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 bouchescharcoal apricot bread and baguette quinoa saladbell pepperpalate cleanserrisotto with white alba truffles and autumn vol-am-vantdessertvery 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.
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.
The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held November 2nd and November 3rd in 2019. This event was held in Salt River Stadium Complex in Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona. General Admission pre-sale tickets ran around $50.00 and VIP admission ran around $120.00. Date of event tickets ran $65.00 and $140.00. VIP were entitled to one hour early admission and higher end wines. The headlining demo was by Antoni Porowski (food and wine expert of the reboot Queer Eye TV Show). This attracted a very large crowd that was already there and there was no way I could get in to see that one.
Today we made it a little early and got rounded up in a rope tied area like cattle.
I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. Some of the same food venders were here a second day and served the same food so most of those I skipped.
Nothing Bundt Cakes gave out samples while we were waiting.
First stop was Bella Gusto Urban Pizzeria.
They made TASTY Wild Mushroom Arancini and Salted Caramel Panacottas.
One of the tastiest bites of the day came from Chino bandido.
It was a puffed wheat crisp cracker stuffed with jerk chicken with slightly sweet sauce and a more savory spicy sauce. It really was tasty! They also offered snickerdoodle cookies.
Sweet Republic offered a few desserts but the one I took was this toasted fig/hojicha ice cream cake cone with chocolate shell. Whatever it was it really did taste great!
My picture from Frashers Steakhouse/Mrs Chicken came out blurry but they were serving pulled pork and butter cake.
Next we went on the Bourbon Steak.
They served some sort of raw beef plate and Bourbon Mud Pies.
Frites Street offered some tasty fries.
Another one of the best bites was the tasty Chula Seafood Swordfish Katsu Slider from Chula Seafood.
A very detailed pork stew came from Talavera at the Four Seasons Resort.
Proof at the four seasons made DELICIOUS bourbon pecan pies!
Zak’s offered Guatemalan and Belize Chocolates.
Tacoa Tijuana offered beef and pork tacos.
Blue Clover Distillery offered spirits, chips and salsa.
Match offered buffalo cauliflower and chicken bites.
Detailed corn fritter from Che Ah Chi
Quiessence offered a number of things above is the Chula swordfish ceviche. Below is a fancy toast with house churned butter, radish and bacon.
Also from Quiessence was some sort of detailed pana cotta.
Carnitas and guacamole from Los Sombreros
Famous 48 brought their mac-n-cheese topped with pulled pork.
Bourbon and Bones served little steaks on duck fat corn cakes.
Barillia Pasta was here yesterday and today but today we stopped there.
My husband tried some pasta and I tried a little ricotta tart.
Then I waited in line for a really cool towel keepsake.
Pasta It’s FORKING Delicious! LOL! You know THAT belongs in my kitchen!
Thank you Barilla Pasta! You made my day!
That was most of azcentral Wine + Food experience November 3rd 2019.
Every year does differ and the food and wine vendors always differ some from what was printed in our local newspaper.
The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held at Salt River Fields in Pima – Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona November 2nd and 3rd 2019. Pre-sale general admission was around $50.00 and pre-sale VIP was around $120.00. (after pre-sale $65.00 and VIP $140.00) Your ticket got you bottomless tastings of food, wine, liquor, chef demonstrations and more. VIPs got one hour early entry, the AJ’s fine foods tent and top wines. The headliner guest was chef Alex Guarnaschelli. I caught the end when she was taking questions from the audience.
Our own chef Christopher Collins did a demo too.
Here is some of what I came across. I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. My husband can eat more than me so he nearly tried everything.
The first tent I got to was made not entirely but was mostly chef Christopher Collins Restaurants.
From chef Christopher Collins restaurant The Macintosh was short ribs over cheesy grits.
Chef Collins – Wally’s American Gastro Pub a very tasty fried chicken sandwich that was cooked to perfection with a really perfect herbed slaw and a sweet mustard sauce.
Chef Collins – Twisted Grove Restaurant – a shrimp noodle salad.
Chef Collins – The Collins
I didn’t try this one so I forgot what it was but I do remember my husband ate the whole thing so it couldn’t be bad. Latter when we got home my husband did say that this was really good.
