Jim Click Business Preferred

A Jim Click Business Community Network

Register/Login
  • Home
  • Contact Us
    • Connect with Us

Brackets done, the winner is chorizo ‘Hangover mac’

April 10, 2013 By Travis Biazo Leave a Comment

< !DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> Brackets done, the winner is chorizo ‘Hangover mac’ – Inside Tucson Business: On The Menu
Close

Brackets done, the winner is chorizo ‘Hangover mac’ – Inside Tucson Business: On The Menu

Clear
86°
Clear
default avatar
Welcome to the site! Login or Signup below.
Login|Signup
Not you?|My Dashboard|Register
Logout|My Dashboard

Inside Tucson Business

  • HOME
  • NEWS
    • News
    • Media Watch

    Top Story

    • Tesla breaks ground for battery factory— in Nevada

      Tesla Motors has broken ground on a potential battery factory outside of Reno, Nevada.

      • Updated: July 31
    rss

    More headlines

    • Tucson Metro Chamber rates Orr, Bradley as most biz-friendly lawmakers

    • Tucson’s $197 million streetcar becomes reality

    • CFO award nominations being accepted

    • World View offers out-of-this-world experience

  • OPINION
    • Editorials
    • Guest Opinions
    • Cartoons
    • Emil Franzi
    • Miguel Ortega

    Top Story

    • If Arizonans want good roads, they’ll have to bypass the Legislature

      One wonders if Arizona’s legislators drive on Arizona’s roads because they sure don’t legislate like they do.

      • posted: April 17
    rss

    More headlines

    • Business continuity an important part of community fabric

    • Independents can make a difference in upcoming elections

    • Guest Column: Because I said I would – It gets too complicated

    • Guest Column: Effective complaining – go to the right place

  • ON THE MENU
  • BOOK OF LISTS
  • PEOPLE IN ACTION
    • People in action
    • Submit a Person in Action

    People in Action

    • Swinney promoted in Habitat for Humanity organization

      Moving into the affordable housing division of the Habitat for Humanity organization, Joshua Swinney will oversee the organization’s construct…

      • posted: July 25
    rss

    More people in action

    • T. VanHook to lead Habitat for Humanity Tucson

    • Whittaker inducted into the Defense Union Council Hall of Honor

    • Yates work with Habitat for Humanity

    • Schmidt joins Ritz-Carlton, Dove Mountain as head chef

  • ABOUT US
    • About Us
    • Subscribe
    • Where to Find Us
  • CALENDAR
  • NEWSLETTER
    • UP & COMERS
  • UP & COMERS
  • Classifieds
  • Autos
  • Tell Us Your News
  • Special Sections
  • Subscriber Services
  • Event Registration
    Home
  • On The Menu

Brackets done, the winner is chorizo ‘Hangover mac’

ON THE MENU

  • Story
  • Comments
  • Image (2)
Print
Create a hardcopy of this page
Font Size:
Default font size
Larger font size
Previous Next
'Hangover mac'

‘Hangover mac’

View all 2 images in gallery.

Posted: Thursday, April 11, 2013 11:10 am | Updated: 10:57 am, Sat Apr 13, 2013.

Brackets done, the winner is chorizo ‘Hangover mac’

The Louisville Cardinals are celebrating their first NCAA basketball championship in nearly 30 years and that brings us to the culmination of a month of talk about seeds and brackets. Among Tucson foodies, another kind of madness ensues in the spring, and it’s all about the mystique and majesty of macaroni.

Shall we say Mac Madness?

As this year’s NCAA basketball tournament was getting underway, restaurateur Mike Lanz began to leverage the energy around March Madness to generate some new ideas for his menu at the Fix, 943 E. University Blvd., Suite 115, in Main Gate Square. Specializing in macaroni and cheese, the Fix already boasted 15 different varieties of mac on its menu, but Lanz was out to show how versatile the classic comfort food is. So he issued a call to elicit ideas for creative mac and cheese recipes.

After receiving many unique creations from fans, Lanz committed to prepare and serve 16 of them, and let his guests decide which was the best — and he did it all in a single-elimination bracket system similar to the NCAA tournament.

