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From community dinners and cooking classes to game dishes and health coaches, the Tucson food and drink scene just won’t sit still. We take a look at  who and what will be causing a stir in 2015. (On the cover: Proper’s Porch Tea cocktail.)

Photo by Jocelyn Warner-Brokamp

“What we’re seeing right now is this creativity that is astounding,” says Manish Shah of Tucson’s flourishing food scene. “Tucson was always pretty good with the middle of the road. I grew up here. Mexican food, steakhouses – that was pretty much it. But now – the creativity, the passion, the energy…”

And Manish should know. As owner of the Maya Tea Company he supplies a bunch of Tucson restaurants with tea. And as co-executive director of Heirloom Farmers Markets, in a roundabout way he supplies them with food too. When you have restaurants as reliant on local produce as they are in Tucson (downtown Tucson’s Proper restaurant recently launched a whole “market dinner” concept based exclusively on farmer’s market buys from the day before), it’s wise to listen to Manish.

Manish Shah of Heirloom Farmers Markets and Maya Tea Company. Photo by Jocelyn Warner-Brokamp

Who has the attention of Manish right now? Two words: Kris Vrolijk. The chef at Proper is being so experimental, says Manish, that “I worry about him sometimes.” A case in point: Kris’s unique take on Caesar Salad, which will be on the new dinner menu next weekend. It features grilled and chilled brussels sprouts and crispy parmesan, seared on the griddle.

Proper is owned by SLO Restaurant Concepts (the SLO stands for sustainable, local, organic) which also owns Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar and Criollo Latin Kitchen in Flagstaff, AZ. It just added a butcher shop, Proper Meats and Provisions, to its Flagstaff operations and in Tucson its long-awaited butcher and sandwich shop in Tucson will open on Congress Street in May.

Proper on Congress Street. Photo by Gillian Drummond

Cody Gallacher, Proper’s assistant manager (a guy who worked his way up from a server), says consumers and diners are getting educated. “They’re realizing not all carrots are orange, you can get purple and yellow ones.” Referring to supermarket campaigns in Europe to promote ‘ugly’ fruits and vegetables, he adds: “I’m glad we’re finally getting away from that stigma that food has to be pretty or genetically modified to be good.”

Whether it’s pretty, ugly or in between, we Tucsonans do want to know where our food comes from – the more locally sourced the better. And if you sometimes feel like you’re in that “Is it local?’ sketch from Portlandia, tough. Expect the same in 2015, with farmer’s markets, natural food stores, cocktail-and-food crossovers, and more.

Community’s the thing

Community was the buzzword last year in the food and drink world, with events such as the Downtown Chef’s Table dinner, the launch late last year of Proper’s Monday night community dinners, and the opening of a permanent farmer’s market structure at Rillito Park, courtesy of Heirloom Farmers Market and Pima County. Heirloom’s Manish Shah has  big plans for the space in 2015: chef demos, community events, perhaps themed events. The market “is not just a cement patch with a roof”, says Manish, but represents a connection between local food and the community. Plus, he adds a fourth farmer’s market location this Friday, at Trail Dust Town on Tucson’s east side.

The farmer’s market at Tucson’s Rillito Park. Photo by Jocelyn Warner-Brokamp.

Healthy eating know-how

Gluten-free. Sugar-free. Paleo. Juicing. And don’t forget all those home-grown veggies you suddenly have on your hands. There’s a massive shift towards healthier eating, but we don’t all have the skills to prepare the food. That’s where cooking classes come in. They’re on the up, and set to grow even more this year.

“So many people want to change their diets but don’t have a clue as to how to change what they are eating and how to prepare meals for themselves and their families,” says Norma Gentry, who represents a number of chefs and restaurants in Tucson.

The cooking demos Norma has been managing at Tucson’s Williams Sonoma store on Saturday afternoons have been hopping. And look out for some healthy cooking demos at Natural Grocers, opening in Tucson January 2oth at East Broadway Blvd. Chefs Sybil Parsa (January 22nd) and Haile Thomas (January 28th and February 4th) are already slated to appear.

This will be the fourth store in Arizona and the first in Tucson for Natural Grocers, an organic grocery and natural supplements chain. One of its signature touches is to provide a “health coach” to answer customers’ dietary questions.

Natural Grocers will open its first Tucson store this month. Photo courtesy of Natural Grocers

What’s for dinner?

