Joan Baron and the Breadfruit Arizona Plate
Vessel by artist Joan Baron
Dish by Danielle Leoni, Breadfruit & Rum Bar
Trout smoked over pimento wood in red beet cure
Essay: Extraordinary Settings for Edible Jewels
Editor’s note: Since Leoni and Baron are our first AZ Plate duo with an existing relationship, we asked Chef Leoni how using locally crafted dishes impacts her restaurant dynamics. Here’s her response.
Maybe you have your great-grandmother’s china, a wooden spoon passed down from generation to generation or some other small something in your home that feels exceptionally right in your hands.
In this increasingly fast-moving disposable world, it’s these simple objects we are oddly drawn to that find a standing place in our lives.
As a chef, I can’t keep heirloom pieces of dinnerware in my kitchen nor do I have any space for being sentimental about the things around me. In a restaurant, it’s loud, things are hot, we move quickly and it seems like we never have enough time. We aren’t doling out dinner for 100 people on my great-grandmother’s china, and I keep that beloved spoon at home because within a week it would mysteriously go missing. In this hustle and bustle, nothing is sacred.
My restaurant, The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, was founded to serve food that is not only delicious but crafted to foster a better food system and strengthen our community’s relationship with the food. Achieving this goal requires a team with a mindset dedicated to treating the planet as if we planned to stay.
Respecting the planet starts with supporting those who grow and harvest our food responsibly. As a chef, I have a duty to honor their hard work by ensuring it is well understood and appreciated by our guests. I bring this about via my Jamaican-influenced gastronomy and by considering the impact of presentation and plate ware on the experience of every guest.
At the restaurant, beautifully shaped china from China, oddly angled bowls to catch the eye and vessels in a plethora of tones and hues are all assembled in tall stacks, waiting to impress you. But their beauty is fleeting as they are quickly chipped, cracked or dropped by my well-intentioned crew. Despite their high design, they have no history nor do they command any real attention.
Then there’s this lovely set of irregularly shaped bowls with random crevasses in hues of blue that fit just right into your hand. Living in the restaurant kitchen for years, these six dishes crafted by Arizona artist Joan Baron have miraculously stood the test of time.
The bowls took shape in Baron’s very hands, having been made expressly to coddle the ever-so-precious offerings brought to us by the stewards of our good-food system. They were already a part of Baron’s life journey, carrying memories from their creation and radiating her joy even as they inspire our creations at the restaurant. Six seemingly small bowls that are inexplicably radiant and continue to compel dozens of hands over years to touch them tenderly as if they belonged to generations gone by. Simple, yet made with love and intention, these things hold intrinsic value that life is made of.
Joan Baron’s work, much like our work at The Breadfruit & Rum Bar, is crafted to bring you an unparalleled experience as you gather around the table. I hope that each of you finds your way to cherishing real food, and real handcrafted vessels, as an everyday part of your life.
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108 E. Pierce St.
Phoenix, AZ
85004
602.267.1266
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