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A Cook’s Tour, Arizona Style

Learn the art of Arizona cooking! From French-Southwest fusion to regional delights, cooking classes of all types are offered across the state.

By Nora Burba Trulsson

Take home more than just t-shirts or a suntan from your Arizona visit. Come back knowing how to make tamales, brush up on your bruschetta or learn about a chile’s heat index by dropping in on cooking classes that emphasize local foods and regional influences. You’ll find these cooking classes at resorts, special schools, shops and in private homes. Here are just a few to get you cooking.

The Cottage Place Restaurant Cooking Classes, Flagstaff
Owner/chef Frank Branham hosts weekly cooking classes and wine tastings at his charming restaurant, housed in a 1909 bungalow in downtown Flagstaff’s historic district. Classes explore the restaurant menu’s eclectic and traditional offerings.

Janos Cooking School, Tucson
James Beard Award-winning chef Janos Wilder of Tucson is best known for his melding of French techniques with Southwestern ingredients. Several times a year, he teaches cooking classes emphasizing local and regional ingredients at his Janos restaurant on the grounds of the gracious Westin La Paloma Resort.

Les Gourmettes, Phoenix
Cookbook author and television personality Barbara Fenzl hosts weekly demos between September and May with chefs and cookbook authors, followed by meals, at her gracious Phoenix home. She’s well-connected; her teachers have included Jacques Pépin, Hugh Carpenter and local James Beard Award-winning chef Christopher Gross.

Sweet Basil, Scottsdale
Variety is the spice of this Scottsdale cooking school/gourmet shop’s class offerings. One day, it’s tortillas, quesadillas and salsas; the next, you could be learning the art of French desserts. In between, the school offers classes for kids and teens, and even a course in making healthy snacks for Fido.

Tina’s Cocina, Yuma
Historian, architect and cooking teacher Tina Clark brings in everyone from pedigreed chefs to tamale-making grandmothers to teach the art of regional cuisine. Classes are held at St. Paul’s Cultural Center in Yuma, a restored 1909 Gothic church.

Chef's Table, Tubac
Check out Tubac’s art galleries and history, then head to the new state-of-the-art cooking school to learn to make breakfast omelets, a Southwestern lunch or a Mexico City-style dinner during one of their dozens of monthly classes, taught by the facility’s cadre of local chefs.

(Updated by the Arizona Office of Tourism – 2009)

Going?

The Cottage Place Restaurant
Phone: (928) 774-8431
http://www.cottageplace.com

Les Gourmettes
Phone: (602) 240-6767

Sweet Basil
Phone: (480) 596-5628
www.sweetbasilgourmet.com

Tina’s Cocina
Phone: (928) 783-3530
www.stpaulsculturalcenter.com

Chef's Table
Phone: (520) 398-8501
www.anzamarketplace.com/chefsTable.asp