How Heavy The Iron (Chef) Crown!

So about a week ago I posted a fun lil blurb about the Whiskey & Smoke event at Trident III. Well immediately after leaving that gathering, I hit the long, hot and slightly dull road to Casino Del Sol to take court with the next round of Tucson Iron Chef hopefuls.

Now, I didn't mind the drive, I just plugged in the phone, set Pandora to "Doom Metal" and let the heavy riff drone melt the outland urban sprawl into quasi bearable, but the minute I stepped foot in that hotel/gambling hall I immediately remembered how much I despise casinos. And I forgot that people can smoke in those things. Yuck. Even with million dollar ventilation, the high stakes drifters passing by sucking down a Kool Mild still reeks intense for a guy like me who has never smoked and never plans to. Not to mention the kling-klang-boing of betting machines just makes past Vegas excursions when my internal system was set on "totally fxxked up" come back like a bad bad penny slot sweat of a nightmare. So I grabbed an overpriced beer, calmed down and went out to the pool area where the event was taking place.

The dusty wind of that territory was blowing and the sun beat down on chefs, sous and patrons in a late spring calamity. Who thought a food event outside in the Tucson blaze was a good idea should rethink just stations equipped with umbrellas and go for a full tarp shade area with misters at the go and enough free water to cool the internal jets of those imbibing in loads of meat soaked nibbles.

Before entering, I did see a young lady with very fake, very round boobs and I thought to myself, "Goddam casinos!" Even in Tucson, size queens looking for a sucker that just struck it rich convene. Whatever. I had some eating to do.

Now, I am not going to say who was my favorite. As an impartial blogger and writer for a large weekly publication, I kept it to myself. I will say this: There were some obvious winners and a couple of sad sad losers. But I will not say which!

But congrats to those that made it this far and good good luck.

For now let's just take a photo journey through my day at Casino Del Sol and the Tucson Iron Chef showdown.

Ugh. Casinos.

Enjoy!

Current Iron Chef, Travis Peters, and alligator pal

Mike Elefante chatting up another satisfied customer

The Gourmet Girls serving up the gourmet realness

Chef David representing the Starr Pass with star quality food

Chef Alan doing what he do

Maynard's is in the house...and by the pool

Oh look...vegetables!

Rollies just plain rules

Chef Marcus in gleeful repose

Trust the Devon (Sanner) fisherman

Chef Jeremy is on point from the Four Points 

Chef Wendy is so chef chic

CJ hamming it up to be the next Iron Chef Tucson contender

Camera, Typing and Impartially Keeping My Fingers Crossed
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
At A Goddam Casino, Spring 2018

Metal Influence: 

THE SWORD

"How Heavy This Axe"

Smokin' in the Back Room

What I love best about being a food writer here in Tucson, or just being a curious/adventurous eater (and drinker) in general, is that there are so many fun and random pop up culinary events to attend year 'round. How frikkin' fun is that?

So frikkin' fun!

On a sunny Sunday afternoon, the Tucson Originals group in conjunction with Local First Arizona held a fairly intimate gathering at the fairly new Trident III (250 S. Craycroft, just off Broadway) called Whiskey & Smoke. This was a time for some Tucson breweries, distilleries, restaurants and chefs to highlight when they can do with some of their products and pair them with some 'smoky' nibbles and goodness.

Because, hey...why not?

Its always good to see Barrio Brewery in action

It's also good to see that Trident III is doing so well because the last few concepts in that spot didn't pan out so well. In fact the one right before they moved in was open maybe a month or two before having to shut down for good.

Yikes!

But on this particular day, the regular restaurant portion was pretty bumping as was the Whiskey & Smoke event which was nestled into a jammed side area just right of the front entrance.

A corndog without the dog

My first booth stop was at Hamilton Distillers that bottle the multiple award winning whiskey series, Del Bac. Since my cover story on them and other local distilleries for the Tucson Weekly last year I have been sort of obsessed with their Dorado blend, which is sort of like drinking liquid bacon. No, serious, its like...totally amazing. With that down the gullet I was ready to sample the goods from various restaurants and chef friends that decided to come out for this jaunty shindig. 

