Tucson Local Food Fair and Farmer's Market at Rillito Park: Another BrightSpot

With this warm Spring, we lucked out and experienced a "below normal temps" Sunday.  Perfect for an outing to the first ever Local Food Fair, and, for us, a visit to the Farmer's Market regularly held at Rillito Downs Park. One of the sponsors for the Food Fair was LocalFirst/Tucson.  The breeze turned into a wind when we were leaving, but it didn't blow away the smiles or appetites.  We enjoyed a lamb pita with dilly-green beans and chocolate baklava, prepared by the Sunnyside High School/JTED Culinary Program (sorry no photo--we ate it fast, before Mark could take a picture.)

We also sampled a chicken and rice entre from Snow Peas, a "Modern Asian Kitchen" that is new to us.  We will try it out for a full meal when we are on Tucson's east side.  Check out their menu at www.facebook.com/SnowPeasAZ .

For "dessert" we each had the new pastry hit (modelled after the NY dossant), a part donut, part croissant (topped with maple bacon icing) from Prep and Pastry.  That's where I had my birthday tea and am still waiting for the owner to send me the detailed menu from it so I can post the menu with more of my birthday pictures.  Their pastry is in a photo below.  Check out their menu at www.prepandpastry.com .

The other photos are of the wonderful vegetables at the Farmer's Market.  We spent money and time and both booths featured below and got an earful of hydroponic gardening info from the enthusiastic student/gardeners from the UA. The garden is at the UA Campus Farm.

 Enjoy!!

 

 

Bentley's for Lunch: Our "get out of the computer cave" BrightSpot

One of the challenges of working at home is getting out from the "computer cave" (i.e. home office) and reconnecting with the world.  I have found myself slipping into a more solitary mode the past few weeks and, as a result, my mood shifted to match with our partially cloudy skies.

So, today, I purposefully said to my spouse, "We are going out to lunch today.  Where do you want to go?"  A friendly spot, just south Mountain Ave. and east on Speedway, is Bentley's where we know we can get an affordable and tasty lunch and order from a selection of specialty teas.  Lately, we have been adapting to our budget and waistlines and split a meal.  Here's today's special for lunch: turkey (on multigrain from Small Planet Bakery) with provolone, sprouts, lettuce and Roma tomatoes.  We ordered a side salad and, for $1.00, added a second side of fruit.

All elements were fresh and plentiful. The total was $11.00 and it was enough for both of us.  (And, we confess, we also split a fudge brownie/not pictured which was tasty to the last smooth crumb).  The energy in the room elevated our spirits: two toddlers were flitting around like butterflies, conversations were animated and, as always, the parade of patrons is worth an extended time for viewing.  Bentley's House of Coffee and Tea is also a member of Local First Arizona, so make sure you take time for stopping there and supporting one of the first local cafes in Tucson.

http://www.bentleyscoffeehouse.com/

Summer Food Fun at Jax Kitchen

In the local newspaper's food section last week, I had read about the chef's fried chicken and thought we would try it at one of her restaurants, Jax Kitchen www.jaxkitchen.com .  It is located in the same strip mall as the Alphagraphics office on North Oracle where we had just picked up the new book, Writing at the Paradise Cafe.  When we got the menu, we discovered that the fried chicken is only served at The Abbey on the eastside of town, so we had to adjust our expectations.  We did and still glad we took a chance on a new-to-us, but really five year old locally owned fun food place.  I say "fun" because they use that tag on their business card and, although it took me a few minutes to connect the "jax" with the vintage "jacks" ala childhood sporting game I used to play with my cousins, the ambiance was relaxed (flip-flops accepted), casual and the orange/black decor (with light green touches) made me smile. Another smile came as I walked to the restroom and scanned the black and white and color "snapshots" hanging on a clothesline-type wire and "clipped" on with office clips. The bar is open and connected to the seated tables but the noise wasn't unacceptable for early eaters such as are.  We also were able to  enjoy a 1/2 price appetizer.

The bar: 

Here are the photos and descriptions of our items.

Homemade chips from russet potatoes and seasoned with garlic and celery salt.  A yummy, crunchy surprise:

 

Bread, from a California bakery (wish they would "buy local"--we have great bakeries in Tucson), served with garlic infused olive oil andsea salt, seasoned with chives and parsley:

 

 

An appetizer we loved: baby artichokes flash-fried in buttermilk batter (the same batter as the fried chicken), seasoned with parmesan and chives and served with lemon aoili (note: another "fun" detail--the artichokes served in small mason jars and wrapped in crinkle paper):

 

 

Mark enjoys soups and so tried the chicken and green chili with cilantro and goat cheese bits.  The broth was seasoned with garlic, shallots, celery and bay leaves.  He loved it.

 

 

We split the entree--pan-sheared rainbow trout with orzo pasta and bacon, served with hericots verts, a sauce of blackberry gastric, fennel fronds, julienne-cut Fuji apples, blackberries and truffle oil.  Absolutely divine--and, as you look at this picture, it's a half portion!

 

 

Bon Appetit at Jax Kitchen!