The Pizza Is Strong With This One

Yes, another pizza concept in Tucson. Yes.

All we can say about that is...yes!

We've said it before and we will continue to say it: We are totally fine with pizza places opening up here. How can you go wrong with another pizza joint? Oh wait, yeah, there are actually a LOT of spots that serve "whatever" slices and pies so when one pops up that entices, delights and even surprises, all we can say about that is...

"Whew!"

But what we are talking about here is not exactly a spot, or a joint, nor brick n' mortar, or...

We'll stop there.

No, what we got here is a completely mobile pizza station and all we can say about it is a resounding:

Yes.

The maestro, Luke Smith

Luke's Neapolitan Pizza and Catering is new to the pizza block but the chef and owner is far from being green around the ears, or crust. Luke Smith was once involved, and helped get off the ground, a popular and successful "food truck" business, Fiamme, which is now a standalone at the corner of Swan and Sunrise and is doing very well.

Luke and his former business partner did not see things the way that two should when pushing a concept into the tasty stratosphere, attempting to bring them to glorious heights, so Luke split and actually left the pizza biz for quite some time to rethink what he wanted to do with his young life.

After a bit of knocking around here and there and even taking some bland job in order to pay the bills, Luke realized that he had a talent and passion for all things savory and wood fired and made a very important decision. So with a bit of luck along with some financial negotiations, he got back on the pizza wagon and began to build, well...a pizza wagon.

And all anyone can say about this is: You made the right choice.

Hand made deliciousness

Now that his former partner is nestled into a cozy spot, Luke knew that operating a mobile pizzaria would be something special here in Tucson, especially the style that he is most accustomed to making. Neapolitan pizza is essentially what pizza really is, how it got started, from a region of Italy usually associated with gangsters.

It is a thin crust made from simple dough ingredients and topped with a minimal of sauce, sprinkling of cheese and perhaps a cured meat or roasted vegetable here and there. Thrown into a well heated wood fired oven that can reach temperatures of 800 degrees, these magnificent discs of supple flavor are meant to be enjoyed for the quality of ingredients and not the sheer amount of salty messes and glop that seem to permeate so many "pizzas" that we have grown comfortable with.

Sure Luke can make you a pizza with extra sausage, extra cheese and extra sauce, but it wont be the same as his other perfected creations and just might fall off the finely charred crust and fall into your lap and your date will be all "Dude, you got pizza crotch" before taking off and leaving you there with hot drippy (yet delicious) chaos starting to seep into your underwear.

Trust the maestro here. Luke's pizzas are fantastic so leave the heavy handed muck to the corporate chains that insert hot dogs into their crust.

We know what we are talking about here.

Blorp.

Locally sourced wood makes for a perfect cook and char

It's hard work, like really hard work, and sometimes frustrating, but Luke Smith is tenacious and hungry so when you see his set up anywhere across southern Arizona, usually at breweries, sporting events and the occasional neighborhood bar, slam on them breaks and get you some.

His dough? Handmade. The mozzerella? Does it himself. That tangy yet subtly sweet sauce? Fresh made every day. What about the sausage? Yep, he makes it. Yeah, but how...

Just...chill.

In our fair city of noted gastronomy, a guy like Luke isn't going to just set up a cheap oven, slap some crud he bought at the grocery store on dough that came from a can that pops loud when you twist it open then charge you like $15 for it because, you know, overhead and supply and demand and all of those buzzwords associated with lackluster products. No. This is a guy, a kid really, that wants you to walk away knowing that you just ate something special from a business that was built from literally nothing by someone with experience and a love of all things authentic and delicious.

Honestly, we just can't get enough of him and his pizza.

His ratio of toppings to dough is absolutely perfect

But it just doesn't stop or start at pizzas. He can also fix you up a calzone, which is basically a pizza gone Hot Pocket yet far more scrumptious and less frozen aisle sadness. Stuffed with pepperoni, mozzarella and ricotta cheese, he then tops it with his signature red sauce, more mozzarella and finishes it with fresh locally grown basil. It is a beast. A tasty tasty beast.

Luke's margherita (c'mon, if you're going to make Neapolitan pizza, you have to have a margherita pizza on the menu) is delicate and full of fresh flavor. One of the best made in town, flour dusted hands down.

We personally love his pizza bianca, or white pizza. A dance of choice ingredients; his homemade mozzarella, locally bottled olive oil then completed with basil and grana cheese, which is an Italian hard cheese that is very mature and has less of a sharp flavor than parmesan but still has a bold bite. You seriously need to try this one.

