Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Goldbelly.com brings you a taste of ZAHAV – James Beard Award Wining Restaurant from Philadelphia PA

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Goldbelly is an on-line marketplace of special foods from special restaurants from around the country.

Zahav in Philadelphia PA is a multi award wining and James Beard award wining Modern Israeli restaurant by James Beard multi award wining chef and co-owner Michael Solomonov. In 2019 Zahav earned a James Beard Best Restaurant in the Country Award.

www.onlyinyourstate.com
www.cnn.com
www.PhillyEater.com
www.BillyPenn.com

Years ago I found out about Zahav Restaurant on the Travel Channel watching an Anthony Bourdain show. I knew one day that I would dine there (since I am from Philadelphia) and I did. It truly was an amazing experience. We had so many small plates to share and each and everyone of them was delicious and awesome. It truly was one of the most amazing dinners that I ever had to this day. They were all so nice to me there too. They treated us like VIPS too! We got to sit in front of the exhibition kitchen and watch all the magic. We watched as breads were baking in an Arabic wood oven called a taboon and we watched cooks acrobatics with skewered meats and fish were cooking on live coals. The funny thing is that I didn’t recognize the chef but he looked so familiar to me. I honestly thought maybe he was someone that I used to work with long ago in a restaurant in a suburb not so far away. The chef looked at me maybe because I was looking at him……I was trying to figure out if I knew him. Anyways he sent out some extra food to us and the management and host(s) were very chatty with us.

This is my photo of the salatim (small plates of salads) we enjoyed from Zahav in Philadelphia that you start out with….

Zahav Restaurant Philadelphia PA

www.OnlyInYourState.com also used my photo.

I had gift credit to buy something from Goldbelly and picked the salatim from Zahav that includes their best in the world hummus. ( it’s made with special sesame seeds that are grown and made into tahini for this restaurant.) I measured out the hummus in 2 oz portion cups and figured that I got twelve generous portions of that special hummus. I also got twelve large pita breads that are two servings each for me so I did have a lot of hummus and pita to freeze for latter.

It doesn’t look very attractive when it arrives.

Everything is numbered so you can look up what each bag contains on a cheat sheet.

It looks better in your own dishes. You can eat it after it sits out for an hour to warm up slightly.

I was so anxious to taste the hummus that I didn’t wait for it to warm properly. I wasn’t thrilled as I remembered but then when I tried it again warmed up then it was like 10 times better and closer to what I remember but it still does differ slightly from Zahav. The Hummus at Zahav is made fresh in the morning and doesn’t get refrigerated. It’s made the highest quality ingredients that can be grown and is topped with a high quality olive oil. They did serve the hummus to us with laffa bread at the restaurant. It’s a more delicate thin bread than pita bread we got packaged for Goldbelly.

Our mutual top favorites were the hummus, schug sauce, harissa, twice cooked eggplant, and spicy fennel…..But everything was very good….The beets taste more like the hummus than beets….so I liked them a lot. These dishes brought back the memory of the amazing food from Zahav.

It’s so cool that you can order food from famous restaurants from all over the country on Goldbelly. ……

Goldbelly.com brings you a taste of Zahav – James Beard Award Wining Restaurant.

What would you order from Goldbelly?

www.Goldbelly.com

The Forking Truth

Most FANTABULOUS Dinner of 2021 – Confluence Restaurant in Carefree AZ – Stupendously Impressive – Worth a Fork!

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Fantabulous means – Top of the line, marvelously great, peachy keen, and DYNAMITE!

Confluence is a small restaurant located in Carefree Arizona just above North Scottsdale. This restaurant serves an ever-changing menu of elevated modern American cuisine.

They always start you out with some sort of delicious house made bread. Tonight it came with olive oil and white vinegar.

We started out by sharing an amazing cold detailed appetizer of kampachi crudo.

The fish is clean and buttery and is enhanced with baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, radish, supreme grapefruit, red onions peanuts and laced with ponzu. It’s light and refreshing but also interesting.

This next one is a drop the mic moment. Sorry my picture doesn’t do it justice.

Above is the miso braised wagyu beef cheek. (Insert the sound of angels singing)

OMG it’s one of the most amazing things that I have ever eaten and I am not a beef person.

This beef isn’t like any beef that I’ve had anywhere……It’s so tender that you don’t need teeth. It really does just melt in your mouth.

The combination of everything on the plate is simply FANTABULOUS! It’s miso braised beef cheek with fried forbidden black rice, kimchi, miso emulsion, lotus root chips, garlic chips, and pickled ginger.

