Dear Feastlings,
I’m dashing this off in the midst of a scramble today, as one of the wines for Sunday’s tasting is a different vintage from what we’d planned for, so a couple of things: first, you’ll be pleased to know the price is the same and nothing will change there; second, I have to taste the wine and quite possibly rewrite the food pairing, so if your heart was set on that coffee-rubbed hanger steak with Fernet aioli, please know that we liked the coffee-rubbed hanger steak with Fernet aioli so much when I was originally writing the food pairings for this tasting that we put it on the menu. So feel free to order the entire entree if you’d like, but the pairing (if you’ve already peeked) will likely change by the end of the day when I have time to retaste the 2015 vintage of the Avignonesi Desiderio. I know this email makes it sound like my job is just fun and frolic, tasting wines and writing recipes, but bear in mind that there are a million other things to do, and I know that this is likely not the first email of mine you’ve read, so you’re already aware that Feast. to me, these days, often feels like a school bus shaking at its rivets as it speeds along a windy downhill.
That said, it also often feels like a cornucopia, and I’m grateful for that. And this Saturday’s tasting we’ll have begun hosting our own zoom tastings (and we thank our friend David for hosting them for the past nearly five months until we pulled it together on this end. Thanks, David!) So that’s the training wheels reference. With any luck, I’ve been co-hosting long enough that I won’t screw this up, but if there’s outrageous zoom-bombing, it’s my feet at which you’ll need to lay the blame, due to my own inexperience.
Apart from the aforementioned tasting (for which you need to order today to be guaranteed your food and drink,)
there’s also tomorrow’s tasting, for which you can call at the eleventh hour- we can pour more all the way up until the tasting begins at 2:00 pm on Saturday.
Both events are stocked with Italian wines, you may recall, in preparation for our special menu on Ferragosto, the Feast of the Assumption of Mary, on August 15 (for which, again, you’ll need to order a couple of days in advance.)
And we’re also sending food yet again to some front line hospital crews at the assorted locations of Diamond Children’s Medical Center and its various clinics. That’s coming this Tuesday.
And meanwhile, of course, there’s any number of reasons to give us a call and pick something up, be it food, wine or a cocktail (this weekend Aly will unveil a bunch of old standards with her own special Feast twist, so they merit a glance at the very least.)
As always, we thank you for your tremendous support, your kindness and cheer, and the help each of you have been at keeping us from shuttering. The newest statistic this week is that without legislative help, 85% of independent restaurants are expected to permanently close as a result of the pandemic, and we have you to thank for keeping our doors open thus far. Feel like helping every independent restaurant? You can watch this ad and petition your legislator wherever you are, even if you’re reading this from someplace twenty degrees cooler than Tucson.
Be well, everyone.
Love,
Doug