Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Bad Food I got from Mostly NEW Restaurants in Metro Phoenix AZ

I was thinking even with the pandemic going on that the food I get out has been better than from previous years. Usually I hit a few really BAD ONES once or twice a year. The other thing that is different is that I am rarely going to restaurants that are new to me. I’ve been not entirely but mostly only going to restaurants that I know. Anyway I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the food I didn’t enjoy from mostly New Restaurants in Metro Phoenix.

Up top was the worst taco I ever had served to me in my life. The taco shell expired on it’s way to me. It was filled with the driest unseasoned chicken that you can ever imagine. It seemed like they just chopped off raw chicken and without seasoning or anything heated it up in the microwave until it got hard and dry. Don’t worry this restaurant that was located in Scottsdale is no longer in business. I wonder why?….

These falafels were very dry and lacked fresh herbs. This falafel place was written up as serving some of the best falafels in metro Phoenix. IDK what’s going on here…Did they get a new chef? Maybe they made better falafels for a professional critic? I’ll never know what happed here but honest… these were horrible falafels. This small restaurant is still in business so I am guessing some sort of recipe change has occurred. A great falafel has a crispy exterior and is moist and fluffy with lots of fresh herbs incase you were wondering.

What is this?

It’s a polenta tower that is unusually stiff and bread-like texture. It’s not very good and it looks like it’s happy to see me…..Or maybe that is the chef’s way of saying that he is pissed off and is trying to say f*** you? Don’t worry…this particular popular restaurant has changed chefs a few times since I had this plate.

I went to a new BBQ place and the brisket was tough with hard fat. I will say that the brisket might have been delicious if it was cooked maybe two hours more……..But the cheesy grits were even worst. They served them to me raw.

I can’t believe they served me this. We even told someone about this and instead of saying something like “I’m sorry” or “I’ll take it off your bill she just walked away.

We visited a restaurant that is no longer in business that was somewhere ion Scottsdale.

I don’t understand why they opened a restaurant before they learned how to cook. The sauce was bitter and acidic with harsh flavors. The meatballs contained hard crunchy carrots. Maybe they were hoping to just sell lots of drinks?

Went to a new sandwich shop somewhere in metro Phoenix.

Looks like my sandwich threw up on itself. My husband sort of liked his sandwich that didn’t look as bad. We did go back and this place did improve.

This time I went to a new Asian Chicken restaurant somewhere in Metro Phoenix.

They gave me the half good half bad plate. Chicken on the left was moist and edible. Chicken on the right was all dried out and very stringy.

Even pizza can be screwed up!

Imagine getting an individual pizza with part of it that doesn’t come with any topping……No topping on a pizza is like getting empty presents on your birthday…BAH!

This next restaurant was already in business but was sold to new owners and opened with a new menu. It used to be ok so I thought we’d give it another try. I was thinking that maybe it got better………Well I was wrong it got worst.

WOW this chicken salad was awful. It came with these processed tasting COLD chicken fingers that seemed like they previously exploded in the microwave and were served chilled to me on a mediocre salad. The chicken finger were sort of hallow in the middle and were crunchy in a microwave kind of way. WOW this was bad beyond all expectations.

Many people will not order fish in Phoenix for these reasons.

I’m thinking one of the worst plates I was served was the trout plate from somewhere in Metro Phoenix.

Wow this was bad on all kinds of levels. Mediocre questionably edible fish. I got lovely boiled from frozen vegetables. I got green mashed potatoes. I asked the waitress why the mashed potatoes were green. She runs back to talk with the chef. He said mashed potatoes turn green when you add black pepper. WOW I guess his pepper was green and moldy. This restaurant is still in business…..maybe some people like this kind of food?

The next one might not look as bad but something very strange was wrong with it.

I got this whole fish from a restaurant that I enjoyed before. This time the fish seemed like it was made out of rubber, We couldn’t eat it. I think they served us an embalmed fish.

Well The Forking Truth is that there is GOOD and BAD everywhere out there!

Be CAREFUL!

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

The Forking Truth

Salads I took out in Metro Phoenix AZ

I often eat salads so I do a lot of take out salads too. Here is a collection in no particular order of the salads I took out in metro Phoenix. Up above is the Greek Salad with chicken kabob from Pita Kitchen in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. The chicken has a delicious char taste and about 18 out of twenty times is juicy, super flavorful and delicious.

