Too much here to Tweet, so I'm just posting the entire email I got from my friends at Tucson Originals. You guys and gals are awesome!

WHAT’S HOT
GIFT CERTIFICATES REDUCED
The few Tucson Original Gift Certificates remaining from the June sale are now available at 50% off the face value. Purchase them on the website at http://www.tucsonoriginals.com. Certificates are valid for 6 months from date of sale. Certain restrictions may apply.

Tucson Original $20.09 Summer deals
As you make your way around town to enjoy our summer offerings you’ve still got time to try them all. Be sure and visit the website to see updates and new member offerings. Offers are good through Labor Day. www.tucsonoriginals.com

WHAT’S NEW
Members News

Fans of El Charro Café will be excited to learn about the new Fiesta de la Musica Live Music Series featuring live music every weekend (Friday through Sunday) at El Charro located at 7725 N. Oracle Road. The series will expand over the new few months to include all locations. Call 520-299-1022 for details. www.elcharrocafe.com

Congratulations to Ciaran Wiese, head Bartender and Beverage Director at Barrio Food & Drink who was selected as the winner of the “Trails of the Cocktail” Apprentice Program Scholarship at the 2009 Tales of the Cocktail event in New Orleans on July 10th. This prestigious award is given to new emerging talent in the cocktail industry and includes a trip to the Cointreau Maison and Distillery in Angers, France where he will spend several days as an apprentice with Richard Lambert, the International Cointreau Brand Ambassador. Barrio is located at 135 S. Sixth Avenue. 520-629-0191.

Enjoy Dollar Shrimp Night at Jonathan’s Cork every Wednesday. You pay just $1 per each shrimp – prepared any way you like it – fried, grilled, blackened…in the bar or in the dining room 3pm to midnight (no take out!) www.jonathanscork.com 520-296-1631

Taco Bron is hosting a Bike Ride/Poker Game on Saturday August 1st. Participants meet at the restaurant at 6910 E. Tanque Verde Road and depart at 12:30pm for Mt Lemmon, returning to Taco Bron at 5:30 pm for “Bike Night/Poker Game”. For details call 520-722-4302. www.tacobron.com

You are invited to celebrate with downtown Tucson Original members – Cup Café, Maynards Market and Kitchen, El Charro, Barrio Grill, Enoteca and Café 54 the long awaited opening of the 4th Ave underpass on August 20th at 4pm. Join us for this exciting milestone as Mayor Walkup “cuts the ribbon” to downtown when he arrives in the first Tucson Trolley to make its way downtown!

Ghini’s French Caffé celebrates their 17th Anniversary this month! Chef/owner Coralie Satta wishes to thank Tucson “for all of your support & loyalty through these years”. Ghini’s is a little bit of Provence right here in Tucson and is located at 1803 E. Prince.
520-326-9095 www.ghiniscafe.com

WHAT’S COOKIN’
the Tucson Children’s Museum

Tucson Original chefs have had fun “Cooking From the Garden” with the kids at the Tucson Children’s Museum this month. Classes start at 10:30 am – admission is $5 for kids and $7 for adults and seniors; coming up next: July 31st – Chef Addam Buzzalini from Maynards Market and Kitchen .

The museum is located at 200 N. 6th Avenue. Make your reservations by calling 792-9985. www.tucsonchildrensmuseum.org

MASTER CLASSES
The second series of the Tucson Original Master Classes kicks of on Tuesday, October 6th, and will continue every other Tuesday through December 15th. They will take place in the wonderful state of the art demonstration kitchens at Tucson Wholesale Supply at 4229 E Speedway Boulevard.

Each class will last from 6 to 8pm, culminating in dinner with the chef. Cost for the series of 6 “hands-on” classes is $600 per person and includes a notebook, recipes, dinner and beverages. Space is limited to just 10 participants and with many from the first series are already signed up just a few slots are left. Contact Colette Landeen at 343-9985 or at tucsonoriginals@gmail.com

Class Schedule

October 6
Chef Addam Buzzalini ~ Maynards Market and Kitchen ~ Classsic Cassoulet and Cocktail Pairings

October 20
Chef Albert Hall ~ Acacia at St Philips ~ Fall Harvest Dinner

November 3rd
Chef Janos Wilder ~ Janos and J BAR ~ Southwestern Holiday Dinner

November 17th
Chefs Jim Murphy and Maryanne Baines ~ Kingfisher/Bluefin ~ Holiday Desserts

