FOOD & DRINK

Notes From A Plant Freak

January 23, 2013 |

Know When To Give Up
It may seem like a strange suggestion for New Year’s, but many of the problems we encounter in gardening comes from our inability to accept defeat. Gardening should not be like war. Your garden should not be devoid of pests. A balance of good guys and bad guys is necessary. If you are meeting the needs of your plants, you won’t have too many pest infestations, since they tend to overtake plants that are previously compromised. Occasionally, aphids will take over a lettuce plant and a tomato hornworm may devour a young tomato. Accept it. You don’t need to come out with the heavy artillery, or even the organic insecticidal soaps. Look rather into whether the plant has enough water, sun, and if you are planting it in the proper season. Sometimes there is nothing wrong and there just happens to be a spike in a particular insect’s population. Accept it and move on. The biggest problems we have in agriculture come from trying to force the unnatural (like acres and acres of the same plant growing all in one spot). As a result we end up resorting to more and more extreme methods of cultivation. Many pesticides and synthetic fertilizers originated from the same companies that once made chemical weapons and bombs.  After World War II, these companies found a new industry for their products: agriculture. Let your garden be a refuge for clean, natural food to grow. Employ beneficial insects and maybe even use some organic pest controls occasionally. But first ask yourself, is that one or two lettuce plants worth all that effort?

The best way to avoid pest infestations is by not fighting them. When you spray even the gentlest of pesticides, you are killing good guys as well, throwing your garden off balance. The best way to keep your plants happy is making sure you have enough organic material in the ground, a good layer of mulch at the base of the plant, and sufficient sunlight (most garden plants, especially in the cool season, do best in full sun all day long). Keep your plants moist, evenly, but don’t over water. The first mistake people make when learning to garden is over watering. The second is usually over watering which tend to push nutrients out of the soil. Plants favor deep watering and less often, rather than frequent, shallow watering. Mulching also helps with keeping the moisture in the ground so watering can be less frequent.

Add more biology to the soil, not less. Think about adding some beneficial critters. Arbico is a Tucson-based company that sells beneficial organisms for your garden. Try beneficial nematodes, lacewings, or praying mantis. Check out their website at www.Arbico-Organics.com and if you have questions, call them up. They can be very helpful.

Seasonal Guidelines
Many people start projects around the New Year. For the garden, it is the middle of the cool season. Whether you already have a garden going or are just starting, you can still be planting, growing and harvesting those winter vegetables that many people get going in the fall: the various greens, root vegetables, cilantro, parsley, dill, peas, or the underappreciated herb, chervil, which is  often used in French cuisine. As the cool season continues, select varieties that need shorter times to grow and that are heat tolerant. The heat will be here before we know it.

Speaking of the warm season, January is the month to start planting out pots of tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, inside or in a cold-frame. These will be put in the garden in 6-8 weeks (with continued cold protection). This is especially beneficial for getting a head start on the warm season, and playing with some of the varieties that take a little longer to mature. You can also direct-seed some of these warm season plants if you make a plan for protecting them from frosty nights. They will grow slower. Also try growing potatoes. Plant them now. Small potatoes are planted whole, while larger ones are cut into 2 inch sections. Plant with “eyes” face up.

Jared R. McKinley maintains a gardening and homesteading blog called Arid Land Homesteaders League at AridLandHomestead.com

Thunder Canyon Brewery Downtown NOW OPEN

January 9, 2013 |

Steve Tracy is a straightforward, practical kind of guy. The day I meet him he’s wearing no-nonsense work clothes and is fully involved in the hubbub of work at Thunder Canyon Brewery’s new Downtown location (220 E. Broadway at Fifth Avenue.) He apologizes for keeping me waiting, but I’m impressed, not perturbed—Steve started Thunder Canyon Brewery over a decade ago, and it’s cool to see that he’s still fully involved on the ground in day-to-day operations. With plenty of work still to be completed before the brewpub opens on January 8th (ed: NOW OPEN!), Steve is good-natured about the fact that I’m interrupting his day to pepper him with questions.

Of course, the first thing I want to know is how Steve got interested in brewing beer—and how he managed to turn his passion into a career. Homebrewing is a widespread phenomenon today, but back when Steve opened the first Thunder Canyon brewpub, in 1997, it wasn’t nearly as ubiquitous a hobby, nor were microbrews as popular as they are these days.

