EXPLORING ARIZONA – PART 3

Hiking Camelback Mountain

This is a very delayed post, but (as I was reminded by my good friend Ana) I have forgotten to mention the last adventure in Arizona. Ana came to visit me there in the beginning of May before we drove to LA (where I flew to the UK, and she flew back to NY). We didn’t have too much time to explore, so we decided Scottsdale was the main area she needed to see.

We started off in Chandler and took some back routes up through the Arcadia area and ended up by the Scottsdale Waterfront. We were getting a little hungry, so we decided to stop for a ‘snack’ at The Culinary Dropout. We needed to kill some time before we attempted to hike up Camelback Mountain and give ourselves a little fuel as well. We ended up sharing a light salad and some ridiculous pork ribs. I’m really sad we didn’t have the time/appetite to stay for a full meal because this place did not disappoint. Culinary Dropout is actually one of the new concepts started by the Fox Restaurant Group. It’s the first gastropub in Arizona whose food scene is slowly becoming more well known. There’s even a celebrity chef on Food Network who is an executive chef in Arizona! (Beau MacMillan, co-judge on Worst Cooks in America, Exec Chef at Elements at the Sanctuary in Scottsdale)

But back to the food! We started with the Artichoke Salad with asparagus, endive and parmesan. This salad turned out to be one of the most refreshing salads I have ever had. As you can see in the photo, it included artichoke hearts, frisee, a little radicchio, zucchini/courgette shavings, chives, parmesan and it was dressed in a very light lemon vinaigrette. Of course, this salad was especially perfect sitting in the hot Arizona sun. But I recreated a version of it here in England and it was just as refreshing. When I did my version, I blanched some fresh (in season) asparagus, made courgette shavings (super easy with a veg peeler) and served it on a bed of mixed greens. For the dressing, I just mixed fresh lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and finished it all off with fresh parmesan. You will LOVE this salad I promise!

Artichoke heart, asparagus, endive, parmesan salad

The funny thing is I just remembered a Giada (Food Network) episode I saw once where she made zucchini shavings, and I’ve just found the recipe. And guess what – it’s almost exactly what you see/read above. Here’s the recipe link anyway!

Now the ribs… So as you’ve read before, my Dad is quite the grill master/cook. He’s also in love with his giant smoker. Not only are my Dad’s steaks amazing, but his ribs.. mmm.. crispy, moist, tangy. As much as I love my Dad’s ribs, the ribs at Culinary Dropout were THE best I have.ever.had. They even beat what I had at the BBQ Festival! Maybe it was the jalapeno, molasses marinade/sauce. Or maybe they just cooked it for longer. All I know is that this meat not only fell off the bone instantly but was also flaky and moist. The flavor was the perfect balance of sweetness, spicy-ness, tangy-ness. Now I am no girly-girl when it comes to eating ribs. I have no shame in getting in there and licking my fingers throughout. But the meat was SO tender on these, it all came off in one bite! Mmm I can’t think about them for too long because I’m pretty certain I won’t be able to find anything like that in the UK. That means it will be a very long time before I get ribs like these again. But here’s a photo for you to enjoy!

Kurobuta Pork Ribs with jalapeno and molasses

I have some serious backlog of posts I have to sort, so stay tuned for lots more to come!

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EXPLORING ARIZONA – PART 2

A couple weeks ago, I ran my first charity 5K with my mom in Arizona. It was early in the morning, so we were feeling good and starving by the time we were done. We decided to head to a place we’ve been meaning to try in Gilbert – Joe’s Farm Grill.

Joe’s is a local place we’ve read lots about in the paper and was even featured on The Food Network on Guy Fieri’s show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives. This ‘50s style fast food joint is not what you would expect. First of all, its location is in the middle of farm land. But it turns out Joe’s owns about 12 acres of what it calls “Agritopia”. It grows a variety of leaf crops, vegetables and flowers. Most of which makes its way into the food you eat at Joe’s. Their farming methods even EXCEED the standards for USDA organic. Can you believe that? It’s an organic fast food restaurant. Already this place is unique. To make the entire experience even better, the restaurant is surrounded by picnic tables (in addition to tables inside) and beautiful views of its farm land.