Next was chef Collins – The Grassroots Restaurant offering tuna poke with cooked shrimp.
Chef Collins also brought his house made ice cream from his dessert shop Sweet Provisions.
Spinatos was cooking off a variety of their frozen pizzas and mushrooms stuffed with herbed parmesan cream cheese.
Mowry and Cotton offered the most eye catching plates.
Butternut squash salads and monkey bread.
My husbands favorite plate was one of the plates I skipped…..
A plate from Otro Cafe.
They made their own fresh tortillas.
Otro Cafe Taco (above)
Next was the brisket taco from Stonegrill.
The Clever Koi made a SUPER TENDER -melt in the mouth kind of sweet/hot fried chicken bun. This one was really great!
AJ’s offered cheesy pasta, pasta with tomato sauce and some sort of salad
Beckets Table made a very unusual sort of corn cake with lightly smoked chicken cooked in bacon fat…..It was very unique.
Gadzooks offered an open face version of their award winning chicken tacos with cornbread stuffing. You couldn’t pick them up to eat and they were still good but didn’t give the same effect as when you eat them whole.
Timo gave out lamb and butternut squash soup.
Match offered chicken bites and buffalo cauliflower.
Frank and Alberts made mushroom tostadas.
Famous 48 offered pulled pork topped Mac-N-Cheese.
It was all this and MORE!
That was Nov. 2 of the azcentral Wine + Food experience 2019.
The 2019 Dish It Out Food Festival on High Street in Phoenix benefitted the Boys and Girls Clubs of Phoenix. General Admission tickets ran around $70.00 and VIP Tickets ran around $200.00. Twenty nine general admission restaurants participated and another seven VIP restaurants participated. There were twenty two beer vendors. There also were twenty four general admission wine and spirit spots and another ten VIP wine and spirit stops.
Below are some of the Highlights from Dish It Out.
First taste was chicken gyro with hot sauce from The Halal Guys.
Paul Martin’s American Grill served Short Ribs over Mashed Potatoes and a Chocolate Mousse Brownie Dessert.
Got a fancy beef plate from Orange Sky.
From Orange Sky
Meritage Urban Tavern put out a spectacular pork dish and eye popping chocolate truffles.
These were AMAZBALLS!
The Filet from Flemings was like butter in the mouth. They served it with Chipotle Macaroni and Cheese.
Chinobandito was there serving chicken in little crispy pork skin bowls with spicy sauce.
Chinobandito
They offered a few different salads from the Chop Shop.
Like I always say that every THING is subject to change and it usually does. Famous 48 sure improved the recipe for their Nashville Hot Chicken. It’s a whole lot milder now but the chicken is completely different from what they served me in their original restaurant. This chicken was plump and moist with a nice texture. This was delicious!
New Dish from the Tryst Cafe made with Jackfruit.
Someone served very cold Cheese Burgers…….
Benihana served Fried Rice
Tried some wine from Orin Swift. Liked The Pinot.
Tried a Chicken Skewer from Toro Latin Grill.
The Salmon from Ocean Prime was AMAZING!
Wanted to finish things up with Cabernet from Trefethen but they ran out around 6pm so I settled for Trefethen Chardonay.
That was my night at Dish It Out.
www.DishItOutAZ.org
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The 2019 Arizona Taco Festival was a two day event held at Westworld in Scottsdale. It ran from Saturday October 12th and Sunday October 13th. General Admission tickets ran around $15.00 a person but discounted tickets were available on Groupon for half price. Tacos did cost around $3.00 each. In addition to tacos there were other activities such as a chihuahua beauty contest, a hot pepper eating contest, a hot sauce expo and a tequila expo and more. Certain activities were for an additional charge. Parking was about a mile from the event. Closer parking was available for $20.00.
I went on day two Sunday the 13th. I got there bright and early about 20 minutes before opening. The line wasn’t too bad today and the weather wasn’t too bad either. It was on the warm side but breezes blow by to cool you off.
I warn you that I tell The FORKING Truth so don’t expect every stop here to be perfect.
The people behind us
Our first tacos came from Taqueria Mi Lindo Guanajuato.
The one on the right was chicken and the one on the left I forget…It was either beef or pork. These were ok and messy to eat. I noticed that most of the tortillas were not grilled today.
