Author Archives: The Forking Truth

Fly Bye – Pizza, Chicken & More – Phoenix AZ Desert Ridge – A little taste

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Fly Bye is a casual order at the counter and take out restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona in Desert Ridge and is soon to be in three locations in Metro Phoenix. This restaurant is one of eleven Fox Restaurant Concept Group restaurants that are in at least fourteen states. On the menu at Fly Bye are snacks like mozzarella sticks and crispy Brussels sprouts. They also offer chicken tenders, chicken wings, salads, a few hoagies, hand stretched pizzas, and Detroit Style pizzas. Bottles and cans of soft beverages, beer, and wine are available.

Beverages and utensil area

This is a small place but they do have a some tables inside and a few tables outside.

You order and pay at the counter.

Then you pick up your beverage from the beverage refrigerator and get your napkins, silverware and plates yourself. When your order is ready someone runs your food to you.

We ordered far more food than we could eat in one visit just to try as much as we could.

We started with the roasted buffalo cauliflower bowl.

This is a bowl of fried cauliflower, avocado seasoned with za’atar, tomato, arugula, cucumbers, onions, and creamy feta dressing is in the bottom of the bowl. It’s not bad but neither of taste any buffalo…maybe it was left off? The za’atar is good but it’s only on the avocado….? I wonder why they don’t add harissa here…It could pop with a little harissa.

Next we tried three chicken tenders. They come with a few crinkle fries, ketchup and your choice of sauce. I picked Nashville Hot sauce.

This was my favorite plate here today. The breading has a good texture and seems free of oil. It’s also a lot lighter than they look. Without sauce they do taste under seasoned. But the chicken inside is incredibly moist. I think that the Nashville Hot sauce is very good…..It’s so full of flavors and a little heat. Now I wish I had a pickle…..The crinkle fries are better than I expected them to be and are very fluffy inside and are seasoned nicely.

They offer hand stretched pizza in regular and large sizes and Detroit Style pizzas in regular and large sized. We ordered two pizzas to try and started with the classic cheese regular sized Detroit Style.

The pizza does have nice crispy edges but lacks that cheesy corner. The crust is MUCH lighter and fluffier than any other Detroit style pizza that I have tried. It taste just like Wonder Bread to me……The tomato is a rich tomato taste and the cheese is nicely melted.

We also tried a regular sized hand stretched Lebanese Mom Pizza.

This pizza is made of marinated tomatoes, roasted garlic, spinach, za’atar, and feta yogurt.

The crust also has that Wonder Bread Taste and it is stretched very thin so it’s not too heavy. It’s not a hard crisp bottom and is more like a party pizza bottom. The marinated tomatoes taste about the same as the regular tomato sauce today. You get the feta flavor from the feta yogurt. A little bit of za’atar was used to slightly season it………. It’s up to you to add salt, or a pepper.

That was a little taste of Fly Bye in Phoenix AZ

21001 N Tatum Blvd PHX AZ (next to Albertson’s at Desert Ridge Mall)

www.FlyByeto go.com

602-351-5150

Everything is subject to change

The Forking Truth

Chick A Dee – Traditional Thai Chicken & Rice Phoenix AZ

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Chick A Dee is a small Thai Restaurant that serves a limited menu of mostly chicken and rice dishes in Phoenix Arizona. The chicken and rice dish (khaow sun kai) is a traditional comfort food dish that you would find being served on the streets in Thailand. Some of the things that you can get are……..steamed white meat chicken, steamed dark meat chicken, half white – half dark chicken, crispy fried chicken, a combo of fried and white meat, all with mild ginger garlic steamed rice, clear chicken soup, and a sauce. One plate is offered as a salad and they also offer a faux chicken served with purple rice that is vegan. They also offer a few sides. Some of the sides are chicken nuggets called “cluckets,”potstickers, wings, and fried bananas with coconut ice cream. Thai beverages and regular soft beverages are served here.