Okay, lets get down to the nitty gritty here. Our go-to bit of decadence has got to be Luke's bacon and egg creation. Oh...dear...jeebus. So freaking good. This monolith served atop hand tossed dough is a white pizza but covered in wood roasted bacon and a perfectly cooked over easy egg (which is anything but easy to cook, especially outdoors among the elements). Luke then takes the egg, carefully breaks open the yolk and drizzles it all over the pie like the deviant fiend that he is. This pizza is not just for breakfast anymore. Oh no. This one covers all the meals then goes into a late night snack then somehow vortexes itself into a whole new dimension.

What comes between lunch, dinner and beer?

Not too sure, but this pizza is it.

Yep, that would be a perfectly cooked egg right there

Outside of serving up amazing pizzas and calzones, Luke is also available for catering. His prices are totally reasonable for parties up to 20 people. We've considered throwing a "party" just so he would show up and serve us.

Fine, maybe is was just Metal Mark.

To get what we are talking about and to see where Luke will be set up next, you can follow him on Facebook HERE.

Oops, forgot to mention that Luke can also make you a Nutella pizza topped with ice cream for about $4. That is if he has the stuff with him which isn't always the case. So fingers crossed when you cross paths with him.

If not, he has plenty of other fantastic options to fill you up and keep you pizza motivated.

Believe us.

For that, all we can say again is...

Yes!

Cheers Luke!

Camera, Typing and Eating
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Early Spring, 2017

Metal Influence:

TOXIC HOLOCAUST

"Burn"

The 2016 4th Avenue Street Fair: A Food Photo Retrospective!

Yes kids, it was that time again: The pre-summer 4th Avenue Street Fair, that three day stretch of food, art, food, weird household bits you never thought you needed, food, beer, food, more beer, bad tattoos, more food, heat stoke, some guy that only paints pictures of sad clowns, excessive amounts of food and beer and, of course, fun for the kids!

It's sort of a right of passage for us Tucsonans to attend/deal with the fair, mainly because it can be totally fun while at the same time be a complete pain in the butt.

You know what I mean right?

Sure there's lots of food to be eaten and gifts to be purchased, but there is the usual insane amount of people, most of whom walk exceedingly slow, and "art" that looks more like the kind of glop you'd see in some defunct buffet trough shanty that serves up drippy ham dejection to those in overalls and elastic waisted jeans.

But let's not focus on the poopy things about the fair, shall we? No!

We at the Tucson Homeskillet had a great time eating our way through the crowds and smoke and here is just a sampling of what we got into.

Check it out...

It can't be called a "fair" if they don't serve funnel cakes...right?

Just add water! 

These lil guys were actually very tasty

Just a fraction of the salsa booths that lined 4th Avenue

Smoked bacon candy? You had me at "It'll give you night terrors!"

Meaty treats that are neat to consume

Piles and piles of deep fried...everything

Steamed noodles and veggies was actually a nice break from the meat heavy fare

Beefy dudes beefin' it up

Unicorn droppings...on a stick

This guy's cobbler was solid

And my Patronus is a sack of pork cracklins

Sooooo much kettle corn, like soooo much

Deeeez spiced nuts?

Um. 

Not food but tasty indeed, our good friend Monica who owns the Rustic Candle Company enjoying the smell of smoking pork

Work those skewers...work them!

Too much going on in just one picture

Dry rubbed and slow cooked, this stuff was awesome

Meat

And...more meat!

A well needed video game respite courtesy of Generation Cool was enjoyed after the grilled carnage we were enduring 

And then...more meat!

Honestly, La Indita served up some of the best food that day, a welcome break from fried bits and weighty smoked flesh

And, of course, you always have to get your cup of free water, courtesy of the 4th Avenue Church to wash it all down

Thanks 4th Avenue Street fair....see you next time!

Eating, Typing and Camera

"Metal" Mark Whittaker

First Few Days in April, 2016

Metal Influence:

DECAPITATED

"Carnival Is Forever"

No real Southern inspired BBQ in Tucson you say? Forget that...Mr. Cookmans is here to the rescue!

When I first moved to Tucson over ten years ago, for some reason I thought I was relocating to a bar-be-que mecca. It's the Southwest thing I suppose; me being a Northern California kid I just had this image of steaks and ribs being turned and burned over wild fire spits, their juices running, hissing as they touch down on the coals with slathered wet rubbed skins crisping as the pit master perfectly angling them on the grill sending a quick flame up from the oak and mesquite wood smoldering below. 

Yeah, what I got was...not really that. 

Okay, I was lucky enough to find some outposts most would deem "dive bars" that know how to cook a good slab of meat, the occasional BBQ joint that served up some authentic fare but then they would go out of business and then the chain places everyone seems to like/accept that, in my humble 'que opinion, were not even close to the previously mentioned idealistic vision I had splayed in my wet and/or dry rubbed deprived mind. The seemingly one game in town, that for some reason always wins best BBQ in Tucson (which I wont mention here by name), is a constant disappointment, along with being really over priced. So what's a big BBQ fan living in the Old Pueblo supposed to do?

