The winner of the $75 gift card is: Candice Monson.

And since there were SO many people who entered our drawing, we decided to keep pulling out names!

Ten dollar gift cards will be mailed to the following 20 people:

Dee Atkinson, Savannah Shaw, Leigh Kawaguchi, Jill Crockett, Meredith Dodgen, Craig Oberg, Miguel Aguilar, Stacy Day, Becca Cannon, Sina Sharifan, Jon Robinson, Summer Hogge, Lindsay Rasmussen, Abby Beattie, Troy Pugmire, Nicole Burton, Debby Cannon, Elizabeth Adams, Shellie Stevens, Corey Paschal

Thanks for becoming Sonora Club Members and entering our contest!

Want to learn a few new Mexican style desserts? Things you can easily whip out with not too much hassle, impress the friends, make the kids happy…Sure you do.

Join me at Sonora Grill tomorrow at 2pm and I’ll show you how to blast out a few simple but delicious desserts, for instance, Torre De Bunuelos, Tres Leches, Sopapillas…it may all be written in Spanish but in the universal language of Awesome Dessert…your mouth is gonna be like O heck yeah…

Downtown Ogden’s only Community Garden, The Oasis is located between 24th and 25th and between Monroe and Madison…it’s not super well known yet…it’s by that 7-11 where all the Ogden PD are always hanging out…the neighborhood has fallen into disrepair, to say the least, and those of us who live in the community want to be part of bringing that area back to life. The Sonora Grill and Rickenbacker’s employees went to the Oasis Saturday morning and did some maintenance …shoveled some mulch, picked up some trash, pulled weeds…left no garbage behind…If you want to do something to satisfy your soul, hit the Oasis, bring a friend and a Frisbee…volunteer a little time to checking in on the place. Bring the kids…It’s fun, free and easy.

Did anyone see the travel channel’s show No Reservation with Anthony Bourdain in Mexico City? Man they were eating tacos like there was no tomorrow! They were eatin eyeball tacos! But then the bullfight in Puebla. I don’t know if I’m for the bull or the matador…I’ve been to Mexico, but I’ve never been to Puebla. If anyone’s going down there and wants to sport for my ticket and put me up for a few days or something…I could be quite entertaining! We can eat mass amounts a tacos! My favorite are the tongue tacos. Unfortunately, I recently had some at a particular taco truck in the vicinity that were…disappointing, let’s say… I’m a bit of a Bourdain acolyte. It’s true. But who doesn’t love to go places? Seriously, hook a chef up with a weekend in Mexico! I got my passport and my Spanish is still pretty good…

Courtney Larsen and I gave a Mexican BBQ/Carne Asada class last night at Sonora Grill. Thanks to all who attended. We had fun. Copies of the class recipes are always included, FYI, but for those who couldn’t get there last night I wanted to kick this recipe to you because this smoky, spicy, garlicky salsa was very delicious.

Courtney’s Carne Asada Salsa
5 large ripe tomatoes
4 tomatillos
1 great big white onion, peeled
2 Anaheim chiles
2 serrano chile
Kosher salt , black pepper and lime juice to taste
Put the ingredients on a skewer and grill them till charred, with tasty bits, not too too burnt, and then pulse all ingredients in a blender.

Every Friday and Saturday the Sonora Grill flies in fresh fish from Hawaii. Fish so fresh that when you come down to get your ceviche, it’s really going to blow you away. Chef Courtney is creating exciting new dishes utilizing this seafood that has been out of the pacific literally about 20 hours. You’ll be able to taste the freshness. My favorite is the fresh big eye tuna with nopales, capers and lime juice.
Well, and also the Lemon Cured Sea Bass with chile and cilantro…seriously. So delicious!