Author Archive: Hannah Joyce McCain

Recent transplant to Tucson. Originally from Portland—no, the other Portland (in Maine, silly!). I like late-night conversations, thought-provoking literature, not falling off my bike on 4th Ave, and cooking dinner for friends.

FYI: There is no sponsored content on the Zócalo Hannah blog. That's not my style.

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Rory O’ at Wilko

October 3, 2012 |

Back when Rory O’Rear began frequenting the Red Room, where bartender Luke Anable poured the drinks that helped Rory develop his appreciation for bartending, Rory mostly drank his spirits straight. Luke and Rory are now head bartenders at Wilko, where they preside over an impressive cocktail list, but back in the day “no one in Tucson did this ‘cocktail stuff’ that’s becoming so prevalent,” Rory explains. The revival of craft cocktails is undoubtedly a good thing, says Rory. However, this new direction in drink mixing is sometimes misunderstood.

“There are certain people who, when they think of craft cocktails, imagine a bartender with suspenders and a handlebar mustache who refuses to make you your favorite drink,” he tells me. “But that’s not it. The craft cocktail revival isn’t at all about snobbery, it’s about raising the standard that you hold that favorite drink to. It’s about taste as an experience.”

Craft cocktails demand the highest quality ingredients — from the booze down to the ice cubes. At Wilko, the bartenders go so far as to hand-carve ice cubes for certain drinks. I tell Rory that sounds like the punchline of a joke about overzealous bartending, and he smiles. “It feels like a joke sometimes when you spend six minutes carving at ice cube for one drink!” But the finished product — “a drink that stays cold even as you linger over it, allowing subtle flavors in the spirits to unlock — is worth it,” Rory says. The attentiveness and care that goes into each drink creates a unique experience every time.

That experiential nature that Rory identifies as a quality of a good drink makes it hard for him to pick a favorite, but his preferences seem to lean towards the classics. “I like drinks that are comfortable and well-worn,” he says. Indeed, a “classics” section was recently added to Wilko’s cocktail list, and the ingredients to these drinks are simple and straightforward: things like lemon, raw sugar, and bitters. The drinks don’t end at the menu, either. Rory tells me that he loves to make a patron his or her favorite drink, “but the best one they’ve ever had.”

Pressed to choose a favorite drink, Rory finally chooses the Vieux Carré, a New Orleans take on the Manhattan. Rory describes the drink — with its classic foundation and hints of nutmeg and cinnamon, as “a gesture towards nostalgia.” I ask him the best place to drink it. He thinks for a second. “New Orleans,” he says, and then smiles. “Wilko’s not a bad spot, either.”

Vieux Carré

1 oz. High West Double Rye Whiskey
1 oz. Laird’s Apple Brandy
1 oz. Carpano Antiqua Formula
½ oz. Benedictine
2 dashes Peychaud’s Bitters
2 dashes Angostura Bitters

Stir. Serve with a twist of orange peel.

street style: outside che’s lounge

October 2, 2012 |

Brianna & Rose.

debauched: wilko happy hour

October 1, 2012 |

Mixin’ drank at ze Wilko.

I looooove happy hours. What a great idea! Start drinking too early = getting to bed at a reasonable hour because you’re too tired by 10 PM to stay out any longer = bright eyed and bushy-tailed at 8 AM for work the next morning… AND the drinks are cheap. Beautiful in so many ways.

Ever since I moved to Tucson I’d had my eye on Wilko as somewhere I wanted to check out, but with my rather meager food budget I’d figured I’d have to put it off ’til mis padres came to town. Enter: happy hour! About a week ago, my coworkers and I found out that Wilko has happy hour every single day from three ’til seven PM. “Whhhhat?” we said, collectively, in a moment of eerie groupthink. (That never happened.) So, of course, we decided we had to go.

Between the three of us, my coworkers and I sampled several draft beers ($2 off each), which were all fantastic. But Wilko’s strength lies with its cocktails. My friends and I tasted the Hoodoo bash, which combines red wine with sherry, cinnamon, cucumber, and citrus for a flavor that’s both warm and crisp; the Whiskey Ginger Vinegar, an updated take on, duh, the whiskey ginger, served with raw ginger and a raspberry balsamic syrup; and the Pisco Sour, which comes off of the New “Classics” section of the Wilko drink menu. We were not disappointed, and we’ll be back (for happy hour, that is. Still can’t afford the food!).

