The Smoked food festival was held Sunday October 17th 2021 at Ocotillo restaurant, coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, and park near downtown Phoenix Arizona.
The event was hosted by Arizona Foodie Diana Brandt. This festival is called Smoked because it features smoked food, smoked drinks and more!
Here are random pictures from Smoked 2021.
That was just a taste of Smoked Food Festival hosted by Arizona Foodie at Ocotillo in Phoenix AZ.
The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
The FORKING Amazing FnB Restaurant is located in the arts district by Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The restaurant is co-owned by James Beard Award Wining chef Charleen Badman. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary sharing plates that often feature local vegetables. The menu is vegetable heavy but also features enough meat to please meat eaters. Arizona wines are always featured on the menu.
We enjoyed an amazing meal like we always do at FnB but one dish really stood out. So much so that I actually dreamed about it that night. The flash fried eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots, garlic, pistachios, and honey…….
You can’t make this dish at home because you’d never be able to purchase the speciality farm fresh eggplant that this dish was made with………..and even if you could find such an eggplant who on earth can give you a big slab of eggplant that is very hard to describer but is firm…that you could cut like a potato, but also sort of custardy. This eggplant was extra special….like an eggplant just grown for the GODS……..The flavors were so different and so delicious and unlike anything imaginable with eggplant. They were a genius embellishment. But what was phenomenal was the texture and taste of the eggplant. This eggplant was sweet like white eggplant and seemed seedless. This was really FANTABULOUS eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots and pickled garlic. (I think I dreamed fennel was also in it….not sure if that was real or just added on in my dream ?) All that countered with the pistachios and just the right amount of honey was darn yummy. This eggplant was firm almost like a custardy potato with the skin falling off like the way fish skin can fall off. The eggplant was cooked but wasn’t oily…..It was a magical kind of firm texture but almost custardy texture unlike any eggplant that I have ever had anywhere. It was so light and so delicious and was so easy to whoof down.
The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ is an official FANTABULOUS Dish.
www.FnBRestaurant.com
It’s only a little over a ninety minute ride for us to hop in the car and visit the beautiful red rocks of Sedona Arizona. There are the usual tourist shops to visit, some antique shops, jeep tours, some Arizonian wine tasting rooms to do too and more!
Our first stop was Clarksdale.
Our first stop was Violette’s Bakery. They offer some all day breakfast items, a few all day lunch sandwiches, and fine French Style pastries. I saw this place on a local TV show and they said this is a MUST destination if you are in the area. The bakery is a small postage stamp sized place that is actually a small caboose without indoor seating. You sit around the train car or inside this added on edition.
You wait in line at the train with a tiny bakery inside.
It looks like this when you get to the window.
On the day I went they had one person that cooks and one person to take orders and this one person also serves the tables.
Today it was hot…like 100 degrees F….The wait to the window is painfully slow even if you aren’t too far in line. We were around 6th in line and we waited a good twenty minutes to get to the window.
We ordered a bananas foster crepe to share. We paid, tipped and sat ourselves. We were told that it would be around ten minutes.
We waited thirty minutes and never got our crepe. (bahhhh!) My husband tried to find out what happened but couldn’t push threw the tight packed tiny line of people so we just left. (*******As a slight update I’ve just been contacted by someone from the bakery and she wants to make things right).
Then we drove to Cottonwood.
First stop was Merkin Tasting room and Osteria.
Merkin offers plenty of tasting and eating options. They also make fresh pastas here and various lasagna cupcakes.
We did the red wine tasting.
It was a nice start. They all seemed like lighter red wines…Nice to start out like that.
Next we did lunch at the Tavern Grille across the street.
It was packed already. We were lucky to get a seat.
I got an ahi tuna salad.
My husband got the stuffed meatloaf (ham & cheese) and it came with a bowl of hardy chili. All was ok.
Next was Arizona Stronghold for wine tasting.
We shared red flight A.
I thought these wine had quality and character to them. I thought they all were good but some did have more bells and whistles than others.
We also stopped at Pillsbury Tasting room.
Pillsbury makes good wines…a few of the red wines were as rich as some California wines.
