Author Archives: The Forking Truth

NEW WEiRD DIFferenT Limited and Special Edition Foods Out There December 2022

There is ALWAYS something new, weird, different, limited, or special edition out there in the wonderful world of food. We NEVER know WTFork we will come across…..

I found a bunch of WEIRD candy canes from www.mcphee.com . Up above is-

WIERD – McPhee brand Hot Dog candy canes…..Are they something to muster?

WEIRD – McPhee extra fancy SARDINE candy canes. Something fishy about sardine flavored candy canes…..

WEIRD – McPhee – Mac & Cheese Candy canes……These are a cheesy pasta la vista baby.

WEIRD – McPhee – PICKLE flavored candy canes….How DILL they come up with that?

WEIRD – McPhee – Kale Candy canes……Maybe people in Kalefornia like them?

WEIRD – McPhee – Sour Cream & Onion candy canes…..WHY?

Different and maybe WEIRD – McPhee – Butter Candy Canes…….Might be good if made with real butter.

WEIRD – McPhee – BRISKET Candy Canes. maybe this was a McSteak?

LIMITED EDITION – General Mills Rudolph The Red Nosed Reindeer Hot Cocoa Cereal …..Get this…Naturally flavored with OTHER natural flavors…..Ho ho HO …That just doesn’t sound right…and it looks like FORKING marshmallows in the bowl that aren’t even mentioned….

LIMITED EDITION – General Mills Sugar Cookie Toast Crunch…..coming out of a fat old Santa sock that probably got Santa foot juice in it. That is why that top left anthropomorphic cereal crunch looks horrified.

LIMITED EDITION – General Mills Apple Pie Toast Crunch Cereal. The Toast Crunch guy in the upper right side of the box looks like he bites!

NEW – Kellogg’s Cinnamon Sugar Krispies…….but it’s flavored with OTHER natural flavors so what you think is something different?????? What is really in there?

NEW – sort of – Kellogg’s NEW RECIPE Cocoa Krispies with MORE chocolatey flavor. ????? New recipe…??? could go either way???

DIFFERENT – General Mills Ambush Universe Reese’s Puffs…..Made with real Reese’s peanut butter but they don’t say what the chocolate is…..

DIFFERENT – General Mills Reese’s Puffs Cluster Crunch. Looks like all the crumbs from other stuff just glued together with sugar to sell to saps.

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – TRIX naturally and artificially flavored Silly Rabbit Turned the milk pink….Someone on drugs must have thought this up…..Maybe the silly rabbit pees pink into the cereal. This just seems so wrong.

DIFFERENT – Kellogg’s naturally flavored Frosted Flakes with chocolate taste.

LIMITED EDITION – Kit Kat Ginger Bread Cookie flavor……????….naturally and Artificially flavored…….It’s a 50/50….might be good?…..might suck?

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Cheez-It Pop’d Corn….? A bit corny but also cheesy…might be good!

DIFFERENT – From The Ground Up – Cinnamon Butternut Squash tubes that they call stalks……This one also is kind of weird…….

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – M&M’s Snowballs – (White chocolate Pretzel) Actually they are pretty tasty…..I bought a bag…It’s that perfect sweet to salty thing and this white chocolate didn’t seem waxy.

DIFFERENT – Frosty The Snowman Hot Chocolate Melt. Milk and White Chocolate with mini marshmallows inside. Looks Cute!….until it melts.

Well there is always something Oreo.

LIMITED EDITION – Nabisco natural and artificially flavored Pumpkin Spice Cream Oreo Cookies…(maybe leftover from Halloween Time?)

Oh NOoooo there’s more!

SCIENCE FICTION EDITION – Oreo OY Cookies……………….. kidding)

LIMITED EDITION – Nabisco – JOY Cookies – HO Ho ho……same old Oreo Cookies that most people love with added red food coloring…..Hope that it’s not red dye #2?

Well that was the NEW, WEIRD, DIFFERENT, Limited, and Special Edition foods out there for December 2022. Who know WTFork we’ll come across next year!

Dining Out With DOGS in Metro Phoenix AZ – December 2022 Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Pad Thai Cafe, Culver’s, Phila-Deli

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Dining out with dogs in Metro Phoenix is just a “FLUFF” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie. He was elderly and came down with aggressive cancer. He couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed going out to eat so I took him out to eat as often as I could. Instead of his 3-6 month diagnosis Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat.