Both dinners were masterfully prepared to perfection……both were fish and both were much better than from any fish house that I’ve been to.

My husband went with the branzino.

This is one of the only restaurants that crisps and seasons the fish skin in a way that I can eat it. The fish also always. comes with something interesting and and very detailed that you won’t get anywhere else…..

On the side of the branzino is house prepared fettuccini with Parmesan, pancetta, kale, crimini mushrooms, eggplant, and white anchovies. My husband usually doesn’t order fish but this one was maybe the best that he has ever tried anywhere.

I went with the grilled steelhead.

Look how crisp the skin is…..It eats like a seasoned. potato chip. You just don’t get this almost. anywhere.

Under the perfectly prepared fish is a combination of wild rice, cauliflower, carrots, celery, scallions in a fumet (reduced stock).

Dessert should never be missed at Confluence because desserts here are ALWAYS as detailed and amazing as the food.

Tonight we tried the smoked toffee risotto.

It’s full of all kinds of surprising textures and flavors that have a confluence together…….The risotto is a very elevated kind of rice pudding with spiced pear, cocoa nibs, hazelnut, mint, and maybe orange zest.

I’ve had some Yum-Dingers this year but This dinner from Confluence in Carefree AZ was the most FANTABULOUS Dinner of 2021. It was stupendously impressive and Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.restaurantConfluence.com

Everything is subject to change. Remember that the menus change often so don’t wait.

The Forking Truth

Halloween Special Edition – All New BAD FOOD Served to me in Metro Phoenix AZ

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My claws come out on Halloween. This is an all new collection of bad and the most frightful food that was served to me in Metro Phoenix Arizona in the past year or so. I already wrote about all of these restaurants so I don’t feel the need to name them again. It is not my intention to put down any restaurant too much. I mentioned them once and once is enough. If you read my blog then you know what restaurants these were.

Got these roasted vegetables somewhere in Metro Phoenix. Half were all shriveled up and chewy and the other half were RAW and crunchy.

Even children know that hummus is suppose to be a creamy dip. Somebody served me hummus that was thick like modeling clay.

Did take out from a brand new seafood restaurant and seafood market in Peoria. A few things were good but a lot was BAD. At the bottom of the photo is a large burro. The steak meat in it was chewy and we waited 30 minutes for it. They didn’t even bother to heat it for us. Here’s a better look at more of the BAD from this place.

This was the worst fish taco that I have ever had and it didn’t even come with a lime. The fish was so strong that it could do push ups. Fish was a throw away. I thought the food would be good here so I purchased a fish for dinner.

It was edible but wasn’t so fresh and smelled. So bummed I really wanted this place to be good.

Here’s another Fish Story.

You might think that I already ate this fish.

The FORKING TRUTH is that I opened up the fish and almost all the flesh was removed. I will never go back to this particular Thai Restaurant in Peoria. Come on…it’s not right to remove all the fish from someone’s meal. They don’t seriously expect anyone to come back for another do they?

The next one doesn’t look bad at all but it WAS REALLY BAD! ( I blurred out the one ok dish)

It’s like what do you want to try today?

Meat tough like leather?

Chicken that can be used for bungy cords with raw tasting starch? (this chicken was so rubbery and strong that you could pull out a tree with it)

Or meat so tough that you can chew and chew all night long and never get it down?

This restaurant should be named Tough MEATS R Us.

OMG this was so bad that I can’t believe this restaurant is in business.

Nothing is as stomach turning as bad sushi.

I tried one and was done. It was very fishy tasting…It turned my stomach. This place used to serve very really very good sushi. They went from hero to zero.

Went to a new upper end restaurant somewhere in metro Phoenix….Yes I ordered fish and it was so fishy tasting it was impossible to eat.

The waiter told me that Bronzino is always fishy because the flesh is so close to the skin (that is BULLSH*T)…….This fish was FORKING OLD…..This did go back and they did prepare me another fish dish that was good.

Sometimes food can be fresh but awful.

This was suppose to be bulgogi risotto.

It FORKING tasted like they put the bulgogi in a blender with cream cheese and then mixed in some rice and a few kernels of corn. This was more like vomit on a skillet.

I thought it would be impossible to really screw up a smoked fish…Well I was wrong.

This one looks very good but it wasn’t.

It taste like ammonia, fishy fish, smoke, mixed with funk. I couldn’t eat it. the fennel orange salad lacked fennel and was mostly fizzy bitter lettuce accented with sour oranges.

