SCOTTSDALE

THE MISSION

ECONOMIC CAUTION THROWN TO THE WIND AT CULINARY FEST - CAREY SWEET, THE ARIZONA REPUBLIC

04/24/2009 - After Matt Carter was named 2009 Hall of Fame Chef Extraordinaire last Thursday at the Scottsdale Culinary Festival awards dinner, he went right back to work running the kitchens of his Scottsdale restaurants, Zinc Bistro and the Mission.

And right away, it seemed the glamour would fade. Carter's partner, Terry Ellisor, called him out into the dining room, saying that a table of guests had a problem and were demanding to see him.

He approached, four diners stood up, and, surprise, doused him with shaken bottles of champagne.

"It was a mess," said Carter, grinning as he recounted the story while working at his booth for the Festival's Cooks & Corks event that weekend. "But luckily, no waste. It was cheap champagne."

For the coordinators of the 31st annual Scottsdale Culinary Festival, it's a good bet that some champagne dousing of their own was going on after the Best of the Fest finale dinner wrapped up on Sunday night.

Despite the miserable economy, attendance was at an all-time high, with many of the events sold out, according to Grant Cone of the festival's public relations firm, Margo Media. More than 40,000 people showed up at the Great Arizona Picnic alone, beating last year's numbers for the entire six-day festival.

In fact, guests who waited until the last minute ended up unable to get tickets to most of the activities, including the Chef Tribute Dinner, the Wine Country Brunch, Best of the Fest, several of the chef wine dinners, and all four of the lavish cocktail parties.
Fun for all. And for the longest-running culinary festival of its kind in the United States, it was a terrific opportunity for Scottsdale to flex its foodie muscles and prove that it is indeed one of the most important dining cities in the nation.

Even beyond the elaborate dinners, creative recipes were in abundance. At Cooks & Corks, a two-day flurry of cooking demonstrations, seminars and tastings, Chuck Wiley of the Hotel Valley Ho showed how to dress up Laura Chenel goat cheese in Parmesan panko alongside beets in basil vinaigrette. Cholla Steakhouse of South Scottsdale prepared ahi with kumquat marmalade, while Justin Pfeilsticker of Trader Vic's sent out oven-roasted mu shu pork wraps plus seared big-eye ahi with Asian shoots and soy-mustard vinaigrette.

Anhala Mesquite Room at Fountain Hills' Fort McDowell Casino got creative with mesquite-smoked salmon, curling it atop a yellow-corn Belgian waffle with serrano and mango crema. The Kitchen, newly opened in the Shops at Gainey Village, crafted almond black-sesame brittle that looked and crunched like thin, shiny, stained glass.

Scottsdale's Butter and Me Cupcakery, meanwhile, kicked up its chocolate cupcakes with brown-sugar butter cream and a crown of bacon toffee.

And Carter showed why he earned the coveted Chef Extraordinaire title with his Mission menu. His pork-belly pibil was divine, set atop roast garlic black-bean puree with pickled red onion, orange, oregano, achiote, avocado crema and banana habanero aioli.
As much as festivalgoers enjoyed the events, it seemed to be good business for the participating restaurants, too, with plenty of exposure to potential customers.

The Cooks & Corks crowds were so big that Carter ran out of scallops early on, so substituted rock shrimp for his yuzu aji Amarillo ceviche with candied kumquats and popcorn foam. At the Café Bink booth across the room, chef-owner Kevin Binkley was so deluged that he ran out of food several hours into the event, and had to close up shop.

"It's a lot of hard work, but it pays off," Carter said. "People tasted my food, and I immediately got a 10 top (table of customers) and eight top at Mission tonight."