Regan Jasper, at the age of 24, became one of the youngest Sommeliers in Arizona. Racking up Wine Spectator Awards at Fuego restaurant and Hacienda del Sol resort, Jasper’s accomplishments caught Sam Fox’s attention. In 1999, Fox wooed him to FRC with the promise of creative freedom in developing and managing the beverage and hospitality programs for every restaurant.

Jasper quickly demonstrated his exceptional expertise beyond the wine and beverage realm and today is responsible for wine and beverage programs for all Fox restaurants.

With the success of Fox Restaurants and Zinburger, I had the chance recently to ask Regan some questions regarding wine, burgers, and the restaurant industry. Below is what Regan had to say.

1) What do you look for in a wine and food pairing?

In general,  I like to have the wine compliment the food. The wine should have some acidity to help the protein stand out. If we are talking about Zinburger and pairing wines with burgers, well… that is some of the easiest pairings around! First, I’m going to answer a question with a question… why do so many people like to have wine and cheese parties? Because the fats in cheese make every wine show nicely. Now, back to the question regarding pairing wine with food – if you have a large amount of rich fats, like a hamburger and cheese does, then any wine will go good. Big red wines like Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel will not overpower the food.

2) Is there a white wine you like with red meat?

White wine with red meat is not a natural pairing so I would say no. But if you don’t drink red wine I would tell you to choose a rich full bodied Chardonnay rather than a high acid light weight wine like Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Grigio. And if the red meat is spicy hot than I would suggest a wine with some sweetness like our Riesling or Caymus Conundrum.

3) With the subtle complexity of some of the burgers featured, does the wine need to be equally complex, or much simpler?

Needs? No. But it can be. And that’s what’s so great about pairing wine with food. The earth tones you get from the mushrooms on the kobe burger pair great with red wines with a little more old world edge to them like the Sangeovese from Santa Christina, and the Newton Claret. The salty flavor that you get from the Nueske’s Applewood Smoked Bacon on the Samburger begs for a riper and richer style of red wine like Gascon Reserve Malbec or Manifesto Zinfandel. The onions reduced in red Zinfandel on the Zinburger are a natural pairing for a soft supple red wine like the Hey Mambo Sultry Red or the Tobin James Zinfandel. The turkey burger on the other hand pairs nicely with Chardonnay and my favorite Truchard Fox Block 7 Pinot Noir.

4) Now that Zinburger is in New Jersey and finding success, what direction would you like to see it go in?

I don’t think that this is a regional concept. I feel like we can open this concept in just about any market and it will do fantastic. So, the future is bright for Zinburger!

5) Any comments on the general industry push towards more and more casual and less and less fine dining?

I hope that our economy recovers and I hope that consumer confidence grows back to where it was just a couple of years ago. I feel fortunate that our company has some diversity in the different dining segments. It helps to have some more casual driving brands mixed in with our full service higher priced point spots.

Thanks, Regan!

I’ve been growing two varieties of heirloom tomatoes – San Marzanos which are an Italian plum tomato mostly used for paste, and Pink Brandywines. They’re both doing superbly. I have five of each plant and am now getting to the point in which tomatoes are piling up. Not so much the Brandywines – those get used quickly – but the San Marzanos really start to pile up. In fact, the seed packet stated it was one of the most high-yielding tomato plants and literally “drips” with fruit. I have found this to be outrageously true. Alas, anyone who says you can’t grow heirlooms in Tucson should definitely give it a try. Mine are thriving. The plants are over six feet tall and there’s no sign of stopping. I’m running out of stake.

Here are some of the key elements, I’ve discovered, to growing heirloom tomatoes in Tucson’s climate.

Start from seed indoors in November or December. You really want to get the plants in the ground as soon as possible. After the last frost is when most gardeners recommend, however I put mine in the ground at the end of February. If you think it’s going to frost, just cover them. Also, contrary to most recommendations, and as an experiment, I transplanted a few plants into the ground long before they were up to transplant size. All three of those plants are strong, hardy, a lovely green, and fruiting. One of the reasons to get the plants in the ground so early is that heirlooms tend to have a much longer time to mature: 75 to 90 days. If you wait too long, it’ll get too hot. (So they say. At the time of this writing, we haven’t had a consistent number of days over 100º. But it has been over 95º consistently and mine continue to produce fruit.)