This dessert sample was amazing

First sample was from Mat Cable of Fresco Pizza. He made this mezzelune out of burnt wheat, stuffed it with with some smoked duck and then finished with a morel and smoked whiskey cream sauce. Wow. Incredibly good. So far the "smoke" aspect of the event is off to a great start.

Next was the host, Trident III, and their smoked brisket take on a banh mi. There were so many elements involved in this dish that all I could do was nod as the list of ingredients were being laid out for me. To be honest with you, I'm a little bored with banh mi sandwiches, seeing as I eat a lot for this job, but the fact that this time it came in slider form and featured barbeque...I was alright with it. Very tasty.

Oh look...banh mi

Of course I had to get a plate of Rocco's famous smoky wings. These things are always a fun thing to have in your mouth. You know what I mean right? Yeah.

The good people of the Bisbee Breakfast Club did a sort of "corndog" but I think it was a bacon wrapped bit of fried pork belly, which breaks down to bacon wrapped bacon. It was good. Chewy, but yummy.

A definite highlight were these mandarin white chocolate truffles served with fresh summer berries and a creme anglaise from Le Rendezvous, a restaurant I have still never been to even though its right up the street from our favorite hangout.

After a few bites of meaty smoked girth, this was a midway respite as I had a few more to try out. Oh my gawd...so good and refreshing.

Yep, Thunder canyon makes their own hooch now

Now that Thunder Canyon likens itself as a 'brewstillery', seeing as they distill their own rum and, apparently, whiskey. They have something called a Mesquite Honeyshine and made a right proper old fashioned with it. What made it even better was the plate prepared by new executive chef Matt Kraiss that featured beer braised pork belly (yes, lot of pork belly today) on a house made ciabatta, drizzled with a whiskey leek cream sauce and completed by some whiskey pickled fennel. Even though I was a little pork belly'd out, this sandwich was amazing. Highly advised to put it on the regular menu...that is if it isn't already.

Finally there was Barrio Brewery that offered up their new Smoked Nolan's Porter and paired it with some fantastically sticky BBQ ribs. I wasn't too sure who would win this event but in the end the Barrio ribs took the prize. They were perfect. No really. I can totally see why they won.

Although in my eyes, and stomach, everybody was a winner.

Awwww....can we get more corny than that?

Probably.

And their own pork belly

After Whiskey & Smoke it was off to another event...but that will come later in a future Homeskillet.

Thank you Tucson Originals and Local First Arizona for putting on this event! And thank you chefs, brewers and distillers for bringing the heat. That smoky, smoky heat. You all rule.

Cheers!

Simply the best

Camera, Typing and Loving Tucson
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Late May, 2018

Metal Influence

MOTORHEAD

"Burner"

Distilled For Your Pleasure

I was fortunate enough to meet the Three Wells' owners and operators, Matt Montgomery and Chris Dudding, when I wrote my first cover story for the Tucson Weekly. It was on the local distilleries here in Tucson and all I can say their vodka is some of the best I have ever had. In fact, I even enjoyed their gin. And I hate gin.

Why do you ask.

Well, it all goes back to drinking too many gin and tonics in Hollywood, CA with a bunch of friends about two decades ago which ended up with me violently throwing up in a grimy alleyway, so the smell of gin just makes me want to gag.

Theirs didn't.

It's official!

After our interview, Matt and Chris said they were in the very early stages of opening up a craft cocktail bar in the downtown area. This was about a year ago. I told them to keep me posted so when the bar made its official debut that I would be there.

It did.

And I was.

So many components to ponder and muddle

Opening in the spot next to Breugger's Bagels at 13 N Stone Ave, Series 19, named after the license you have to obtain in order to open an offsite distillery, make drinks and to offer bottle service, is now ready to serve the good people of Tucson, and the rest of the visiting globe, quality cocktails and fine craft spirits.