In Phoenix the weather is an issue. I don’t take them out when the temperature is above 90 degrees F or only up to 90 F in shade. I am aware that most food and drink can be harmful or toxic to dogs. (You should get “safe” and “foods to avoid” lists for dogs from your veterinarian) Usually only lean meat without sauce might be a safe bet. When you take your dog(s) to dine with you at a restaurant you need to know that not all patios are dog friendly….You need to see a sign or call and ask if it’s ok to bring your furry friend(s). When you and your dog(s) dine out you must keep your dog(s) close to your side. You also should respect the restaurant and not let your dog sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates.

We went to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery. They are a Pho-Free Vietnamese Restaurant. They offer around a dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches, rice plates, noodle salad bowls, boba, and MORE!

Today I got the curry chicken with rice. It’s a very large portion. The dogs enjoy helping me with the chicken.

The dogs also enjoy helping my husband with his grilled pork rice plate.

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery

2340 W Bell Rd PHX AZ

602-843-3637

www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com

We were on our way to Pad Thai Cafe in Glendale for take out and dining out in the nearby park.

It started raining so we didn’t dine out………Too bad but at least the dogs got a car ride. Even the next day it rained….So unusual for Phoenix. But the Take Out was good and we’d order these dishes again from Pad Thai Cafe.

The dogs enjoyed some chicken from the Pad King (It was very gingery in a good way).

They also enjoyed some beef from the Pad Prik King.

Pad Thai Cafe 18425 N 51st AVE Glendale AZ

623-213-7297

www.PadThaiAZ.com

All of a sudden it got cold for here to sit outside for long……so we took the dogs out to our local Culver’s for a butter cheese burger.

You can clearly see my bigger dog is smiling. She’s so happy to be at Culver’s that she swats my smaller dog out of her way so she can see the Culver’s action.

Then we drive around to the Culver’s patio and crack open their butter cheese burger for them. I do have to say that these burgers are always nicely caramelized.

We give them around a third of the burger without the bun. The rest of the burger we give them as treats over the next two days.

They always enjoy a butter cheese burger from Culver’s.

Culver’s

8330 W Deer Valley Rd Peoria AZ

623-792-8957

www.Culvers.com

It was still pretty cold outside but we made it to Phila-Deli in Glendale. They are a local sandwich and cheesesteak casual eatery.

The tuna hoagies are pretty good here but not so great to give the dogs.

So we got the dogs a child’s chicken finger meal.

Both dogs enjoyed the chicken fingers and we ate some of their fries.

My husband tried the new southwest cheese steak.

It’s extra steak meat, pepper jack cheese, onions, green bell peppers, chipotle peppers, and hatch chiles. I heard that it was pretty good!

The dogs enjoyed the chicken fingers today.

Phila-Deli

20219 N59th Ave Glendale AZ

623- 376-9333

www.PhilaDeliAZ.com

That was dining out with dogs in Metro Phoenix for December 2022. Thanks so much for reading. Have a Happy New Year and we hope to see you next month!

Bigs Peoria AZ – American Bar & Grill – Worth a Try

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Bigs is an American Casual Comfort Food and Sports Bar kind of place with two locations. The original location is in California and the one I went to is in Peoria Arizona. It’s in the entertainment and sports area called P83.

It’s a sports bar so there are a lot of big screen TVs inside and a lot of high top community tables.

We sat at one of the few traditional tables on the patio.

We started out by sharing the mac ‘n’ cheese balls.

They are deep fried panko coated white truffle mac ‘n’ cheese that sit in what they call Asian zing and chipotle ranch. The balls are fried very nicely and don’t seem greasy at all. The inside is strange.

They are made with chopped up pasta. The strangest part is that they don’t even taste like cheese. To me they taste more of butter than cheese. They aren’t terrible but don’t taste like what I was expecting. Neither of us cared for the Asian zing sauce. I thought the chipotle sort of overpowered everything in the ball but it was ok that way.

For my main I had the seared ahi quinoa salad.

It’s a very large salad with mixed very fluffy greens, thin slices of avocado, crispy cucumber, tomatoes, little bits of quinoa, cajun seared ahi tuna, and honey ginger vinaigrette. Everything seems fresh! It all taste good. But there are so many greens…enough for two big salads.

My husband tried the chili verde plate.

It’s a big bowl of slow cooked pork in tomatillo sauce with neutral rice, refried beans, and tortillas. It’s different…..There is a lot of pork that is cooked nicely. The tomatillo sauce is good but kind of plain…..They do have a variety of condiments that can be added. The tortillas were nicely heated but we received flour instead of the corn tortillas ordered.

Worth a try.

