauce.

One at a time; the halibut was cooked to perfection, a small portion laid on top of the mashed potatoes. The asparagus were large and had been cut in half from top to bottom, and they were bright and crisp without being underdone. Someone who knew how to cook and cared about it had prepared this meal! Unfortunately, the mashed potatoes were just that and fell a little flat.

The flatiron steak was actually done properly. Medium-well is a temperature that can challenge a chef; you're walking the edge between tender and shoe leather. This held firmly to the former. And as for the "pommes pont neuf"? A silly name for magnificently hand-made French fried potatoes. The stacking was kind of cute, too.

The pork loin medallions were served in a mild yellow curry. To be blunt, it was an orgasm on a plate. The pork loin - typically a low-fat cut that can be hard to do well - was both tender and juicy. The curry sauce exploded with flavor and just a little heat, but still allowed the pork to exist in the dish. And the potato accompaniment was crunchy, just salty enough, and really nice.

The Guinnea fowl was perhaps the dish with the greatest depth of flavor, however. The meat was dark, flavorful and ever so slightly gamey. The mushroom sauce was rich, deep, hearty and strong. A very well executed exotic meat that wasn't just, "Hey, it's exotic meat, there ya go!" It was a whole dish, with thought given to each component.

For desert, there was a small chocolate lava cake that caused loss of consciousness, a lavendar creme-brulee that was quite adequate, a scoop of vanilla ice cream (from the Green Giant's scooper) with a peeled peach half on top, covered in heavy whipped cream and chocolate sauce (excellent combination) and a well-stocked cheese plate with dried cranberries and figs. Coffee was adequate from a gigantic French press pot but had been slightly over-ground as there was residue powder at the bottoms of all our cups.

One last comment on the dinner; the wine suggested by the waiter was a very fruity, sweet wine that was way too drinkable. It was fine with the fish and the pork, was okay with the beef, and wasn't nearly enough to stand up to the Guinnea fowl, but it was shared amongst all four of us so was otherwise a good choice.

At the end of the meal, being the "foodie" that I am and with I think one other party still in the dining room, I asked to say hello to the chef. He informed me that she would be right out. "She?" Yes, it seems that Bernard has legged it out of the restaurant for some reason and the "French" chef who prepared our magnificent meal is Scottsdale Culinary Institute graduate and Chef Bernard assistant, Chef Sonja (or Sonia, I'm not sure of the spelling). What's more, she's not French but Mexican. And she did an excellent job.

So in the near future, if you go looking for Bistro Bernard at 149th Avenue and Indian School (enter off of Wigwam), you may not find it. Instead, you'll find Bistro 66. Why the name change? Because Bernard is gone. But the food? Wow. And why Bistro 66? I dunno, ask the Chef! Chances are you'll pay more attention to the food than the name of the place.

By the way, dinner for four (three apps, four entrees, four desserts and one bottle of wine) came to about $50/person. Yes, that's expensive, but for a special night out and really great French food, it's not bad. Even in Goodyear.

Tapino Locavore 5: The Hearth

2008-12-02T12:39:00.003-07:00

Okay, first things first - what happened to Locavore 4: Cultivation? Well, it was two days again, EatFreshAZ sponsored it, and it was fantastic. And I didn't blog it, sorry, so here's a quick overview;

Excellent wines from Page Springs and Arizona Stronghold (I am always amazed at what can be done right here in our little state). Maynard James Keenan, owner of Page Springs, gave some really good information on his wines and the really funny story behind our second course wine, "Mule's Mistake." Apparantly they thought "Jackass Mistake" wouldn't go as well on the label! Basically, someone brought in some wine to blend and while they all enjoyed it, it simply wasn't turning out the way they expected. Then they discovered the wrong grape had been brought in by mistake. Ipso, "Mule's Mistake."

The food at Locavore 4 was very nicely done as well. After our "Amuse" (I honestly don't recall what it was), we had a chilled cactus gaspacho with Eurofresh cucumbers, tomatoes, and some nice crusty Queen Creek Olive bread. Then we dove into some Desert Sweet Shrimp and Kokopelli blue corn talames, with McClendon's shishito pepper and Fossil Creek goat cheese relleno. Next up was Pork Belly from The Arizona Meat Shop, glazed with prickly pear and on some of Maya's petite greens (PORK RULES!). Our last course was Visser Farms leg of lamb stuffed with Arizona dates, Tapino-grown herbs and some more veggies from Maya's Farm. Dessert was a Superstition Farms old fashioned ice cream float with home-made sassafras. Overall, a great meal - again.