Yes please

If you know me, have been following the Homeskillet or various other rantings, you know my penchant for darker, slightly "divier" bars. Being a food and beverage writer has taken me to a few mega swank and hipster affairs and I've always been annoyed and even disappointed with them. Its all show and no substance. The drinks are usually so weak and way too sugary, setting you back like 12 to 20 bucks. Why, because it took an hour to make and is garnished with flowers and a gold leafed caviar slider? Lame. But a good neighborhood bar will most likely pour you an honest drink for an honest price.

I guess I'm just not into scene-ster things. Never have been. I wonder why?

Oh yeah....I like myself. That's why.

Hmmm, decisions decisions 

So I was really happy and even relieved to see that Series 19 was relaxed, yet with a good polish.

It's a smaller space, longer than it is wide, with sanded wood as its main theme. The bar is on your immediate right, supplied with a few chairs but there are a couple of tables towards the back if you and your friends want to chat face to face.

Series 19 has the feel of a local pub but the attitude of an upscale lounge. If that makes sense? Like, the bartenders are shaking it up and look like they could be tending in a four star hotel but the stripped down approach to the style resists any pretension.

You know what I mean?

Let's move on...

Tempting

Fortunately I know the manager and head bartender, Tyler Dunn, so when I bellied up to his bar I asked what he wanted to make me.

"Our gin fizz," he said.

"Oh man. But I hate gin!"

"Shut up. You'll love it. Ever had an Orange Julius?"

"Well, yeah...I grew up in LA."

"Then shut up. You'll love it."

Watching a master bartender do their sorcery is a thing of awesome. Before I knew it, after a lot of ingredients being squeezed, twisted and beaten, I had a white snowy filled glass with a fresh orange rind floating on top. So I sat down and prepared to not like it.

Shut up, I told myself after taking a sip. This thing is delicious.

It makes a difference drinking quality spirits as opposed to those on the bottom shelf in some bleak liquor shed because I didn't even mind the gin. It all made sense. It was so good.

Okay, I'm convinced.

On to the next!

Booze flights going down

What I like about Series 19 is that it embraces all aspects and libations of the Sonoran Desert and not just Three Wells' products.

They carry Tucson whiskey wizards Hamilton Distillers line of Del Bac varieties among a bevvy of other independently produced spirits. This is the kind of, well, spirit I like from good people that own a good business. Supporting others that are in the same game as you is a big up for me and since I did get to know Chris and Matt on a certain level, it doesn't surprise me that Series 19 is something special.

The night I was there some catered food was provided but I hear that you can order charcuterie platters from sort of neighbor Johnny Gibson's Market. So bonus on that.

Sippin' on a fine chilled cocktail while eating some cured meats, imported cheeses and seasonal fruit among comfortable surroundings with good people?

Sign me the fxxk up!

Tyler the Creator

Next drink I had to try was something called a Muddler. Basically you pick your booze, then pick some fruit or veggies and herbs and they mix it all up for you in a tall mason jar like glass. This thing was glorious.

As mentioned earlier, I'm not into really fruity or sweet drinks but my Muddler, which consisted of lime, cucumber and mint, was adorable. And its big!

Knowing I had to cut out soon to meet other obligations that night, I just leaned back in a corner table and took my time with this one. Perfect for the oncoming summer scald as you watch the world go by outside hoping those in cars have their air conditioning working or those on the street remembered to apply deodorant earlier that day.

To say the least I had a great time at Series 19, so cheers to Matt and Chris for this one.

You guys are going to do fine.

Matt thanking us for coming out that night

And cheers to the good people of Tucson because you now have a better hangout downtown to relieve yourself of the pressure of having to endure another uppity gloss concept making you feel inferior for wearing shorts even though its 100+ in the shade. Series 19 obviously welcomes all seeing as my flubby shorts and Hawaiian shirt wearing self was greeted with shaking hands and warm hellos.

Oh, and cheers to Tyler for changing my perspective on gin. I'm still a vodka kind of guy but, man, that fizz was the shizz.

Congratulations Three Wells...and thanks!

Cheers!

Camera, Typing and Drinking
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
A Balmy Late Spring, 2018

Metal Influence:

HAMMER FIGHT

I Didn't Like Drinking (Until I Started Drinking)

What's So Miracle About These Berries?

