SCOTTSDALE

THE MISSION

DON'T MESS WITH MY MASA - EATERAZ.COM

03/03/2009 - On a recent trip to the Dowtown Phoenix Farmers Market, we stumbled upon a gent selling tortillas. We thought they were VERY GOOD and started up a convo. We mentioned that they were as good as the ones at The Mission restaurant in downtown Scottsdale where Chef Matt Carter has been winning over critics and diners with his flair for Latin-inspired cooking. Our tortilla buddy proceeds to state that Matt Carter’s are actually his! This was odd as Carter had said that he has his made in-house. Well we smelled a fight brewing and needed to get to the bottom of this one.

Upon querying Carter he said that he buys his FLOWER TORTILLAS from that seller, but the CORN TORTILLAS are made in-house as he originally said. Carter further explained, that due to the demand for their tortilla chips, it would be virtually impossible to hand roll each tortilla and then cut into chips for the deep fryer. He also added that he adds his own special trick to the chips before they hit the table. To put the final nail in the coffin of this potential masa minefield, Carter invited us into his kitchen to see his girl in action making their scratch corn tortillas which are also brushed with a clarified butter before hitting the plate.

Seems like this round goes to Carter as our Farmers Market friend did not tell the WHOLE story here and would have preferred we just believed we found the same secret tortillas as The Mission — La Culpa Es Tuya!