ARIZONA HIGHWAYS SANDWICH TOUR 38 GREAT BALLS of FIRE Jackson Butte, Timber Camp Mountain
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10 SANDWICHES YOU NEED TO EAT IN 2019 + Pizza, Pop Tarts, Pepe’s Taco Villa ... and a Bakery Built Near an Ancient Ruin GHWAYS APRIL 2019 ESCAPE • EXPLORE • EXPERIENCE GRAZING ARIZONA [If you like to eat, you’ll like this magazine] The Local Press, Wickenburg 2019 Jacob Lake April Grand Canyon National Park 2 EDITOR’S LETTER 32 HIS HEARTH IS IN THE RIGHT PLACE 46 THESE ARE A FEW OF OUR FAVORITE THINGS Clarkdale 3 CONTRIBUTORS Coolidge, Arizona, is an unlikely place for one of the Editors and writers are often stereotyped as gastro- Prescott best bakeries in the state — it’s pretty remote. Never- nomically inept lowbrows who will eat anything that Black Canyon City 4 LETTERS theless, that’s where Nicholas Ambeliotis decided to comes out of a brown paper bag. Oscar Madison might Salt River open Mediterra Bakehouse, which now supplies some fit that description, but the editorial staff at Arizona PHOENIX Coolidge 5 THE JOURNAL of the best resorts and supermarkets in the state, Highways has higher expectations. Most of us, anyway. including the Arizona Biltmore, AJ’s Fine Foods and People, places and things from around the state, Edited by Robert Stieve Tucson Whole Foods. including the Local, where the locals hang out in Photographs by David Zickl Prescott; the 100th anniversary for Hotel Congress; By Chels Knorr POINTS OF INTEREST IN THIS ISSUE and the 200th birthday of an Arizona pioneer. Photographs by Eirini Pajak 52 SCENIC DRIVE Haystack Butte Road: The Blackjack Mountains, 18 THE ARIZONA HIGHWAYS SANDWICH TOUR 38 GREAT BALLS OF FIRE Jackson Butte, Timber Camp Mountain ... most of Considered by many to be “the mother of all peppers,” the landmarks along this route have unfamiliar names, Roast beef, turkey, chicken, pastrami, pepperoni, chiltepines are the only chiles native to Arizona. They but they’re as scenic as any in the Sonoran Desert. pickled jalapeños, bacon, sauerkraut, onion rings, grow wild; they look like miniature, red Christmas tree chorizo, scrambled eggs, egg salad, meatloaf, By Noah Austin ornaments; and, man, are they ever hot. cheese, cheese and more cheese ... that’s just some Photographs by Eric Heaton of the stuff you’ll find between slices of bread in By Matt Jaffe Arizona. We know, because our senior editor spent Photographs by Bill Steen 54 HIKE OF THE MONTH four days on the road, eating every sandwich she Black Canyon National Recreation Trail: Approxi- could get her hands on. 42 AN EASY NUT TO CRACK mately 35,000 cars whiz past Black Canyon City By Kelly Vaughn For squirrels, it’s easy. For human beings, eating every day. Most of the drivers inside have no idea Photographs by Jill Richards acorns is a lot of work — according to The Old Farmer’s there’s a rare and beautiful trail just to the west Almanac, it takes at least 12 steps and several days just of the interstate. to make them edible. But there’s one acorn that’s dif- By Robert Stieve ferent. Bellotas, which are the fruit of Emory oaks, are Photographs by Joel Hazelton slightly sweet, with only a touch of bitter, and are deli- cious right out of the shell. 56 WHERE IS THIS? Story and Photographs by Bill Steen GET MORE ONLINE www.arizonahighways.com /azhighways @arizonahighways Fog shrouds the saguaros and ocotillos of Tumamoc Hill, a University of Arizona ecological reserve on the west side of Tucson. Bill Hatcher NIKON D810, 1/500 SEC, F/8, ISO 64, 200 MM LENS FRONT COVER: The Local Press, in Wicken- burg, was the first stop on The Arizona Highways Sandwich Tour (see page 18). Jill Richards CANON EOS 5D MARK IV, 1/200 SEC, F/2.8, ISO 640, 100 MM LENS BACK COVER: Miniature woollystars (Eriastrum diffusum), a wildflower species native to the American Southwest, display their delicate blooms. Eirini Pajak CANON EOS 5D MARK II, 1/200 SEC, F/5, ISO 320, 100 MM LENS 2 OCTOBER 2015 www.arizonahighways.com 1 editor’s LETTER CONTRIBUTORS DAVID ZICKL No chain restaurants, no hamburgers or hot dogs, This month, David Zickl APRIL 2019 VOL. 95 NO. 4 and no prepackaged grab-and-go sandwiches. contributed innovative photos J The Local Press in Wickenburg was the crowd 800-543-5432 from some of our editorial favorite. It made the cut. So did nine others — www.arizonahighways.com team’s regular hangouts (see almost all of them B-sides. That was the easy part. GIFT SHOP: 602-712-2200 These Are a Few of Our Favorite . ~ Eating three gargantuan sandwiches a day, with Things, page 46). The assign- ome trains run on steam. Some on diesel. Jill Richards’ camera pointed at her face, was PUBLISHER Kelly Mero ment, he says, was a natural fit. EDITOR Robert Stieve “In February 2009, I decided to . Ours runs on pizza, pastries and Pepe’s Taco Kelly’s biggest challenge. It sounds like good ' /· ' \ .. SENIOR EDITOR Kelly Vaughn ...