Monthly Archives: May 2015

WTFork is Taro Root and some stuff You Should Know about it

A peeled Taro Root

A peeled Taro Root

The Taro Root is a staple food for people around the world. The leaves as well as the root are edible but only when cooked. Some people feel they need to soak the root over night to release oxalate. All you have to do is fully cook the root.  Some people suggest adding some baking soda to however you cook the root to release the calcium oxalate or you can forking gout and or forking kidney stones from the taro root. If you consume some sort of dairy with taro root the dairy will block absorption of oxalate. So it’s a good idea to have a glass of milk, a milk shake or some sort of cheese when you eat taro root.

Taro is a staple food around the world and even though it sounds forking harmful to ones body it is not considered a high risk food when cooked. I also read several recipes for taro root and I do note in none of the recipes I read did anyone soak the taro root or in any of them did they add baking soda. It seems like most people around the world just forking cook them and don’t know or forking worry about the calcium oxalate.

Most Americans know the taro root plant as the elephant ear plant for their large glossy foliage in their gardens.

The taro root is believed to be one of the earliest cultivated vegetables and has three times the fiber of a potato and is an excellent source of potassium.

Sliced up taro root.

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I fried it and made it into chips and made a simple dip of just whipped cream cheese, a little non-fat Greek Yogurt and flavored the dip with Sriracha.

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That’s a little WTFork about Taro Root and some stuff you should know about it. (and it was forking yummy!)

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

I got most of this information from Fitday.com and Wikipedia.

 

Too Forking Hot in Phoenix AZ to Purchase Lindt Chocolate Truffles

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I’ve had lots of Lindt Truffles before. A few of the malls that I used to shop at had Lindt Chocolate Stores. The outlet mall had a Forking large Lindt Outlet Store where you could purchase large bags of slightly irregular Chocolates for almost nothing and they always gave you a free chocolate with or without a forking purchase. Them were the days well that was back east were you could buy these chocolates all year long without them forking melting.

I was pretty excited to see this the flavor Milk Chocolate Sea Salt featured. So I purchase a bag and a few days later I decided to forking  eat one.

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I noticed the chocolate didn’t have that perfect chocolate plug and looked wet. So I carefully took a bite.

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It’s FORKING MELTED inside.

It still taste good with a great melty smooth milk chocolate flavor and a few lumps of crunchy sea salt.

But it’s FORKING MELTED! Instead of that creamy smooth filling the truffles are suppose to have.

I didn’t expose the chocolates to much heat. Only from my forking grocery cart on the way to my car they were exposed to heat and at this time it isn’t even forking hot yet for Phoenix.  It’s already too Forking Hot in Phoenix Arizona to purchase Lindt Chocolate Truffles.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

WTFork is a Clafoutis Part 3

Clafoutis Type of Dessert From Bottega in Yountville CA

Clafoutis Type of Dessert From Bottega in Yountville CA

I had my first Clafoutis at Chef Michael Chiarello’s Restaurant in Yountville CA and ever since I became fascinated with this unique dessert of French origin that seemed light, rich at the same time, airy and accented with delicious fruit. The Clafoutis is basically a custardy, pancake like batter with fruit. The only fruits used for clafoutis are cherries, black berries, plums, prunes, apples and possibly cranberries. I found conflicting information about cranberries so I’m not sure about forking cranberries. When you use another fruit than the ones listed the name of this dessert changes to a flaugnarde.

Then I found Micheal Chiarello’s recipe for an apple Clafoutis so I made one.

Apple Clafoutis

Apple Clafoutis

The batter tasted and had pretty much the same texture as the one from the restaurant. This dessert is very good. But I still have an interest in learning different recipes for clafoutis. The Michael Chiarello Clafoutis were the lightest and airiest of the clafoutis so far.

I also studied several other recipes for clafoutis and I found they were all very different.

So I decided to try Chef Raymond Blanc’s recipe for clafoutis because he is French but is also one of Britain’s most respected chefs. He also owns a two star Michelin Restaurant/Hotel.

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This Clafoutis also was richer and also custardy but had a slightly sugar sanded surface that added another texture to it. In Chef Blanc’s recipe he recommends not to add anything else. The clafoutis is done at this point and should be served warm. This is the only warm one I had so far.

I recently tried the sour cherry clafoutis from Bink’s Midtown in Phoenix AZ.