For more info about the drink scene at Wilko, keep an eye out for an interview with Rory O’Rear, one of two head bartenders at Wilko, which you’ll find in Zocalo’s October print issue and online. Yeeeeeeeh.

in pictures: RAW showcase

September 29, 2012 |

 

 

 

 

foooooood: no need to knead!

September 28, 2012 |
The easiest bread you’ll ever make, or, if you’re like me, probably more or less the only bread you’ll ever make. (I make a damn good pizza crust, though. We’ll get to that another time.) The great thing about this stupid easy bread recipe (no kneading!!!), though, is that, well… It’s also f’ing delicious. So instead of talking about it, let’s get down to the business at hand: the recipe. (Sidenote, per usual: the recipe may seem long, but that’s because I’m verbose as balls. It’s actually a super short, easy recipe. Don’t be intimidated!)

You’ll need flour, yeast, salt, and water. A pan of some sort (it could be a cookie sheet or a cast iron skillet or whatever you have on hand that has no plastic bits that’ll melt in the oven—no need for a legit bread pan) and something to grease the pan with (unless it’s nonstick). And then a big plastic container, a tablespoon, a measuring cup, and a mixing spoon. Das it. Donezo.

Lots of complicated ingredients.

Okay.

STEP ONE: Get three (3) cups of warm water, pour ‘em in your big plastic container, add a tablespoon (1 tbsp) of salt and tablespoon and a half (1.5 tbsps) of yeast. I’ve heard different opinions on whether you let this mixture sit for a couple of minutes to give the yeast time to get happy. I let it sit while I measure out the flour ‘cuz I figure it can’t hurt. (A sidenote here: I recommend you get a big-ish container of yeast instead of the little packets for two reasons: first, those packets have about two and quarter teaspoons in them. It’s a good amount for a lot of other recipes, but impractical for the recipe at hand. Second, you’re gonna want a lot of yeast because as soon as you make this bread you’re gonna want to make it again. And again.)

STEP TWO: Measure out sevenish (7ish) cups of flour. I do this in a seperate bowl to give the yeast (the aforementioned) time to get all bub’ly in the warm water, ‘cuz it takes all of two seconds to rinse out a bowl that only had flour in it. (Another sidenote: what’s up with the sevenish cups, huh? Well if you dip the measuring cup into the flour and then level it off, you’ll probably only need about six and a half (6.5) cups of flour. If you do what I do, which is use a spoon to scoop the flour out of the bag and into the measuring cup, the flour’s not packed down as much so you’ll need seven (7) cups. And that’s what’s up.)

STEP THREE: Dump the flour into the water/salt/yeast mixture. Mix it up thoroughly until there are no clumps of flour. The dough will be pretty wet.

STEP FOUR: Put the lid loosely on your container and let it rise at room temp for an hour and a half or two hours. Then transfer it to the fridge and let it hang out there for at least a couple of hours… Or overnight… Or for a few days. Whatever. Basically, for some science-y reason, the dough is just getting tastier and tastier the longer you let it sit. When you can’t stand it any longer… Move on to step cinco.

Mad dough.

STEP FIVE: Preheat yr oven to 450°. Grease yr pan. Grease yr handz. Grab a fatty chunk of the dough (probably about half of it) and plop it in the aforementioned pan. Shape the dough a lil if you feel so inclined, or don’t. Score it with a knife if you want to, makes it look profesh.

STEP SIX: Put the dough in the oven. Bake it for 25 minutes at 450° and 5-10 minutes at 500°. The extra heat at the end there gives the bread a prettier golden crust, but if you’re lazy, like I sometimes am, you can just bake it for 30-35 minutes at 450° and it’ll still be awesome. Then take your bread out of the oven, dump it out onto a cookie rack or your stovetop, let it cool for maybe five minutes or more if you can bear it, and then… Eat the shit out of the bread. You can thank me later!!! (Oh and by the way, you still have a whole loaf’s worth of dough still chillin’ in your fridge, waiting to be baked. Best. News. Ever.)

Holy yum! (Cute cutting boards make everything taste better, too. FYI.)

street style: 4th ave

September 27, 2012 |

Kyle. SERIOUSLY GUYS. Think about your shoes. Kyle’s outfit could be ruined if he wore flip flops* instead of these fresh-ass kicks. I cannot stress this enough. People think shoes don’t matter… Wrong.