Next we tried a combo taco plate (chicken, beef and pork) from Taste of Korea.
This was one of the few places that prepared nicely cooked moist proteins….but these tacos were made with LOTS of mayonnaise that sort of grossed us out. The beef was very sweet tasting. The chicken might have been the best of what’s here.
Next we shared a bean taco from Los Sombreros.
It was on the bland side……
Next was a red chili chicken taco and a fish taco from Vaqueros.
These tacos were tasty and it was nice to have the grilled hot serano pepper. I know that tacos in Mexico usually have some more vegetables in them to be tastier. These were also almost impossible to eat standing up.
It really wasn’t too busy here at lunch time.
They have someone spinning records.
This lone tent looked interesting….Might have missed out on something good?
Tried a chicken taco from Superfarm Super Truck because they displayed a lot of awards.
The sauces on this tacos were VERY GOOD but this taco shell has seen better days…..It’s like air dried and crunchy.
Next was Sr. Ozzy’s
They had a line and were selling TWO Tacos for Three dollars.
By now I’m sort of full and couldn’t go on much more but my husband is still hungry. So he eats these tacos and I just take one bite out of the beef taco. (bottom left) Beef is seasoned well but it’s sort of boring without all the vegetables. I didn’t try the seafood taco. It was the only cooked tortilla we tried today but my husband said it tasted fishy.
Next is a chicken taco from Vecina.
This chicken is dry and the taco is cold. I think these were made a long time ago.
I really had high expectations for a vegan carne asada taco from Verdura. I’ve been to Verdura and have had good vegetable plates there.
It looks good. I’m very thankful that I tried the tiniest morsel before attempting a bite. THIS IS INEDIBLE. THIS WAS THE FORKING WORST TACO I TASTED AT THE TACO FESTIVAL> It’s a #FORKNO …..They must have had an accident and dumped a whole large container of salt into it. It’s so salty that this taco could kill people. I wished at the moment that there was some sort of food super hero that I could call to fix this……. I bet the nearest trashcan is full of these tacos.
That was my trip to the 2019 Taco Festival.
I don’t expect to return again.
www.AZTacoFestival.com
But EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change……Your experience may or may NOT differ…..
Arizona Fall 2019 Restaurant Week runs September 20th – 29th and somewhere around two hundred restaurants are participating. They are offering three course special meals for $33.00 and $44.00. A few restaurants are offering TWO for $33.00 and TWO for 44.00 deals. Zinc Bistro is among the participating restaurants offering a special restaurant week menu ($44.00).
Zinc Bistro is a New York Style Parisian Restaurant in Scottsdale Arizona in the Kierland Commons.
The atmosphere is sort of an old fashioned look with a tin ceiling and classic fixtures and traditional seating indoors, or at the bar, on the patio or the courtyard.
If you have an appetite for shellfish an oyster bar and other shellfish is available in addition to the menus.
The traditional French Onion Soup has been featured on Food Network’s Best Thing I Ever Ate so I had to start with that since it was on the restaurant week menu.
It taste like a high quality gruyere with a little snip of chives. Ohhhhhh It’s DELICIOUSSSSSSSSSSS! I don’t know why so much cheese is melted on the outside of the bowl. A toasted piece of baguette holds up the cheese. The soup is so different…and amazing. It’s not at all what I expected……It’s so caramelized onion-ee It taste just like confit onions well maybe because they are confit onions. Those onions are melty and must have been slow roasted for around 8-12 hours with bay leaves, pepper, herbs and a big splash of something I’m not very familiar with maybe Pernod? Oh it’s delicious and Forking Amazing. WOW!
My husband started with the Escargot Bougugnon.
There’s an interesting spice blend on the escargot. It’s herbs de Provence, garlic, parsley, pernod and a little heat from Calabrian Chile. There is also a rich slice of brioche.
My main was the Blackened Alaskan Halibut.
It’s almost too pretty to eat! There’s flowers, pretty vegetables and special seasonings. Now I go to taste some fish. I never had anything blackened that tasted this delicious and complex before. It’s sort of spicy but lightly smokey and fruity with other flavors mixed in. The halibut is very tender, moist and flakes. Under the center piece of fish is a breaded green tomato in a pickled tomato remoulade. YUM! what a treat! There’s another dab of something green and creamy and chopped up onion and celery and a little tempura fried oyster. This plate was very detailed and Forking DELICIOUS!
