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.
The Forking Truth is that not everything is amazing. Restaurants don’t always serve great food. Here is a collection of some of the obvious bad dishes I had served to me in metro Phoenix Arizona. I already reported these offenders once so I did my job. Once is enough. If you regularly read my blog then you will know where these monstrosities came from.
The above photo is a little fishy.
Here’s a close up.
This is suppose to be polenta. But it is oddly stiff……
I don’t know if it’s happy to see me or if the chef was just pissed off…???
This next one looks like a cinnamon or chocolate pastry…..But it is not.
It’s a burnt roll.
Also got a burnt pizza crust somewhere. Maybe the cook was sauced?
Don’t you hate when foreign objects are in your food?
Dessert isn’t always a sweet ending.
They gave us a dessert that is hard as a rock. We said something to (I think the owner) and he said that nothing was wrong with his dessert. He said they soften up when you heat them up…..WTFork was I suppose to do? Heat it up with my butt!
This next one was even more horrible than it looks.
The fish was fishy tasting (I couldn’t eat it) and was topped with raw sour tomato paste (like fresh from a can mixed with lemon juice and was just plopped on the fishy fish. It was surrounded by starchy tasting corn splats of different disgusting textures. I didn’t know at the time but latter found out that the chef left. I guess they let their dishwasher take a swing at cooking. I told my waiter about it but nothing was done…Then they went out of business.
Bad food can come from a food truck.
This was suppose to be some sort of corned beef stuffed roll. You can see it is greasy but THANK GOD you can’t taste it ….It tasted like it was cooked in rancid oil…..
This next one was a restaurant week dinner.
This dinner looks like it threw up on it’s self.
This sandwich was very unappetizing in appearance.
It looks like it was dragged threw a lake. (or maybe a mop bucket?)
Even pizza can bum you out. it’s so disappointing when you get a slice of pizza with zero topping.
BAH!
Had the worst taco in the whole world.
Even the tortilla was decomposing on it’s way to me. It was stuffed with DRY as can be flavorless chicken.
I also had the misfortune to try out the WORST Mediterranean food that I ever had anywhere.
Well the rice and tomato was good. But everything else was horrible but photographed well. Falafels had uncooked hard as rock chickpeas in them. The chicken shawarma tasted like chicken baloney. The pickle they gave me was old and decaying. I think it also came with a Sr. Citizen card.
I went to a new (at the time) BBQ place. The meats they served us were undercooked with hard fat. THE GRITS YOU CAN SEE WERE UNCOOKED that they served us.
We told someone about the grits. Nobody said that they were sorry. Nobody said that they’d take them off our bill. Nobody said that they’d get us something else.
It’s always horrible when they serve you…….”The I already ate plate” (no that wasn’t an appetizer…It was suppose to be my $16.00 Lunch.
Here’s another “I already ate plate”
This isn’t enough food for a gerbil. BAH!
Sometimes some restaurants are just bad.
I got this salad somewhere. They used processed chicken fingers that weren’t cooked correctly. It seemed they they cooked them in the microwave until they BLEW OUT the centers of the chicken and the outside of the chicken got incredibly hard. Then they chilled them and added them to my salad.
My husband got something similar but different here.
He said that his chicken fingers were a little better but the cheese with a combination of hard and melted at the same time.
This next one is also just bad.
I got questionable trout, from frozen boiled vegetables and GREEN mashed potatoes. I did ask my waitress why the mashed potatoes were green. She ran and asked the chef. She said the chef told her that mashed potatoes turn green when you add black pepper.
I think the worst meal I had came from a Chinese Restaurant that I enjoyed before. I ordered the fresh fish because it was very good last time.
I have no idea what the FORK they served us. This fish was like it was made of rubber. I think it was dead and embalmed. It was next to impossible to pull the meat off of it. WOW! was my husband mad at me for recommending this place. He was so mad that when the owner asked us how things were he said ok just so the guy would leave. Then when we got the bill he was really SORRY that he didn’t say anything because they charged us over $80.00 for this fish we couldn’t eat.
All this crap was NOT Worth a Fork!
