When Tucson native Deborah Tenino shuttered her wildly popular Contigo Cocina Latina on River Road last May, she wrote a note to her patrons assuring them that “when one door closes, another opens.”
That new opening came less than one year later and four miles north, at Westin La Paloma Resort, where she and business partner Nicholas Kreutz just opened Contigo Latin Kitchen in the space that formerly housed Poppy Kitchen.
“La Paloma has been making some exciting changes at the hotel and we wanted to be a part of their vision for the future,” said Tenino. “The patio has spectacular views … the whole space is unique. I believe, 30 years ago, someone thought very carefully about where to put the building we are in.”
Contigo Latin Kitchen now has roughly 3,000 square feet and seating for 120, compared with its former 1,800- square-foot quarters that could seat 45. Tenino and Kreutz have likewise bolstered the wine list at the pan-Latin Contigo and added new menu items, including handmade ravioli stuffed with wild greens and pepitas and a frita cabana, a mixture of chorizo and beef, topped with manchego cheese, grilled onions and shoestring fries. “It’s decadent and worth every bite,” remarked Tenino.
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“While bigger isn’t always better, I think in our case it is,” she said. “I think people forget how stunning the building is with the big windows, the iron bar top and the view.”
Where did you study to be a chef?
I’m not a chef in the culinary school sense, but I have learned working in various kitchens over the years. I feel like I learned best from all the important women in my life: my mom, my grandmother, my “Zia” Amalia in Italy, my husband’s grandmother in Mexico. From them, I learned not only how to eat and how to cook, but how to be efficient and disciplined in cooking. It is not only their recipes, but their ethics and ethos that are in each dish at Contigo.
The new Contigo has been open roughly a month. How are things going?
The hotel is busy and we are busy … so we are learning how to make great food for big crowds and we have been experiencing all the growing pains that come with that. But we are quickly getting better at it and it has been fun greeting our regulars, as well as new guests from the hotel and around Tucson.
What can people expect at the new, bigger Contigo?
We have much more storage space so we’ve improved our wine list tenfold. The added room in the kitchen allows us to store and prep food better and we are looking to add a lot of local food to our menu because we simply have a place to store it.
On your menu, what is the Yerba mate braised beef?
The mate braised beef is a short rib cut. It starts out with a rub of spices and organic Yerba mate tea leaves from South America that we source from the Maya Tea Company here in Tucson.
Also, on the menu is a whole roasted suckling pig (Cochinillo Asado) for $450. How many have ordered that and is it a big production?
Over the last five years, we have sold maybe 100 pigs. We will serve our first one in the new space next week. It is quite a meal. It comes with the pig, grilled onions, black beans, potatoes and vegetables.
What is your favorite menu item at Contigo?
The kitchen is a group effort at Contigo so I can hardly pick one dish. But I could live on Beto Corrales’ white bean soup and Violeta Rodriguez’ chicken aji empanadas and a cup of Presta coffee until the end of time.
