Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Some Forking Thoughts on the Christmas Candy Cane

A long time ago in a land far away it was said that children were given candy sticks in church to make them shut The Fork Up. It also has been written that a person from Germany got the idea to put a little bit of religion in the candy sticks by making them Shepard hook shape.

Some time has passed and someone got the idea to add hyssop flavoring to the candy because hyssop was used in the Old Testament for purification and sacrifice. Maybe nobody really wanted child sacrifice on their hands and they stopped adding hyssop flavoring. But maybe the real reason they stopped adding hyssop was because mint was cheaper and tasted better…

The White Stripes were added.

Or was it the Red Stripes symbolizing the blood of Christ?

Maybe you noticed that many candy canes are not flavored with mint anymore.

The following candy canes are from Archie McPhee.com

And there are Forking Oreo Candy Canes.

www.Spangler.com
Doesn’t Forking matter what flavor the candy is. The Forking kid will shut the FORK UP!

We hope you have a sweet Christmas or have a Happy Joyful whatever the FORK you are celebrating and Have a Happy Forking New Year!

The Forking Truth

References

www.Wikipedia.com

www.WhyChristmas.com

www.NoelNoel.com

www.FoodNetwork.com

Most memorable Food I ate out in Metro Phoenix AZ 2019

Here are most of the most memorable dishes that I ate out in Metro Phoenix in 2019 in no particular order. I do note that I haven’t been able to eat everywhere so MANY great gems are not mentioned even if I ate there last year.

The year started out really FORKING great! Every dish I tried at the Barrio Gran Reserva was truly FORKING amazing. We shared this incredible Aguachile. It was light, refreshing, SPICY with flavors and textures that POP and were electrifying.

Barrio Gran Reserva

My dinner had this rose petal mole on it and the best salsa I ever tasted in my life.

Even dessert knocked it out of the park and was a chocolate dome with orange mole and sesame seed crisp that were so delicious, tasty and light as air. Everything was Forking Amazing!

Many most memorable FORKING Amazing plates came from Confluence in Carefree.

The layers of flavors are astounding. Dinner here was a Red Sea bream with gnocchi and green beans. Everything is masterfully prepared. All the flavors and textures go so magically well together. I have no idea what they did to the green beans but they were transformed into something mind boggling.

The cabbage roll special from Cafe Chenar in North Phoenix were the best cabbage rolls I’ve ever tasted anywhere. They were unusually light and tender.

The discontinued Quinoa Ball from Meat The Ball in Phoenix was Forking incredible on my first visit…….Very flavorful and spicy…It was very delicious! The pasta and pasta sauces were also very good on both visits.

The FORKING TRUTH is that memorable can be bad……..I want to forget this but I can’t.

I went to a Chinese Restaurant in Glendale called D&Y Chinese. My first visit there was GOOD so I expected my second visit to be good. I will never know what they did to this fish but somehow they transformed a fish into rubber. We were very upset….Sometimes you get so upset that you don’t have the strength to complain. Then we really were sorry that we didn’t complain because they charged us $89.10 for this piece of rubber. That’s The Forking Truth!

Now for something FANTASTIC!

The food from Singh Meadows in Tempe was Amazing and memorable. This beet plate three ways taste as great as it looks. All the food we tried there was the best. The vegetables taste different and better than you can imagine…..You think you know what a green bean taste like…but then you don’t because a simple green bean never was so tender and sweet before…OH that is what a green bean is suppose to taste like! (same story with most of the vegetables from Singh Meadows) I think the tomatoes I tasted here might have also been the best tomatoes ever.

Another restaurant well known for incredible vegetable and other dishes is FNB in Scottsdale.

Every dish was incredible but it started with this plate of radishes, dates and pumpkin seeds with caper anchovy dressing that night. Every plate was stunning but I picked this plate because it was the prettiest.

The Burmese Fermented Tea Salad from FiGaMi Asian Fresh in Phoenix was refreshing memorable and delicious. (and only priced at $3.00 at the time) I also enjoyed the fish noodle soup there too. You should try it! This food is something special and different that is hard to find. I wish this place was closer to me so I could eat here more often.

The Vegan Tapa Tacos from Casa Terra Vegan Restaurant in Glendale were phenomenal. Off the charts with great flavors. I only wish that they were open for lunch or had a takeout window for these tacos….They were so delicious!

Never had Detroit Style Pizza till I went to The Rec in Peoria. WOW it’s delicious! Crispy cheesy ends topped with rich tomato sauce and a delicious blend of melty cheese. Wow really delicious!

Little Miss BBQ in Sunny Slope serves BBQ that will knock your socks off. Here is the turkey and the brisket…..It’s better than good….GOBBLE GOBBLE! The Turkey was even better than from the original….brisket was better for me because the fatty was less fatty than from the original location. I would go with the fatty Brisket from the the Sunny Slope Location.

