May 12, 2025 • 57 mins
🌮🔥 Sizzling Flavors & Culinary Secrets!
🍔🌭In this mouthwatering episode of The Tucson Tasty Show, we welcome Chef Aaron Cady of Crazy Cady's Catering & Watermark to dish out his bold flavors, pro tips, and behind-the-scenes kitchen stories!
PLUS, our guest cohost Ray from Portillo’s Hot Dogs brings the heat with Chicago-style classics!
🌭🎙️Get ready for a flavor-packed ride through signature dishes, industry secrets, and foodie fun!
🎧🔥📻 Listen in & satisfy your cravings!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tucson-tasty-show--6022348/support.
🍔🌭In this mouthwatering episode of The Tucson Tasty Show, we welcome Chef Aaron Cady of Crazy Cady's Catering & Watermark to dish out his bold flavors, pro tips, and behind-the-scenes kitchen stories!
PLUS, our guest cohost Ray from Portillo’s Hot Dogs brings the heat with Chicago-style classics!
🌭🎙️Get ready for a flavor-packed ride through signature dishes, industry secrets, and foodie fun!
🎧🔥📻 Listen in & satisfy your cravings!
Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-tucson-tasty-show--6022348/support.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Amids the ancient rooms of a forgotten civilization, a mysterious temple.
Paul saints with an otherworldly energy. The guardian of this Taste,
Define Sanctuary moves forward, a figure shrouded in enigma, in power.
He doesn't just taste food, he summons.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Forgotten flavors and awakens dormant passions. Behold the Wizard of Food,
Wesley Source and the Tucson Tasty Show.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasty Show, Tucson's only food talk radio.
I'm your host, Wesley Source, bringing you exclusive interviews, secret
menu items, and the largest food trends in Tucson. Before
we get started, a huge thank you to all of
our sponsors who make this possible. That's via Eal Premium Beef,
your ranch to table quality you can Taste, Tucson Family
(01:04):
Food Project helping families access fresh local food, Local First
Arizona supporting independent restaurants across the state, Portillo's Hot Dogs
bringing the taste of Chicago to Tucson, and of course,
Soka supporting Southern Arizona arts and culinary scene. One exclusive
food perks, VIP tastings and secret menu items at Tucson's
(01:25):
Top restaurants. Join the Tucson Tasty Show membership program at
the tastyshow dot com today and if you love exclusive
dining experiences, We're hosting a one night only private dining
TV recording experience at Studio Yanos on April sixteenth. Only
twelve seats are available. It includes a multi course meal,
(01:47):
drinks and gratuity. Reserve your spot today at the Tastyshow
dot com. We've got an exciting lineup for you today. First,
let's welcome Chef Aaron Katie, a chef who wears many hats,
a dining service director at the Watermark, owner of Crazy
Katie's Catering, and a private chef for a luxury Airbnb. Aaron,
(02:10):
with all your diverse background in assisted living, catering and
private dining, how do you balance it all? And what
is the most rewarding part of your work?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
The balance itself is there is no balance. It's just
chaos all the time.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And that's being a small business owner, right.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
You know, it's small business. It's the normal nine to
five job, it's weekends, it's nights, it's everything.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Yeah, all right, so big thank you to our sponsors. Again,
that's Vera O. Premium Beef Tuson Family Food Project, Local
First Arizona Pertilla's hot Dogs in Sokka.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Aaron.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Food is such an important part of quality of life
in assisted living, and so let's talk about your approach
to creating a flavorful, high quality meal for residents at
the watermark.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
One.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
It starts with, you know, knowing our residents. You know
their flavor profiles and what they like and what they enjoy.
My job is to bring back memories of their childhood
and their upbringing and what they used to cook for
their families and stuff like that. So it's everything's scratch made.
It's I have a group of great cooks and chefs
(03:32):
and whatnot. My soushow has been with me for the
past six years, seven years. We follow each other around.
We've known each other for thirty years. So yeah, it's
you know, we kind of compliment each other for the
most part. And then yeah, so just putting out that
quality product for the residents and diverse, you know, we
(03:52):
do a little bit of everything. It's you know, from
you know, every genre you can think of, we put
it in.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And what are some of the most common misconceptions about
dining with assisted living.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So assisted living. You know, we're on stage three times
a day breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our residents see us
every day, three hundred and sixty five days a year,
three times a day.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
So very loyal customers, whether they want to or not.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You know, we have one hundred and five residents ish
and then you know it's you know, making sure everybody's
happy one way or another, you know, being able to
offer you know, hair, here's our daily specials, which change
every day. I run on a six week menu cycle.
And you know, if the resident we get a lot
of complaints about something, never see it again.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Okay, so you have scorecards for the meals, so right,
it's all weird mouth. So you know, it's we're doing
very well for the at Watermark. We're pretty much running
on you know, like an positive feedback and all of
(05:05):
our meals.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
That's that's incredible. That's uh, that's really incredible. And uh,
what would you say one of the top meals at Watermark?
Well with you, with your your property, what would be
the top meal that everybody always asks for like or
gets excited like like when I was in school, I
was always excited when it was pizza day.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Sheep pan pizza is amazing, you know, honestly, it all changes.
You know, fried chicken is a big one for us.
They like deep fried, smothered and gravy mashed potatoes, like
I mean, it's comfortable for comfort food.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
We it's it's hard to say which one is the favorite.
You know, my favorite one is not a big seller there,
but it's my favorite. You know. We do a beaten
arugula salad, which is you know, pickled onions, go cheese, honey, limon, vinigarette,
a big chick in pickle beats like it truly is
(06:04):
a beautiful, amazing salad and it's not everybody's favorite, butody's mine.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Absolutely. Now you're not just making nutritious meals. Then you're
creating a full dining experience. How do you incorporate variety, culture, culture,
and special events into your menus?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Special events we do quite often. You know, we have
one coming up on August eleventh or I'm sorry, August
April eleventh, and it's, uh, we're doing a luau for
families and friends and marketing and everything like that, which
is always a big one. They're not letting me dig
a hole in the ground. To put a pig in.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Oh why not? I mean you can't get through that
colliche anyways. But you know you can try. I've seen
people try.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
But but like I said, it's just you know, just
creating that diverse menus. My my executive director, he came
up to me to believe it was last week. He's like,
my six week, six week menu cycle. You know, I
have like ninety seven different items.
Speaker 6 (07:04):
Oh wow, we do well.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
You know, it changes every day and every week, so
you know, we kind of it's.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Great variety with dietary restrictions, you know, it's you know,
typically when you're in a restaurant, you go in and
you talk to somebody. Hopefully you're very nice to them
because they're making your food and not killing you. But
how do you deal or deal with those or approach
that with special dietary needs.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
It's a daily life. Yeah, you know, being in this
industry for twenty five years, it just kind of you know,
everything's come to light and you know, we just try
to make the best options so we don't have to
change our ideas that we put on a plate. And
that's you know, making it gluten free and making it
low sodium, making it whatever way they need it to
(07:51):
be made. That's kind of what we do. And in
assists of living, it's every item is gluten free. Every oh,
you know, for the most part. If we do like
sandwiches for lines, you know, it's not but we have
gluten free options and whatnot as well, so there's no
extra charges and snow anything like that. So you know,
we do.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
We do a lot. You do, you do quite a bit.
And one of your programs that I was really excited
to learn about is your One Bite because some people
in assisted living, you know, they're in SICI living because
they have not only dietary restrictions, but they just can't
they can't eat like a full meal. So how do
you approach trying to make an entire meal out of
(08:39):
a bite of food?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
No, So the program is called Gourmet Bites or we
call it grind dining. So what we do is we
grind products. So it's for the residents that can't hold
a fork and bring the fork to their mouth and
keep being steady on a spoon or anything like that.
So you know, we do. We'll grind cooked turkey and
mashed potatoes and vegetables, all waded out and then put
(09:02):
it into a ball. So this way they can just
grab that one bite, take a bite, and get all
the nutrients they need. You know, it's you know, it
goes to salads.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
Everything.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Everything we do we throw in a grinder. Make sure
it's got the right amount of nutrients for our residents
so they stay with us longer.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I'd love to see a Chicago dog and one bite
and just no ketchup. You can't do the ketchup.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
I don't know if that green relish is gonna take it.
That's going to change that color a little bit more so.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
And somebody that, you know, somebody listening is probably going, oh,
they just grind it all up and they turn it
into a ball.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I kind of have a unique experience with with that
because when I was in the Air Force, I work
with the U two spyplanes and they're in full pressure
suits and they eat for their twelve hour fl that
they're on. They eat out of a tube. So everything
they eat stewed beef, gravy. I mean, I can't even
(10:09):
remember all the ones. I know I liked the apple
pie and I loved the caffeinated chocolate pudding because it
was like a really dark chocolate and that was my
absolute favorite. Now you have a more unique approach because
there's definitely some texture to that. So I mean, if
they can make a tube food that's good, then what
you're doing is next.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Level, you know it. There's different types of it. You know,
we kind of make you know, to the impanadas and
have all the nutrients inside impanadas as well. We do
stuff crepes. We do it's not just like a meatball
version of things, and that's awesome. So it's basically so
the residents just can pick it up with their fingers.
We're basically making finger.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And balancing those flavors so that you can taste everything
that comes through. I mean, that's got to be unique.
And what would you say the most challenging one or
the most one or both?
Speaker 4 (11:02):
To make it look appealing is the hardest party. And
that's honestly. You eat with your eyes first, so if
you can't make it look pretty, it's gonna taste like
it looks.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And and so what's the two?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Sorry? My favorite one was we did I didn't impanada,
you know, stuffed it with I had chili on the menu,
so I did, you know, grilled skirt steak chili and
then so had all the veggies, had the protein and
it and all went inside, stuffed it with some cheese
and it was awesome. It was amazing.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And then the one that's failed the most, or the
one that was like, we're never doing that again because
we got to talk. I mean, it's got to be
good and bad, right.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
You know the the other Yeah, it's hard to say.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
There there.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
It's been a process. There's been a few of them,
well one of them.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Are you looking to engage with thousands of food lovers
advertised with the Tucson and Tasty Show. Visit the tastyshow
dot com for custom sponsorship packages. Coming up next, we
dive into Crazykadies, catering and the wildest, most unique events
Aaron has catered. Stay tuned and stay tasty. Two shot Hello,
(12:30):
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(12:53):
that's ve Premiumbeef dot com. Hi.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
I'm Stephen Cooderoblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project. Here
in Tucson, no family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week. But we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing
(13:21):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger Tucson.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Hey, Tucson. Ready to spice up your dining experience? Join
the Tucson Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access
to secret menu items from our partner restaurants. These one
of a kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted
just for our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's
best kept culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow
(13:54):
dot com and discover what you've been missing. Stay tasty.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Tucson Smart Project Collective, the world first tattoo, body piercing
and metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give
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(14:18):
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connection meet.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasties Show, brought to you by
SOKA Southern Arizona Art and Cultural Alliance dedicated to creating,
preserving and advancing the arts. And now it's time for
more tasty bites with your host, Wesley Source. Welcome back
(14:58):
to the Tucson Tasty sho Show. The Tucson tac Show.
He's brought to you by SOCCA and thank you to
all of our sponsors. Vera Premium Beef Tucson Family Food Project,
Local First Arizona, Pertillo's hot Dogs, and of course Soccah.
We're here with Aaron and Ray. Ray is from Partillo's
hot Dogs, and I apologize for not introducing you in
the first segment, but uh, you're you have the entire
(15:20):
second half of the show, so we'll definitely dive in
more with you on what Partillo's is and why they're
important in the Tucson culture for sure. Now we're talking
to Aaron, Chef Aaron, let's talk about your catering, uh
and your company Crazy Katie or Katie's Catering is known
(15:40):
for creative menus, bold flavors. What's inspired you to start
your own catering.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Business assist a living.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Assisted living? All right, No, I get to I get
to play.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
A little bit more of food with the catering side
of stuff, private chef meals and whatnot. So the biggest
one for me is that doing doing the private chef
meals in people's homes and what you know, I get
to bring the outside in. I get to bring my
creative flavors and whatnot. I'm born and raised here in Tucson,
so you know, bringing taste of Tucson into people's homes.