What is this "miracle berry" you speak of? And why should I care?

(What's with all the questions?

Oh no! Another question!

Yikes!)

Answer is: I don't know and you can too!

Let's do this!

Actually a miracle fruit, or synsepalum dulcificum, is a berry that grows fairly wild in West Africa and when consumed makes sour foods taste sweet and vice versa and so on.

This interesting 'lil phenomenon has caught on so much that people started making and selling tablets so you can experience the flavor fun in the comfort of your own home. Or kitchen. Or prison toilet. Its up to you!

Hearing about this, we here at the Homeskillet just had to get in on that action. We just had to. It's...it's what we do.

So we purchased some tablets online, went to the farmers market to get some super fresh produce, went home and, well....here are the results.

Flavor Tripping, and it looks like a ticket...get it?

A Packet of 10 tablets set us back like $12. There are more expensive options but we are absolute cheapskates and there you go with that.

The tablets themselves are pretty tiny, like a ruddy red/brown color and are made to dissolve on your tongue in a few minutes before you do the taste test.

The tablets kind of had this bitter flavor at first, but when they started to dissolve it took on a washed out cherry flavor or like a really bland Kool Aide. Drink actually. Purple drink. Yes. That's what it tasted like.

Took almost 15 minutes to evaporate and coat the tongue and once it was gone we went to the kitchen to see, and taste, for ourselves.

Farm fresh produce about to get tongue twisted

The grapefruit we got comes from this guy that only sells them at the St. Phillips Plaza farmers market and they grow in what he calls an 'ancient orchard', like trees that have been giving fruit for hundreds of years. Yeah. Very cool. These things are super potent and very tart but extremely delicious (that is if you like grapefruit, as we do).

Biting into one yielded a reaction of  "Okay". Nothing mind blowing but, I guess, it did taste a little sweeter. I guess. But not really. We were expecting a "Oh wow!" moment eating grapefruit right after the tablet coated the tongue. It was fine I suppose.

The best part came with the limes and lemons we got from a local farm. Yes, these guys did taste sweet which was very cool. Almost like candy. We devoured so much citrus that we are now completely free of scurvy for at least a few generations.

The worst part was the strawberries. Maybe it was because we consumed a good amount of tart and sour fruit but the strawberries tasted like dirt. Very strange. The strawberries came from the same farm as the limes and lemons; they were fresh and very good but, man, that musty flavor was just really disappointing. And weird.

It was time to taste some other things!

Hot pickles goin' down

A good friend makes his own bread and butter pickles and he does them up nice and spicy. Its like part cucumber, part onion and part jalapeno in the brine. Yum.

The miracle berry didn't help with the heat but the flavor of the pickles and jalapenos were sort of sweetened a bit. Not by much though. So far this whole experiment was one big shoulder shrug.

Lets do something super spicy now!

And now for the big boy stuff

Tucson native Daniel Kinn has his own line of hot sauces that he makes at home called Heat Stroke. His spiciest has to be the ghost pepper variety. Oh man does it pack a whallop. We put some on our fingers and then on our tongues.

Yep. Hot. As. Fxxk. But all the miracle berry tablet did was make his hot sauce taste muddy. That was a let down. Then we went back to the fruit and due to all of the various flavors and textures going on, and probably because the stuff was wearing off, everything just tasted like themselves again.

Huh.

$12 eh?

Wonder what the more expensive stuff would do? Maybe we'll get into that later. Maybe...

Final thought: It was kinda cool.

Perhaps next time we'll consume two tablets. I don't know. They just didn't do all that much. The lemon and lime was interesting but all the rest? Meh. Unfortunately we didn't have ice cream or a lot of sweets on hand so we might follow up with that.

Stay tuned.

And there you have it.

Cheers!

Welp...that was a thing

Camera, Typing and Still Not Fully Convinced (But Kind of Impressed)
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
First Week of May, 2018

Metal Influence: 

HELLHAMMER

"Messiah"

The Great Pantry (and Fridge) Purge!