Bigs Peoria AZ

16550 N 83RD AVE Peoria AZ

623-979-3296

www.BIGSPeoria.com

Every THING is subject to change.

Call Her Martina – Modern Mexican Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

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Call Her Martina is a small modern Mexican Bar and Restaurant located near the Scottsdale Waterfront and is basically across the street from the Scottsdale Fashion Mall in Scottsdale Arizona. They offer an all day menu with some appetizers that you don’t come across very often like ribeye chicharron guacamole, mini street elotes, and charcoal ribeye aguachile with chicharron. They also offer salads, tuna ceviche, tacos, tostadas, and entrees like charred octopus with squid ink risotto, a short rib, ribeye, and a wagyu beef burger. Besides the all day menu they also offer a brunch menu.

It’s festive and formal looking inside.

They start you off with complimentary tostadas and a trio of salsas (charred tomato, tomatillo, and chipotle)

We started out by splitting the salad called beets in a cloud.

beets in a cloud – garlic goat cheese, beets, arugula, lemon zest, caramelized pecans

Nice light starter.

My husband made a better meal decision than me and had the cochinita cazuela.

cohinita cazuela – braised pork, pickled red onions, raw onions, cilantro, cabbage, frijoles with corn tortillas

The pork was braised nice. You can eat it like fajitas. It did need a little zip from the salsas.

I ordered the tuna fresco tostada.

tuna fresco tostada – tuna, salsa negra, suppose to have smashed avocado but mine didn’t, capers, crispy leeks

I guess you order the tuna fresco tostada when you are not hungry. I didn’t remember that this was suppose to contain smashed avocado or I would have said something to my waiter……So they made me the EXTRA LIGHT version of the tuna fresco tostada withOUT avocado. To be honest it does taste good with the creamy mayo, crispy leeks and salsa negra…….But there isn’t much to it. The salsa negra is also very thin but spicy and kinda like a vinaigrette. It’s the wet stuff on the plate. It was under the fish soaking into the tostada making it soggy. It probably works out better if they give you avocado.

That TRULY was a little taste of Call Her Martina in Scottsdale AZ

7135 E Camelback Rd Scottsdale AZ

480-687-8592

www.CallHerMartina.com

Every THING is subject to change.

WTFORK Happened to the Christmas Candy Cane?

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A long time ago in a land far away someone invented candy sticks to make noisy children shut the FORK up for when they are in church. It was also written that some German dude got the idea to put a little religion into the candy sticks by adding a Shepard’s hook.

Some time has passed and someone else got the idea to add hyssop flavor to the candy canes because hyssop was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. Maybe nobody wanted child sacrifice on their hands so they stopped adding hyssop to the candy canes. But maybe they changed to peppermint flavor because peppermint was cheaper?

Then they added the White Stripes.

Or was it the red stripes? Symbolizing the blood of Christ?

Maybe you noticed that candy canes often anything that’s NOT peppermint flavored?

Brisket flavored candy canes

Butter flavored candy canes

Sour cream and onion flavored candy canes

Kale flavored candy canes

Pickle flavor candy canes

Mac & cheese flavored candy canes

Sardine flavored candy canes

Hotdog flavored candy canes

It doesn’t really matter WTFORK flavor that the candy cane is……If it’s in the mouth the kid with SHUT THE FORK UP!

This was a little bit of what happened to the Christmas Candy Cane.

That’s All Folks!

Merry Everything and have a Happy New Year!

References

www.Wikkipedia.com

www.WhyChristmas.com

www.NoelNoel.com

www.FoodNetwork.com

Some of the 2022 Recipes on The Forking Truth Part 2

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Avocado Wasabi Slaw with Furikake and Bonito Flakes

Humane Society Vegan Carrot Lox on home made mini bagel

Moroccan Style Turkey Meatballs with Harissa Vinaigrette

Roasted Vegetables with Poppy Seed Black Garlic Kalamata Olive Condiment and Urfa Peppered Feta Cheese

Roasted Broccoli and Onions with Tomato Butter and Crushed Taralli Crackers

Roast Cauliflower & Carrots with Pickled Onions, Smoked Cheese Sauce & Toasted Nuts

EASY FORKING Delicious Acorn Squash with Mostarda & Taleggio Cheese Side Dish

Baked Corn Patty with Sofrito Frosting, Pachamanca sauce, Huancaina sauce, Achiote oil and Sherry Soaked Figs