(16:17):
You know, it's not just about Mexican food. It's you know,
it's you can, so diverse and what we do here
in Tucson. So absolutely. The sister living keeps me kind
of grounded a little bit, but the catering feeds my
need for creativity and the constant learning on what other
(16:39):
people think. Because food is the natural bring the group together.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So absolutely, and uh, you know it's it's creativity. You know,
it's culinary arts for a reason because it's artistic. And
you know, I hope that everybody that's listening, you know,
realizes that when you go into a restaurant, somebody's putting
their heart and soul in front of you. So be
a little bit gentler with your your judgments before sending
(17:07):
something back. And because it is art and you know,
it's plated the way that you want it. It's plated,
all right. It's uh, the flavor profiles, you know, top
to bottom. And that's that's what we're again, that's what
we're trying to give to everybody, a different perspective for
for all of our chefs. Now, what's been the most
(17:29):
unique or the wildest event you've ever catered.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Most of my kidings are pretty basic. We do custom menu.
I do custom menus and everything like that for most
of the groups. The biggest one I did was it
was for three hundred people, a couple a couple of
decembers ago, not this past one of the one before,
and it was me. I had a couple of people
helping me with like serving and replenishing buffets, but it
(17:54):
was two double sided buffets. It was absolutely insane, so
much food. I had two truckloads full of things.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Like how many people three hundred, three hundred, Oh, that's wow.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
You know, platters and all that other stuff, cold platters,
hot food. It was absolutely insane. It was a lot
of work. It was a lot of planning. I think
the people that were helping, you know, my wife and
a couple of people that I worked with. Yeah, they
came in and ran it with me, and it it
(18:26):
was a big event. It was a big event, like
I said, for little old me, little old me. But
other than that, like saying, you know, I kind of
I work and everything, you know, from two people to
you know, one hundred and fifty two hundred, three hundred people,
it really doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
So when you're when you're sitting down with the client
and you're going over what the menu items are, the
menu is going to be, how do you how do
you approach that?
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Honestly, I want to feel them out. I want to
know what they want, what they like, their ins and outs,
what they don't like. I don't want to serve them
something that they are not going to put on their plate,
you know. And it's and dealing with the diverse crowds
and hey, dietary restrictions, We're gonna come up with something
that's gonna work for everybody, not just.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
A select group, understood. And what would what would be
your wildest request that somebody's asked for.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I haven't really gotten any wild requests, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Like, you know, well, that's not wild, it's wild game
I get thank you, Ray.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Uh No, I haven't really gotten anything like that yet.
You know. It's it's all been pretty basic.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I was saying, like tiger tacos or something like that, okay,
And you know, and I'm not saying that you should
go out and seek those, but you know, it's like
that's a wild request. Uh. And and some people have
very interesting uh requests. With stuff.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Yeah, like I said, I've been I've been pretty basic
for the most part, you know. I I put a
lot of smoke beats and things like that together. And yeah,
I do some competitions here in town as well. Over
Button Brewery has competitions every you know, every month. Oh
so I've been doing all those and getting to know
the owners and whatnot. They become really good friends of mine,
so it's I get to play a little bit more
(20:12):
with that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Wonderful that that is actually really cool. I know Gweedoq
Michael Lafonte. He he does barbecue competitions with Chef Obi
from m O Club and uh and they they've actually
brought in the Tragger uh Tragger Crew as well, so
they there's I guess they're sponsored by Trager, right. He
(20:36):
has a sponsorship of some kind with them, which is
really cool. I call it my easy bake oven because
I'm definitely a tragger guy.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
And don't get me wrong, I'm not a tragger guy,
but I have a pet boss.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
But it's the same thing. It's an easy big oven.
You push the button, you go to sleep. Everybody else
is up until you know, every you know, hour making
sure that the fire didn't go down under the two
hundred degrees or you know, whatever you're going for. And
I appreciate that level of uh uh tenacity and uh
and and creativity in it because it's definitely, you know,
(21:06):
there's something to be said about it. But uh, I've
I've accomplished quite a bit with my trigger.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
So it's smoking meats. It really is, like I mean,
if you do it like the real style, you know,
smoking your fire and making sure the temperatures are it
takes a lot. It takes a lot. I had, you know,
I have, I have my my pit boss. I also
have my charge my propane with chip smoker as well
that you know, I have to kind of have to
control that one a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
But I have a cabinet, a cabinet smoker that I
can't do the.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Real smoker style just because.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
But I cut my teeth on smoking smoking meats with that.
And I don't talk about it very often because it's
your We're here for you. But I cut my teeth
on the the Weber egg shaped one or cylinder one,
and uh, I mean I dialed it in and then
I was like, let me try a trigger, and we
(21:59):
got a small trigger and then now I have the
biggest trigger they make, you know, because it was so
much easier. And we do a smoke turkey every year.
Have you have you tried smoking turkey?
Speaker 4 (22:10):
So are my wife's family. They smoke a turkey every year,
so I kind of learned from them. I always to
do the wet Brians and everything like that before we go.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I have to. And that's was gonna be my next question.
How do you brind your meats?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
So, like I said, for poultry and whatnot, it's always salt,
sugar and fresh herbs, ye basically, and then just soak
it for you know, a few days. I did one
for this Christmas or this Thanksgiving. I did like a
Chili Brian almost you know, a bunch of dried to
answer Chili's New Mexico and you know, salt sugar, try
to get that spice in the lat It wasn't bad.
(22:47):
I got, I got, I got some. We'll go room
to play with this this.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Uh Tina always does the Brian and she finds the
wildest recipes. And we did a cranberry and herb one.
She's finding the pitcher. But the cranberry works are really
well because the citrus and really breaks down those flavors.
But then there was like whole anti stars in there
and all kinds of stuff, and but the the flavors
(23:13):
that it gave the meat like it was so incredibly good,
but you couldn't It was like, this isn't turning into
turkey pop pie very well because all those flavors just
over overwhelm everything. But it tasted like turkey and uh
And the other thing that actually Chef obi Uh told
us was get a a kosher turkey because they do
(23:36):
the Brian They do the dry brine and they rub
out or rub down the outside of the the turkey
with salt, right, and then they let it cool uh
cool down but naturally instead of flash freezing or any
or anything else, and then it's air chilled. And then
but he said, it's the most And I was going
(23:57):
to try to get one this this last year, but
I didn't order one time. And it's like three months
in advance that you have to order these turkeys. But
you know it's just yeah worth it, Yeah worth it.
I only get turkey once a year because Tina doesn't
like turn all right, producer, Tina doesn't like turkey.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
I'm not I'm not a huge fan of turkey either,
but you know, the family likes turkey, and you know
the holiday, the holiday thing.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So what type of Brian's are you working with with
pork butt?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Pork?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
But I do. I do dry rubs. I use Hiota paste,
a lot of Hiota paste, chioda, pineapple juice, orange juice.
Rub the pork butt down, saran wrap, some bay Ley,
foil it, and I cook it in its own juices.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Mmmmmm.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Throw it in the oven with a little touch of
water in a pan. Let it go for about twelve hours.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
It's not even like smoking smoking. It's it's a slow roast.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Slow ros I'll finish. I'll finish on the smoker. I
like the taste of smoke, but I don't want to
kill what I put it. All the seasonings and everything
like that. I'm working with right now. Corn beef. I
do my all my own corning.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
We saw the prices of corn beef at Costco. The
yesterday is actually uh and because it's uh, you know,
Saint Patrick's is coming up and or it's in March here.
So we were looking at the prices and I was like,
you know, I could just get a whole brisket and
make corn beef and be done with it, and it
(25:25):
would be like two dollars a pound. Let's do that
instead one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
For the last like five years, I've been doing my
own every year. I will not go back to the
store bot pre done corn beef ever again, you know.
And I do my own pastrami as well out of it.
So it kind of works out for me and my
residents because that's what we're growing accustomed to now.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Absolutely yeah, No, there's there's a few places in town
that do their own corn beef and you can definitely
tell the difference quality and everything.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
So and you can add more more flavor into it,
you know. I throw chipotles and roast, boblanos and roast
kind of put that Southwest feel into it as well,
so you get the little hint of spice behind it
as well.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Absolutely yeah. We we typically I typically do more of
a South Carolina It's a sweeter style of brisket when
we do the brisket, but that Texas style, you know,
it's it's a thing all by itself. But thank you
so much for coming on the show. Definitely check out
the tastyshow dot com and the UH social media's UH
(26:30):
for all or all of the behind the scenes there scenes,
reels and clips and everything else. UH and if you
want to access secret menu items and vi P tastings,
joined the Tucson Tasty Show membership program at the tastyshow
dot com. Next up, we're going to talk to Pertillo's
hot Dogs, the Chicago style legends, and what makes the
(26:52):
Tucson flavor stick around. Hello, this is Wesley's source with
the Tucson Tasty Show. With every tasty bite from Vepremiumbeef
dot Com, you get premium beefflavor from the amazing ground
(27:15):
beef to the melt in your mouth Ribi steaks. Every
ounce is exceptionally aged for more than twenty one days,
giving vera eorl Premium Beef exceptional Premium Beef flavor. Order
online at Vepremiumbeef dot Com. Again, that's VE Premiumbeef dot Com. Hi.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
I'm Stephen Kodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project. Here
in Tucson, no family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week, but we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing
(27:58):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Unfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger tuson
Ey Tucson.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Ready to spice up your dining experience, Join the Tucson
Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access to secret
menu items from our partner restaurants. These one of a
kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted just for
our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's best kept
culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow dot com
(28:31):
and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty. Tucson.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect
(28:57):
for your next gathering or your workshop. Visit Spark Project
Collective dot com to learn more and discover where creativity
and connection meet.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasty Show, brought to you by SOCCA,
Southern Arizona Art and Cultural Alliance dedicated to creating, preserving,
and edvancing the arts. And now it's time for more
tasty bites with your host, Wesley Source. Welcome back to
(29:35):
the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm your host, Wesley Source. The
Tucson Tasty Show is brought to you by SOCCA. Thank
you to all of our sponsors at Vereral, Premium Beef,
Tucson Family Food Project, Local First Arizona, Portillo's hot Dogs,
and of course SOCCA. Now let's talk about one of
the most iconic brands in the country, Portillo's hot Dogs,
(29:56):
and we have Ray from Portillo's hot Dogs to give
us the inside scoop. How are you doing today?
Speaker 6 (30:01):
Ray doing great? Doing great?
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Now? Ray Portillo's hot Dogs is famous for Chicago style
hot dogs, Italian beef and cake shakes. What do you
think that? What do you think makes Portillo's stand out?
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Oo makes portillo stand out? Well, it's definitely the food,
the food, the fresh ingredients, the way it's put together.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
Chicago street food.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
So it's coming from a long time ago where it started.
Nineteen sixty three, opened up Dick Portillo has had a
little trailer, so we were serving food out of that
out of his It was close, it was out of
his backyard, semi sort out out of his backyard. So
it evolved into a restaurant. First one was in Villa
Park and it just has evolved from there. Again, when
(30:47):
I say street food, I'm talking of the Italian beefs,
the hot dogs, just real simple food but good fresh ingredients.
Poppy seed bun, fresh steam bun, the all beef hot dogs,
the fresh Tian beef. It's marinated and cooked for about
four hours, thinly sliced. We have a gravy that it's
soaked in that's been perfected over fifty years. We toast
(31:09):
fresh French bread. It's baked fresh daily, so we're putting
that Tinian beef on a nice, fresh toasted French bread.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
We add our jarn earraw mix.
