Phillip popped into the kitchen and declared that I was “cutting up fruit for democracy!”
Which is really just a generous way of saying I was slicing a kiwi, as part of my assignment to bring a fruit plate to the potluck at the voting center where I’d be working the next day. My soon-to-be co-workers and I would need to be on the premises for something like 15 hours, so we were all going to take food to share.
As simple as a fruit plate may seem, I kind of drew a blank about it at first. It had been awhile since I’d needed to pull together the type of “platter food” that you’d set out at a meeting or a party or… other gathering that has been in short supply the last couple years.
One guideline I saw recommended about 10 cups of fruit for 15 guests.
Fruits like berries, peaches, melon, oranges, grapes, kiwi, pineapple, and cherries tend to work well on a fruit tray.
Avoid bananas, apples, and pears, since exposure to air will make them turn brown and mushy.
A variety of colors and textures make even a simple arrangement look really appealing.
Consider adding a garnish of fresh herbs, like mint, basil, rosemary, or lavender, especially if you happen to have them in your garden and can just snip off a few sprigs.
In my particular situation, I knew all the potluck food was going to be crammed onto a single table in an out-of-the-way corner of the room. We’d be rotating lunch times and/or just grabbing snacks when there was a lull.
So I wanted to avoid anything too messy and focus on fruit that would be easy for people to plate up (or pick up) and eat quickly. I stayed away from anything you’d have to pick pits or seeds out of while eating.
There are certain conveniences you can take advantage of if you’ll be serving food from your own kitchen. You have more options when it comes to set up and presentation.
However, if you’re taking a fruit plate to an office party or a friend’s house or a picnic, you have to think about how you’ll get it there, how you’ll keep things fresh, and what you’ll do once you arrive.
I also like the rustic look of a wooden serving tray or board. You can line it with parchment paper for easier clean-up.
Tree blossoming at Chiricahua National Monument near Willcox, Arizona.
Away
Combo containers: A cake carrier or repurposed deli tray would work for both transporting your fruit plate and serving it.
Bring along serving utensil(s). Whether you choose tongs, a large spoon, box of toothpicks, or just a regular fork, having it with you means you don’t have to scramble to find something at your destination.
Leaving stems in grapes, cherries, and strawberries help them keep a little longer – especially if you won’t have access to a refrigerator.
Don’t forget the ice! If you keep your food cool using actual cubes of frozen water (rather than cold packs), empty it out once you arrive and don’t need it. You don’t want ice melting and leaking all over the break room or your host’s floor. Better to dump it on a thirsty plant!
After seemingly wandering the produce aisles in a fugue state, I managed to buy way more stuff than I actually needed. That includes a cantaloupe I didn’t even cut into and some nectarines that I was sure were ripe in the store, but definitely weren’t once I got them home.
What ended up on my fruit tray were grapes, strawberries, blackberries, plums, and kiwi. I used kitchen shears to snip big bunches of grapes into smaller clusters that would be easier for people to grab (a tip from my mom!)
I arranged the fruit on a sectioned plastic tray with a snap-on lid. This very convenient container was repurposed from a meat-and-cheese platter that we’d picked up for Phillip’s Mount Lemmon birthday picnic a couple weeks before.
It was a simple spread, but people seemed to enjoy it. And I think we all appreciated the return of potlucks and platter food.
Handmade Ceramic Dinner Plate image via AVIhomeware on Etsy (affiliate link).
Your Serve
My fruit plate image search also turned up some very cool platters, serving bowls, boards, and baskets. Find my Etsy faves in my Food Serving + Storage collection. Since I’m an affiliate, Etsy purchases you make after clicking that link help support this site too!
My list of Tempe restaurant recommendations is shrinking.
Even before COVID, some favorites from our old neighborhood had already been pushed out by rising real estate prices and new construction.
View from South Mountain in Phoenix
However, there are still some longstanding gems that are worth a visit when you’re in town. And, since I’ve recently had some Tempe-bound friends looking for suggestions, I thought I’d share a list of the places I tend to point them to. Some of these are technically in Phoenix, Scottsdale, etc., but they are all Tempe-adjacent.