Next is the chicken fajita salad from Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

This is a great big salad. It differs slightly every time I order it. But it is always BIG.

These salads from Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide are really great and are only $7.50.

The side salads are very good too above is tabouli and below is beet salad ($3)

Below is the chicken and cabbage salad from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

It’s always tasty and it only cost around $5.00.

Next is the strawberry and goat cheese chicken salad from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

They make their own dressings that are very good and this salad is always delicious. (It usually has more goat cheese on it)

Below is the strawberry and chicken salad from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

It’s also delicious and is also served with house made dressing.

From Phila-Deli in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide is the select-your-own $7.50 Salad.

It’s a BIG pretty nice salad too!

Below is a family style pear salad (lower left) from Fabio On Fire in Peoria #UpperWestSide. Also pictured is his amazing bread, gelato and pasta.

Next is a mista salad from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

It’s surrounded by their delicious pasta.

Below are two salads from newly opened Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale.

On the left is the mistral salad with added salmon and on the right is the chop chop salad with added steak. These salads were really unusually great with all kinds of yummy surprises in them.

Below is a lovely chopped chicken salad from Confluence in Carefree. This is an upscale modern American food type restaurant. Most of the foods they serve are more unique but sometimes you just need to eat a salad.

All kinds of goodies are here like beets and apples. There’s house made from scratch croutons.

In the middle of the picture below is the lotus root salad from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

We even got a house salad from La Piazza Al Forno in Glendale.

Upper left corner is the house salad. On the right is their CRAZY GREAT Bianco pizza with added Calabrian Chili Peppers..(CRAZZZZZZY GOOD!)

Well that is most of the salads that I took out in Metro Phoenix.

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 21 – CHZBURGR, Stratta Kitchen, Glai Baan, Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante, Mrs Chicken

The GOOD NEWS is that not everyone will get sick or catch the coronavirus. The Bad news is that it is easier to catch coronavirus than to win big with the lottery. Anywho- We are doing take out because we want to support restaurants. On the news they reported that 16,000 of small business restaurants in the U.S. have already shuttered because of the lack of business due to the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option than dining inside these days so that is as risky as we get.

One restaurant we did the safer curbside take out from was CHZBURGR in Glendale. They serve amazing flat style cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, milk shakes and more. They are very above average and have an upscale twist for what they are despite being priced only slightly more than fast food.

This time we got (starting from the left) the triple CHZBURGR, in the middle is a special request no onion plain double cheese for my lucky dogs and on the right is the special of the day. It was a salt, sugar and herb cured chicken breast that also was brined. The sandwich came with marinated tomatoes, spinach and garlic aioli. It was suppose to also come with provolone cheese but I have some food peeves and that is too much fat for me so I did without the cheese and did with the garlic aioli. We also shared some potato tots. The food is ALWAYS delicious from CHZBURGR. My dogs got to enjoy a small portion of their CHZBURGR for dinner.

Our very own Michelin Award Wining Chef of Top Chef Masters Alex Stratta opened Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale. It’s a casual health focused restaurant. They offer a menu of small plates, grain bowls, salads and a few other things where you add the protein and sauce of your liking. This restaurant offers dine in or patio dining and take out and curb side. We went with the safest option of curbside for our first time here.

In the left hand corner we shared the Sicilian Caponata that came with grilled Noble Bread. For my main I tried the Mistral Salad with added (expertly cooked) Alaskan Sterling Salmon. My husband tried the Chop Chop Salad with added strip steak and we shared a Double Trouble Chocolate Cake. WOW everything was AMAZING! My salad popped with all kinds of flavors. I also really enjoyed the harissa with this salad and the fish was really prepared to perfection. That cake was also really rich and very chocolatey. Everything was really GREAT! We save some salmon and steak for my dogs too!

Next we did take out from a little Thai Restaurant in Phoenix called Glai Baan. According to their website they serve Thai Street Food and Northeastern Thai Dishes.

We shared the son-in-law eggs, beef salad, chicken gra pow and mackerel fried rice. WoW it was interesting and different. Less saucy than from most places and the gra pow is very flavorful and much spicier than from most places. This type of food isn’t dog friendly so we gave them other leftovers.