Speaker 9 (31:20):
Which is peppers are are freshly made sweet peppers. We
have sweet peppers, our jarn are peppers whichever you like,
or you can have both.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So again and jardan eira. You know, for everybody that
doesn't know what that is, I mean it's it's it's
pickled vegetables. But it has a spicy It definitely has
a kick, and that's what you want. I mean, if
you're getting mild up, why just get the hot ones
and enjoy it. I mean we are in Tucson, right
(31:46):
So for those who haven't been yet, what is the
must try menu item at Portillo's Must try?
Speaker 9 (31:53):
I get a lot of guests come in there've never
been to Potillo's and they asked what should I try?
And I'm always pushing try a beef our try hot dog.
We are known for beefs and hot dogs. The beef
is very it's very again, it's a it's a classic beef.
The way it's made. Our hot dogs are Chicago made.
What stands out about our hot dogs is a couple
of things. It's the lamb casing on the all beef
(32:15):
hot dogs. It gives a nice snap when you bite
into it. We don't preface that a lot because a
lot of people get turned brown when you say lamb casing.
But it is actual lamb casing on the outside of
the dog. Gives a nice little snap.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
But which is what you need, right? I mean, do
you want that texture? You want that texture that pop
because it gives you that extra You know, there's something
in here other than just the vegetables.
Speaker 9 (32:39):
So with that, the dog is it sells itself. The
celery salt is one of the key ingredients. It kind
of it kind of trans it kind of transpires a
whole hot dog brings everything together. You got your sport
peppers on there, your mustard, your relish, your onions pickle,
and the sport peppers. A lot of people weren't familiar
with sport peppers around the small another pickled pepper. The
(33:02):
ghost right on there with the two on there, wrapped
up the right way, uh, and as you unwrap it,
it's unwrapped the same way. You know, the same way
we build it is the same way it comes unwrapped.
So we called it dragging it through the garden. You're
dragging through the garden and put it on there.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, so it's good and it comes together and it's
a really amazing just I mean one bite and and
it gets all those and it hits all those flavor profiles,
which is what we always want. And then the celery
salt just puts it, puts it over the top. I
always put extra celery salt on mine, personally, but I
really do like all the.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
Flavors and don't be afraid of that.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Yeah, that's normal, It's supposed to be that way. Now
we've got to address, uh, the ketchup. And it is
a Chicago food law that you cannot have ketchup on
your hot dog.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Now.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I did some research and we we really you know,
dove into this because it's like, why can't you have
ketchup on your hot dog? And what we found out
was ketchup was invented to hide the flavor of bad
beef or beef that was almost off so uh. And
and typically people that were making sausages and hot dogs
were taking the meat that was was about to go bad. Uh,
(34:17):
they would take that and they would put it into uh,
into the sausages and hot dogs. So they would put
ketchup over the top to make sure that it hit
any of those extra you know on uh on polite flavors,
you could say, right, and that's why ketchup was invented.
That's what hot what Heinz did. Uh and uh So
(34:37):
Chicago got together and they started to say, we serve
fresh hot dogs, fresh beef, no ketchup, okay, and it
was a point of pride because everything was fresh and
it was made to made to the standards that everybody
would enjoy the hot dog flavor and you don't need
to hide that hot dog flavor. So then it spread
(35:00):
and uh and you know, throughout the years it went
from we serve no or no ketch up to hey,
what are you doing? Why are you putting ketchup on
on that? You know? So it's definitely a Chicago law.
You can't put ketchup on their hot dog. Now, if
you're eating under they're not really going to say anything.
I mean, it's like, okay, you know, you gotta do
(35:22):
what you gotta do. But if you ask for ketchup,
they'll they'll be looking around for the kid, and I
think it's what do you what do you eat? You
know it is the response, Yes, No, it's for the
it's for the fries. It's you know, try to spend that.
But what do you think, what do you think about
(35:42):
that now that you have the rest of the history.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
It's quite interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker 9 (35:47):
I mean, that makes that I see how that would
make sense with the beef not tasting as well. But
you know, from Pertillo's standpoint, we're making a good beef
hot dogs. You're not going to need the ketchup on
there to mask any flavors there. So that's that's a
quite interesting story. I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
But yeah, Jeff, did you know that's why ketchup was invented?
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Not at all, Not at all.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
And I'm just sitting here nothing better than, you know,
at a baseball game, a hot dog with some ketchup
on it, just mustard. Just now, I'm going to rethink that.
Speaker 9 (36:18):
You know, they they the Sonoran dog has ketchup on it.
People and I met only been in tu Son a
couple of years, but from my experience from being here,
I speak to a lot of people from Tucson and
they say they're used to putting ketchup on a hot dog.
I have some employees that were born and raised here
and they said, yeah, on my Sonoran dog. I add
ketchup to it. So when the patillos came out and
the Chicago dog is there and they're frowning on the ketchup,
(36:41):
I get some Tusonians, they say, well, we put ketchup
on our hot dogs.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Well, you know I would say that, I I would
question because the Sonoran dog. And that's actually you know,
that brings up a fair point because right now we're
going back, who are you know, Sonoran dog or Chicago
dog and we want everybody to get on, get online
and vote on the social media is definitely put out,
you know, snor and dog or hot dog. Uh in
(37:07):
any comments, just comment on one of the posts. But
it so snoring dogs should be a jumbo all beef
hot dog wrapped in bacon. You've got to have the
the I could never say it right the our bowl
billillo bun.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
I don't know, but then makes Yeah, the.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Bun definitely makes it because it's a different style of bun.
You know, it's uh and it's really good. You gotta
have the bacon, pinto beans, avocado, lime, red onion can
or canned aal apinos, fresh alpinos and mayonnaise is optional,
but crem fresh is the traditional h so and most
(37:49):
most of the time you're gonna see mayonnaise because that's
just what they accepted is now, is a topping for
the Chicago dot or for the not the Chicago dog,
for the Sonoran dogs, don't put that on, yeah, the
Chicago dog. But but you know, and there's definitely different
ways of making it, just like any any other recipe
of course, but uh, you know, that would be the
(38:10):
standard if I asked for a Sonoran dog competition, Uh,
those would be the ingredients that I'm looking for. And
snoring dog catch up, I don't know, chopped, chopped, Uh,
I almost want like Pico toa guy over the top, right,
you know, and and get all those all those flavors
(38:31):
into it.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
No, for the most part, I've always seen you know,
dice tomatoes on top. Yeah, instead of you know, the pickledlopenos.
They do like a holopeno salsa on top as well.
Yellow mustard's a big one, yep. Yeah, mayonnaise because it's
cheaper than crime fresh.
Speaker 9 (38:45):
Right, So I'm finding so I'm hearing multiple ways of
the Sonoran dog. Absolutely, so I'm hearing multiple ways of
the snore dog. And I'm hearing one way of a
Chicago do not different. Every Chicago dog is made and
built the same way. So you have dog that can
be made. So when you ask, so, I'm asking the question,
what is the original? So and Ray, you've already told me, Wes, Ray,
(39:07):
you got to have one. I haven't had one yet.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Well, we're gonna bring in one for coffee with the
Tasty Show and in April. If if i'm I've got
to look at the calendar here, but it's April twelfth
or just about the you know around there. Let me
pull that up April eleventh. I think we're going to
be there, but definitely check out the tastyshow dot com
go to events and see when we're gonna be there.
(39:31):
We do a live stream from multiple places around town.
Coffee with the TuS On Tasty Show. It's an open
invitation for anybody that can jump in. So we're gonna
we're gonna bring in a Sonoran dog and because you've
never had one, we're gonna have you taste test one.
We brought somebody that's never had a Chicago dog in.
Now she's addicted, but you know, and she loves the
(39:52):
cake as well, and you know for April, what is
your shake of the month?
Speaker 6 (40:00):
Shake it the month? Right now we're doing the mint shake.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah uh. And we're not gonna have very many days
left in March here, so what's your April.
Speaker 9 (40:08):
We're doing in April right now, we're doing our mint
chocolate shape. It's for theme for St. Patrick's Day. So
it's a our vanilla shake, but we have it's lime green,
but it's mint syrup and we add a scoop of
chocolate frosting, not syrup. We put a scoop of chocolate
frosting in there, blend it up, uh, and then add
(40:29):
a little bit on.
Speaker 6 (40:30):
The top of it. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (40:30):
So it's a it's a great great seller. So we
have our variety of of shake.
Speaker 6 (40:35):
That go through season the season. Yes, we just got through.
Speaker 9 (40:37):
With the strawberry chocolate for Valentine's Day, so now we're
moving into the Yeah, so we just started.
Speaker 6 (40:44):
So it's on it's on the shelf. Come and get it,
Come and get it.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Definitely have to check that out and check out their
Shake of the month now your shakes Shakes of the
month are at portillos dot com. Is that how everybody
finds it? Yes, and uh, and we're going to look
at what that is for April. We'll be right back
after the break here And do you want exclusive foody experiences,
(41:11):
giveaways and vip perks. Joined the Tucson Tasty Show membership
program at the tastyshow dot com And don't forget, tickets
are on sale for Studio Yanos dining and TV recording
experience on April sixteenth. Only twelve seats are available. Visit
the Tastyshow dot com and grab yours before they're gone.
(41:31):
And of course, stay tasty Tucson. Hello, this is Wesley
Source with the Tucson Tasty Show. With every tasty bite
from the Premiumbeef dot Com, you get premiumbefflavor from the
amazing ground beef to the melt in your mouth Ribbi steaks.
(41:52):
Every ounce is exceptionally aged for more than twenty one days,
giving vera earl Premium Beef exceptional Premium beef flavor. Order
online at ve premiumbef dot com. Again, that's ve Premiumbeef
dot com.
Speaker 8 (42:08):
Hi. I'm Stephen Kodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project.
Here in Tucson, no family should have to choose between
paying bills and putting food on the table. That's why
we're here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families
in need every single week. But we need your help.
Just one dollar can have a huge impact on a
family's nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can
(42:28):
make sure every child in our community has access to
nourishing food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot
org to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger Tuson.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Hey, Tucson, Ready to spice up your dining experience? Join
the Tucson Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access
to secret menu items from our partner restaurants. These one
of a kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted
just for our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's
best kept culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow
(43:04):
dot com and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty. Tucson.
Speaker 7 (43:08):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect
(43:31):
for your next gathering or your workshop. Visits Sparkproject Collective
dot com to learn more and discover where creativity and
connection meet.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasties Show, brought to you by Sokka.
Southern Arizona Art and Cultural Alliance dedicated to creating, preserving,
and eddancing the arts. And now it's time for more
tasty bites with your host, Wesley Source. Welcome back to
the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm your host, Wesley Source, and
(44:06):
we're here in studio. Thank you to our amazing sponsors.
That is Soka is our title sponsor. The Southern Arizona
Art and Cultural Alliance is dedicated to creating, preserving and
advancing the arts. And thank you to all of our
amazing sponsors. Vineral Premium, Beef, Tuson Family Food Project, Local First, Arizona,
Partillo's hot Dogs and we're here with Ray of Partillo's
(44:30):
hot Dogs, and we're talking all things Chicago right now.
So we touched on the Chicago dog, we talked about
no ketchup, and we've got the Italian beef. Now, the
Italian beef is iconic because it started in Chicago, as
far as I'm aware, everything that we can find, and
(44:51):
if it started someplace else, I'm sure that everybody will
correct me online. But check out. The Italian beef is
really thinly sliced and uh. And it is on a
freshly baked or French bread, French bread, uh and uh,
you've got to put the peppers on it, or and
mozzarella sometimes if you like, if you like, and then
(45:14):
you take that whole sandwich and you you put it
into a first swim.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
We dip it. We call it dip in it.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
Yes, dip it. You gotta dip it. And it's a
full dip. You can't have the drizzle. You can't. It's
you can't have it dry. You gotta have it full drip.
Speaker 6 (45:28):
You want to have it.
