I got a call from Many Hats Advertising yesterday saying that they had read my blog about Azul (see my previous post) and talked to Bill at Westin La Paloma about it. They said that overall it was nice (and they may have even used words like 'funny' and 'witty' to describe it), but wanted to make sure that Kristine & I got the full experience of what they're trying to do with Azul. As a result, Bill was kind enough to invite us back as their guests at some point soon.

I feel a little bad about it, but really appreciate their concern with customer satisfaction; I think it speaks highly of them. So expect another post about Azul in the next couple of weeks!

Kevin Hall
-TFD

So tonight was the big grand opening of the new Azul Restaurant Lounge in the lobby of the Westin La Paloma.

I was looking forward to checking them out, so Kristine & I set out to see what they had going on. The invitation said that we could expect, "...a contemporary, upscale cocktail and dining experience surrounded by dramatic blue lighting, deep lounge music, and the truly instinctive, personal service you have come to expect."

Cool, yo. It sounded hip and swanky - kinda like me (ok, not so much). I like the Westin La Paloma, and so I was thinking it was going to be good time.

Now here's the disclaimer. I was a little cranky with a few things when we were getting ready to leave, but it all worked out and there was a happy ending. Just bear with me.

Kristine started off with her favorite microbrew (ok, it was really a Bud Light, but she's too sweet to hold that against her), and I ordered the China Blue Martini, thinking that I would keep to the blue theme. The martini was Beefeater gin, St. Germain ginger liqueur (who knew they make a ginger liqueur??), blue curacao, and candied ginger in place of the olive. It was served in an individual cocktail shaker, and overall was tasty - a little on the sweet side, but I was expecting that.

We ordered two of the 50% off appetizers (check their website for some good specials http://www.azullapaloma.com): the pan-seared zucchini galette (homemade zucchini cakes, pine nuts, feta, tomato, and cherry pepper salad, with tzatziki and lemon) and the calamari fritto (tomatoes, roasted garlic, parsley finished with white balsamic honey reduction with spicy cherry pepper sauce). Kris enjoyed the zucchini, and I thought it was fine (don't tell anyone, but I'm not a huge fan of feta, so I knew it wasn't going to be my favorite thing ever). Calamari is something like our litmus test, though. We have it pretty much anywhere new that we go, so we opted for that here. I thought the flavor of the sauce was good, although not quite what I was expecting from the description. The texture of the breading was a little gooey, which I could see with it being in a reduced sauce, but the squid itself was rubbery. Kristine didn't think it was as overdone as I did, but I stand by it being too chewy.

About me being cranky - all the servers appeared to be women, and they were all wearing black cocktail dresses. There were quite a few who were circulating around the tables with drink samples and what looked like raffle tickets. They skipped over us every single time they came around. It was like we weren't even there. My pet peeve as far as service goes is being ignored, and we were totally being ignored - which was hard, considering that we were sitting in the exact middle of the lounge. Grrr.

As we were getting ready to head out, Bill, the general manager, came over to us and asked what we thought. I'm pretty sure our friends from Many Hats sent him our way, since he referred to me as 'that food guy'.*

I told him that I had mixed feelings about things and explained why. It turns out that the young women who were ignoring us actually work for one of the alcohol companies and not Azul or Westin. It's too bad that they were wearing basically the same thing as the waitstaff, because it tainted our feelings towards the actual Azul servers (who were doing a fine job). They needed a logo or something to set them apart...

Final thoughts: when we got there, we didn't get the whole blue lighting thing. As it got a little darker, though, the effect was a lot better. The 'deep lounge music' was cool - sort of thumping bass and the occasional horn. And stuff. Look, I'm not a music guy - I'm a food guy.

I'm really happy that Bill came over to chat with us. If he hadn't we would have left unhappy instead of walking away with a generally positive experience as far as Azul goes. I think we may have just had an unfortunate batch of the squid, and I'm pretty sure we'll give them another shot. Or two.