So on to Locavore 5: The Hearth. Again, because of our belief in the concept, EatFreshAZ sponsored what was a single-night, sold-out event. Our hosts included not just the venerable Wendy Goldman and immutable Chef James Porter, but also the famous Chef Janos Wilder of Tucson. These two powerhouses really brought together some over the top food quality.

Add to that some more Page Springs wine - "Saigne," Arizona Stronghold wine - "Tazi" and "Nachise", the killer Pillsbury "Roan Red" (2006), and Dos Cabezas "El Norte," and we're talking a celebration truly fit to end the year.

Our "Amuse" was a local radish, served with some Superstition Farms cow's milk garlic cheese. The cheese was soft and fragrant, with quite identifiable garlic flavors.

Keeping in the vegetable vein, our "First Course" was a Singh Farms "Daybreak" salad, with heirloom tomatoes that were as rich as tomato sauce, queen creek olive slivers with enough flavor for a bottle of olives, and fresh day-picked greens (which Chef and company had picked that very day at Singh Farms, the poor guy!). On the side was a Fossil Creek goat cheese hunk that was in some crispy bread crumbs. With the fresh greens enough to bowl over my taste buds, the rest of the salad stood up and spoke to me. It did indeed make me think of daybreak! And I saved the goat cheese for last, as I'm such a big fan of Fossil Creek's product - and it was worth it! Creamy and heady, with a strong mouth finish, it was really great.

"Second Course" came out on a long, rectangular plate with two large squares of ravioli, covered in Superstition Springs butter and dotted all over with candied Green Valley pecans. Inside the raviolis was roasted acorn squash and kabosha squash (I think it's 'kabocha,' actually, which is sometimes called 'Japanese Pumpkin'). The nutiness of the butter, the creaminess of the pureed squash, and the sweetness of the candied pecans came together like a well-arranged musical piece. We weren't even to the meat yet and my mouth was singing.

"Third Course" - MEAT! Finally. And what a meat! This was deconstructed (their word) Meat Shop pork 'osso buco' unders some braised Swiss chard, served with thyme glazed petite carrots and tiny pickled green onions. The pork was smooth, with enough fat for flavor but not greasy or oily, and appeared to be in some sort of pastry shell. The bitterness of the chard held the pork flavors to a reasonable level, with the sweetness of the baby carrots doing nicely against the thyme glaze. I don't know about pickled because they were so small and still very firm, but the itty-bitty green onions were both fun to eat and absolutely bursting with onion flavor. Only the size was small!

"Fourth Course" and the beef has arrived. This time was Ash Creek Ranch beef, rubbed with piloncillo (bricks of unrefined Mexican brown can sugar), santa cruz chili, and local orange zest (and sprinkled, Janos informed us, with Mexican fossilized sea salt - weird!). Along side was a chili-like mixture of Native Seeds/SEARCH scarlet runner beans, chorizo, green chili mojo, saguaro blossom syrup (truly rare), and cholla buds. Check out the Native Seeds site on the link above for some more information on what that's doing. As for the saguaro blossom syrup, only the Native Americans are allowed to knock them off, then they boil them down in water until they get a syrup. We each only had a little bit on our plates, but apparantly it took several acres of blossoms just to get that. The beef, which was tender and sweet, was eaten with the bean, chorizo and cholla blossom mixture, and wat you ended up with in your mouth was savory, salty, spicy and sweet all at once. Go, Janos!

"Dessert." Need I go on? By this time I was stuffed, and yet ... warm Queen Creek Olive Oil and Snow Flake blue corn meal caked with Sphinx roasted dates, topped with Udder Delights vanilla ice cream and some native honey (Udder Delights being Superstition Farms). The blue corn cake tasted like regular cake, very sweet and soft, and the ice cream was thick and creamy, all tied together with native honey, it just tasted like local.

Another excellent meal, and the next one's tentatively set for February of 2009. But check with Tapino as they're doing a lot of stuff and have some really amazing things coming up next year involving local food, the local farms, and travel. Our thanks go to Tapino, Wendy, James Porter, Janos, and the whole kitchen crew as well as the wait staff for making this an event to remember and a real high point for ending the year with another fabulous local restaurant!

Thoughts for the future

2008-09-22T09:35:00.009-07:00

Our first issue is fast approaching being published, and I'm looking back on the last year or so and how it affected our little project.