Speaker 9 (45:29):
If you want to have a Chicago way, it's dipped.
We call it with sweet peppers, dip mozzarella. But again
you have your preferences so people try it again. When
people come in for the first time, I tell them,
you know, try it this way. We can't put the
side items on the side, so if you want sweeteppers
on hot peppers on the side, so that you can
determine if it's going to work for you.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
But you know, and and the traditional Chicago style jardin
eara which is smaller, chopped up pieces of vegetables and right,
and then the celery.
Speaker 9 (46:00):
Yeah, and a nice spice sauce, got some peppers in
there that it's a nice mix, nice little blend, mick
not too hot, little kick.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
And my favorite thing is finding in olive because the
olives are rare and they taste like they're the hottest
thing in the jar because they absorbed I'm pretty sure
ninety percent of the spice. But they are really good.
And I like all of us anyways, But you know,
and that's the jar, Nara. Now we we can't wait
(46:29):
to join you again for coffee with the Tasty show.
And your cake is a must have. I don't like cake.
I fully endorse this cake. Everybody needs to go down
and try this cake. And they you can find them
at Broadway and Alvarnon and again, if you are wondering
where they are or if you need more information, definitely
(46:50):
check out the Tastyshow dot com. That's where you're gonna
get all the behind the scenes and find the Tasty
Show membership and everything else. So definitely check it out there.
And what a cool building. I mean, you're in where
the old Claim Jumpers was. You got rid of Claim Jumpers.
(47:10):
You built the building up from from scratch. Uh, and
it's a it's it's just awesome. You walk in and
you you have Tucson represented very well inside the store
and uh, and you're very welcoming. So definitely have to
go down and check it out if you if you
(47:31):
have never had a Chicago Dog, I challenge you to
try one. And if you have had one and you
love it, you'll go down and get it. Anyway. So
let's go into the Tasty Bite segment. We still have
Chef Aaron here in studio and we we talked about
the Tasty bites. So would you bring in to represent
(47:54):
you as a chef?
Speaker 6 (47:56):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (47:56):
So it's my staple in my house. I started making
these about seven or eight years ago and they're basically
just a bacon wrap potato.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
He can wrapped potato potato and.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
You know, for what it is, we call him cracksticks
in our house because you can't just eat just one
all right, and and all actually, I mean every menu
it's bacon.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I mean everybody loves bacon. I don't eat a lot
of pork, but I eat bacon.
Speaker 4 (48:27):
So you know, like I said, it's I said, bacon
wrapped potato wedges. I throw them on my smoker with
my little house seizing mix I make on my college
chef's spice. And yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Let's let's dig in, right, let's so or if we
don't have enough for everybody, we'll split and uh, there
should be enough for everybody. Now, potatoes are one of
my favorite, especially fried crispy. Uh, and you add bacon
to it, I don't know, I just and then the seasoning.
Speaker 6 (48:53):
Can't go wrong. I can't go wrong.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
And if you if you want to see what these are,
what this looks like, uh, definitely check out the Tasty
show dot com. You'll be able to see all that
behind the scenes. We definitely have video going in studio
and uh, thank you. Oh check that out. You got
to get in their ray. Yes, Yes's see where.
Speaker 4 (49:26):
I said. These are a staple in my house. My
kids ask for them all the family events, ask for them.
They're always oh.
Speaker 3 (49:31):
My god, mmmm oh my. So that that that hits
all the right spots. I mean it has. You said
you smoke them, you sir, you don't have too much
smoke on there. I mean it's just enough.
Speaker 4 (49:48):
I smoke on my three hundred degrees for about an
hour and a half.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
Is that hickory?
Speaker 4 (49:52):
It's a competition blende okay, helt smoker, So competition blinds
all the sweeter woods. I have a family member that's
al to a mesquite, so I can't use mesquite.
Speaker 6 (50:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
You can come over my house and we'll have all
the mosquit you need, because we love misquit.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
I use that in the other smoker.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
Got it a powerful flavor for a potato?
Speaker 6 (50:14):
Really? How is this on your menu at the that's
a home.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
Sometimes when I do when I do my private are
we do little caterings and things like that for ambassadors
and so on and so forth, you know, small luncheons
and whatnot, and all though these on there?
Speaker 3 (50:31):
Are you a member one of the ambassadors with city
of gastronomy or no.
Speaker 4 (50:37):
Now now I'm not with that that group.
Speaker 6 (50:39):
Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 4 (50:40):
I got so many things going on the side.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
And heard, yeah, so can we talk about that seasonally
a little bit because I'm definitely picking up some some
flavors there that are very familiar. Uh, do you mind
sharing some of those seasoning? It's just chef seasoning.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
So I I call it chef spice. It's uh answer,
chili flakes, ground rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic, couman chili powder.
I'm actually one of Chef Pablo. He makes chili powder
and I take it from him.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
It's like cumin.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
I'm picking up. And then I said, and then throw them,
wrap him, wrap him up, thumb and the smoker. An
hour and a half.
Speaker 6 (51:23):
Later, real, we're kind of bacon.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
Just Costco.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
You know, I will pose this question to both of you,
but I will say that we had an executive chef
in a couple of weeks ago, and when we asked
him the question, he said, you absolutely have to have
the Costco bacon bits from Costco, the bag of Costco
bacon Kita bits in your kitchen. Now, what's one thing
(51:49):
that everyone at home needs to have in their kitchen,
and I pose that to both of you.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Every household is different, Absolutely my household.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
That's what we asked to say it.
Speaker 6 (51:58):
I hate to say it.
Speaker 4 (52:00):
Bacon is always one of them. And then ketch up
my wife and my wife and kids love ketchup Chick
fil A and Chick fil A sauce.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Chick fil A sauce. Mmmm, that one's good. I like
their honey roasted barbecue, but they won't come out with
the squeeze bottle of it. I don't know why I
would love that, but I would put that the honey
roasted barbecue on it. I just need to figure out
how to make it. But that's a whole nother story.
What would you say one thing is that you have
to have in your kitchen.
Speaker 6 (52:30):
Have to have.
Speaker 9 (52:31):
I would agree with the bacon, bac it's a must.
I mean, it crosses over so many barriers, lunch or dinner.
It can be added to anything.
Speaker 3 (52:40):
So fat is flavor for sure.
Speaker 6 (52:43):
So we think with the thick cut in our house.
Speaker 4 (52:47):
Yeah, and don't don't forget to save the save the grease,
save the grease.
Speaker 3 (52:54):
So we're I've been waiting to Actually, I don't know
if we have any fried or bacon grease right now,
but we want to do the bacon popcorn and use
the grease to pop the popcorn in setup butter. And
it's supposed to be like amazing. But now that we
have the bacon bits from Costco, I'm gonna put that
(53:15):
over the top. And and then I wanted to try
maybe doing a caramel sauce or something, or a caramel
popcorn with a bacon because you have that salty sweet,
which I just think that would be good. But but
apparently that's quite the thing with popcorn using anything other
(53:37):
than the oilsil or the the butter, because there's a
couple a couple of places that use beef tallow to
pop the popcorn. And I was like, well, I gotta
try this. You know, can't be that bad, right, But
so we have about a minute left. How can everybody
(53:57):
get ahold of you? Chef?
Speaker 4 (53:58):
Aaron can find me on Facebook, Instagram at the Crazy
ktis Catering and that's pretty much where you can find
me at say it again, The Crazy KDIs on Facebook
and Instagram and that's c.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
A d Y d Y and Portillo's hot Dogs. What
do you have coming up? And how can everybody get
a hot dog?
Speaker 9 (54:19):
We are open right now. Come visit us at thirty
seven to sixty one East Broadway. You've in context. We
have a great catering menu. We cater we delivered within
a five mile radius of the restaurant. You can go
and order Portillos dot com or you can call eight
six six YOUM beef, y U, M B E E
F call and we can online catering assistant will walk
(54:39):
you through it, or you can do it yourself see us.
Speaker 3 (54:43):
Thank you so much to chef Aaron and Ray. This
has been an incredible conversation and definitely check out Portillo's
dot com. You can come in and see them on
any of the any day, seven days a week, seven
days a week, and definitely check them out there right
over there at Broadway in Elvernon. Do you want exclusive
(55:05):
food experiences, giveaways and VIP perks, Join the Tucson Tasty
Show membership program at the Tastyshow dot com and don't
forget Tickets are on sale right now for Studio Yanos
private dining and TV recording experience on April sixteenth. Only
twelve seats are available. Visit the tastishow dot com and
(55:26):
grab grab them before they're gone. Huge. Thank you to
all of our guests, Aaron Chef, Aaron Katie and from
Cozy Katie's Catering, Ray from Pattillo's and all of our
amazing sponsors. That's it for today, so stay tasty, Tucson. Hello,
(55:50):
this is Wesley Source with the Tucson Tasty Show. With
every tasty bite from Vepremiumbeef dot Com, you get premiumbefflavor
from the amazing ground Beef, the melt in your mouth
Ribi steaks. Every ounce is exceptionally aged for more than
twenty one days, giving verra or Ol Premium Beef exceptional
premium beef flavor. Order online at VE Premiumbeef dot com. Again,
(56:13):
that's VE Premiumbef dot com. Hi.
Speaker 8 (56:18):
I'm Stephen Coodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project. Here
in Tucson, no family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week. But we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing
(56:42):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger tuson
Ey Tucson.
Speaker 3 (56:52):
Ready to spice up your dining experience, Join the Tucson
Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access to secret
menu items from our partner restaurants. These one of a
kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted just for
our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's best kept
culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow dot com
(57:15):
and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty Tucson.
Speaker 7 (57:18):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community, rent our event space. It's perfect
(57:41):
for your next gathering or even workshop. Visits sparkproject collective
dot com to learn more and discover where creativity and
connection meet
Amids the ancient rooms of a forgotten civilization, a mysterious temple.
Paul saints with an otherworldly energy. The guardian of this Taste,
Define Sanctuary moves forward, a figure shrouded in enigma, in power.
He doesn't just taste food, he summons.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
Forgotten flavors and awakens dormant passions. Behold the Wizard of Food,
Wesley Source and the Tucson Tasty Show.
Speaker 3 (00:41):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasty Show, Tucson's only food talk radio.
I'm your host, Wesley Source, bringing you exclusive interviews, secret
menu items, and the largest food trends in Tucson. Before
we get started, a huge thank you to all of
our sponsors who make this possible. That's via Eal Premium Beef,
your ranch to table quality you can Taste, Tucson Family
(01:04):
Food Project helping families access fresh local food, Local First
Arizona supporting independent restaurants across the state, Portillo's Hot Dogs
bringing the taste of Chicago to Tucson, and of course,
Soka supporting Southern Arizona arts and culinary scene. One exclusive
food perks, VIP tastings and secret menu items at Tucson's
(01:25):
Top restaurants. Join the Tucson Tasty Show membership program at
the tastyshow dot com today and if you love exclusive
dining experiences, We're hosting a one night only private dining
TV recording experience at Studio Yanos on April sixteenth. Only
twelve seats are available. It includes a multi course meal,
(01:47):
drinks and gratuity. Reserve your spot today at the Tastyshow
dot com. We've got an exciting lineup for you today. First,
let's welcome Chef Aaron Katie, a chef who wears many hats,
a dining service director at the Watermark, owner of Crazy
Katie's Catering, and a private chef for a luxury Airbnb. Aaron,
(02:10):
with all your diverse background in assisted living, catering and
private dining, how do you balance it all? And what
is the most rewarding part of your work?
Speaker 4 (02:20):
The balance itself is there is no balance. It's just
chaos all the time.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And that's being a small business owner, right.
Speaker 4 (02:30):
You know, it's small business. It's the normal nine to
five job, it's weekends, it's nights, it's everything.
Speaker 3 (02:38):
Yeah, all right, so big thank you to our sponsors. Again,
that's Vera O. Premium Beef Tuson Family Food Project, Local
First Arizona Pertilla's hot Dogs in Sokka.
