Category Archives: Special Events

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 15 – Twist Bistro and Gallery, Confluence, Wally’s American Gastropub, Sala Thai

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Going out to eat can be deadly these days during the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option. All restaurants are suffering these days so we are doing take out as much as possible….besides we have little else to do these days……. Our first take out of the week was from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale. They serve modern Mediterranean style food that may contain a “Twist” or two.

We got the take out combo for two special. They gave us these complimentary cheese studded biscuits that were buttery and light as air and delicious. Our appetizer was a everything flatbread topped with a layer of creaminess, house made lox and salad. My dinner was phenomenally cooked chicken that was very moist and flavorful. It came with braised greens, berries, goat cheese and unusual (Twisted gnocchi) that were very goat cheese to me. My husband got the wild boar meatballs with the twist version of gnocchi and were nothing like a traditional gnocchi. We also had a strawberry rhubarb cobbler minus the ice cream because I didn’t want it to melt on our way home. Some things were unusual but everything was delicious.

Our dogs helped me with the large portion of delicious chicken.

Next take out was from Confluence in Carefree. It’s a FORKING AMAZING restaurant that serves incredible Modern Cuisine.

We got spectacular fried chicken that came with unbelievably delicious chili Tepin honey sauce, blue corn bread and shredded snow peas. We also got carnitas with tossed salad, broccoli with hominy and popcorn butter and strawberry cobbler with dessert. Everything was so good it was a treat! The chicken is also an extra large portion and I can get three lunches out of it. Still had plenty to share with the dogs.

Our nest take out was curb side pick up from Wally’s American Gastropub in Scottsdale.

My husband was craving the veal and spicy pork meatloaf with horseradish mashed potatoes, onion strings and jumbo asparagus (he said it was VERY GOOD). We also shared the fresh baked pretzels with asiago fondue, For dinner I had the Norwegian Salmon that comes with caper sauce and spinach. You must get pie when you dine at a Collins Restaurant because his pies are outstanding. This time I tried the coconut cream pie and it was outstanding like all the other Collins pies. Even my husband who HATES coconut said the pie was very good. As usual I had plenty too share with my dogs.

Last Take Out of the week was from Sala Thai in Peoria (#upperWestSide).

We shared egg rolls and I had the spicy lemon chicken salad. My husband had the spicy pork basil. Dogs couldn’t wait to try!

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together”

Week 15 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic.

Twist Bistro and Gallery – North Scottsdale

Confluence – Carefree

Wally’s American Gastropub – Scottsdale

Sala Thai – Peoria (#UpperWestSide)

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out In Metro Phoenix During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 14 – FnB, CHZBURGR, La Piazza Al Forno, Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol

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Leaving your house can be deadly during the coronavirus pandemic. The numbers of the infected and dead are rising. Take out is a safer option than dining in.

Our first take out of the week was from FnB in Scottsdale. FnB is a contemporary restaurant located in the arts district of old town Scottsdale. They offer a farm focused menu of innovated globally inspired cuisine. They serve dishes that are meant to be shared. It was a contactless transaction. I ordered, payed and tipped on line. Then we arrived and our order was placed on a table outside of the restaurant by a server wearing a mask.

We got Peruvian Chicken spring rolls, celtuse (obscure stem lettuce) in ginger broth with tofu, house made pasta and blue nose bass dinner. All was delicious and the food traveled well.

Our pups couldn’t wait to try. (They don’t know how lucky they are to get FnB cuisine…..incase you’ve been living under a rock…..This is a James Beard Awarded Chef Owned Restaurant)

Next stop for take out was CHZBURGR in Glendale. CHZBURGR serves incredibly GREAT flat style cheeseburgers, Forking awesome fried chicken thigh sandwiches, hot dogs, kids meals, milk shakes and a few other things.

We did curbside takeout. I ordered over the phone, called when we got there and paid from our car by someone wearing a mask.

My husband got a juicy triple CHZBURGR, we got kids chicken strips for the dogs and I got an incredibly delicious fried chicken thigh sandwich with added Calabrian chilies.

Everyone enjoyed!

Next take out was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. This is a small Italian restaurant that specializes in serving certified pizzas.

We got a house salad, a Mediterranean Pizza made with house made pesto, house made mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes and feta cheese and a spaghetti alla puttanesca (anchovies, olives, capers, garlic, oregano, parsley). All was delicious and the dogs wanted to try too!

Last take out of the week was Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol (a Sonoran Style Mexican Restaurant).

I got my usual chicken fajita salad and my husband got the carnitas. We also took out the margaritas that are extremely strong.

