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Meat that matters: Proper Meats + Provisions serves up award-winning deli sandwiches

Best of Flagstaff 2022

Story and Photo by Gail G. Collins

From a market of butcher stalls in the 11th century to the meat-packing industry in the late 1800s to the apron-clad neighborhood butcher, armed with a cleaver and advice on supper, meat has mattered. In the past, sourcing, sustenance and sustainability were not always considered, but together, they yield superior protein and products.

Such are the aims of Proper Meats + Provisions on Route 66 in making one heck of an award-winning deli sandwich.

“The sandwiches are ridiculously big,” says owner Paul Moir, “because that’s what I want to eat.”

The fried chicken po’boy is piled high with house-made smoked andouille, slaw and spicy remoulade made with guajillo chili. It’s as good as it gets outside of New Orleans. Sweet and spicy wings on mizuna greens go Asian dressed with roasted garlic and toasted sesame.

The signature PMP cheesesteak is shaved, tender roast beef with triple peppers, onions and provolone on a hoagie. The pastrami is the best-seller for a reason. It’s an eight-day process of brining, smoking and steaming the higher fat, flavorful briskets. A peppery stack of meat with Swiss on grilled bread makes for a melty meld with fries and a pickle spear.

The sandwich list is long, including Ahi tuna salad, a daily sausage special and classics like a turkey club, Reuben and roast beef. Other options include a layered Cobb salad or loaded fries, BBQ chips or wings to nosh with a local brew.

The artful butcher offers specialty cuts of meat which can be traced back to the source and curated products not commonly found in big box stores.

The Annex Cocktail Lounge pushes the envelope with their high-end drinks and unpretentious atmosphere

Best of Flagstaff 2022

Written by Gail G. Collins

The classic cocktail resurgence has been blooming like the floral note in Earl Gray-infused gin for the past 20 years. A stylish spirit with a dash of bitters and a twist, served in a sparkling glass is elegant and as attractive as the barkeep who suggested it.

As history repeats itself, gin is the rage again. And why not? There is no spirit with as storied a history.

Keeping it classy, James Bond drank a gin martini, while Gatsby, Bogart, FDR, WC Fields and Hemingway routinely turned to gin. Even the drinker’s rallying cry, “It’s five o’clock somewhere,” refers to gin.

Other elements add dimension to a drink, harmonizing flavors. Bitters, a blend of herbs and roots distilled in alcohol, perk up champagne cocktails, Manhattans, rum punches and more. Smoke, infusions, aging, fruit and heightened creativity all contribute to decoctions that harken back while pushing the envelope.

Looking for such “art in a glass?” Try Annex, winner of the Best Cocktail. Established in 2010, the playground has evolved into Northern Arizona’s premier cocktail lounge. Its speakeasy vibes are echoed in the smartly-attired bartender, tasking bottles from iron shelving and pouring behind a steel bar. Brick banquettes butting wood tables afford groups a place to gather. And parties can spill onto the enormous patio.

“We serve high-end cocktails in an unpretentious atmosphere.” Simply put, general manager Ryan Bailey says, “Annex is a neighborhood bar with the best cocktails in the state.”

Atria’s open kitchen offers a new perspective on fine dining

Best of Flagstaff 2022

Story and Photos by Gail G. Collins

Our generation was raised on the interplay between TV celebrity chefs and the home-cooking experience. These chefs would enter our homes and, each night, demonstrate their culinary skills to us and millions of other viewers around the nation, and as a result, our kitchens occupy an important space in our homes. It’s no wonder that open restaurant kitchens would magnify this appeal. The chance to sit next to a kitchen of busy cooks, to see a meal flambé, to hear the sizzle of a hot pan and feel the dynamism of a team in action. We lean in. It lures us. They are on stage, and we are the engaged audience.

It was actually this camaraderie and energy that first attracted Rochelle Daniel to cooking at age 15. The Phoenix native made her mark at Scottsdale’s Fat Ox. She was a finalist on Food Network’s Chopped Grill Masters; touted as one of the Valley’s “Top 5 Sous Chefs” by the Arizona Republic and “Best Sous Chef” by AZCentral before her induction into the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame in 2017.

Daniel took her cred to L’Auberge de Sedona to revamp and rebrand the property’s restaurants. There, she fell for Northern Arizona, and a partnership with Karan and Kunal Patel plus Barry Levitan created Atria. The hyper-seasonal spot opened last December.

“I swore I would never do an open kitchen,” says Chef Daniel. “The loud intensity of the kitchen should be hidden.” And of course, Atria hosts a grand bar, Chef’s Counter, which corners its open kitchen. With a laugh, she adds, “This kitchen can give guests a show without disturbing them—our staff is on stage.”

