Dearest Feastlings,
Now that we’ve been at this pandemic thing for eleven months, I can say with some authority that, as weird as it all is, and as alternately scary and unpredictable as it all is, normal frustrations are not entirely supplanted by what fear and stress the pandemic bring; it turns out that the things that drove you crazy on occasion before are still there, threatening your emotional well-being.
It’s a shame, because I was reveling in the cool and cloudy weather this morning, like a true desert boy. I was pedaling away, daring to be chipper, and when I got to work, within an hour I’d been accosted by the dishwasher who, having called out three times within his first week on the job, had been relieved of his position here for lack of reliability. I’d say that we had a conversation, but that’s only if you call me letting him have his say and then his talking over my every word a conversation. Throw in a broken fan in the walk-in freezer and communication difficulties with Banner and the Arizona Department of Health Services, both for getting the crew here vaccinated and for organizing our donation of meals to vaccine volunteers and you’ve got a recipe for a cranky fellow.
So it turns out that the problems of yore don’t disappear when a killer virus takes over the world, and now there are two things simmering at Feast: first, there’s yours truly, frustrated at the entitlement of some folk. Second, though, and more importantly, there’s crawfish etouffee. It being Fat Tuesday, and with New Orleans shut down, and all of Brazil as well, there’s still some means of acknowledging the day. That said, there’s not a whole lot of acknowledgement left- we’re cooking off the last of our crawfish supply, so time is of the essence in this era where people now look at their dinner menu and place an order around 11 am. There’s plenty else from which to choose, though, so if you don’t feel locked into tradition as much as another member of your household, you can still find something delicious. You can peek here:
https://www.eatatfeast.com/dining/menus/lunch-dinner/
Meanwhile, as promised, we’ll be delivering food to the outer reaches of Tucson this weekend, so depending on what neighborhood you’re in, you’ve got two or three or four days to figure out what you’d like us to trot out to you. You can find out your delivery day and hub pickup times based on what part of town you’re in: there’s both East and West,
East is East, and West is West, and never the twain shall meet.
North and Northwest,
and South and Southeast
That mostly covers it for now, though here’s a little blurb about this Saturday’s wine tasting,
a note about a fundraiser for Nourish,
A fundraiser for Nourish AND your favorite restaurants, whichever ones they may be
and a reminder that if you don’t know how to make a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup (ha!) you can tune into SAACA’s thing a week from today. I promise it won’t be like the last time you made a grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup.
https://saaca.thundertix.com/
You can check out Tumerico’s zoom class as well with my friend Wendy, who worked with us here at Feast for a good long stretch before opening her own restaurant which is now something of a small empire- she’s stronger than I’ll ever be to run three places at once when I can’t begin to keep up with the whacky mess I walk into every day.
If you don’t want to learn the admittedly minor secrets of our French Onion, Parmesan-crusted grilled cheese sandwich and smoked tomato soup next Tuesday but you DO feel like eating one or the other (or both,) both dishes will be on the menu that day, so know that that option awaits as well. And know that I’ll stop simmering soon, too, both over the dishwasher, the freezer fan, the calls and emails and other nonsense, and as well the simmering of etouffee will cease when we run out of crawfish tails. So strike while the iron is hot, my friends.
Love,
Doug