Then we had dinner at The Hudson in Sedona.
I made my reservation more than a month in advance and all the patio tables were already booked so I could only get a table inside.
Beautiful mountain views here.
We shared a HOUSE SMOKED salmon bruschetta with pesto cream cheese…(This was really good!)
My husband had a mushroom (ground in house) burger. (it was a little dry).
I had a south west salmon Caesar salad.
The tortilla strips made it southwest. It was thoughtful to put cheese cloth on the lemon to prevent seeds from squirting out. I thought that was a nice touch. I’m not sure why my southwest salad had a lavosh cracker but it was tasty…….I didn’t expect this since the appetizer was so good but……My salmon tasted fishy so they took it off our bill.
The next day we spent some time downtown at various places.
Lunch was at a place located by a small airport called Mesa Grille that is actually built on a mountain masa…(not from Bobby Flay).
You have to go up a steep mountain for a short distance to get there.
You have great views here and you might see a small plane or two take off.
The food at Mesa Grille is NOT TYPICAL airport food. What we tried was surprisingly detailed, interesting and delicious.
We tried the crispy skin cornmeal crusted red trout with spinach, green chili cheese grits, caper butter sauce, crispy vegetable salad, grilled lemon, and crispy trout skin chicharron.
Our other dish was blackened salmon asada with red bell peppers, onions, pico de gallo, guacamole, borracho beans, grilled street corn and hand made tortillas.
Mesa Grille in Sedona was a really great stop! Both plates were really great!
Next we tried a few wineries in Cottonwood. Javelina Leap and Page Springs.
Javelina Leap offers a style of wine that isn’t my style…It’s not bad wine…Obviously it’s award wining wine…Just not my taste.
I forgot to take photos at Page Springs. I have to say that they make very good wine. I haven’t tried all the wineries out here but I have to say for me Page Springs was in the top two that I tried.
An unexpected thing had happened. I planed my trip about 6 weeks back and tonight’s dinner reservation was for Elote Cafe. It’s a good thing we stopped back at the hotel…Because I saw this on my computer from opentable that Elote Cafe cancelled my reservation. I am surprised that they didn’t call me to inform me. I was out all day and don’t carry my computer with me.
OMG! did I panic because I made my reservations SIX weeks back and had a lot of trouble. I couldn’t get a reservation on any patio anywhere I wanted and I couldn’t get a reservation for Mariposa Latin Grill………..
The first place I try to get a reservation for was Mariposa Latin Grill. The only reservation left was for 4:pm at the bar so I took it. Some sort of divine intervention happened. When we got to a front desk person my husband asked if they had a cancellation and asked if any table was available. They didn’t tell us and sat us in a great open dining area with amazing views. We also had the most FANTABULOUS Dinner. I will have to write about it after this. (It was only a few minutes after 4pm……during the week……..the dining room filled up quickly after I took photos.
That was what I ate and wine tasted around Sedona Arizona.
H Mart is the largest Korean/American Supermarket Chain in America. They have around 85 locations nationwide and also have a few locations in Canada and London. We took a trip to our closest H Mart in Mesa Arizona and these are only a few of things we came across.
Interesting melons
fresh durian fruit
red skinned passion fruit
jujube crunch
fresh wood ear mushrooms and lots of other interesting mushrooms
fresh lily bulb
ginseng
The largest scallions
wagyu beef
yellow chives
garlic stems
green radish
salted egg salmon skin
wasabi pea crackers
live fish …actually the fish section was very large and didn’t smell either. They also offered a lot of frozen fish too..
dried fish
wafu dressing
After we shopping we decided to have lunch in the Market Eatery also known as the H Mart Food Court.
Here is Paris Baguette. Lots of baked goods.
Food Garden
Sogongoong Tofu & BBQ – This was my first choice but they were out of the mackerel I wanted to try.
Jeong’s Noodle
Meisen Katsu – breaded cutlet meals
Korean Fried Chicken
Da Pan …This one seemed interesting to me. I thought I’d like the spicy chicken topaki and my husband thought he’d like the bulgogi Risotto. They also have some weird sounding dishes like Dorito Mac and Cheese here.