Sour Cherry Clafoutis from Bink's Midtown Phoenix AZ

Sour Cherry Clafoutis from Bink’s Midtown Phoenix AZ

The Bink’s Midtown clafoutis was the most custardy of all the clafoutis I tried. Instead of being like a custardy pancake batter this clafoutis was more like dense flan. (but not in a bad way)  The Bink’s Clafoutis was also very layered with many flavors and textures.

So this is WTFork I found out about the Clafoutis so far Part 3

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

Korean Style Fried Chicken from Bink’s Midtown was The BEST I ever Tried! UPDATE******CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

Bink's Midtown Phoenix AZ Korean Style Fried Chicken

Bink’s Midtown Phoenix AZ Korean Style Fried Chicken

UPDATE>>>JUST A MEMORY******CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

To me fried chicken can be tasty. It’s usually moist and usually had a tasty crusty coating. Sometimes it might be greasy and sometimes the skin is mushy and gross. It might be tasty at best and usually isn’t my favorite food.

I recently tried Korean Style Fried Chicken from Bink’s Midtown in Phoenix AZ and it was truly FORKING AMAZING and completely unlike any fried chicken I had before.

The skin was crispy thin and crackly. It was not greasy one bit and was spicy, sweet, vinegary with other flavors that seemed very balanced. The interior was also very flavorful, juicy and delicious.

This was the FORKING Best Fried Chicken I ever had.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

The Forking Search for Natural Flavored Spearmint Leaves Candy for my Dog

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A childhood favorite candy of mine was spearmint leaves. They are leaf shaped gel like candies with a refreshing spearmint flavor. They are lightly coated in crunchy sugar and the gel candy doesn’t seem too sweet, it’s minty refreshing. I remember they were my candy of choice for when I went out to the movies. Each leaf could last a very long time and they seemed the most satisfying out of the candy choices to eat during a movie for me because they didn’t give you that sugar sickness feeling like the chocolate coated mints do when you ate a bunch of them. You could also eat them real slow because they didn’t forking melt.The spearmint leaves came in a white box with pretty spearmint leaves on it and if I remember correctly the spearmint leaves were made by the leaf candy company but many other companies today still make spearmint leaves. They just aren’t all naturally flavored these forking days.

Then one day fourteen years ago we brought home this forking adorable puppy from the S.P.C.A.

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This special puppy one day chewed threw my purse to get to my mint gum and I found him siting there just chewing my gum. (of course I forking removed the gum from his mouth)

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A short time latter I kissed him goodbye as I was leaving to go to work and faster than lightening he stole a mint from my mouth with out me feeling a thing with his quick tongue. Another time after that as I was getting a mint from the cabinet the puppy would bark at me for a mint. After that after breakfast almost every day he’d walk over to the cabinet and bark at the cabinet until someone would give him a mint.

He is grown up and OLD now but is still a dog that is addicted to mints. Often he sits with me while I brush my forking teeth with minty tooth paste.

Addicted to MINTS!

Addicted to MINTS!

You can only give a very small amount of only certain mints to a large dog safely. So I’d only pinch off a small amount of spearmint leaves for my dog. (just so you know most mints and gums today have chemicals in them that are LETHAL and FATAL to dogs) Spearmint leaves are mostly natural. They are only made with corn syrup, cornstarch, artificial coloring and  natural spearmint oil.  (unless you buy the forking ones from Walgreen’s that are made with artificial flavors).

When I moved to Arizona I found out that it was very difficult to purchase spearmint leaves here. Back east every supermarket and candy store all sold spearmint leaves.

Fry’s, Safeway and Walmart all don’t sell spearmint leaves in my area. Years back I also looked for the spearmint leaves at Albertson’s, Bashas, AJ’s and also Target and haven’t found them at those places either.

Walgreen’s does sell the lower end spearmint leaves but they are the ones with artificial flavor that don’t taste so good.

For a while the only place I could find natural spearmint leaves were at Sprouts.

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The Sprouts in my location currently is either out of them or forking stopped selling them to I had to order spearmint leaves on the internet for my dog. If I suddenly stopped giving my 14 year old dog a mint I don’t know what the fork would happen….I think it would be like trying to Forking fry water…….It’s something that can’t be done…..after all you know my dog is really a human trapped in a dog’s body ……So I let my fingers do the forking walking on the internet and I found the mints there so I had to purchase the spearmint leaves that forking way.