It’s very casual. You order and pay at the counter. You pick up your tray of food when it’s ready.

inside

While you’re waiting you can read the story about their food.

inside
the story

The food is ready in reasonable time and share a variety of what they offer.

Cluckets (spicy chicken nuggets), soup, half and half (white & dark meat chicken and rice and a black sweet Thai Iced tea)
crispy chicken, soup, potstickers, sweet black sauce, black sweet tea Thai Style

The cluckets (chicken nuggets) are very unique.

Cluckets

They are some sort of formed chicken with a coating that is dusted with a little sugar, flavors and HEAT. They are tasty but are NOT for children….or whimps.

Potstickers are fried and crisp to perfection but are not the main attraction here.

crispy chicken

Crispy chicken taste exactly the way it looks. It has a nice crisp coating without any unusual seasonings….We tried the sweet black sauce and it was something very unusual to us and was far too sweet for us. The other sauces they offer are sweet chili, sweet & sour and Thai Traditional (That I liked).

For me the main dig was the dish called half and half (steamed white meat chicken and steamed dark meat chicken with mild ginger garlic rice, cucumbers, Thai traditional sauce and a black sweet Thai style iced tea.

The chicken was steamed but comes out the same as poached. It’s fresh tender and moist. You eat it with the clear soup. I think that the Thai Traditional sauce gives it all the flavors that it needs. My husband isn’t a fan of ginger so the sauce was too gingery for him. But I thought that it was just right.

Traditional Thai Chicken and Rice.

Chick A Dee – Give it a try!

49 West Thomas Rd Phoenix AZ

623-440-4750

www.ChickADeeAZ.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Roasted Broccoli and Onions with Tomato Butter, olives and Crushed Taralli Crackers

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This recipe was an inspiration from Food & Wine Magazine. I came across Roasted Broccoli Steaks with Tomato Butter and Tapenade by chef Greg Vernick. I looked at the photo, read the recipe. While I was cooking I thought another onion would benefit the recipe. I cut the amount of stock to add but my sauce still came out too loose so I added a Tablespoon of tomato paste to make it right. I didn’t like the idea of adding tapenade so I added olives instead. And lastly instead of toasted crumbs I thought crushed Taralli crackers would be tastier. ANYWAYS****It came out FORKING DELICIOUS. Chef Greg Vernick’s recipe in Food & Wine Magazine gave me the inspiration to come up with what I got here. This recipe makes around 4 servings.

Ingredients for around 4 servings

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

sea salt – to taste (I used my home made lightly pecan smoked sea salt)

fresh ground black pepper – to taste

3 medium-small broccoli heads – cut in thirds threw the head like steaks

10 oz plum tomatoes – quarter

2 small red onions – cut in wedges

4 oz vegetable stock

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter – cut in small cubes

Optional – 1 Tablespoon tomato paste (if sauce is too loose)

4-6 olives – remove pits, slice or cut off of the pits ( I used cured black olives)

5 taralli crackers crushed

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F with a grill pan on the middle rack. Let this heat up at least 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl add the broccoli, tomatoes, and onions. Add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste (around 2 teaspoons salt, 1 teaspoon pepper. Mix and arrange in a single layer on the grill pan. Turn everything over after 10 minutes and mostly everything will be done in another 10 or 15 minutes.

The tomatoes get blended with 1/2 of the onions (this should be done with a stick blender or you have to wait for this to cool with a regular blender) Slowly blend in the cubes of butter. If this is too loose add the tomato paste. Season to taste with salt and pepper. (I used around 1/2 teaspoon H.M. smoked sea salt and around 1/2 teaspoon black pepper.)

Arrange the plates

Put tomato butter on bottom of plate. Then add broccoli and onions, add olives and crushed taralli. I also added some cherry peppers stuffed with cheese.