The vicarious chef reminds staff not to hustle too much—even as they keep preparation on track—because guests pick up on the anxiety and will feel the need to move on. Her focus for them is to “embrace and enjoy the moment.”

Daniel reflects, “We offer guests a little bit of grace and inspire them with attention to detail as they celebrate important moments in their lives.”

General manager Darva Fields, with a similar resume as Daniel, aims to elevate the service at Atria. Chef Maribel Silva, who attended school with Daniel and a team player since, and Chef Anthony Suazo comprise core staff and know how Daniel needs things done.

It’s all paid off with Best of Flagstaff wins for Best Fine Dining and Best New Restaurant for Atria.

Main Street Catering fulfills the most challenging event needs

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, December 2022

Story and Photos by Gail G. Collins

Why cater an event when so many restaurants offer meal services? Foremost, the adaptability of a full-service caterer is prepared for the inevitable challenges that arise. Their staff is experienced in the nuances of synchronizing guests’ needs as well as refilling the chafers. A comprehensive caterer also provides all that is needed for an event from the menu and the equipment to cook and serve food to all the dishes, linens, utensils and decorations. And lastly, they aren’t limited to a restaurant’s fare, but can address a variety of cuisines, settings and personal preferences.

Since 1988, Main Street Catering has been fulfilling event needs, ranging from family barbecues to whimsical weddings with gracious service and a down-to-earth take on formal dining. Their abilities extend to gourmet dinners for 20 to receptions for 300. Whether it’s buffet lines, food stations or butler-passed plates, their crew can bartend and provide the amenities that create effortless events.

On a fall day, a van arrived, loaded with storage tubs, milk crates, racks of glassware, water pitchers, coffee pumps, bread baskets, heating trays and lamps, vast groceries and much more in addition to all the elegant touches necessary for a impressive wedding day. Main Street Catering is on the scene, literally doing all the heavy lifting, set-up, cooking, serving and clean-up.

The owners are siblings with complementary skills. Partners Alexis Holle and Jyllian McIntire have worked alongside Stewart Holle to cater 100 events this year, where weddings built the bulk of business after COVID had put life on hold. In early 2021, the sisters took over the business from Dave McGraff, for whom they had worked over the years, so they were intimately familiar with the operations. In fact, it was one of Jyll’s first jobs.

“Dave gave us a great foundation to start with,” says Alexis. “We worked out the kinks and found room to grow.”

The gals enjoy the learning curve of stimulating activities, where a party is still a party, but no two are identical. At times, they stage away from kitchens and civilization, such as the Grand Canyon’s edge.

Continue reading Main Street Catering fulfills the most challenging event needs“

Easy as pie: Flagstaff’s Pie Guy dishes up tips, tricks and sweet confections

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, November 2022

Story and photos by Gail G. Collins

Life is full of contradictions, but much less flush with splendid pies. Take the refrain “as American as apple pie;” it belies the pastry’s primitive, roaming roots. The Egyptians began pie craft, but it was the Romans, who penned the first recipe for rye-crusted goat cheese and honey pie.

Originally, pies were savory, often made of fowl with legs hanging over the edge for use as handles. By the 14th century, “pye” was a popular word in Europe.

Fruit tarts or pies eventually made the pages of cookbooks in England in the 1500s as Queen Elizabeth I happily tucked into an inaugural cherry pie. The English settlers then imported pie to America, but notably, these early crusts served merely as vessels. Made in rectangular forms, they were known as “coffyns”—divulging their desiccated function over flavor.

As the American Revolution cut ties with Britain, a more perfect union of states was formed alongside the desire for a more perfect crust.

Any pie worth its filling is fashioned within an alliance of a tender and flaky shell. Delicate, yet strong, the crust restrains the goodness, yet yields to the fork. Hands down today, the most popular pie is apple, so coming full circle, perhaps, the phrase rings true: As American as apple pie.

In 2019, more than 50 million Americans bought frozen pie crusts, and more than 40 million opted for the refrigerated product. The legacy of handcrafted pies is seriously at risk.

Continue reading Easy as pie: Flagstaff’s Pie Guy dishes up tips, tricks and sweet confections“

SaltRock Southwest Kitchen Cocktail Pairing

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, October 2022

Story and Photos by Gail G. Collins

Cocktails have made a comeback in all the best ways, not serving merely as an aperatif or digestif. Today, there is no need to order wine with a meal when a classy cocktail pairs perfectly.

“Cocktails are complementary to cuisine,” agrees Ardi Dulaku, assistant director of food and beverage at SaltRock Southwest Kitchen. Cultivating locally inspired fresh ingredients, he adds, “Cocktails are a really good dance partner.”

Harmonizing flavor profiles is key with the choice to match or compliment qualities in a dish. Acidity in a drink can slice through fattiness while a beverage’s floral or herbaceous aspects can emphasize the savory or vegetal elements of food.