That was a collection of not all but some of horrible frightful foods served to me in metro Phoenix AZ.
This was the Halloween Edition of The Forking Truth.
We hear on the news that delivery and take out have a lower risk of covid spread than dining in. So we have have been doing take out. We do plan to do some patio dining at off times.
Our first take out of the week was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They are a little different from most of the other pizza places. They offer certified Neapolitan pizzas and the mozzarella taste different because it’s made in house.
On the left is their Funghi Pizza. In the middle is the house salad and on the left is the Margherita. I’ve had the Margherita here a million times so I knew what to expect but I never had the Funghi (don’t call it mushroom here or else….you’ll be sorry…I did and I was….) It’s different than any other mushroom pizza I’ve tried anywhere. The cheeses are different because it’s their house made mozzarella, parmesan with fontina for a different taste but it’s the rosemary that is a really great touch. I think the rosemary is such a nice accent to mushroom or Funghi pizzas.
Our next take out was from Peoria Artisan Brewery in Peoria.
I got the strawberry salad with added salmon. My salad was mostly arugula and it was adorned with a little high quality blue cheese and some candied pecans. We shared some pickled fried vegetables that were interesting and my husband had the Italian beef sandwich with beef au jus. My dogs enjoyed some of the salmon and beef.
Last take out of the week was from Taylor’s Chowder House in Phoenix. They are a budget seafood restaurant where the portions are usually large and the prices are low.
We decided to try the house battered mozzarella sticks because they are only $6.95. WOW! Each piece is as big as a banana. They must have given us extra by accident. I tried the Idaho Brook Trout with almonds today. They gave me TWO fish filets topped with toasted almonds and bread crumbs. I picked the house vegetable that was zucchini marinara and a plain baked potato. My meal was only $14.95 and is two meals for me. My husband got the Two Plus Two (2 fried shrimp and 2 battered filets (cod)). It’s a lot of food….Even my husband couldn’t finish everything. There is also a roll we couldn’t get to yet. Taylor’s Chowder House is GREAT VALUE Seafood…When you consider the price and portion it is only fast food priced and is much better than fast food. My dogs enjoyed a little mozzarella stick and some fish.
That was week 32 of take out in metro Phoenix AZ during the coronavirus pandemic.
La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale
Peoria Artisan Brewery – Peoria
Taylor’s Chowder House – Phoenix
Every THING is subject to change and we hope everything does change for the better.
We have been doing take out during the coronavirus pandemic because experts say that there is less risk to catch the virus if you do take out instead of dining in. We are also trying to give support to as many small business restaurants as possible because they are all suffering during this crisis. Besides we are spending much less these days on shopping, groceries, entertainment and vacations that we missed. We have a little extra to treat ourselves to extra take out food. The weather will be nicer soon and we hope to do patio dining soon at off times on uncrowded patios.
Our first take out of the week was from CHZBURGR in Glendale. They serve especially great cheeseburgers and fried chicken thigh sandwiches. They also offer hot dogs, milk shakes, specials children’s meals and MORE! It’s hard to believe but the food is only priced about the same as from Jack In The Box and is a BILLION TIMES better than from Jack In The Box.
Crispy Chicken Thigh, Triple CHZBURGR and Tots
I had the crispy chicken thigh sandwich. The chicken is very good, moist juicy, flavorful, nicely seasoned and crispy. To elevate the sandwich they use hand made pickles, Asian mayonnaise and I was told that the buns are special and come from a Philadelphia Bakery. I liked it best when Calabrian Peppers was an option to add on. They haven’t had them lately so I just add my own on and it taste amazing that way. My husband always gets the Triple CHZBURGR. He says that it is just perfect. He says the fat, juice and cheese ratio is perfect. The tots are really good here too. My dogs can’t wait to eat some chicken.
Next take out from from a brand new restaurant that just opened in North Phoenix called Just Biryani.
We started out by trying the samosa chaat. It’s seasoned chickpeas with exotic flavors, a little heat, sauces and wet bread mixed in. Then we shared the gongura and ulavacharu chicken biryani dishes. They both are mostly fluffy rice with a little raw onion and half a boiled egg and a small amount of chicken. The gongura is made with tender boneless chicken. It has more flavors and some heat compared to the bone in ulavachara chicken biryani. My dogs got to try some.