Speaker 4 (02:47):
Aaron.
Speaker 3 (02:48):
Food is such an important part of quality of life
in assisted living, and so let's talk about your approach
to creating a flavorful, high quality meal for residents at
the watermark.
Speaker 2 (03:04):
One.
Speaker 4 (03:05):
It starts with, you know, knowing our residents. You know
their flavor profiles and what they like and what they enjoy.
My job is to bring back memories of their childhood
and their upbringing and what they used to cook for
their families and stuff like that. So it's everything's scratch made.
It's I have a group of great cooks and chefs
(03:32):
and whatnot. My soushow has been with me for the
past six years, seven years. We follow each other around.
We've known each other for thirty years. So yeah, it's
you know, we kind of compliment each other for the
most part. And then yeah, so just putting out that
quality product for the residents and diverse, you know, we
(03:52):
do a little bit of everything. It's you know, from
you know, every genre you can think of, we put
it in.
Speaker 3 (04:00):
And what are some of the most common misconceptions about
dining with assisted living.
Speaker 4 (04:06):
So assisted living. You know, we're on stage three times
a day breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our residents see us
every day, three hundred and sixty five days a year,
three times a day.
Speaker 3 (04:18):
So very loyal customers, whether they want to or not.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
You know, we have one hundred and five residents ish
and then you know it's you know, making sure everybody's
happy one way or another, you know, being able to
offer you know, hair, here's our daily specials, which change
every day. I run on a six week menu cycle.
And you know, if the resident we get a lot
of complaints about something, never see it again.
Speaker 5 (04:43):
Okay, so you have scorecards for the meals, so right,
it's all weird mouth. So you know, it's we're doing
very well for the at Watermark. We're pretty much running
on you know, like an positive feedback and all of
(05:05):
our meals.
Speaker 3 (05:06):
That's that's incredible. That's uh, that's really incredible. And uh,
what would you say one of the top meals at Watermark?
Well with you, with your your property, what would be
the top meal that everybody always asks for like or
gets excited like like when I was in school, I
was always excited when it was pizza day.
Speaker 4 (05:26):
Sheep pan pizza is amazing, you know, honestly, it all changes.
You know, fried chicken is a big one for us.
They like deep fried, smothered and gravy mashed potatoes, like
I mean, it's comfortable for comfort food.
Speaker 3 (05:43):
You know.
Speaker 4 (05:43):
We it's it's hard to say which one is the favorite.
You know, my favorite one is not a big seller there,
but it's my favorite. You know. We do a beaten
arugula salad, which is you know, pickled onions, go cheese, honey, limon, vinigarette,
a big chick in pickle beats like it truly is
(06:04):
a beautiful, amazing salad and it's not everybody's favorite, butody's mine.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
Absolutely. Now you're not just making nutritious meals. Then you're
creating a full dining experience. How do you incorporate variety, culture, culture,
and special events into your menus?
Speaker 4 (06:22):
Special events we do quite often. You know, we have
one coming up on August eleventh or I'm sorry, August
April eleventh, and it's, uh, we're doing a luau for
families and friends and marketing and everything like that, which
is always a big one. They're not letting me dig
a hole in the ground. To put a pig in.
Speaker 3 (06:41):
Oh why not? I mean you can't get through that
colliche anyways. But you know you can try. I've seen
people try.
Speaker 4 (06:49):
But but like I said, it's just you know, just
creating that diverse menus. My my executive director, he came
up to me to believe it was last week. He's like,
my six week, six week menu cycle. You know, I
have like ninety seven different items.
Speaker 6 (07:04):
Oh wow, we do well.
Speaker 4 (07:05):
You know, it changes every day and every week, so
you know, we kind of it's.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Great variety with dietary restrictions, you know, it's you know,
typically when you're in a restaurant, you go in and
you talk to somebody. Hopefully you're very nice to them
because they're making your food and not killing you. But
how do you deal or deal with those or approach
that with special dietary needs.
Speaker 4 (07:31):
It's a daily life. Yeah, you know, being in this
industry for twenty five years, it just kind of you know,
everything's come to light and you know, we just try
to make the best options so we don't have to
change our ideas that we put on a plate. And
that's you know, making it gluten free and making it
low sodium, making it whatever way they need it to
(07:51):
be made. That's kind of what we do. And in
assists of living, it's every item is gluten free. Every oh,
you know, for the most part. If we do like
sandwiches for lines, you know, it's not but we have
gluten free options and whatnot as well, so there's no
extra charges and snow anything like that. So you know,
we do.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
We do a lot. You do, you do quite a bit.
And one of your programs that I was really excited
to learn about is your One Bite because some people
in assisted living, you know, they're in SICI living because
they have not only dietary restrictions, but they just can't
they can't eat like a full meal. So how do
you approach trying to make an entire meal out of
(08:39):
a bite of food?
Speaker 4 (08:40):
No, So the program is called Gourmet Bites or we
call it grind dining. So what we do is we
grind products. So it's for the residents that can't hold
a fork and bring the fork to their mouth and
keep being steady on a spoon or anything like that.
So you know, we do. We'll grind cooked turkey and
mashed potatoes and vegetables, all waded out and then put
(09:02):
it into a ball. So this way they can just
grab that one bite, take a bite, and get all
the nutrients they need. You know, it's you know, it
goes to salads.
Speaker 6 (09:14):
Everything.
Speaker 4 (09:14):
Everything we do we throw in a grinder. Make sure
it's got the right amount of nutrients for our residents
so they stay with us longer.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I'd love to see a Chicago dog and one bite
and just no ketchup. You can't do the ketchup.
Speaker 4 (09:32):
I don't know if that green relish is gonna take it.
That's going to change that color a little bit more so.
Speaker 3 (09:38):
And somebody that, you know, somebody listening is probably going, oh,
they just grind it all up and they turn it
into a ball.
Speaker 7 (09:46):
Now.
Speaker 3 (09:47):
I kind of have a unique experience with with that
because when I was in the Air Force, I work
with the U two spyplanes and they're in full pressure
suits and they eat for their twelve hour fl that
they're on. They eat out of a tube. So everything
they eat stewed beef, gravy. I mean, I can't even
(10:09):
remember all the ones. I know I liked the apple
pie and I loved the caffeinated chocolate pudding because it
was like a really dark chocolate and that was my
absolute favorite. Now you have a more unique approach because
there's definitely some texture to that. So I mean, if
they can make a tube food that's good, then what
you're doing is next.
Speaker 4 (10:29):
Level, you know it. There's different types of it. You know,
we kind of make you know, to the impanadas and
have all the nutrients inside impanadas as well. We do
stuff crepes. We do it's not just like a meatball
version of things, and that's awesome. So it's basically so
the residents just can pick it up with their fingers.
We're basically making finger.
Speaker 3 (10:50):
And balancing those flavors so that you can taste everything
that comes through. I mean, that's got to be unique.
And what would you say the most challenging one or
the most one or both?
Speaker 4 (11:02):
To make it look appealing is the hardest party. And
that's honestly. You eat with your eyes first, so if
you can't make it look pretty, it's gonna taste like
it looks.
Speaker 3 (11:12):
And and so what's the two?
Speaker 4 (11:14):
Sorry? My favorite one was we did I didn't impanada,
you know, stuffed it with I had chili on the menu,
so I did, you know, grilled skirt steak chili and
then so had all the veggies, had the protein and
it and all went inside, stuffed it with some cheese
and it was awesome. It was amazing.
Speaker 3 (11:33):
And then the one that's failed the most, or the
one that was like, we're never doing that again because
we got to talk. I mean, it's got to be
good and bad, right.
Speaker 4 (11:43):
You know the the other Yeah, it's hard to say.
Speaker 6 (11:46):
There there.
Speaker 4 (11:48):
It's been a process. There's been a few of them,
well one of them.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
Are you looking to engage with thousands of food lovers
advertised with the Tucson and Tasty Show. Visit the tastyshow
dot com for custom sponsorship packages. Coming up next, we
dive into Crazykadies, catering and the wildest, most unique events
Aaron has catered. Stay tuned and stay tasty. Two shot Hello,
(12:30):
This is Wesley's source with the Tucson Tasty Show. With
every Tasty bite from Vee Premiumbeef dot Com, you get
premiumbefflavor from the amazing ground beef to the melt in
your mouth Ribbi steaks. Every ounce is exceptionally aged for
more than twenty one days, giving vera earl. Premium Beef
Exceptional Premium Beef Flavor order online at Vepremiumbeef dot com. Again,
(12:53):
that's ve Premiumbeef dot com. Hi.
Speaker 8 (12:58):
I'm Stephen Cooderoblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project. Here
in Tucson, no family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week. But we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing
(13:21):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger Tucson.
Speaker 3 (13:31):
Hey, Tucson. Ready to spice up your dining experience? Join
the Tucson Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access
to secret menu items from our partner restaurants. These one
of a kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted
just for our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's
best kept culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow
(13:54):
dot com and discover what you've been missing. Stay tasty.
Speaker 7 (13:57):
Tucson Smart Project Collective, the world first tattoo, body piercing
and metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give
back a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
(14:18):
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect
for your next gathering or your workshop. Visits Sparkproject Collective
dot com to learn more and discover where creativity and
connection meet.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasties Show, brought to you by
SOKA Southern Arizona Art and Cultural Alliance dedicated to creating,
preserving and advancing the arts. And now it's time for
more tasty bites with your host, Wesley Source. Welcome back
(14:58):
to the Tucson Tasty sho Show. The Tucson tac Show.
He's brought to you by SOCCA and thank you to
all of our sponsors. Vera Premium Beef Tucson Family Food Project,
Local First Arizona, Pertillo's hot Dogs, and of course Soccah.
We're here with Aaron and Ray. Ray is from Partillo's
hot Dogs, and I apologize for not introducing you in
the first segment, but uh, you're you have the entire
(15:20):
second half of the show, so we'll definitely dive in
more with you on what Partillo's is and why they're
important in the Tucson culture for sure. Now we're talking
to Aaron, Chef Aaron, let's talk about your catering, uh
and your company Crazy Katie or Katie's Catering is known
(15:40):
for creative menus, bold flavors. What's inspired you to start
your own catering.
Speaker 4 (15:45):
Business assist a living.
Speaker 3 (15:49):
Assisted living? All right, No, I get to I get
to play.
Speaker 4 (15:52):
A little bit more of food with the catering side
of stuff, private chef meals and whatnot. So the biggest
one for me is that doing doing the private chef
meals in people's homes and what you know, I get
to bring the outside in. I get to bring my
creative flavors and whatnot. I'm born and raised here in Tucson,
so you know, bringing taste of Tucson into people's homes.
(16:17):
You know, it's not just about Mexican food. It's you know,
it's you can, so diverse and what we do here
in Tucson. So absolutely. The sister living keeps me kind
of grounded a little bit, but the catering feeds my
need for creativity and the constant learning on what other
(16:39):
people think. Because food is the natural bring the group together.
Speaker 3 (16:44):
So absolutely, and uh, you know it's it's creativity. You know,
it's culinary arts for a reason because it's artistic. And
you know, I hope that everybody that's listening, you know,
realizes that when you go into a restaurant, somebody's putting
their heart and soul in front of you. So be
a little bit gentler with your your judgments before sending
(17:07):
something back. And because it is art and you know,
it's plated the way that you want it. It's plated,
all right. It's uh, the flavor profiles, you know, top
to bottom. And that's that's what we're again, that's what
we're trying to give to everybody, a different perspective for
for all of our chefs. Now, what's been the most
(17:29):
unique or the wildest event you've ever catered.
Speaker 4 (17:34):
Most of my kidings are pretty basic. We do custom menu.
I do custom menus and everything like that for most
of the groups. The biggest one I did was it
was for three hundred people, a couple a couple of
decembers ago, not this past one of the one before,
and it was me. I had a couple of people
helping me with like serving and replenishing buffets, but it
(17:54):
was two double sided buffets. It was absolutely insane, so
much food. I had two truckloads full of things.