“It was a big step,” Steve admits, speaking of the decision to leave his comfortable job as a mining engineer to open up his own business. But he explains that he couldn’t turn down the opportunity he’d been presented with: a mutual friend had introduced him to people in Tucson who were interested in working as partners to open up a brewpub. Steve loved brewing, loved the ambiance and interaction with customers offered by the brewpub environment, and, perhaps most importantly, was open to the idea of moving to Tucson—a city he’d visited in the past and found to be beautiful and welcoming.

“It was a quieter city fifteen years ago,” he explains, and the changes Tucson has undergone since Steve founded Thunder Canyon Brewery in 1997 are part of the reason that TCB is expanding downtown. “People downtown don’t tend to go up to the northern part of the city, and vice versa,” Steve told me, so it seemed like a smart idea to capitalize on the ongoing revitalization of Tucson’s downtown and Tucson’s growing appetite for good, local beer by opening up a new location. I asked Steve if he expected his customer base to be different downtown than it was on the north side. “Maybe a little bit,” he said. “More college students, of course. More industry folks. But really the brewpubs draw people from across the board—anyone from twenty-one-year-olds having their first drink to old folks out on a date. Craft beers aren’t an exclusive thing these days. When I was growing up, my parents drank generic light beers. Today, kids are growing up and their are parents drinking local microbrews.” Craft beer is the new normal—Thunder Canyon’s brewpub isn’t trying to fill a niche any more specific than “a place for anyone who likes to drink beer” (and from-scratch pub food—also a crowd-pleaser).

This doesn’t mean that TCB isn’t constantly innovating. “We’re always working on two or three new beers,” and “We always keep in mind what people are asking for,” says Steve. His current favorite TCB offering is the Cuppa Joe coffee porter, which is made with locally-roasted Cartel coffee, he says without hesitation. In general Steve prefers darker beers like stouts and porters—“I’m not so much a hoppy beer drinker,” he explains, though he adds that he appreciates all beers. Any guilty pleasures—a light beer or mainstream national beer? Steve looks slightly disgusted, and the answer is an adamant no. Well then, what are his favorite microbrews? He smiles and admits that he mostly drinks his own stuff. I get it—in addition to being delicious, drinking his own beer has to be the most economical option for Steve!

In terms of his future plans for TCB, Steve seems happy to stay relatively small and local. “In bigger [brewing] operations, sometimes—unfortunately—the accountants end up having more of a role in the brewing process than the brewmasters themselves,” says Steve. “If you’re small like us, you can make sure you’re using the best ingredients and never skimping on quality.” In Steve’s estimation, the biggest mistake a microbrewery can make is trying to get too big, too fast. “It’s easy to lose control,” he says.

Steve’s key to success? “Great people,” he says, such as his general manager and kitchen manager, who have both been working with Steve since he and his partners (who he subsequently bought out) opened the first TCB location over a decade ago. “Craft beer is about interactions. TCB is about more than just brewing beer and going home.” This is why, in Steve’s opinion, the brewpub is the ideal venue for sharing and showcasing craft beer. I look around the downtown Thunder Canyon brewpub—which, with its poured concrete floors and heavy wood tables, is inviting and warm even in its unfinished state. I agree that this looks like a fantastic place to interact with the people who make—and drink—great beer.

Sundays at The Cup

December 14, 2012 |

The Cup Café is the place to be in Tucson on Sunday mornings, and there is, accordingly, a substantial wait time for a table. In Hotel Congress’s own words, however, “The build-your-own Bloody Mary bar helps pass the time quickly.” Indeed, this creatively-designed bar, situated in the lobby of Hotel Congress and open exclusively on Sunday mornings from 10- 2, is even a destination in and of itself. Explains Matthew “Cheeks” Talavera, one of the bartenders you’ll regularly find at Hotel Congress at the Sunday bloody bar: “It’s not just about wasting time before you get a table at the Cup.”

Time might not be wasted at the Bloody Mary bar, but you might very well end up that way if one delicious morning libation happens to lead to another (and maybe another). Part of the fun is the set-up: there’s a cup on the bar full of slips of paper. Grab one, and in the style of a sandwich shop you get to circle your preferred ingredients: salt or not; your choice of vodka, gin, or tequila; level of spiciness; number of shots; and garnishes. Some of the garnishes, like pickles, are classic. Others are more unexpected: avocado, artichokes, and three different types of cheese are all options.

