Crave AZ's delicious Arizona Grand Tasting

October 26, 7:07 PMPhoenix Farmers Markets ExaminerSarah Parkin

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Food and wine booths at Crave Arizona's Grand Tasting

Photo by Dave Parkin, Sparkin Productions

Rays of sunshine beamed down The Arizona Grand Tasting this past weekend, the culmination of three days of Crave Arizona in Scottsdale this past week. With weather like this, there was a nice breeze for those standing in line to enter when the event opened at noon. With forty of Arizona’s best chefs and restaurant properties, along with over 200 wineries and beverage purveyors, there were plenty of samples to enjoy. Cooking demonstrations by celebrity chefs, beverage seminars, and book signings were also included in the ticket price.

Vanessa Myers, with sponsor Food & Wine Magazine, introduced the guest chefs presenting cooking demonstrations.

Chef Rodriguez from deseo at the Westin Kierland in Scottsdale showed the crowd of guests and other chefs showed his method of creating cassava flatbread with seared Kobe beef and truffle aioli topped with caramelized onions and baby arugula. He talked about how he develops menus by listening to what customers want to eat and what foods they remember.

Chef Sam Talbot, a Bravo’s Top Chef finalist and Season 2 fan favorite, made raw tuna with buttered toast and grapefruit. “When something tastes flat, it’s missing either salt or some kind of acid,” said Talbot as he squeezed grapefruit juice over a piece of tuna and sprinkled it with salt. He will be opening Mondrian Soho in New York next summer.

Patti Sasso, attending the event with her husband, Felix, appreciated Talbot’s demonstration. “He was not only very informative, but had a good relationship with the audience.” Sasso’s friends, Denise and Al Wassenaar, from Chicago, attended the event and bought tickets for the Sassos. The ladies agreed that Talbot was funny and good-looking. All the chefs took questions and told jokes for the crowd.

Other cooking demonstrations were presented by Stephanie Izard, winner of Bravo’s Top Chef Season 4 and Food & Wine’s 2009 Best New Chefs Jon Shook & Vinny Dotolo.

The folks from Travelocity were there, offering to take photos of participants with the famous Travelocity gnome.

The Wrigley Mansion offered bacon wrapped dates stuffed with chorizo. BLT Steak gave out spiced Kobe skirt steak with chimichurri. Chef Eric Abaloz from Cowboy Ciao offered pork belly with smoked paprika-cured pork on apple butter toast topped with apple coriander salad. Olive and Ivy presented veal and spinach ravioli with golden raisins and truffle essence topped with chive oil. They were all outstanding.

Wines and liquors and liqueurs showed a definite trend toward the local and organic reflecting similar trends in the food movement.

Sandra Calvert, a National Accounts Director with Phillips, was advising guests on the best way to sample Prairie Organic Vodka. She explained how to place vodka on the center of the tongue and let it roll off the sides, then breathe in and breathe out.
Crave Arizona highlights local chefs, artisans, and one-of-a-kind dining experiences. It allows food and drink purveyors to offer a small taste of their many talents, and attendees to sample many restaurants all at one time. At the same time, Crave is a non-profit event and a portion of ticket proceeds benefit Food & Wine’s Grow for Good and Scottsdale’s Waste Not. Additional information on these programs is available at www.wastenotaz.org and www.foodandwine.com/growforgood.

Other Crave Arizona events on Thursday and Friday included the Crave Arizona Kick-off Party, Taste of Art ArtWalk, Taste of Art Gallery Dinner, National Top Bar Chef Competition, Library Wine Tastings, Savor Scottsdale Wine Luncheons, and BBQ & Bubbles.