Most restaurants I’ve listed here have ample free parking – which is true of the majority of metro Phoenix.
However, when you’re near ASU/Downtown Tempe, things change. Spaces become scarce, and enforcement officers are quick with the citations. (Remember the rabbit in Zootopia?)
It’s probably the area in the entire state of Arizona where you’re most likely to end up with a parking ticket. So I’ve noted restaurants with trickier parking, as well as including some additional Tempe parking and transit tips at the end of the article.
Tempe Town Lake
Tempe-Area Eats
Nearby: Tempe Beach Park at Tempe Town LakeInside The Chuckbox
Charmingly rough around the edges university student haunt that serves a simple menu of exceptional burgers, chicken, and sides. It’s a strictly cash-only operation that does not accept debit or credit cards.
They take your order and then flame grill it right in front of you. If you want anything besides cheese on your burger, you add it yourself at the condiment bar.
It’s a formula that has worked since my mom and her siblings hung out there when they were in college. In fact, The Chuckbox is celebrating its 50th anniversary this month! I grew up eating there, especially when one of my uncles was in town. As divey as the place may seem now, they’ve actually cleaned it up since I was a kid!
We especially like The Big One (their signature burger) with cheese and a side of fried mushrooms, zucchini, or onion rings.
Open daily for lunch and dinner
Seating indoors + on the patio (on wood crates and stumps)
Located at 202 E. University Dr., Tempe
East of Mill Avenue
Light rail: Veterans Way/College Ave
Streetcar: Ninth St./Mill Ave
Parking: A few designated spaces, but you may need to look elsewhere when it’s busy.
Maker of hearty, savory pies from Cornwall, England called pasties (pronounced kind of like “past-ease”) in an upscale pub atmosphere that feels a world away from its strip mall location. Cornish Pasty’s wide variety of fillings include some with traditional ingredients, some of their own invention, and a lot of vegetarian and vegan options.
Open daily for lunch and dinner
Seating indoors + patio
Located at 960 W. University Dr., Tempe
University + Hardy Dr.
Also locations in Mesa, Scottsdale, Phoenix, and a few outside the Valley
Pizzeria, deli counter, and market stocked with Italian staples like pasta, gelato, wine, cheeses, spreads, and olive oil. It was recommended to us by our good friends Michelle and Carlos, who used to live in the neighborhood.
We especially like the Centurion pizza or a calzone with Italian sausage and roasted red peppers.
If you’re looking for really good Mexican food near Tempe, I’d send you to this Sonora-style taqueria.
It’s located in El Mercado de Guadalupe along with about a dozen other businesses, which open onto a large central courtyard. (That’s also where you’ll find its seafood-focused sister restaurant, the recently-renovated San Diego Bay.) El Mercado is probably the main shopping center in the town of Guadalupe, and the colorful murals on the outer walls make it easy to spot.
Guadalupe was founded as a refuge for Pascua Yaqui Indians fleeing Mexico after the revolution in the early 1900s. You’ll know you’ve crossed from Tempe into the one-square-mile town when the street names change to Spanish.
Open daily for breakfast, lunch and dinner
Seating mostly indoor but there are also a few tables on the well-shaded patio
Located at 9201 S. Avenida del Yaqui, Guadalupe
Inside El Mercado de Guadalupe on the southeast corner of Guadalupe Road and Avenida del Yaqui (which is Priest Drive in Tempe)
Nearby:
Thanks-a-Latte Coffee + Snacks– Opened earlier this year in El Mercado de Guadalupe. I stopped in with my dad, who gave their mango-pineapple smoothie rave reviews!
Urban farm and open space oasis. There is a lot of grass, a shop with locally-made products and unique gift items (Botanica), wedding/event venues, and a restaurant for each meal of the day!
Since this is a largely outdoor experience, parts of it close down in the summer to avoid the heat. Double check the hours before you go during the hottest time of the year, May through September.
All 3 of the restaurants feature organic produce grown right there on The Farm!