My companions and I took our made-to-order Bloody Marys out to Congress’s front patio—we can be counted among the Bloody bar clientele who were not simply passing time before breakfast at the Cup—and began a share-and-compare session. My brother and our friend both had delicious drinks, but—luckily for me—my own Bloody Mary was my favorite. I chose the classic vodka Bloody, chose “hot” as my desired level of spiciness, and garnished the drink with cilantro, capers, cucumber, and goat cheese, plus the requisite celery. (I was hesitant to add cheese to my Bloody, but I can’t really even resist goat cheese, even when it seems like a bad idea (which is rarely, to be honest). I’m glad I added it. The creaminess of the cheese helped to offset the spiciness of the drink.

Because be forewarned: concerning the “hot” Bloody Marys, Cheeks tells me (and I can corroborate), “You asked for it hot—it’ll be hot!” Indeed, both my brother’s and my Bloodys were exceptionally spicy. Even the mild Bloody has a bit of a kick to it: the Bloody mix at Congress, made in-house, contains Mexican chili, a Tucson-made green poblano sauce, and Tobasco.

The staff wasn’t too knowledgeable about the origin of the Bloody Mary bar, which was too bad because it would have been nice to hear the story of how it came to be. Apparently it’s been around for four or five years and “you don’t want to know why it’s called Bloody,” according to Andres “Andy” Parada, a Cup server and sometimes-Bloody Mary bartender. The Bloody Mary bar doesn’t need myth and notoriety to be a success, though (Hotel Congress has enough ghosts already, anyway). What it needs are good Bloody Marys—and that’s already covered.

 

Loco for Local

December 9, 2012 |

December 12th is a special day on the calendar and not only because the numeric date reads 12-12-12, but also because TucsonNightOut.com is presenting Go Loco 4 Local Day in Tucson. The event is bringing together 18 local restaurants with more signing on as it approaches that will be offering $12 specials on their menus all day to commemorate the significant date and to raise awareness about the local eateries in the area.

“Supporting local restaurants goes well beyond the monetary value, although the more money we spend locally, the more that stays here in our economy,” says the event organizer and TucsonNightOut.com owner Jerry Heintze. “But for me, supporting local restaurants is about supporting the mom and pops who put their heart and soul and everything they have into what they do and they’re all part of our community. It’s important that we support them and keep them successful so they can continue on.”

Participating restaurants include: La Cocina, Diablo’s, Grumpy’s, Chad’s Steakhouse, Frankie’s South Philly Cheesesteaks, Boca Tacos Y Tequila, Bumsted’s, Risky Business, La Madrina, Tony’s Italian Deli, El Saguarito, Renee’s Organic Oven, Mama Louisa’s, Pastiche, Acacia, Rocco’s Little Chicago and Harvest Restaurant and even more signing up as the event approaches.

“The long-term goal is that we get more people acquainted with who these local businesses are and spread the awareness,” says Heintze. “The more we can show people how amazing the local dining scene is here, the more likely they will be to switch their dining habits from fast food and big national chains to the wonderful establishments we have in our own backyard. We’re very lucky to have such a special dining scene here in town.”

For more information visit tucsonnightout.com

Notes From A Plant Freak

December 7, 2012 |

Gardening is a Seedy Business

A most perplexing trend seen in nurseries during the fall are vegetables in starter pots (like 4-inch pots and 6-packs). A cynical laugh was derived from this author recently when he spotted sweet peas being sold in 6-packs at a quality local nursery.  Planting peas this way is almost futile. Let’s lend a hint to our newbie gardeners: many vegetables transplant poorly and are best planted from seed. You might be intimidated by seeds but with a few pointers that intimidation can be converted into a learning experience that can change your gardening success rate.

Many annual vegetable crops grow very fast. Their taproots want room. The goal of an annual plant, or a plant that typically lives out only for one season, is to get established in time to grow and reproduce as successfully as possible, given the available resources and time. Starter pots give hardly any room for such quick development. All too often those plants have sat too long in those pots, not just lacking room, but being overheated and going through extremes of dryness and wetness. Annual plants especially hate this. It’s a wonder anyone ever has success this way.

If you have prepared your garden bed properly and are committed to seeing out the needs of your crop, starting from seed directly in the garden is the best way to ensure a good start for your vegetable crop.  There are exceptions to this rule. Tomatoes and peppers, for example, if obtained by a reputable nursery that keeps its stock in the proper sunlight, watered and not hanging around too long to get root bound will do fine. Perennial crops like oregano, mint, artichokes and such usually transplant well, but beware of the quality you choose. Root-bound plants decrease your likelihood of a positive growing experience.