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That was my forking search for spearmint leaves around Phoenix Arizona.

As a slight update 8-26-15 I wrote this artical May 25th 2015 and three months latter 8-25 -2015 to the day I found that Natural Spearmint Leaves are now being sold at Walgreens with different packaging and Spearmint Leaves have also returned to Sprouts Grocery Store.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Weird, New & Different Forking Foods Out There

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Blue Cheese Sea Salt would be great on home baked bread, crackers or a steak. I should have forking picked this up!

I’ve found some sort of broccoli snack before from Trader Joe’s but these Broccoli Chips are  different and are also made with cheese.

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I’m not sure WTFork this forking flavor soda is.

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Spicy Ginger soda does sound tasty to me. I don’t forking know if this soda is actually tasty.

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Cheez-It makes something called forking Crunchd.

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I thought bacon and cheese was an odd flavor for tomato sauce but it’s forking new.

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Kurt Warner Tomato Sauce? $10. forking bucks a jar!

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Real wasabi….ah..heimm…51% real wasabi wouldn’t sell as well but would be more truthful.

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This Prego Heart Smart sauce doesn’t look cheesy with Ricotta and Parmesan.

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I will drink a margarita but i’m not going to eat a forking gelatin margarita.

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Ditto to the forking strawberry daiquiri.

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Forking Hot Dog Flavored Chips.

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Yogurt stuffed grain bars don’t sound forking appetizing to me. How about you?

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Larry the Cable Guy Tater Chips in various varieties.

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Nothing on this list makes me want to forking barf as much as Birthday Frosting filled Chips Ahoy.

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On that note it’s an Ahoy to you!

and I just don’t know what I’ll forking see next!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

You can have a Great Forking Dinner out and not so good Desserts at the same place

It sounds forking weird but you can go out to dinner and have this really forking great meal so good that you also actually look forward to having dessert too and you just kind of forking assume that dessert will be great if everything else is great. All the appetizers and dinners we had at this place were forking appetizing and delicious. It was restaurant week and we were getting appetizers, dinners and forking dessert too!

Gazpacho from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Gazpacho from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Bruschetta from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Bruschetta from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Pulled Pork under Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Pulled Pork under Bacon Wrapped Meatloaf from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Basil Salmon from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Basil Salmon from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

The dinners were also forking amazing. Cooked to perfection and seasoned just so.

Next desserts arrive and it seemed as if somebody other than a pastry chef prepared them. The desserts do taste home made but not so good to me. (your opinion may forking differ) I didn’t think it was possible that the amazing perfectly prepared dinner I had could have made the same chef that made the desserts I tried from this restaurant.

Most chefs do work very hard and are always working. Many chefs also work very long hours because so much work goes into preparing all the foods they prepare. Sometimes they do have someone else make the desserts for them like a pastry chef or another cook in the kitchen sometimes makes the desserts.

I tried the Meyer Lemon Pots de Creme. I had many pots de creme before and I also prepare them myself once or twice a year. They are a very sophisticated kind of pudding but are made with higher quality ingredients than pudding.  Instead of using  starchy  thickeners like the way you make pudding  the Pots de Creme are thickened with egg yolks that you carefully cook in milk and cream. Pots de Creme should be dense and rich with a smooth velvety mouth feel. They are usually topped with whipped cream and are normally served in a mug.

The Meyer Lemon Pots de Creme I tried from the restaurant had fresh mint wrapped strawberries that tasted good and sat on top of a tart cream. However the Meyer Lemon Pots de Creme tasted like lemon curd that went kind of  wrong. It was thick, lumpy, maybe pasty, and lacked lemon flavor to me. It was also somewhat eggy tasting and tasted more eggy than lemony.

Meyer Lemon Pots de Creme from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Meyer Lemon Pots de Creme from Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

So then I tried the Nutella Tart.

Nutella Tart Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

Nutella Tart Urban Vine Phoenix AZ

The filling would have been GOOD if it wasn’t so forking sweet. The thick crust was tough and also was sweet.  A buttery salted delicate crust would taste better to me.  The banana however was delicious and I liked the crunchy caramelized sugar on it.

I note that was just my forking opinion and your forking opinion may differ and it’s possible that  I tried the “practice batch.”