Morning Glory: breakfast/brunch at cafe tables with shade umbrellas
Farm Kitchen: picnic-style lunch under pecan trees
Quiessence: intimate dinners with a multi-course tasting menu (reservations recommended)
We especially like Farm Kitchen’s pecan chicken salad sandwiches, coffee, iced tea, and individually-sized desserts.
Seating all outside
Located at 6106 S. 32nd St., Phoenix
South of Southern on the west side of 32nd Street
Parking: mostly in the lot across the street, a few spots near the entrance to The Farm
Restaurant serving up Middle Eastern favorites plus a market selling baklava, bulk spices, pita bread, kalamata olives, fresh cheeses, henna hair dye, olive oil soap, plus a variety of imported snacks, sweets, and other goodies.
We especially like the chicken shawarma plate! The plate now comes with a small side salad, but you can substitute tabooli (which I recommend). Their garlic sauce is also downright addictive.
Open daily for lunch and dinner (Mon to Sat: 11am–8pm, Sunday: 11am–5pm)
Seating indoors + a couple tables outside
Located at 1513 E. Apache Blvd., Tempe
West of McClintock Dr.
Make sure you go to the restaurant – not their wholesale store down the street!
Family-owned Tennessee-style barbecue joint. Honey Bear’s meats are slow cooked until they’re so tender that (they claim) you could eat them even without teeth!
Some Tempe restaurants I haven’t been to as much or as recently or that I’d just recommend for something specific, but I still feel are worth mentioning:
Cafe Lalibela (849 W. University Dr., Tempe) – Ethiopian restaurant with lots of fans! I thoroughly enjoyed eating there and hope to make it back there soon.
Dilly’s Deli (3330 S. Price Rd., Tempe) – Premium sandwiches and soup. Their cream of chicken noodle soup in a bread bowl is top-notch comfort food.
D’lite Healthy on the Go (125 E. Southern Ave. Suite 101, Tempe) – Nutritious food with a drive-through. The menu includes items like quinoa bowls and vegan protein shakes, as well as classic breakfast burritos and good coffee.
Four Peaks Brewing
Four Peaks Brewing Co. (1340 E. 8th Street, #104, Tempe) – Original location of a neighborhood brewpub gone national. Besides their well-loved ales and IPAs (i.e. Kilt Lifter, 8th Street, Hop Knot…), they also offer a delicious menu of beer-battered food, as well as salads, burgers, and pizza made with beer bread crust. Free street parking.
Mekong Sandwiches (66 S. Dobson Rd., Mesa) bakes the French bread for their Banh Mi right there in their kitchen. I also enjoy their iced Vietnamese coffee. It’s located in Mekong Plaza, along with an international supermarket, gift shops, a bakery, and eateries featuring a variety of Asian cuisines.
Postino (615 S. College Ave., Tempe) – Wine bar with panini, bruschetta boards, and a tapas-like menu of “snacky things.” Originally opened in an old Phoenix post office, the Tempe location is the Postino Annex at ASU. Parking: Fulton Center Garage ($4/hour) or meters north of 6th Street.
Transit
Valley Metro runs the transit system throughout the Phoenix area. It includes buses, light rail, neighborhood shuttles (small free busses that run on localized routes), and Tempe’s new streetcar – which is free to ride until May 2023!
Light Rail
The Valley Metro light rail goes through Phoenix, Tempe, and Mesa. It’s especially convenient for getting to/from Sky Harbor Airport, Phoenix Convention Center, and ASU.
I made a video explaining how to ride it, if you haven’t before. Since then, the line has expanded in both directions, but the Tempe stops remain the same. And all day fare is still $4!
Park-and-Rides
If you decide to drive to your stop and then hop onto transit, you can park in one of a dozen Valley Metro Park-and-Ride lots located across the greater Phoenix area.
Parking is free all day for transit riders.
There’s no overnight parking. You risk getting towed if your car is still in the lot between 1-4am.
Gammage Auditorium
Parking Tips for Downtown Tempe
I don’t feel I can send you off to Tempe without a heads up on parking in the ASU/Downtown area. The main thing is to make sure you’re parking where you’re clearly allowed to. If it’s ambiguous or you don’t see any signs, you could still end up getting ticketed or even towed (it’s happened).