Also, consider crafting a cocktail around a base spirit the way a smoky mezcal embraces chocolate.

“In the Oaxacan Negroni, the mezcal is infused with cocoa nibs, which releases fat for a silky mouth feel, like mole,” Dulaku said.

Or focus on reinforcing an ingredient, such as apple. SaltRock juices a green apple over a guest’s selection of spirit with lemon oil on ice as a cool concept. “A green apple has the perfect structure of acid, sweet and fruitiness to balance any spirit,” Dulaku suggests.

Finally, stacking cuisine and cocktails ethnically also heightens the senses as a margarita echoes the generous squeeze of lime on tacos.

SaltRock Southwest Kitchen is the signature restaurant for Amara Resort and Spa in Sedona. Tucked along the banks of Oak Creek Canyon, the resort offers Southwest sophistication instilled within a modern interpretation of Sedona’s Native American heritage, embodied in its services, amenities and aesthetics. Consistently named one of the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hotels,” Amara offers 100 spacious guestrooms and suites that blend unique design elements with the landscape.

A healthy getaway: The Hyatt Place Page/Lake Powell offers guests an active and delicious retreat from everyday life

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, September 2022

Story and photos by Gail G. Collins

Page is a humble place, which belies its centrality to desirable destinations. Despite its openhearted residents and vast, surreal beauty of Lake Powell, Page can be overlooked, even by Arizonans, who don’t boat. That’s a mistake.

An adventure in its own right for hiking and kayaking, touring an otherworldly slot canyon or simply taking in a fiery Arizona sunset, Page also famously claims the title, “Heart of the Grand Circle of National Parks.”

The Grand Circle includes Zion, Bryce, Capitol Reef, Canyonlands, Arches, Black Canyon of the Gunnison, Mesa Verde, Petrified Forest, and Grand Canyon National Parks, covering the states of Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. Two weeks minimum is recommended to appreciate them at one go. Camp in them, or better, seek upscale accommodation at Hyatt Place Page/Lake Powell as base camp. Seven of these parks are within two-plus hours’ drive.

Hyatt Place opened in 2018, thoughtfully evolving its distinctive brand there. Unlike other business-centric properties, this hybrid Hyatt caters to sightseers from California first, then locally and globally. In fact, an enormous, unexpected uptick of foreign guests booked a stay this summer. Typical of travelers, a Belgian guest ticked off his favorite sights over three days: Horseshoe Bend, Glen Canyon Dam—intriguing his electrical background and touring Lake Powell by boat. Like most, next, he is off to Grand Canyon. His family enjoyed the warmth and accessibility Hyatt Place promotes.

The airy hotel is classy and modern in clean lines, stacked stone, black iron, dark neutral tones, chic patterns, thoughtful ornamentation with art highlighting the area’s attractions. Despite the two-story grand space, it is welcoming, drawing guests past a wall of windows to a grander view of the horizon. Intimate spaces allow privacy, while endless clutches of couches, dining tables and outdoor seating invite one to linger longer. And they do. Above the patio and lounge areas, flanked with cozy fire pits, a heated pool awaits a dip.

Hyatt Place contains 102 rooms over three floors, some with suite arrangements to seamlessly transition from work to play to rest. A meeting room presents a party space or place to host National Parks’ annual meeting. The Fitness Center will get your steps up. Better yet, get outdoors.

There are nearby family hikes to Hanging Gardens or Potato Hill. General Manager Nadia Santacruz says, “No need to drive, grab some water and go.”

Matters of Taste: Josephine’s Modern American Bistro celebrates their 20th anniversary

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, July 2022

Written by Gail G. Collins

An anniversary is meant to be celebrated. Doing so demonstrates the event was significant. It also gives us the chance to reflect and push forward. Importantly, an anniversary nudges us away from our daily work to honor and rejoice in its results.

For Josephine’s Modern American Bistro, twenty years of business has added up to some well-deserved praise. Diligent and happy patronage voted it Best Fine Dining this past year, and chef-owner Tony Consentino earned the title, Chef of the Year.

Alongside his wife Marlene, Consentino said, “We’re present on the premises every day with administration and cooking. Marlene takes care of the intangibles—hugs and behind the scenes help, adding warmth.” He attributes Josephine’s appeal to, “the atmosphere and consistency of customer service and food.”

Like the landmark it is, sitting above downtown Flagstaff, the bistro exemplifies a relational tie to the historic home in which it resides. The Craftsman home was once owned by John Milton and other noteworthy figures. Built in 1911 and faced with native, volcanic malpais, it is listed on the Register of Historic Places. Like the home, Josephine’s has stood the test of time as a treasure in the neighborhood.

“We haven’t sat on our heels,” said Consentino.