Use the best compost possible. I purchased Foxfarm’s Happy Frog Soil Conditioner from Mesquite Valley Growers . I mixed it about half with the existing soil and whoa. The leaves are bright, strong and hardy and the plants seem very happy. I gave one of my plants, before transplant, to a friend who used our backyard compost and soil (it’s very sandy soil). Not only did that plant almost die, the color green wasn’t even close to the color of my plants in the ground. We ended up transplanting that plant (it was in a pot) into the ground where my thriving plants are. Within a few weeks it was looking much healthier and is now flowering. We’ll see if it fruits. Tomatoes are hungry plants. Give them food. I also fed them Foxfarms’s All Purpose Organic Fertilizer once or twice.

Create a micro-climate. If you plant as close together as is recommended (maybe even closer) and prune very little, you’ll build up a canopy of leaves which protects the fruit from the sun. You’ll also create a much more humid climate, as well. You can stick your hand down inside and feel it. It’s wetter and a little cooler. Also known as humidity.

Stake wisely. This is where I messed up the most. I had no idea how large these plants would grow and figured I could stake them as they got bigger or get some cages. But it happened so fast and I got cages a little too late. They were way too hard to get over the already overgrown plant, and they didn’t really end up doing much either. A tall, tall, tall (did I say tall?), and thick stake deep in the ground is your best bet. If you prune little to create the micro-climate, you’ll make up for the minimal pruning by endlessly tying the large suckers that jut out of the main stalk to the stake. I enjoy it, actually. But it does seem like every few days I’m tying something else to the stake. The Brandywines are large tomatoes and will really weigh down the plant. A clever staking sytem is essential. I’ve seen some innovative systems using stakes and twine, but it hasn’t worked for me. Standard stakes (tall ones!) and twine is all I’ve been using and it works great.

Get at least six hours of sun. Tomato plants want full sun. I spent a couple of hours one morning watching where in my very limited space the sun might shine the fullest and planted there. Around 9:30, 10:00 am the sun starts to hit my plants until about 6:00 or 6:30. Ideally, the plants would be getting more morning sun and less afternoon sun, but other than a tomato that fruited above the canopy and was scalded, I haven’t noticed any problems with the scorching afternoon sun.

Make sure the plants get plenty of water. In the beginning, I had a soaker hose woven around the base stems that I would run for about 30 minutes, sometimes more, in the morning. However, I wanted to conserve water and focus it more directly so I installed a drip system and am super-happy with the results. I have it on a timer that waters for 10 minutes every 6 hours. I now swear by the drip system. I never minded manually watering, but I really don’t mind not having to water at all. I even put all my potted herbs on drip, too.

I’m by no means a master gardener, but I am having plenty of success with the heirloom tomatoes. I hope some of the above information helps. Here’s some places to get more info:

The Tucson Gardener
University of Arizona College of Agriculture
About Heirloom Tomatoes
Tucson Tomatoes Forum
HeirloomTomatoPlants.com

Happy growing!

For some reason, it was only recently that I first tasted a kumquat. I always assumed they were too tart for my taste. And you know what happens when you assume, don’t you? You make an “ass” out of “u” and “me.” Okay, bad joke. The kumquat, of which there are four different varieties and only one that I’ll discuss – the Nagami, for it’s superior flavor – thrives here in Tucson. Their rind is sweet, and the center is only mildly tart. You eat the whole thing – peel and all. I hear you don’t eat the seeds (but I’ve been eating them and I feel fine).

The Nagami kumquat came to London from China in 1846 by Robert Fortune, sealing its fate into the genus Fortunella rather than Citrus, though it is often included in the genus Citrus. The fruit was officially brought into the U.S. from Japan in 1885, though reports of kumquats in North America date as far back as 1850.

Today I had the pleasure of helping harvest an abundant amount of citrus from someone’s land. Although we harvested some amazingly tasty and attractive tangelos, navel oranges, Meyer lemons, pink lemons, and grapefruit, I was drawn to the immense tree of Nagami kumquats. Reports on the internet peg the tree from 8 – 15 feet when mature. The tree that we harvested had to be at least 15 feet tall, and perhaps taller. It was loaded with fruit. We filled an entire orange crate and half of a paper grocery bag and the tree barely looked touched.

If you’re interested in checking out the Nagami kumquat and can’t find any in the stores, give a call or a visit to Mesquite Valley Growers. Hell – go there anyway, it’s such an amazing place. It’s 23 acres of every kind of plant, tree, and shrub you might ever want to grow here as well as every varietal of fruit that does well in Tucson: apricots, blueberries, blackberries, figs, peaches, and every kind of citrus you can imagine – including kumquats. Most of the citrus trees have fruit on them, so you can try them right there in the greenhouse. And kumquats do great in containers. Let me know if you go!

Size comparison of grapefruit, tangelo, and Nagami kumquat.