There is another compelling reason to plant from seed: variety. If you choose a crop from the garden center, you are stuck with whatever varieties they thought would sell well, sometimes being inappropriate for our climate like the well-known Beefsteak tomato which has limited success in Tucson. Often one finds only the tried and true varieties are available.  This is ok if you are content to grow the same thing everyone else is growing. You have the largest selection at your disposal choosing varieties from seed catalogs. especially with the Internet making the stock of all these companies available to you whenever you fancy purchasing some seed. But you do take on the responsibility of doing your homework. Pay attention to how long it takes a crop to mature. Often descriptions will also let you know what a crop likes. With some crops this can be experimental and if you aren’t sure what you are doing, you do take a chance in selecting the wrong crop. Look at the experiments as an adventure and know this is actually more rare of an occurrence than it sounds. Most vegetable crops do well if you pay attention to season length and plant properly.

Variety is also greater with most perennial crops, or more permanent or longer-living plants, when growing from seed. Artichoke varieties in the nursery, for example, are almost always limited to the Green Globe variety. Not because this is the only variety or the best for Tucson gardening. But nurseries are businesses and sometimes they have to make fiscal decisions that limit diversity. There is only so much room and why take chances on a variety people aren’t familiar with.

By no means do you stop browsing the nursery. Depriving yourself of the wonderful experience of perusing the aisles of a good nursery would be a horrible suggestion. Just keep in mind that if you open yourself up to starting things from seed, your options open up, and your success with particular crops will improve.

Seed packets almost always have all the information you need but be wary of seasonal planting suggestions as our mild winter and arid land climate often require different timing considerations. However, seed depth and spacing are almost always available and best followed. Also, almost all seed companies list how long it takes from germination for a crop to develop which is very important data in planning

This author has a lot of favorite seed sources.  Here are a few: our own Native Seeds / SEARCH (NativeSeeds.org) is best for dry land crops, developed in this area. They have all that is local and heirloom. Additionally, use Territorial Seed Company (TerritorialSeed.com) for basic crops, Kitizawa Seed Company (KitazawaSeed.com) for Asian crops, Seeds From Italy (GrowItalian.com) for Italian heirlooms and Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (RareSeeds.com) for fun and amazing heirlooms from around the world.

Jared R. McKinley maintains a gardening and homesteading blog called Arid Land Homesteaders League at AridLandHomestead.com

French 75 at Agustin Brasserie

November 23, 2012 |

Can you imagine a swim instructor who’s afraid of water or a Zen Buddhism teacher who lives by a hectic nine-to-five schedule? What about a bartender who doesn’t drink? Well, let me introduce you to Brian Halbach, one of four bartenders at Agustín Brasserie—and he’s a teetotaler.

“Well, I’ve gotten drunk a few times in my life,” Brian concedes. “Who hasn’t? It’s your twenty-first birthday and everyone’s buying you drinks—you’ve got to indulge those people.” For the most part, though, Brian abstains.

“It was difficult starting out [at Agustín],” he concedes, for that reason among others. “The restaurant took a gamble on me, because I had no experience in the food industry, let alone as a bartender.” But today, “I make a mean Bloody Mary,” Brian says, grinning. The hardest part of bartending for Brian is the wine-tasting involved in the job. The drinking is worth it, though, because he has been able to develop an experienced palate. To match the cooler weather descending on Tucson, “the food at Agustín has gotten richer, with bolder wines to go with the new menu,” Brian explains. “The wines are matched to the food and the seasons, and I need to be able to offer well-informed recommendations” to Agustín’s patrons. However, while Brian has learned to appreciate wine, his passion lies in the art of cocktails.

“I appreciate the dynamic of a well-mixed drink,” he explains. “It’s fascinating how over- or under-pouring any element of a cocktail can completely skew the end result.” For the approaching autumn and winter seasons he recommends the Diablo Margarita—“spicy; it almost makes you sweat a little!”—or the Steel Manhattan, which is “deeper and darker” than summerier drinks like the French 75, Brian’s favorite drink to pour.

Along with the science of pouring the perfect drink, Brian appreciates the face-to-face aspect of bartending. In serving, he explains, the goal is to melt into the background. “Servers are hidden, but the bartender’s job—you’re almost an entertainer. I get to dress up, you know, ‘wow’ people everyday: ‘Hey, I have a bowtie!’ and let me make you a delicious drink!”

The drink Brian is most proud of is his Bloody Mary—like any mixer at Agustín, the Bloody Mary mix is made in-house, but in this case only Brian knows the recipe. Accordingly, he’s not about to share that recipe with anyone. He does, however, indulge me by sharing his recipe for the French 75, a deliciously crisp and refreshing beverage that Brian describes as “simple and light, but with a complexity to it, too. I’d describe it as a ‘Frenchified adult lemonade.” Perfect for the last lingering days of warmth!