Next take out was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. They are an Italian restaurant that specializes in serving Neapolitan Type Pizzas. Tonight we shared a salad and I got the papardelle al fungi and my husband got the sallsiccia.

I think Bottega does an extremely great mushroom pasta. The mushrooms are so meaty and so flavorful. My husband said that the sausage pasta is very good. Dogs got to eat some cheese here (and other stuff I saved for them)

We were able to squeeze in a 5th restaurant and we both like spicy chicken so we decided to try Mrs Chicken in Phoenix.

We both got the two piece dark chicken meat on the “Hot” level of heat. For our sides we both went the mustard slaw. The chicken is crisp and is coated with spicy heat that builds. The inside is tender moist chicken. We saved some moist, mild from the inside chicken for our dogs.

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

Restaurants we did take out from are –

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Stratta Kitchen — Scottsdale

Glai Baan – Phoenix

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Mrs Chicken – Phoenix

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

The Forking Truth

FORKING FUNNY IMAGINARY Foods Out There on the Internet

Since the pandemic I’ve been researching food more on the internet. I’ve found many imaginary food products that seem amusing. I think a few I found might actually be for real but the majority and part of someones imagination. I found many odd flavors for Oreo Cookies. Up above are McDonalds Cheeseburger Cookies. Can’t you mustard that?

Next are Spam Oreos made with 100% Spam that you might want to pig out on.

They even have the U kosher mark on the package (lol)

How about-

Limited Edition College Flavor Oreos made with pot and ramen.

Or maybe Limited Edition Zombie Brains is more your thing?

They are artificially flavored with Blood Orange.

Lets move on to something different but also weird.

Tastes Like Grandma – Homemade Black Raspberry Jam……Sounds like someone was licking up grandma……

Then there is Fuke brand ??? Not sure what this is suppose to be? Is it meat shredded by a child? Is it meat for children? Or is it bottled meat from children?

The next one is “R” rated.

Grace Brand Cock flavored soup….It looks real? …Maybe it’s male chicken soup?……Don’t know if it is?

I heard of monkey bread…but this is not that.

Roasted Monkey Nuts……Product of China…. (eat before December 23 2010….LOL…OLD NUTS)

Next is 100% “HAND” Reared Pork.

Pinky’s Sausages….Can you handle this?

How about some Limited Edition Pop-Tarts?

But just the crust?…….

Maybe potato chips are more your thing?

Lay’s Sour Milk Potato Chips…That might taste something like sour cream, yogurt or buttermilk?

Maybe some Fagottini?

???

Found another Oreo Cookie!

Nabisco GOreo made with blood cookies that are artificially flavored.

Well that is some of the Forking Funny (mostly) IMAGINARY Foods Out There on the Internet.

The Forking Truth

My Four Take Outs from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale AZ

Twist Bistro and Gallery is a small modern Mediterranean style restaurant, bar and art gallery located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They opened for business during the coronavirus pandemic sometime around May 2020. I haven’t stepped in yet but my husband snapped the next two photos.

It’s colorful and cheerful. The walls are accented with colorful artwork.

On the other side (not shown) is the bar.

All four of our take outs included complimentary biscuits with honey butter.

The biscuits did differ some on every visit but all of them were tasty. Most of them were studded with feta cheese and some had fresh dill. The texture differed. Some were scone like and others were light as a feather.All were delicious.

On one visit we tried a mushroom crepe that was stuffed with black truffle ricotta cheese.

On two of my visits I had the Loch Duart Salmon. It’s EXTREMELY GREAT! It’s prepared to perfection. It came with delicious seasoned black rice, vegetables, tomato salad and pistou sauce. It’s very rare in metro phoenix to get salmon that is this good and prepared this well. …It’s grilled nice and is medium/mediium rare in the middle.

My husband enjoyed the shrimp and sausage diablo just as much as I enjoyed the salmon and he also had this meal twice. It comes with cheesy polenta.

We tried the house made beignets.

They are powdered doughnuts with delicious house made sauces.

Then we did take out again.

In the upper left hand corner is the southern breaded shawarma kabobs with minted cucumbers, marinated olives, jalapeños and preserved lemon basil syrup. We had the same dinners as last time (salmon & shrimp and sausage diablo). This time we tried an amazing dessert (left hand lower corner) It was the mascarpone cheese cake. It came with pistachio praline, salted caramel, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It was a really great dessert. Just like from a fine restaurant that has their own pastry chef.

