Dear Editor and Readers,

I am writing to express the accurate nature of my dining project and correct the history behind the tocinos del cielo, a family recipe which was recently published. I have been a member of this community for over 15 years. I am a visual artist who at age 33 discovered cooking through the mentorship of chefs Tom Rapp and Toshi Sakihara here in Marfa. 

Although I come from a lineage of cooks, I never expected to become one myself. After working in restaurants from New Orleans to New York, I began a solo project called Artemis, active in New York from 2016 through to the pandemic. Casa Alma, my current project, is an extension of the former.

I have lived in Texas for most of my life, though my roots are in Tucuman, a small province in the Argentine Northwest. In the ‘60s and ‘70s my grandfather, Miguel Urueña, owned a restaurant on the casino strip, San Remo Notte. Artists, politicians and anyone in between would line up to try pollo al carbon, a famous menu item. By 1980, the dictatorship, or the “Dirty War,” forced many businesses to shut down and San Remo was no exception. In this extremely violent time my father, who had once been an exchange student, emigrated to the States in May of 1981. My mother moved my brother and I to the countryside where her parents lived for safety. We would not be reunited for four years.

Not long after, my grandfather Miguel found the family sanctuary through a rare opportunity to run the great El Lago restaurant. This is the place where I first tasted tocinos del cielo, which fittingly translates to “heaven’s bacon.” It is a rich egg yolk custard that dates back to the recipes of 14th century Spanish nuns. I remember my grandmother unmolding them and allowing me to have one. I had never tasted anything so delicious. It was only recently that my family shared this recipe with me, so to share this with the Marfa community meant sharing a core part of our history. 

El Lago is my childhood –– memories of parties, fried smelts (mojarras fritas) and the strawberry ice cream served on heavy glass tumblers. I remember the trips to the little house in the mountains. Aunt Margarita would cook outdoors for family and friends. Her ravioli is unmatched to this day. As I grew up I learned a great truth: food is memory. This is the essence of my underground dining projects. They are an experience and my heartfelt attempt to share my love of gatherings. In my opinion there is no “best”; it is the love and hard work one places into creating a meal that is shared. If this brings joy and excitement, that of course should be celebrated. Right now Marfa has a number of outstanding restaurants and chefs achieving great things, so to undermine this is unseemly. Casa Alma is not a restaurant, it never claimed to be. Alma is my home studio, a private space that brings people together, of all ages and backgrounds around a long table.

The ingredients are as local as they are available, thanks to local gardeners like Tina Rivera, Bob Schwab and Faith at Cactus. (As Bob and I were discussing recently, “pink lettuce” is not a lettuce, it’s a radicchio and originally from Italy, not Argentina. We all understand the great challenge of special ingredients out here, but fortunately tocinos just require really great eggs, which you can find easily here.)

I hope that my words resonate clarity and ensure accuracy in future features. To connect with this project or a copy of the recipe, please reach out via email almastudiomarfa@gmail.com or visit www.casaalmaproject.com

Sincerely,

Romina Masucci-Urueña (Romi)
Marfa

Dear Editor,

I’ve been a fan of Marfa and have been visiting there for two decades. I tried to plan a 30-person, three-day, 60th birthday weekend in Marfa that I was excited about, as were my 24 friends/family among the group who’d never been to Marfa but had long heard about it from me. 

But ultimately the Marfa business community extinguished my excitement. Over an extended period of time, it was so difficult to work with many of them that I gave up. Some never replied to my outreach. Some took weeks to respond — repeatedly, over months. Others lost track of what we’d discussed — as if each successive conversation was our first. I received estimates for engagement that bore no resemblance to what we’d discussed. And I was greeted with “no shows” during scheduled meeting times.

I finally concluded that I didn’t want to risk my weekend celebration being a disaster because I didn’t have confidence that the Marfa folks I was engaging with were capable of (or even interested in) delivering. So I’m taking my party of 30 and my $75,000 budget to a small town in Montana where I’ve been enthusiastically engaged by interested, responsive business folks who seem to be eager for my business. (It’ll be a fabulous weekend.)

BTW: I didn’t take the Marfa business’ treatment of me personally, because it wasn’t possible, based on our interactions, that they had animus towards me or any reason to treat me poorly. I believe it’s simply how they ran their businesses; they just didn’t seem interested in my business.

I’m sharing this with you, proposing that you print it in your newspaper, so that the Marfa business community can reflect on it and perhaps rethink their thinking. I’ve spent enough time in Marfa to know its culture, vibe, etc. — i.e., a lot of businesses work on their own terms and at their own pace and during their own hours, without regard to the outcome. 

But at some point, if you’re in business, you should reasonably engage with customers who want to engage with you. If locals care so little that they drive Marfa fans with big budgets to other states, then perhaps they should consider a non-service-oriented vocation — because they’re not great ambassadors for Marfa.

Kind regards,
Josh Rudin

Dear Editor,

I would like to express thanks to new Alpine councilman, Reagan Stone, for jumping into the job

to try to make our community better. His article in the newspaper regarding the loss of life in

Texas resulting from gun violence and his attempt to introduce a background check for gun

shows here demonstrates his willingness to work to keep our community safe. Thank you for

your efforts! Any step to reduce the chance of shootings in schools — such as those in Alpine

and Uvalde, shopping centers, churches and other gatherings is a step in the right direction.

Until 25 years ago, these occurrences were unthinkable. They shouldn’t become acceptable

today.

Sincerely,
Helen Snook
Alpine