My husband had the Compart Farms Pork Tenderloin.
All kinds of wonderful things were on this plate. There was escarole with ventreche (pork belly seasoned and with smoke), choucroute ( a type of French sour kraut) and caramelized apple hydromel (honey and water liquor that is fermented or mead).
Then we got to share TWO desserts!
One was the Upside Down Apple Tart Tatin that was topped with malted cascara ice cream. Other goodies here were luxardo cherries and cocoa nib crumble. YUM!
The other dessert was a Peanut Butter Eclair.
It had Nutella Pastry Cream and Strawberry Ganache with pretty flowers. It was suppose to come with Foie Gras Powder but I asked them to leave that off. I liked how this was so different and the strawberry ganache wasn’t too sweet either and had lots of strong strawberry flavor.
It was a lovely very detailed three course dinner that we both enjoyed!
Restaurant Week Fall 2019 at Zinc Bistro was worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
www.ZincBistro.com
Every THING is subject to change and your exsperience may or may NOT differ.
My first stop was Hattie B’s for Hot Chicken in the Cosmopolitan on the Las Vegas Strip.
Hattie B’s is located in the new food court…….
It’s tasty but it’s not the same as what I tried from the Nashville location………..It doesn’t sting you when you bite it……..It’s like they cooled it down and sweetened it up for the masses. Or maybe it’s just an off batch? I don’t know?
Our next stop was Eataly.
It’s an Italian Food Court with wine and more food to purchase.
We tried fish.
We tried pasta.
We came back another day and tried more pasta.
Finished up with gelato.
Some things were better than other things and we purchased some things to try latter.
The next day we went to China Town and tried Mian Sichuan Noodle.
This is suppose to be a very authentic Sichuan Noodle Restaurant. It’s not a fancy place.
But where else have you been that offers placemats with instructions on how to eat the food?
Before we order they start us off with sweetened Mung Bean Soup. It is used to cool you down from fiery mouth numbing food.
Here we started with Spicy Radishes and a sweet and sour cabbage is served as a palette cleanser. The Spicy Radishes were indeed spicy but not like water boiled spicy……That means you didn’t need a fire hydrant. They were unlike anything I ever tasted before…….with an unusual crunchy texture. I might not have known that they were radishes because I could no longer taste radish in them.
We had-
Sichuan cold spicy noodles
and
Spicy Sichuan Pork Noodles called Za Jiang. Tune in and you can read that story soon.
Our next destination was Chica in the Venetian.
It’s a Latin Restaurant of chef Lorena Garcia’s takes of Latin cuisine.
We tried spicy Peruvian ceviche.
and dinners of pacific striped sea bass
and porchetta.
We stopped by Gordon Ramsay Burger. I asked about the beef the last time I was here and they told me that they ground the beef in a main kitchen that is in the Paris Hotel/Casino.
They changed the menu since my last visit and that amazing Tandoori Chicken sandwich is no longer available……so I ordered something else. I thought an interesting choice might be the Fish and Crisps Burger because This is the fourth Gordon Ramsay Fried Fish option that I know of in Las Vegas. They all differ slightly and they all are priced differently.
The a crisp beer batter lightly coated a thick big piece of cod and it was drowning in about a 1/4 cup of yuzu-dill mayo that got topped with salt and vinegar potato crisps on a big fluffy toasted seeded bun…….
We shared plain fries called “Just Fries.”
My husband tried the Hog Burger that’s Mangalitsa Pork, Bacon, BBQ Pork, white cheddar, pickle, crisp onion and slaw burger. (he requested the slaw on the side)
Oddly this burger was dry? All the food we tried last time was amazing……Well the truth is that most busy restaurants run hot and cold……but I prefer hitting them on hot days.
Another day we went to Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill in the Caesar’s Palace. It’s a full service South West Style restaurant that’s very bright and lively inside with lots of bottles of tequila on the wall.
They started us off with a really delicious basket of assorted breads. (save room and eat the bread……the bread is worth eating)
For my main I had the Ancho Honey Glazed Salmon with black bean sauce, tomatillo and jalapeño crema over spinach (lunch $25.00 subject to change).