When I moved to Tucson in 2006 from San Francisco, my then fiance She-Ra (now wife) had been living in her small townhouse for several years already. In her 20s and living the single life, her party pad was a go to for friends and classmates to hang out and have fun. Even though, much like me, she is a loner and hates cleaning up someone else's mess. Then I move in, the partying pretty much comes to a halt and we start doing, and buying, couple things.

 To say the least our lil pad has gone through some big changes in the past 13 years but recently a new circumstance has come our way which has lit a fire, as it were, for us to make even a bigger change.

The dark back of the pantry filled with unused baking items, Xmas trinkets and crap

See, the townhome we currently live in is pretty old. Built in the 60's, equipped with an electric stove, a sizeable patio, garden space with a tree and a decent amount of storage even as small as the unit is. But when I moved in and started to collect Halloween and Xmas decorations, along with just general life stuff, that storage space got cramped, fairly quickly, enough where we have to keep Xmas decorations in big plastic bins on the deck outside and all the Halloween stuff takes up the whole back area of the kitchen pantry.

To say the least out little pad was getting a bit, oh what's the word...tight.

Just some of the sauces, marinades, oils and condiments that we have to deal with

About a year after I moved in, the old property management team installed these huge air conditioning/heating units on top of each townhouse and the results were awesome if not wrought with some problems.

Sure it was nice to go from swamp coolers to real central air (me coming from Northern California and dealing with 110 degree heat only cooled off by blowing air through a damp cloth was not, well...cool) but the weight of the air units was a bit much for some roofs.

Ours especially.

The decades of monsoons, intense summer months and general debris had weakened the upper structure and slapping a one ton iron box on it caused some damage. Through the years, when it rained, we noticed a slight leak on the corner between the hallway and kitchen. That leak got bigger. And bigger. Then when we experienced heavy rains in January this year our cozy cabin was nearly flooded.

Ugh.

A stack of donations

A team of repair guys came in to help, clean and dry the hallway and inspect the damage. One guy, after walking the run of the place and surveying the roof, came back to me only to say "Well, we have a lot of work to do here." A week later we get a message from the property management team saying that they want to move us into another unit because ours is kinda destroyed.

Destroyed? Oh man. Like literally they need to rip the roof off to fix the leak problem and gut the place due to internal warping and decay. Sucks.

So this immediately set us in a weird panic. We had been in this place for so long that we had accumulated a lot of stuff - the closets are packed in, the pantry is literally overflowing with cooking accessories, holiday decorations and cookbooks and the kitchen itself is a jumbled mess of gadgets, pots, pans, spices, etc, you name it.

Here's the thing: Not only do I have a full time day job and am the Chow writer for the Tucson Weekly but She-Ra just made service manager of Old Chicago (yay!) and had to go to Portland, OR for over a month to get trained. Plus my mom was just in town visiting for a week and we were, yeah...a bit flustered.

What used to be packed with crap, is now an almost bare floor, except for Lil Poundcake

Luckily we had already gotten rid of the big, bulky and ugly brown couch and I had cleaned out the hall closet earlier last year, so that was good. But the rest of the stuff? Yeah. Not going to be easy.

She-Ra went through her closet and tossed out about half of its contents. I did the same with my "wardrobe" and now I do not own a pair of long pants as I type this. Most of my CD collection got the heave while some others were donated to our hangout bar's, Danny's, jukebox possibilities, I kept a few while some obscure Metal ones in great/unused condition ended up donated to a local record shop.

The load was lightening, but we still had/have a lot of work to do.

Just like that inspector guy said.

We had champagne?

The daunting task was the kitchen and pantry. Dear gods of the culinary dimension, are we overflowing with cooking crap.

Looking through our dry goods, I assembled a good amount for donation. Like old soups, cans of beans, boxed mac n cheese and even stuffing, basically stuff that has just been taking up residence and not paying rent for quite some time. So its nice to actually have a shelf if I feel like restocking it. Which I'm not. Why would I do that? We're moving!