Kombu Roast Chicken with Acorn Squash and Radishes

Spice Roasted Cauliflower and Carrots with Dates

Japanese Style Potato Salad with Ramen Eggs and Bonito Flakes

Potato String Wrapped Mexican Style Tuna Stuffed Peppers

Potato Topped Peruvian Style Turkey Meatloafs with Onion Salsa

Spiced Custard Filled Acorn Squash with Maple Bourbon Walnuts

Middle Eastern Mac & Cheese with Za’atar Pesto & Crisp Onions

Spinach Cheese Potato Pie with Seeded Crust

Roasted Broccoli with Orange Aioli and Almonds

Ful Mesdames with Malawach Style flat Bread

Sake Butter Scorched Cauliflower with Yuzu Marmalade Soy Butter Sauce

Vietnamese Inspired Turkey Meatballs in home made Vietnamese style Turkey Soup

That was part 2 of the 2022 recipes on The Forking Truth

Some of the 2022 Recipes on The Forking Truth Part 1

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Fig, Ricotta, Beet Relish, topped Caraway, Parmesan Potato Tuile

Chipotle Lime Butter Green Beans with Black Beans and Pickled Reed Onions

Okonomiyaki Style Baked Cabbage Cakes with Tofu Mustard and Black Garlic Sauce

Morita Chili Salsa and Radish Pico de Gallo

Mexican Flavored Meatballs with Guajillo Tomato Sauce

Perilla Leaf Thai Style Treats with Tamarind Sauce

Calabrian Chile Brown Butter Pasta and Creamy Leeks

Harissa Hasselback Zucchini with Dukkah & zucchini white bean dip

Healthy Delicious Quick Kimchi Potato Salad

Beets with Orange, Mint, Cheddar Cheese, and Salsa Macha

Roasted Carrots in Honey Miso Butter with Roasted Spiced Carrot Peanut Crumbs

Tomato and bean salad with home made Italian Chili Crisp

Feta Stuffed Corn Cakes with Beet-Apple Salad

Braised and Crispy Leeks with Tarator Sauce & Date Brown Butter

Miso Sake Blistered Shishito Peppers with Ginger-Miso Sweet Peas

Grilled Pickled Carrots with Charmoula and Almonds

Just Some of the Recipes from 2022 on The Forking Truth Part 1

Sake Butter Scorched Cauliflower with Yuzu Marmalade Soy Butter Sauce Recipe – Different but based on chef Scott Hallsworth’s Scorched Cauliflower Recipe

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I had a cauliflower that I had to use and I wanted to do something new with it. I just typed into my computer BEST CAULIFLOWER RECIPE. I saw a few list of cauliflower recipes and one of them was chef Scott Hallsworth’s Scortched Cauliflower Recipe. It’s a very easy recipe with very few ingredients….When I got done roasting the cauliflower I still had a lot of DELICIOUS sake butter on my sheet tray.

So I got the idea in my head to USE THE FORKING GREAT BUTTER SAUCE and add yuzu marmalade and a little bit of soy sauce.

Chef Scott Hallsworth uses just 40ml dark soy sauce mixed with 20ml yuzu salted juice over the cauliflower. You do what you want.

Ingredients for around two servings

1/2 a large cauliflower – cut into florets

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 Tablespoons sake

1 pinch sea salt

4 oz unsalted butter – melted

1 Tablespoon soy sauce

2 Tablespoons yuzu marmalade

1/4 cup scallions – sliced thin or use chives

Directions

Set oven to 500 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl toss the cauliflower with the butter, oil, sake, and salt. Spread out the cauliflower florets in an even layer on a sheet pan (one with sides). Leave in till golden and charred. (in my oven this took 30 minutes)

Pour the extra sake butter from your sheet pan with the cauliflowers into a small mixing bowl and add the yuzu marmalade and the soy sauce. Serve the sauce either over or under the cauliflowers and top with thin cut scallions or chives.

ENJOY!!!!!

A Special THANKS!!!!!! To Chef Scott Hallsworth for sharing his FORKING GREAT Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.

That Place Subs and Salads Peoria AZ – Gangster Theme Sandwiches – Worth a Fork!

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That Place Subs and Salads is a neighborhood Gangster themed casual sandwich and salad restaurant located in North Peoria Arizona. They serve most subs or hoagies on what they call French Rolls (8 inch) but also offer choices of wheat, marble rye, spinach tortilla, and lettuce wrapped. They offer sandwiches named after gangsters.

A few of the sandwiches have names like The Capone, The Gambino, The Siegle, The Lansky, and The Gotti. Some of the gangsters are pictured below.

It’s extra casual. You order at the counter, pay, and they run your order to you.