Roasted Broccoli and Onions with Tomato Butter and Crushed Taralli Crackers

A SPECIAL THANKS!!!!! To Food & Wine Magazine and Chef Greg Vernick for an amazing recipe to inspire what I’ve done here.

The Forking Truth

Recipe Idea – Smoked Salt

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Smoked salt is very expensive no matter where you shop. I thought since we are smoking up a storm today that we should also try to do smoked salt.

Today we are smoking eggs, a brisket, corn, and sea salt today but I’m just talking about the salt here.

Our smoker doesn’t have any settings for heat. I think it smokes at around 160 degrees F. We left it in till we ran out of pecan wood (around 3 hours). I could have left it in longer for a stronger smoke taste but 3 hours the taste is there and I think is enough. The salt smells so good! Give it a try!

Now we have smoked pecan sea salt.

3 hour pecan smoked salt
The Forking Truth

Baked Onion Patties Recipe

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I was reading about Amish Onion Patties and found out that they are a scrumptious fried food that I have never had. I heard that they taste like onion rings. I figured out a baked version of and seasoned them a bit more. GOSH they are a BIG HIT because they are forking tasty and not so heavy. They have a crisp exterior and are light almost like an fluffy onion pancake inside. They are tasty the way they are but also would be great with any dip, dressing, or ketchup that you can think of….I think that they would be great as mini sandwiches too. This recipe makes around 16 patties. You need to eat at least two so that might be 8 small portions. I am certain that some will eat more than two patties so serving size is difficult to judge. I’ll guesstimate 6 servings.

Ingredients for around 6 portions

2 1/2 cups onions – sliced thin on mandolin and chopped (I used 1+ almost1/2 large onions)

1/3 cup scallions – sliced thin

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 Tablespoon corn meal

3/4 cup flour

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

1 Tablespoon granulated onion

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

2 eggs – beaten

1/4 cup water

canola non stick spray

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F and spray two sheet trays with non stick spray.

In a large bowl add the onions, scallions, baking powder, cornmeal, flour, salt, sugar, granulated onion, pepper, Mix well.

In a small bowl mix together the eggs and water. Now add that to the big bowl and mix well.

I used a teaspoon and heaped it up with batter and placed them on the baking sheets like this.

My oven was preheated to 400 degrees F. One sheet pan went on the middle rack and the other sheet pan on the lower rack. In my oven I thought that the onions patties looked perfect to me at 30 minutes. Ovens can differ some so you might need slightly more or slightly less time.

baked onion patties
Baked Onion Patties
Baked Onion Patties

My dogs thought that the Baked Onion Patties smelled good. They don’t know that onions are toxic to dogs. I’ll have to give them something else.

Enjoy!!!

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of China Chili Restaurant Phoenix AZ

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China Chili Restaurant is located in Central Phoenix Arizona. They offer a lot of the usual American Chinese and Hong Kong Style Chinese Foods (that means Cantonese inspired). They offer a variety of appetizers like boiled won tons, fried prawns, and crab puffs. They offer several varieties of soups, duck, and the usual chicken, beef, some tofu, and vegetarian dishes. They happen to offer many choices of seafood such as shrimp, calamari, flounder, scallops, mussels, striped bass, live seafood, and a surprise dish that I’ve found on their Grub Hub Menu but I didn’t find on their in-house menu. A dish called French Style Beef with macadamia nuts…..

It looks like a nice Chinese Restaurant when you walk in….. The take out and cashier area is up in front by the door.

Inside is a nice big dining room.

The tables are set with paper linen and lots of paper Chinese placemats. Tables also include condiments.

As soon as we were seated……Even before we ordered….Someone ran out two cups of soup to us.

The soup taste like egg drop soup and has kernels of fresh corn in it.

I looked at the menu and noticed that it differs slightly from on-line menus. I didn’t notice the hot pots or French Style beef on the menu but maybe it was my bad and maybe I just missed them?

I go with the flounder in white sauce with snow peas….accented with some carrots and scallions.