At the end of June, my family and I were in Stockholm visiting friends and attending the World Dog Show. Stockholm's a beautiful Scandinavian city, and the surrounding countryside is wild and green. However, arriving on the longest day of the year really did nothing to help our jet lag and sleeping at all during the entire trip was a difficult proposition because of the nearly-midnight sun (never mind the very basic accommodations at the hotel).

Stockholm is very much an international city. Near one of the many walking malls was an outdoor farmers' market. Beautiful looking produce covered about a half acre of open air, and a quick wander through impressed me with the variety available to the citizens. However, on closer inspection I realized that all of the produce (without obvious exception) was from Russia. I wondered how this affected its quality, but there appeared to be no shortage of customers (despite what you see in the photo - there was a slow spot thanks to really bad weather).

Conversely, there were two places that seemed a lot more "local" (though it was very difficult to determine exactly, as my Swedish is frighteningly limited). The first was just outside the entrance to our hotel in Odenplan, a district of Stockholm. It was a tiny grocery, with a small produce area off to one side near the front. You wouldn't notice it to start with, but if you walked over to the produce area your senses were awash in the scent of fresh, unwaxed produce. It smelled very natural.

The other place was a short walk from the open air market, hidden in the basement of one of the buildings in the walking mall. This was a local market the likes of which you would expect to find in any large city, with local foods prepared freshly right in front of you by local people, dressed neatly behind glass cases with the food on display. This was an orgy for the eyes, with a huge variety of fish (of course), meats of every kind and every cut, and of course more produce. Certainly not everything was grown locally at this produce stand but much of it was, including what was a completely different definition of "new potato." This was a small, 1 to 2 inch fingerling potato with what looked like a loose, dirty skin just barely attached to it, which is removed by washing and/or scrubbing before the potatoes are boiled and served with dill and butter. Absolutely gorgeous.

It's with this experience in mind that I come to the various farmers' markets here in Arizona and think that we could certainly do something more, something better. There is talk of permanent and indoor locations for a farmers' market, and that is by far the largest step in the right direction that I can think of. We must get the local consumer and the local producer together in a comfortable, reliable and profitable setting for both parties. And I think we can do it!

Locavore 3 an Unparalleled Success!

2008-08-07T09:57:00.006-07:00

Last night (August 6th) marked the third installment so far of Tapino Kitchen & Wine Bar's "Locavore" event, "Locavore 3, The Bountiful." This was the third one I attended as well, and now I'm worried - Chef James Porter has topped himself each time, and "Locavore 4, Cultivation" is already scheduled for October 7th & 8th and if you haven't signed up, do it now!

This time it was almost a missed event for the EatFreshAZ crew, as they sold out so quickly the had to add a second evening. By the time we arrived for the "Meet-N-Greet" the joint was already jumping. I met Todd Bostoc of Dos Cabezas Wine Works, his wife and brand new three week old son (what a cutie!) Todd's crew was responsible for the evening's pairings, which we'll get to in a moment.

One thing I noticed right away is that this Locavore event appeared to be attended more by foodies than by industry folks. Info was that the first night was actually somewhat more industry folks than not (farmers, ranchers, press and so forth), and I missed out on the news taping a story about the event on the 5th. But the very fact that more of your average Arizona consumer attended shows just how much this movement towards fresh, local food is affecting the marketplace.

When everyone was seated, Chef James spoke about what the evening's meal meant and how he was excited to involve Chef Payton Curry from Spaghetti Western's Digestif restaurant in all aspects of the meal. Before us was an Amuse Bouche, which was Superstition Farms Farmers Cheese with Candied Pecans and Tapino Basil.

Among the guests at our table were Mr. & Mrs. Bob McClendon of McClendon's Select. Much of the vegetable matter on our plates was their responsibility, and I was quite glad for it. The first course was a McClendon Farms sweet red campari tomato, poached in Queen Creek olive oil and dressed with mache, micro basil and micro licorice basil. The fresh, fruity earthiness of the tomato shone right through, and the simple presentation did nothing to overpower it. To the contrary, the micro greens perked up and supported the tomato flavors wonderfully. The wine presented with this course was Dos Cabeza's "Pink" (so named because it is ... well, pink). Slightly dry with a mild floral and watermelon flavor, backed at the end by star anise, it not only complimented the fruitiness of the tomato but the licorice of the licorice basil.