The Bourbon Cellar serves me the best burger I ate this year. (I do note that I don’t eat many beef burgers out because I gave up commercial ground beef.) The beef burgers here are fresh prime filet ground in house kind of burgers. In came on an apple cider bun and I added a bourbon pickle and it was topped with a wasabi deviled egg. I’m so GLAD that a second location is opening at 83rd and Happy Valley! WOO HOO!

I must admit that The Hot Chick in Scottsdale makes a great clucking sandwich. I had the sandwich called the Hot Chick. It’s spicy, crispy, flavorful, moist, delicious. It’s among the top better chicken sandwiches that I’ve tasted in metro Phoenix. (the other one is from The Larder and The Delta but I ate something different on my last visit)

From The Larder and The Delta I had The Hopping John Dish…..WOW is it incredibly delicious! It full of flavors and textures. It’s sort of earthy and very tasty….you can’t stop eating it.

The Banana Leaf Platter from Vaigai in Glendale was very good. I especially enjoyed the Indian Beets…They were memorable and I made something similar at home.

The strawberry gelato from Fabio on Fire in Peoria can make angels sing…..I also highly recommend the Bufalina Pizza made with ultra delicious bufala cheese, arugula, reduced balsamic, San Marzano Tomatoes and olive oil. My other favorite are the spinach ravioli in walnut sauce….but I prefer when they make the sauce thin….one time someone made it thick but it was still really good!

Must mention this amazing Hiramasa Fish with Huitlacoche and Tamale from Confluence in Carefree. OMG YUM! It’s like not of this earth good…….It’s sweet, sour, salty, crispy, spicy….It got it all going on. Really really a masterpiece. Then I went back again not too much latter and had this INCREDIBLE Fried chicken dinner….OMG..YUM! One of the best fried chicken that I’ve tasted ever……really amazing! I could go on and on and on and on about dishes I had here The Chicken sandwich……OMG……maybe best of all chicken sandwiches everywhere….I mean EVERYWHERE!

The picture below does not do justice to how delicious…maybe life changing the food really was. The steak was not the star here.

Under the steak are these Forking Incredible Pupusas from Seydi’s Pupuseria in North Phoenix. OMG YUM you have to try them. They are almost like kicked up grill cheese sandwiches made of corn flour and yum! We shared a jalapeno and cheese pupusa and a flower and cheese pupusa…we liked the jalapeno one the best but both were delicious. They make around a dozen different kinds of pupusas. You eat them with this strong spicy slaw. Really delicious! You will be happy that you tried a pupusa here!

Had one of the very best dinners ever at J&G Steakhouse. It’s impossible to pick just one plate.

Black Truffle Cheese Fritters are mind blowing.

Salmon Toast silky and wonderful with the best tasting herbs I ever tasted.

Arctic char so custardy with a perfect seasoned crisp skin, wood sorrel, chanterelles and kohlrabi.

And a Forking Great Dessert too!

Also had an amazing dinner from Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale.

Dinner started with the most amazing French Onion Soup Ever……..I can tell by tasting it that this soup took many hours to prepare……..Never had onion soup that tasted like confit onions before.

It’s also very hard to pick one dish from Alzohour Market and Bakery in Phoenix.

Everything we tried here was delicious! Above is the frekah chicken. It’s fragrant and filled with exotic spices, almonds. It’s just FREKAH DELICIOUS! Again everything was great! and that tea was unbelievably delicious too!

Meat The Ball does it again but this time at the promenade in Scottsdale.

Everything was good but the meatball in the front was FORKING Amazing! It was the cauliflower (meatless) meatball in curry sauce. WOW it’s full of delicious flavors and it is spicy. It’s so delicious that I tried to make my own copy of it at home. I haven’t tried everything there yet so I don’t know what gems I am missing. (hope they kept the recipe the same so it stays just as great!)

Here’s another one I copied and made at home from The Larry in the downtown warehouse district.

It doesn’t look like much but it taste awesome. The Larry calls this Bang Bang Broccoli. It’s just ever so slightly coated and dusted with bonito flakes, Asian Seasoning and sesame seeds. It’s FORKING Delicious!

Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix serves incredible food. The lentil balls taste like a different flavor falafel and really GREAT! The curry and jerk chicken are the best! Really great food from a tiny hole in the wall kind of place.

The next restaurant doesn’t look special…nor does the food look special but the taste is OFF THE CHARTS!

Another hole in the wall kind of place that serves incredible food is Fe La Cubana in Glendale. On the day of my visit they only served seven items that were either beef or pork. The three items we tried don’t look amazing but really did taste out of this world incredible. The food is full flavored tender and delicious. You won’t go wrong with the oxtail, ropa or the pork and garbanzo soup.