It’s a large portion of fish and vegetables. It’s in a mild chicken based sauce lightly accented with ginger. It’s very easy to eat because it’s so light in the stomach…Nothing heavy here. Steamed rice is on the side.

My husband went with the Szechwan beef.

It’s very good but not what either of us were expecting. The beef is very tender and has this very light fried coating that is UNIQUE and also easy to eat. The sauce is actually spicy hot but not too sweet and is sort of beef gravy flavored Asian sauce. No vegetables here but a few crisp noodles are in there. I would enjoy this more if I could add vegetables to this dish or order it as an appetizer for a larger table. We both think that it is very good but we like some vegetables with our meat dishes.

Not recently but I did previously enjoy take out from China Chili. This restaurant isn’t close to where I live or I would have been here more often.

I did enjoy the flounder in black bean sauce but I do like the flounder in white sauce more with the snow peas.

1/2 of take out – flounder in black bean sauce

I do like the chicken tomato dish with egg flowers but it does run slightly sweeter than I like but the tomatoes did have a good tomato flavor and the chicken was tender.

1/2 take out tomato chicken with egg flowers

Service was speedy and efficient.

That was a little taste of China Chili.

China Chili Phoenix AZ

302 E Flower St PHX AZ

602-266-4463

www.ChinaChiliRestaurant.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Campo Italian Bistro Scottsdale AZ – Not Perfection but mostly very good

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Campo Italian Bistro is located in Scottsdale Arizona. They are a full service seasonal Italian Restaurant by Genuine Concepts Group. This group includes Metro Phoenix Bars and restaurants such as The Genuine, The Vig, The Little Woody, The Womack, and McMillon. James Beard Award Wining, Celebrity Chef Alex Stratta and Well Seasoned Chef Jeremy Pachero are partners of The Genuine Concepts Group.

Campo Italian Bistro offers a patio for outside dinning.

patio
glass garage doors separate inside from patio

A lot of natural light come in during brunch and early dinner time.

dining and bar area
dining room

Menus are seasonal but always include a lot of variety and usually seasonal specials.

Even the brunch menu includes snacks. It also includes some topped toasts, salads (proteins can be added), pizzas, brunch entrees, and panini.

The dinner menu is also seasonal and changes slightly now and then. The dinner menu also includes snacks, antipasto, salads, pastas, pizzas and entrees. Below are some brunch items and dinners that we’ve tried.

Here’s a snack of the day special – Goat cheese mousse with beets, apples, and a cheese crisp.

(not on current menu…darn so yummy) Sttacchino Cheese with Lavosh

crispy parmigiano cauliflower – breaded cauliflower (three colors that are slightly different in the mouth), parmesan, capers, Calabrian Chilies, citrus vinaigrette (dinner menu appetizers)

Salmon Rillettes- snack on current (August 2022) menus Brunch & Dinner

(not on current menu…BIG DARN…..so yummy) Artisan Cheese Plate with grilled Noble Bread

Smoked Salmon Everything Pizza – missing the everything seasoning and the capers differ from menu description (not fried)

Italian Ham & Cheese – Today this was served dried out. Last time it was much better.

Much better and not dried out.

I really loved this salad (below) but it’s not here this season. I am partial to the Salmon from Campo. It’s been fish house quality great every time so far.

Salmon salad from Campo Italian Bistro in Scottsdale was particularly good

This salad was the arugula, marinated fennel, with pistachios, local citrus, pecorino cheese, and a vinaigrette. (salmon was added). I must note that Campo Italian Bistro so far has always done phenomenal salmon. It always has a crispy skin, is seasoned nicely, and is never over cooked.

beet apple pistachio and whipped goat cheese salad with added salmon

special – short rib ganganelli

creste pasta (not on current menu) – locally made pasta, local Schriener’s sausage, broccolini, roasted peppers, feta cheese. Came out very dry without a sauce to hold it together.

chicken al matone with gnocchi and mushrooms – The chicken was very dry this evening and our server didn’t check on us. A busboy took the plate. I didn’t even bring the chicken home for my dogs. I didn’t want to complain after I was done but I didn’t come back for a very long time because of this dry chicken and service. On my recent visit I was going to order the chicken again to give it another try. So I asked my server about it. She said, “It’s a 50/50 shot if it will be dry.” I’m so glad that I had an honest server..So I didn’t take a chance on it again.