This plate also looks good…..but is one of the worst WHOLE PLATEs that I ever had anywhere.

Well start on the left. There is a mahi mahi fish that is coated in a GOD-AWFUL rub, GOD AWFUL house-made reduced balsamic and mango avocado salsa. The combination is impossible to stomach. The only thing that I can eat on the plate are the green beans. Under the green beans is candied red cabbage (ICK!), Next is a cup of jalapeño creamed corn….that looks and sounds good but isn’t……Someone dumped a whole bag of sugar in it and it is sickening……It is way sweeter than any dessert. This whole combination is one of the worst whole plates that I have ever been served anywhere. I think when a restaurant serves food that is this bad they need to loose their license because this was a crime. I could sure understand someone getting unhinged over this dish.

Trying to eat this was pure torture. (and the sangria that went with it was made from OLD SPOILED wine……) They are lucky that I am not the kind of person that gets unhinged….

I tried to eat it but it was too painful. Whoever prepared this missed their calling to cook at the local jail. The server didn’t make a peep when they cleared my plate of food and the full drink………I guess that means this happens often there?

Thought that I was done with bad food. Next is the only restaurant that I have never mentioned by name on my blog. This restaurant recently opened (newly opened restaurant)….It was bad when I walked in for lunch (20 minutes after they opened)….They just opened and all the tables were filthy. (Note to self…When you walk into a restaurant and see only dirty tables leave.) I should have left. Our server said pick any table. I thought she’d wipe it off for us but didn’t……then things got worst.

All the food we tried was mediocre. But the most memorable (in a bad way) was the complimentary chips and salsa.

You’d think that packaged chips can’t be screwed up but that isn’t so…….They didn’t warm the chips at the correct temperature and they taste burnt……:( The salsa taste like a ten year old experimented with a can of crushed tomatoes and added too much dry oregano and then tried to doctored it up with bottled hot sauce. I only went to this restaurant because of all the 5 star reviews and the pictures of food that looked amazing on Yelp. The reviews must have been from friends and the photos I saw of the food must have come from someplace else.

Going out to eat can be scary!

This was the Halloween Special Edition Of All NEW Bad Food served to me in Metro Phoenix.

Happy Halloween!

The Forking Truth

No-Recipe Recipe Beef Osso Buco

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Osso buco is usually a veal shank that is cross cut and braised in vegetables, white wine and stock. It is traditionally served with risotto or polenta and is topped with gremolata. This dish is usually expensive in restaurants.

This dish is pretty easy to make. It is hard to find shanks of any kind. Near where I live they sell beef shanks at my local Asiana Market. They sell mostly the smallest ones.

Anyways.

Just salt and pepper the shanks well.

Brown them on medium high heat on both sides (around 3 minutes a side). (It will come out tasting best if you saved beef fat from something you cooked……you can use oil.

Don’t clean the pan or pot.

Fry up a big onion, a few carrots, one hot pepper, a few celery till almost soft. Add a cup of white wine and let it cook down.

Add around half a can of tomato paste and try to fry it up at the bottom of the pan or pot.

Add around a 14 oz can of Italian tomatoes.

Add 2 bay leaves, Tablespoon thyme, Tablespoon oregano, 3 or 4 garlic cloves. I had seasoned beef jus from something else I made so I added that.

Then it all goes in a baking dish or pan….Or you can do this stove top if you prefer.

This gets covered tight.

It will take at least 3 hours at 375 F The last one I did was a little bigger and took 5 hours. You might need to check on it and add more liquid.

When it finally becomes tender remove the foil that covers the pan and let it go another half hour.

Suggested serving is risotto or polenta.

I had mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts that I had to use up so that is what we had.

Top the meat with some of the contents of the pan…(some people blend this up Osso it’s smooth…but I didn’t)


beef osso buco

Top with gremolata. (parsley, orange & lemon zest, garlic (ground to paste), salt , pepper.

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Just a Taste of Smoked Food Festival at Ocotillo Phoenix AZ 2021 Hosted by Arizona Foodie

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The Smoked food festival was held Sunday October 17th 2021 at Ocotillo restaurant, coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, and park near downtown Phoenix Arizona.

The event was hosted by Arizona Foodie Diana Brandt. This festival is called Smoked because it features smoked food, smoked drinks and more!

Here are random pictures from Smoked 2021.

That was just a taste of Smoked Food Festival hosted by Arizona Foodie at Ocotillo in Phoenix AZ.

