tourist home urban market – Gail G. Collins

Best Bakery

Tourist Home All Day Café

Written by Gail Collins

Donut mountains, bagged sugar cookies, pumpkin cheesecake rolls … the tempting pastry posts of #katthebaker to the Facebook page of Tourist Home All Day Café are continuous. It’s enough to cause a change in the morning’s plans to include a quick stop for sweet treats. That certainly seems to be the case—the pastry case, that is—as the numbers of folks picking up pastries has expanded like a warmed bowl of yeast dough.

Pastry Chef Kat Biemann has had her hands in the flour at Tourist Home for more than two years. In that time, batches of donuts readied for the fryer have literally risen from eight to 80. Three assistants have joined the bakery team to help knead, shape and prep.

Saturday is Donut Day, and with 300 freshly glazed circles of happiness on display, there is still no time to dawdle. “We are more popular because we carry more variety than other shops,” Kat said. Keep it quiet, but there are alternate venues for baked goods. The kitchen also supplies pastries to Rendezvous and macarons to Steep Tea Lounge, as well as the menu of desserts for Tourist Home’s related eateries, Tinderbox Kitchen and Annex Cocktail Lounge.

Other days of note for Tourist Home are Pretzel Fridays and Cinnamon Roll and Sticky Bun Sundays. We knew you had a need to know.

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Perfect Picnics

Tips on how to fill your basket and where to spread the blanket

Written by Gail Collins

It’s always a good day for a picnic in northern Arizona. And it’s the perfect meal for a few reasons: no need for a clean house to entertain, a tablecloth doubles as a nap blanket and al fresco feasting tastes better. Keep it simple and keep it fun by gathering your goodies at local shops. This list is not exhaustive, as Flagstaff’s foodie scene continues to expand, but it provides a good start. As for the venue, numerous parks and panoramas are within easy reach.

Where to fill the basket

Planning brunch on a blanket? Swing into Macy’s European Coffee House (14 S. Beaver Street). Unique combinations, like the mozzarella sandwich, bursting with fresh cheese, organic spinach, roasted red pepper, balsamic glazed onion, tomatoes and basil, create difficult, but delicious, decisions. The coffee is top-notch and grab a made-from-scratch pastry.

Tourist Home Urban Market (52 S. San Francisco Street) carries specialty items on the shelf and fresh grub to go. The daily quiche makes an easy handhold and the Cobb salad packs protein. Pastry chef Kat Beimann stocks a case of sweet surprises, too.

The deli counter at Proper Meats + Provisions (110 S. San Francisco Street) offers specialty butchered meats for the best cheesesteak outside of Philly or go global with the bahn mi of pork shoulder confit, pickled zucchini and carrot with cilantro and chili aioli.

Café Daily Fare (408 Historic Route 66) provides platters of veggies and dips or assorted spreads, including smoked salmon with lemon caper cream, and tarts or cookies. Frank’s, of course, carries all-beef hotdogs and Italian sausage with peppers plus snacks. Jitters Lunchbox (3504 Historic Route 66) features weekly sandwiches, like an egg salad BLT on buttermilk bread, and soups. Items are hand-crafted at Aspen Deli (20 N. Beaver Street). Choose the rise and swine burrito with pork and potatoes for a hearty start or Grandma’s recipe potato and pasta salads. Go Go’Z Drive-Thru (1750 E. Route 66) boasts two food truck concepts, including BBQ, for a fusion of flavor.

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STEPPING UP TO THE PLATE

Some of the Best of Our Local Dishes

Written by Gail G. Collins

It’s no secret anymore. Flagstaff’s culinary scene is now the envy of much of Arizona. For a mountain town that still does not top 100,000 people, this place has dozens of independent restaurants achieving a high level of dining in their respective categories. After a few years of basking in the recent lineup of hotspots, we thought we would pause to reflect on a handful of signature dishes by our new dining places and expanded or reinvented eateries with a look across the foodie spectrum.

Craving Crepes at Streetside Saigon

In a nod to the French, the classic banh xeo, a crepe, is revamped with shrimp and shitake, that’s a hit at Streetside Saigon. The rice flour crisp is vivid with turmeric, filled with bean sprouts plus chive and served with a field of lettuce and traditional herbs. Tear off some crepe, tuck it into a lettuce leaf with mint and cilantro, roll it and soak up the lively dip—light, crunchy, healthy and flavorful. Not up for the crepe? Try the banh mi, a Vietnamese sandwich, which boasts French influence in multiple ways. Streetside slathers their softer-than-baguette bun with pate and hose mayo, piles on tender pork meatballs and a layer of livered carrot, daikon and cucumber for a tongue-teasing combination of tastes and textures. streetsidesaigon.com

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KISS and TELL

The Concept of “Keep It Simple Sweetheart” on the Upswing with Local Eats and Beyond

January/February 2016

Tourit Home Urban Market 1 In a complicated, crowded world, it is easy to see why KISS—or Keep It Simple Sweetheart—is an ascending principle and a darn good way to start off the New Year. After seasonal trimmings, January offers the opportunity to strip away the unnecessary. Many people de-clutter or simplify aspects of their lives. Whether it is cleaning out closets or losing weight, the idea of getting back to basics or KISS, is attractive indeed.

Perhaps, it is the less-is-more seduction, like the practicality of a little, black dress or the sleek lines of a sports car. Either way, simplicity sells. This ideal is also finding tasty traction in the food industry. Clear labeling informs, instead of confuses consumers; clean eating unplugs confounding nutritional concepts and dietary restrictions; and a short list of ingredients makes shopping and kitchen prep more inviting—and probable. Unadorned or natural foods, perceived as authentic and unpretentious, are welcoming. A siren call to simpler times and unsophisticated food with fewer and familiar fixings. Continue reading “KISS and TELL”