Crispy salmon with cannellini beans, kale, and tomato sauce

On my recent visit the salmon looked like this.

It’s a little smaller with less beans but still very good.

Grilled bone-in pork chop – crisp parmesan fingerling potatoes, Brussels sprouts, apple mostarda – This was tender, moist and good.

For dessert we’ve tried –

The semifreddo – (raspberries, pine nuts, yuzu) on a more recent visit it differed.

I didn’t get the yuzu as much…….

oive oil cake

On Opentable the Campo manager noticed my comments about dining there. I mentioned my dinner about the dry chicken and mentioned not being checked on. I said that I waited a long time to go back to Campo and again it wasn’t perfect again. Our two course brunch took 90 minutes. Our smoked salmon pizza was missing the everything seasoning and the capers differed from menu description (latter told they changed recipe). The other problem was my husband’s Italian ham & cheese seemed like it was sitting under a heat lamp for a long time and was served all dried out. The manager noticed my comments on Opentable and invited me back.

Again NOT PERFECT…..The manager was there (next to us comping something for that table because nobody was waiting on them) but ignored us and didn’t comp anything. My husband asked for the manager. After a few minutes the server said that he was no where to be found…………….My husband told the server about the situation and she did take my meal off the bill and THAT’S THE FORKING TRUTH!

Campo Italian Bistro in Scottsdale AZ – Not perfection but mostly very good.

Campo Italian Bistro Scottsdale AZ

8260 N Hayden Rd Scottsdale AZ

480-597-9195

www.CampoItalian.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Avocado Wasabi Slaw with Furikake and Bonito Flakes Recipe

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About once a year I make my pastrami, rye bread or rolls, some sort of mustard and a slaw. This year I used sake instead of beer in my mustard so I did a little Asian Twist on slaw and it came out really great! Serving size is always difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a tiny side cup or a true side order. This stuff really is tasty. You might eat more slaw than you normally do. I will guesstimate 6 large servings (large to me for slaw) but you might really get 8.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1/2 small cabbage – shredded thin on mandolin

1 carrot – shredded

1/2 onion sliced thin on mandolin

2 small avocados – mashed

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

1/2 cup mayonnaise

4 Tablespoons bonito flakes – split onto 2T& 2T (sold at Asian Markets) (2T for salad and 2T for finishing)

1 teaspoon dry dill

1/2 teaspoon granulated onion

1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 teaspoon dried chives

1/2 teaspoon dried parley

1 Tablespoon wasabi powder (or to taste..)

1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

1 teaspoon shiso fumi furikake (sold at Asian Markets) (for finishing)

1/4 cup scallions – either sliced thin or on a diagonal (for finishing)

Directions

In a large bowl mix up the dressing. Combine the avocado, yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, granulated onion, garlic, chives, parsley, wasabi, pepper, salt, lemon juice, and vinegar. Mix well. Mix in the cabbage, carrot, and onion. Mix well.

Serve

Finish with bonito flakes, furikake, and scallions

Avocado Wasabi Slaw with Furikake and Bonito Flakes

ENJOY!!!!

The Forking Truth

NEW WEird DiFfERENT Limited and Special Edition Foods Out There July 2022

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There is always something new, weird, different, limited and special edition out there in the wonderful world of food. We never know WTFork we will come across when we shop for food. Below are a few of what I’ve found while shopping for food.

Up above are

DIFFERENT – Trader Joe’s Strawberry & Yogurt Pretzels. They look and sound tasty….Maybe they are????????