The Forking Truth

Radish Carrot Salad with Parmesan Custard, Onion Jam, Tarragon Oil

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I had leftovers like parmesan custards, onion jam, and tarragon oil. If you cook along with me you too can have those kinds of leftovers..LOL! I figured that if I make a simple salad of 20 second blanched radishes and carrots and toss them in a basic lemon dressing (I didn’t even measure…basically one lemon (juice and a little zest to top the parmesan custard), a big squirt of olive oil, a spoon of dijon, tiny squirt of honey, some sea salt and pepper. That’s really all it is…..

For the carrot flower you need a little thingy that looks like a pencil sharpener for carrots.

Most of the radishes are shredded. Some radishes were sliced.

I roasted off some peppers that were getting old. (350 F 30 minutes a spray of oil salt and pepper.

I made the tarragon drops with a chop stick.

I spooned a spoonful of onion jam and used the end of the spoon and dragged it across the plate.

That’s how I did this plate and you can to if you care to.

Radish Carrot Salad with Parmesan Custard, Onion Jam, Tarragon Oil

A few basil leaves, some thyme.

The Forking Truth

Not Every Dish a Restaurant Serves is for Your Taste…..Or maybe there were some screw ups in the kitchen?

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It is Restaurant Week here in Phoenix Arizona. Around a hundred and fifty restaurants are participating and are offering three course meals for set prices of $33., $44., and $55. Usually I look forward to going to a restaurant or two that I have never tried before during Restaurant Week. Tonight we made reservations to Fuego at The Clarendon in Phoenix. It’s a Latin Fusion type of restaurant. I do note that this restaurant has earned a 4.5 star average out of 5 stars on Yelp from nearly 900 people so that means that most people enjoy what they order here.

It looks like this when you walk in.

To left is a musician playing the piano.

To the right is the cool looking bar area.

We get seated in the main dining area. It’s early and it’s already a very energetic atmosphere.

All around the main dining area is a wrap around patio. We start with margaritas that seem good.

My husband gets an extra starter and starts with a cubano sandwich off the happy hour menu. (only $5.)

He said that the cubano was very good and tasty……THE CUBANO WAS VERY GOOD!

I soon get my appetizer the salmon croquette.

It looks nice but taste fishy….not spoiled fishy…It taste like the type of fishy fish my local Safeway sells. I’m hungry so I eat it anyway.

My husband got the pernil nachos.

They also look nice. But you can’t see that the pork is dried out tonight. Or maybe this one sat under a heat lamp too long and the fresher ones were carried out first?

I just received my complimentary red sangria. It taste like it was made not good, past it’s time wine. I can’t drink it……………. just tasting it makes me feel queasy now….

I soon get my dinner.

Most of the food on this plate looks great but most of the food doesn’t agree with my palate.

To the right is a cup of jalapeno creamed corn. I can only imagine that someone slipped in the kitchen and accidentally dumped a whole bag of sugar into it. It is so painfully sweet I thought I’d get sick eating it. It’s sweeter than dessert sweet. The green beans are good and very garlic-ee……..I forget what was under them (something like sweet cabbage?). but I couldn’t eat it. The salsa on top of the fish seemed good but whatever the fish is coated with taste unpalatable to me. I tried to scrape the exterior of the fish off but didn’t do so well.

This is what I left on the plate. I tried to eat it but couldn’t.

I’m surprised that nobody said anything to me……….about this.

Anywho-

My husband had different issues from his meal (surf and turf pasta).

It is very hard to eat a steak that is served in a bowl of loose pasta. My husband said that the steak and the pasta had little flavor. The person that ran the food promised to bring salt and pepper but never came back with any………….My husband said, that the beans had an unusual taste in them that he didn’t like. The signature jalapeño corn bread was tasty but very sweet and very rich. At some point during dinner someone did ask how things were….I lied and said ok. My husband was surprised that they accepted the ok the way I said it………. I’ve worked in restaurants. Some chefs are professionals…..and some are not. Some chefs get very unhinged when food gets sent back. You don’t want to know how some chefs get and what they might do to your food that gets “re-fired.” I pretty much never send food back when it isn’t an open kitchen.

Moving on…

For our third course we shared the key lime pie and the ancho chile torte.

These are both very good.

The good news is that currently Fuego at The Clarendon has a 4.5 average on Yelp from close to 900 people so that means that most people order dishes at Fuego at The Clarendon that they enjoy.