Haru Sushi and Grill from The Upper West Side in Glendale serves the best sushi in this part of town. But they serve more than just sushi. They serve yummy Korean style wings, yummy poppers, delicious unique rolls and other things but cooked fish there is OMG AMAZING too! Up above is a sea bass that just melts in the mouth like no other. It really is amazing. Love the bento boxes especially the one with salmon….best salmon in town. The hamachi collar and other collars are up there among the very best! You can’t get better fish than from Haru Sushi on the upper west side.

Some honorable mentions and local loves need to be added.

The Key West Chop Chop from Little Cay in Phoenix. Delicious layers of salad with chicken rice and beans and more! It really POPS when you add the house vinegar.

From Perseption in Phoenix.

The wood grilled steak with black eyed peas, tostones and chimichurri. Delicious and a great value and MIGHTY delicious.

I’ve been to The Vincent Market Bistro a number of times but I’ve never had the stuffed poblano pepper with goat cheese and mushrooms before. It’s incredible and so perfect. It’s really delicious and you should share it with someone as a really great appetizer to a lovely meal that awaits. Possibly the best value dining restaurant in Metro Phoenix.

Banh Mi Bistro in Phoenix is a favorite. Great fresh tasting banh mi sandwiches, rice plates, curry chicken, yummy dumplings and the very best $5.00 Chicken cabbage salad anywhere. A really great value restaurant with super nice owners.

$8.00 Happy Hour Vegetable Plate from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante

Another favorite is Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale. They do treat you like family. I love the extra thin Milano pizza they usually offer as a special with Calabrian Peppers. I love the grilled Happy hour vegetable plate. It’s so much better than something fried or something wings that most restaurants offer. The house made pastas are great and I like that this restaurant offers more proteins like chicken…so I can come in for a nutritious salad now and then when I want one. They also come up with interesting specials like pasta-free squash manicottis and always serve very good Neapolitan pizzas. My dogs also enjoy the food here because they are dog friendly.

I go to Cucina Tagliani semi regularly because they are officially dog friendly and because of the food they offer. They try to please everyone and offer the usual American Italian gut busting favorites but they also offer many healthy and vegetable alternatives that I like. They offer noodle cut zucchini and spaghetti squash as a healthy alternative to pasta. Other healthy dishes are the strawberry goat cheese salad, quinoa, asparagus, spinach, broccoli, spaghetti squash, mixed vegetables and the baked spaghetti squash. I don’t think any other American Italian restaurant offers so many healthy vegetable options. I don’t eat it often but the chocolate marscapone cake might be among the best desserts in the west valley. It’s delicious and I usually don’t enjoy chocolate desserts out.

Sala Thai in Peoria deserves some credit. They actually infuse the basil flavor in their dishes. Most Thai Restaurants do not do this in the area or even use nearly enough basil. I LOVE the spicy Thai Basil with pumpkin dish that they offer. I think it might be the best Thai dish of the west side.

The Breaded Chicken Thigh Sandwich from CHZBURGR in Glendale is quite good! It was juicy crispy and flavorful….sauces here are very above average. Actually everything we tried from CHZBURGR was very good….burgers, fries of two kinds and a hot dog.

“We got a no onion CHZBURGR that we loved!”

Even my dogs have tried CHZBURGR! Why haven’t you?

These were the most memorable of what I tried in 2019.

Here’s to 2020…Hoping for a FORKING GREAT YEAR!

Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

My Forking Thoughts of my First Taste of The Cosmic Crisp Apple comparing it to the Honey Crisp Apple.

The Cosmic Crisp Apple was developed from a cross of honey crisp apples and enterprise apples. The Cosmic Crisp is the darker apple pictured on the left and on the right is a honey crisp. The apples are suppose to taste similar but the Cosmic Crisp is developed to have a much longer shelf life.

Lets give them a taste and see what I Forking think.

I did notice before I tasted the apples that the Cosmic Crisp are harder to slice.

Trying a slice of Cosmic Crisp.

It’s a good tasting apple with sweetness, apple flavor and acidity. The skin might be a little tough….though.

Now trying a slice of Honey Crisp.

This apple is much lighter in texture, much juicier, much sweeter and easier to eat….

Back to the Cosmic Crisp….After a slice of honey Crisp I know that the Cosmic Crisp is a MUCH DENSER Apple. I wonder if it has more calories because the Honey Crisp almost…I mean ALMOST seems like watermelon texture compared to the Cosmic Crisp. After eating the Honey Crisp I really notice how tough the skin on it is.

We didn’t finish all this apple on day one so I got to try them again together the next day.

Day two- The Cosmic Crisp is still more dense. The only difference on day two is that I thought it was as sweet as the Honey Crisp…..To me it seemed like the flavors were more concentrated on day two. Day Two the flavors in the cut Honey Crisp seemed slightly diluted.

Both the Cosmic Crisp and Honey Crisp are very good apples.

I do note that I only purchased one Cosmic Crisp apple from AJ’s Fine Foods at $3.99 a pound. My Honey Crisp was recently on sale for around 95 cents a pound.