December 1
Chef Jeff Glomski ~ Barrio ~ Holiday Appetizers

December 15th
Vila Jarrell and Chef Ryan Jarrell ~ Vila Thai ~ Thai Tapas

Dutch Diners Club
The next Dutch Diner’s Club will take place on Saturday, August 22nd at Bluefin Seafood Bistro at 5:00pm. Chef Jim Murphy invites you to enjoy his fabulous $20.09 Lobster Special or select from a wide variety of Bluefin signature dishes. Bluefin is located in Casas Adobes Plaza at 7053 N Oracle Rd. To reserve your seat please email Rovella at rovellrucitti@yahoo.com.

Something New at the 2009 Tucson Culinary Festival ~ Oct 1-4, 2009
We are pleased to welcome Milagro Tequila® as the title sponsor of opening event of the four day festival. The 4th Annual Milagro Tequila® World Margarita Championship will take place on Thursday, October 1st from 5:30-8pm on the patio at Maynards Market and Kitchen at the historic Train Depot in Downtown Tucson located at 400 N. Toole Ave. Featuring a “spirited” competition among a select group of outstanding Tucson Originals “mixologists”, this year’s event also will feature demonstrations and tastings with Milagro Brand Ambassador/Mixologist Gaston Martinez.

Finalists and their original Margarita entries are:

Bartender Collin Liebing ~ Acacia at St. Phillips ~ “Lila’s Tucson Tropical Margarita”
Bartender Aaron DeFeo ~ Cup Café at Hotel Congress ~ “El Camino”
Bartender Brian Metzger ~ jaxKitchen ~ “jaxKitchen Summer Margarita”
Bartender Patrick O’Brien ~ Barrio ~ “Tres Flores”
Bartender Jeffrey Hughes ~ Jonathan’s Tucson Cork ~ “J.C.’s Miraculous Margarita”
Bartender Aaron DeFeo ~ Maynards Market & Kitchen, ~ “El Tiradito”
Bartender Steven Kincade ~ Pastiche Modern Eatery ~ “The Almendrado Margarita”
Chef Janos Wilder ~ Janos/J Bar ~ “J Bar Margarita”
Bartender Maria Jose Mazon ~ Papagayo Mexican Restaurant ~ “Tango Margarita”

Guests will have the opportunity to sample and vote for their favorite traditional margarita. A panel of esteemed judges will determine which margarita deserves the title of “Worlds Best Margarita.” The “people’s choice” vote will be added to those of the judges to select the final winner. Admission to the event is $35 per person.

The following day, Friday, October 2nd, Milagro’s Gaston Martinez and Maynards Market and Kitchen Executive Chef Addam Buzzalini will team up for a fabulous tequila luncheon. Guests will learn the secrets of one of the world’s finest tequilas, and about the barrel aging that sets Milagro apart from the rest. This new Tucson Culinary Festival event will include a cocktail reception with passed appetizers, a tasting of six marks of Milagro and a two course luncheon (entrée and dessert) specially created by Chef Buzzalini to pair with Milagro tequilas.

The luncheon will be held from noon to 2:30 pm in the Drawing Room (upstairs private dining room at Maynards). Seating is limited to 35 attendees. Reservations can be made by calling 520.545.0577. Cost is $50 per person. (does not include tax)
A portion of the proceeds from the 2009 Tucson Culinary Festival will benefit New Beginnings for Women and Children and the Ara Parseghian Medical Research Foundation. For complete details on the Tucson Culinary Festival activities, weekend package ticket pricing and purchases, visit the website at www.tucsonculinaryfestival.com or call 520.488.8601

Win 52 weeks of Tucson Original Dining!
Tucson Culinary Festival Raffle Tickets are now on sale at all Tucson Originals restaurants July 1st-Sept. 25th. They may also be purchased at all Tucson Culinary Festival events Oct 1-4.
Raffle Grand Prize – 52 Weeks of Dining at Tucson Originals restaurants are the hallmark of culinary excellence in southern Arizona. The winner of this raffle prize will discover all of our member restaurants with 52 weeks of fine and casual dining.
Raffle Special Prizes –
Trader Joes Gift Cards, a $500 Value; Good at all Trader Joes locations nationwide and never expires. Six Liter Bottle of Markham Vineyards Wine, A $500 Value