 French 75:

1.5 oz Bombay Sapphire gin

½ a lemon, freshly-squeezed

A hint of simple syrup

½ an oz. sour mix (house-made at Agustín)

Shake and top with cava (Spanish sparkling wine).

Cafe a la C’Art – the Evolution of a Neighborhood Eatery

November 12, 2012 |

A few years ago in the El Presidio neighborhood, several opportunistic thieves went on a low-ball, non-violent crime spree, burglarizing homes and cars on Main Street and in the vicinity. Among the targets of their malfeasance was the pastry case at the tiny Café à la C’Art, tucked away in the Stevens-Duffield House at Tucson Museum of Art. Area residents reacted identically to the news . . . “Well, no wonder. Probably the most valuable part of their haul.” Pastry chef Laura Quarrella no doubt considered that a compliment, as well she should. Her scrumptious pastries defy any compliment that’s effusive enough to do them justice.

In 1996, Judith Michelet and her son Mark launched their catering business, Carte Blanche. Their plan was to block out the entire month of August each year, and “life would be peachy.” One of their clients was the Tucson Museum of Art, whose director decided that he wanted to replace the eponymous bistro that put Janos Wilder on the culinary map, “Janos,” which had occupied Stevens-Duffield House from 1983 to 1998. According to Judith, “he insisted that we were going to do it. We decided we were not going to do it. He kept coming after us, and one time, we were catering the craft fair, and we saw him coming and we hid in the bushes.” He ultimately won, but not without a fight.

For a number of years the café and the catering progressed, serving lunch and utilizing the brightly decorated sunroom and tranquil patio on the east side of Stevens-Duffield House (Palice Pavilion) housing the Pre-Columbian and Folk Art collections. In 2008, under current director Robert Knight, TMA gave them one additional room. Then, in early spring 2012, it was determined that the collections needed to be moved because humidity and temperature couldn’t be controlled. Therefore, the café got the extra rooms by default and doubled its size. So lunch only became lunch plus breakfast. Finally, several months ago, dinner was added, Thursday through Saturday. Perhaps an unfair test, offering dinner in the middle of summer in Tucson, but immediately business expanded because of the extra space. “We could have used this space 10 years ago,” Judith says. “Going into fall, it’s going to be incredibly busy for breakfast and lunch. To have waited for fall, it would have been a real mess.”

Dinner is, unlike breakfast and lunch, full table service, with appetizers and boutique beers and wine, so the staff had a lot to learn, logistically. “It’s been an expensive learning proposition,” says Judith, “but we have a very good reputation. And a very loyal clientele.” Each week, along with the lunch menu, they offer meat, chicken and vegetarian entrees. The plan is to ultimately be open 6 days a week, 5 to 11pm, so as to take advantage of hungry post-concert and theater patrons. “One of the things we have going for us is all the free parking after 5pm. We are easy to get to because we are outside of the construction zone.”

In November, Café a la C’Art will feature the following menu items:

Autumn Salad – Seedless Red grapes, spiced walnuts, Camembert  cheese, Granny Smith apples, dates and dried cranberries on organic field greens, with a Port vinaigrette.

Southwestern Spiced Pumpkin Soup –with a cilantro lime crema and toasted pepitas.

Maple Scones – with candied pecans and cranberries.

Chocolate Pumpkin Cake – with a pumpkin cream cheese frosting.

Spice Cakes –with a dried fruit compote.

Autumn Beers – Shipyard Pumpkinhead Ale andSam Adams Octoberfest.

Café à la C’Art is located at 140 N. Main Ave., 628-8533, online at  cafealacarttucson.com and 628-8533. Open seven days a week, Monday – Friday: 7am-2pm, Saturday & Sunday: 8am-2pm, Thursday- Saturday: 5pm-9pm.

Notes From A Plant Freak

November 7, 2012 |

Gardening: it is often defined in very limited terms and thought of in isolation from many activities that serious practitioners often find themselves engaging. The author is here to encourage a broadening of what is labelled under “gardening”. The following list of activities are those which are great companions to growing plants.

Composting: this should be synonymous with gardening but technically it is a separate activity. Everyone should be composting; it is the best source of soil nutrition. Even if you don’t have a lot of space, you can make a worm compost bin that fits under your sink. If you have the room, learn to compost. Also, learn to make aerated compost tea. An article on this will be in these pages very soon. But for now, Google it!