Speaker 3 (18:02):
Like how many people three hundred, three hundred, Oh, that's wow.
Speaker 4 (18:05):
You know, platters and all that other stuff, cold platters,
hot food. It was absolutely insane. It was a lot
of work. It was a lot of planning. I think
the people that were helping, you know, my wife and
a couple of people that I worked with. Yeah, they
came in and ran it with me, and it it
(18:26):
was a big event. It was a big event, like
I said, for little old me, little old me. But
other than that, like saying, you know, I kind of
I work and everything, you know, from two people to
you know, one hundred and fifty two hundred, three hundred people,
it really doesn't matter.
Speaker 3 (18:39):
So when you're when you're sitting down with the client
and you're going over what the menu items are, the
menu is going to be, how do you how do
you approach that?
Speaker 4 (18:48):
Honestly, I want to feel them out. I want to
know what they want, what they like, their ins and outs,
what they don't like. I don't want to serve them
something that they are not going to put on their plate,
you know. And it's and dealing with the diverse crowds
and hey, dietary restrictions, We're gonna come up with something
that's gonna work for everybody, not just.
Speaker 3 (19:07):
A select group, understood. And what would what would be
your wildest request that somebody's asked for.
Speaker 4 (19:15):
I haven't really gotten any wild requests, you know what
I mean?
Speaker 3 (19:18):
Like, you know, well, that's not wild, it's wild game
I get thank you, Ray.
Speaker 4 (19:28):
Uh No, I haven't really gotten anything like that yet.
You know. It's it's all been pretty basic.
Speaker 3 (19:33):
I was saying, like tiger tacos or something like that, okay,
And you know, and I'm not saying that you should
go out and seek those, but you know, it's like
that's a wild request. Uh. And and some people have
very interesting uh requests. With stuff.
Speaker 4 (19:50):
Yeah, like I said, I've been I've been pretty basic
for the most part, you know. I I put a
lot of smoke beats and things like that together. And yeah,
I do some competitions here in town as well. Over
Button Brewery has competitions every you know, every month. Oh
so I've been doing all those and getting to know
the owners and whatnot. They become really good friends of mine,
so it's I get to play a little bit more
(20:12):
with that kind of thing.
Speaker 3 (20:13):
Wonderful that that is actually really cool. I know Gweedoq
Michael Lafonte. He he does barbecue competitions with Chef Obi
from m O Club and uh and they they've actually
brought in the Tragger uh Tragger Crew as well, so
they there's I guess they're sponsored by Trager, right. He
(20:36):
has a sponsorship of some kind with them, which is
really cool. I call it my easy bake oven because
I'm definitely a tragger guy.
Speaker 4 (20:42):
And don't get me wrong, I'm not a tragger guy,
but I have a pet boss.
Speaker 3 (20:45):
But it's the same thing. It's an easy big oven.
You push the button, you go to sleep. Everybody else
is up until you know, every you know, hour making
sure that the fire didn't go down under the two
hundred degrees or you know, whatever you're going for. And
I appreciate that level of uh uh tenacity and uh
and and creativity in it because it's definitely, you know,
(21:06):
there's something to be said about it. But uh, I've
I've accomplished quite a bit with my trigger.
Speaker 4 (21:11):
So it's smoking meats. It really is, like I mean,
if you do it like the real style, you know,
smoking your fire and making sure the temperatures are it
takes a lot. It takes a lot. I had, you know,
I have, I have my my pit boss. I also
have my charge my propane with chip smoker as well
that you know, I have to kind of have to
control that one a little bit more.
Speaker 3 (21:32):
But I have a cabinet, a cabinet smoker that I
can't do the.
Speaker 4 (21:34):
Real smoker style just because.
Speaker 3 (21:37):
But I cut my teeth on smoking smoking meats with that.
And I don't talk about it very often because it's
your We're here for you. But I cut my teeth
on the the Weber egg shaped one or cylinder one,
and uh, I mean I dialed it in and then
I was like, let me try a trigger, and we
(21:59):
got a small trigger and then now I have the
biggest trigger they make, you know, because it was so
much easier. And we do a smoke turkey every year.
Have you have you tried smoking turkey?
Speaker 4 (22:10):
So are my wife's family. They smoke a turkey every year,
so I kind of learned from them. I always to
do the wet Brians and everything like that before we go.
Speaker 3 (22:16):
I have to. And that's was gonna be my next question.
How do you brind your meats?
Speaker 4 (22:21):
So, like I said, for poultry and whatnot, it's always salt,
sugar and fresh herbs, ye basically, and then just soak
it for you know, a few days. I did one
for this Christmas or this Thanksgiving. I did like a
Chili Brian almost you know, a bunch of dried to
answer Chili's New Mexico and you know, salt sugar, try
to get that spice in the lat It wasn't bad.
(22:47):
I got, I got, I got some. We'll go room
to play with this this.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
Uh Tina always does the Brian and she finds the
wildest recipes. And we did a cranberry and herb one.
She's finding the pitcher. But the cranberry works are really
well because the citrus and really breaks down those flavors.
But then there was like whole anti stars in there
and all kinds of stuff, and but the the flavors
(23:13):
that it gave the meat like it was so incredibly good,
but you couldn't It was like, this isn't turning into
turkey pop pie very well because all those flavors just
over overwhelm everything. But it tasted like turkey and uh
And the other thing that actually Chef obi Uh told
us was get a a kosher turkey because they do
(23:36):
the Brian They do the dry brine and they rub
out or rub down the outside of the the turkey
with salt, right, and then they let it cool uh
cool down but naturally instead of flash freezing or any
or anything else, and then it's air chilled. And then
but he said, it's the most And I was going
(23:57):
to try to get one this this last year, but
I didn't order one time. And it's like three months
in advance that you have to order these turkeys. But
you know it's just yeah worth it, Yeah worth it.
I only get turkey once a year because Tina doesn't
like turn all right, producer, Tina doesn't like turkey.
Speaker 4 (24:13):
I'm not I'm not a huge fan of turkey either,
but you know, the family likes turkey, and you know
the holiday, the holiday thing.
Speaker 3 (24:20):
So what type of Brian's are you working with with
pork butt?
Speaker 6 (24:25):
Pork?
Speaker 4 (24:25):
But I do. I do dry rubs. I use Hiota paste,
a lot of Hiota paste, chioda, pineapple juice, orange juice.
Rub the pork butt down, saran wrap, some bay Ley,
foil it, and I cook it in its own juices.
Speaker 3 (24:42):
Mmmmmm.
Speaker 4 (24:42):
Throw it in the oven with a little touch of
water in a pan. Let it go for about twelve hours.
Speaker 3 (24:48):
It's not even like smoking smoking. It's it's a slow roast.
Speaker 4 (24:51):
Slow ros I'll finish. I'll finish on the smoker. I
like the taste of smoke, but I don't want to
kill what I put it. All the seasonings and everything
like that. I'm working with right now. Corn beef. I
do my all my own corning.
Speaker 3 (25:05):
We saw the prices of corn beef at Costco. The
yesterday is actually uh and because it's uh, you know,
Saint Patrick's is coming up and or it's in March here.
So we were looking at the prices and I was like,
you know, I could just get a whole brisket and
make corn beef and be done with it, and it
(25:25):
would be like two dollars a pound. Let's do that
instead one hundred percent.
Speaker 4 (25:30):
For the last like five years, I've been doing my
own every year. I will not go back to the
store bot pre done corn beef ever again, you know.
And I do my own pastrami as well out of it.
So it kind of works out for me and my
residents because that's what we're growing accustomed to now.
Speaker 3 (25:48):
Absolutely yeah, No, there's there's a few places in town
that do their own corn beef and you can definitely
tell the difference quality and everything.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
So and you can add more more flavor into it,
you know. I throw chipotles and roast, boblanos and roast
kind of put that Southwest feel into it as well,
so you get the little hint of spice behind it
as well.
Speaker 3 (26:08):
Absolutely yeah. We we typically I typically do more of
a South Carolina It's a sweeter style of brisket when
we do the brisket, but that Texas style, you know,
it's it's a thing all by itself. But thank you
so much for coming on the show. Definitely check out
the tastyshow dot com and the UH social media's UH
(26:30):
for all or all of the behind the scenes there scenes,
reels and clips and everything else. UH and if you
want to access secret menu items and vi P tastings,
joined the Tucson Tasty Show membership program at the tastyshow
dot com. Next up, we're going to talk to Pertillo's
hot Dogs, the Chicago style legends, and what makes the
(26:52):
Tucson flavor stick around. Hello, this is Wesley's source with
the Tucson Tasty Show. With every tasty bite from Vepremiumbeef
dot Com, you get premium beefflavor from the amazing ground
(27:15):
beef to the melt in your mouth Ribi steaks. Every
ounce is exceptionally aged for more than twenty one days,
giving vera eorl Premium Beef exceptional Premium Beef flavor. Order
online at Vepremiumbeef dot Com. Again, that's VE Premiumbeef dot Com. Hi.
Speaker 8 (27:34):
I'm Stephen Kodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project. Here
in Tucson, no family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week, but we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing
(27:58):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Unfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger tuson
Ey Tucson.
Speaker 3 (28:08):
Ready to spice up your dining experience, Join the Tucson
Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access to secret
menu items from our partner restaurants. These one of a
kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted just for
our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's best kept
culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow dot com
(28:31):
and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty. Tucson.
Speaker 7 (28:34):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect
(28:57):
for your next gathering or your workshop. Visit Spark Project
Collective dot com to learn more and discover where creativity
and connection meet.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasty Show, brought to you by SOCCA,
Southern Arizona Art and Cultural Alliance dedicated to creating, preserving,
and edvancing the arts. And now it's time for more
tasty bites with your host, Wesley Source. Welcome back to
(29:35):
the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm your host, Wesley Source. The
Tucson Tasty Show is brought to you by SOCCA. Thank
you to all of our sponsors at Vereral, Premium Beef,
Tucson Family Food Project, Local First Arizona, Portillo's hot Dogs,
and of course SOCCA. Now let's talk about one of
the most iconic brands in the country, Portillo's hot Dogs,
(29:56):
and we have Ray from Portillo's hot Dogs to give
us the inside scoop. How are you doing today?
Speaker 6 (30:01):
Ray doing great? Doing great?
Speaker 3 (30:03):
Now? Ray Portillo's hot Dogs is famous for Chicago style
hot dogs, Italian beef and cake shakes. What do you
think that? What do you think makes Portillo's stand out?
Speaker 9 (30:17):
Oo makes portillo stand out? Well, it's definitely the food,
the food, the fresh ingredients, the way it's put together.
Speaker 6 (30:24):
Chicago street food.
Speaker 9 (30:26):
So it's coming from a long time ago where it started.
Nineteen sixty three, opened up Dick Portillo has had a
little trailer, so we were serving food out of that
out of his It was close, it was out of
his backyard, semi sort out out of his backyard. So
it evolved into a restaurant. First one was in Villa
Park and it just has evolved from there. Again, when
(30:47):
I say street food, I'm talking of the Italian beefs,
the hot dogs, just real simple food but good fresh ingredients.
Poppy seed bun, fresh steam bun, the all beef hot dogs,
the fresh Tian beef. It's marinated and cooked for about
four hours, thinly sliced. We have a gravy that it's
soaked in that's been perfected over fifty years. We toast
(31:09):
fresh French bread. It's baked fresh daily, so we're putting
that Tinian beef on a nice, fresh toasted French bread.
Speaker 6 (31:18):
We add our jarn earraw mix.
Speaker 9 (31:20):
Which is peppers are are freshly made sweet peppers. We
have sweet peppers, our jarn are peppers whichever you like,
or you can have both.