Gosh! It was delicious and flavorful. The salmon too! Not too spicy and not too sweet….just really good flavors!
My husband got the Grilled Mahi Mahi with green chile rice, yellow pepper mole and pineapple salsa (lunch $25.00 subject to change)
This one is delicious too! The flavors are different and stronger…..still south west. We both like the actual salmon more. I like the taste of both but my husband prefers the stronger flavors in this dish.
We go on to try the Deep Dish Banana Cream Pie.
It’s a thin praline hazelnut brittle with cream and fresh sliced bananas……..It’s ok to me. I really enjoyed the bread more and would have eaten more bread and skipped dessert…..We both really enjoyed the entrees and the bread basket at the Mesa Grill.
Then we got to try multi award winning and James Beard award winning chef Micheal Symon’s new bbq restaurant called Mabel’s in the Palm’s Hotel/Casino near the Las Vegas Strip.
We shared a big pan of Texas Style Brisket, Memphis dry rubbed Turkey breast, horseradish beets and macaroni and cheese.
Some things were great and some things weren’t as great………The pickles were DYN-NO-MITE! Like a crazy stinking great bread and butter pickle but better…..actually everything pickled was super crazy great! The turkey today had really terrific flavor but was served to us on the dry side today. The Texas style brisket might have been better at lunch time…..but when I got it the brisket was sort of dry and lacked much flavor but benefited from the house made sauces. The horseradish beets were pretty darn good! Macaroni and cheese didn’t have much flavor on my visit. I think they thinned down the sauce because our cup had lots of a milky liquid in the bottom.
The Splurge Night
L’ATELIER by Joel Robuchon
L’ATELIER by Joel Robuchon is located in the MGM Casino/Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip. This is a high end exhibition tapas restaurant by the late most stared chef in the world, also called chef of the century Joel Robuchon.
They made some menu changes since my last visit and the three course special ($85.00 subject to change) is only offered as an early bird now from 5pm-6pm.
You get a bread basket of the most delicious baked breads and French Butter.
You get an Amuse Bouche…that for the past several years has been a foie gras shooter with parmesan foam. If you ask you will get some sort of vegetarian Amuse Bouche.
My first course was an Eggplant – Avocado Fondant with pixie sized turmeric croutons.
My husband got polenta with egg and ham….(well not just any ham…..it was that ham that was kissed by Jesus…..has black feet ……eats nothing but acorns…….and cost like $25 or $30 a Forking ounce)
For my main I had Halibut Flakes in Lemongrass foam with Robuchon Potatoes.
My husband said he had the best short rib that he has ever tasted.
We both had the tarts – Les Tartes for dessert because there is a strong possibility that this dessert plate might be the very best most detailed dessert plate in the WHOLE FORKING COUNTRY.
It’s beyond knocking it out of the park……It’s more like knocking it out of the galaxy!
They surprised us with these FORKING INSANELY Crazy Great Amazing praline madeleines.
The master is gone but the magic remains.
That was a little taste of where the Fork I’ve been…….Las Vegas
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The Mekong Plaza is an Asian Shopping Center that is a mall with a dozen Asian restaurants, an Asian/International Grocery Super Market gift shops and more. Today we thought we’d do some exploring here and mostly tasting.
We started with a full service Vietnamese Restaurant called Com Tam Thuan Kieu.
We shared a dish that is seldom found at most Metro Phoenix Vietnamese Restaurants called Com Do Ga Roti (fried Cornish hen with tomato paste red rice). Today they were out of Cornish hen so chicken was offered.
First came out a cup of broth and chunks of very developed soft pork.
Next we moved on to the main event.
We received a generously sized plate of very moist tender delicious bbq chicken thigh made with house made bbq sauce. I picked fish sauce as the dipping sauce and it went together to make something mighty tasty. The plate also came with pickled vegetables, a fried over easy egg and tomato paste red rice. I’ve had Vietnamese red rice before and this differed as they do from home to home or restaurant to restaurant. Here the rice was on the dry side and contained very little tomato.
Below is com do ga roti from Thao Sandwiches now closed for business. You can see the texture and tomato and seasoning does differ.