Primavera Cooks!
There is still time to experience one of the 2009 Primavera Cooks! Dinners. As the season moves on, some dinners are already sold out but there are still seats at several locations if you act fast (see the list below).
Purchase your tickets at http://primavera.org/events_cooks.php or contact: David Elliott at delliott@primavera.org or 623-5111 ext. 101

Sun., Aug 9 Cup Cafe, (BRUNCH!) * NEW DATE!
Wed., Aug 19 Acacia at St Philips * SOLD OUT!
Sat., Aug 29 JBAR Wed.,
Sept 2 Maynards Market and Kitchen
Sun., Sept 13 Kingfisher * SOLD OUT!
Thurs., Sept 17 Jonathans Cork

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Do you ever see people taking pictures of their food in a restaurant and think to yourself, "Why is that person taking a picture of their food?"? I don't mean someone taking a picture of the person across the table, I mean camera pointed directly at plate.

I've wondered that, but last week I took a few pictures of food. It was slightly embarrassing, but I did it. And since I did it, I'm going to share some of the highlights with you, dear reader.

These will be in chronological order.

Day One:
I'm going to skip the breakfast at McDonald's in LAX.
Lunch was at The Crow's Nest in Santa Cruz - view was great, food was fine, but not really anything to write home (or a blog) about. We were pretty hungry by then, and would have pretty much scarfed down anything.
Dinner was at Esteban - and we just sat at the bar and had tapas. One that I enjoyed the presentation of was the Thai snapper ceviche with pear and potato chip (the menu said taro, but they changed that). I should have known by the way our server winced that we might want to pick something else, but we didn't. The only two discernable flavors were vinegar and the slightly burnt chip:

I still liked the presentation, though. The winner there was the artichoke hearts and serrano ham with tomato relish. It was fresh, the textures of the silky artichoke and the dry ham were great counterpoints to each other. It was simple and rustic, but we enjoyed it quite a bit.

Day 2:
The food highlight of the day was dinner at The Sardine Factory. Now before you yell, "tourists!" in our general direction, I'd like to say that we ate small plates in the bar with some fairly colorful locals (including one woman who wanted to buy Kristine a glass of wine). We had a couple of great items, including the Baked Monterey Mushrooms (stuffed with crab and super-good), and the Bloody Mary Oyster shooters:

We also had some grilled shrimp on polenta in a red pepper coulis, which we had to send back because the bottom was badly burnt (you can even see it in the picture!). The second one to come out was great, though. The polenta had a perfect texture, and the shrimp were cooked perfectly.



Day Three:
Wow. There was some great food this day. I'm going to go up until dinner and then stop for the time being...

Ok, breakfast was the contintental buffet at the hotel. Look, it's not great, but it's cost effective.

Then we were off to Carmel-by-the-Sea for a fun day of sightseeing, beaching, shopping, and, of course, eating. There may or may not have been some wine involved as well. Ok, there was.

Lunch was at The Village Corner, and we had a spinach salad with grilled shrimp and mandarin oranges, and crab/ricotta ravioli in a tomato pesto sauce. The sauce on the ravioli was full of fresh tomato, basil and parmesan flavors, but it way overpowered the crab filling in the ravioli. That was too bad, because that's what drew me to the dish in the first place.

We then hit a couple of places for wine: The Galante Winery tasting room where we tried some great local wines (I was very partial to the Blackjack Cab) and an argument with the proprietor over whether or not he could ship wines to Arizona. I said he couldn't, but I was wrong. Turns out the laws have changed recently so that if we were to buy it in the store and have it shipped home it would be fine.

We stopped in a Vino Napoli, which just opened the week before. They had some kinks to work out but we got great service from Alana. They specialize in building flights of 2 oz. pours, and had probably 25 different wines to choose from.

Upon a local's recommendation, we also went to the bar at The Cypress Inn for a glass. We discovered that it's partially owned by none other than Doris Day - which explained the large collection of DD movie posters used as decoration. We knew we were in the presence of locals because everyone had a 10 lb. dog on their lap. Carmel is a VERY dog-friendly place.

Ok, this posting has gone on far too long! I'll pick up with Day 3 dinner (teaser: at Christopher's in Carmel) later on.

Thanks for making it this far!