Then we did take out from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale. They an Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. They are currently running a limited special fresh Burgundy Truffle Menu that we ordered from.
We started by sharing the tortelloni tartu. OOOOOOh this is really great! It’s like a twisted spinach ravioli stuffed with ricotta and gorgonzola cheese in a buttery sauce with truffles. This is really great! I also really liked the Bianco pizza. This pizza is ultra thin like paper. It’s topped with DELICIOUS stracchino, mozzarella, parmigiana cheeses, and truffles. My lucky dogs got some cheese and truffles.
Last take out of the week was from Chula Seafood in Phoenix. We took out the Saturday Surprise grilled Alaskan Halibut Collar for TWO special ($35.)
We got a very large halibut collar, a root vegetable tangine, herbed couscous, za’atar labneh and roti bread. WOW! it’s really great and everything goes together well. It’s a big portion of fish too. Had enough for two dinners and some left over for a lunch. Glad I was able to do this special.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”
That was week 30 of take out in Metro Phoenix AZ during the coronavirus pandemic.
CHZBURGR – Glendale
Just Biryani – North Phoenix
Pomo Pizzeria – Scottsdale
Chula Seafood – Phoenix
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
Instead of dining in at restaurants we have been doing take out because experts say that take out food involves less risk to catch the coronavirus during the pandemic. We will consider dining out on uncrowded patios when the weather gets nicer. Some experts do say that out side patio dining can be a safer alternative to dining in.
We haven’t been to The Rec Pizzeria in Peoria/#UpperWestSide in a while. They serve Detroit style pizza. Detroit style pizza is thick dough pizza that is cut in squares. It is cheesed up dough with a thick rich sauce dripped on top. But what is most different about it is the cheesy crisp crust ends.
Today this pizza is a slightly different batch than what I had the last few times. It’s still good but different. Not buttery tasting……Not as crisp and hard cheesy either. It used to taste like a grilled cheese on the bottom. (below is an old picture of what it used to be like)
It used to be just like a grilled cheese on the bottom
It’s still good but the cheese taste different too. Today it is more like a thick crust with a little Detroit style. Still good but different. Like the nice rich sauce on it. Gave my dogs a little cheese and leftovers from yesterday.
Next take out was Confluence Restaurant in Carefree. They are an upscale Modern American Restaurant. It’s a really amazing restaurant. The dinners from here are fabulous. They are always very detailed with wonderful ingredients that go together well in a magical kind of way.
We started out by sharing blistered shishito peppers with romesco, hazelnuts and basil. For my main I enjoyed fresh opah tacos with lime pickled cabbage, poblano chili, creama, and chili de arbol salsa with a side salad. My husband enjoyed the hardier pulled lamb and veal on house made sourdough bread that was packed with brussels sprout, oyster mushroom, red onion, and whole grain mustard. He picked the house made bbq chips for his side. My dogs didn’t mind a bit to sample the meats.
We tried a brand new restaurant that just opened this week in north Peoria called Jalapeño Inferno. It’s a Sonoran Style Mexican Restaurant.
They gave us a BIG bag of corn chips and very mild salsa. We got the inferno sauce. I got the naked poblano (chicken, corn and beans in corn sauce) and my husband tried a combo plate with rice and beans. The inferno sauce is too hot to use straight but if you only use a very small dab it really adds a lot of flavor. My dogs helped with some chicken and shredded beef.
Last Take out of the week was from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix. They serve a variety of sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, ice cream sodas and offer a big wall of around 300 different kinds of soda.
