Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Take out FOOD in Metro Phoenix AZ During the CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 32 – La Piazza Al Forno, Peoria Artisan Brewery, Taylor’s Chowder House

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We hear on the news that delivery and take out have a lower risk of covid spread than dining in. So we have have been doing take out. We do plan to do some patio dining at off times.

Our first take out of the week was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They are a little different from most of the other pizza places. They offer certified Neapolitan pizzas and the mozzarella taste different because it’s made in house.

On the left is their Funghi Pizza. In the middle is the house salad and on the left is the Margherita. I’ve had the Margherita here a million times so I knew what to expect but I never had the Funghi (don’t call it mushroom here or else….you’ll be sorry…I did and I was….) It’s different than any other mushroom pizza I’ve tried anywhere. The cheeses are different because it’s their house made mozzarella, parmesan with fontina for a different taste but it’s the rosemary that is a really great touch. I think the rosemary is such a nice accent to mushroom or Funghi pizzas.

Our next take out was from Peoria Artisan Brewery in Peoria.

I got the strawberry salad with added salmon. My salad was mostly arugula and it was adorned with a little high quality blue cheese and some candied pecans. We shared some pickled fried vegetables that were interesting and my husband had the Italian beef sandwich with beef au jus. My dogs enjoyed some of the salmon and beef.

Last take out of the week was from Taylor’s Chowder House in Phoenix. They are a budget seafood restaurant where the portions are usually large and the prices are low.

We decided to try the house battered mozzarella sticks because they are only $6.95. WOW! Each piece is as big as a banana. They must have given us extra by accident. I tried the Idaho Brook Trout with almonds today. They gave me TWO fish filets topped with toasted almonds and bread crumbs. I picked the house vegetable that was zucchini marinara and a plain baked potato. My meal was only $14.95 and is two meals for me. My husband got the Two Plus Two (2 fried shrimp and 2 battered filets (cod)). It’s a lot of food….Even my husband couldn’t finish everything. There is also a roll we couldn’t get to yet. Taylor’s Chowder House is GREAT VALUE Seafood…When you consider the price and portion it is only fast food priced and is much better than fast food. My dogs enjoyed a little mozzarella stick and some fish.

That was week 32 of take out in metro Phoenix AZ during the coronavirus pandemic.

La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale

Peoria Artisan Brewery – Peoria

Taylor’s Chowder House – Phoenix

Every THING is subject to change and we hope everything does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Just a Little Taste of The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen in North Scottsdale AZ

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Here is just a little taste of the newly opened The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen in North Scottsdale. By the time you go there a permanent new sign might be on the building. They offer lots of patio dining that wraps around the building. There are also windows on garage type doors that open up to extend the patio.

The inside is bright, airy, rich and modern.

To the left of the entrance is an in-house distillery and also another dining area.

To the right is the main area of the restaurant.

The menu offers many interesting sounding things to try. The menu is mostly American. The chef is from the fine dining Italian restaurant that used to be located in North Scottsdale called Sassi.

For our first visit we did some take out.

We started out by sharing (top left) a small order of lollipop wings over blue cheese slaw. They were manicured very nicely and were tasty and tender. They were not too tangy or too hot so most people would like them. The slaw seemed fresh made and liked getting the big chunks of blue cheese every now and then.

For my main I tried the wagyu pastrami on pretzel bun with a side salad.

The pastrami is flavored very nicely. The pretzel bun is also very good and is toasted to perfection. I got some crunchy fresh slaw on the side. But the roll It’s just too large for my taste so I eat the sandwich on just the smaller bottom part of the bun and I still have a good amount of bread. They forgot to give me the caraway mustard that it is suppose to come with so I don’t know how that would be. I do have to say that the side salad was very above average for a side salad. All the vegetables tasted unusually fresh and flavorful. Even the carrots didn’t taste like supermarket carrots and I like the flavorful house dressing too.

My husband tried the hammer and anvil porchetta sandwich on ciabatta with house potato chips.

He got a sandwich packed with pork shoulder, Craftsman sausage, rapini, cheddar, and for him herb aioli on the side. Perhaps from the car ride home the porchetta got sort of dry……But need to mention that the sausage, rapini, herb aioli and cheese were exceptionally good. The potato chips were also very good. Nice and thin and seemed free of oil.

That was just a little taste of The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen in North Scottsdale.

www.TheCraftsmanAZ.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Take Out Food In Metro Phoenix AZ During the CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 31 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen, Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante, Chino Bandido

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Experts say that take out food is a less risky option than dining in during the pandemic so we are doing take out instead of dining in. We will consider patio dining as soon as the weather is nice.

Our first stop for take out was from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They offer around a dozen different Banh Mi baguette sandwiches, many Vietnamese favorites, but no pho here. Portions are very large and prices are low.

Today we both got rice plates. They come with an enormous amount of moist delicious tender meat, pork egg rolls, rice, pickled vegetables, fish sauce (to dip meat in) and chili sauce. For many people this can be two meals. We recommend getting the grilled chicken (thigh), shaken beef (rib eye that is tender like filet mignon), Grilled pork. These plates are a value at only $10.00 each. My dogs are always very yappy…I mean happy to help eat all this delicious meat.

“We LOVE eating Banh Mi Bistro Food!”

Another brand NEW restaurant opened in North Scottsdale that we wanted to try called The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen. The chef is from a very nice restaurant that we used to go to called Sassi. They offer an interesting American type menu and have a distillery in house. The restaurant is big, bright, modern and airy. They also offer lots of patio seating.

We took out wings, a porchetta sandwich with chips and a wagyu pastrami sandwich with a side salad. Some things we really liked a lot. Some things might not have traveled well. My dogs sure enjoyed what I gave them.

We also did take out from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

We got the most delicious mushroom pizza ever and we tried the truffle pasta special. The dogs got different leftovers.

Last take out of the week was curbside pick up from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. Chino Bandido is famous for offering Chinese Take Out Style, Mexican Style and more BIG PAN Combos of food that is only priced starting at less than $10.00 and also comes with a big snickerdoodle cookie. The combo is two selections from the menu. You can upgrade either or both entrees into a quesadilla. Then pick a rice and pick a beans….It goes something like that…….Maybe you want a jade chicken quesadilla with carnitas jerk rice and refried beans????????? Or maybe you want egg foo young with pollo diablo with black beans and steamed rice????? Food Network calculated that you can pick from over 80,000 different combinations.

On the left my husband got hengrenade chicken, a Chile relleno, white rice and black beans. On the right I got a chile relleno, emerald chicken, white rice and black beans. The Chile relleno is always good. They use a fresh tasting pepper and stuff it with lots of cheese and give the pepper a crushed cracker coating. My favorite protein there is the emerald chicken. It’s a moist sliced breast with a gingery-garlic and onion type sprinkle. But my husband likes the hengrenade chicken better because it has a coating and is flavorful and spicy. This time we got sides of the spicy hot pepper, garlic, onion sauce. WOW that stuff peps thing up. Oh and did I mention that these are BIG PANS of food. My husband ate most of his but I get another meal out of mine. We also share one of the snickerdoodle cookies and I had lots to share with my dogs too!

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”

Week 31 of take out food in Metro Phoenix AZ during the coronavirus pandemic.

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – North Phoenix

The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen – North Scottsdale

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Chino Bandido – North Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

WARNING Food Related “Fluff” Story Today Dogs Catching Treats

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I’m spending more time at home these days. I find that I am entertaining my dogs more too. My dogs enjoy catching treats and it is challenging to toss a treat and snap a picture with my phone. Well Thursdays are my freestyle day and this IS FOOD RELATED so…WTFork here we go…. Here’s a small collection of the photos I took of My Dogs Catching Treats….P.S. I warned you that this was a FLUFF story.

That’s my Food Related “FLUFF” Story Today …Dogs Catching Treats

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of Jalapeño Inferno (N. Peoria) Just Biryani (N. Phoenix) in North Phoenix AZ

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Two weeks in a row I got to visit two brand new restaurants in North Phoenix. Last week I got to try out Jalapeño Inferno in Peoria at Park West. It is a Sonoran Style Mexican restaurant with a few outside patios and a beautiful bright modern decor and lots of outside patio seating on multiple patios.

This time I did take out.

We started out with chips and salsas.

Their red salsa is extra mild and is only mildly seasoned. The jalapeño inferno sauce (green $3.00 extra) is so hot that you can’t eat it. It does have good flavors to it but as someone who likes hot food I can only use a drop of it on my food.

For my main I went with the naked poblano.

I thought the poblano would be stuffed but it is on the side of cubed chicken breast, corn and black beans in a creamy corn sauce that was sprinkled with pomegranate. It’s tasty and doesn’t seem too heavy. A little fresh cilantro and scallions would go a long way here….but it’s still good.

My husband went with a combo plate.

He got a tamale, a burrito and a chili relleno with rice and beans. He was happy with it and said that everything was tasty.

That was what we tried from Jalapeño Inferno in Peoria at Park West.

www.JalapenoInferno.com

This week I got to try Just Biryani in North Phoenix. It’s an Indian Restaurant with over 20 different Biryani dishes on the menu. It’s also a cheerful and clean looking restaurant.

Today we did take out.

We started out by sharing the samosa chaat.

It’s chana masala (seasoned chickpeas) with sauces and wet bread (might be the samosas but it seems like bread in here). It’s full of exotic flavors herbs, onions, fried vermicelli and some mild heat. I think the sauces on the side might be chutney and raita but are unlike any I had before. These are both have a water-like consistency and are ultra delicate with flavor.

We then shared the gongura chicken biryani.

It’s mainly fluffy rice with a little raw onion, half an egg and some seasoned very tender boneless chicken with some exotic flavors and slight heat.

We also shared the ulavacharu chicken biryani.

This one is also mostly fluffy rice, raw onion and half an egg with a small amount of chicken on the bone. This dish has very little flavor. I never had an Indian dish like this before.

www.DosaGrillAZ.com (this restaurant was previously a Dosa Grill)

Those were my experiences at Jalapeño Inferno at Park West in Peoria and Just Biryani in North Phoenix two of the new restaurants in North Phoenix AZ.

Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out Food In Metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week – 30 CHZBURGR, Just Biryani, Pomo Pizzeria, Chula Seafood

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We have been doing take out during the coronavirus pandemic because experts say that there is less risk to catch the virus if you do take out instead of dining in. We are also trying to give support to as many small business restaurants as possible because they are all suffering during this crisis. Besides we are spending much less these days on shopping, groceries, entertainment and vacations that we missed. We have a little extra to treat ourselves to extra take out food. The weather will be nicer soon and we hope to do patio dining soon at off times on uncrowded patios.

Our first take out of the week was from CHZBURGR in Glendale. They serve especially great cheeseburgers and fried chicken thigh sandwiches. They also offer hot dogs, milk shakes, specials children’s meals and MORE! It’s hard to believe but the food is only priced about the same as from Jack In The Box and is a BILLION TIMES better than from Jack In The Box.

Crispy Chicken Thigh, Triple CHZBURGR and Tots

I had the crispy chicken thigh sandwich. The chicken is very good, moist juicy, flavorful, nicely seasoned and crispy. To elevate the sandwich they use hand made pickles, Asian mayonnaise and I was told that the buns are special and come from a Philadelphia Bakery. I liked it best when Calabrian Peppers was an option to add on. They haven’t had them lately so I just add my own on and it taste amazing that way. My husband always gets the Triple CHZBURGR. He says that it is just perfect. He says the fat, juice and cheese ratio is perfect. The tots are really good here too. My dogs can’t wait to eat some chicken.

Next take out from from a brand new restaurant that just opened in North Phoenix called Just Biryani.

We started out by trying the samosa chaat. It’s seasoned chickpeas with exotic flavors, a little heat, sauces and wet bread mixed in. Then we shared the gongura and ulavacharu chicken biryani dishes. They both are mostly fluffy rice with a little raw onion and half a boiled egg and a small amount of chicken. The gongura is made with tender boneless chicken. It has more flavors and some heat compared to the bone in ulavachara chicken biryani. My dogs got to try some.

Then we did take out from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale. They an Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. They are currently running a limited special fresh Burgundy Truffle Menu that we ordered from.

We started by sharing the tortelloni tartu. OOOOOOh this is really great! It’s like a twisted spinach ravioli stuffed with ricotta and gorgonzola cheese in a buttery sauce with truffles. This is really great! I also really liked the Bianco pizza. This pizza is ultra thin like paper. It’s topped with DELICIOUS stracchino, mozzarella, parmigiana cheeses, and truffles. My lucky dogs got some cheese and truffles.

Last take out of the week was from Chula Seafood in Phoenix. We took out the Saturday Surprise grilled Alaskan Halibut Collar for TWO special ($35.)

We got a very large halibut collar, a root vegetable tangine, herbed couscous, za’atar labneh and roti bread. WOW! it’s really great and everything goes together well. It’s a big portion of fish too. Had enough for two dinners and some left over for a lunch. Glad I was able to do this special.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”

That was week 30 of take out in Metro Phoenix AZ during the coronavirus pandemic.

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Just Biryani – North Phoenix

Pomo Pizzeria – Scottsdale

Chula Seafood – Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Italian Red Meat Flavor (Italian Braise) Potato Chips from China

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I picked up these Lay’s Italian Red Meat Flavor Potato Chips at an Asian Market so I thought I’d give them a try. The bag is small and is less than 1 1/2 ounces.

Here’s what the back looks like.

Here are the ingredients. It reads like it might be free of meat.

It also reads Italian braise flavor?

Whatever-

I open it up and take a whiff.

This one smells.

It smells like a combination of fried pastries and burnt tomato sauce.

I’m afraid to try them now.

Oh no here they come.

They are powdery and greasy and have an orange complexion.

I go to taste one.

It’s not horrible…….but it’s not good………It sort of taste like it smells…..Sort of like burnt tomato sauce but sweetened…….

I’m not a fan of this flavor

I note that your opinion and experience may indeed differ…

The Forking Truth

Take Out Food During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 29 – The Rec Detroit Style Pizza, Confluence, Jalapeño Inferno, Rocket Burger

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Instead of dining in at restaurants we have been doing take out because experts say that take out food involves less risk to catch the coronavirus during the pandemic. We will consider dining out on uncrowded patios when the weather gets nicer. Some experts do say that out side patio dining can be a safer alternative to dining in.

We haven’t been to The Rec Pizzeria in Peoria/#UpperWestSide in a while. They serve Detroit style pizza. Detroit style pizza is thick dough pizza that is cut in squares. It is cheesed up dough with a thick rich sauce dripped on top. But what is most different about it is the cheesy crisp crust ends.

Today this pizza is a slightly different batch than what I had the last few times. It’s still good but different. Not buttery tasting……Not as crisp and hard cheesy either. It used to taste like a grilled cheese on the bottom. (below is an old picture of what it used to be like)

It used to be just like a grilled cheese on the bottom

It’s still good but the cheese taste different too. Today it is more like a thick crust with a little Detroit style. Still good but different. Like the nice rich sauce on it. Gave my dogs a little cheese and leftovers from yesterday.

Next take out was Confluence Restaurant in Carefree. They are an upscale Modern American Restaurant. It’s a really amazing restaurant. The dinners from here are fabulous. They are always very detailed with wonderful ingredients that go together well in a magical kind of way.

We started out by sharing blistered shishito peppers with romesco, hazelnuts and basil. For my main I enjoyed fresh opah tacos with lime pickled cabbage, poblano chili, creama, and chili de arbol salsa with a side salad. My husband enjoyed the hardier pulled lamb and veal on house made sourdough bread that was packed with brussels sprout, oyster mushroom, red onion, and whole grain mustard. He picked the house made bbq chips for his side. My dogs didn’t mind a bit to sample the meats.

We tried a brand new restaurant that just opened this week in north Peoria called Jalapeño Inferno. It’s a Sonoran Style Mexican Restaurant.

They gave us a BIG bag of corn chips and very mild salsa. We got the inferno sauce. I got the naked poblano (chicken, corn and beans in corn sauce) and my husband tried a combo plate with rice and beans. The inferno sauce is too hot to use straight but if you only use a very small dab it really adds a lot of flavor. My dogs helped with some chicken and shredded beef.

Last Take out of the week was from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix. They serve a variety of sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, ice cream sodas and offer a big wall of around 300 different kinds of soda.

On the right is a double cheeseburger with fried onions. My husband said it is one of the best cheeseburgers around. It also travels well. On the left is the Mexican Fish sandwich with this CRAZY DELICIOUS SLAW with this awesome amount of YUM! It just has that perfect lime tang too it. They should bottle this and sell it somewhere. It is so delicious that it would make a hamster taste great. The fish is really big with a very light coating. It is so light and oil free hit almost doesn’t even seem fried. It just turns into a really delicious sandwich. I call it the Mexican Fish Sandwich but the actual name of the sandwich is called Pescado De Cohete and it’s only priced at $8.99. (double cheeseburger was only $7.) It’s only around the same price as Jack In The Box and it’s a MILLION times better than Jack In The Box…….My dogs were very happy to help eat the fish and cheeseburger.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”

That was week 29 of take out in metro Phoenix during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rec – North Peoria

Confluence – Carefree

Jalapeño Inferno – North Peoria

Rocket Burger – North Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Ruby Cacao Chocolate

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Chocolate comes in more flavors now. There is milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate (white chocolate is controversial and some people would say to not include it) and there is ruby chocolate.

My first experience trying the ruby chocolate flavor was from That’s Amore Gelato shop in North Scottsdale AZ.

Ruby is on the right half

To me it taste like a berry. I would say maybe raspberry or mixed berry with raspberry.

The very next week I found the NEW LIMITED EDITION Ruby Cacao coated Haagen Dazs ice cream bars so I bought them to try. I have a bar next to my 7in knife.

We usually share a dessert so I’m cutting it in half.

The flavor in the candy coating is more intense than from the gelato. it’s more sweet and tangy……Here I get maybe more of a raspberry taste but it finishes with a sort of milk chocolate taste that I didn’t get with the gelato. I can’t wait to see ruby chocolate bars and higher end ruby chocolates coming out soon. I bet they will be even more intense with different flavors. If I see them I will try them and let you know how they are.

Those were My Forking Thoughts on the Ruby Chocolate that I’ve tasted so far.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth is that Fall Restaurant Week Phoenix AZ 2020 Wasn’t My Favorite

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Around 140 Phoenix area restaurants were participating in fall restaurant week (September 18 – 27 2020). Most of these restaurants were offering three course dinners for $33.00 & $44.00 a person.

The first restaurant that I was excited to try was Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale because they were offering a fresh truffle option. I was going to do Sel in Scottsdale first because their menu sounded really special too but because of the fresh truffles at Zinc I figured that I better do Zinc Bistro first because the truffles will taste better now and might not be as good next week.

Here’s my take out from Zinc Bistro.

The food was mostly very good. My soup was missing the parmesan crisp but it still was a delicious treat. The dinners were really great with complex interesting sauces….. But I traveled across town to do this take out and my fresh truffles were left off. My husband called to let them know that I didn’t get my fresh truffles to take them off the bill since I didn’t get them. The manager apologized and took my whole meal off the bill since I was disappointed. That was as generous as any restaurant can be. I DO appreciate that but I still missed out on fresh truffles.

My next restaurant week take out was from The Mission (a modern Latin) restaurant in Scottsdale.

A few things were missing from the descriptions on the restaurant week menu. My stone fruit salad was missing the goat horn dined cucumbers that sounded so interesting. My husband’s chorizo porchetta (lower left) was missing cotija cheese, possibly white bean puree (my husband insisted the little white tub wasn’t beans….we couldn’t identify what it was….) and arugula. Besides that there were some other issues. My salad was good but my fish was a little dry and fishy tasting. I did enjoy the chiltepin achiote sauce. It made my fish taste better. It’s hard to tell the size of the fish from my photo but if you compare it to the pork belly appetizer in the upper left hand corner you might be able to tell that it is a very small sized dinner. It didn’t come with the sliced vegetable on top of the fish and doesn’t look like the example this restaurant made to impress the press. (press picture is below…..My fish dinner is also pictured below the press photo)

www.facebook.com

I saw this on Facebook so I thought I’d get a nice piece of fish instead od two very small dry ends.

There were some other issues.

I didn’t try it but I was told that the crispy pork & cola glaze pork belly was dry.

The chorizo porchetta was very large but also was very dry with even dryer sausage and not much flavor.

I was told on the phone when I was ordering that the dessert that I wanted wasn’t available for take out so we tried the other two options that were carrot cake and pumpkin bread pudding. I do note that I normally don’t care for carrot cake but can usually eat some. This one I tried a taste and I couldn’t eat. My husband couldn’t eat it either. I’m not even sure why I found the cake inedible……I didn’t really like the bread pudding but the sauces and toppings were very good. My dinner was very small portioned so I still was hungry and had to eat something so I ate half of the bread pudding.

I was saving Sel in Scottsdale for my last take out for restaurant week but sometime after their restaurant week menu was posted they changed their menu a little bit.

We were both good with corn soup, grilled asparagus salad with black truffle fondue and other stuff. A grilled New York and the Halibut. The seconded course sounds so amazing…..Grilled asparagus salad with black TRUFFLE potato fondu, GRAFRETTE (waffle cut sweet potato), organic farm EGG 63, caramelized onions…WOW!!!!!!

Then the day I was going to order take out I saw this on the Sel Website.

It’s still a very nice menu but it isn’t as great for us now. We are both good with corn soup as course one. The amazing sounding asparagus salad was replaced with a tomato stack………..My husband can’t eat a plate of raw tomatoes so this doesn’t work for him. …..(so we can’t go….(BAH!). He also would have ordered the Grilled New York over the Filet Mignon.

Bummer…….. maybe the change of menu was better for some people?

The Forking Truth is that Fall Restaurant Week in Metro Phoenix AZ 2020 wasn’t my favorite. 2020 isn’t my favorite year either.

The Forking Truth