FOOD

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Los Sombreros debuts new take-out concept

BY KRISTINE CANNON

Progress Staff Writer

When Scottsdale residents and Los Sombreros owners Kurt and Colleen Riske said “I love you” for the first time, they were vacationing in San Carlos, Mexico. When Kurt proposed to Colleen, they were at a private club in Honolulu called the Outrigger Canoe Club.

And when it came time for their honeymoon, the newlyweds flew to the picturesque beach town Tamarindo on Costa Rica’s Pacific coast. It’s a love story you will find printed on the menu for Colleen and Kurt’s latest concept, Carnitas Way. Launched mid-July, Carnitas Way is a delivery- and pickup-only restaurant that offers California-style burritos, bowls, and salads, all made from scratch with fresh, quality ingredients.

BY LAURA LATZKO

Progress Contributor has not only sparked conversations and protests, but it has driven home the importance of supporting black-owned restaurants like Airpark-based Sugar Jam Bake Shop & Bistro.

“I have a place where it’s not about the color of your skin,” said founder Dana Dumas. “I have a place where hatred is left somewhere else. It doesn’t come into Sugar Jam. Discrimination doesn’t come into Sugar Jam. It is a place of harmony. It is a place where you feel at home. It’s a place where people can gain new friendships, bring a loved one.

It’s a concept that Kurt and Colleen have been working on since they purchased Los Sombreros in 2017.

“I’ve always had in my mind wanting to do a super-fast, fresh drive-through concept with Mexican food that’s really simple,” Kurt said. The pandemic, they said, was the perfect time to move forward with Carnitas Way, where all menu items are under $10.

“With everything going on with COVID, the time just seemed

Sugar Jam offers freshly prepared homemade Southern foods and baked goods.

The restaurant’s expansive menu includes comfort foods such as catfish and fried chicken dinners; fried chicken and waffles; shrimp and catfish po’boys; pulled pork with mac and cheese; savory scones topped with applewood pulled pork; salmon croquettes and grits; smoked

Kurt and Colleen Riske, the owners of Los Sombreros, recently launched a new, delivery- and pickup-only concept called Carnitas Way.

(Pablo Robles/Progress Staff Photographer) right,” Colleen said. “[Because] this is takeout and delivery only, we know that people are looking for good value, and they are getting that through these generously-sized portions and delicious, fresh meals.”

Colleen added that because people are spending more time at home, “it really felt like the time was right for a deliveryfocused restaurant.”

Carnitas Way operates out of their three Los Sombreros restaurants, with orders made in their respective kitchens.

“We didn’t have to invest in a new brick-and-mortar to start a new brand. The food is all coming out of our existing kitchens; so, it’s sort of allowing us to dip our toe in the water of the cloud kitchen-type movement that’s going on,” Colleen said.

Sugar Jam serves southern favorites

The Black Lives Matter Movement

Dana Dumas, founder of Sugar Jam Bake Shop & Bistro, wants her Scottsdale Airpark restaurant to be a place of harmony.

seeCARNITAS page 25 brisket and biscuits; creole shrimp and grits; biscuits and gravy; applewood pulled pork sandwiches; collard greens; cowboy beans, candied yams and Parisian-style French toast sandwiches.

Among the most popular items on the bakery side are the cherry, caramel apple and bourbon pecan pies, as well as chocolate chip, sea salt caramel toffee and jam-filled cookies.

Dumas comes from a long line of cooks and bakers. Her great aunt was a trained pastry chef, and her grandparents owned two restaurants in New York City. Growing up, she always looked forward to her grandmother’s cooking.

The cloud or ghost kitchen concept is a delivery-only restaurant with no storefront. Carnitas Way patrons can order through the eatery’s website or thirdparty delivery services and either pick up their order from Los Sombreros’ Phoenix, Scottsdale, or Mesa location or have it delivered to their doorstep. Initially, Carnitas Way offered delivery solely through third-party service providers, including Grubhub, DoorDash, and Postmates; but they’ve since begun offering in-house delivery and curbside pickup via call-in.

“We’ve been able to just utilize the staff that we currently have and keep them employed,” Kurt said of Carnitas Way’s in-house delivery drivers. Delivery is free for order $25 or more. Otherwise, a $3 delivery fee will be added. As a bonus for all call-in orders, Carnitas Way will toss in a free bag of chips and salsa.

“We learned really quickly that people didn’t really want to use third-parties all the time and that they would like to be able to go and show up at our existing restaurants and pick the food up. So, we’ve adapted to that,” Kurt said. “I watched her cooking. She always had such great food, and I would always be so excited to go to grandma’s house,” Dumas said. A former New Jersey ironworker, her father is also was a talented cook. For a time, he was the lead chef at her restaurant and helped create the barbecue rubs and sauce, potato salad and barbecued baked beans.