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Trader Joe’s VEGAN Peanut Butter Caramel coated Popcorn. Sounds tasty…don’t know.

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Trader Joe’s cheese & truffle flavored corn snacks. These are Very GOOD and are made with real truffle.

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – Trader Joe’s Crispy Thai Chilies & sesame seed snack……I almost bought them. Maybe next time? Hope that they are still there.

DIFFERENT – Trader Joe’s Cassava and Coconut tortilla chips. I don’t know if I would like the coconut taste with salsa?

DIFFERENT – Trader Joe’s HOT crispy habanero peppers. Sure why not?

WEIRD – Trader Joe’s House cranberry cosmo Wine cocktail in a can. …..(ick)

NEW – Trader Joe’s dark chocolate dipped puffed peanut corn snacks……..OMG these are really great and extra hard to stop eating. Good luck stopping.

WEIRD – Twice shakers seasoning blend. For people who are to lazy to crush up a Twix.

WEIRD – Cinnamon Toast Crunch Cinnadust seasoning blend….Great for the same people that are too lazy to crush up cinnamon toast cereal. Just be stupid and buy all the leftover crumbs from the factory.

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW – General Mills Plentiful cereals in peanut butter coated flakes with nut and seed clusters….and cinnamon almond butter coated flakes with nut and seed clusters….his same brand of cereal put out a cereal called Clusters…..They thought they’s be slick changing the name…….

DIFFERENT and maybe NEW? Post Premier Protein in mixed berry almond flavor ???

DIFFERENT? and maybe NEW? = Post Premier Protein chocolate almond cereal..?????

NEW and maybe LIMITED EDITION – Pringles Scorching Wavy Loaded Nachos potato formed chips….Loaded nachos usually the Pringles are flavored well…but their chips are pressed potato and who knows what else.

DIFFERENT – Bumblebee Brand wild caught tuna seasoned with sriracha…….Not sure if that would be good? Would the sriracha be too strong without mayo for the tuna? But maybe it is good? I wonder?

DIFFERENT – Magnolia UBE sweet purple yam premium ice cream…..at a regular grocery store.

And there is usually something Oreo to be found.

DIFFERENT – Mrs Freshley’s Delux Oreo Mini Brownies with Oreo cookie pieces.

Oh WOW there’s more!

LIMITED EDITION Nabisco Mocha Caramel Latte ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED cookies……

Well that was the NEW, Weird, Different, Limited, and Special Edition foods out there for July 2022. Who knows WTFork I’ll come across next month?

The Forking Truth

Humane Society Vegan Carrot Lox Recipe – My Forking Thoughts on this Recipe

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This recipe is by Gabriela Duhart who is a consultant with Humane Society International. I came across this recipe and thought wow it would be pretty cool to make carrot lox. I thought I’d give this recipe a try on my home made mini bagels (mini bagel recipe not published as of yet)

Ingredients for around 4 servings

4 carrots – boiled for 8 minutes and cooled

2 Tablespoons caper brine (liquid from a jar of capers)

2 Tablespoons soy sauce

1 Tablespoon miso paste

1 Tablespoon olive oil

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon finely chopped dill

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

2/3 cup warm water

Directions

Slice the carrots into thin strips or sheets using a fine knife or vegetable peeler.

in a bowl (or a ziplock bag) combine the remaining ingredients and the carrots.

Marinate the carrots in the refrigerator. One hour will add little flavor. I tried them after letting them sit overnight and I thought the dominate flavor was soy sauce. Then I let them go longer. I thought I got the most and best flavors around 5 days latter.

Remove carrots from marinade and serve.

Humane Society Vegan Carrot Lox on home made mini bagel

I think that if you are vegan that this is a good recipe………..but……. It doesn’t actually taste like real lox plain. But it almost taste like lox in the home made mini bagel all dressed up. Those were my FORKING Thoughts on The Humane Society Vegan Lox Recipe.

The Forking Truth