BUT The FORKING Truth is – Not every dish a restaurant serves is for your taste…..or maybe they just had some screw ups in the kitchen?

Remember that the cubano sandwich, key lime pie, and ancho chile torte are recommended.

www.FuegoBistro.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The FANTABULOUS Dish – The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

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The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.

The FORKING Amazing FnB Restaurant is located in the arts district by Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The restaurant is co-owned by James Beard Award Wining chef Charleen Badman. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary sharing plates that often feature local vegetables. The menu is vegetable heavy but also features enough meat to please meat eaters. Arizona wines are always featured on the menu.

We enjoyed an amazing meal like we always do at FnB but one dish really stood out. So much so that I actually dreamed about it that night. The flash fried eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots, garlic, pistachios, and honey…….

You can’t make this dish at home because you’d never be able to purchase the speciality farm fresh eggplant that this dish was made with………..and even if you could find such an eggplant who on earth can give you a big slab of eggplant that is very hard to describer but is firm…that you could cut like a potato, but also sort of custardy. This eggplant was extra special….like an eggplant just grown for the GODS……..The flavors were so different and so delicious and unlike anything imaginable with eggplant. They were a genius embellishment. But what was phenomenal was the texture and taste of the eggplant. This eggplant was sweet like white eggplant and seemed seedless. This was really FANTABULOUS eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots and pickled garlic. (I think I dreamed fennel was also in it….not sure if that was real or just added on in my dream ?) All that countered with the pistachios and just the right amount of honey was darn yummy. This eggplant was firm almost like a custardy potato with the skin falling off like the way fish skin can fall off. The eggplant was cooked but wasn’t oily…..It was a magical kind of firm texture but almost custardy texture unlike any eggplant that I have ever had anywhere. It was so light and so delicious and was so easy to whoof down.

The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ is an official FANTABULOUS Dish.

www.FnBRestaurant.com

The Forking Truth

Mostarda Style Acorn Squash Recipe and Taleggio are FORKING AMAZING Together

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I did a little bit of research on the web to find the best pairings for taleggio cheese. I read on www.LaCucinaItaliana.com that Italian love to pair taleggio cheese with mostarda. You might be wondering WTFork is mostarda. To keep things as simple as possible mostarda is a spicy northern Italian condiment made usually (but not always) of candied fruit and a mustard flavored syrup. I also read on La Cucina Italiana that there are six basic types of mostarda. One happened to be squash and then I got the idea in my head to make a mostarda style acorn squash so I could use that on my taleggio pizza. OMG!!! It was one of the most delicious pizzas that I have ever eaten. Even my husband couldn’t believe how amazing it was…He said that he was frightened of it but when he tasted it he just never imagined that it would be so delicious. You can read on how I make pizza dough on www.TheForkingTruth.com

This is how I made the acorn squash mostarda.

Makes around 8 servings

One squash cut in around 3/4 inch 1/2 rings with the seeds and membranes removed

1 cup sugar

1 lemon (the juice)

2 Tablespoon mustard powder

1-2 Tablespoons Pommery Moutarde Royale mustard (French Cognac mustard)

1/2 cup water

sea salt to taste

pepper to taste

Set oven to 350 degrees F

Spread out squash on a baking sheet with edges or a baking dish. Lightly salt and pepper the squash.

In a small bowl mix up the sugar, lemon juice, mustard powder, mustard, water, Pour it over the squash and cover with foil. Place on the middle rack for 30 minutes. It will be messy but after 30 minutes flip the squash and in around 15 minutes the squash will be done. Use this mostarda style squash to pair with taleggio cheese.

I also added some pickled leeks to the top of the pizza….I was too busy to take a nice photo of the pizza. But here are some other pizzas I made.

Leek pizza
heirloom tomato pizza

Here is the acorn squash mostarda.

Acorn Squash Mostarda

Acorn Squash Mostarda and Taleggio Cheese are FORKING Amazing together.

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

What I Forking Ate and Wine Tasted around Sedona Arizona

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It’s only a little over a ninety minute ride for us to hop in the car and visit the beautiful red rocks of Sedona Arizona. There are the usual tourist shops to visit, some antique shops, jeep tours, some Arizonian wine tasting rooms to do too and more!

Our first stop was Clarksdale.

Our first stop was Violette’s Bakery. They offer some all day breakfast items, a few all day lunch sandwiches, and fine French Style pastries. I saw this place on a local TV show and they said this is a MUST destination if you are in the area. The bakery is a small postage stamp sized place that is actually a small caboose without indoor seating. You sit around the train car or inside this added on edition.

