Sidle Over to the SideShow for a Good Granola Parfait
You may be thinking, “I know about the Roadshow. What the heck is the SideShow?” What a wonderful question. Happy to offer a good answer to go with it.
The SideShow is a coffee trailer pop-up that’s across from the Roadshow during the month and a half that the Phoenix Construction Crew is renovating the building. The SideShow—along with Greyline, which is offering Sunday brunch and Sunday and Monday dinner—is serving up the Coffee Company’s classic Roadhouse Joe, espresso, cappuccino, and a small selection of Bakehouse pastries. We’re also stocking the Roadhouse-renowned New Mexico fire-roasted Green Chile Breakfast Burritos and egg sandwiches.
On top of all that, the SideShow is debuting one of the tastiest things we’ve added at the Roadhouse in a while: an exceptionally good Granola and Yogurt Parfait. Like so much of what I like best, it’s super simple but also super delicious! Zach Milner, one of the wonderful Roadhouse dining room managers, is currently doing a stint as manager of the SideShow. Here’s what he says about these wonderful new offerings:
I’ve loved parfaits ever since I was a kid. Something about a crunchy granola to mix in with creamy yogurt—it’s just a perfect cup of breakfast. Opening up a pop-up during the Roadhouse’s renovation, I saw an opportunity to bring in the best granola I’ve ever tasted, G’s Granola from the Deli. And then, when Ari showed me the Bellwether yogurts, I was in love instantly. You mix these two things with my favorite fruit, blueberries, and you have a richly nutritional meal and/or snack that will keep you coming back for more. I start my SideShow shifts every morning with one, and I hope you can join me in enjoying this new creation I hope to see on our menus well after the renovation.
The key, of course, is the quality of the ingredients. Let’s start with the yogurt. We use what, to my taste, is one of the best yogurts anywhere: A2 Organic Jersey Milk Yogurt from Bellwether Farms in Sonoma County, California. Man, it is so, so, so good!
What makes it so special? The quality of the raw material might well be the biggest driver. It’s made with milk from the family’s herd of Jersey cows, generally acknowledged in the cheese world to give the creamiest, most delicious milk. The Callahan’s Jerseys naturally produce milk containing only A2 protein, which, I’ve been learning, might be easier for many lactose-sensitive people to digest. The yogurt is thick and creamy, but it’s made without adding any thickeners.
Next up in the parfait is a bit of blueberry jam—just enough to add a touch of sweetness to the otherwise unsweetened yogurt and a touch of color to offset the creamy white color. We get it from the folks at Blackberry Patch in South Georgia, who have been crafting artisan jams since 1988. Like American Spoon and the French firm of Olbia, whose apricot jam I wrote about last week, Blackberry Patch relies on a high fruit content to make the full flavors that we’ve come to count on at the Roadhouse over the many years we’ve been serving their products.
Last but definitely not least is Zach’s favorite, that super-fine G’s Granola from the Deli. The recipe for it came from Deli chef and co-managing partner Rodger Bowser’s wife, Giedra. “I used her home-sized recipe and figured out how to make large batches. We cook it really dark, in a nice single layer,” Rodger explains. I agree with his assessment! It really is great. The base ingredients are organic oats from the Grainery in Kalamazoo, where they mill old-school whole oats. As Rodger says, “If you made this with industrially milled ‘rolled oats,’ it would be a totally different product.” It’s got a range of nuts and seeds—almonds, walnuts, pecans, pumpkin seeds, and cashews. Coconut oil-based instead of butter-based, so there’s no dairy. No white sugar, just Michigan maple syrup and organic Muscovado brown sugar from the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius. Last but not least, it’s enhanced with real vanilla, Indonesian Korintje cinnamon, and some sea salt.
Ready to try the SideShow Granola and Yogurt Parfait? We’re open Monday through Friday, 7 am to 1 pm. Swing by soon—only four and a half weeks of construction to go! Thank you all for your kindness, patience, and support.
See the full SideShow menu