Animal husbandry: raise some chickens or rabbits or other herbivore animals. Not only do they give you eggs, meat, or just the enjoyment of having cute animals but their manure is wonderful as an activator for the compost pile and for increasing the soil nutritional and biological profile.

Cooking: obviously if you grow a bunch of food, you gotta eat it. Become a great cook. Everyone SHOULD. But these days many people have become very dependent on fast food. Be able. Learn how to make food for yourself.

Canning, Fermenting, Food Preservation: when a crop produces more than you can possibly consume at once, or even trade away, you can efficiently preserve the fruits of your labor for the future by drying, canning, or preserving with age-old fermenting techniques (like making sauerkraut) which are also very healthy additions to the diet.

Bees: don’t be intimidated. Bees are not that hard to raise. It takes a few hours a week on average to manage a hive, and armed with the right information, you can raise bees. They not only pollinate your garden, but your neighbors’ gardens for miles around. Plus, honey is awesome.

All these things, besides making you a smarter, more able person, will also help you spend less money on inferior food. Home-grown food is really the best. Once you start producing your own, your life is sure to change a lot. This might sound lofty, but engaging in these activities is also good for humankind. Skills like making food should not be lost, or left to large corporations. We should all know something about food, since we cannot live without it.

Seasonal Notes

Keep planting all your cool season crops: leafy greens, root crops, cool season herbs and legumes, garlic, onions, etc. Landscape plants that are not frost tender are best planted in fall, even if they are dormant. Prepare for frosts. They are around the corner. Keep some old sheets at the ready for those cold nights–pay attention to the low temperatures in the evening, that is when frost damage occurs, especially just before daybreak. Cool season annuals and perennials should be out in full force. You can still plant wildflowers, and if you already have, consider planting successionally: if you start a new bath every few weeks to once a month, you will extend your wildflower season considerably. This is true for all annual crops though. Don’t just plant everything out all at once.

Jared R. McKinley maintains a gardening and homesteading blog called Arid Land Homesteaders League at Plantfreak.Wordpress.com.

Tucson’s First Coffee Crawl

November 1, 2012 |

 

Sparkroot. Photo by Ryan Trayte

Much like a fine wine, coffee is a complex concoction that contains hundreds of flavor profiles that can be detected by a refined palate and appreciated in a way that most morning drinkers overlook. The sheer process of roasting the beans that go into your mug is an exact and often strenuous science that takes many years for a roast master to perfect.

To shine light on this process and the first rate coffee scene here in the Old Pueblo, Saturday, November 10th welcomes the inaugural kick off of Tucson’s Coffee Crawl. The event will showcase six local roasters who will open their doors to unveil the process of roasting beans and cupping coffee to the public.

“I’m self-employed, so I often work out of various coffee shops around town. I realized that while I love coffee and drink it regularly, I know next to nothing about it and what goes into roasting it,” says event organizer and creator Laura Adams.  “Befriending baristas, I became really aware of the specifics of coffee and how much goes into the science of crafting it and the world of flavors that exist within coffee. I decided it would be neat to learn more about it and I assumed that others would have a similar interest in it as well.”

The event will feature six local coffee makers that are all located within a five-mile radius of each other. Cartel Coffee Lab (2516 N. Campbell Ave.), Café Luce (943 E. University Blvd.), Sparkroot (245 E. Congress St.), eXo Roast Co. (403 N. 6th Ave.), Yellow Brick Coffee (cuppings served on the back patio of 47 Scott), Adventure Coffee Roasting (who will be cupping out of Brewd, 39 N. 6th Ave.) will all be part of the celebration.

“This event is really going to revolve around coffee education in a very similar way that wine tastings are conducted,” says Adams. “These tastings can open people up to new blends and flavors that they might not have known they liked. We’re going to have a lot of cuppings, which is the proper way to compare coffees against each other and get a feel for their flavor profiles. We’re going to have demonstrations and workshops on all things coffee. Each shop will have at least three scheduled events for the day.”

The event is free with the exception of a $1.00 cupping fee per shop, but the educational showcases and samples of pastries and goods are offered to all that attend. Attendees are asked to RSVP on the event’s website to secure a place. The cuppings will last 45-minutes to an hour each and will be staggered so that participants can enjoy the unique showings from each coffee house in order to build their palettes.

“I have a lot of friends who are transplants to Tucson from places like Austin, Portland, New York and other places and they started raving about the coffee scene here and saying that it rivals the scenes where they’re from,” says Adams. “It’s great because we have many local coffee shops all so close to each other, so it seemed like the perfect opportunity to open Tucson’s eyes to this amazing scene in their own backyard.”