We tried a few different things on our third take out.

In the middle is an everything flatbread topped with house made lox. (yum!) On the right are two different dinners. Upper right is willed boar meatballs served with an different style of gnocchi. Bottom right is their “Twist” on chicken and dumplings. It’s really delicious marinated chicken that is moist and flavorful but because of my 30 minute car ride home in the hot heat the sauces and dumplings sort of baked together. It would have been much better to dine in with this one. However it still was delicious. There was all kinds of goodies here like goat cheese, berries, braised greens and a different kind of dumplings that they call gnocchi. On the left are the complimentary biscuits and a strawberry rhubarb cobbler (minus the ice cream because I knew it would melt).

My forth take out was really great too!

Top left corner we shared the Moroccan festival soup. It’s a vegetarian soup with spiced vegetables lentils, chick peas , preserved lemon and cilantro. It’s deep earthy and fabulous! I went with the grilled Hawaiian opah. The fish was prepared to perfection and came with a orange basil beurre blanc sauce, vegetables and scallion almond rice. My husband had the steak sandwich pallard. It’s a grilled tenderloin with mustardy horseradish sauce, mozzarella cheese, demi sauce on a garlic Noble Bread baguette. I tried a small piece of the tenderloin and it was so tender with a really great taste. WOW it was crazy good!

Those were my first four take outs from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale.

www.twist-bistro.com

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 20 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Barrio Cafe, Confluence, Twist Bistro and Gallery, Cucina Tagliani

Going out to eat can be deadly these days during the coronavirus pandemic. Take out is a safer option. Curbside pickup involves even less risk. All restaurants are struggling these days so we are trying to give as much support to restaurants as much as we can……. Besides there is little else to do that can be done safely.

Our first take out of the week was from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Bistro in North Phoenix. They are a Vietnamese Restaurant that serves most of your Vietnamese favorites except for pho. Instead they specialize in serving banh mi baguette sandwiches and do offer close to a dozen different varieties of them.

I got the noodle bowl combo on the left with tasty marinated chicken and a vegetarian egg roll. The chicken is developed with good flavors and is topped with some fried shallots. They give you fish sauce to dip the chicken and sriracha for the egg roll. This plate also comes with a refreshing minty salad and vegetables with lots of rice noodles. It’s a very large portion and for some people can be two meals. My husband got the grilled pork rice plate. His meal comes with a pork egg roll, a seasoned salad, rice, fish sauce and lots of tasty grilled pork. You get delicious generous plates of food at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese eatery and at the moment I believe that all the dishes there are $10. or less. My dogs always enjoy helping to finish up the food from BMBVE.

Next take out was from Barrio Cafe in Phoenix. We were there two weeks back and the food was delicious. Incase you live under a rock you should know that the Barrio Cafe is an amazing award winning restaurant for Mexican Food. The chef is James Beard Nominated Sillvana Salcido Esparza.

This time we got a huitllacoche las tlayudas (left corner), a vegan chiles en nogada vegano (right corner), and their famous cochinta pibil. All was delicious and we had plenty to share with the dogs.

Confluence in Carefree is another AMAZING restaurant. They also have an amazing chef that also prepares food on a level that very few achieve. They serve upscale modern farm to table type cuisine. My take out is more casual than what I typically get here but is detailed and is very good!

My husband got a cheese burger. It’s not average and is made of the highest quality. The roll is baked in house. The pickle is made in house and the chips are made in house. Sauces are made in house.

Sauces that go with the cheese burger

I went with a chopped chicken salad and we shared a herb roasted maitake mushroom that was garnished with Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes. Everything was delicious. My dogs eagerly were awaiting for their portion.

We also did TAKE OUT from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale (just down the road from Confluence) TB&G is a sort of modern Mediterranean Restaurant that offers an interesting and creative menu.

This time I tried the grilled Hawaiian opah special. WOW! was it delicious! I also tried a small piece of my husband’s steak sandwich pallard. WOW AGAIN! That was CRAZY GOOD beef. It was so flavorful and so tender. It was really great! We also shared the Moroccan Festival soup. It was deep earthy and fabulous! WOW! What a great takeout. My lucky dogs were thrilled to try some of the opah and tender delicious beef.