“He taught me from the time that I was a little girl to really eat, to taste the food. You can then dissect what spices were used to recreate that meal,” Dumas said.

Her mother helped to foster in her a love of sweets. Dumas is continuing her family’s tradition, and many of the foods she serves are modified versions of those recipes.

While living with her family in New Jersey, Dumas baked cookies for her friends, coworkers and family members while working for a New York fashion company. After moving to Scottsdale in 2002, she worked for NASCAR, and made cookies for holidays and special occasions. She also did interior designing on the side. Following the birth of her twin boys, she left the corporate world to work for herself with the support of her husband, parents and in-law. In December 2011, she sold three flavors of cookies at the Phoenix Public Market in Downtown Phoenix. Soon, the demand was so great that she could no longer operate out of her home. This prompted her to move to a shared kitchen space and to hire another baker. In September 2014, she opened the restaurant in North Scottsdale. Two months later, she started selling cookies, scones, muffins and light sandwiches out of a bakery trailer during off hours.

I haven’t tasted anything that comes remotely close to our carnitas.” Kurt’s favorite is the Cancun, which combines salsa verde and jack cheese with, of course, carnitas; while Colleen is a fan of the Newport with carnitas, potatoes, pobCarnitas Way’s No. 1 seller is the Baja, a burrito or bowl with carnitas, black beans, peppers, onions, tomatoes, and cabbage drizzled with chipotle cream sauce and topped with jack cheese. (Carnitas Way) lano peppers, salsa borracho, and queso fresThe schedule became tiring, so she expanded her restaurants to offer weekend brunches and savory items three years later. Owning a restaurant hasn’t always been easy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. To adapt to the times, she is offering takeout meals on Friday nights and Saturdays and Sundays. Dumas said offering takeout helped her restaurant survive, but she had to lay off most of her employees. She was able to keep two cooks on staff, albeit with reduced hours. “They stuck it out with me, and we were able to still provide some level of business… That’s the hardest part is trying to navigate this balancing act of how you continue to survive when business is not as usual,” Dumas said. Since reopening in May, Sugar Jam’s dining room hosts guests from 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Thursdays, from 9:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. Fridays and from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays. It Currently, Carnitas Way’s No. 1 seller co. is the Baja, a burrito or bowl with car“What makes the Newport interesting nitas, black beans, peppers, onions, tois it has a salsa borracho, or drunken salmatoes, and cabbage drizzled with chisa, that’s made with our roasted tomato potle cream sauce and topped with jack salsa and some cerveza. It’s more of a cheese. richer sauce,” Colleen explained.

“We feel we have arguably the best In addition to veggie, breakfast, salad, carnitas you can possibly have,” Kurt and side options, Carnitas Way also said. “We use all-natural, hormone-free serves an already popular horchata carnitas, and it’s slow roasted. We finish drink. it over wood. That really sets us apart. “Ours is house-made,” Colleen said. “As far as the flavor profile, I’ve eaten “We make ours with rice, milk, cinnacarnitas basically everywhere I go, and mon, cloves, vanilla and sugar – and it FOOD & DRINK 25 is incredible. That’s been the biggestselling drink.”

When it came time to naming their menu items, Colleen and Kurt wanted to pay tribute to not only their family but also their love for each other.

All of the menu items are named after beaches significant to Colleen and Kurt: Baja is named after one of their chef’s favorite beaches; and Newport, North Shore, and Laguna are all places Kurt has family.

“I’ve spent almost every year in Newport Beach,” he said. “For a long time, my brother was in Newport and he has since passed away, unfortunately, but we want to make sure that we had some love for him.” As for San Carlos, that holds a very space place in both Kurt and Colleen’s hearts.

“That’s where we told each other we loved each other for the first time,” Colleen said.

“We poured our love into the menu names and everything; so, it’s been very much a passion project for us.” New to Carnitas Way is the Burrito Bender Box, which includes six burritos of your choice, as well as chips and salsa, for $50.

Order at carnitasway.com or call

SUGAR JAM ���� page 24

Los Sombreros.

practices social distancing and Dumas rehired some of her employees. On Friday evenings, Sugar Jam offers chef specials, such as crab cakes, jerked chicken, mojo shrimp, lemon caper chicken or seafood paella. “People get really excited about it. It’s really something, and it’s fun for me. It’s fun for the chef. It keeps us on our toes,” Dumas said. Dumas said for her, food has always been a way for her to connect with people, since she was young.

“Food is a substance that can bond people together,” she said.

“You can build friendships and different types of relationships through food. Conversations are had over food. It is a mechanism that can make you feel comfortable. It is an expressive art.”

Sugar Jam Bake Shop & Bistro 7950 E. Red�ield Road, Suite 100, Scottsdale 480-948-6210, sugarjamcookies.com

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