__ ~...._ _, ,' . 1-. ·. put down my camera and pick Villa. That’s where we go to lunch almost work if you can get it, and it is, but the aver- MANAGING EDITOR Noah Austin . - . every Friday. age human stomach is only about as big as two up a knife,” Zickl says. “Nine )'!' ,. \ ' S ASSOCIATE EDITOR Ameema Ahmed Playboy once described a dive as “a rare place bananas, so Kelly spent a lot of time feeling like months later, after graduating PHOTOGRAPHY EDITOR Jeff Kida where high and low rub elbows — bums and most Americans at 3 o’clock on the fourth Thurs- with honors from the Arizona CREATIVE DIRECTOR Barbara Glynn Denney poets, thieves and slumming celebrities — day of November. Still, somehow, against all Culinary Institute, I picked up ART DIRECTOR Keith Whitney a place that wears its history proudly.” If you odds, she made it through. my camera again and began a MAP DESIGNER Kevin Kibsey associate the word “dive” with disagreeable, then Pepe’s isn’t a dive. It’s an What she experienced, she says, is “the story culinary journey.” For this issue, PRODUCTION DIRECTOR Michael Bianchi antonym. It’s nothing fancy, though. That’s for sure. The booths are brown of a road trip, the story of a lot of takeout boxes that journey included Phoenix DIRECTOR OF SALES Naugahyde, or some other polyvinyl plastic. The walls are bright yellow, like and the stories of a handful of very kind people AND MARKETING Karen Farugia Public Market Café, whose Homer Simpson with a bit of sun. And the drinks are served in 24-ounce — mom-and-pop kind of people who had dreams WEBMASTER Victoria Snow owner, Aaron Chamberlin, is a Carlisle Coca-Cola tumblers. It’s nothing fancy, but the food is delicious and about feeding people, then made them happen.” CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Nicole Bowman friend of Zickl’s; and Windsor, the service is even better. It’s also a story about roast beef, turkey, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE Matthew Bailey where Zickl previously photo- I can’t remember the first time we went there. It was probably two or chicken, pastrami, pepperoni, pickled jalapeños, OPERATIONS/ graphed owner Craig DeMarco. three years ago. Within a few weeks, the waitresses had our orders memo- bacon, sauerkraut, onion rings, chorizo, scram- IT MANAGER Cindy Bormanis But some of the other res- rized. Barb and Kelly get the carne asada tacos. Noah orders the same meat, bled eggs, egg salad, meatloaf, cheese, cheese and taurants were new to him. “Knowing that all of these restaurants are locally grown and but in a burrito. Jeff’s carne comes in an enchilada. Keith likes one of the more cheese. About the only thing she didn’t see CORPORATE OR family owned was a nice surprise,” he says. “At Pepe’s Taco Villa, Duck and Decanter, and TRADE SALES 602-712-2018 numbered specials — I have no idea which, but I suspect that carne is the between those many slices of bread was a chilte- Red Devil, the children are carrying on the business their parents started.” Zickl says his SPONSORSHIP SALES main ingredient. Even Ameema, our new associate editor, hopped on the pin pepper. REPRESENTATION On Media Publications favorite restaurant in the Southwest is Binkley’s, in Phoenix, but most Friday nights, you meat wagon. “I’ll have what Jeff’s having,” she said at her indoctrination. The chiltepin, which is the only chile native Deidra Viberg can find him and his girlfriend at Tratto, another Phoenix spot. 602-323-9701 Now they know her order, too. to Arizona, is often described as “the mother of Like the Sopranos, we sit at the same corner booth every week. There’s all peppers.” I got my first taste in Canelo — my always a “reserved” sign on the table. They know we’re coming. Carol Smith, LETTERS TO THE EDITOR [email protected] friend Bill energized a bowl of scrambled eggs 2039 W. Lewis Avenue a food writer for the BBC, says her “favourite restaurants have tasty, freshly with a few of those firecrackers. Writer Matt Phoenix, AZ 85009 JILL cooked food by a proper chef; are a value for the money; and have a relaxed, Jaffe went in barehanded. RICHARDS “I’m a sucker for a unhurried atmosphere, a welcoming staff, and friendly and knowledgeable “The chile puts up the slightest resistance as I GOVERNOR Douglas A. Ducey service.” pluck it from the plant,” he writes in Great Balls good road trip,” says DIRECTOR, She would like Pepe’s Taco Villa, but she’d drive right by without a sug- of Fire. “Then I take a nibble, biting the chiltepin DEPARTMENT photographer Jill OF TRANSPORTATION John S.