If we're hip and trendy enough, that is.

-TFD
* I'll admit it. I kinda liked being pointed out as 'that food guy'.

I was recently surprised by an email from Penelope Starr from Odyssey Storytelling. She is putting on a storytelling evening revolving around food, kitchens, restaurants, etc. called "Kitchen Confidential" at Club Congress on 12/3.

Penelope asked me to participate with a 10-minute story, but Dec 3rd just doesn't work for me. Does it work for any of you Tucson restaurant types or food enthusiasts? I'll bet Penelope would be interested in hearing from you if it does.

The initial email that I received is below. If you think you might like to participate or have questions, or have a suggestion for someone Penelope might want to contact, please shoot her an email or Tweet her @OdysseyWoman.

Thanks!
-TFD

Hi Kevin,

I follow you on Twitter and see that you have a lot to talk about when it comes to food. I am the producer of Odyssey Storytelling, a monthly event at the Club Congress where six people tell ten-minute stories on a theme. On December 3 the theme is Kitchen Confidential: stories about food and kitchens. You can see more at www.odysseystorytelling.com.

I'm wondering if you'd like to tell a story. I'm looking for something about Tucson restaurants and you seem to be someone with that kind of story.

Please be in touch,

~Penelope
www.odysseystorytelling.com
www.tucsoncitizen.com/stories
penelope@odysseystorytelling.com

Wow - it's been a super long time since I've blogged! And to think that the last thing I posted wasn't even mine. I should be ashamed, but I'm hopeful that I'll recover.

So I had lunch yesterday with a friend of mine; let's call her 'Maura'. Maura and I really like El Guero Canelo, but not too many of our compadres do.

I have no idea what's wrong with them either.

So I head over there from work and pull into the parking lot - almost running over a cameraman in the process. They were filming owner and founder Daniel Contreras on front of the original Guero Canelo taco stand. I like seeing local media covering local businesses (especially ones that I enjoy and frequent), so I waved apologetically at the camera guy and pull into a parking spot. Little did I know how wrong I was about the 'local media' part of that...

Maura arrived a few minutes later and we order our meal: carne asada caramelo & Diet Coke for Maura, very mucho burro with chicken and a Manzanita Sol - or was it a Manzana Lift? - for me. We got our salsas, cucumbers, radishes, limes, and roasted jalapenos to enjoy before the food was ready and chatted. I was really bummed they were out of the roasted green onions - they're my faves. Maura ended up biting off a little more than she expected (sorry for the pun) with one of the chiles. It was a little higher on the Scoville scale than she expected, and it about put her out of commission for a little bit. It may have been the first time I've see her sweat, now that I think about it.

But I digress.

I need to talk about the chicken at this place. I'm not really sure what it is. I mean, it's chicken-y (new word o' the day) in flavor, but it's very uniform. And kinda spongy. And cubed - very evenly. It almost unnerves me, but yet I almost always order something with the chicken. I wish I knew what it was. Wait, I take that back - that's probably best not to ask about since I like it.

Maura enjoyed her caramelo, but then again she always does. I like their carne asada a lot, and combined with melty cheese and flour tortilla and it's elevated even higher.

I'm getting hungry.

Ok, so about that scoop. After we'd finished eating Daniel Contreras (El Guero Canelo himself) came over to bus our table. Maura asked him about the camera and the interviewing, and he said there were filming a spot for CBS Sunday Morning that's going to air on 11/22. Way to go Guero Canelo!

Granted, EGC and Sonoran-style hot dogs have been getting a lot of attention lately (Bon Appetit's Top 10 Places for hot dogs, New York Times: In Praise of the All American Mexican Hot Dog), but this is going to be a great story. Check it out next Sunday!

And in the meantime, go to El Guero Canelo and have a Sammy Dog, or a caramelo, or a very mucho anything in support of this great local success story.