Culinary Road Trip at Proof
The great American tradition of taking a summer road trip has come to Proof, An American Canteen. Chef Joey Cavaretta has jumped into the driver’s seat with Proof Across America, a monthly series showcasing some of the nation’s favorite regional dishes and drinks.
“Proof is all about great American cuisine and there’s no better way to experience all the unique regional dishes than on a road trip,” Chef Cavaretta said. The Proof Across America series will highlight unique ingredients and popular recipes found in each of these areas of the country.”
May In May, Proof’s menu will cruise through Virginia, the Carolinas, Kentucky and Tennessee. Featured dishes will include items such as Tennessee hot chicken and biscuits benedict with country gravy, crispy pig ears and chicharrón, a low country boil, a grilled Georgia peach salad with pecans and a vanilla bourbon vinaigrette and a Tennessee BBQ plate with smoky pork spare ribs, smoked sausage, pork butt and ‘tater salad. May’s refreshing specialty drinks will include beer shandy made with Proof pilsner, fresh lemonade, and prickly pear syrup. The “Georgia on my Mind” cocktail features Russell’s Reserve Bourbon, Arizona peach cordial, fresh mint and angostura bitters. June The menu heads down the coast in June with dishes from Florida and the Florida Keys. Some even take on a Cuban influence. The dishes will include chicken mofongo benedict with key lime hollandaise, adobo pork torta with cotija and tomatillo salsa, a battered grouper sandwich with tropical coleslaw and house made pickle tartar, a stone crab cake with sea urchin and key lime remoulade, crispy fried whole snapper, mango-pineapple salsa and house made spicy pepper sauce. June’s specialty beer is a Florida brew, the Cigar City Maduro Brown. Cocktails to complement the Sunshine State menu will include the Classic Overproof Dacquiri featuring rum, rhum agricole made from sugar cane rather than molasses, lime juice and demerara sugar simple syrup. July In July, diners can “Let the Good Times Roll” as the menu takes a turn toward Louisiana and Texas with plenty of creole and Cajun flavors and, of course, Texas barbecue. Featured dishes will include crispy boudin benedict with tabasco hollandaise, a chopped beef brisket sandwich with Austin BBQ sauce, Oyster po’boy sandwich, Cajun cabbage and lemon remoulade, a watermelon panzanella salad with Crow’s Dairy goat feta and mint, a Texas BBQ plate featuring beef brisket, smoky beer cheese sausage, and beef ribs with Texas BBQ sauce, New Orleans gumbo and a Cajun crawfish boil with all the fixings. The famous New Orleans’ Sazerac takes the top spot on the Proof Across America cocktail menu in July. It features Del Bac Whiskey, WhistlePig Farmstock rye whiskey, simple syrup and a dash of peychaud and angostura bitters. August Did someone say “cactus fries?” Proof’s menu comes home to the Southwest in August with dishes from Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado. Featured dishes include a crispy trout benedict with roasted poblano hollandaise, red chile fry bread tacos, a New Mexico chile burger with roasted hatch chiles, crispy cactus fries with cotija cheese and avocado ranch dressing, the “ultimate” pork chimichanga, beer battered Rocky Mountain oysters, and smoked Colorado lamb shanks. To accompany these great Southwestern items, Proof will be featuring Le Cumbre Elevated IPA, the Sonoran Rising Sun cocktail – which marries an Arizona vodka with the Japanese flavors of sochu and yuzu – and the Havasu Heat cocktail with Ixa Tequila, pineapple and charred jalapeno for some zing. Located at Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale at Troon North, Proof, an American Canteen, serves up American home-style comfort food and beverages sourced exclusively from the 50 states. The décor of the restaurant draws upon the area’s history as a stagecoach hitching post and the frontier spirit of the Wild West, with a railroad track running perpendicular through the dining room as well as vintage Edison-style lighting. Mercantile-inspired shelving houses all-American liquor for craft cocktails and glass apothecary jars hold sweets for use at the soda jerk counter. Guests can take in the outdoors from every angle with walls that open to views of Pinnacle Peak and extensive patio dining. Open daily for breakfast from 7 – 11:30 a.m., lunch from 11:30 a.m. – 3 p.m., and dinner from 5:30 – 9:30 p.m. For reservations, please call 480-513-5085. www.www.proofcanteen.com