I tried a small Italian Beef with added giardiniera.

This is very spicy and might be too spicy for some people with the giardiniera. But it is delicious with really great flavors. It comes with some au jus that is very good. The roast beef is very tender…I like the taste of this very much. I’m just not a fan of the bread…..because it is that Arizona style squishy bread that most sandwich shops use…….Never had this type of bread until I moved to Arizona so I call it Arizona style squishy bread. ….BUT it still taste really great even with the Arizona squishy bread.

My husband tried the Castello (Castello was from the Luciano crime family…….He was a crime boss that survived several assassination attempts.) *******(ham, mortadella, capicola, Genoa salami, pepperoni, provolone, lettuce, tomato, onion, garlic mayo (left off because my husband doesn’t do mayo), and Italian dressing).

I heard it was a tasty sandwich. My husband said he’d come back and eat either of these sandwiches again.

Some sandwiches cost more but most run only around $10.49 (subject to change because that is very cheap these days)

That Place Sub and Salads

Is Worth a Fork!

That Place Sub and Salads Peoria AZ

20340 N Lake Pleasant Rd Peoria AZ

623-466-6814

www.ThatPlaceSubs.com

We’ll make you a samich you can’t refuse.

Every THING is subject to change.

A Little Taste of Fratelli La Bufala – Scottsdale AZ

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Fratelli La Bufala is an Italian Based Group of Restaurants with over seventy locations in Europe and the Middle East. This new Scottsdale location is the second location in the United States. For the most part they offer Naples style pizzas and house made pastas. They also offer appetizers, salads, two burgers, two entrees, a kids menu, desserts, and bar and cocktail drinks.

It looks like this when you walk in. It mostly traditional tables with a high top community table accented with their namesake…..the bufala cheese. The other logo that you can see all over the restaurant is the buffalo horn. You can’t tell by my photo but the pizza oven looks like a big red buffalo horn.

To the right is an indoor-outdoor bar and patio.

We start out by sharing a Cesare salad even though we were warned that the dressing contained anchovies. We ordered it because we are GLAD the dressing contains anchovies like it is suppose to.

The salad is crisp and fresh and ever so lightly dressed. Almost undressed. The croutons were house made and do taste like good bread. The cheese is good. It’s good but at the table you should add some black pepper to it. (I do know because I used to prepare Caesar Salads table side at a high end restaurant)

For my main I have to try the Margherita Di Bufala DOP.

This is described as Buffalo Mozzarella, San Marzano tomato sauce, DOP Parmesan, fresh basil and extra virgin olive oil. The stand out best thing to me is the fresh basil. This basil has a nice very strong sweet basil taste. This is unusually great basil. The pizza is good. I can’t say that it isn’t……….It has a nice rich tomato sauce. The cheese seems good but would be better cooked less so you can taste that very special milky Buffalo cheese more…..The crust is extra thin and extra light almost like a flour tortilla.

The crust is just cooked with some char. It’s very fresh tasting. It’s very neutral so you can taste the toppings more.

That pizza was good but maybe the real treat are the meat pizzas.

This one has the same light crust, rich sauce, and exceptional basil. But the hot soppressata really is hot and is different than from what some of the other pizza restaurants serve.

This was a little taste of Fratelli La Bufala-Scottsdale in Scottsdale AZ

7300 N Via Paseo Del Sur Ste

480-687-7784

www.FLBOFArizona.com

Everything is subject to change.

TheForkingTruth

Forking Thoughts on Food and Restaurants

Author Archives: The Forking Truth

NEW WEiRD DIFferenT Limited and Special Edition Foods Out There December 2022

Like this:

Dining Out With DOGS in Metro Phoenix AZ – December 2022 Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Pad Thai Cafe, Culver’s, Phila-Deli

Like this:

Bigs Peoria AZ – American Bar & Grill – Worth a Try

Like this:

Call Her Martina – Modern Mexican Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

Like this:

WTFORK Happened to the Christmas Candy Cane?

Like this:

Some of the 2022 Recipes on The Forking Truth Part 2

Like this:

Some of the 2022 Recipes on The Forking Truth Part 1

Like this:

Sake Butter Scorched Cauliflower with Yuzu Marmalade Soy Butter Sauce Recipe – Different but based on chef Scott Hallsworth’s Scorched Cauliflower Recipe

Like this:

That Place Subs and Salads Peoria AZ – Gangster Theme Sandwiches – Worth a Fork!

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A Little Taste of Fratelli La Bufala – Scottsdale AZ

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