Speaker 3 (31:26):
So again and jardan eira. You know, for everybody that
doesn't know what that is, I mean it's it's it's
pickled vegetables. But it has a spicy It definitely has
a kick, and that's what you want. I mean, if
you're getting mild up, why just get the hot ones
and enjoy it. I mean we are in Tucson, right
(31:46):
So for those who haven't been yet, what is the
must try menu item at Portillo's Must try?
Speaker 9 (31:53):
I get a lot of guests come in there've never
been to Potillo's and they asked what should I try?
And I'm always pushing try a beef our try hot dog.
We are known for beefs and hot dogs. The beef
is very it's very again, it's a it's a classic beef.
The way it's made. Our hot dogs are Chicago made.
What stands out about our hot dogs is a couple
of things. It's the lamb casing on the all beef
(32:15):
hot dogs. It gives a nice snap when you bite
into it. We don't preface that a lot because a
lot of people get turned brown when you say lamb casing.
But it is actual lamb casing on the outside of
the dog. Gives a nice little snap.
Speaker 3 (32:28):
But which is what you need, right? I mean, do
you want that texture? You want that texture that pop
because it gives you that extra You know, there's something
in here other than just the vegetables.
Speaker 9 (32:39):
So with that, the dog is it sells itself. The
celery salt is one of the key ingredients. It kind
of it kind of trans it kind of transpires a
whole hot dog brings everything together. You got your sport
peppers on there, your mustard, your relish, your onions pickle,
and the sport peppers. A lot of people weren't familiar
with sport peppers around the small another pickled pepper. The
(33:02):
ghost right on there with the two on there, wrapped
up the right way, uh, and as you unwrap it,
it's unwrapped the same way. You know, the same way
we build it is the same way it comes unwrapped.
So we called it dragging it through the garden. You're
dragging through the garden and put it on there.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
Yeah, so it's good and it comes together and it's
a really amazing just I mean one bite and and
it gets all those and it hits all those flavor profiles,
which is what we always want. And then the celery
salt just puts it, puts it over the top. I
always put extra celery salt on mine, personally, but I
really do like all the.
Speaker 6 (33:35):
Flavors and don't be afraid of that.
Speaker 3 (33:38):
Yeah, that's normal, It's supposed to be that way. Now
we've got to address, uh, the ketchup. And it is
a Chicago food law that you cannot have ketchup on
your hot dog.
Speaker 6 (33:51):
Now.
Speaker 3 (33:52):
I did some research and we we really you know,
dove into this because it's like, why can't you have
ketchup on your hot dog? And what we found out
was ketchup was invented to hide the flavor of bad
beef or beef that was almost off so uh. And
and typically people that were making sausages and hot dogs
were taking the meat that was was about to go bad. Uh,
(34:17):
they would take that and they would put it into uh,
into the sausages and hot dogs. So they would put
ketchup over the top to make sure that it hit
any of those extra you know on uh on polite flavors,
you could say, right, and that's why ketchup was invented.
That's what hot what Heinz did. Uh and uh So
(34:37):
Chicago got together and they started to say, we serve
fresh hot dogs, fresh beef, no ketchup, okay, and it
was a point of pride because everything was fresh and
it was made to made to the standards that everybody
would enjoy the hot dog flavor and you don't need
to hide that hot dog flavor. So then it spread
(35:00):
and uh and you know, throughout the years it went
from we serve no or no ketch up to hey,
what are you doing? Why are you putting ketchup on
on that? You know? So it's definitely a Chicago law.
You can't put ketchup on their hot dog. Now, if
you're eating under they're not really going to say anything.
I mean, it's like, okay, you know, you gotta do
(35:22):
what you gotta do. But if you ask for ketchup,
they'll they'll be looking around for the kid, and I
think it's what do you what do you eat? You
know it is the response, Yes, No, it's for the
it's for the fries. It's you know, try to spend that.
But what do you think, what do you think about
(35:42):
that now that you have the rest of the history.
Speaker 6 (35:45):
It's quite interesting. I didn't know that.
Speaker 9 (35:47):
I mean, that makes that I see how that would
make sense with the beef not tasting as well. But
you know, from Pertillo's standpoint, we're making a good beef
hot dogs. You're not going to need the ketchup on
there to mask any flavors there. So that's that's a
quite interesting story. I did not know that.
Speaker 3 (36:03):
But yeah, Jeff, did you know that's why ketchup was invented?
Speaker 6 (36:06):
Not at all, Not at all.
Speaker 4 (36:09):
And I'm just sitting here nothing better than, you know,
at a baseball game, a hot dog with some ketchup
on it, just mustard. Just now, I'm going to rethink that.
Speaker 9 (36:18):
You know, they they the Sonoran dog has ketchup on it.
People and I met only been in tu Son a
couple of years, but from my experience from being here,
I speak to a lot of people from Tucson and
they say they're used to putting ketchup on a hot dog.
I have some employees that were born and raised here
and they said, yeah, on my Sonoran dog. I add
ketchup to it. So when the patillos came out and
the Chicago dog is there and they're frowning on the ketchup,
(36:41):
I get some Tusonians, they say, well, we put ketchup
on our hot dogs.
Speaker 3 (36:45):
Well, you know I would say that, I I would
question because the Sonoran dog. And that's actually you know,
that brings up a fair point because right now we're
going back, who are you know, Sonoran dog or Chicago
dog and we want everybody to get on, get online
and vote on the social media is definitely put out,
you know, snor and dog or hot dog. Uh in
(37:07):
any comments, just comment on one of the posts. But
it so snoring dogs should be a jumbo all beef
hot dog wrapped in bacon. You've got to have the
the I could never say it right the our bowl
billillo bun.
Speaker 4 (37:27):
I don't know, but then makes Yeah, the.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
Bun definitely makes it because it's a different style of bun.
You know, it's uh and it's really good. You gotta
have the bacon, pinto beans, avocado, lime, red onion can
or canned aal apinos, fresh alpinos and mayonnaise is optional,
but crem fresh is the traditional h so and most
(37:49):
most of the time you're gonna see mayonnaise because that's
just what they accepted is now, is a topping for
the Chicago dot or for the not the Chicago dog,
for the Sonoran dogs, don't put that on, yeah, the
Chicago dog. But but you know, and there's definitely different
ways of making it, just like any any other recipe
of course, but uh, you know, that would be the
(38:10):
standard if I asked for a Sonoran dog competition, Uh,
those would be the ingredients that I'm looking for. And
snoring dog catch up, I don't know, chopped, chopped, Uh,
I almost want like Pico toa guy over the top, right,
you know, and and get all those all those flavors
(38:31):
into it.
Speaker 4 (38:32):
No, for the most part, I've always seen you know,
dice tomatoes on top. Yeah, instead of you know, the pickledlopenos.
They do like a holopeno salsa on top as well.
Yellow mustard's a big one, yep. Yeah, mayonnaise because it's
cheaper than crime fresh.
Speaker 9 (38:45):
Right, So I'm finding so I'm hearing multiple ways of
the Sonoran dog. Absolutely, so I'm hearing multiple ways of
the snore dog. And I'm hearing one way of a
Chicago do not different. Every Chicago dog is made and
built the same way. So you have dog that can
be made. So when you ask, so, I'm asking the question,
what is the original? So and Ray, you've already told me, Wes, Ray,
(39:07):
you got to have one. I haven't had one yet.
Speaker 3 (39:09):
Well, we're gonna bring in one for coffee with the
Tasty Show and in April. If if i'm I've got
to look at the calendar here, but it's April twelfth
or just about the you know around there. Let me
pull that up April eleventh. I think we're going to
be there, but definitely check out the tastyshow dot com
go to events and see when we're gonna be there.
(39:31):
We do a live stream from multiple places around town.
Coffee with the TuS On Tasty Show. It's an open
invitation for anybody that can jump in. So we're gonna
we're gonna bring in a Sonoran dog and because you've
never had one, we're gonna have you taste test one.
We brought somebody that's never had a Chicago dog in.
Now she's addicted, but you know, and she loves the
(39:52):
cake as well, and you know for April, what is
your shake of the month?
Speaker 6 (40:00):
Shake it the month? Right now we're doing the mint shake.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
Yeah uh. And we're not gonna have very many days
left in March here, so what's your April.
Speaker 9 (40:08):
We're doing in April right now, we're doing our mint
chocolate shape. It's for theme for St. Patrick's Day. So
it's a our vanilla shake, but we have it's lime green,
but it's mint syrup and we add a scoop of
chocolate frosting, not syrup. We put a scoop of chocolate
frosting in there, blend it up, uh, and then add
(40:29):
a little bit on.
Speaker 6 (40:30):
The top of it. Yeah.
Speaker 9 (40:30):
So it's a it's a great great seller. So we
have our variety of of shake.
Speaker 6 (40:35):
That go through season the season. Yes, we just got through.
Speaker 9 (40:37):
With the strawberry chocolate for Valentine's Day, so now we're
moving into the Yeah, so we just started.
Speaker 6 (40:44):
So it's on it's on the shelf. Come and get it,
Come and get it.
Speaker 3 (40:47):
Definitely have to check that out and check out their
Shake of the month now your shakes Shakes of the
month are at portillos dot com. Is that how everybody
finds it? Yes, and uh, and we're going to look
at what that is for April. We'll be right back
after the break here And do you want exclusive foody experiences,
(41:11):
giveaways and vip perks. Joined the Tucson Tasty Show membership
program at the tastyshow dot com And don't forget, tickets
are on sale for Studio Yanos dining and TV recording
experience on April sixteenth. Only twelve seats are available. Visit
the Tastyshow dot com and grab yours before they're gone.
(41:31):
And of course, stay tasty Tucson. Hello, this is Wesley
Source with the Tucson Tasty Show. With every tasty bite
from the Premiumbeef dot Com, you get premiumbefflavor from the
amazing ground beef to the melt in your mouth Ribbi steaks.
(41:52):
Every ounce is exceptionally aged for more than twenty one days,
giving vera earl Premium Beef exceptional Premium beef flavor. Order
online at ve premiumbef dot com. Again, that's ve Premiumbeef
dot com.
Speaker 8 (42:08):
Hi. I'm Stephen Kodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project.
Here in Tucson, no family should have to choose between
paying bills and putting food on the table. That's why
we're here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families
in need every single week. But we need your help.
Just one dollar can have a huge impact on a
family's nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can
(42:28):
make sure every child in our community has access to
nourishing food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot
org to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger Tuson.
Speaker 3 (42:41):
Hey, Tucson, Ready to spice up your dining experience? Join
the Tucson Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access
to secret menu items from our partner restaurants. These one
of a kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted
just for our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's
best kept culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow
(43:04):
dot com and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty. Tucson.
Speaker 7 (43:08):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
soundbed sessions, metaphysical readers, and classes for spiritual growth. Spark
Project Collective helps you express your authentic self while giving
back to your community. Rent our event space. It's perfect
(43:31):
for your next gathering or your workshop. Visits Sparkproject Collective
dot com to learn more and discover where creativity and
connection meet.
Speaker 3 (43:43):
Welcome to the Tucson Tasties Show, brought to you by Sokka.
Southern Arizona Art and Cultural Alliance dedicated to creating, preserving,
and eddancing the arts. And now it's time for more
tasty bites with your host, Wesley Source. Welcome back to
the Tucson Tasty Show. I'm your host, Wesley Source, and
(44:06):
we're here in studio. Thank you to our amazing sponsors.
That is Soka is our title sponsor. The Southern Arizona
Art and Cultural Alliance is dedicated to creating, preserving and
advancing the arts. And thank you to all of our
amazing sponsors. Vineral Premium, Beef, Tuson Family Food Project, Local First, Arizona,
Partillo's hot Dogs and we're here with Ray of Partillo's
(44:30):
hot Dogs, and we're talking all things Chicago right now.
