Plate & Pour

Plate & Pour

“Plate & Pour,” the original series from Arizona PBS that brings viewers behind the scenes of local restaurants, is back for season two.

Since season one, the show’s host, Chef Mark Tarbell, has acquired a new companion: a gold Emmy statuette awarded by the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences.

In season two, Tarbell continues to chat with local restaurateurs and bartenders, and he joins chefs as they show off their expertise. Viewers experience the science and artistry behind some of the region’s most innovative and popular dishes.

But season two isn’t just more of the same. The show also serves up recent developments and trends in the Arizona culinary scene.

One of those excursions includes a morning at the Uptown Farmers Market with Charleen Badman, this year’s winner of the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest. Known for her ability to coax the best flavor from locally grown vegetables, Badman and Tarbell shop for vegetables, pick up freshly-made pasta, stroll the vendors and sample the food trucks. Then at her restaurant, FnB in Scottsdale, Badman and Tarbell cook freshly-foraged lobster mushrooms with locally-produced pasta.

At the Four Seasons Resort Scottsdale, Tarbell introduces viewers to Samantha Sanz, a young chef who was nominated this year for the James Beard Rising Star Chef of the Year Award. In 2016 at just 28, Sanz became one of the youngest chefs to lead a Four Seasons restaurant kitchen. She and Tarbell make a traditional paella with a twist on one of the hotel’s beautiful patios.

Tarbell also gets out of the Valley to visit Tucson distiller Stephen Paul. He’s the creator of Whiskey Del Bac, which uses mesquite wood fires to create single malt whiskey.

Like many things featured on “Plate & Pour,” the result is a flavor distinctive to the American Southwest. Paul and his wife previously ran a furniture company that specialized in pieces made of mesquite wood. While using scrap wood to barbecue one night, they started to consider what else they could create with mesquite. That was the genesis of Whiskey Del Bac.

Another season two roadtrip takes “Plate and Pour” viewers to visit Terra Farm + Manor near Prescott. This working farm and guest house invite visitors to enjoy specialized cooking courses with chefs, farmers and wine makers. Join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #platepour.

Check out the restaurants featured in Season 1 and Season 2.

Mark Tarbell eating outside at a table

Plate & Pour: Takeout

The COVID-19 pandemic shook the world’s restaurant industry, but chefs and restaurateurs throughout Arizona pivoted to offer innovative takeout menus. Arizona PBS put those menus in the spotlight through a digital-first mini-series in 2020-2021. Read more about Plate & Pour: Takeout here.

Plate & Pour Takeout

In each mini-episode, we’ll see what these Arizona restaurants are offering for takeout as Mark unboxes and artistically plates the food at his socially distanced table for one.

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Don’t forget to join the conversation on social media with the hashtag #platepour.

Chef Mark Tarbell

Chef Mark Tarbell studied in Paris at the Ecole du Cuisine La Varenne, where he earned a Grande Diplôme d’Etude Culinaire. He also studied at Steven Spurrier’s l’Academie du Vin.

At 23, Tarbell moved to Arizona and joined The Boulders Resort in Carefree, becoming the youngest Food & Beverage Director of any Five Diamond property in the world. In 1994, he opened Tarbell’s Restaurant, followed by Barmouche in 1999 and The Oven (in Colorado) in 2004. Tarbell opened The Wine Store in 2013 and The Tavern in 2014.

The James Beard Foundation nominated Tarbell for “Best Chef – Southwest.” He is also a two-time inductee to The Arizona Hall of Culinary Fame, and his restaurants have earned more than 50 “Best Of” city and industry awards, including a “Best Restaurant” from Food and Wine magazine.

Tarbell’s frequent television and radio appearances include winning “Iron Chef America” on The Food Network as well as multiple appearances on The Cooking Channel. He has been the weekly wine columnist for the Arizona Republic since 2004 as well as a judge at the Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits competition (the largest and oldest in the country) for 25 years.

On Arizona PBS, Tarbell has hosted two seasons of “Check, Please! Arizona,” two seasons of “Plate & Pour” and “Plate & Pour: Takeout” on Instagram.