We had plenty to share with the dogs.

“Don’t worry we will get threw this thing together”

Week 14 we did take out from-

FnB – Old Town Scottsdale

CHZBURGR – Glendale

La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale

Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol – Glendale (#UpperWestSide)

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

The Forking Truth

Grocery Shopping Week 12 During The CoronaVirus Pandemic In Metro Phoenix

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The stay at home order has expired and we had dramatic increases of covid-19 among residents in Arizona. We just might be in the second wave oof the virus now. Nothing is for certain and you can never be careful enough. These days during the global pandemic shopping for groceries can be deadly.

I’ve been getting most of my groceries delivered to avoid other people who may be carriers of the virus. Over the weeks and months we experienced errors, substitutions and disappointments getting groceries delivered. I didn’t know about the dramatic increase of covid-19 cases and deaths on the day I went out grocery shopping. If I knew how bad things really are this would have been a different story.

It might have been foolish, hazardous or possibly fatal but we went out grocery shopping this week. We might (or might not) have been partially protected from catching the CoronaVirus. Wearing a mask only stops other people from catching your germs but when you add a filter you possibly are filtering out a little of what its coming in. I also read that NONE OF THE FILTERS WILL PREVENT YOU FROM CATCHING CORONAVIRUS. You have to look at it this way….You might be slightly protected (if your mask fits correctly with a filter). So that means if you get maybe less % of the virus. It’s a possibility that you might get struck with the virus but maybe might have better chances of surviving because you won’t get as much of the virus in you. Of course you have to still worry about distancing, hand washing and possibly eye shielding. I also use onion goggles to shield my eyes. But there is GOOD NEWS TOO…Most people won’t catch a significant amount of the virus. Most people will not die from the virus……Or so we’ve been told.

I thought Costco would be a safer choice for grocery shopping because they don’t let customers in without a mask. They now don’t limit the amount of shoppers like they did in prior weeks.

Nearly everyone at Costco was wearing a mask. I did see one person without a mask and a few other people pulled their masks down under their noses to breath.

Costco was stocked up on most things and seemed to carry most of what they normally carry.

The check out lines seemed much longer than normal….I guess the distancing makes the lines much longer. Plexiglass shields have been installed between you and the cashier.

That was week 12 of Grocery Shopping during the CoronaVirus Pandemic. Not sure how I will be shopping next time.

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

The Forking Truth

My 2nd Patio Dining Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Cucina Tagliani Glendale AZ #UpperWestSide – Healthy options and comfortable patio

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Nothing is for certain. Leaving your house can be deadly during a pandemic. You can never know if you are careful enough to avoid catching the coronavirus. For me it is far too dangerous to dine in with others. I feel somewhat comfortable with take out because I wear a filtered mask and eye goggles (my onion goggles that don’t look too bad) I feel that I am 80% safe and won’t fully catch the virus protected that much. Some scientist believe with distancing that you won’t catch enough of the coronavirus in outside air to be deadly. With that information I feel less risk dining outside. This past Saturday the temperature wasn’t too high for Phoenix so we took a chance and dined out on the Cucina Tagliani Patio in. This is an American Italian Restaurant that offers most of your usual American Italian favorites and also several healthy options and lots of vegetable choices. I don’t know of any other restaurant that offers around a dozen different vegetables that you can add to a meal or have on the side.

Today I ordered a Caesar salad with salmon and added on artichokes and pine nuts.

Got a decent piece of salmon and it’s prepared reasonably well. The greens are fresh and the dressing is house made. I guess they forgot the croutons but I don’t need them anyway because there’s complimentary garlic toasts on the table. Oh did I mention that the patio is officially dog friendly?

My husband got the spicy rigatoni with added sausage.

I think they gave him extra sausage?……….Well that was nice.

I can’t believe how quiet the patio is today.

We were the only ones dining here at lunch.

We’ve been coming to Cucina Tagliani for years. It’s close to home, I like the healthy options, my husband likes the American Italian food and we enjoy the comfortable patio with misters and funny old fashioned Italian music that fills the air here.

Louie is no longer with us but was a big fan of Cucina Tagliani.