On the right is a double cheeseburger with fried onions. My husband said it is one of the best cheeseburgers around. It also travels well. On the left is the Mexican Fish sandwich with this CRAZY DELICIOUS SLAW with this awesome amount of YUM! It just has that perfect lime tang too it. They should bottle this and sell it somewhere. It is so delicious that it would make a hamster taste great. The fish is really big with a very light coating. It is so light and oil free hit almost doesn’t even seem fried. It just turns into a really delicious sandwich. I call it the Mexican Fish Sandwich but the actual name of the sandwich is called Pescado De Cohete and it’s only priced at $8.99. (double cheeseburger was only $7.) It’s only around the same price as Jack In The Box and it’s a MILLION times better than Jack In The Box…….My dogs were very happy to help eat the fish and cheeseburger.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”
That was week 29 of take out in metro Phoenix during the coronavirus pandemic.
The Rec – North Peoria
Confluence – Carefree
Jalapeño Inferno – North Peoria
Rocket Burger – North Phoenix
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
Around 140 Phoenix area restaurants were participating in fall restaurant week (September 18 – 27 2020). Most of these restaurants were offering three course dinners for $33.00 & $44.00 a person.
The first restaurant that I was excited to try was Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale because they were offering a fresh truffle option. I was going to do Sel in Scottsdale first because their menu sounded really special too but because of the fresh truffles at Zinc I figured that I better do Zinc Bistro first because the truffles will taste better now and might not be as good next week.
Here’s my take out from Zinc Bistro.
The food was mostly very good. My soup was missing the parmesan crisp but it still was a delicious treat. The dinners were really great with complex interesting sauces….. But I traveled across town to do this take out and my fresh truffles were left off. My husband called to let them know that I didn’t get my fresh truffles to take them off the bill since I didn’t get them. The manager apologized and took my whole meal off the bill since I was disappointed. That was as generous as any restaurant can be. I DO appreciate that but I still missed out on fresh truffles.
My next restaurant week take out was from The Mission (a modern Latin) restaurant in Scottsdale.
A few things were missing from the descriptions on the restaurant week menu. My stone fruit salad was missing the goat horn dined cucumbers that sounded so interesting. My husband’s chorizo porchetta (lower left) was missing cotija cheese, possibly white bean puree (my husband insisted the little white tub wasn’t beans….we couldn’t identify what it was….) and arugula. Besides that there were some other issues. My salad was good but my fish was a little dry and fishy tasting. I did enjoy the chiltepin achiote sauce. It made my fish taste better. It’s hard to tell the size of the fish from my photo but if you compare it to the pork belly appetizer in the upper left hand corner you might be able to tell that it is a very small sized dinner. It didn’t come with the sliced vegetable on top of the fish and doesn’t look like the example this restaurant made to impress the press. (press picture is below…..My fish dinner is also pictured below the press photo)
www.facebook.com
I saw this on Facebook so I thought I’d get a nice piece of fish instead od two very small dry ends.
There were some other issues.
I didn’t try it but I was told that the crispy pork & cola glaze pork belly was dry.
The chorizo porchetta was very large but also was very dry with even dryer sausage and not much flavor.
I was told on the phone when I was ordering that the dessert that I wanted wasn’t available for take out so we tried the other two options that were carrot cake and pumpkin bread pudding. I do note that I normally don’t care for carrot cake but can usually eat some. This one I tried a taste and I couldn’t eat. My husband couldn’t eat it either. I’m not even sure why I found the cake inedible……I didn’t really like the bread pudding but the sauces and toppings were very good. My dinner was very small portioned so I still was hungry and had to eat something so I ate half of the bread pudding.
I was saving Sel in Scottsdale for my last take out for restaurant week but sometime after their restaurant week menu was posted they changed their menu a little bit.
We were both good with corn soup, grilled asparagus salad with black truffle fondue and other stuff. A grilled New York and the Halibut. The seconded course sounds so amazing…..Grilled asparagus salad with black TRUFFLE potato fondu, GRAFRETTE (waffle cut sweet potato), organic farm EGG 63, caramelized onions…WOW!!!!!!
Then the day I was going to order take out I saw this on the Sel Website.
It’s still a very nice menu but it isn’t as great for us now. We are both good with corn soup as course one. The amazing sounding asparagus salad was replaced with a tomato stack………..My husband can’t eat a plate of raw tomatoes so this doesn’t work for him. …..(so we can’t go….(BAH!). He also would have ordered the Grilled New York over the Filet Mignon.
Bummer…….. maybe the change of menu was better for some people?