So we touched on the Chicago dog, we talked about
no ketchup, and we've got the Italian beef. Now, the
Italian beef is iconic because it started in Chicago, as
far as I'm aware, everything that we can find, and
(44:51):
if it started someplace else, I'm sure that everybody will
correct me online. But check out. The Italian beef is
really thinly sliced and uh. And it is on a
freshly baked or French bread, French bread, uh and uh,
you've got to put the peppers on it, or and
mozzarella sometimes if you like, if you like, and then
(45:14):
you take that whole sandwich and you you put it
into a first swim.
Speaker 6 (45:20):
We dip it. We call it dip in it.
Speaker 3 (45:21):
Yes, dip it. You gotta dip it. And it's a
full dip. You can't have the drizzle. You can't. It's
you can't have it dry. You gotta have it full drip.
Speaker 6 (45:28):
You want to have it.
Speaker 9 (45:29):
If you want to have a Chicago way, it's dipped.
We call it with sweet peppers, dip mozzarella. But again
you have your preferences so people try it again. When
people come in for the first time, I tell them,
you know, try it this way. We can't put the
side items on the side, so if you want sweeteppers
on hot peppers on the side, so that you can
determine if it's going to work for you.
Speaker 3 (45:47):
But you know, and and the traditional Chicago style jardin
eara which is smaller, chopped up pieces of vegetables and right,
and then the celery.
Speaker 9 (46:00):
Yeah, and a nice spice sauce, got some peppers in
there that it's a nice mix, nice little blend, mick
not too hot, little kick.
Speaker 3 (46:06):
And my favorite thing is finding in olive because the
olives are rare and they taste like they're the hottest
thing in the jar because they absorbed I'm pretty sure
ninety percent of the spice. But they are really good.
And I like all of us anyways, But you know,
and that's the jar, Nara. Now we we can't wait
(46:29):
to join you again for coffee with the Tasty show.
And your cake is a must have. I don't like cake.
I fully endorse this cake. Everybody needs to go down
and try this cake. And they you can find them
at Broadway and Alvarnon and again, if you are wondering
where they are or if you need more information, definitely
(46:50):
check out the Tastyshow dot com. That's where you're gonna
get all the behind the scenes and find the Tasty
Show membership and everything else. So definitely check it out there.
And what a cool building. I mean, you're in where
the old Claim Jumpers was. You got rid of Claim Jumpers.
(47:10):
You built the building up from from scratch. Uh, and
it's a it's it's just awesome. You walk in and
you you have Tucson represented very well inside the store
and uh, and you're very welcoming. So definitely have to
go down and check it out if you if you
(47:31):
have never had a Chicago Dog, I challenge you to
try one. And if you have had one and you
love it, you'll go down and get it. Anyway. So
let's go into the Tasty Bite segment. We still have
Chef Aaron here in studio and we we talked about
the Tasty bites. So would you bring in to represent
(47:54):
you as a chef?
Speaker 6 (47:56):
Oh?
Speaker 4 (47:56):
So it's my staple in my house. I started making
these about seven or eight years ago and they're basically
just a bacon wrap potato.
Speaker 3 (48:07):
He can wrapped potato potato and.
Speaker 4 (48:10):
You know, for what it is, we call him cracksticks
in our house because you can't just eat just one
all right, and and all actually, I mean every menu
it's bacon.
Speaker 3 (48:22):
I mean everybody loves bacon. I don't eat a lot
of pork, but I eat bacon.
Speaker 4 (48:27):
So you know, like I said, it's I said, bacon
wrapped potato wedges. I throw them on my smoker with
my little house seizing mix I make on my college
chef's spice. And yeah, well.
Speaker 3 (48:37):
Let's let's dig in, right, let's so or if we
don't have enough for everybody, we'll split and uh, there
should be enough for everybody. Now, potatoes are one of
my favorite, especially fried crispy. Uh, and you add bacon
to it, I don't know, I just and then the seasoning.
Speaker 6 (48:53):
Can't go wrong. I can't go wrong.
Speaker 3 (49:02):
And if you if you want to see what these are,
what this looks like, uh, definitely check out the Tasty
show dot com. You'll be able to see all that
behind the scenes. We definitely have video going in studio
and uh, thank you. Oh check that out. You got
to get in their ray. Yes, Yes's see where.
Speaker 4 (49:26):
I said. These are a staple in my house. My
kids ask for them all the family events, ask for them.
They're always oh.
Speaker 3 (49:31):
My god, mmmm oh my. So that that that hits
all the right spots. I mean it has. You said
you smoke them, you sir, you don't have too much
smoke on there. I mean it's just enough.
Speaker 4 (49:48):
I smoke on my three hundred degrees for about an
hour and a half.
Speaker 3 (49:51):
Is that hickory?
Speaker 4 (49:52):
It's a competition blende okay, helt smoker, So competition blinds
all the sweeter woods. I have a family member that's
al to a mesquite, so I can't use mesquite.
Speaker 6 (50:03):
Well.
Speaker 3 (50:04):
You can come over my house and we'll have all
the mosquit you need, because we love misquit.
Speaker 4 (50:07):
I use that in the other smoker.
Speaker 3 (50:09):
Got it a powerful flavor for a potato?
Speaker 6 (50:14):
Really? How is this on your menu at the that's
a home.
Speaker 4 (50:22):
Sometimes when I do when I do my private are
we do little caterings and things like that for ambassadors
and so on and so forth, you know, small luncheons
and whatnot, and all though these on there?
Speaker 3 (50:31):
Are you a member one of the ambassadors with city
of gastronomy or no.
Speaker 4 (50:37):
Now now I'm not with that that group.
Speaker 6 (50:39):
Yeah, I got it.
Speaker 4 (50:40):
I got so many things going on the side.
Speaker 3 (50:42):
And heard, yeah, so can we talk about that seasonally
a little bit because I'm definitely picking up some some
flavors there that are very familiar. Uh, do you mind
sharing some of those seasoning? It's just chef seasoning.
Speaker 4 (50:59):
So I I call it chef spice. It's uh answer,
chili flakes, ground rosemary, salt, pepper, garlic, couman chili powder.
I'm actually one of Chef Pablo. He makes chili powder
and I take it from him.
Speaker 3 (51:14):
It's like cumin.
Speaker 4 (51:15):
I'm picking up. And then I said, and then throw them,
wrap him, wrap him up, thumb and the smoker. An
hour and a half.
Speaker 6 (51:23):
Later, real, we're kind of bacon.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
Just Costco.
Speaker 3 (51:29):
You know, I will pose this question to both of you,
but I will say that we had an executive chef
in a couple of weeks ago, and when we asked
him the question, he said, you absolutely have to have
the Costco bacon bits from Costco, the bag of Costco
bacon Kita bits in your kitchen. Now, what's one thing
(51:49):
that everyone at home needs to have in their kitchen,
and I pose that to both of you.
Speaker 4 (51:54):
Every household is different, Absolutely my household.
Speaker 3 (51:57):
That's what we asked to say it.
Speaker 6 (51:58):
I hate to say it.
Speaker 4 (52:00):
Bacon is always one of them. And then ketch up
my wife and my wife and kids love ketchup Chick
fil A and Chick fil A sauce.
Speaker 3 (52:12):
Chick fil A sauce. Mmmm, that one's good. I like
their honey roasted barbecue, but they won't come out with
the squeeze bottle of it. I don't know why I
would love that, but I would put that the honey
roasted barbecue on it. I just need to figure out
how to make it. But that's a whole nother story.
What would you say one thing is that you have
to have in your kitchen.
Speaker 6 (52:30):
Have to have.
Speaker 9 (52:31):
I would agree with the bacon, bac it's a must.
I mean, it crosses over so many barriers, lunch or dinner.
It can be added to anything.
Speaker 3 (52:40):
So fat is flavor for sure.
Speaker 6 (52:43):
So we think with the thick cut in our house.
Speaker 4 (52:47):
Yeah, and don't don't forget to save the save the grease,
save the grease.
Speaker 3 (52:54):
So we're I've been waiting to Actually, I don't know
if we have any fried or bacon grease right now,
but we want to do the bacon popcorn and use
the grease to pop the popcorn in setup butter. And
it's supposed to be like amazing. But now that we
have the bacon bits from Costco, I'm gonna put that
(53:15):
over the top. And and then I wanted to try
maybe doing a caramel sauce or something, or a caramel
popcorn with a bacon because you have that salty sweet,
which I just think that would be good. But but
apparently that's quite the thing with popcorn using anything other
(53:37):
than the oilsil or the the butter, because there's a
couple a couple of places that use beef tallow to
pop the popcorn. And I was like, well, I gotta
try this. You know, can't be that bad, right, But
so we have about a minute left. How can everybody
(53:57):
get ahold of you? Chef?
Speaker 4 (53:58):
Aaron can find me on Facebook, Instagram at the Crazy
ktis Catering and that's pretty much where you can find
me at say it again, The Crazy KDIs on Facebook
and Instagram and that's c.
Speaker 3 (54:11):
A d Y d Y and Portillo's hot Dogs. What
do you have coming up? And how can everybody get
a hot dog?
Speaker 9 (54:19):
We are open right now. Come visit us at thirty
seven to sixty one East Broadway. You've in context. We
have a great catering menu. We cater we delivered within
a five mile radius of the restaurant. You can go
and order Portillos dot com or you can call eight
six six YOUM beef, y U, M B E E
F call and we can online catering assistant will walk
(54:39):
you through it, or you can do it yourself see us.
Speaker 3 (54:43):
Thank you so much to chef Aaron and Ray. This
has been an incredible conversation and definitely check out Portillo's
dot com. You can come in and see them on
any of the any day, seven days a week, seven
days a week, and definitely check them out there right
over there at Broadway in Elvernon. Do you want exclusive
(55:05):
food experiences, giveaways and VIP perks, Join the Tucson Tasty
Show membership program at the Tastyshow dot com and don't
forget Tickets are on sale right now for Studio Yanos
private dining and TV recording experience on April sixteenth. Only
twelve seats are available. Visit the tastishow dot com and
(55:26):
grab grab them before they're gone. Huge. Thank you to
all of our guests, Aaron Chef, Aaron Katie and from
Cozy Katie's Catering, Ray from Pattillo's and all of our
amazing sponsors. That's it for today, so stay tasty, Tucson. Hello,
(55:50):
this is Wesley Source with the Tucson Tasty Show. With
every tasty bite from Vepremiumbeef dot Com, you get premiumbefflavor
from the amazing ground Beef, the melt in your mouth
Ribi steaks. Every ounce is exceptionally aged for more than
twenty one days, giving verra or Ol Premium Beef exceptional
premium beef flavor. Order online at VE Premiumbeef dot com. Again,
(56:13):
that's VE Premiumbef dot com. Hi.
Speaker 8 (56:18):
I'm Stephen Coodoroblis, founder of the Tucson Familyfood Project. Here
in Tucson, no family should have to choose between paying
bills and putting food on the table. That's why we're
here to provide healthy, home cooked meals to families in
need every single week. But we need your help. Just
one dollar can have a huge impact on a family's
nutrition and a child's educational outcome. Together, we can make
sure every child in our community has access to nourishing
(56:42):
food and a brighter future. Visit the Tucsonfamilyfoodproject dot org
to learn more and to make your donation today. Together,
we're not just helping families, We're building a stronger tuson
Ey Tucson.
Speaker 3 (56:52):
Ready to spice up your dining experience, Join the Tucson
Tasty Show Supporter membership and unlock exclusive access to secret
menu items from our partner restaurants. These one of a
kind dishes aren't just regular menu items crafted just for
our members. It's your backstage pass to Tucson's best kept
culinary secrets. Sign up today at the Tastyshow dot com
(57:15):
and discover what you've been missing. Stay Tasty Tucson.
Speaker 7 (57:18):
Spark Project Collective the world's first tattoo, body piercing and
metaphysical nonprofit. We're here to inspire, uplift and give back
a Tucson. We're meaningful tattoos and unique piercings, massage therapy,
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(57:41):
for your next gathering or even workshop. Visits sparkproject collective
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connection meet
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