“We were all encouraged by the thought that was put into each recipe,” said Lanz, noting some of them had to be eliminated from the start due to the complexity of the recipes. “While a Poutine mac and cheese made with beef gravy, potato and cheese curds might have sounded like a winner to the person who submitted it, cheese curd management isn’t something we know a whole lot about,” he admitted.

Among the Sweet 16 finalists were a lobster Alfredo mac, bacon-jalapeno-green chili mac and a mushroom-broccoli-Sriracha mac. Product sales dictated the winner in each round, with the winners advancing to an Elite Eight and Final Four.

Going into the finals was the caprese mac, made with tomato, cream cheese, basil and mozzarella. Its opponent was the hangover mac, made with chorizo, onions and hash browns, topped with a fried egg. The two were virtually tied during the course of the championship, but in the end, the hangover was declared the winner. The guest who developed the winning recipe will now see his own hangover on the Fix’s menu every weekend.

What did Lanz find most surprising about the competition? “Many of the recipes we thought would do well really didn’t, and others that we thought would drop out after the first round ended up advancing,” he said. “This just goes to show you how unique a mac and cheese experience can be.”

Lore credits Thomas Jefferson with inventing mac and cheese, and I can only imagine his amazement in seeing how far his creation has come since he adorned his pasta with York cheddar for a White House dinner in 1802. Ironically, this could be the first time in history when the hangover preceded the celebration.

Contact Matt Russell, whose day job is CEO of Russell Public Communications, at mrussell@russellpublic.com. Russell is also the host of “On the Menu Live” that airs 4-5 p.m. Saturdays on KNST 790-AM and he does the Weekend Watch segment of the “Buckmaster Show” from noon-1 p.m. Fridays on KVOI 1030-AM.

More about Matt Russell

  • ARTICLE: These aren’t your granddaddy’s sliders
  • ARTICLE: It’s restaurant week, time to prepare your palates
  • ARTICLE: Forget the flatware at Zemams, where everything is finger food
  • ARTICLE: Call it a duck dynasty at Metzgers’ restaurants
  • Discuss
  • Print

Posted in On the menu, Meals entertainment on Thursday, April 11, 2013 11:10 am. Updated: 10:57 am. | Tags: Macaroni Cheese, Matt Russell, Thomas Jefferson, White House, York, Cheese, Home, Cook

CFO Awards

Business Chatter

  • Airline passenger traffic picks up at TIA

    In the continuing search to find positive economic indicators these days, the latest passenger statistics from the Tucson Airport Authority su…

    • icon posted: July 25
  • Business continuity an important part of community fabric

    During my time working at the Tucson Metropolitan Chamber of Commerce, I interacted with a significant number of companies new to the local ma…

    • icon posted: July 25
  • Independents can make a difference in upcoming elections

    We’ve heard before that elections are often won in the primary. With the redistricting in our state and the number of districts that favor one…

    • icon posted: July 25
  • Guest Column: Effective complaining – go to the right place

    There is a lot of grumbling in the business community about how local government policies are damaging businesses.  Business owner’s are compl…

    • icon posted: July 11
  • Guest Column: Because I said I would – It gets too complicated

    I am old enough to remember the days when business could be conducted based on a handshake between two honorable people.  A person’s word mean…

    • icon posted: July 11

Follow us on Facebook

News

  • Breaking News
  • 20 Years of ITB
  • Top Stories
  • Latest Events

Opinion

  • Editorials
  • Guest Opinion
  • Cartoon
  • Letters

Small Biz

  • People in Action
  • On the Menu

Media

  • Technically Speaking
  • Inside Media

Connect

FacebookTwitter

  • Blog
  • E-Newsletter
  • RSS

More

  • About Us
  • Tell Us Your News
  • Where to Find Us
  • Subscription Services
  • Submission Forms
  • Online Features
  • Print Ads
  • Refund Policy
  • Special Sections
  • Book of Lists
  • Rack Location
  • Personnel Info
  • Classifieds
  • AutoTrader.com
  • Headline Widget

© Copyright 2014, Inside Tucson Business, Tucson, AZ. Powered by BLOX Content Management System from TownNews.com. [Terms of Use | Privacy Policy]

Forgot?
Now I remember!

Or, use your linked account:

Need an account? Create one now.

Filed Under: Tucson Events & News

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published.

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Copyright © 2025 Jim Click Business Preferred