That was my Forking Thoughts of my First Taste of comparing the Cosmic Crisp Apple to the Honey Crisp Apple.

Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your FORKING experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

A little Taste of Where The Fork I’ve Been Las Vegas Fall 2019

First Stop was Buddy V’s in the Venetian on the Las Vegas Strip.

Everything really was very good. My husband went crazy over the pasta and sausage dish….He is partial to that kind of dish and said it was the best he had out anywhere. I do have to add that his cannoli is the best one I’ve tasted out anywhere!

Next Stop was Bouchon….Also in the Venetian.

Very classic and just like the Bouchon in Napa Valley except this one is on the tenth floor. All went incredible here too……..Portions were much larger than I was expecting. We were seeing a show afterwards and I didn’t have a refrigerator in my hotel so I had to lose my leftovers…so sad …I threw out the best leftovers I ever had anywhere…..

Next destination was The Crack Shack at Park MGM on the Las Vegas Strip.

The Crack Shack is a casual semi fast chicken theme restaurant that is co-founded by celebrity Top Chef Richard Blais. It’s kind of semi fast food style with a sports bar kind of feel. But the chicken used is quality Jidori chicken. We got a tasty fried chicken sandwich and shared Matzo Ball Pozole and schmaltz fries too!

A trip to Las Vegas usually involves a dinner at L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon at the MGM Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Chef Robuchon was the most starred chef in history and also was known as Chef of the century. Some of his magic still lives on at his restaurant.

Emeril’s Table Ten Restaurant was a favorite that closed maybe two or three years back. I liked Table Ten restaurant best because it offered the most variety of the Emeril restaurants. Went back to Emeril’s New Orleans Fish-house in the MGM.

It killed me to skip that amazing banana cream pie today but both of us enjoyed everything we had. Emeril’s always serves the best gumbo that you can get outside of New Orleans. I got todays catch that was the grilled salmon.

OMG……. TWIST By Pierre Gagnaire was FORKING AMAZING! Twist is located on the 23rd floor of the Waldorf Astoria in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip.

To my local peeps it’s kind of like Binkley’s at the original location pricing (depending on menu you chose) but all the amuse bouches are served at the beginning and mostly at the end. This is a French style restaurant by a multi award winning chef. We received over 15 amuse bouches during dinner. Each and every morsel we we tried BLEW IT OUT OF THE PARK! Everything was so DETAILED and so amazing…..Not just great but FORKING extraordinary! All the food was a truly mind blowing experience. We both went with the vegetarian menu $89 (4 courses). I highly recommend! My NEW favorite!

Starter amuse bouches
charcoal apricot bread and baguette
quinoa salad
bell pepper
palate cleanser
risotto with white alba truffles and autumn vol-am-vant
dessert
very detailed and amazing amuse bouches

Like not of this world from another planet FORKING AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!

That was a little taste of my fall 2019 trip to Las Vegas.

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

The Forking Truth

Be a GOOD Guest and NOT a Forking TURKEY on Thanksgiving

Be a good guest and not a Forking turkey on Thanksgiving. It seems that some people have been raised by wolves and don’t know how to behave correctly on Thanksgiving. Here are few things that some people need to know.

PLEASE be a normal responsible person. If you come down with a cold PLEASE don’t bring it to Thanksgiving with you. Your germs aren’t special and incase you don’t know YOUR FARTS SMELL TOO! If you go to Thanksgiving with a cold you will inflict your illness on others. Only a Forking turkey would do something this inconsiderate.

Don’t let your children race into someone’s home like zombies not even making eye contact with the host. Just a smile and a nod goes a long way and is enough….and would be appreciated.

Don’t be a Forking Turkey and set the alarm on the host’s washer and dryer. Only a Forking NUT job Turkey would do such a thing. You know your host will know it was done by you…….so please don’t be a dumb cluck.

You might not care for every dish your host serves but DON’T BE A TURKEY and when you see something you don’t care for just don’t eat it. Only a FORKING TURKEY would scream at the table, ” I HATE PROFITEROLES!” For GOD’S sake if you don’t scream in the super market that you hate profiteroles when you see them then why the heck would you scream it in someones home? Only a Forking TURKEY does such a thing.

Only a FOKING TURKEY would re-gift a used food product that already was used that they didn’t care for. If something you tried was crap to you why in the world would you dump your already used smelly fish on someone else……What the heck were you thinking? Only a ding bat or someone who has lost their marbles FORKING TURKEY would do this.

If you or your children break something in your host’s house the right thing to do is to mention it to your host. Not saying anything really Forking make you look like a BIG FORKING RUDE and inconsiderate TURKEY. (that’s just so rude and inconsiderate)

Only a Forking TURKEY would give the host a back stabbing compliment. “That might have been the best Thanksgiving food I ever had” “But I don’t know that much about food and I would rate it two stars!” Only FORKING MORON TURKEYS say something like that.

