Wrap-up: ‘Pigging out’ at Devoured culinary festival – Day 1

By Jess Harter Saturday, March 10, 2012

Devoured Phoenix AZA crowd of nearly 2,000 people was “pigging out” – literally – during the first day of Devoured.

Pork was the unofficial ingredient du jour from restaurants at Arizona’s premier culinary festival, an all-you-can-eat-and-drink affair held on a picture-perfect 70-degree day at the Phoenix Art Museum.

From pork shoulder to pork belly – braised, roasted or barbecued – pulled, sliced or diced – it seemed like pig was being showcased by the majority of restaurants.

Day 1’s top 5 best dishes

Maize's Phoenix4th runner-up: Corned beef sandwich from Maize’s. I’m a big fan of this central Phoenix restaurant, a cross between Liberty Market and Flancer’s. It went off-menu for this tasty sandwich, roasting its own corned beef, making its own purple kraut and pickled mustard, and putting it all on fresh-baked marble rye.

St. Francis Phoenix3rd runner-up: Arizona vegetable salad from St. Francis. I can’t believe I’m putting a salad on the day’s best-of list, but the lettuce, blood orange, asparagus, baby beets, and other produce came from a Who’s Who’s of Valley farms, including McClendon’s, Maya’s, and Two Wash Ranch. Clean and refreshing on a warm afternoon.

Lon's Paradise Valley AZ2nd runner-up: Pulled pork sandwich from Lon’s. The Hermosa Inn resort restaurant forsook its upscale roots and kept things simple with this pork offering – nicely seasoned, slightly sweet, noticeably smoky. The meat is topped with apple slaw, with a single pickle chip on top. The toasted bun was a nice touch.

Roka Akor Scottsdale AZ1st runner-up: Pork belly and kimchi from Roka Akor. This north Scottsdale restaurant always delivers at Devoured. It brought a smaller version (shown above) of the giant charcoal-fired robata grill in its dining room to grill perfectly sized two-bite pieces of pork belly topped with housemade kimchi (a sort of spicy Korean cabbage).

Gallo Blanco Phoenix AZBest of the day: Pork belly taco from Gallo Blanco. I have a bit of love-hate relationship with this eatery at The Clarendon hotel in Phoenix. The wannabe-hipster clientele annoys me, but the food is damn good. Here, thickly sliced pork belly is complemented with jalapeno relish, a fiery achiote paste, and, surprisingly, an orangle marmalade (“borrowed,” I was told, from St. Francis chef Aaron Chamberlin). I almost wanted to stop eating afterward to keep the mix of flavors tingling in my mouth for the rest of the day.

Dessert highlights

Province Phoenix AZI only tried about two-thirds of the many dessert offerings, but I think I hit all the major ones.

My favorite was the miniature roasted pineapple cupcakes (shown) from Province in downtown’s Westin Phoenix Hotel.

Other favorites:

• Red velvet Ding Dongs from Tempe-based Santa Barbara Catering

• Peanut butter ice cream with salted caramel sauce and sliced bananas from Churn

• Cotton candy from District American Kitchen in the Sheraton Phoenix.

My day by the numbers

• Time spent: 4 hours
• Booths I visited: 39 (out of 39)
• Food items I tasted: 63
• Beers drank: 5
• Glasses of wine: 3
• Glasses of punch: 1
• Bottles of water: 4
• Calories consumed (estimated): 5,000
• Professional dining critics encountered: 5
• Amateur dining critics encountered: 1,995

Related posts:
• Wrap-up: Holding the line at Devoured culinary festival – Day 2
• Devoured – Arizona’s premier culinary festival – is this weekend

📩 Don't want to miss out on the latest Valley food and drink news? Click here to subscribe to MXSW's free daily email newsletter.

Previous post:

Next post:

z-library zlibrary project