Mad Coyote Joe can’t wait for Taste of CC cooking segment
By Curtis Riggs | September 3, 2008
Showman wants to show his stuff in his hometown
CAVE CREEK – No one is looking forward to the up-coming Taste of Cave Creek more than local grill expert and television cooking personality Mad Coyote Joe.
“I love this project,” said the long-time Cave Creeker who earned more than his 15 minutes of fame when he was the star of the Sonoran Grill television cooking show from 1998 to 2002. Many Sonoran Grill segments were filmed in his Cave Creek backyard.
He will be doing a cooking demonstration at the Sept. 25 Taste of Cave Creek, a community event which will feature the best Cave Creek restaurants have to offer. The annual Cave Creek happening, which serves as a fundraiser for the July 3 and 4 fireworks shows, will be held at the new Stagecoach Village retail center.
Many expect this year’s Taste to be bigger and better than ever because it is being held at the same time as the Governor’s Rural Economic Development Conference at the Carefree Resort & Villas. Over 600 economic development officials from the across the state will be in town for the conference and will likely take in the Taste as their Thursday night conference event.
The musical entertainment for this year’s Taste, Cave Creek’s own EastonAshe and local favorite Rondavous, will also pack people into the spacious Stagecoach Village.
Mad Coyote Joe will be preparing Tequila Shrimp and Pork Peville for the crowd. He will also mix his favorite drink, the “Stevie Ray,” a drink dedicated to the memory of blues legend Stevie Ray Vaughan, which is made with Partida tequila, a tequila he also likes to cook with.
In typical Mad Coyote Joe tradition his cooking segment will be peppered with his wit, humor, showmanship and cooking tips.
“I have strong opinions and state them clearly,” he said about what has allowed him to take his cooking to the next level. “I also have opinions about food.”
He believes that more than anything food defines people.
“Food is a way for families to come together. Food is what makes people’s lives good,” he said about why he is so dedicated to cooking. “How many important moments in people’s lives are marked by food?”
However, he has a problem with current eating habits in the United States.
“As wealth grows, typically the quality of food grows with it,” he said. He likened current food trends to a “BMW going through the drive-through.”
He explains his television success by saying he “de-mystified” cooking for people. “I break hard concepts down into basic components.”
He is anxious to fire up his Weber grill at the Taste in the town he has called home for nearly three decades.
“This is the town I live in. I like it here and like the people here,” he said about his Sept. 25 home-field advantage.
He commented that his cooking has definitely been influenced by his home town and its proximity to Mexico for all the chiles, spices and other tasty things offered there. He sticks to his Cave Creek roots by cooking with native mesquite wood.
“It will be fun. Cooking is what I do best and what I like,” he said. “It will be an absolute joy for me to share what I know.”