Because of my constant disappointment, one morning I went out and bought us a way-too-big-for-our-patio grill/smoker and we just did it ourselves. But...it wasn't the same. Our grilling was good but not like the miracles I have had in Texas or the deep south or a small place in some ramshackle strip mall just off Cienega Blvd. in Los Angeles, owned and operated by some southern transplants that brought ma and pa's secret chicken rub to the big city, a recipe that's been handed down from generation to generation. 

THAT is the kind of BBQ realness we have been craving. 

Are you ready Tucson? Because here it comes...

So when I heard about a food truck going by the name of Mr. Cookman's, claiming to offer up "real New Orleans style BBQ" I just had to find out for myself if this outfit was the actual deal. 

It didn't take long, just a bite or two mind you, for me to render this fact as law:

Yes. Yes, this is the BBQ I have been looking for. 

The ribs were coated in a sweet and zesty sauce and the meat peeled its way from the bone without even asking it to. The chicken had this smoky appeal and was seasoned with a definite southern influenced spice rub. And the sausage. Oh, the sausage had this hearty snap when you bit into it and was by far the best I have had in quite some time, probably since my travels through the south. And don't even get me started on the pulled pork sliders. Holy nards...

All I could say at that point, after much 'que carnage, was "Thank you Mr. Cookman's. You my only friend..."

Small menu, big decisions

Mr. Cookman's is owned and operated by a New Orleans, LA native Jonathan Hebert who runs the bright orange truck only on weekends since he has so much going on outside of cooking and keeping the lights on. 

"I'm actually in school right now working on a Ph.D in Business Administration," he informs as the works the line in his truck and the hungry line forming outside. "In fact, I'm actually an Electrical Engineer, which brought me to Tucson in the first place back in 2007 working for a defense company. I'm more on the management side now but I still have a passion for the technical aspects as well."

Mr Cookman's devotees lining up

With that knowledge thrown at me I had to know how it came about for him owning a food truck. 

"It's crazy", he mentions with a grin. "I was attending a conference for a fraternity in Baton Rouge and some friends and I were discussing business moves and such. I told them I saw this guy selling food out of a truck in Tucson and thought that would be a good idea. The next day we see this old grill in a field of grass, all rusty and huge, and thought it was funny because we were just talking about starting a food business. Around this time my fraternity was hosting a large block party in downtown Baton Rouge serving all kinds of food for the people. On our way to the party my friend just slams on the brakes of his car because the car in front of him, that we were following to the party, did the same. Turns out there was this old van parked in a field next to a barber shop and my friend says 'Y'all have to try this man's food'.

"There was this guy next to the van selling food plates. I bought a plate and I said to myself as I'm eating this man's food it was no coincidence that I would start selling food myself. Two weeks later I sold my first two lunch plates to some friends outside of the Tucson mall. At first I sold food out of my old Cadillac but business started to grow so I had to buy a truck. The rest is history!"

Jonathan first takes the orders then makes the orders

Now that Jonathan had the truck, he now had to come up with a name for his new and expanding business. 

"I was doing a Vlog for one of my social media sites at the time to let them know I was selling food," Hebert explains on the origin of Mr. Cookman's. "I was just saying stuff off the cuff and out came Mr. Cookman's. The name has been with me ever since and I'm always surprised at how many people address me as such when I'm out in public."

Slow cooked to perfection

Busy with school, busy with life and now busy with the truck, I asked what a typical day for him looks like.

"I'm usually up at  6am," says Jonathan lifting ribs out of the warmer. "I check emails, my calendar, social media and then I'm off. After work I usually write a few pages of dissertation for school and I'm hopefully asleep by midnight or even 1am. Food selling days, I am only focused on the business. Once I'm dressed I hit my commissary to start cooking. I load the truck and head out to the site and start setting up. 

"This is when I am in 'my space'; every problem in the world disappears when I am selling food. Time dissolves, nothing distracts me - just me, my food and my customers. I am so blessed that I always sell out."

Winner, winner

"Mr. Cookman's was not my first business," he mentions with a bit of a sly smile. "I guess you could say I've always had that "hustler" spirit since I was young. Believe it or not I have about two decades worth of selling things and I'm only 34 now. 

"In grade school and high school I always sold snacks to my fellow classmates. If I needed something I worked hard and saved to get it. In college I used my experience of selling snack foods into selling computers. Now I'm back to selling food. 

"I guess I've come full circle."  