Atria has entered the building: Long-awaited fine dining spot opens in Flagstaff

Northern Arizona’s Mountain Living Magazine, May 2022

Story and Photos by Gail G. Collins

Al fresco dining layers in sensual aspects, buoying our mood while lowering our stress. Atria, the newest gastronomy venture in downtown Flagstaff, transcends the garden party. Subtle shades of blossom and sage reflect the expectancy of spring. The theme of flourishing and floral carries forward in wallpaper, pale wood with cream leather chairs and a wall of stacked, snowy rock, studded with succulents. Booths of velveteen and textured cotton wrap around pebble inlay tables mingling with intimate, candlelit seating for two. It’s a pastel, playful, yet elegant, jardin serving farm-fresh, modern fare.

The long, taupe, stone bar solicits patrons to sip a glass of rosé or splash out on bubbly. Or catch a quick, interactive bite at a barstool cornering the open kitchen. It all leans French and begs brasserie. It also delivers as the latest conception from award-winning chef and partner Rochelle Daniel.

The Phoenix native made her mark at Scottsdale’s Fat Ox. She was a finalist on Food Network’s Chopped Grill Masters; touted as one of the Valley’s “Top 5 Sous Chefs” by the Arizona Republic and “Best Sous Chef” by AZCentral before her induction into the Arizona Culinary Hall of Fame in 2017.

Daniel began cooking at the age of 15. While employed at a country club, she peered into the kitchen and longed for the camaraderie there, so offered herself as a cook. Despite lacking any skills, she was hired for her interest and honesty. It was a pattern that would grow her proficiency.

Post-high school, Daniel entered Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts in Scottsdale. The career-focused school prepared her technically, but multiple part-time cooking positions reinforced capabilities. Catering challenged her, but trailing at Zinc Bistro presented the biggest kick in the pants and reward.

In trailing, chefs work for free on a short-term basis in exchange for experience.

“I was kicked off the line on my first day, but quietly stuck around in the background listening,” she remembers.

The big guys in the kitchen had hazed Daniel, but her perseverance impressed them, and she started work the next day, her birthday. She became the first female chef at Zinc.

The menu aims are, “Whatever looks beautiful and tastes good—this makes us happy,” Daniel explains.

Eating on a corner in Winslow, Arizona: Flatbed Ford Café serves up classic home-cooked fare

99 Things To Do in Northern Arizona

Story and photos by Gail G. Collins

When Route 66 vanished from road atlases, it was the second blow to small towns like Winslow. Its heyday sparked in the 1880s as a railroad town, but by 1960, engines stopped rolling down the rails. Then, the completion of Interstate Highway 40 in 1977 also sidelined communities, threatening livelihoods. Could an idea and action put that famous road and its historic towns back on the map?

The Mother Road had sidled past pine forests, volcanoes, painted deserts and more as it crossed Arizona, and in 1985, a guardian angel began to organize towns to invite folks to visit. Angel Delgadillo, a barber, is credited with reviving the spirit and nostalgia of road trips and Americana to Route 66. Still, it took dedicated groups in these small towns to clean up and restore their main streets.

Then in 1972, the Eagles sang about “standing on a corner in Winslow, Arizona” and a flatbed Ford. It was a throwaway line from Take it Easy, but it became an invitation to the town. Build on it.

That’s exactly what Sonia and husband Gary Ybarra did alongside her father Ray and his wife Kelli Martinez. Before Sonia retired from her career in healthcare, she began part-time work on Main Street as a distraction while Gary was away on construction jobs. The bustle of tourists surprised her, and the state of buildings on cross streets in the historic center bothered her.

She thought, “Maybe, I’ll open a little café down there some day…”

When the building became available, the thought became action. They could create a bed and breakfast above to provide income to renovate the downstairs. In the fall of 2019, the Flatbed Ford B & B opened, inviting guests to “sleep on the corner.” Then, a year of hard work began below. Both families, including children, and an uncle in the plumbing business, gutted the place and refaced it.

“It’s been a labor of love and a good bonding thing with my father. Always far away on business, I’ve seen more of him in the past year than in the past 50,” Sonia joked.

The building has its own story, of course. Built in 1908, proprietor J. W. Marley ran the City Meat Market with choice steaks selling for 25 cents per pound. The Bow family from China ran it as a grocery until 1976 and raised five children. The apartment provided rent, operated as a medical clinic and the Union Fuel and Transfer Office.

Flatbed Ford Café straightened its red-checked curtains and opened its doors in August 2021. Route 66 signs and memorabilia punctuate the place, plus hand-glazed tables and wood rescued from fencing on Martinez’s property.

“I wanted a nice restaurant, where everyone can come in, eat, drink coffee, be happy and feel at home,” Sonia said. “I wanted to accommodate the local community, win them over. Tourists are a benefit.”