Jared Scott, executive chef at Maynards, expects game birds – pheasant, duck, squab – to turn up on more menus in 2015 as diners move away from red meat and pork. “That [move] doesn’t leave a lot to desire but fish and chicken. The introduction of other poultry options really opens up a whole new world. Duck and pheasant are much more rich while squab and chicken are more mild. You can do drastically different things with poultry,” says Jared.

Jared Scott. Photo courtesy of Maynards Kitchen.

In the drinks world, we’ll continue to see symbiosis  between cocktail ingredients and the kitchen, says David Clark, bartender at Hotel Congress. His inspiration for drinks, seasonal or not, lie in the pantry, the cooler, even the baker’s area of the kitchen. He might sprinkle a few Graham crackers into a cocktail for some wintery flavor, he says. Craft cocktails and the label ‘mixologist’ may still be surging in popularity but Tucson’s barkeeps are not letting it go to their heads. “You’re seeing a loss of pretentiousness,” says David. “Here in  Tucson it’s just laid back. We’re all bartenders.”

The beer sector is getting in on the new cocktail craze too. Look out for more “beer cocktails’ in 2015, says Rebecca Safford, owner of Tap & Bottle. She predicts more beers infused with coffee, citrus and chiles for unique aromas and flavors. Sour beers are on the rise as well, and to celebrate Tap & Bottle has its second annual ‘Sour Fest’ this Spring.

People to watch in hospitality this year:

* Page Repp and Rick Mclain. If you don’t know them yet, better write their names down. They’re neither chefs, bartenders nor suppliers, but their influence on Tucson’s hospitality sector is huge. Repp + Mclain, their architecture and design firm, is behind too many stylish restaurants and bars in the city to mention. Last year alone saw their name attached to R Bar, Sidecar (in which they each have ownership), the new Mexican eatery Reforma, and the basement bar at Reilly Craft Pizza. Look out for their name attached to more, as yet undisclosed, restaurant openings in 2015.

Jason Anderson. Photo courtesy of Sol Hospitality.

* Jason Anderson. He’s the brains behind Nox in the Foothills and Goodness, a healthy fast casual concept that started on a busy stretch of Campbell Avenue and branched to the University area two months ago. He opened Union Public House and for a short time ran the Asian restaurant Umi Star. Jason’s company, Sol Hospitality, is one to watch. It plans to open four more branches of Goodness this year (in order: Columbia, South Carolina; Madison, Wisconsin; Phoenix; and Eugene, Oregon) and possibly one on Tucson’s east side. And the company’s long-planned restaurant on 4th Avenue will be a full-service Mexican restaurant.

Although Jason loves his home town (he was born and bred in Tucson) and seems to be on a roll, he admits he’s had his fingers burned here. “It’s very old school, very southwest, very relaxed. There’s a really traditional way of doing things in Tucson.” Too traditional, apparently, for “rad sushi” and cocktail concept Umi Star, which was in the space Goodness on Campbell Avenue now occupies. “I pushed it a little bit too far with that one,” he smiles.

* The last mention goes to Manish Shah, one to watch not only for the farmer’s markets he operates but also for his tea firm. Within the next few weeks the Maya Tea Company will open an 8,000 sq ft manufacturing facility (they made their own tea when they first started the company, then subcontracted their manufacturing.)

* Look out for a full interview with Jason Anderson in 3 Story later this month.

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Arizona filmmaker Darious Britt is taking a different and controversial route to finding an audience for his first feature film.  By Herb Stratford

Photo of and by Darious Britt taken in Brooklyn, New York with a gopro camera as he was  heading to the New Voices in Black Cinema film festival.

Filmmaking in 2015 is dramatically different than ever before, and the filmmakers who are engaged in the craft are cut from a different cloth. With the changes in technology and distribution coming nearly every year, one has to stay nimble and adaptive as well as creative in order to find audiences for their stories. Darious Britt is a filmmaker on a mission that is timely and important, and his way of getting the film in front of audiences is quite innovative.

Darious went to high school in the Phoenix area, but grew up in Jacksonville, North Carolina and is a 2012 graduate of the University of Arizona School of Theatre, Film and Television. He came to the UA program later in life than many students, following a stint in the Air Force. His collaboration with fellow UA student Damon Mosier has led to the creation of a personal story that is eminently relatable and looks at an issue from a perspective that has not been seen before.