Next bit of action was the freezer. It's not that big but, yowza, was it stuffed to almost overload. I discovered some random bits I had no idea we even purchased or somehow made room for. I found a bag of sausage, possibly from my buddy Ben Forbes, who is a butcher, some White Castle burgers, bags of stir fry veggies, corn, blueberries, half eaten ice cream, Girl Scout cookies, a cup of gelato from who knows where, a bunch of chicken and vegetable stock, a box of meat lasagna, booze and a good 2 pound river bass.

River bass? When did we get that? Huh...

Most of it got thrown out, I gave some of the bagged stuff to a friend and I defrosted the sausage and ate it for breakfast one morning. It had a bit of burn but was still okay.

The fish got relocated to the fridge but then I got busy and forgot about it and had to junk it. Speaking of the fridge, I found a bottle of half n half that was dated Feb 2017. Yikes! I am still in the process of going through that part but a lot of pickling experiments, old salad dressings, Japanese mayo, condiments and half frozen whatnots shoved in the back all got booted.

Man, it is amazing what one can find when they are throwing away years of living.

Found in the freezer...is it edible?

While cleaning the pantry (which is going to take me a while) I found two bottles of decent champagne and just gave those away. There were also two magnums of good microbrew beer which I placed in the fridge for future quaffing now that there is a little more room. Some of the sauces have turned vinegary so they all have to go. We also never, if rarely, bake and we have loads of baking essentials that I am not too sure what to do with. Keep them? Donate? Toss? Not too sure. I'll figure it out later.

My cookbook hoarding has finally crept up on me as now I am in the predicament of weeding through the ones we need, ones we can get rid of and others that are nice to have around but really don't ever use. It's weird man. On my rare days off I find myself just staring into the void of the kitchen and just scratching my head wondering what to do next and what to do with it all.

One thing is for sure, we are keeping that Richard Simmons cookbook. It's old but it is so rad.

She-Ra gets back soon and I made it a goal to have the house down to the bare minimum when she does. The huge printer that sat on the desk unused is now in the hands of a good friend. Old stereo equipment that was hooked up to the TV that has been gone now for a few years can be found at the Casa de los Ninos thrift store on Mountain and Prince. Do we need all of these pots and pans? One thing is for sure, when we do move we are tossing the microwave and toaster oven in the bin and just buying new stuff. Now that the wife is making good corporate money we can splurge a bit.

So much stuff. So much to do.

Not a lot of time.

And I am, after all...just one dude.

Various meats discovered in the depths of the fridge

Here's the kicker: the townhouse they want us to move into? Yeah. Its a dump. Totally wrecked. Sure it has new cabinets, new stove and all that but the previous occupants obviously did not take care of it and probably just bolted when back rent was due. Our property manager assured us that they are going to rip out the carpet and re-do the whole place before we move in.

Umm...okay.

Recently I checked on it, as it is about a football field's length from where we live now, just a few days ago,  and the place was still trashed: doors hanging off the hinges, the crappy carpeting still mucking up the floor, dirty windows, broken patio light, so I don't think we will be moving into that unit anytime soon.

Last time I talked to She-Ra and told her the situation of our supposed "new home" she said we might just have to move on our own or even buy a house. Wow. You go Ms. new found money bags. Alright. Homeowners huh? Talk about grown up stuff!

But for now I am still in the process of giving a bunch of old and hardly used kitchen and pantry bits and bobs the heave ho. It's pretty cathartic, if not a little exhausting, but our old bitty cottage is feeling slightly larger due to the extra space. The place just feels lighter too. Plus without a lot of extra components in the fridge and pantry to cook with that just gives me more of an excuse to eat out more. Which is what food bloggers should be doing anyway. So bonus there!

Still, it's sort of sad in a weird way, tossing out years worth of memory and collection, as I sift through containers of house made seasoning and infused oils, it just brings me back to times when the two of us were hard at work in the kitchen cooking up something fun and inventive. Looks like we'll just have to make new food memories in whichever new home we end up in.

I just hope Lil Poundcake will like her new digs. But that's another story altogether.

Cheers!

Ice, stock and booze...that's all that is left

Camera, Typing and Getting Rid of Everything
"Metal" Mark Whittaker
Early Spring (Cleaning!), 2018

Metal Influence:

GODFLESH

"Streetcleaner"