Jonathan coming full circle with flavor

Here's the thing: outside of all the 'business' aspects, the 'hustling' and selling, Jonathan knows how to cook food. Like I said earlier, his BBQ was some of the best I have had anywhere. So he had to have gotten those skills somehow.

But how?

Smoker doing work

"I think it grew out of being in the Boy Scouts,"  Jonathan muses with a grin about what got him into cooking. "We were on a camping trip and we all cooked this simple dish, 'chicken in foil', which was seasoned chicken, with onions, wrapped in foil and cooked over hot coals. For some reason that flavor always stuck with me. I tried to do it in the oven years later but it just wasn't the same. I realized that it was the coals that gave it all the flavor. Since then I have been a fan of anything BBQ related. And I watch a lot of cooking shows."

Servin' it up to another lucky customer

It seems that Jonathan and I have a lot in common: we obsess over real BBQ and watch way too much Food Network. We chatted about some of the BBQ cook-off shows that we both love and I had to ask what makes New Orleans style BBQ its own trait and technique?

The snap and texture on these things was insane!

"To me," he says gesticulating wildly over a grill sizzling with sausages, "New Orleans style can be described the same way you describe New Orleans food in general - savory, spicy with a hint of Creole and Cajun flavor. The key to New Orleans style cooking is the use of cayenne pepper, Louisiana sugar cane, and a special blend of hardwoods which I use to for infusing smoke flavor into the meats."

Amen to that my man!

Sausage, beer and mac 'n cheese: in repose

Now flushed with knowledge of Louisiana style BBQ, I had to ask what he considers his signature dish. 

"Oh man, it's hard to pick out a signature dish," Jonathan admits as he rubs his gloved hands together. "I must say it's got to be my best seller which is the pulled pork sliders. However the ribs and fried chicken do have a cult following. Honestly I treat every dish like a signature dish. If it does not pass my taste buds," he proudly proclaims, "the public will not see it!"

Having tried all of the above, yes, it would be difficult to pin down a signature dish from this man. All of them distinct, all of them tasty and succulent in their own way. I would have a hard time picking one out. But I don't have to. 

I'm just the eater and writer here...

Handsome boy modeling school ordering it up

"Actually, I'd have to say the fried chicken, but I say this with a grain of salt!", chimes Hebert lifting a stern finger in the air when I asked what his favorite item to cook was. 

"I like the fried chicken because it's not easy to cook. You have to watch it and make sure the temperature is constantly under control. It requires the most attention and love...and I believe you call that 'soul food'." 

I just used that roll to sop up my tears of joy

With the growing population of food trucks happening here in Tucson, the competition is getting fierce. Not that Jonathan has much to worry about because his food is simply incredible and he is basically one of the only real mobile BBQ options in the area. But running a food truck is hard work and he had this to say on what drives him to do it. 

"It's the challenge," he concedes. "It's the pride of ownership but most importantly it's the ability to give more. The challenge of being a small business owner is to figure out how to be one of the small businesses that can help drive the economy and help provide opportunities to others."

Good words from a very good man. 

You can taste the joy Jonathan puts into his food

Now that he's been in Tucson for a while, and this being the Tucson Homeskillet, I had to know what Jonathan thought about the food culture here in the Old Pueblo. 

"Believe it or not," he says dishing up a pile of beans, ribs and his seven cheese mac 'n cheese for a patron, "the amount of restaurants here in Tucson is comparable to the amount of restaurants in New Orleans. I seem to find new spots every month or so. You could go somewhere new everyday and get a taste of foods from different cultures. However, I do see some voids in the marketplace and, well, some of which I plan to capitalize on in the future."

That hustler spirit will never diminish. 

Bow before rib mecca

Speaking of the future, here's what Jonathan had to say about his upcoming plans, projections and prospects in times to come. 

"I would like to get my products in high schools, universities and grocery stores," he claims. "My plans outside of cooking is to open another business that is focused on personal finance and savings. I get asked all the time: 'How do you do it? How do you open a business that makes money?' 

"My philosophy on business is a more "down to Earth" approach than anything you can read in a textbook. So it seems only right that I provide my service into those interested in learning business. Overcoming the low points is the only way to grow a business. But I have many repeat customers that swing by the truck then go home to spend time with their families. People are actually creating moments with my food!

"And that...is a definite high to me."

With that, and me on a meat and food high, all I could do at that point was thank him, thank the Boy Scouts, thank his friends for pulling over and eating mystery grub from some dude in a van and thank his ever present hustler mentality. Jonathan and Mr. Cookman's may have different plans for the future, but as far as the present is concerned, we can all appreciate his gift of BBQ right now. 

Cheers!
 

Metal Mark in his natural habitat: a food mess

Camera and Typing
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Late Second Week of October 2015


Metal Influence

Down

"NOLA"