Round two, and the two chefs brought out big guns. The menu says "Mother Nature Farms artisan style pork charcutiere of country pate and warm sausage." Doesn't do it justice. What was presented on our long rectangular plates was pork three ways; first, the sausage. Delicate, meaty, and placed on some herbed chèvre. Next up was a dark oblong ball of country pate, which was rich and powerful. In making this, they added no gelatin - having access to the whole pig, they simply did as chefs once had to and cooked the gelatin from the bones themselves. This gave a richness to the pate that I have never tasted before. The third and final offering on this altar of porcine perfection was head cheese. Head cheese? Truly brave, considering the implications, and yet executed with the deft skill of one determined to go from snout to tail and waste nothing. An even white color, it was placed on a sauce that was constructed from the broth of the bones, garlic, and a mirepoix. Chunky, meaty, smooth. And the wine that accompanied it was "White" from Dos Cabezas. Thankfully, they put more effort into the making of the wines than the naming of them and it shows. This blend was flavorful with some floral notes, in no way overpowering, and quite approachable. Yet thanks to the Riesling in the blend, it really stood up to the pork and helped present it to the palate. A good drink!

The third course was a very interesting and different one, and shows what can happen when a couple of chefs get together in the somewhat-less-than-bountiful Arizona summer and let loose. This creative veggie martini was lemon, cucumber and tomato, liquefied and blended in to a martini glass rimmed with vanilla sugar. It's not something you'd necessarily make for your average dinner, but definitely a showy way to excite some veggies and basically it worked - though consistency of the blend was uneven and some folks got very green glasses while others were paler or even pink. This was the only drink for this course, no wine this time.

Course number four was a red meat exhibition. Lamb from the Visser Family Farms in Willcox was placed on top of a native tepary bean ragout, then topped with micro broccoli greens (seriously, tiny greens that looked like just leaves and tasted of broccoli - so cool), and next to that was a cannelloni stuffed with Ash Creek Ranch beef. The lamb, a South African breed called a dorper that is now worldwide, was lean and tender with no wooliness. The tepary beans were amazing little jewels of bean flavor. And the cannelloni of beef was an inspiration, with aged, slow roasted tender beef on the inside that spoke to the craft of raising cattle. Threats were made by fellow dinner guests regarding the cannelloni, and defenses raised. It's clear to see why Sharla Mortimer was so proud of her beef! The wine was Dos Cabezas "Toscano," which when it opened up after a few minutes in my glass spoke of vanilla, cherries, Christmas cake. The Syrah in the blend stood proudly in line with all the other flavors. This is a big, spicy, bold wine that has a thick Italian accent and wears it well. It loved the red meat and I could see it playing well with rich tomato sauces and spiced Italian meats.

The evening ended with a chocolate flan. Now, when two masters like James Porter and Payton Curry get together, there's nothing simple going on - whatever they make, it'll have that extra something, that push over the top that has put them at the pinnacle of the Arizona chef scene. And this was no exception. The flan was crafted with Fossil Creek goat cheese and duck eggs. Not only did this utilize wonderful local ingredients, the extra richness from goat's milk cheese and the extra fat from the duck egg made this a huge success. It was then topped with a Sphinx Date Ranch caramel. Just excellent. But then there was the wine; this was one called "El Norte." Even the tasting notes seemed a little different. "Red fruits, citrus peel & cigar wrapper ... tons of black pepper too. [sic] Soy sauce creeps in the nose." Salt and pepper wine with a cigar wrapper? Then, " finishes with reminders of mexican [sic] chocolate." I swirled it, sniffed it and could smell the spiciness. I sipped it and was confused; it had the fruits and citrus, and left a bitterness on the back of the palate. Was it just me? This was awarded a Governor's Choice Award for Best Arizona Red Wine in 2007. Not what I expected. I had some of my flan, and then had an idea - food can transform a wine. Another sip, and voilà! There was what I was looking for. This wine paired so well with the rich flan that it was as if someone had put a completely different wine in my glass. The fruits and citrus oils balanced against the aromatic cigar wrapper, the fermentedness of the soy backed up the black pepper, and the slight bitterness of the Mexican chocolate closed the deal. It was me, the wine was great!

All in all, this third Locavore event continued to showcase not only the outstanding abilities of not only Chef Porter but Chef Curry as well, but also showcased that year round, local food can be had and utilized even in Arizona. Our state truly is bountiful. I think this event may continue to grow, and I imagine that October's event is nearly sold out already. Chef James said something about going to the farms first, then eating what we saw growing and being harvested. As we reconnect with our food sources and get away from anonymous food of questionable heritage and sanitation, we will find great cornucopias of beauty and nutrition on our very doorsteps.