Don’t act like you are helping to clean up the serving ware by tossing them in the trash. Only a Forking NUT JOB Turkey would do that.

We sincerely hope that the only turkey at your thanksgiving table is the one you eat.

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Forking Truth

Some Recipes that you can find here on The Forking Truth for Thanksgiving

Here are a bunch of recipes from The Forking Truth that you might want to try for Thanksgiving. Up above is for a Southwest Style Thanksgiving. It’s Guacamole Style Beets. (this recipe will go up Wednesday) Here are around 50 Forking recipes to inspire you.

Duchess Parnips
Blue Cheese Sriracha Butter Hasselback Mini Potatoes with Radish
Timbale
Tomato, Hibiscus, Onion and Roasted Lime Salad
Bread Leek Pudding
Festive Holiday Cranberry Sauce
Cabbage Salad with Balsamic Roasted Strawberries, Apples and Almond Dukkah
Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Bouchon made by me
Brown Sugar Cinnamon Chestnuts with Crisp Sage
Moroccan Inspired Carrots
Duchess Inspired Kabocha Squash
Braised Leeks with Onions Appleand Carrots in Apple Cider Veloute
Gordon Ramsey’s Clafoutis
Cranberry Sauce with Hibiscus
Sweet Potatoes with Cherry peppers, Figs, Green Onions and Balsamic Drizzle
Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Pecans, Dates and some Brown Sugar
Traditional Stuffing and Rosemary Herb Stuffing
Fennel Fava Radish and Walnut Salad in Lemon Dijon Dressing
Italian Style Beans

Baby Eggplants stuffed with spicy Indian spiced onions, tomatoes, sprouts and cashews

Oven fried crispy turkey wings

Classic Boule
Citrus Salad with Honey Poppy Seed Dressing and Spiced Almonds
Forking Great Blue-Cheese, Sriracha, Honey Radish Appetizer
Melon Salad with Preserved Lemon, Lavender and Whipped Cream Cheese
Butternut Squash Cinnamon Bun
Spaghetti Squash with Harissa Vinaigrette inspired from FnB Restaurant of Scottsdale AZ
Twice Cooked Gilfeather Rutabaga inspired from FNB Restaurant
Crispy Turkey Skin
Pear Almond Cake
Acorn Squash with Cranberry Mango Habanero Sauce and Blue Cheese
Chanterelle Bread Stuffing
Duchess Style Stuffed Potatoes
Kabocha Squash Coconut Crust Pie
Hatch Chili and Roasted Red Pepper Challah Bread
Onion Rolls
Kobocha Squash Ice-Cream
Purple Sweet Potato Blackberry Pie with Coconut/Almond Crust
Brussels Sprouts Baba Ganoush
Sweet Potato Surprise Pie …..surprise it’s purple!
Duchess Potatoes (The Special Occasion Potato)
Cranberry Roselle Lime Sauce
Bouchon Bakery Mini Coffee Cake
Twisted Date Bread
Yellow Mango Frozen Confection
Kabocha Squash Cake with Drizzle and Chestnuts
Tunisian Inspired Carrots
Summer Vegetable Stuffed Peppers
Braised Beets, Pickled Golden Raisins, Spiced Walnuts and Mint
Forking BEST Chocolate Chip Cookies ever!
South West Style Hatch Chile Corn Fritters
Sriracha Apricot Glazed Acorn Squash with Nectarines, Cherries and Almonds
Fancy Schmancy Deviled Eggs
One Ingredient Frozen Banana Confection with added cinnamon and crushed chocolate chips
Italian Style Slightly Spicy Cauliflower
Plum Pomegranate and Pine Nut Cake
Zippy but Delicious Corn Bread Stuffing
Moist Fresh Herb Turkey Stuffing
Turkey Stock
Thanksgiving Turkey Meatballs
SousVide 140 degrees F with herbs salt and pepper and garlic confit

Happy Thanksgiving!

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Roasted Chicken Wing Chips

I came across these Chinese Made Lay’s Potato Chips at one of the Asian Markets so I picked them up to try. The ingredients look safe to eat and I don’t think that there is any actual chicken in the chips.

I was surprised to see Sichuan Pepper as one of the ingredients.

Here is what the back of the bag looks like.

I open up the bag and take a sniff.

This bag isn’t too full.

It smells odd………something like instant soup.

I pour out some chips to try.

They have a powdery exterior and big deep ridges.

I taste one.

It does have a sort of roasted chicken kind of flavor but it is too sweet. It’s more sweet and salty. The chips in the picture are not spicy……But….If I taste a crumb from the bottom of the bag it taste different has more flavor and is spicy. The bottom of bag crumbs are more spicy and soupy tasting and the chips towards the top are milder with a more roasted chicken flavor. These are one of the few chips that make my hand smell. My hands smell like instant soup.