There’s typically not a discount for vehicles with disability placards in garages.
During eventslike ASU football games, lots may charge higher, flat rates for parking.
Outside of the old-timey cowboy themed Chuckbox
Customer Parking
If you’re lucky, the place where you’re going will have some free parking spots for its customers (“Chuckbox only” parking, for example).
Technically, you’re not supposed to remain parked in these customer spaces and leave the property. I’m not sure how strictly this is enforced, but you might want to park elsewhere before wandering off.
Light rail station artwork
Don’t forget Park-and-Rides! (Details under “Transit,” above.) It’s easy to park in one of these lots, and let the light rail take you the rest of the way to your destination.
No parking signs in a neighborhood near South Mountain.
Agave has been cultivated in the Tucson area for hundreds of years.
While tequila might be the most widely known product made from agave (a.k.a. the century plant or maguey), it’s certainly not the only one! Different species of the plant are distilled into different spirits, collectively called mezcal.
Native peoples would also use agave to make food, medicine, and even rope. They developed farming techniques to maximize the plant’s adaptability and drought-resistant qualities, so they could grow it where other crops wouldn’t thrive.
Mural of Mayahuel, the agave goddess, by Rock ‘‘CYFI’’ Martinez.
The annual Agave Heritage Festival in Tucson celebrates the plant’s natural and cultural significance. It includes special agave-centered menus at local restaurants, gardening demonstrations, concerts, lectures, mezcal tasting events, hikes to ancient agave roasting pit sites, and a re-creation of the traditional way agave hearts were cooked underground.
After the spring 2020 festival was canceled and last year’s was replaced by a monthly series of virtual talks and DIY tastings, the Agave Heritage Festival made a joyful return this past May!
It has come back as a more compact, focused four days of events – in contrast to the week (or more) it stretched out pre-pandemic.
Following right on its heels was the first annual Pueblos del Maíz Fiesta. The kickoff event for both festivals was a concert by multiple Grammy Award winning Mexican-American singer and activist Lila Downs.
One of this year’s events was the Agave Expo, which included panels, vendors, tables for organizations doing conservation work in Southern Arizona, and a plant sale. It was held on a beautiful morningin Mission Garden, a collection of demonstration gardens where a 17th-century Spanish mission once stood.
Feed the Bats
I arrived right before the first talk of the day, parking next to a woman who was alreadyloadingassorted agave purchases into her car.
“Pollination Nations” was a discussion about agave, bats, and ecology on both sides of the border.
Nectar-eating bats cross-pollinate agaves’ nighttime blooms, creating the genetic diversity essential for the plants’ long-term survival. However, agave planted for human consumption is prevented from blooming. Recent large-scale agricultural methods have lead to hungry bats and a monoculture crop that’s susceptible to disease.
The Bat Friendly project promotes more sustainable practices, encouraging growers to let 5% of the agaves they plant to live out their natural bloom cycle and allow bat pollination. Following their guidelines earns mezcal producers a special Bat Friendly™ label, as well as helping to ensure the continuation of their industry.
The panel discussing these topics was made up of experts from Bat Conservation International, Borderlands Restoration Network, and Sonora Silvestre, as well as mezcal-makers from Bacanora Batuq and Mezcal Zincantan. It was moderated by Jesús García, Research Associate at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum and Co-Chair of the non-profit Friends of Tucson’s Birthplace (FOTB).
(Incidentally, Moderator Jesús had returned from a trip to Mexico just in time for the Lila Downs kickoff concert and gave it rave reviews!)
On the Table
Afterwards, I wandered over to the ramada where raspados (snow cones) were being served in hollowed out half lemon peels, in exchange for donations to the garden.
They had three different flavors made from garden produce, and I was not prepared for that kind of decision making. I was especially torn between the refreshing sounding lime-mint flavor and the artisanal agave syrup, which seemed like the most fitting choice for the occasion. Then the volunteer scooping the crushed ice suggested I have both. Sold.
Sprinkled throughout the garden were informational tables and artist booths, including Found Design Sculptures by Leonard Ramirez and Cold Goose Pottery by Judy Ganz.