With the exception of Cartel Coffee Lab, all of these coffee houses are located within the downtown/university area of Tucson, so attendees are encouraged to ride a bike or park in a central location in order to walk to each venue. A map will be posted on the event’s website to show the best area to arrive to get the most out of the day’s events.

“A lot of people still go to Starbucks or chains and might not necessarily know that we have such amazing local coffee. These coffee aficionados at these shops all geek out over coffee and they take great care in how they roast their beans. They even have recommendations on how to brew their coffee at home. Their passion is very contagious.”

Photo by Ryan Trayte


CARTEL COFFEE LAB

9:00am Cupping: taste and compare Cartel’s different roasts (45 min)

10:30am Home Brewing Class: a hands-on look at how to brew Cartel’s coffee in your own home (45 min)

1:00pm Comparative Tasting: In this class, you’ll take 1 kind of bean and brew it several different ways to taste how different brewing methods effect the coffee. (1 hour) 

SPARKROOT

10:15am Home Brewing Class: a hands-on look at how to brew coffee using the pour-over method

11:45am Blue Bottle 101: Sparkroot is the only coffee shop outside SF and NYC that serves and sells Blue Bottle Coffee. Listen to baristas chat about what makes Blue Bottle’s beans special.

1:00pm Cupping: taste and compare Blue Bottle’s different roasts

YELLOW BRICK COFFEE (@ 47 SCOTT RESTAURANT)

11:30am, 1pm, & 3pm Cupping: taste and compare Yellow Brick’s different roasts (45 min)

EXO ROAST CO

10:00 am: Comparative extraction analysis between two metal filtration systems, the French press and the Synesso, using the same single origin coffee.

1:00pm Cupping: Terra Coffee cupping; comparative taste analysis of grade 1 Arabica Typica coffees of similar roast profiles from three continents.

2:15pm Lecture: Ethical sourcing of EXO’s bean portfolio: roasting to accurately represent the high quality green coffees of the developing world.

CAFFE LUCE 

TBD

RAGING SAGE COFFEE ROASTERS

Coffee samples: From 9am-2pm, Raging Sage will feature samples of freshly-roasted coffees from various regions (India, Indonesia, Africa).  Each bean is roasted to bring out the best characteristics of that particular bean, from full-city (their lightest roast) to french (their darkest roast).

Adventure Coffee Roasting (@ BREWD)

9:00am Home Coffee Roasting: an interactive session using a vintage hot-air popcorn popper to roast small batches of coffee (45 min)

10:45am Aeropress demo: learn how to use the Aeropress to brew an awesome cup of coffee at home (30 min)

12:45pm Cold Brewed Coffee demo: learn the secret to making perfect cold brewed coffee.  Samples provided! (30 min)

Visit www.tucsoncoffeecrawl.com to RSVP for the event or visit them on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TucsonCoffeeCrawl

World Margarita Championship

October 25, 2012 |

Friday, October 26th, marks the 7th anniversary of one of Tucson’s signature events – The World Margarita Championship.   With Tucson being  “the center of the universe” for Agave Spirits, this exciting annual event exemplifies the culinary soul and spirit of Tucson, much of which has been influenced by our southern neighbor, Mexico.

The World Margarita Championship takes place this year at the Tucson Museum of Art located in downtown Tucson, from 6-9pm.  Over the years, the event has continued to grow from its first year at Cuvee Bistro where 100+ guests crowded into the bar, to increasingly  larger venues including the patio at Maynard’s Market and Kitchen, and now this year to the grounds of the Tucson Museum of Art where over 1000 guests can comfortably attend and enjoy the event.

The 2012 World Margarita Championship will feature 16  mixologists including 15 from Tucson Original member restaurants, and one from Mexico, all competing for the Judges Award and the People’s Choice Award using tequila provided by Tequila Penasco, Patron, Sauza, Avion, and el Tesoro.

The action begins at 6pm when the first two mixologists take to the demonstration stage to create their version of the classic margarita for the panel of judges. Throughout the evening,  guests are invited to sample all 16 margarita entries as well as food from 13 Tucson Original restaurants.  Votes submitted by attendees will be tabulated at the end of the evening to determine the winner of the 2012 People’s Choice Award.