You wait in line at the train with a tiny bakery inside.

It looks like this when you get to the window.

On the day I went they had one person that cooks and one person to take orders and this one person also serves the tables.

Today it was hot…like 100 degrees F….The wait to the window is painfully slow even if you aren’t too far in line. We were around 6th in line and we waited a good twenty minutes to get to the window.

We ordered a bananas foster crepe to share. We paid, tipped and sat ourselves. We were told that it would be around ten minutes.

We waited thirty minutes and never got our crepe. (bahhhh!) My husband tried to find out what happened but couldn’t push threw the tight packed tiny line of people so we just left. (*******As a slight update I’ve just been contacted by someone from the bakery and she wants to make things right).

Then we drove to Cottonwood.

First stop was Merkin Tasting room and Osteria.

Merkin offers plenty of tasting and eating options. They also make fresh pastas here and various lasagna cupcakes.

We did the red wine tasting.

It was a nice start. They all seemed like lighter red wines…Nice to start out like that.

Next we did lunch at the Tavern Grille across the street.

It was packed already. We were lucky to get a seat.

I got an ahi tuna salad.

My husband got the stuffed meatloaf (ham & cheese) and it came with a bowl of hardy chili. All was ok.

Next was Arizona Stronghold for wine tasting.

We shared red flight A.

I thought these wine had quality and character to them. I thought they all were good but some did have more bells and whistles than others.

We also stopped at Pillsbury Tasting room.

Pillsbury makes good wines…a few of the red wines were as rich as some California wines.

Then we had dinner at The Hudson in Sedona.

I made my reservation more than a month in advance and all the patio tables were already booked so I could only get a table inside.

Beautiful mountain views here.

We shared a HOUSE SMOKED salmon bruschetta with pesto cream cheese…(This was really good!)

My husband had a mushroom (ground in house) burger. (it was a little dry).

I had a south west salmon Caesar salad.

The tortilla strips made it southwest. It was thoughtful to put cheese cloth on the lemon to prevent seeds from squirting out. I thought that was a nice touch. I’m not sure why my southwest salad had a lavosh cracker but it was tasty…….I didn’t expect this since the appetizer was so good but……My salmon tasted fishy so they took it off our bill.

The next day we spent some time downtown at various places.

Lunch was at a place located by a small airport called Mesa Grille that is actually built on a mountain masa…(not from Bobby Flay).

You have to go up a steep mountain for a short distance to get there.

You have great views here and you might see a small plane or two take off.

The food at Mesa Grille is NOT TYPICAL airport food. What we tried was surprisingly detailed, interesting and delicious.

We tried the crispy skin cornmeal crusted red trout with spinach, green chili cheese grits, caper butter sauce, crispy vegetable salad, grilled lemon, and crispy trout skin chicharron.

Our other dish was blackened salmon asada with red bell peppers, onions, pico de gallo, guacamole, borracho beans, grilled street corn and hand made tortillas.

Mesa Grille in Sedona was a really great stop! Both plates were really great!

Next we tried a few wineries in Cottonwood. Javelina Leap and Page Springs.

Javelina Leap offers a style of wine that isn’t my style…It’s not bad wine…Obviously it’s award wining wine…Just not my taste.

I forgot to take photos at Page Springs. I have to say that they make very good wine. I haven’t tried all the wineries out here but I have to say for me Page Springs was in the top two that I tried.

An unexpected thing had happened. I planed my trip about 6 weeks back and tonight’s dinner reservation was for Elote Cafe. It’s a good thing we stopped back at the hotel…Because I saw this on my computer from opentable that Elote Cafe cancelled my reservation. I am surprised that they didn’t call me to inform me. I was out all day and don’t carry my computer with me.

OMG! did I panic because I made my reservations SIX weeks back and had a lot of trouble. I couldn’t get a reservation on any patio anywhere I wanted and I couldn’t get a reservation for Mariposa Latin Grill………..

The first place I try to get a reservation for was Mariposa Latin Grill. The only reservation left was for 4:pm at the bar so I took it. Some sort of divine intervention happened. When we got to a front desk person my husband asked if they had a cancellation and asked if any table was available. They didn’t tell us and sat us in a great open dining area with amazing views. We also had the most FANTABULOUS Dinner. I will have to write about it after this. (It was only a few minutes after 4pm……during the week……..the dining room filled up quickly after I took photos.

That was what I ate and wine tasted around Sedona Arizona.

The Forking Truth