Found Design Sculptures by Leonard Ramirez
Tucson Audubon Society was there with resources. They were especially highlighting their Habitat at Home program, which shares ways to support birds and other pollinators from your house. One thing they suggest here in Southern Arizona is to leave your hummingbird feeder out on summer nights, because bats might stop by for a drink!
Chocolate Ritual
Before I left, I made a final stop at the Chocolate Ritual booth to pick up some of their mezcal-infused chocolate truffles. They create their chocolates to have a taste that pairs well with either mezcal or coffee. The “ritual” is as simple as sipping your preferred beverage in between bites of chocolate and savoring the combination. It’s a practice I can definitely get behind.
Another agave goddess mural by Rock ‘‘CYFI’’ Martinez!
Somewhere in the neighborhood of Kelly green, a bit lighter than emerald, you’ll find Clover. It’s the color of lots of leafy growing things and glass bottles, and it brings an eye-catching vibrancy anywhere you add it.
A few places and projects that look great in this green…
1. Jungle Garden at the Huntington Library in Southern California. / from our 2016 Pasadena trip
2. Tips for building an A-frame Cabin on UO Journal. / Photo: Carey Quinton Haider
A mishmash of news about upcoming films, food, and free classes!
Jessica Gonzales paints a mural outside The Loft Cinema.
Goodies
I’ve been posting this kind of good stuff as part of the Happenings List, but a few things popped up that I wanted to share with you sooner!
1. Love you.
MyIntent has created a 14-day series of journal prompts and challenges around the topic of Self-Love – specifically how you can cultivate a positive and healthy relationship with yourself.
3. “Buy out the 8 o’clock show… Let’s all go to the movies!”
For the month of February, you can rent out The Loft Cinema in Tucson for $150! The rental includes…
Up to two hours in-screen for 2-4 people.
1 complementary glass of sparkling wine (or nonalcholic drink) + 1 medium popcorn for all attendees.
4. What’s Up, Docs?
Watch 15 short documentaries created by students at the UA School of Theatre, Film + Television free on The Loft Cinema’s YouTube channel!
Wolfwalkers image via Apple TV.
Hot Off the Press Releases
1. Walkers Lasso The Rocks
Apple TV would like you to know that they have received four Golden Globe nominations for Apple Originals programming. I haven’t seen any of the items on this list (I think you need an Apple TV+ subscription), but sounds like they may be good, so let me know if you have!
Wolfwalkers (Best Motion Picture, Animated): A young apprentice hunter journeys to Ireland with her father intending to wipe out the last wolf pack – until she befriends a member of a mysterious tribe rumored to have the ability to transform into wolves by night. Directed by Tomm Moore and Ross Stewart.
“Ted Lasso” (Best Television Series, Musical or Comedy + Best Actor in a TV Series, Musical or Comedy Series, Jason Sudeikis): a comedy about a college football coach from Kansas hired to coach a professional soccer team in England, despite having no experience coaching soccer. Starring Jason Sudeikis.
On The Rocks (Best Performance By An Actor In A Supporting Role In Any Motion Picture, Bill Murray): a generation-clash comedy about a young New York mother faced with sudden doubts about her marriage, who teams up with her larger-than-life playboy father to tail her husband. Written and directed by Sofia Coppola and starring Bill Murray, Rashida Jones and Marlon Wayans.
2. Independents Cinema
Members of real-life band The Sweet Remains are starring in an upcoming musical comedy/drama. The Independents is about three solo artists who reluctantly join forces and journey across America for one last shot at musical glory. It will premiere February 26 to view on demand via Laemmle Theatres and Angelika Cinemas.
Decibel coffee
Tucson Chews On…
Food news in the Old Pueblo.
The Red Light Lounge (inside The Downtown Clifton hotel) is now open for lunch to go! Hours are Monday to Friday, 10am to 3pm. (They’ll continue serving dinner and drinks daily from 5-10pm.)
Decibel Coffee Works has started serving food. The kitchen is open daily, 7am-2pm with a limited, soon-to-be expanded menu.
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