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Welcome to Chow Bella’s Bites & Dishes, where Valley chefs and restaurateurs respond to a question New Times food critic Laura Hahnefeld has on her mind. Have a question you’d like to ask? E-mail laura.hahnefeld@newtimes.com. Miss a question? Go here.
Go shark-cage diving, get on a JumboTron, sleep with someone 10 years older/younger than ourselves — many of us have a bucket list, those crazy little things we’d like to do before we, uh, kick the proverbial bucket. So when it comes to the category of cooking and baking, what’s on the bucket list of Valley chefs and restaurateurs before they head to that big industrial kitchen in the sky? I asked a few and this is what they had to say:
Aaron May Chef and Restaurateur
A legitimate truffle hunt in Italy. I want to wake up and have some elder truffle hunter take me on a hike through the forest to a secret location where we can stumble upon a cache of beautiful truffles to take back to the kitchen and cook with. That and maybe going to the test kitchen at Frito-Lay and inventing my own flavor of Fritos.
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Chef Stephen Jones Blue Hound Kitchen & Cocktails
Cooking with a Kiva oven. I’ve heard it’s awesome.
Amy Binkley Owner, Binkley’s and Cafe Bink
I want to deep-fry a turducken.
Brent Shinyeda General Manager, BLD Chandler
Cooking a whole pig in the ground.
Jon Lane Owner, O.H.S.O.
Cooking unusual beers and making dog treats with the spent grain.
Giovanni Scorzo Chef and Proprietor, Andreoli Italian Grocer
I would like to open an agriturismo restaurant in Italy.
Chef Donald Fawcett Renegade Canteen
I want to make wine. Most people wouldn’t qualify that as cooking, but I do. I want to be able to craft a really beautiful bottle of wine.
Christopher Gross Chef and Owner, Christopher’s Restaurant & Crush Lounge
Ortolan bunting: the tiny little bird you eat whole and all at once, with a dinner napkin over your head, to enhance the aroma as you bite into it. I would hope for the best and have the smokes ready.
Devin Walsh Chef and Owner, Calistro California Bistro
I love cheese and would love to learn this art someday.
Gregg Troilo Owner, British Open Pub
Goose, crepes, baked Alaska, and the “perfect” BBQ pork rib.
Joe Johnston, owner, Joe’s Real BBQ, Joe’s Fresh Farm Grill, Liberty Market, Agritopia
I would like to make a perfect croissant.
Dana Mule GM and Partner, Hula’s Modern Tiki
I’d love to be able to make the perfect soufflé and prepare sushi the way the artists in Japan do.
Chef Eric O’Neill SmartKitchen.com
I would want to travel to The French Laundry and have a day of cooking elegant dishes with Thomas Keller. That man is a culinary genius, in my opinion.
Chef Charles Schwerd Arrowhead Grill
To cook in Japan and France for a year each.
Romeo Taus Chef and Owner, Romeo’s Cafe
As I approach 60, the list gets smaller. Cook/eat/drink on all seven continents, publish some cookbooks, find the right person to continue the work in progress called Romeo’s Euro Café, and learn, learn, learn.