The Forking Truth is that Fall Restaurant Week in Metro Phoenix AZ 2020 wasn’t my favorite. 2020 isn’t my favorite year either.
We do take out food during the coronavirus pandemic because experts say that take out is safer than dining in. All restaurants are struggling these days and there is little to do safely so we do take out as much as possible.
One take out we did was from Banh Mi Bistro in North Phoenix. They are a small Vietnamese Eatery that offers most of your Vietnamese favorites except for pho.
Today I got the curry chicken with rice and my husband got the noodle bowl with grilled pork and shrimp. The food is always delicious, prices are very low and portions are very large. Not all but many of the meals can be two meals for some people. The owners are also very nice all the time. This is one of our regular spots. My dogs always love sharing the food from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.
Next take out was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They specialize in serving certified Neapolitan Pizzas. They also offer Roman Style Pizzas, American pizzas, Italian food and MORE!
Today we got the Tavola Mista (meats and cheeses, vegetables and more plate) an Italian Stallion Pizza (house made mozzarella, San Marzano Tomatoes, sausage, pepperoni, prosciutto di parma sopressata) and a Bianco pizza (house made mozzarella, ricotta, parmesan, fresh basil, Sicilian oregano and extra virgin olive oil) with added Calabrian peppers. Everything was delicious and we shared some with the dogs.
I haven’t been to Little Saigon in Old Town Glendale in a long time. It’s a charming little Vietnamese restaurant that offers a long menu of many different Vietnamese foods. Decided to do take out there. The owners are family with the Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in Phoenix.
We tried some things that we haven’t tried here before. We started with the beef wrapped in grape leaves. It’s something like Vietnamese fajitas. You take a grape leaf that is stuffed with beef. You add a variety of vegetables, fresh herbs shallots, peanuts and rice noodles. You stuff them in a rice paper and wrap with lettuce and dip it in fish sauce.
They are very tasty……lots of good flavors here! It’s a treat!
For my main I had the Ga Xao Xa Ot (spicy chicken onions vegetables in lemon grass soy fish sauce. The dark meat boneless chicken was tender and tasty. The sauce was funky and kind of sweet. It was different but good to me. I never had anything that tasted like this before. But it wasn’t too spicy…just mild with slight heat. My husband enjoyed the tom xao thap cam cay (spicy shrimp stir fry with vegetables). It was good but also mild heat. My dogs enjoyed the food from Little Saigon too!
It’s restaurant week so we thought we’d try Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale because they were offering fresh truffles.
A few things were forgotten (including the truffles) but the mains were very good. I had an excellent Faroe Island Salmon. It was cooked to perfection. It came with carrots, roasted celery root, a salad of purslane and crispy sun chokes with truffle vinaigrette and this amazing barigoule (artichoke) sauce. My husband enjoyed the Prime Flat Iron Steak. It had this special black pepper crust, It was delicious and came with lots of seasoned fries and a complex sauce. My dogs sure enjoyed some meat scraps from Zinc Bistro.
P.S. my husband called to let them know they forgot the truffles so they would remove the truffles from our bill. They were extra generous and removed my whole meal from the check.
We decided that we could squeeze one more restaurant in. Our last take out of the week was from Squid Ink Sushi in Peoria/#UpperWestSide.
I haven’t tried their sushi yet but I did notice that they offer many dishes besides sushi that sound interesting. I wanted to try their Scottish Salmon because Scottish Salmon isn’t found anywhere in the Upper West Side. The salmon was prepared reasonably well and came with a variety of vegetables, LOTS of sliced avocado and tasty sushi rice. I think it’s a great find to find Scottish Salmon like this for only around $15.00. My husband tried the Beef Yakisobsa. It was also reasonably well prepared. It was made with very tender filet mignon and also came with a nice assortment of vegetables and Asian flavored soba noodles. As per usual my dogs couldn’t wait to try some.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”
That was week 27 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ.
The restaurants we did take out from this week –
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Bistro – North Phoenix
La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale
Little Saigon – Old Town Glendale
Zinc Bistro – Scottsdale
Squid Ink Sushi – Peoria/#UpperWestSide
Every THING is subject to change and we HOPE it DOES CHANGE for the better.
Here are the most delicious $5. or less foods from restaurants around north Phoenix that I have tasted in no particular order.
Pictured above is the $3.00 delicious Beetroot Salad from a little casual restaurant called Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide . Next is their fresh herby delicious $3.00 tabouli.
My next favorite is the $3.00 Eggplant salad pictured below on the right. But everything is tasty. They also offer hummus and eggplant dip at similar prices.
All these reasonably priced goodies come from the small casual Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#upperWestSide.
Also in Glendale is Taco Fusion. They offer very good tacos on hand made tortillas. The tacos are smaller sized but are bigger than street tacos and are stuffed generously. They make a variety of house made sauces. If you can do spicy ask for the interesting flavorful but very (FORKING) hot black salsa. Get the regular salsa, the pico and the pineapple salsa if they have them. Our favorite tacos here are the mild chicken habanero (with pineapple salsa), carne asada, jaas, Lorenzo, fish (ask for corn tortilla here) and my husband likes the shrimp and barbacoa. We also like both beans they offer. Depending on what tacos you pick you might be able to get two tacos for around $5.00.
Below are 7 mostly different tacos and a container of black beans.
Wraps ‘N’ Curry is located in North Phoenix. They offer a $2.99 Naan Menu.
I’ve had their naan on a wrap sandwich but more recently I did try the stuffed chicken naan ($2.99 on the appetizer part of the menu). It was stuffed with boneless chicken breast, cilantro and Indian spices. It was different and also very tasty.
On my last visit we tried the Onion Kulcha $2.99.
This was very tasty!
I’ll try another one next time.
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix really kills it with the $5.00 or less food and offers 9 tasty options. My favorite $5 meal is the chicken and cabbage salad.
It’s a good size for me and has a good amount of deliciously seasoned chicken in it. I also like the tasty $4 chicken potstickers.
Here is a better picture of the potstickers.
My other favorite salad is the $5. lotus root salad. (lower right)
I love the refreshing flavors in it. It comes with shrimp but I gave up shrimp a long time back and I don’t eat shrimp. I already gave the shrimp to either my husband or dogs. Their papaya salad is also good. I added that picture because I didn’t remove the shrimp yet.
This is a collection of the most delicious $5. or less food that I have tasted in North Phoenix AZ.
Experts say that take out is a safer health option during the pandemic than dining in so we do take out. This week we did take out from Tarbell’s The Tavern in Phoenix. This restaurant is by chef Mark Tarbell. He is a highly decorated multi award winning chef and wine expert. The tavern offers elevated bar foods in a rock n roll man cave atmosphere. They offer the safest option curbside pick up. We took out the seared salmon, Scotch beef, a salad and coconut cream pie.
WOW! This salmon is really great! It’s so silky. Very few restaurants prepare salmon this well. This one is very different with sides of tomato broth and AZ honey mustard. It’s delicious! The curry potato cake is a really nice treat. It taste like it came from an Indian restaurant. I did taste the Scotch beef. WOW great flavors there and it was made with good wine too! The coconut cream pie was also very good. I think they accidentally gave me extra. It’s a large portion and we are getting 4 servings out of it but it very rich and delicious with this chocolate surprise coated crust. Treated the dogs so some salmon from Tarbell’s.
We also did take out from CHZBURGR in Glendale. They also are still offering the safest option that is curbside pick up. They serve the greatest cheeseburgers and fried chicken sandwiches in town. We ordered the crispy chicken thigh sandwich with pickled jalapeños. We also ordered a triple cheeseburger with tater tots.
I thought my sandwich was a little different today but everything still was delicious. My dogs were happy to help me with the chicken sandwich.
We love Taco Fusion in Glendale. They serve the best tacos closest to me. They serve Sonoran Mesquite Style Tacos that are slightly bigger than street size tacos on hand made tortillas that really taste good.