 

The Margaritas:

2011 winners- La Fuente ( Judge’s Award) and Marinaterra Resort and Spa (People’s Choice Award) are among the 18 competitors  who will compete for the 2012 Championship awards:

Acacia Real Food & Cocktails, Agustin Brasserie, Boca Tacos Y Tequila, Bella D’Auria Restaurant and Bar, Chad’s Steakhouse and Saloon,  Cushing Street, Dakota Cafe,  Harvest Restaurant, Jonathan’s Cork,  Bluefin/Kingfisher Bar & Grill,  La Fuente Restaurant,  Lodge on the Desert,  Marinaterra Resort & Spa,  Noble Hops Gastropub, Renee’s Organic Oven, Tequila Factory, The Hog Pit  and The Parish Gastropub

The Food:

Tucson Original members Acacia Real Food & Cocktails, Arizona Inn, Bella D’Auria Restaurant and Bar, Cafe 54, Casino del Sol Catering, Chad’s Steakhouse and Saloon, Frankie’s South Philadelphia Cheesesteaks, Harvest Restaurant, Jonathan’s Cork, Bluefin/Kingfisher Bar and Grill, La Fuente, Magpies Gourmet Pizza,  Noble Hops Gastropub, Pastiche Modern Eatery and Rocco’s Little Chicago, Tanque Verde Guest Ranch will serve up margarita – friendly  dishes throughout the evening .

 

The Judges:

Jennifer English: A pioneer in culinary broadcasting, winner of both James Beard and Gracie Allen awards, a leading flavor trend expert in the country, and a Tucson treasure. A co-founder of the World Margarita Championship™ Jennifer is a highly respected authority in the world of cocktails. She recently completed the definitive book on The Manhattan Cocktail for the University of Kentucky press and is the Vice President of the New Orleans Culinary & Cultural Preservation Society which produces the Tales of the Cocktail event annually. She is host of the BOTTOM’S UP! radio show that broadcasts weekly.

Edie Jarolim is the Contributing Dining Editor for Tucson Guide, the Tucson editor for the Zagat Survey, and has written about food and spirits for a variety of national magazines, including Imbibe, Sunset, and USAirways.  She wrote about touring the tequila estates and distilleries in Jalisco for National Geographic Traveler, and she is the author of the Complete Idiot’s Travel Guide to Mexico’s Beach Resorts, which required a lot of margarita sampling to research.

David Tyda runs a multitude of food-related endeavors including the punchy food blog EATERAZ.com, “SIPS Magazine” for Alliance Beverage Distributing Company, and a slew of successful food festivals, including the Arizona Taco Festival, Tucson Taco Festival, and the Arizona BarbecueFestival. He is currently the Golf Clubhouse Restaurant Editor for “AZ Golf Insider” Magazine, and a contributor to the Food Network’s new food blog, CityEats.com. To do all this, Tyda requires a steady diet of beer, wine, and cocktails, which is why he’s a perfect judge for this competition!

Kim M. Bayne  – Kim M. Bayne: An accomplished author and writer, Kim has focused on business, marketing, technology and social media. In 2011, she expanded her writing portfolio to include the culinary scene. She is now the U.S. Southwest Correspondent for Food Network Canada’s Eat St. blog (http://eatst.foodnetwork.ca/blog/label/kim-bayne), and founder and creator of Street Food Files (@streetfoodfiles). Kim lives in Tucson, Arizona where she loves to “chase” local gourmet food trucks on nights and weekends.

Joseph Blair – one of Tucson’s home grown sports stars whose years as a Wildcat under coach Lute Olsen, led him to a successful career as a professional basketball star for many years.  An avid home cook and mixologist, Joseph is an aficionado of all things southwest including margaritas. He is also the founder of the Blair Charity Group whose goal is to create and support programs that address the priorities of the Southern Arizona community, while still helping to strengthen the non-profit sector through collaboration and consultation.

Rita Connelly – Rita Connelly writes about food, wine, cocktails all things culinary. Her work can be found at gayot.com, the Tucson Weekly and on her Facebook page, The Well-Fed Foodie. Her relationship with tequila goes back to the days when she had to use a fake I’d to get into bars. She’s excited about all the good food things that are happening in Tucson.

Robert Plotkin: An expert in the field of mixology and beverage management, with over 30 years of industry experience and writing for trade publications including Sante Magazine, Cheers, Beverage Dynamics, State Ways Magazine, Restaurant Hospitality, and Wine & Spirits International.

Admission to the World Margarita Championship is $45 per person in advance ($60 at the door on day of the event). Prior to Friday, October 25, tickets may be purchased on line at www.tucsonculinaryfestival.com  or by calling 520-304-6717.   

 Information provided to Zocalo by the Tucson Culinary Festival.

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