This is pretty weird…..It looks like a pizza but it is without crust. I didn’t know that they would sprinkle cheese on it. It’s made of chicken, chewy rice cakes, fish cakes, cabbage, carrots in a sweet but medium spicy sauce….The sauce taste something like that sweet sauce that goes on cabbage rolls. This is weird to me…….It’s a lot of sweet sauce….It came radish kimchi with a soup that frightened me….because I thought looked like urine so I didn’t even try it. Good thing this chicken dish was a big portion because me and my husband ate this because the other dish we both couldn’t stomach.
We thought we would be getting something like this because it is the picture of the dish from the business posted as menu on www.Yelp.com It looks good doesn’t it? I also remember our last food critic from our local newspaper wrote about how great this dish was…..I guess Da Pan made him this version.
But we got this instead.
I tell The FORKING Truth so I have to say that……..It’s really grosser than it looks. Honest to GOD!>>>It’s like they took a brick of cream cheese and put the bulgogi in a blender with the cream cheese with not much else and mixed it with rice.
It’s like vomit on a skillet.
I did better with some of the vegetables that I picked up at H Mart.
Endives fried in chicken fat with lime, peanuts, basil, mint, yellow chives
That was my trip to H Mart in Mesa AZ
www.HMart.com
April 25th 2021 was the first celebrity chef star studded food festival at Ocotillo Restaurant in Phoenix Arizona. There was food and drinks inside for VIPS and outside for everyone else. Tickets were $100. for general admission $200 for V.I.P. admission and up to $1,000. for extra special admission.
That was the 2021 Aaron May’s Big Boy Cook Club Cookout at Ocotillo in Phoenix AZ.
Today I am mentioning the black owned restaurants that I can personally recommend. I do note that I haven’t been everywhere in metro Phoenix so other great black owned restaurants are out there that you should want to visit too. The restaurants mentioned are not in any particular order.
I had dishes that were to die for from The Larder + The Delta in Downtown Phoenix.
It’s a cute little casual restaurant in Phoenix that offers high quality Southern American Inspired Modern Cuisine.
This Hoppin John is like no other. It’s FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! It’s earthy, spicy, deeply flavorful with interesting textures. It’s a Hum-YUM-Dinger!
A LONG While back I had the very best of the hot chicken sandwiches that I have tried anywhere. It was like a religious experience.
I had many delicious hot chicken sandwiches before but this one had the best and most delicious flavors of any hot chicken sandwich that I’ve ever had. One thing that really stood out was that the chicken was the only one that still tasted like it was on the bone. Then this one also had many layers to it that were the most delicious. It was so amazing that I wonder why this sandwich isn’t often found on the menu.
During the pandemic The Larder + The Delta did hot chicken take out.
They did re-opened for dine in service but these are uncertain times so you must contact them for up to date details.
I only got to eat at Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen once (because this place is pretty far for me) but everything we tried was delicious. My husband said that the red beans and rice were really great. He usually only eats this dish in New Orleans…because usually it is usually only good in New Orleans.
He also enjoyed the Shrimp Po Boy.
I had some sort of hot chicken sandwich that was different but delicious. If I remember correctly I think it was made with his own hot sauce and specialty remoulade sauce. The fries were seasoned with Old Bay.
Currently Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen operates out of a food truck so you have to look up their schedule.
At a food festival in Peoria (Devour The World) I enjoyed the food from Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe very much.
I decided that I should try the Ethiopian Restaurant Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe myself. (PHX)
We got a couple dishes on one large platter lined with injera bread and served with rolls of it. Everything was DELICIOUS! There were three kinds of lentil dishes, vegetable dishes…..a couple meat dishes and in the middle was this insanely delicious dish called Doro Wat. It was a great experience.
We enjoyed many dishes from Carribbean Cuisine in Glendale. I do note that this is a very small place that is mainly open for take out. (possibly only take out during the pandemic)
Red Snapper
Jerk chicken
Curry chicken
Oxtail (not always ready because this takes hours to prepare)
Escoviitch
Everything was delicious from Caribbean Cuisine.
