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SFist Drinks: The Rio Grande Cocktail at 15 Romolo
We first heard about Kathy FitzHenry and her company Juliet Mae when friend of SFist Fatemeh casually mentioned that she had bought some piment d'espelette. This Basque ground-up pepper product is hard to find but we like it for seasoning meats, stews, and vinaigrettes.
We found FitzHenry, a stylishly dressed, slim, energetic woman, at Oakland's Grand Lake market. We left with piment d'espelette and a small armful of other ingredients. FitzHenry's extensive background in marketing is in evidence at her stall: Snifters of richly colored spices invite shoppers to smell her fragrant blends, and her Occasional Gourmet products come in small, resealable envelopes to attract home chefs who "tend to cook as a means of entertainment" or "would like to prepare sophisticated meals at home with easy-to-use ingredients."
But the spices aren't just marketing flash. FitzHenry seeks out high-quality suppliers who use organic sources when possible (she is also looking into Fair Trade spices). She then combines her raw materials to create well-balanced, flavorful blends. "I do a fair amount of research first," she explains, "then I work, rework and tweak the blends by tasting and trying them in a variety of dishes." The result, she says, are spices with "my own signature, a style of blending that is unique to my products."
Photos by Melissa Schneider
She also incorporates the feedback from her customers into her research. "A woman came by the booth in Marin looking for harissa," she tells us. "I noted to her I only do dry blends not pastes. She then came back with: 'I am looking for a dry harissa, I want to avoid using oil' And I thought what a good idea. It took some doing, but I managed to create a combination of savory ingredients in a texture that would work with and without oil." We mixed this complex harissa with a little olive oil and used it as a rub for chicken breasts. It added a fragrant heat that elevated a simple dinner to another level.
Her constant experimentation has led to some intriguing uses that she'll happily share with visitors to her stall. Every time we talk to her, she suggests some new, unorthodox recipe. As just one example, she recently advised us to top ice cream or butter cookies with her garam masala.
She urges spice neophytes who want to experiment to consider the flavors they like to eat, and move slowly: "Spices can be very powerful and if you are not familiar with them, it’s amazingly easy to add too much of a good thing and bruise your palate."
We encourage you to find some great new ingredients at her stall at Oakland's Grand Lake market every other Saturday (she'll be there this coming weekend) or at the Marin Civic Center market every Sunday. For those who can't make it to these markets, Occasional Gourmet spices are available at some specialty shops and online.
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Did Fatemeh tell you she heard about Juliet Mae from me? I interviewed Kathy back in April on Bay Area Bites. It's a long and tangled web!
(no deceiving implied)
Amy,
That's funny! Word of mouth takes on a new meaning when all the mouths are Bay Area food bloggers. I read your piece about Kathy when I was writing this one, so I definitely knew about it.
So she got a lot of mileage out of your press for her!