Poster courtesy of Darious Britt

As writer, director and actor in his short film Seafood Tester, Darious examined the difficult relationship he has with his mother, who suffers from schizophrenia. The 10-minute film screened at the annual I Dream in Widescreen University of Arizona student film showcase in May of 2012. It since led to the feature film Unsound, which is a much more in-depth look at the issues family members have when dealing with the established system of care. The film is a brutally honest examination of the stress, strains and obstacles that are encountered in cases like Darious’s mother. In addition to Darious, local artist/actress To-ree-nee Wolf delivers a nuanced portrayal of a woman struggling with a disease and pushing her caregivers away as hard as she can.

What makes Unsound a compelling watch for audiences is both the honesty of the portrayal as well as its sophisticated presentation, from the cinematography to the editing and writing. This is a mature, well-thought-out depiction of a family in crisis like we have not seen before.

A scene from Unsound. Photo by Damon Mosier

But how will this film find an audience? Darious is not naïve. He realized right away that this story will resonate best with both people dealing with the issue at hand, as well as caregivers who have not had their story told before on screen. But he also believes that the film has ”mainstream appeal”, based on the feedback he’s received from screenings. He said he was told that the film “perfectly illustrated the world that many live with.”

Most recently the film screened at Tucson’s Loft Cinema and was warmly received. But the task of marketing it was difficult given the limited resources Darious was able to contribute. After a run at 13 different film festivals, where the film was given awards three times and “loved by audiences”, Darious is now wrestling with a unique distribution model to continue to tell the story.

A scene from Unsound. Photo by Damon Mosier

A scene from Unsound. Photo by Damon Mosier

It’s often said that making a film is less than half the battle, as films need an audience. While there are certainly more ways than ever to discover content, this exploding universe of options often results in a great deal of white noise and interesting, compelling films being lost in the shuffle. A film like Unsound is best seen by audiences who are primed for it – that is, they are aware of it and word of mouth has prepared them for the experience. According to Darious, he is exploring “the on-line, free download to build audience, and then to do targeted screenings in places where the political and economic climate has impacted those most at risk, in cities like Chicago, and in states like North Carolina and California.” This would be followed by a targeted fundraising campaign that offered “additional content and materials once the viewers have been engaged” says Darious.

This is, of course, a leap of faith on his part as there is no guarantee that it will enable him to pay off the debt he shouldered almost exclusively in producing Unsound (he used credit cards and his own funds.) It is an innovative and interesting experiment in turning crowd-source funding on its ear. Normally when a project is funded by small donors, on websites like Kickstarter, the onus is on the project initiator to find the lion’s share of donors via their own network, lest the project get lost in the buzz of tens of thousands of other worthy ideas. Darious’s notion of utilizing word of mouth to build awareness and audience may take longer to recoup his investment, but his model also will potentially find a more appreciative audience.

To-ree-nee Wolf (left) and Darious Britt star in Unsound. Photo by Damon Mosier

His aim of creating a “highly sharable” experience that brings an honest, well-liked film to audiences who are primed to appreciate and like the film and hope for the best is obviously a gamble. But for the right film and audience it might be successful. Darious is a savvy marketer as well, and his YouTube channel, where he chronicled the film festival experience, has more than 9,000 followers.

He sees the importance of “building a brand” as a huge part of the job for filmmakers, not just creating work and expecting audiences to find it. He’s a passionate believer in his job to “find an audience,” and that the real craft of successful filmmakers is not only to tell a story but to have it seen by audiences. Darious says there is “no reason to charge for content until there is a perceived value to the content.” He sees this as a long-term marketing plan, as opposed to the short term – a way to “stay prolific and deliver content to build an audience over time.”

Darious on the set of Unsound. Photo by Damon Mosier

Darious’s plans for the future are still in development, as they say. He’s working on a few concepts and loglines to pitch to funders now that a few doors have been opened thanks to the reception of Unsound. Like any good filmmaker, he’s keeping specifics under wraps until he’s ready. But you can bet he’ll continue to impress audiences with both his storytelling ability and his innovative way of getting the finished project in front of an audience as he moves forward in 2015.

* To see the trailer for Unsound and for more information on Darious’ projects check out his YouTube channel D4Darious.

* Herb Stratford is a Tucson-based film critic and writer.