‘Tis the season for toe shoes and tastes. For enjoying Nutcracker and noshes. For bubbly and ballerinas. So join Quiessence Restaurant before the quintessential holiday tradition, Ballet Arizona’s performance of The Nutcracker.

Ticket holders get a special treat…

Book your pre-show dinner between 5pm-5:30pm on show nights for a specially-priced, 3-course dinner, only $39!

With your Nutcracker ticket Chef LaPrad will prepare a seasonal feast including your choice of soup or salad, a pasta or entrée and a dessert for just $39.

Tickets & Schedule at: BalletAZ.org
Preshow dinner reservations at 602-276-0601
Some restrictions and exclusions may apply. Reservations required please mention Nutcracker show special when making reservation.

Chilly temps = warm soups! To get your hands on this recipe, you’ll have to pick up one of our favorite local magazines, Arizona Vines & Wines.You can grab this local publication at several wine bars and restaurants, but why not pick up a copy during dinner at Quiessence?

Visit Arizona Vines & Wines online >

Recently, our very own Chef Greg LaPrad was featured in the national eco-list of “40 Chefs Under 40.” In fact, he was the only Arizona chef on the list!

MNN journalist Matt Hickman writes:

“As executive chef at Quiessence Restaurant & Wine Bar, LaPrad is committed to seasonal, local, organic produce and he enjoys changing the menu every day to reflect the freshest local produce available. And unlike many restaurants that use only a tiny handful of major food partners, LaPrad’s growing list of purveyors is currently about 80 deep. Rather than dealing with just a few major companies on a daily basis, he works with dozens of smaller, local vendors.”

Congrats to Greg and team!

READ the full article >

Pumpkins, pumpkins pumpkins… Since Halloween is over, your local stores are overstocked with them! When life give you pumpkins… make a pumpkin martini!

2 Ounces Vodka
1.5 ounces Fresh Pumpkin Puree
.5-1 ounce Simple Syrup
Dash of Nutmeg & Cinnamon
Dash of Vanilla Paste
Ice

In cocktail shaker add all ingredients and shake vigorously. Strain into a chilled martini glass. Garnish with freshly grated nutmeg.

Dear Friends of Quiessence:

Next week Quiessence is joining thousands of other restaurants across the country in participating in an important fundraising effort for Share Our Strength.

The Great American Dine Out will raise money to help the over 12 million American Children who are at risk of hunger. Money raised from The Great American Dine Out directly supports:

• Increasing participation in school food and nutrition programs
• Increasing the number of community gardens
• Food banks and food pantries
• Increasing access to fresh produce
• Increasing utilization of federal child food and nutrition programs, e.g. food stamps, school breakfast, etc.

Advocacy around Child food and nutrition-related programs

To support this important cause we will be donating 50% of our proceeds from the sale of our Farmer’s Feast Tasting Menu to Share our Strength.

Please consider joining us next week, as we wine and dine for a great cause.

From the Kitchen,

Chef Greg & Chef Tony

“Welcome Back!”

“Great to see you again.”

…Both phrases that will be echoed as here at The Farm over the next couple of days as we welcome back our fellow coworkers and other businesses, but most importantly we welcome you back to The Farm at South Mountain!

We’re ready to start the season with a new energy and a reenergized purpose. Like everyone else, the strain of the economy has been felt here on the Farm too. It’s been increasingly tough to compete with the myriad of restaurants offering a growing number of deals to drive traffic through their doors.

Just how does a restaurant like Quiessence justify paying a premium for organic, range grazed, local beef from a small family when the price on commodity beef from the big meatpackers can be so much more affordable?

Simple.

At Quiessence, we’ll never compromise our cuisine. We will never put profit ahead of our principles; Sourcing the best ingredients from a fair, sustainable, local food system combined with handcrafting our cuisine in house from these ingredients.

Last week, Time Magazine’s (August 31st, 2009) Cover Story was “The Real Cost of Cheap Food.” The article began, “He’s raised on grass and hay and lives happily on a pasture by the ocean. His Meat is free of antibiotics, but can we afford to eat it? We can’t afford not to.”

Food Inc., the movie released this summer, drove home the idea that there are major problems in the American food system that we see first hand on the evening news with food recalls, e coli contamination, etc. I encourage you all to take note of these problems and to consider where/how you choose to spend your food and dining dollars.

I promise you this; at Quiessence we will continue to work hard to serve you the best meal possible. We will continue to make all of our pasta in house, all of our salumi in house, bake bread out of our hearth oven, custom butcher all our meat in house, fly-in (overnight) safe sustainable seafood, and purchase the best seasonal, local, and organic produce we can get our hands on. While this is not the “cheap” route or an “economically savy” business decision it is the choice we make for quality. We do this for us, we do this for you, and we do this for our community.

Thank you for supporting us for another season. We look forward to seeing you down at The Farm and Quiessence soon!

Salut!
Chef Greg

Did you know that 12 million American children are at risk of hunger?

Thousands of restaurants have registered for this year’s Great American Dine Out including Quiessence.

Share in the bounty of our local farms and help end childhood hunger with Quiessence during the week of September 22-26th. With your order of our signature dining experience, “The Farmer’s Feast” we will donate 50% of the proceeds to the Great American Dine Out.

Learn more about the Great American Dineout and Share Our Strength online.

Make your reservations at (602) 276-0601

Make a wish and it might just come true! This week, the globe delights in the annual Perseid meteor shower. Reserve dinner at Quiessence Restaurant & Wine Bar and you might catch a glimpse of falling stars, adding to the charm of an evening at The Farm. Call (602) 276-0601.

Enter the doors of Quiessence Restaurant at the Farm and you’ll be greeted by a bounty of fruits, vegetables and flowers. But they’re not limited to the plate anymore.

Artist Bertica Garcia Dubus has beautifully captured the juicy pulp of fresh cut limes, crispy paper skins of red onions and waxy sheen of golden peppers in her series of food-inspired paintings now on display throughout the restaurant’s dining rooms.

Long time fans of the Farm will remember Bertica from her work with the Artist’s Studio. More recently, she presented an exhibit of 35 paintings in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic.

The paintings will be on display throughout the summer and fall of 2009 and are available for purchase.

Make your dinner reservation to enjoy food for all the senses. 602-276-6701.

(Serves 4 as appetizer)Squash blossoms are highly perishable, keeping two days at most in the fridge. For best results, cook them the day you buy them. They’re great as an appetizer with creamy store bought salad dressing like Ranch, homemade aioli or simple tomato sauce.

• 12 squash blossoms
• 1 cup flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 to 1 ¼ cups sparkling water (which makes a lighter/airier batter, may substitute tap water)

Tempura Batter:

Mix flour, baking powder, salt and pepper in bowl. Add cracked egg and ½ the amount of water. Mix with a whisk. Slowly add more water until desired consistency is achieved. Batter should nicely coat a spoon, a lighter batter can be achieved with more liquid, and a heavier batter can be achieved with less liquid.

To Finish:

Vegetable oil
Flour

Heat vegetable oil in fry pan, electric skillet or deep fryer to 350 degrees. Lightly dredge each blossom in flour, then coat well in tempura batter. Immediately drop the blossom into the oil. Fry for 2-3 minutes until crispy. Remove and season with salt.