1/2 a Fork…Worth a try! You might like or love them…You might also think they suck!

The Chinese Lay’s Hot Pot Flavor and the cucumber flavors were much more interesting and maybe better than this roasted chicken wing flavor to me. I recommend trying those flavors before the roasted chicken wing flavor. It certainly isn’t bad…..but I wouldn’t try this one again.

Your opinion and experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Numb and Spicy Hot Pot Flavor Potato Chips

I came across the Numb and Spicy Hot Pot of Lay’s Potato Chips at the Mekong International and Asian Market in Mesa Arizona. I thought that I had to give this interesting flavor of potato chips a try.

The bag looks like this on the back. It’s all in Chinese with a sticker of the ingredients in English.

Here are the ingredients.

It seems safe to eat so I open the bag and take a whiff.

It smells sort of liquorish with other aromas that remind me of fried Chinese Food.

The chips have ridges with a powdery coating. If you look closely you can see little dark specks.

Ok now I taste one….It is hot and spicy. I get mostly spicy hot at first but not too hot. I get spicy, salty and some sweet. It kinda taste like spicy Asian Fish soup. It’s not too fishy but is reminds me of fish essence…that is spicy and is mixed with flavors that are Asian Style. There is an allspice taste. The heat and flavors pass and the allspice builds……… It’s pretty darn good…..If it had less allspice it would be really great!

Those were My Forking Thought on the Lay’s Numb and Spicy Hot Pot Flavor Potato Chips.

Taste is subjective and your experience and package of chips may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

The Halloween Special Edition – A Collection of the Most Frightful Horrific Foods served to me in Metro Phoenix AZ

Here is a collection of the most frightful and horrific foods served to me in Metro Phoenix Arizona. Some but NOT ALL of these restaurants are normally good but things do happen …..and many will have a bad day…..It is very unfortunate for me because I won’t go back when I have a poor experience somewhere. It’s not my intention to damage a restaurants’ reputation. I will mention the name of the restaurant if they are no longer in business. After all I already mentioned who they were at the time I dined there. And That’s The Forking Truth!

The worst taco in the whole world came from Taco Haus in Scottsdale. Dry flavorless chicken in a tortilla that decomposed on the way to the table. Rest in peace Taco Haus.

The 2nd worst taco in the whole world was served to me at the 2019 AZ Taco Festival. This one wasn’t just salty or over salted. It FORKING taste like it was HALF SALT. Some poor boob at the festival must have accidentally dropped a whole container of salt into the taco. mix and just mixed it in not giving a dam. Shame.

Fondant from Indi Fusion

Once upon a time there was a restaurant called Indi Fusion. It was an Indian Fusion restaurant. They sure did make some tasty food and they had so much potential. But dessert was another story there. I ordered a fondant ( basically a French lava cake) instead of a fondant I received a Fon-DON’T…….I recieved not a molten cake….not even a cake…but a disk of frosting. I have to say that the chef had some confusion issues.

Soggy falling apart dumplings from a particular Asian Restaurant in Phoenix.

Bad food usually does come from chains…….

I’ve never been to a Long John Silvers before and never will go again. I enjoy fish and many decades back Arthur Treachers used to serve really delicious quality Icelandic Cod. Incase you don’t know the chain has been sold a long time back and lowered the quality of the food so it might suck now. . Anyways I was hoping that Long John Silver would serve something similar to what Arthur Treachers used to serve. WOW was this sickly BAD!!!!!! It was so greasy and muddy tasting with that OLD USED OIL TASTE. I couldn’t eat it….Now I feel bad because I offered this fish to my dear departed dog Louie and Louie took it and he FORKING SPIT IT OUT! It was so bad LOUIE SPIT IT OUT! But then my younger dog gobbled up what poor old Louie spit out.

Now I really feel bad for these people that opened a meatball theme restaurant called Meatballz in Scottsdale. They didn’t have basic cooking skills to prepare meatballs or a basic tomato sauce. I have no idea on why they went into this business. I highly doubt that anyone ever said to them your food is so good that you should open a restaurant.

Crunchy Carrots in Vegan Balls and Sauces

Mushy vegan meatballs with crunchy carrots in a raw acidic slightly bitter sauce sandwich. The sauce was so bitter and also had crunchy uncooked carrots in it. My husband tried a meat meatball and it was also awful.

This one was from a restaurant in Phoenix.

Dinner that looks like it threw up on it’s self ……….from a well known restaurant on Camelback Road.

All the food was really bad from this Mediterranean restaurant in Glendale but most things photographed well.

The pickled they gave me could own a senior citizens card……before it passed away. Their falafels were served with hard uncooked chick peas that was hard like rocks and could break teeth……The gyro was like fried baloney….but the rice, onion and tomato was good.

I went to what one of the “official” top ten Italian Restaurants of Metro Phoenix. The Forking Truth is that I did enjoy a few lunches there but then went back for dinner.