The Papa’s Platter (with Louie) Veal Parm, sausage lasagna and two manicotti

salmon with asparagus and spinach

SPAGHETTI SQUASH lasagna

My usual goat cheese, strawberry and chicken salad.

chicken piccata over SPAGHETTI SQUASH instead of pasta

Chicken Caesar salad

chicken pasta pepperchini

chicken wrap with healthy fruit side

Stromboli

GRILLED chicken parmesan (instead of fried) over SPAGHETTI SQUASH

sausage lasagna with meatball

minestrone

steak gorgonzola over SPAGHETTI SQUASH

chicken dynamite

take out salmon dinner with asparagus and spaghetti squash

I don’t get dessert here often but the chocolate mascarpone cake is very good.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together” “We also are available to help you with your leftovers from Cucina Tagliani any time”

That was my second patio dining during the pandemic at Cucina Tagliani in Glendale. I appreciate the healthy options and the comfortable patio with misters.

www.CucinaTagliani.com

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

The Forking Truth

Some of the FOOD THAT MATTERS in Metro Phoenix that I Enjoyed!

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I thought I’d feature some of my favorite Caribbean, Ethiopian and Southern American Food that I’ve tried in Metro Phoenix. I do note that I haven’t been everywhere so there are many other great places out there. These are just some of my favorites that I enjoyed most.

I have to start out with Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix because they served me the very best Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken that I have ever tried anywhere. (that includes one place in the Caribbean too!)

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken

It’s the best! So flavorful…..So Delicious! Just falling off the bone and full of flavors…..Just the BEST!

I also enjoyed Caribbean Cuisine in Glendale a number of times and everything I tried there was delicious.

I also liked how they had some fish dishes that were different to me. I really enjoyed this escovitich fish. It’s a mild white fish that seemed like it was marinated with herbs and spices and maybe vinegar and seemed lightly fried. The rest of the plate was scrumptious too.

My husband always liked the oxtail here but sometimes it’s not available due to it takes many hours to prepare.

I’ve tried Ethiopian Food from various food festivals that I enjoyed but made the trip to Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe in Phoenix.

Here we got our own mini buffet of many things. One of the BEST chicken dishes I tasted in Metro Phoenix has to be this Doro Wat in the middle of the platter. Everything was delicious here but that doro wat was really special.

Hot Chicken Sandwich

Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen now operates from a food truck. They serve New Orleans Cajun type foods like po boys, red beans and rice, jambalaya and more. I had this (I think it was called Louisiana Style Hot Chicken?) sandwich. It wasn’t like other hot chicken sandwiches but it was uniquely delicious.

Shrimp Po Boy

My husband enjoyed a shrimp po boy and an andouille sausage dish.

There’s also a modern southern American restaurant in downtown Phoenix that serves many FORKING AMAZING DISHES called The Larder and The Delta.

I had two different dishes there that were among THE BEST I’ve tried anywhere.

One dish was the Hoppin John.

It’s made of Sea Island field peas, Carolina gold rice and herb salad. It taste earthy, a little spicy, it’s deeply flavorful with interesting textures and crispy rice. It’s insanely delicious. You won’t be able to put your fork down till it’s down.

This next dish isn’t often on the menu but should be.

The K. F. C. Sandwich a mildly spicy fried chicken thigh sandwich with slaw and pickles.

I’m not sure what K. F. C. stands for here but it taste like it might mean Kentucky Forking Crack Sandwich. It was made of that special seldom found AMAZING MOUTH WATERING JUICY SUPER NATURAL DELICIOUS CHICKEN. It was THE BEST Chicken Sandwich I’ve ever tasted. It just could not be more delicious. The combination of the perfect not too big, the delicious slaw, amazing thick pickles and that oh so wonderful chicken was a taste bomb of deliciousness! I love great chicken sandwiches and there are a few of the super great chicken sandwiches out there but this is the first one that actually taste like the chicken was still on the bone. That perfect juicy chicken enhanced with delicious spices, flavors and textures. It just doesn’t get any better than that.

These were just Some Of The FOOD That Matters in Metro Phoenix that I have enjoyed!

Desert Island Eatery – North PHX

Caribbean Cuisine – Glendale

Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe – PHX

Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen – Food Truck

The Larder and The Delta – DT PHX

Give them a try and you will be glad that you did.

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

The Forking Truth

Best EATS of the NINE WEEKS of Take Out Food in Metro Phoenix During The CoronaVirus Pandemic

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I tried a lot of restaurants for take out during the pandemic. Most were good. Some old favorites are great for dining in but lost some of the magic with take out. But surprisingly some were GREAT beyond my expectations. Here are most but not in any particular order. One of the best take outs was from Confluence in Carefree.

This fried chicken with chilitepin honey is to die for. OMG it really is that good!

Binkley’s Dinner was pretty much over the top too!

It was the only take out dinner that felt like dining out when I ate the carefully packaged five courses.

A new restaurant that opened during the pandemic called Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale was also AMAZING!