My mom ordered the ‘pancakes and meat’ with sausages, and I had a two-egg grilled vegetable omelet with pecorino romano and a side of fruit. The pancakes were amazingly fluffy and the sausages weren’t heavy or greasy at all. My omelet was of course deliciously fresh with seasonal asparagus inside. It was a beautiful day, and we ate breakfast under a HUGE grapefruit tree with grapevines in front of us! If you’re ever in the area, I highly recommend this place. It’s a perfect family place with plenty of room for kids to run around. Or stop by if you just enjoy being outdoors and eating good food!

"Pancakes & Meat"

 

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THE GREAT ARIZONA PICNIC

As promised, I attended the Great Arizona Picnic yesterday as part of the Scottsdale Culinary Festival. This was one of those great summer events – even though it’s ‘summer’ (weather) here for the majority of the year. But it seemed like everyone was there – families, students, young professionals, retirees, and more. The event was held near Old Town Scottsdale and was expected to have up to 40,000 people attend. It was definitely well attended, but the great thing was that it never seemed too crowded. Lines were very reasonable, and there was always a place to sit. It really did feel like a picnic with lots of people lying out on the grass with blankets. There were 50+ restaurants and vendors at the event with a wide range of products and cuisines. I took lots of pictures to share, but keep in mind this wasn’t a gourmet food festival! There were actually a lot of ‘chain’ restaurants with booths there – from Kona Grill (they brought an entire fish tank!) to Sushi Roku to The Melting Pot. But there were a few artisan places like the Arizona Bread Company, The Gelato Spot and The Lollicake Company. 

All in all, not a bad way to spend a Saturday afternoon – eating good comfort food, catching up with an old friend, and people watching 🙂 

CLICK BELOW FOR THE REST OF THE PICTURES! 

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THE FIRST ANNUAL ARIZONA BBQ FESTIVAL

Last weekend I attended my very first BBQ festival right here in Scottsdale. Something that I’ve learned about Arizona is that, due to its almost-year-round sunny weather, locals are really into putting on outdoor festivals. They range from various music festivals (jazz and blues, etc) to cultural festivals (Asian themed or just ‘international’) to foodie festivals. Although this was the first time this event was put on, it seemed like it was a success.

Theme of the Day = Pig!

It was located down by the Scottsdale waterfront, across from Fashion Square mall on a large dirt parking lot with tents set up. With a $10 admission charge and $2 tasting tickets, it was a pretty decent set up. I liked that it wasn’t too spread out nor did it feel overcrowded. My cousin and I arrived around 2pm and there were still loads of people (the tasting ended at 4pm). We decided to just make our way around with no agenda other than to eat and get a cold beer (it was in the mid 80’s!). Our obvious approach was to go to the stands that had the longest crowds (assuming they’d have the best food).

First up was The Mission which is a modern, Latin restaurant in Old Town Scottsdale. They were not in the competition but were selling small versions of dishes from the restaurant. Tiff had already told me that I had to try this place as it’s one of her favorites. So we got the combo platter with a chicken taco, pork shoulder taco and grilled sweet corn. As we waited for our tacos the smells coming from the grill were intoxicating and made us all the more hungry. I must admit I am not a huge BBQ (sauce) person, but once you get that smell in your nose you really can’t say no. Plus you just think about the tender, smoked pork melting in your mouth and that memory reminds you that you’ll eat it even if you’re not hungry. As Tiff promised, the tacos were delicious. The pork shoulder taco is served with pineapple glaze, cilantro and cotija cheese. The chicken taco is served with oregano, lemon, aji Amarillo, cabbage and more cotija cheese. If you’ve never had cotija cheese, it’s a slightly salty yet mild Mexican cheese. The texture if very much like feta in that it’s firm and crumbly. One of my favorite ways to eat cotija is with grilled corn on the cob and lime juice. Both tacos were so refreshing and were packed with lots of flavor. I will definitely be making a trip to The Mission some time soon.

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