The last take out of the week was from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. They are an American-Italian Restaurant that also offers some healthy options and around a dozen different vegetable choices. They have been here in business for close to thirty years.

Today I got the baked spaghetti squash with a side of asparagus. My husband got the chicken parmesan. and they packed us some garlic toasts. The spaghetti squash doesn’t look light but is very light and delicate. It sits in a rich tomato sauce that is topped with alfredo sauce. Of course we saved some for the dogs.

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

The restaurants we did take out from on week 20 during the coronavirus pandemic-

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – North Phoenix

Barrio Cafe – Phoenix

Confluence – Carefree

Twist Bistro & Gallery – North Scottsdale

Cucina Tagliani – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

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

The Forking Truth

Xtra LARGE Portion Take Out Food in Metro Phoenix AZ

Some restaurants in metro Phoenix are extra generous with the amount of food they give you for take out. All the food is in no particular order. All the food I did take out but if I found an eat-in picture fist I used it. Up above is the Friday night walleye dinner special from The Twisted Italian in North Peoria. It’s so big that they pack it in a half buffet pan. WOW it’s a lot of food!

Pretty much EVERYTHING from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix is a double portion. I can only eat 1/2 a banh mi, 1/2 the curry chicken and 1/2 a rice plate any time I order there. Pictured above is one of the about dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches they offer. Below is a rice plate. I usually get the chicken rice plate and they generously give you around 8 ounces of chicken. I didn’t measure the beef and pork portions but I bet they are similar. BTW- the food is delicious from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.

Rice Plate

Another restaurant where I get a double portion is Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Caribbean Restaurant that also offers some vegan dishes.

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken

I always enjoy the curry chicken and the jerk chickens I get the combo. It’s always so flavorful and delicious. I don’t mind eating twice in a week.

Next is my take out from Starlite BBQ near Old Town Scottsdale. My husband is a big eater and they gave him a good size chicken leg, thigh and a really big juicy plump chicken breast. We had enough leftover chicken breast to give chicken for two salads next week.

Same thing from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in DT Phoenix.

Friday night jerk chicken for two special from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix

We tried the Friday night jerk chicken for two take out special from the Breadfruit & Rum Bar. We ate all the chicken we could and had enough leftover chicken breast for two lunch salads.

FnB in Old Town Scottsdale also gave out extremely large portions.From the two dinners we ordered each we got around 2 pounds each of potato salad and macaroni salad. We also had enough chicken for two lunches after we ate dinner.

BTW- It was FORKING GREAT!

Scott’s Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen in Phoenix serves insanely large portions of food.

A few times a year I like to get the Fish Supreme Plate. It comes with a bagel, cream cheese, potato salad, Cole slaw, pickles, vegetables and THREE kinds of fish, I get the sturgeon, nova or belly lox (belly is best but sometimes it’s too salty) and the smoked whitefish. It states on the menu that this is for one person but I get THREE meals out of it. The sandwiches are crazy large. I think it’s impossible to eat more than half even if you are very large.

A newer restaurant called Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide offers these BIG salads for only around $7.50 each. I think I get more than I pay for here.

The salads are also delicious. They also sell hummus, beet salad, eggplant salad, Baba G and tabouli for only $3.00 and I think it’s a big portion (and delicious) for only $3.

The fajita salad from Popo’s fiesta del Sol in north Glendale-Arrowhead – #UpperWestSide seems bottomless. I eat several a year for many years now. I have never finished one and I consider myself a good eater.

Taylor’s Chowder House is located in Glendale in the North Mountain section.

Look at how large the platter is on the left. It;’s called the two plus two. You get two BIG pieces of cod and two shrimp and a whole giant potato that is cut in wedges and fried. You also get a side of vegetables and a roll . That is enormous… The dish on the right wasn’t enormous but it did come with a potato big enough to feed a family.

Below was one of my favorite take outs from Confluence in Carefree.

I get THREE lunches of FORKING DELICIOUS chicken here. First meal I eat the biggest piece of chicken and the vegetables…some of the potato. Each other piece of chicken is enough for a lunch salad. I don’t mind mind that they are crazy generous with this spectacular fried chicken.

Below is the tasty kabob salad from Pita Kitchen in Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide.

They are extra generous with the chicken. I only need to eat half of this chicken.

Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale offers a really great take out special for two.

We got delicious complimentary feta and dill muffins with herb butter, and appetizer, two dinners and desert. It’s dinner for two with some extra.

I get about twice as much food as I can eat from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix.

Chino Bandido

We always get the combo plates at Chino Bandido so we can try two different entrees. It’s always fun to get a pan of food that is a little Asian, a little Tex Mex and some other. Food Network figured out that Chino Bandido offers over 90,000 different combination plates that you can choose. These great big pans of food are around fast food priced and are much better than fast food. They also come with a big snickerdoodle cookie for desert.

Below is a couscous dish from Alzohour Market in Glendale. It’s a Moroccan/Middle Eastern restaurant – bakery – mini grocery and an Islamic clothing boutique.

All the food from Alzohour Market is delicious but also served in extra large portions. This take out platter weighs a ton. This platter was a few meals and they gave us enough couscous for around 5 dinners.

Phila – Deli is a sandwich shop in Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide. They offer big cheesesteaks, hoagies and salads. My husband likes the cheesesteaks there.

But I think the great buy at Phila-Deli are the select-your-own $7.50 salads. Look how big and nice this salad is for only $7.50. This is too big for a $7.50 salad. Phila-Deli always fills your belly…..and then some.

Down below is my take out from The Barrio Cafe in Phoenix.

GOSH it was amazing! Look at my platter in the left hand corner. That is enough food….then they go crazy and give me two of the boxes and those TWO little round tubs and hand made tortillas too. I ate some of the food all week long and even froze some.

These were the Xtra-Large Take Outs I found in Metro Phoenix.

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ – Week 19 – Skewers Mediterranean Grill, Taylor’s Chowder House, Wraps ‘N’ Curry, Starlite BBQ

Dining out can be deadly during the coronavirus pandemic. Take out is a safer option and curbside pick up involves even less risk. Most restaurants are struggling and we are trying to support restaurants as much as we can with doing take out.

Our first take out of the week was from Skewers Mediterranean in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

Here’s a better look of the food.

We got DELICIOUS BIG salads for only around $7.50 each. I got the chicken kabob salad. The chicken was even better than usual. It’s always good but today it was far more flavorful and very juicy with a really good char taste. My husband got the gyro salad. We added some fresh herby tabouli to the salads to jazz them up. (tabouli was only $3.) These salads are really great! One of the best deals in town. I had plenty to share with my dogs.

Next take out was from Taylor’s Chowder House in Glendale (the North Mountain Area). TCH is a budget seafood house. I got the sole Florentine and my husband got a BIG fried plate called the two plus two (fried battered cod & shrimp).

They were very generous with the potatoes. I got enough for a family with my dinner. All was good and our dogs wanted to try some too!

We also did take out from a tiny casual Indian restaurant called Wraps ‘N’ Curry in North Phoenix. This is a very tiny restaurant with only a couple tables. The sign outside says they offer authentic Indian food. I noticed that the menu has expanded quite a bunch since my last visit. They offer some dishes I haven’t noticed from other Indian restaurants.

My husband got the tandoori prawns. I got the Goa fish (cod) curry and we shared some stuffed chicken naan.

Here’s a nicer picture of the Goa Fish Curry.

The sauce is really delicious. If someone gave this to me to taste and didn’t tell me what it was I would say it’s an unusually great tikka masala. The taste is very similar to tikka masala but has more depth and heat. The fish is cooked nicely and it came with my choice of rice or naan. My husband said that the shrimp were very tasty and cooked well. The stuffed naan was flavorful because the chicken inside of it was very flavorful. What an interesting and delicious take out!

For the last take out of the week we took a little trip by old town Scottsdale and did take out from Starlite BBQ. At the moment (subject to change) they are only open for take out. Incase you didn’t know Starlite BBQ is a sister restaurant of Ocotillo in Phoenix (closed for the month of July).

WOW! It’s abundant and DELICIOUS! We shared mesquite grilled cauliflower, hot chicken and hot fried catfish. Everything is so DARN GOOD! The chicken is a very big portion and we have enough leftover chicken (and extra vegetables) for two small lunch salads.Oh and even the breast meat was super moist and delicious. But gosh it all was DELICIOUS! My dogs were happy to try some.