For $34.00 I got over cooked Bronzino and vegetables that appear to be reheated too many times and maybe were a couple of weeks old. They don’t don’t check on you here…this might be why.

Now Little Cleo’s in Phoenix was a good seafood restaurant……But

I was horrified at this tiny dinner plate……Don’t you think it was tiny too? I guess I accidentally ordered “the I already ate plate.”

Here’s another “I already ate plate.”

This one was also from a very nice restaurant that had an ultra talented chef…..but.

Seared Tuna Nicoise ($16.) from The Local, PHX AZ

Wouldn’t you be horrified if you received this tiny lunch for $16.00? This isn’t even enough for a midget on weight watchers….and WTFork did they do with that other half of egg anyway?

……Is my dinner excited to see me?…….Or is the chef just pissed off?

I got this polenta tower from a well known restaurant in Phoenix. I do note the chef has changed at least twice at this restaurant since I had this dinner. You won’t get this anymore there……(but he may be working someplace else now?)

We ate a nice meal at a Filipino restaurant. The FOOD really was good there but the desserts were hard like rocks. I couldn’t break them open but my husband used all his might and busted them open.

We did confront the owner and he said that nothing was wrong with the desserts and they just needed to be heated up. (excuse me…….. I didn’t know that I was suppose to bring my own Forking heat source with me to try these desserts) Well The Forking Truth is that these desserts were served to us HARD AS ROCKS….(he also said he’d take them off the bill…..but nobody took them off the bill..we just paid and left)

Some people don’t enjoy dessert….Now I know why.

I was served this dessert somewhere WAY out in the far west valley. the dessert wasn’t so good……in taste and in texture. When I pulled this thing out of my mouth from the dessert I thought it was a piece of silicone glue.

But the waiter here told me it just was a piece of the dessert…???????? I thought it was GLUE…The waiter said it was part of the dessert!

This is my finished plate of food from a certain Mediterranean Restaurant somewhere in Phoenix. This restaurant at the time had a FIVE STAR Average on a certain review site so I thought the food would be good. The food might look good but my chicken was so dry and hard that it was impossible to remove it from the wooden sticks. That little bite on the one piece of chicken was all I could break off. The pitas were also hard and seemed like processed food. Even the rice was horrible and was some kind of pre-cooked rice.

Nobody enjoys a falafel that lacks herbs and is crumbly dry.

I have read many reviews that this small Mediterranean Restaurant serves the best falafels in the valley……I don’t know what they had but these falafels I tried sucked. They are dry as the Sahara Desert and lacked fresh herbs. This is not a good falafel.

Even nice resorts serve mediocre food.

This salmon salad was from a fine resort in Scottsdale. This salad made me very unhappy. The salmon seemed like it was salvaged from a buffet past. It was pre-made, almost cold and also over cooked. There was albumin formation on the fish…it’s like egg whites being cooked out of the flesh.

The salad was also missing some ingredients that I was looking forward to enjoying like fiddlehead ferns, sunflower seeds and flavor.

The Forking Truth is that once in a while the finest restaurants might screw up.

Over Cooked and Over Salted Phoenix AZ

This fish tells a different tail. Over cooked and over salted fish from one of the finest restaurants in Phoenix………All the other plates here were excellent…..They just screwed up on the fish. I told the waiter and he claimed he’d tell the chef………….who knows?

Here is a sad fish story of a small business located in Glendale. I think what happened here was a combination of poor cooking skills and restaurant equipment failing.

My fish was crispy in a weird way. I never was served freezer burnt fish before…..The sweet potatoes seemed to have been aged and the Mac’n’ Cheese was mushy watered down velvetta sort of concoction. The tarter sauce wasn’t even edible here and had the consistency of creamer. My husband’s plate was even worst. His fish was even more freezer burnt and he warned me not to even think about trying his sides….Red/beans and rice were spoiled and he couldn’t describe what was wrong with the hushpuppies…..after a brief tasting we tossed out all the food and ate someplace else.

I waited 45 minutes for this.

Tried a deep dish pizza in Peoria. The crust was very hard and tasted burnt and all this cheese made me feel sick. Crust is mostly black.

Bad food can come from a food truck.

Close up of Corned Beef Wild Buckeye Roll

This was from a food truck. It was a greasy mess and tasted like the grease it was fried with decomposing possums, dead donkeys and other critters or whatever.

This next one might not be the restaurants fault?………….you can purchase unusually super tough chicken. (it’s usually that ultra cheap chicken)

The slaw was really good. The fresh made bread was tasty but the chicken was inedible. It was like it was full of steal belted silver skin…….You couldn’t eat it. This was from a Bosnian Restaurant somewhere in Phoenix.

“READY OR NOT HERE IT COMES! …………. sucker”

Some restaurants put out food ready or not!

