I’m home for the holidays right now and that means lots of puppy kisses, friend time and sleeping. In the vein of friend time, I headed down to Tucson, AZ, my birth city and where I lived until I was about 13, with my bff since childhood. Our mission was Christmas lights, but we had to eat along the way. We asked our hotel for some recommendations and they came up with Maynards Market & Kitchen.
The restaurant was cozy, dimly lit and had a really lovely warm feeling. The emphasis on locally sourced, or at least well sourced, ingredients was an immediate draw for me…but the menu was both meat and fish heavy. I love a good bacon cheeseburger, we all know this, but that night I was craving something lighter.
Enter: fennel butternut squash “scrapple” with figs, chanterelles and a cauliflower veloute.
Sounds like a lot of random on a plate, right? I wish I had a photo, because it came together so well visually and taste wise. The “scrapple” was a rectangle of thinly sliced fennel and squash layered about a hundred times over. I have mad respect for the sous chef that labored over that mandolin and subsequently placed those layers in a baking dish.
Of all the other items on the plate, the cauliflower veloute was the star. It was creamy…uh…velvety…and delicious! I didn’t expect to walk away from dinner feeling full, but I did. I also wasn’t hungry an hour later – a sign of a good vegetarian dish according to this meat-eater!
So, like I told my friend, sometimes it’s good to veer off the beaten, beefy path at restaurants like these. Every once and awhile you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
What’s the best thing y’all ate last week?
frijolita 
That sounds amazing!