You can get a really great dinner out but that doesn’t mean the dessert will be great to you too.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

Getting HOT in Phoenix Arizona but still was able to Forking Dine with Dogs

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It’s getting forking hot in Phoenix Arizona but we had a few cooler weekends just right for dining outside. Our adventure started with a fun car ride.

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Last week we enjoyed Leo’s Island BBQ and this week we went back to Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ to sit under their covered spacious patio. Each dog received their own complimentary pan of water and we received complimentary garlic toast.

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My husband ordered a Stromboli.

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The 14 year old seemed highly interested in the Stromboli.

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Then he got some.

The three year old got some too.

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I had the strawberry goat cheese salad with chicken.

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My salad was very good. Years ago the chicken always sucked here as it was usually very dry and not so tasty. Cucina Tagliani has improved greatly over the past year with the menu changes. The chicken was moist and tasty. The salad was fresh and crisp and the house made dressing was delicious.

The dogs also enjoyed the chicken although I think the 14 year old liked the Stromboli more.

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Both dogs left with smiles!

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On the ride home the 14 year old just kept smiling and the three year old fell asleep as three year olds normally do.

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Later they were in the mood for a little vino.

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The three year old went for a second forking bottle.

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Just forking kidding dogs don’t forking drink wine.

It’s getting hot in Phoenix Arizona but the past two weekends were cool enough to Forking Dine with Dogs!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

Semolina Flat Bread Recipe

Pizza semolina flat bread

Pizza semolina flat bread

This flat bread comes out crispy and is much lighter and thinner than pizza.

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This recipe makes two 14 inch round flat breads 8-16 servings depending on how forking much you eat.

set your forking oven to 475 degrees with a seasoned baking stone in the oven.

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup bread flour

2/3 cup semolina

1 teaspoon kosher salt

1 pack of yeast

1 cup water (temperate that your yeast needs)

1 Tablespoon sugar

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

an extra drizzle of extra virgin olive oil to lightly coat a pan

Directions

In a big bowl add your sugar and yeast then add the correct temperature water that your yeast needs and let the bowl sit in a warm place for about an hour till it gets all bubbly. Then add everything except for the salt.

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Mix well and shape into a ball.

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Cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm place for about an hour.

The dough should double in size. Now add your salt.

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Punch the dough down and try mix it up good and shape into a ball again. Cover with plastic wrap and let it double again.

Divide the dough in half and use a lightly oiled pizza pan to stretch out the dough. Place the stretched dough in your 475 degree oven for about 4 minutes, then remove and flip it on to a board to transfer to the baking stone. You might want to top it at this time or partially top it and add everything except for the cheese because your not adding much cheese to this bread and it might burn.

You will need to watch the flat bread in the oven. It should only need 4-5 minutes. When you add the cheese it will be hot and the cheese might melt on. If the cheese doesn’t melt enough you will only need a minute in the oven for the cheese.

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Forking Good

Forking Good

Kai Restaurant Chandler AZ is Certainly Worth a Fork

Menu from Kai Chandler AZ (notice hand painted water color be a tribe elder)

Menu from Kai Chandler AZ (notice hand painted water color be a tribe elder)

Kai Restaurant is a five diamond AAA and a Forbes Travel Guide five star restaurant.

The cuisine is tribal Native American and uniquely Arizonian and does  use regional and non regional ingredients. (such as elk flown in from Australia) The menu changes with the seasons and on this season it is very protein filled. Every item on the menu has some sort of meat in it except for possibly one of the salads.

Native flute music serenades the dining room and a small amount of educational Native America history was told to us by our server about the hand painted watercolors on our menus. The room we sat in was small and formal but showed us a view of the  Reservation Land and the walls of the dining room were adorned with artwork of an elder tribe leader.

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We start our culinary journey with our first of several amuse bouche to come.

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It was some sort of melon soup that differed from the mellon soup on the menu. I can tell you it was very layered with flavors and each small sip I took left a different taste in my mouth.

Next we were served an assortment of Native American Style Breads with local olive oil that was adorned with seeds.

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I started with a salad called “From The Garden.”