-TFD

So now that I've blown off a little steam with the post about my blogging, I thought I'd actually do one about food.

Sunday night I was feeling adventurous and decided to do something a little different. I picked up the new grilling cookbook that Mary loaned us (Weber's Real Grilling - btw, I don't get $ from Amazon for that link, it's just for reference) and decided to whip up the coffee rubbed pork loin chops with bourbon cream sauce. The rub was basically coffee, thyme, salt & pepper (1t each first three, 1/2t pepper). Oddly enough, the coffee and thyme worked well together; the coffee being more of an earthy flavor than the buzz-laced cup you have in the morning.

The real winner, though, was the bourbon cream sauce. It had a really mellow smoky flavor with only a tiny hint of the booze left. It was so good, in fact, that I wanted to share it with you:

• 1T butter
• 1/2 C finely chopped yellow onion (but I used shallot)
• 1t minced garlic
• 1/4 C bourbon
• 1 C low sodium beef stock
• 6 T heavy cream (I used half and half)
• 1t chopped fresh thyme
• S&P

Melt butter over med-high, add onion & cook until tender. Add garlic and cook 1 min more. Remove pan from heat and add bourbon. Carefully (watch for flaming!) return pan to heat. Let alcohol burn off, reduce heat to med, add beef stock & cream. Reduce to about 1/3 C (15-20 mins), stirring occasionally. Add thyme. S&P to taste.

For sides, I grilled up some portobello caps, zucchini ribbons, and russet potato. The sauce was even better on the portobellos than it was on the chops.

The coffee-chops were good, but I think next time I might keep the sauce and go for a more 'traditional' pork rub. Or not. We'll just have to wait and see on that one!

Oh, and doesn't the pork chop in the picture look kind of like a little piggy?

Really now, how lame is this? This is officially a blog post about changing around my blog.

I've never considered myself to be a luddite, but I'm starting to realize that I am. I don't know any HTML, I'm no good at manipulating images, and if I try a template and it doesn't look right I just discard it and try another one.

I'm starting to like this new look, though. It's still got a ways to go before it's where I want it, but it's definitely a step in the right direction.

And just think, as soon as it's perfect I'll be able to take over the world! Or at least talk about food in a slightly more user-friendly forum.

-TFD

PS: My heartfelt thanks to my sweetie for creating the header for me. At least one of us knows our way around Photoshop!

Yeah, I know. I'm Tucson Food Dude and I'm writing about a restaurant in Phoenix. I don't get hung up on labels. What I do get hung up on, though, is not taking an appropriate amount of pictures for things such as this. I'll do better next time and not just use a cropped picture of me really happy about getting beer.

So I'm not going to call this a review, because I'm not going back for a second meal. I would if I could, but it's a bit of a drive...

This lunch was immediately following the casting call for NFNS. BTW, I didn't get a callback from them, so I'm just going to assume that they misplaced my number (ah, the protected ego!).

Kristine's bro Jeff lives up there, so we called him up to see if he could recommend a place and meet us. He's the hippest CPA you could ever meet, so we knew he'd have a good spot in mind. His suggestion was Postino in the Arcadia area of Phoenix. I'm not entirely sure what Arcadia covers, but this place was close to 40th St & Camelback (full contact info below). It turned out to be a former post office (hence the name), with a light and airy feel. They call themselves a wine bar, but that doesn't mean that the food played second fiddle.

I was ready to blow off some steam when we got there, so I ordered one of the two beers on tap. I'm partial to an IPA, so I picked that without really knowing what it was. They were doing a special for lunch, offering a pitcher (which they characterized as 'small') for $5.00. I went with that. Turns out it wasn't that small, and I got about 2 1/2 pints out of it.... Jeff was jealous because he had to go back to work. The beer was from Odell, and it was fantastic. Amber coloring, creamy head, citrus and floral notes in the aroma, and hoppy without being ridiculous about it. My kind of beer.

They seem to specialize in panini, bruschetta, and salads for lunchtime (or maybe all the time). Kristine & I both went with the half panino/bowl of soup combo ($9.50). We both chose the proscuitto with brie sandwich and chicken artichoke florentine soup. She had her panino on foccacia, and I went with ciabatta.

The panini were described as: 'Prosciutto with triple cream brie, fig jam and arugula with balsamic vinegar and olive oil'. There wasn't a lot of arugula (in fact just a little pile in the middle, and I couldn't detect any balsamic at all. Nonetheless, the flavor combination in it was great. The sweet, earthy fig with the salty proscuitto and creamy brie was a major hit.

