AfricanKelli

« Home

If you live in Phoenix and haven’t yet tried Gallo Blanco, do. The tacos on Tuesday are buy 2 get one 1 free. The white sangria comes with a glass full of fresh cut fruit. The servers are eclectic and kind. And if you’ve got time to kill, hit the pool at the Clarendon before or after. It is spectacular.

\ \

The best aspects of the menu: the guacamole (with diced citrus), agua frescas, huevos rancheros and the beans. Oh, the beans. Something so simple and yet so rarely this plate-licking good. Reasonably priced, Gallo is fast becoming one of my favorite restaurants.

(I may or may not have bought one of their t-shirts after brunch yesterday. I am a sucker for supporting great local businesses and if they feed me? Well. Even better.)

-K

Birthday cake for a coworker today; I’ll cut you a slice.

-K

Banana maple breakfast bread for the office. Yes. Some may call this banana maple cake. But when in the shape of muffins, us ‘Mericans can pretend it is just a normal breakfast item.

-k

The weekend menu has focused on foods at hand — gobs of tomatoes and basil from the garden, a basket of peaches from a friend and a basket of figs from another friend.

The transformation:

Bruschetta with feta cheese on toasted whole wheat bread

Peach cobbler

And fig cobbler.

I know I don’t live in Italy or California, but when I eat this way — so satisfyingly seasonal — it makes me feel more alive. The food is bursting with flavor, not to mention how inexpensive and fun it is to go to the garden instead of the market to figure out what to prepare for the next meal. Minimizing the margin of culinary error by using fresh, homegrown produce makes too much sense.

-K

Red velvet + cream cheese frosting for a birthday bowling party tonight

-k