"From The Garden" salad from Kai Chandler AZ

“From The Garden” salad from Kai Chandler AZ

It was the most stunning looking salad I’ve ever seem and also had some produce in it that I’ve never seen before like some sort of wild spinach with leave leaves and a fuzzy red top. The vegetables looked as if they were growing out of the plate from an earth like looking substance. The salad was composed of macerated beets, sun choke froth, a potato, green and white asparagus, fiddle head ferns, mushrooms, exotic greens, saguaro syrup, vinegar and cactus powder. The beets had a unique creamy texture that I thought was interesting.

"From The Garden" Kai Chandler AZ

“From The Garden” Kai Chandler AZ

I was not excepting the earth like substance to be forking squid to be in a salad called “From The Garden”  As my server sat the salad in front of me he explained that the edible dirt that the vegetables were growing up from was made with squid ink and bread crumbs.

My husband’s salad called “Hand Picked Lettuces” was also amazing to look at.

"Hand Picked Lettuces" Kai Chandler AZ

“Hand Picked Lettuces” Kai Chandler AZ

Next I get another amuse bouche.

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It’s some sort of black garlic, chocolate mousse kind of appetizer  with cherry bites. It was very savory and not dessert like at all.

My husband had another appetizer plate of Escargot, Wild Mushrooms and Caramel Goat Cheese with toast, truffle crema, lemon, black garlic and pork belly. The Truffle Crema was straight across when the plate arrived and snapped as soon as I took the picture.

Escargot Wild Mushrooms & Caramel Goat Cheese Kai Chandler AZ

Escargot Wild Mushrooms & Caramel Goat Cheese Kai Chandler AZ

The truffle crema was made with yogurt and was frozen into a thin flat rectangle shape that topped the toast like a see saw until it quickly broke. The truffle crema was delicious but the most interesting part about the appetizer was the carmel goat cheese as it was unlike goat cheese either of us had anywhere.

An amuse bouche comes our way and this time it’s a fig and date sorbet that was topped with a dot of some kind of vinegar. It was refreshing and not really sweet.

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For Dinner I had the Chimayo Rubbed Dry Aged New York Strip with horseradish potatoes gratin, creamed spinach, heirloom carrots with bordelaise sauce.

Chimayo Rubbed Dry Aged New York Strip Kai Chandler AZ

Chimayo Rubbed Dry Aged New York Strip Kai Chandler AZ

Horseradish Potato Gratin, Creamed Spinach Kai Chandler AZ

Horseradish Potato Gratin, Creamed Spinach Kai Chandler AZ

My steak wasn’t the most succulent steak I’ve ever had but did have the most interesting crust on a steak I ever tried. It was crispy, caramelized and tasty. It was different and seemed like a very large portion to me and after I ate what I wanted I had at least 6 ounces to bring home for latter. The heirloom carrots were scented with vanilla or something that reminded me of vanilla.   I thought the creamed spinach was delicious but I felt the potatoes gratin was over salted so I skipped over them and my husband ate them. He said they were too salty but he ate them anyway.

My husband’s dinner of Bellota Iberico Liomo Wrapped High Country Elk Loin with Fossil creek Chèvre Risotto with wild mushrooms, natural jus and truffle emulsion looked like a far more complex dish to me.

Bellora Iberico Liomo Wrapped High Country Elk Loin Kai Chandler AZ

Bellora Iberico Liomo Wrapped High Country Elk Loin Kai Chandler AZ

I got forking jealous when the server grated fresh truffles over his dish.

I managed to save room for dessert and tried the P.B.& J.

P.B.& J. Kai Chandler AZ

P.B.& J. Kai Chandler AZ

It was cylinders of frozen peanut butter mousse heaven with rings of fresh peanut butter sponge, poached grapes, crunchy P.B. dust, crisp meringue, red wine hibiscus dots and tart but not too tart blackberry five spice sorbet. This dessert was all delicious anyone that eats peanuts should like this dessert. Little tasty fresh flowers also stood out of some of the red wine hibiscus dots.

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After dessert was another amuse bouche of three different hand made stuffed chocolates.

Our car was waiting for us out front with a hand written Thank You Card from our server, two bottles of fancy water and a small box with two chocolates.

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We had a great meal and also saved a great deal of money off the check since we attended the Devoured Festival and that entitled us to complimentary glasses of wine and an appetizer for each one of us.

With or without the extra savings a night of tranquillity, a small amount of education, and very special food was certainly Worth A Fork!

Forking Truth

Worth a Fork

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth