Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

The Better DISHES I tried at Metro Phoenix AZ Restaurants in 2020

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I tried many great dishes in 2020 in Metro Phoenix Arizona this year. I haven’t been everywhere but I’ve gone to lots of places. Most of the food I did this year was take outs because that is how we rolled most of the year. Here are the best that I’ve tried in no particular order. I do warn you that I live around the upper west side of the valley so it’s not logical to bring back food from too far away. I also might have forgotten a few great ones. It’s hard to remember a whole year. I note that I do happen to fancy fish when I go out because it is hard to get fresh fish to cook or eat near my home. Chula Seafood and Nelson’s are 40-45 minutes of mostly highway driving for me.

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken from Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix

The Combo with Curry & Jerk Chicken is so good from Desert Island Eatery that I can’t move on to try something else. I must note that this food is always good. The take out version is slightly drier because all the sauces soak in…..but it is always very good. During the pandemic Desert Island Eatery installed a patio but are converted to take out only. Maybe that will change in a few months????

From Confluence is Carefree I got an amazing dinner. Everything is perfection and delicious but that special bit of magic is the way that way that everything is so flavorful and the way goes together. It’s like here’s a green bean…WOW I never tasted a green bean like this before…………but then the magic really happens when Parsnips, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, red quinoa and pomegranate go together so amazingly well. It’s just magical.

Flaming cheese from Greek Palace in Peoria

The Flaming Cheese from Greek Palace is Peoria is Awesome! I’ve had flaming cheese before but this one is the next level…YUM!

I have to give another to Confluence for their Lunch Fried Chicken with Chilitepin Honey sauce……I’ve had this one a few times and the sides do get changed up now and then but that fried chicken is among the Yummiest Tastiest Best. YUM!

Tacos are not part of my heritage but I’ve tasted many tacos. I tasted many tacos on several trips to Mexico. I’ve also tasted many tacos from many of the taco festivals in metro Phoenix and then some. The mild chicken habanero taco from Taco Fusion in Glendale is one of the BEST chicken tacos that I have ever tasted. It’s served on a hand made flour or corn tortilla (your choice). You do have to ask for the salsas….I think the chicken taco is best with the pineapple salsa.

OMG These sandwiches are a THOUSAND Times better tasting than they look. The smoked corned beef special from Naked BBQ is a wonder of the world. It’s a crime that this isn’t on the menu. It’s so great that I would tell a vegetarian to eat it.

🙁 🙁 🙁 Sadly we lost the really great fast but unusually delicious food from CHZBURGR in Glendale. This sandwich was a million times more delicious than it looks. Crispy well seasoned delicious juicy super flavorful breaded chicken THIGH, a special bun from Philadelphia, crafted pickles, mayo, honey mustard (I added Calabrian peppers) Was just awesome. My husband used to enjoy the flat style CHZBURGR. (It was greasy in a good way type of cheeseburger.

The Bianco Pizza (middle) is among the best pizzas in Metro Phoenix from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. It is made with hand pulled in house mozzarella, creamy rich ricotta, Sicilian oregano, garlic, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil (I add on Calabrian peppers). It’s just a taste sensation!

All the food from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery always makes us happy. Here are those tasty pot stickers and the lotus root salad. This great lunch was also only $9.

The salmon from Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale was unusually great! It’s pretty rare to get salmon cooked to such perfection. I enjoyed this a few times and several other dishes from Twist Bistro and Gallery.

The Halibut special from Fabio On Fire in Peoria was amazing. It might be the very best fish that you can get on the west side of metro Phoenix. The gelato…especially the strawberry is also the best…maybe in the whole darn country. That little ear pasta is also pretty darn special.

I got an amazing Forking Delicious feast from The Barrio Cafe in Phoenix. Everything was Forking Great! I sure wish her fabulous smoked salmon was still on the menu. I loved it so much!!!! Everything was FORKING delicious even down to the spicy ketchup condiment.

The Fried Chicken Take Out Special from FnB in Scottsdale was incredible. Even all the sides were EXTRA SPECIAL….I never had such GREAT sides with great fried chicken before.

This dessert from Confluence in Carefree was incredible. It’s yuzu curd with angel food cake, nuts and sake poached pears. It was incredible. It was just as spectacular as the food from Confluence.

The other BEST dessert (and Fabio’s gelato) was this noodle cheese pastry from Alzohour Market in Glendale. Actually most of the food from Alzohour Market is incredible.

My first take out from Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale was completely amazing. The salmon was one of the best that I had in Metro Phoenix….The bread was Noble Bread and is great, The Caponata was the best I’ve had and that chocolate fudge cake was a really awesome treat. Since my first visit prices were cut and some things are not the same. You get smaller amounts of bread and appetizer. The fish is now smaller pieces cooked to well on a skewer. It’s still really REALLY good but not Phenomenal like it was.

The salmon from Tarbell’s Tavern is maybe the best salmon that you can get in metro Phoenix. Everything here was delicious. There is this Indian spiced cake that came with it that also was memorable.

The sand dabs from Lure Fish House were crazy fresh and delicious.

The beets with Smoked Salmon from FnB in Scottsdale was well crafted, detailed and delicious. You can almost taste it just by looking at it. Actually everything we had from FnB was incredible. It was had to pick one plate from that visit because EVERY FORKING PLATE is deserving for here.

Lemon sole in a basil white wine broth with fennel salad and house made noodles from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale. It was all prepared to perfection and was also interesting and a little different.

The salt crusted whole striped bass from Bandolero Cocina de Mexico is as good as fish can get. The fresh flavor and texture was incredible. The mojo sauce was also really extra great!

My husband said that this pork shank he got from Ocotillo needs to be on this list. He really enjoyed it. I enjoyed a salmon meal that was pretty darn good too.

Desi Fusion

I just started going to Desi Fusion in Peoria. I forgot to photo the South Indian Fish Curry. That was really great! Really everything I tried so far was great from Desi Fusion. Sometime next year I will know what dishes I like the most.

My take out from Seoul BBQ and Sushi in Phoenix also blew me away. Everything was delicious and they might have made a mistake and accidentally gave us too much food. They gave us a complimentary vegetable pancake and 16 side dishes. Our mains were a chicken bulgogi and a bibimbap. Everything was delicious!

The market salad from Pizzeria Bianco at Town and Country was amazing. This was the BEST bitter greens salad that I have ever tried. It was the only one that tasted balanced to me. The gorgonzola and the sweet Asian pears help to tame the bitterness of the radicchio leaves. Bravo!

From Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante on Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide I got this incredibly delicious tender falling off the bone Chicken Cacciatore that was laced with DELICIOUS Calabrian Chili Peppers. Underneath it all was creamy cheese polenta.

My take out from Mrs. Chicken in Phoenix is deserving of a SPECIAL MENTION. They are a Nashville Style Chicken Restaurant. They do deserve a special mention because Mrs Chicken is a 40 minute drive for me and the chicken had a shattering crisp exterior and a juicy perfectly cooked interior when I got it home. (I brought home a lot of chicken this year…even from some closer places the chicken came home dry.

We both got the two piece dark meat on the bone.

The Better Dishes I tried from Metro Phoenix Restaurants 2020

And That’s The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – December Special Edition Greetings From Everywhere

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Universal Yums ( www.UniversalYums.com ) is a subscription service for a box of international snacks. You can subscribe for yourself or gift in number of ways and different size ways. The basic Yum Box is 6 snacks with a 12 page booklet of games, trivial and a recipe and runs around $15.00 a month.

The next size up is called the Yum Yum Box. It’s the above Yum Box but contains twice as many snacks (12) the booklet and they say more! The Yum Yum Box runs around $25.00 a month.

The largest box is called the Super Yum Box that contains 20 snacks the booklet and more and runs around $40.00 a month.

At this time I’m just doing the basic Yum Box.

The first Yum we try is the Sugar & Anise Polvoron from Spain.

It’s a powdered shortbread cookie. It’s laced with anise and has a little more powdered sugar on it than the typical shortbread cookie.

Our next Yum is the Roast Turkey & Stuffing Potato Crisps from Scotland.

These chips are cut thick and taste like a combination of poultry seasoning mixed with powdered onion.

Next Yum was very unusual.

Salted egg yolk popcorn from Taiwan. My husband screamed when he tasted them. They are very odd and not like any popcorn I’ve tasted before. They don’t have that crunchy kernel thing that sticks in your teeth. These seem fluffier…… But oddly they almost seem seem wet or liquid in them but they aren’t………..They are sweet but are more salty than sweet. I don’t think that they taste like egg but taste sort of buttery in an artificial but not bad way. I don’t really know why but I like them…….They seem light and are odd but pleasingly sweet and salty but not too salty.

Next we tried the Mocktail Bon Bons from the United Kingdom.

They are small powdered chewy and tangy treats. I think people with false teeth might have trouble with them. (LOL) They sort of remind me of what I think were those Now and Later Candies (haven’t eaten then in decades…might be remembering wrong candy?) but tiny. For me they are too tangy but I am sensitive to tangy and sour.

Alpine Nut Cake from The Swiss Alps were next.

It’s a little crunchy cake…almost like a cookie filled with walnuts and hazelnuts….Not bad….I could eat it again.

Ever try cookies from the Netherlands?

Little spice cookies…..Not bad…pretty good…..I never really ate spice cookies. I think they’d be great in ice cream or in a crust for other desserts.

Last and not least.

Cocoa Dusted Chocolate Truffles from France.

YUM! These are smooth and chocolatey, not too sweet and just right. Wouldn’t mind a bigger bag of them!

Can’t wait to find out what I will be trying next month!

www.UniversalYums.com

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – Italy

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I’ve subscribed to Universal Yums at www.UniversalYums.com . It’s a subscription service where you can subscribe or gift international boxes of snacks in a number of ways. Some of the basic offerings are a Yum Box. The Yum Box is six snacks, comes with a small booklet with, fun facts, trivia, a recipe and more and runs around $15.00 that includes shipping.

Fun facts and Recipe
Trivia

The larger offerings are the Yum Yum Box. All that above plus more and double the snacks for around $25.00.

The biggest offering is called The Super Yum Box. You get the above plus more and 20 snacks for around $40.00.

I let my husband pick out the first snack. He picked crisp almond cookies called Amarettini.

The cookies are very tiny and very crispy and are extremely almond forward. I think they are very good and the little bag is filled with more cookies than I imagined. This one is very good. I hope we didn’t eat the best one first again.

My husband picks the next one. It’s some sort of carrot/orange snack cake. Now this one I expected to hate because I’m not a big fan of carrot cake or most packaged snack cakes.

This is a first…….It’s surprisingly good and seems fresh. I don’t get the carrot. The cake is just moist. The cream is laced with orange and isn’t too sweet. I can eat this…It’s good.

Next we went to the Yum Bag and tried the Lemon Fizzy Soda Candy at the top of the picture.

OMG this isn’t sweet. It’s so tangy it is painful to my mouth. My husband just munched his down and said, not very fizzy or good. I painfully let mine dissolve thinking that it might get better. Mine didn’t get fizzy either and stayed painful till the last few moments. I would not try this one again.

Artificially ketchup potato chips….???????

I open the bag and they smell like ketchup….They do have the taste of ketchup but a little sweeter and also too tangy….my mouth is very sensitive and the chemicals in the chips burn my mouth…..Doesn’t bother my husband though.

I wanted to save this for last but we didn’t.

Novi chocolate hazelnut bar. This chocolate bar just melts in your mouth. It’s creamy milk chocolate that is full of flavor and even the hazelnuts are full of hazelnut flavor. I wish I had another one of these bars in my box. This one was really good.

Truffle potato chips.

I open the bag and get a slight truffle aroma. The chips are very small and are light and crisp. They do have a pleasant truffle kind of taste to them that lingers in the mouth a bit. Another very good.

Here are tarallini. They are little tasty lemon and black pepper laced micro mini bagel shaped crackers. These are very tasty. I could use another bag of these too.

Now I’m trying my last treat.

It’s a round chocolate ball that is called Tiramisu. I usually don’t like that dessert made with ladies fingers, espresso, cream and rum…..Well I will give this a try.

Ummm I get the espresso right away but it’s not too strong and quickly turns to a rich milk chocolate taste that explodes into my mouth. It’s seems very rich but also is very satisfying….Wow I like it!

Those were my Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – Italy

www.UniversalYums.com

I note that your experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

Belle’s Nashville Kitchen (Scottsdale), La Piazza Al Forno (Glendale) Sala Thai (Peoria) – Take Out Food during the CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 37

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A brand new restaurant called Belle’s Nashville Kitchen just opened up in Old Town Scottsdale and I wanted to try their Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich. I saw that they didn’t have a patio so we did take out.

We both got Nashville Style Hot Chicken Sandwiches. My side was a very large side salad and my husband got fries as his side.

Look at the fries they are very unusual.

They are sort of in-between a chip and a fry.

He’s a better look at the sandwich.

The chicken is crisp and has a medium hot spicy coating. Cayenne and paprika are the dominate flavors and the chicken breast is moist. I can tell you that the bun is eggy and soft. There is some creamy sauce on the upper bun with pickle chips. Under the chicken is a creamy slaw. When I tasted it at first I could taste blue cheese in it but after a bite of the chicken I didn’t taste the blue cheese anymore????????? (kitchen accident? had blue cheese dressing with my salad……maybe some dressing splashed on my sandwich….look at my take out package…..looks like someone wiped something out of it?)………Overall it was unique and tasty.

www.BellesNashvilleKitchen.com

We also did take out from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale.

They are well known for their Neapolitan Certified Pizzas and have been featured on Diners Drives and Dives a number of times on Food Network TV.

La Piazza Al Forno serves a variety of pizzas these days. Besides Neapolitan Certified Pizzas with hand pulled mozzerella they also offer Roman Style Pizzas and the New York Style weekend special pizzas. I heard that they also plan to offer Detroit Style pizzas in the near future. Besides pizza they offer some Italian foods and house made desserts.

Today we got the Italian Stallion Pizza and the Bianco Pizza with added Calabrian Chilies.

I’ve had many wonderful and delicious Neapolitan and Neapolitan style pizzas in metro phoenix but the crust here has a special tenderness and taste that is different. The hand pulled mozzarella (made in house) is also more flavorful. They also use a special higher quality milky ricotta that is special….It taste like fresh made almost like rich mascarpone. My favorite pizza here its usually the Bianco pizza on the right. It’s made with fresh hand pulled mozzarella, a high quality ricotta, Sicilian oregano, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil and garlic. I always add on the nicely flavored not too spicy Calabrian chilies…that just makes it POP!…….. I’ll be honest like I always am….that is why this is The Forking Truth……….. The pizzas here are not consistent but still are always delicious. I strongly prefer when they make the Bianco like the one below. See they look different!

It taste better when they spread the ricotta cheese with the hand pulled mozzarella and it all melts together and taste great. The solution is to spread the ricotta yourself.

My husband usually prefers a meaty pizza. But in a few days gets to share my Bianco leftovers and always says that he really likes that pizza too!

www.LaPiazzaFamiglia.com

Our last take out of the week was from Sala Thai in Peoria /#UpperWestSide

Obviously Sala Thai serves Thai Food.

We enjoy the spicy basil dishes here because they hand chop the proteins and these dishes are infused with more basil flavor, have more heat and run less sweet than from other near by Thai restaurants near us.

Below was our take out. Spicy basil fried pork rice and spicy pumpkin basil with chicken.

Below is a saucier version of what I had.

That was week 37 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic in metro Phoenix AZ.

www.SalaThaiAZ.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My 2nd Nibble at Lure Fish House in Scottsdale AZ

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Lure Fish House has opened in the Gainey Village section of Scottsdale Arizona. They are a reasonably priced fish restaurant. I was told that the fish are flown in daily and all the vegetables they use are organic. They have only been open a month at this time and at the moment are only open for dinner Monday-Saturday but lunch and Sunday are suppose to be added soon.

Inside are booths, half booths, an oyster bar and tables. Not all but many tables were high tops.

They also offer patio seating that wraps around the front of the building.

Tables get marked sanitized so you know that you can sit there.

We ordered and they started us out with delicious fresh baked sour dough rolls and soft butter. We shared one and took the other two home. They are too delicious to waste.

My husband can eat more than me and tried a mix of east coast (blue point) and west coast (British Columbia) oysters.

The east cost oysters have larger more shapely shells. My husband said that the east coast oysters also had a brinier more salty flavor but the west coast oysters were softer.

For dinner I had the branzino with sautéed spinach and almond pesto cauliflower.

It’s a good sized fish with crispy seasoned skin. It came with a ramekin of what taste like lemon butter wine sauce. Everything was prepared reasonably well.

My husband tried the cioppino.

It’s a mix of fish (salmon tonight), clams, mussels, shrimp and scallops in a spiced briny seafood laced tomato broth with garlic toasts. Today this was slightly over cooked but my husband neglected to say that until we left.

Tried the blueberry cobbler for dessert.

It was nice and fresh tasting and not too sweet. The oatmeal crumble didn’t seem too heavy.

They offer a pay by phone option too!

Last time we did take out and took out The sand dabs with pineapple slaw and cilantro corn salad. (I really enjoyed this one a lot)

My husband had the tequila lime shrimp pasta. This was very spicy but delicious!

We also enjoyed the key lime pie.

That was a little taste and my 2nd nibble at Lure Fish House in Scottsdale AZ

www.LureFishHouse.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Thanksgiving 2020

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Thanksgiving 2020 was a feast for two (plus two dogs) all week long. It started on Sunday. My sous chef (my husband) broke down the already brined turkeys (you always need at least two for all the stock you need) and cleaned remaining feathers for me.

He then made the turkey stock with two rib cages and the basics. (had two pots going)

The stock was the liquid gold for many of the dishes.

The first thing I used some stock in was the stewed turkey legs.

Turkey Leg Stew

We got two big delicious bowls of stew and LOTS of flavorful tender falling off the bone dark meat.

The stew got chilled over night and the next day I scrapped off the fat to use in my home made gravy.

I used more stock in my mushroom, chestnut and fig stuffing.

Mushroom Chestnut and Fig Bread Stuffing

One night I used the meat pulled from the rib cage to make Thai basil turkey (not photoed)

Made some Brussels sprouts with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon zest.

For one meal I made oven fried crispy turkey wings.

Forking EZ Oven Fried Turkey Wings

For one meal I made Turkey tostadas with orange guajillo sauce (didn’t photo or publish this one yet.

Made a few maple bourbon sweet potatoes with pickled sweet peppers. (it’s just sweet potatoes with butter and maple bourbon salt)

Made balsamic cippolini onions with cranberries that was made with some of the stock. (not photoed or published yet)

Crisped up some turkey skin.

Will make my potatoes soon.

Parmesan and Potato Mousse with Parmesan Crisps

Use my SousVide water oven to make turkey breast to perfection.

I also made Milk Street’s adaptation of Vivian Howard’s Sweet Fresh Corn Pudding (soufflé’s)

OMG YUM!

It was Forking Amazing!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Forking Truth

Things I buy from Trader Joe’s Grocery

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There are many things that I enjoy from Trader Joe’s. I regularly purchase their fresh farm raised salmon. I find that it is superior to the chain supermarkets and is even fresher than many salmons that I purchased from Costco and more expensive fish that I purchased from AJ’s Fine Foods on a few occasions. So far each salmon I purchased from Trader Joe’s has come out amazing and usually better than what I get at most restaurants.

The Israeli Feta Cheese is the best feta cheese that I have found in a store.

I have had Greek feta cheese at a fine Greek Restaurant in Vegas that was amazing but I never found great feta cheese in a store until I found this feta at Trader Joes. It’s less salty and less tangy than the typical feta you come across. This one is more milky and creamy. It’s the same kind of feta cheese that I had at the amazing restaurant Atlas Bistro in Scottsdale.

This Trader Joe’s wild caught canned mackerel is very good.

I also like that it is boneless and skinless.

Trader Joe’s TURKEYS ARE THE BEST (but sometimes come with some feathers)

Once you try a Trader Joe’s Turkey you will never buy one again from the big grocery stores. The legs and thighs are bigger with lots of dark meat. These turkeys have much more flavor to them. They offer brined turkeys so you don’t brine yourself. They come in regular brine or kosher dry brined. Either turkey comes out fabulous no matter what you do to them. The downside is that Trader Joe’s only sells these turkeys around Thanksgiving time so when they are gone they are gone.

Around the time they sell the turkeys you can also buy the Brussels Sprouts stalk.

Trader Joe’s sells all kinds of snack foods. One of my favorites is-

The one pound chocolate bar is very good!

If you eat chocolate this is a must buy. It comes in other variety’s too!

Look at the ingredients in this bag of junk food from Trader Joe’s.

It’s made of mostly peanut paste, corn grits, palm oil and salt. (is it really junk food???)

Ummmm…They seem light and airy and also crunchy with a mild peanut flavor. They are pretty good. They are sort of like cheese curls but peanut flavored. These Bamba peanut snacks are also only 99cents a bag.

Trader Joe’s sells limited food items that come and go.

I sure miss the Sardinian music paper crackers that they used to sell.

I also miss the sweet and spicy cherry peppers that they used to sell.

Here are some newer finds.

Trader Joe’s Italian Bomba Hot Pepper Sauce made from fermented Calabrian Chili peppers. This is different from other bomba sauces that I have tried. I like them all. Any bomba is better than no bomba.

Here is Trader Joe’s Yuzu Hot Sauce (YUM!) (it goes really great with the salmon)

Trader Joes Truffle Powder seasoning. It’s pretty good! It’s better than many of the oils.

Chili Onion Crunch….I can’t wait to try it.

I often buy plants and sometimes potted herbs.

I thought this cactus was kind of cute so I bought it. At the time I had no idea that it was wrapped up with a light feature.

Those were some of the things that I buy from Trader Joe’s.

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Take out Food in Metro Phoenix AZ – Week 36 of the Coronavirus Pandemic – Twisted Italian, Rocket burger

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Take out food is a safer option than dining in during the coronavirus pandemic. We will not be dining in during the pandemic but we do consider dining out on uncrowded out door patios at off times.

The Twisted Italian is located in North Peoria in the #UpperWestSide. This restaurant is located in a large newer shopping center. They do have two outside tables but most seating is indoors. They serve most of your usual American Italian foods but also offer a few things that are “Twisted” like three kinds of pierogi on the menu and also an Italian Relleno that comes with fried raviolis.

Tonight we took out the the Friday Dinner Walleye Special and the Pepperonata with extra sausage.

OMG they gave me a whole buffet pan of food. Look how ENORMOUS that pan is with the walleye. The vegetables (a mix of green beans, asparagus, and zucchini) are tender crisp, very fresh and very good. The fish is mild and meaty. It’s lightly breaded and covered with a tangy lightly creamy citrus sauce. It’s slightly more tangy or sour than the sauce usually is. This same sauce is on the angel hair pasta. It’s too tangy or sour for me. I can’t eat it because it is painful to me…..(but I am more sensitive than most people.) I do note that I had this special before and it was delicious last time. This special is very popular. According to the website all this food is only $17.50. They must have made an error on my receipt because they only charged me $14.75 so I don’t know if I should bother them and let them know they made an off batch of sauce?

My husband did alright with the Pepperonata with extra sausage. He said that the sausage in his meal was very good and had extra to save to snack on. I shared some of the fish with my dogs and they got a taste of the sausage.

www.EatTwisted.com

Our other take out of the week was from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix. They serve burgers and other sandwiches, sides, soft serve and a few 100 kinds of bottled sodas. Recently The New Times wrote an article that Rocket Burger serves one of the top ten chicken sandwiches in metro Phoenix. I’ve been here a bunch of times but never tried a chicken sandwich here so today was the day.

The chicken sandwich is the one in the middle of the picture. The one I got is made with a large soft eggy bun, thin sliced pickles, a tomato slice, horseradish mayo, sliced jalapeños, really REALLY HOT Rocket Relish, two ultra thin battered chicken fingers and this sandwich is only $8.49. The person from The New Times said her chicken sandwich had an incredible crunch to it. Mine just taste battered and isn’t crunchy……(maybe it got soft due to take out and not dining in????) But WOW that horseradish mayo is really great and that rocket relish has a great flavor to it. This sandwich is boarder-line too spicy for me but I like the flavors of the sauce and relish. The chicken is ok. It’s a very good sandwich for only $8.49. I sure have paid more for sandwiches that weren’t this good.

We shared some fries and my husband had a double cheeseburger today. It usually is great but today was a little dry.

My dogs sure didn’t mind trying some cheeseburger and some chicken from Rocket Burger.

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

www.TheRocketBurger.com

That was week 36 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic in metro Phoenix AZ.

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

The Forking Truth

Oh NO My Bread Didn’t Rise – Rye BAGELS Recipe – ****With UPDATE*****

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My rye bread dough didn’t rise. I never had dough that didn’t rise before. Some rise more than others but this didn’t rise at all. I even put my bowl of dough in a warm oven and it still didn’t rise. I thought maybe if I boiled the dough something good might happen and it did!

I knew my dough was for 8 portions so I cut the dough into 8 pieces. I rolled each one into a log. Then I dipped the ends in water to make them stick together. I boiled them in medium boiling water for 7 minutes turning them halfway though.

Placed them on baking sheets sprayed with non stick spray.

Sprinkled them with caraway seeds and French salt flakes.

Put them in a 425 F degree preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Some 15. Some up to 20.

They accidentally came out better than any bagel in Phoenix and were more like an east coast bagel than any bagel here….warm, moist, a little dense, delicious and chewy!

By accident they came out Forking AMAZING!

As for my update********the next day I made the recipe again. This time I used my regular yeast ( one packet of Fleischman’s Active Dry Yeast) The dough was completely different. I also needed to use one less cup of flour too. The Sour dough yeast made the dough much stickier.

Oh NO my bread didn’t rise – Rye BAGELS

Ingredients for 8 servings

3 cups + 2 Tablespoons bread flour (possibly some more flour for kneading and more for sitting inn a bowl)

1 cup + 2 Tablespoons dark rye flour

2 Tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 Tablespoon (heaping slightly) kosher salt

1 – .63 packet sour dough yeast (maybe the secret to this recipe…usually I use regular yeast) (purchased it from WinCo)

2 Tablespoons caraway seeds + plus extra for topping bagels

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup canola oil

French sea salt flakes for topping (finishing) bagels

non stick spray to spay on to baking sheets

Instructions.

Flours, sugar, salt, yeast, caraway seeds, water and oil all go in your mixer bowl in your stand mixer. Mix lightly with a spoon so when you mix the flour doesn’t explode all over the place. Connect your hook attachment and bring the mixing up to medium high. Let it go around ten minutes. It’s done when the dough pulls away from the bowl and turns into a big dough ball. (If it didn’t then you might need to add a small amount of bread flour) Take the dough ball out and knead it into a ball.

The dough ball sits in a bowl with some flour and some flour on top of it. Cover with plastic wrap.

Mine didn’t rise………If yours rises it will make nice bread or rolls. I Don’t know if it will make the nice bagels mine did.

After 90 minutes of mine not rising I put a pot of water on a medium boil. Rolled out 8 sections of dough into logs and dipped the ends one at a time in water so the dough would glue it’s self together in a circle shape.

Using a mesh spoon I put three at a time bagels in my pot of boiling water for 7 minutes turning them halfway threw. Took them out with slotted spoon on to a non stick sprayed sheet pan and topped the bagels with caraway seeds and French flake sea salt.

They went in my pre-heated 425 F degree oven for 15 – 20 minutes. I took them out when they seemed cooked all the way threw.

This is the yeast I used.

Honestly the bagels came out with an incredible amazing flavor. Usually I bloom the yeast in water when I make a yeast dough but this time I didn’t because sometimes you don’t when you make bread. It came out FORKING GREAT anyway.

Oh NO my bread didn’t rise – Rye BAGELS

If you find yourself in the same situation maybe you can make your dough that doesn’t rise into bagels too.

The Forking Truth

A little taste of Lure Fish House in Scottsdale AZ – Week 34 Take Out Food

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Take out and delivery are less risky dining options during the pandemic. We do consider patio dining during off times.

For our first visit we decided to do take out from the newly opened Lure Fish House in Scottsdale. They are a family owned restaurant with four California locations and this brand new one in Gainey Village. They offer a seasonal menu of all kinds of fresh flown in seafood at reasonable prices.

It looks like they have at least a dozen outside umbrella topped tables.

Inside looks cozy with an oyster bar.

Looks like they have a lot of booth seating and many are closed for social distancing.

I tried the Sally’s Sand Dabs.

Oh WOW! This is really GREAT! I got a very good portion of DELICIOUS fresh sand dabs. They are so tender and fresh tasting in a perfect lightly buttered herb crust. The caper sauce is just right and accents everything in a delicious way. The sides I went with were a light and not too sweet pineapple slaw and a cilantro laced corn salad. The kernels were sweet with a nice fresh texture.

My husband really ENJOYED the Tequila Lime Shrimp Pasta.

This is also really great but is a very VERY spicy creamy tomato tequila lime sauce with spinach and Gulf shrimp, garlic toast and pasta. I tried a taste of the sauce. It has great flavors to it but is MIGHTY HOT that builds. We hope that the restaurant doesn’t neutralize this dish to please the masses because this dish will be too hot for about half the people out there. BUT WE LOVE IT THIS WAY!

We also tried a little bit of the rolls. They are very good with a developed taste. They will not go to waste here.

They offer a nice variety of desserts and today we went with the key lime pie.

It seems light and is flavored nicely. The graham crust is tasty. You can’t go wrong with this one.

My dogs got to enjoy some sand dabs.

“Lure Fish House was really great!”

www.LureFishHouse.com

That was a little taste of Lure Fish House in Scottsdale AZ

Everything is subject to change and your experience may differ.

The Forking Truth