The soup wasn't quite as I expected. It was tasty, but none of the flavors really stood out. I expected a little more zip from the artichoke and maybe a bit more chicken (I only saw one or two pieces in my bowl). Next time, I'd definitely choose one of their salads instead of the soup.

Jeff let us know that they're really known for their bruschetta, which they have a very broad selection of. Next time I'm up that way, I'll check it out.

I should mention that the service we received was top-notch: friendly and attentive without hovering. I'll look forward to another meal there, and a chance to try out some of their extensive wine list.

Postino is located at 3939 E Campbell Ave. Their website is postinowinecafe.com, and they have full menus at the site. They have another location on Central as well.

What a day.

First off, I slept.....poorly last night (I had another word in there, but thought better of it). Couldn't get to sleep and was pretty beat when I dragged myself out of bed. Once I got going, though, things got better.

So, up at 5:00am, picked up my main supporter (and future groupie) Kristine at 6:30, and we got on the road. The casting call was at an Embassy Suites in Paradise Valley (sort of North Phoenixish), so it took us a good two hours to get there. We arrived in the general vicinity at about 8:30, got breakfast at a nearby McDonalds (you know, like any good foodie would do), and then went to the hotel.

When we got there (around 9:00ish), the waiting area had a good number of folks already hanging out. I got signed in (#27) and we grabbed a table. They were supposed to start at 10:00, but called the first two people back at 9:15. I was kinda happy about that - the earlier they start, the earlier we could get back to Tucson. Something that struck me as a little weird: some people hadn't filled out their applications yet. They picked up blank ones and were filling them out right there. Now, these were pretty in-depth 11-page apps that took a lot of thought and reflection for me to get done....

There were two producers there who called people back one at a time. Of course, we didn't know at the time that they were the producers, or what happened to the people who just disappeared. Kristine had enough forethought to bring a cribbage board, so we got in a game while we waited. I won. I tweeted off and on. I sent text messages back and forth with my daughters, who were incredibly supportive.

Other hopefuls really started showing up in force around 10:00. Shortly thereafter, there were about 100 names on the list.

At about 10:45 or so, I got my call. Producer Amy (who was extremely nice, by the way) took me back and explained what was going to happen. Basically, she asked me a few questions and taped the whole thing. Everyone got the same set of questions, and had about the same amount with the producers. That amount of time was just a little over two minutes. I could tell you what they asked me, but I'm not going to do that. I don't want to give any unfair advantage to people who might be going to the calls in other cities! That, and it went by so fast that I don't really remember what happened...

From here, they are going to review everyone's tapes and look through the applications. They'll do callbacks for their top choices, and people who get those should hear within the next 24 hours.

I've got my fingers crossed. I felt like I did fairly well, but won't know until I either hear back from them or tomorrow evening comes and I haven't heard anything.

Even is nothing comes out of this, I'm happy that we went. It was way outside of my comfort zone, and I like to challenge myself with stuff like that from time to time. Oh, we took some pictures to put up with this posting, but Kristine still has my camera. I'll get some up when I get that back from her.

We were out the door at around 11:00, and went to meet Kristine's brother Jeff (who lives in Scottsdale) for lunch. That, however, is going to be its own post. This one has gone on long enough.

If you were at the Phoenix call, or if you're going to one of the others, drop me a note and let me know how it went for you. For everyone else, keep your fingers crossed for me!

I've decided that I'm actually going to go through with it.

Tomorrow is the open casting call for The Next Food Network Star in Phoenix.

I've filled out the 11 page application. I had the professional headshots taken. I'm so ready.

Ok, I'm not really ready, but I'm doing it anyway! My honey is going up there with me for moral support and final prep in the car (hurray for great support!). I'll be tweeting from there tomorrow and I'll do a blog post afterwards with the juicy, juicy details.

Stay tuned!

Hi all!

Thank you for taking a minute to read this posting. In a nutshell, Steamy Kitchen is trying to select someone to attend a series of events on their behalf on THURSDAY. It would be very helpful if you could head over to http://steamykitchen.com/4368-julie-julia-movie.html and leave a comment in support of Tucson Food Dude (aka Kevin). I would sure appreciate it!

-TFD