My favorite taco is the chicken mild habanero taco. I think I like it best on a flour tortilla with pineapple salsa (if they have it). I also like the fish taco and the carne asada. (I don’t like carne asada at most places but it’s always tender and flavorful here) My husband likes all the beef tacos and especially likes the shrimp taco here. They opened just before the pandemic and used to offer a salsa bar packed with many delicious salsas…Now they cut it down to a few salsas a day and you have to ask for them. My dogs are always excited to try some.
Last take out of the week was from Fabio On Fire in Peoria/#UpperWestSide. This is a place for Italian Food, Neapolitan Pizzas, fresh baked goods and the best gelato maybe on earth. They offer curbside pick up here.
We got the ravioli ai funghi porcini, strawberry gorgonzola salad, and gnocchi sorrentina. Everything was delicious. Have different dog friendly leftovers for my dogs.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food!”
Week 26 restaurants we did take out from –
Tarbell’s The Tavern – Phoenix
CHZBURGR – Glendale
Taco Fusion – Glendale
Fabio On Fire – Peoria/#UpperWestSide
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
This is a collection of most of the sweet memories (desserts) I took out from Metro Phoenix Restaurants during the pandemic. The desserts are not in any particular order. Some were better than others but all of them were yummy!
Above is the macerated strawberries from Confluence Carefree. it was so light and not too sweet. it even had these macadamia nuts that taste so good. When I buy macadamia nuts from the store they don’t taste as good..
A chocolate brownie with fresh raspberries and fruit sauce also from Confluence in Carefree.
Next is the complimentary snickerdoodle cookie from –
Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. What’s not to like?
Beignets with delicious sauces from Twist Bistro and Galley in North Scottsdale.
Also from Twist Bistro and Gallery was this amazing Mascarpone Cheese Cake with Pistachio Praline, Salted caramel whipped cream and strawberries.
This was really great. It’s like when you go to a fancy resort restaurant and they have a pastry chef that makes the desserts. This one was just as great. (better than some from resorts)
Next one is….
Chocolate Mousse Tort from Aliello’s East Coast Italian in Phoenix. Also from another visit to Aliello’s East Coast Italian was the Cannoli. Both very good.
From La Piazza Al Forno is the cheesecake.
Ii’m very picky about cheese cake and most I don’t like because they are very rich and too sour for me. This one is lighter with the right amount oof sweetness.
From Vincent Market Bistro in Phoenix was the Lemon Pomelo Tart. To the left was complimentary sponge cake they generously gave us. VMB always makes great desserts. They are among the best.
The next one I took out but can’t find the photo so I added my photo from previously dining in.
Here’s the Mascarpone Chocolate Cake from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. I’m not the biggest fan of chocolate cake but this really is very good.
From Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale is a strawberry rhubarb cobbler.
Next-
Strawberry cobbler from Confluence in Carefree.
Great pies are served at all the Collins Restaurants.
From Wally’s American Gastropub in Scottsdale-
The coconut custard pie. My husband hates coconut and even he said it was a delicious pie.
From The Collins in Phoenix –
This Chocolate Mousse Tort
From The Collins –
The Key Lime Pie made with 40 hand squeezed key limes in every pie. It’s an amazing key lime pie. It might be the best key lime pie in metro Phoenix.
From Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale –
Came this amazing rich Triple Chocolate Cake….yes it’s worth the calories. It really was REALLY GREAT!
I couldn’t find the picture of the strawberry tub of Gelato I took out from Fabio On Fire in Peoria/#UpperWestSide. I did find my photo of the tub of peach Gelato I took out but that picture didn’t come out so good so I’m showing a picture of some of his FABULOUS Gelato from visiting his restaurant.
This gelato is to die for. I haven’t tried all the flavors yet but everything I tried so far was FORKING AMAZING! Fabio should sell his gelato across the country. His gelato really is FABULOUS!
From Alzohour Market in Glendale we got this AMAZING Kunafa noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with sweet syrup and pistachios.
OMG! This was prepared fresh for us and came out piping hot. This was so freaking epic!
Here is another astonishing dessert from Confluence in Carefree.
it was Sake Poached Pears with Angel Cake, Candied Almonds and Yuzu Curd.
This was 19 delicious desserts we took out from restaurants during the coronavirus pandemic.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