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

The restaurants that we did take out from this week-

Skewers Mediterranean Grill – Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide

Taylors Chowder House – Glendale-North Mountain

Wraps ‘N’ Curry – North Phoenix

Starlite BBQ – Scottsdale (By Old Town Scottsdale)

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

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth is that your Thermometer (and your oven) might NOT be accurate

I was braising chicken in my oven and according to my thermometer my chicken was at 180 degrees. I noticed that it didn’t look done. Then I noticed blood running out of the chicken so I knew my thermometer wasn’t working accurately.

Then I thought my chicken was taking much longer to get done than normal so I wanted to get the temperature of my oven. I had two oven thermometers and they both gave me different readings. I figured my thermometers are old so maybe I need a new one? I ran to Ace Hardware and bought a new oven thermometer. WOW I got a another different temperature. My husband did some research into oven thermometers. According to Cook’s Illustrated the CDN Brand are highly recommended so we bought two of them since I have a double oven.

I put all 5 thermometers in my lower oven that I set for 350 degrees F roast. I let my oven run for around 20 minutes before I took a reading.

This is what I got.

New Taylor Thermometer from ACE read around 300 degrees F

NEW CDN Thermometer read around 320 degrees F

other NEW CDN Thermometer read around 276 degrees F

Old Thermometer read around 335 degrees F

other old thermometer read around 350 degrees F

I got between around 276 – around 350 degrees F

Now I will see what my top oven reads. I set it at 350 roast.

My New Taylor Thermometer reads around 280 degrees F

New CDN reads around 298 F

Other new CDN reads around 278 F

Old thermometer reads around 340 F

other old thermometer reads around 340 F

I got between 280 – 340 F reading on my upper oven set at 350 roast.

I’m thinking maybe I don’t FORKING NEED a thermometer? I shouldn’t get hot and bothered about this……..I have to just cook till the food is done.

The Forking Truth is that your thermometer (and your oven) might not be accurate.

The Forking Truth

Three Restaurants in Metro Phoenix for Jerk Chicken – Caribbean Cuisine, Desert Island Eatery & The Breadfruit & Rum Bar

My first jerk chicken I had was in Jamaica. It wasn’t as spicy as I imagined it to be but was a delicious flavorful what seemed like stewed chicken dish. Jerk Chicken is typically marinated with a combination of hot peppers, thyme, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves garlic and onion. It can be cooked either on a wood or charcoal grill or in the oven. I think the most similar version of Jerk Chicken that I tried in Jamaica came from Caribbean Cuisine in Glendale. This is a very small restaurant that is open mainly for just take out. (possibly just for take out these days during the pandemic) Their specialty dish is the cows foot soup.

It’s a delicious fall apart stewy kind of chicken. The generous plate comes with lots of rice and peas, plantains with cabbage and a little salad and extra hot sauce is offered.

In the past year a new restaurant opened up near me that is also mostly a take out Caribbean Restaurant called Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. (They have added outside patio tables not pictured and the three small tables inside are closed during the pandemic)

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken

I usually get the combo because I LOVE their curry chicken too! Just like the Jamaican jerk chicken and also just like Caribbean Cuisine the jerk chicken is nice and stewy fall apart chicken with the flavors penetrated all threw it. The Desert Island Eatery Jerk Chicken is intense with the flavors, spice and heat. I get legs, thigh and some breast meat at Desert Island Eatery. You get your choice of yellow rice or rice and peas with cabbage and vegetables.

I recently tried the jerk chicken take out special for two people from The Breadfruit and Rum Bar in Downtown Phoenix. This is a nice dine restaurant that is temporarily closed during the pandemic but was open for limited take out.

This was different from the others in many ways. It’s not stewy. It seemed like it was roasted but it might have been grilled. The flavors are intense and delicious but are mostly on the skin of the chicken. They also gave a small cup of hot sauce that should come with a warning label that is MOLTEN HOT (just one drop is INSANELY CRAZY HOT!….I think it could burn a hole threw the center of the earth) This was mostly a large portion of breast meat with some rice and peas fried kale and a few other vegetables.

Those were three places in metro Phoenix for Jerk Chicken.

Caribbean Cuisine – Glendale

Desert Island Eatery – North Phoenix

The Breadfruit and Rum Bar – Downtown Phoenix

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

The Forking Truth