We enjoy Desert Island Eatery and Cafe very much. This is a Caribbean Restaurant that also serves Vegan foods. Inside is only three tables but they recently added a patio. Currently during the pandemic they are Take Out only and the patio is not in use.
Our mutual favorite dish here is the Curry/Jerk Chicken combo that comes with cabbage and your choice of rice and peas or yellow rice.
We are both crazy about this curry and jerk chicken. Many other people in town love it too and this restaurant has been expanding the menu and their hours.
D’s Jerk Hut recently opened in Phoenix. They offer Caribbean and some vegan foods sort of cafeteria style. It’s sort of like a buffet behind the cashier and your order is kept warm in a warming oven.
We tried a number of things there.
Above is small sized jerk chicken and curry chicken. The jerk chicken his less spiced and less hot than all the other jerk chickens that I’ve tried. I really liked the curry chicken here. It was very flavorful and falling off the bone.
Here’s medium sized brown strew chicken. It’s very flavorful and really good but this one gets the developed flavor from the bones and there are lots of bone fragments in it.
D’s Jerk Hut is the only place that I have found Jamaica’s national dish Ackee (a fruit) and Salt Fish. It’s VERY Unique….You have to go to D’s Jerk Hut to try it.
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar is another place for Jerk Chicken and other Caribbean foods.
We’ve enjoyed numerous dishes from the Breadfruit and Rum Bar from Festivals that we’ve been to. Often The Breadfruit and Rum Bar served us our favorite bite from various food festivals. Each Jerk Chicken that I tried taste different and the jerk chicken here is also very unique. Ours that we took out was more breast meat with all kinds of flavors that danced on the exterior of the chicken. There also was this WICKED mighty nuclear HOT sauce to pour onto it (If you dare). Ours came with nicely prepared farm fresh vegetables.
These were the Black Owned restaurants that I can recommend personally recommend.
The Larder + The Delta (PHX)
Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen (Food Truck)
Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe (PHX)
Caribbean Cuisine (Glendale)
Desert Island Eatery (N.PHX)
D’s Jerk Hut (PHX)
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar (PHX)
Again I haven’t been everywhere and I know that there are other great ones out there.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Experts say that take out food and delivery are less risky options during the pandemic. So take out is a logical choice but we also do consider out door patio dining.
Our first take out of the week was from Alzohour Market in Glendale. They are offer Moroccan, Middle Eastern Foods, baked goods, a small amount of grocery and Islamic Clothing. The food is always delicious and if you can you must try the hot tea. Today we took out the cod tangine and a chicken dish. We asked for chicken couscous but we got rice instead. She gave us LOTS of rice…way more than a person can eat. It was still delicious.
The entrees came with fresh salads. The Cod tangine is always delicious. It’s made with red peppers, tomatoes, onions and lemons in a warm seasoned tomato based sauce. The cod is nice and light but is a generous portion. The chicken is also delicious, lots of olives, very tender and falling off the bones. Today it came with potatoes that soaked up all the delicious Mediterranean and chicken flavors. These meals came with an ultra generous portions of colorful fluffy rice. the dogs sure enjoyed sharing some of the fish and chicken.
We also did take out from Fabio On Fire in North Peoria #UpperWestSide. This is an Italian Restaurant that offers Italian Foods such as Neapolitan Pizzas, Pastas, Great baked goods, Specials that may include fresh seafood and the BEST GELATO maybe in the world.
We went with two of the specials halibut Mediterranean, polenta with Italian sausage and peppers and that amazing strawberry gelato. I didn’t try the sausage and polenta but I can tell you that the halibut was delicious and prepared to perfection. The vegetables were also nice and fresh and included rainbow carrots. Fabios bread is also excellent. It was nice to enjoy a piece with dinner. The next day we enjoyed more of the amazing bread with breakfast. We also had a small taste of that amazing strawberry gelato. I’m lucky to have the rest in my freezer. My dogs got to also enjoy some sausage and halibut.
That was Week 33 of Take Out during the coronavirus pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ.
Alzohour Market – Glendale
Fabio On Fire – Peoria #UpperWestSide
Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.