Thao Sandwiches (now closed for business)
Moving on next stop was suppose to be a Filipino Restaurant called Wholly Grill for Grilled Tuna with Eggplant Salad but that wasn’t on the menu today so we stopped at Heng’s Kitchen in the food court instead to share a Szechuan Spicy Boiled Fish.
Soon we are served and they are nice enough to split the rice plates for us. The fish is very tender and mild and cooked to perfection. We receive a good amount of bean sprouts and fresh chopped cilantro. There is some heat from hot chili and some Sichuan peppercorns but this is the least spicy Szechuan Spicy Boiled Fish that I’ve ever had…….I saw the chef looking at me when I ordered it……..It’s possible that he thought I looked like someone that can’t handle spicy foods and it’s a possibility that he was trying to spare me too much mouth numbing painful heat?????? I don’t know…..but that’s what I thought. This dish was still very good but super mild for the kind of dish that it is.
The last time I had Szechuan Spicy boiled fish it looked like this from Szechuan Cosine in Glendale.
from Szechuan Cusine in Glendale
See all the peppers…..now this was ultra spicy and mouth numbing.
Now we take a break and walk around Mekong Market. Lets see what we see.
Chestnut Kit Kats!
WOW Sake KitKats too!
Boiled corn with colorful kernels.
Faux fish.
LOTS of real fish. (near the middle is rabbit fish…..rabbit fish?……does it hop?)
Much more fish..thought the moon fish look attractive…..they shine much more than the photo shows.
Lay’s tomato and cucumber flavor chips.
Togarashi
Lay’s Spicy Hot Pot flavored potato chips that actually DO contain Szechuan pepper.
Asian gefilte fish…..who knew?
Fermented mudfish in rice……….?
Best Wild Jelly Fish Head.
Yellow Rock sugar…….I don’t know about yellow sugar??????? Makes me think of a Frank Zappa song.
A whole world of produce and herbs.
We decide we can hit one more restaurant and go to Happy Baos.
They are packed and we have to wait outside.
In reasonable time we are called in to sit at a table.
This is a tiny restaurant that is very packed with tables close together.
I don’t know if they are short on help or just very unorganized today. We’ve had ordering problems and waited abnormally long for our food while others around that came in latter had multiple plates. But this restaurant was written about in the Arizona Republic recently and might be busier than usual????? We finally get served.
Chicken Cabbage Dumplings and a Tofu Vegetable Bao.
The Bao is ok….
There is a possibility we waited so long because they rushed out a batch of dumplings for us. These dumplings seemed rushed because they lack seasoning and the cabbage they were suppose to contain.
That was my trip to Mekong Plaza in Mesa.
www.MekongPlaza.com
Every FORKING Thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The Hotel Valley Ho is hosting a Chefs and Farmers Market Series on Saturdays 9am – 1pm July 6th and 13th. The admission is FREE but you are suppose to register on the Hotel Valley Ho Website. www.HotelValleyHo.com
June 29th the theme was Italian and called Bada Boom
It was crowded like the first week.
There was some mighty delicious foods to sample.
Chef Greg Otero of the Hotel Valley Ho prepared Pork and Fennel Cavatelli Pasta with Parmigiano Reggiano and Chili Flake.
Chef Matthew Taylor of Mora Italian prepared Smoked Eggplant Panna Cotta with Summer Squash Conserva, Basil, La Peral (cheese)
Chef Rochelle Daniel of The Fat Ox prepared Crab Culurgiones with smoked potato leek summer corn
Sadly my photo came out blurry and this picture doesn’t do this absolutely STUNNING stuffed pasta justice.
Can’t see all the beautiful folds this pasta had.
There was a milkshake competition where you can sample and vote for your favorite.
Live music
Complimentary Rose to try
Smoked Fish Dip from Chula Seafood…..(This was really delicious!)
Noble Bread
Tito’s Handmade Vodka
Local Chocolates
From Bly Sky Farms
There was all this and much more!
My purchases
Smoked Fish Dip with house made bagel chipsSweet Frying PeppersUnusual Pink Oyster MushroomsSquash BlossomsOne stunning Tomato
July 6th will be themed Grilling and Chilling. The last of the series is called Sweet Treats July 13th.
Parking might be challenging because the lot is small and the street parking might already be taken.
That was Chefs and Famers Market Series at Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale AZ June 29th 2019.