They gave us these delicious complimentary muffins that were moist and seemed light as air. The muffins were studded with feta cheese and were laced with dill and also came with this warm honey butter with fresh chives…….(these alone were amazing)……We enjoyed an amazing appetizer. Both our dinners were incredible.

I had the salmon and it was one of the very best salmons that I had anywhere in metro Phoenix.

The Bianco pizza (left pizza) from La Piazza Al Forno just might be the best pizza in metro Phoenix……It’s that GREAT!

The untraditional smoked corned beef sandwich special from NakedQ BBQ in Phoenix just might be the BEST corned beef in ALL of ARIZONA! It was tender like butter but the flavors were just out of bounds!

The fried chicken thigh sandwich from CHZBURGR in Glendale is CRAZY CRAZY GREAT! I’ve been told that the cheese burgers are just as great!

Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix serves some the most DELICIOUS curry and jerk chicken.

The best tacos in town come from Taco Fusion in Glendale. All the tacos are really great but my favorite is the mild habanero chicken.

Alzohour Market serves delicious food. This time I had the chicken kabob and it is tender juicy and developed with flavors. All the food from Alzohour Market is delicious.

I may have forgotten a few and for the most part everything I took out really was good…but these are the ones that seemed the most memorable because they traveled well for take out and also were “knock it out of the park’ delicious.

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

The Forking Truth

Safer Curbside Pick Up Restaurants I’ve Been to in Metro Phoenix AZ

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Nothing is for certain and you can never be too careful. Dine in restaurant meals mean more contact with more people and germs flying threw the air conditioned air in restaurants. There are also other diners who are probably not wearing masks to hold in their droplets that might contain the coronavirus. We’ve done take out where we’d walk into a restaurant with a small amount of risk but curbside is safer. I note that I haven’t been everywhere but here are the restaurants that offered curbside pickup that I have been too..

Fabio On Fire (N Peoria)

At Fabio On Fire you order and pay on line. They communicate with you by text and a table is sanitized and your order will be placed on the table.

CHZBURGR in Glendale offers you to call in your order but it’s 100% touch free paying.

At Kawaii Sushi and Asian Cuisine you order and pay on line. You park at a special parking spot and call to let them know that you are there and they place your order on a table in front of your car.

The Grassroots Kitchen & Tap in Scottsdale also offers curbside pick up.

You order, pay on line pull into a curbside parking spot and someone runs out and drops off your order.

Vincent Market Bistro (Phoenix) offers curb side pick up.

We ordered and payed on line and gave them our pick up time. As soon as we drove in they asked who we were and placed our order in the back seat.

Chino Bandido in North Phoenix also offers curbside pickup. I don’t remember how we paid but I do remember a worker with a mask did run the food to our car.

The Larder and the Delta in Phoenix also did a curbside pick up. We paid over the phone and our order was placed on a pick up table outside of the restaurant.

Curbside pick up is also offered at Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. I don’t remember how we paid but I do recall that your order was placed on a table outside of the restaurant.

Tratto in Phoenix also offered curbside pick up.

We paid there and then we picked up at a table out side of the restaurant.

Binkley’s in Phoenix no longer offers curbside pick up and has returned to being a dine in fine restaurant again but they also were very careful and did contactless curbside pick up food a few weeks..

These restaurants we went to that had the safer curbside pick up were -.

Fabio On Fire – N Peoria

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Kawaii Sushi and Asian Cuisine – N Glendale

The Grassroots Kitchen & Tap – Scottsdale

Vincent Market Bistro – PHX

Chino Bandido – N PHX

The Larder & The Delta – DT PHX

Desert Island Eatery – N PHX

Binkley’s – PHX But as of this date (5-19-20) has discontinued curbside and has gone back to dine in service.

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out In Metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 9 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, La Piazza Al Forno, CHZBURGR, Vincent Market Bistro, Greek Palace

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These are the worst of times and also the worst of times for restaurants. Many restaurants already permanently closed because of the pandemic. We are trying to support as many restaurants as possible. As of May 14th there is no evidence that you can catch coronavirus by food (subject to change). Earlier reports stated that even if someone had coronavirus and prepared your food that it was unlikely that you would catch coronavirus that way too. I do note that I don’t know if that is factual. This week some restaurants have opened and now offer indoor dining again. It’s a fact that many people are still catching coronavirus and many people are still dying from coronavirus. I think I’ll still be doing take out for a while. At the moment I feel safer doing take out than dining in.

We packed up the dogs and did take out from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

My husband got a shaking Beef Banh Mi Baguette Sandwich.

I got a noodle bowl with chicken that comes with an egg roll. It’s way more food than I can eat but I had some help with that. (BTW – both dogs helped)

Next take out was from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale.

We shared an antipasto plate called Tavola mista and we had a Bianca Pizza with added Calabrian Chilies and a Savatore Pizza. My GOSH! These pizzas were FORKING AMAZING! I almost didn’t want to share but I did.

Next we packed up the dogs and went to CHZBURGR in North Glendale.

They had a really great curbside completely contact free ordering and paying system.

Soon I was enjoying a BIG JUICY DELICIOUS fried chicken thigh sandwich with added Calabrian peppers.

My husband already got his teeth into his triple cheese burger. He said it was a great as this kind of burger can be.

I guess we will be going to CHZBURGR more often.

Next take out came from Vincent Market Bistro.

I ordered the Arctic char with basil pesto and ratatouille but they accidentally gave me salmon with rice and asparagus. We also got fresh local peaches, a lemon pomelo tart, some complimentary desserts and my husband got the pork loin. (my husband did call to let them know that they gave me the wrong dinner and they did the right thing and took it off the bill) My dogs were there to try Vincents Market Bistro.

Last take out of the week was from Greek Palace in Peoria.

Both entrees were served with fresh side salads and warm pita bread. On the left is the firefighter place that is gyro meat with vegetables, spicy peppers and rice. I ordered the salmon. Today it came with lots of rice and peppers and onions. It was a very large portion of fish so I will be making two meals out of it but I did have my usual help with that too.

“Don’t worry, we are in this thing together”

That was take out during the coronavirus pandemic week 9. The restaurants we went to were-

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – N Phoenix

La Piazza Al. Forno – Old Town Glendale

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Vincent Market Bistro – Phoenix

Greek Palace – N Peoria

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

The Forking Truth

Grocery Shopping During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 8 – Costco Delivery Phoenix AZ (you can’t always get what you want…..or what you need or what you order)

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This week I thought I’d shop at Costco again since the delivery was so great last time. I didn’t need toilet paper or paper towels since the nice delivery person I had last time asked me if I wanted to add them n to my order. That didn’t happen this time but II don’t need those things yet. It’s still the same on line and you can’t order those paper products for delivery. I was surprised that I couldn’t order fresh whole carrots but most things that I wanted to buy I was able to order…………but I wasn’t able to get 🙁

I liked that I could virtually see my order going into the cart.

I also liked that I could add lots of wine.

I liked that my order was to be delivered in around 2 hours.

This time when I got my order I noticed that I didn’t get my major things that I needed for my lunches next week (romaine lettuce and spinach). We were also missing my husband’s meat and cheese roll up snacks that he likes. It’s no biggy but instead of oranges I got tangerines. I also got a few things that I didn’t order like apples, bananas and mangos….Oh my!

We texted the delivery driver to see if she would fix things and never heard back that whole day.

We waited an hour and didn’t hear back so I filled out the questioner from Costco and I got this before their response.

Then I got this.

I asked for a refund.

That’s how my Grocery Shopping from Costco delivery went week 8 of the coronavirus pandemic.

The Forking Truth

Grocery Shopping During CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 7 – Grocery Pick Up from Safeway in Metro Phoenix AZ

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During the pandemic we are suppose to distance ourselves from other people as much as possible. Grocery stores are the places we go to with the most people these days so I elected to do grocery pick up. I had a good experience from Costco with grocery delivery two weeks back. Last week I didn’t need any groceries so I did without. This week I decided to try Safeway because I can’t get everything I want from Costco like scallions, herbs and many assorted other little things.

It was pretty easy to order and pay on line. I was surprised that I couldn’t buy radishes…or dry milk. I also couldn’t buy the 65cent watermelons that were on sale unless I paid $5.00 each for them….But I admit maybe I just messed that one up.

AnyWHO…….

When it came time to pick up we got into a parking space, called a number that someone answered.. Soon someone comes out with a cart of groceries to our car and loads the trunk.

When I got home I checked out my groceries.

They were out of a couple things that I really needed like garlic… 🙁

A few things were substituted …………but I marked no substitutions….. 🙁

But the one thing that made me upset was the rotten moldy basil they stuck me with.

I guess the person packing my cart for me was very tired and didn’t even look at the basil….?

But I wonder why would something like this even be on the shelf?

They also neglected to give me my Monopoly Tickets…for prizes and discounts. 🙁

That was Grocery Shopping During the CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 7 – Safeway in Metro Phoenix AZ.

The Forking Truth