Okay, but really, Kyle’s outfit is super solid (love the lavender shorts), and it’s the shoes that make it happen. Plus, I’m pretty sure he had a British accent or something? Maybe I was hallucinating in the heat? Regardless, the result was pretty cool vibes from this guy.

*Sharp eyes will notice that Anthony, featured in a previous street style post, wore flip flops. He got damn lucky. Normally that shit’s a dealbreaker.

i’ll see you at… RAW showcase

September 26, 2012 |

Headed to the RAW showcase tomorrow at Plush to check out some budding artistic talent of Tucson. From the RAW website:

“RAW’s mission is to provide up-and-coming artists of all creative realms with the tools, resources and exposure needed to inspire and cultivate creativity so that they might be seen, heard and loved. RAW educates, connects and exposes emerging artists in 54 artistic communities across the United States and Australia, through monthly showcase events. Join us in celebrating the work of these artists…

RAW events are multi-faceted artistic showcases. Each event features a film screening, musical performance, fashion show, art gallery, performance art and a featured hairstylist and makeup artist. These artists are all local, hand-picked talent who have been chosen to feature at RAW.

RAW events feature a cash bar for cocktails while you enjoy the night. Dress code is cocktail attire, so dress the occasion and get ready for an artistic circus of creativity!”

See you there!

 

good eats: tucson tamale company

September 26, 2012 |

 

I’ve always been a big tamale person (I’m going to take this moment to ask: does anyone else picture a giant, anthropomorphized tamale when I write “tamale person”? That happens to me with “fan,” too, like, “I’m a big hot dog fan,” and then I have this mental image of a big ceiling fan made of hot dogs. A mental image, incidentally, that makes me kind of uncomfortable. But I digress) — so when my friend and I passed Tucson Tamale Company the other day, we decided to stop in and give it a try. My impressions:

Efficient service. Not overly friendly, and vaguely distracted, but I tend to give the people behind the counter a break — great attitude is a bonus for me, not a requirement, especially at a busy spot like Tucson Tamale.

Bright! I loved the orange walls and the array of colorful hot sauces on the counter. The design was warm, inviting, and completely unpretentious.

Bad choice (mine). I was starving when I ordered, so I barely glanced at the menu — I noticed something that sounded good and got it without taking the time to consider all my options. I got the tamale salad with a Sonora tamale (chicken with green chile sauce). If I did it again, I’d get a more adventuresome tamale and pair it with beans or chips and guacamole instead of a salad. (A salad? Really? At a tamale place? I don’t know what I was thinking.)

I’ll be back. I’m intrigued. Like I said, I’d like to try some of Tuscon Tamale Company’s more adventuresome tamales — if I’m sticking to the basics, I’d be happy to get my tamales homemade from someone wandering around selling them at 11 p.m. at a bar. At Tucson Tamale, I’m looking forward to trying the — well, the Tucson Tamale! “Lots and lots of cheese in grilled jalepeño masa” gets a big ol’ “Yes, please,” from me. I’m thinking I might buy a selection of frozen tamales and keep them around the house for lazy dinners. What’s your favorite tamale at Tucson Tamale, or where’s your favorite spot to eat tamales in Tucson? Tweet me @hannahzocalo.

street style: work clothes

September 25, 2012 |

Melissa @ Brooklyn Pizza. I wish I had hair like hers — the ultimate accessory that raises her outfit to a whole new level.

música: tom walbank @ che’s

September 23, 2012 |

L to R: Connor, Jake, and Tom at Che’s Lounge on Saturday, September 22nd.

I’ve seen Tom Walbank play at Café Passé a few times — he does a solo show every Friday evening for “Blues Under the Trees” on the Passé Patio (the opening act is Roman Barton Sherman, a kid — literally, like, nine years old — who frickin’ busts out some old man blues music. It’s nuts!). But it was really fun to see him play at Che’s Lounge last night, where he drew a fatty crowd and rounded out his sound with the addition of drumz (Jake Sullivan) and gee-tar (Connor Gallaher). Wherever he happens to be singing and guitar-ing and harmonica-ing his heart out, Tom — an Englishman who calls Tucson his real home for real — can blues it up like no other, and I highly recommend checking him out. More about the spectacular Mister Tom Walbank at ze MySpace and his website. Peep it, yo.

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