Raw grits from a bbq restaurant in Phoenix. Here we brought this to someones attention and instead of saying I’ll take that off your bill or I’ll get you a new one she just walked away. Also from the same BBQ……

For what it’s worth….The brisket might have been outstanding if it was cooked several hours more but they served it before it’s time with hard fat and tough beef. We had other problems but these were the major issues.

This restaurant thinks that the customer will eat anything.

$13.99 Salad from a Mexican Restaurant in Phoenix AZ

The most uninspired salad in metro Phoenix……with horrible salsa too!

Sometimes there is a reason why some restaurants go out of business.

Sonata’s Restaurant used to be located in Scottsdale. My first few visits were so delicious….I was flabbergasted at what they served me on my last visit not so long before they closed. Old fishy tasting salmon that was topped with sour uncooked tomato paste surrounded by horrid splats of floury corn two horrible ways. Down before are gooey gross pierogis. I latter heard that they were between chefs.

Sometimes restaurants don’t hire qualified help and then they go down the tubes. I did tell them how it was when I dined there and the waiter said he’d tell the management. They did nothing. I also wrote about my experience here and on a review site. The management told me that my first two experiences were great so I should just be happy with that.

Tough steak with a side of pond slime for some place in Carefree. (this really grossed me out…I couldn’t even bring the meat home for my dogs…and couldn’t eat beef again for a few months)

I went to this particular restaurant in Peoria and a while back it was OK….I heard that the ownership changed and I was hoped that it got better……sadly it got worst. This food was far worst that what you’d get from the lowest end fast food place! It was like MICROWAVED BY A MORON!

This is my salad. It was made with what tasted like pre-made frozen chicken fingers that had the strangest texture. They were hard, hollow and cold. It seemed like they blew them up in a microwave oven and then chilled them.

My husband also had an awful sandwich here.

His sandwich was made with similar chicken fingers that were covered in cheese that was hard but also melted at the same time.

This one isn’t the worst and almost didn’t make this list….but it isn’t great either.

There is this sandwich shop in Glendale and the fillings for their sandwiches aren’t bad but they use the FORKING WORST ROLLS IN THE WHOLE WORLD. I have no idea why someone would open a sandwich shop and use the lousiest bread they could buy.

Sometimes some restaurants serve you half good and half bad food.

I went to an Asian Chicken restaurant in Mesa. The chicken on the left side of the plate was moist and edible. The chicken on the right side was similar to jerky but very dry and stringy.

I had delicious fish at this restaurant in Glendale before so I thought I would get delicious fish again….I was wrong.

I have no idea what went wrong here…..The fish came out like it was made of rubber. You couldn’t eat it. We didn’t complain because we were just so upset that we just wanted to leave. Then they charged me $89.10 for this fish. This has to be one of the worst experiences I ever had anywhere.

Disappointing food can come from a pizza shop.

Who wants a pizza without toppings? I got an individual pizza from a certain place in Peoria. They were very scant with the toppings and one slice was pretty much topping free.

Some people are not fit to be in the restaurant business.

It’s impossible to forget this plate I got somewhere in Sun City. (notice the funeral service card by the lower right side of the plate….strategically placed……) It’s made of boiled frozen vegetables, old green potatoes and old trout. here’s a closer look at the vegetables.

Sun City AZ

and the potatoes. Try some…I dare you!

Sun City AZ

Honest to GOD I asked why the potatoes were green….The waitress said I have to ask the chef……The answer I got was that black pepper always makes potatoes turn green. I was so offended by what I served I seriously thought about calling the police because I thought this was a crime.

Well that was the Halloween Special Edition – A Collection of the most Frightful Horrific Foods served to me in Metro Phoenix AZ.

And that is THE FORKING TRUTH!

The Forking Truth

My Favorite Thai Dish in North Phoenix – Spicy Pumpkin Basil from Sala Thai in Peoria AZ – FORKING Delicious – Worth a Fork!

At the moment my favorite Thai Dish that I’ve come across in North Phoenix is the Spicy Pumpkin Basil from Sala Thai in Peoria. The Pumpkin adds another delicious flavor. It’s sort of sweet, a little creamy and sort of chestnut-like. This dish is basically a Pad Gra Pow with added Thai Pumpkin. It’s your choice of meat hand chopped with extra surface space to soak up flavors. Then it’s stir fried with bell pepper, onion, garlic, Thai Chillies, basil and fish sauce. It’s incredibly delicious. I enjoy that they use a handful of delicious basil that you can taste in this dish. This dish also taste better than from other places because they use Thai Chillies for heat unlike some of the other places that use jalapeños and or a granulated powder. Some of the other Thai restaurants in North Phoenix do offer Pumpkin Curry but Sala Thai is one of the few or possibly only Thai Restaurant in North Phoenix that offers Spicy Pumpkin Basil.

Why settle for Pad Gra Pow when you can have Spicy Pumpkin Basil?

Worth a Fork!

www.SalaThaiAZ.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth