I struct GOLD when I accidentally discovered that when I made my smoked mushrooms and then fried them crispy that the mushrooms turned into something astonishingly wonderful. I found out that it is the easiest thing in the world to smoke vegetables. Most vegetables only need around 15 minutes in the smoker. I smoke some vegetables every time I smoke some fish or a pastrami….(So far that is all that I have smoked)…. To be honest I didn’t like the flavor of the smoked seafood mushroom on alder wood…..I thought that maybe if I fried it that it would taste better? I just dredged the (I used seafood mushrooms) mushrooms into cornstarch and fried them up. I had no idea the flavor and texture would change so much and turn into something shattering crisp and CRAZY delicious. Then paired the mushrooms with provolone cheese, heirloom tomatoes and something mild like eggs….or even a flatbread is just FORKING FANTABULOUS!
Universal Yums is a international snack box gift box or subscription service. You have a choice of a few different size boxes.
They all come with snacks and a booklet with games, trivia and a recipe.
This month the snacks are from Spain. My expectations were pretty high because Spain is well known for having amazing foods and astonishing canned fish. (I was hoping for some really great canned fish)
I got a squashed cake. The cake is soft and the filling is very paste-tee……
Next are spicy mango gummies. They smell sort of like mango. They are not spicy. Not a favorite. It’s like gummy whipped taffy with a weird flavor.
These smell awful. They smell just like when you walk by an old fryer with old oil. They are suppose to be bacon and cheese flavored bugle shaped corn snacks. But they don’t have bacon or any cheese in them. Won’t get fat eating these….
This month I got a Yum Bag….Usually we get a Yum Bag but last month I didn’t. the top candies are Spanish Chocolate Toffee. They are soft like Tootsie Rolls…After a few chews all the chocolate flavor disappears and it’s like edible plastic. The pistachio candies on the lower end of the Yum bag are suppose to be soft and rich?….I think I got defective candies because mine are hard and are strong enough to pull my teeth out. It taste like the flavor is sprayed on. After about a second you don’t need the candy anymore.
Next are little sugar coated caramels……..They taste good but do have a slightly artificial finish……
Last snack
Lemon pepper potato chips……They smell like normal potato chips…..They are nice and crisp in texture. For me they are too acidic….I can’t eat them but my husband can…Bah they were almost good with a nice potato flavor.
Those were my thoughts on Universal Yums Spain 2021 Your opinion may differ!
The FANTABULOUS dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite!
Valentine is a small restaurant located in a vintage furniture store in the Melrose District of Phoenix Arizona. They serve high quality coffees, brunch foods, cocktails, nature wines and dinner on the weekends. Most of the food served is wood fired and laced with the southwest.
I was planning on trying the grouper that I saw on the on-line menu but on my arrival it wasn’t on the menu so I went with the chicken…………
They use high quality Two Wash Ranch Chicken and you get not half but a whole small bird. OMG it is SOOOoooooooooo tender, SOOOooooooooo moist and SOOOOooooooo flavorful. It’s magical. It’s like a million bucks….Every FORKING bite is an explosion of flavors. It’s smoked but not too smoky and it’s unbelievably delicious. It’s just FANTABULOUS! The sauce is so chicken-eeeeeee and a little smoky. It taste amazing with the chicken, cabbage and durum wheat berries. To me the little white pile on the plate is a little odd but also delicious….There is this pile of kerned yogurt with dill…It makes me crave a pita…..Oh and did I mention that this is a large portion? I’ll eat the rest another day.
The chicken from Valentine in Phoenix is one FANTABULOUS Dish.
Uncommon is something different……An uncommon restaurant offers something unique. Rawhide at Wild Horse Pass in Chandler Arizona is a Western themed 1880’s mini town. They have a Main Street, gun fights, stage coach rides, train rides, gold panning and a steak house that offers rattlesnake. You can have fun on the rides, shop a little and see a gun fight and then drink at a saloon and or eat at the steakhouse.
www.Rawhide.com
Singh Meadows in Tempe AZ is also uncommon. They offer a produce stand with farm fresh produce and a breakfast/lunch cafe that also offers just plucked farm fresh foods. You can sit inside, on the patio or a by a duck pond or grab a meal on a blanket in the meadow. Now where else can you do all that? Hours are very limited so it’s best to call them. They usually are open only for breakfast and lunch on weekends during harvest times.
I haven’t found the website for Singh Meadows but they are on Facebook. (Slight Update********On my last visit I noticed only breakfast and vegetarian meals were offered)
********UPDATE>NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS during the pandemic and UPDATE AGAIN JUST REOPENED*******The Hot Chick in or near Old Town Scottsdale is very unique. It’s a kind of time warp of the “Hippy Era,” fried chicken, and lots of games. You order at a indoor camper and the rest of the trip is up to you.
www.TheHotChickAZ.com
Maybe one of the most unusual and uncommon restaurants out in Metro Phoenix might be Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa AZ. They offer organ music during dinner from one of the biggest Wurlitzer organs in the world. They also offer pizza, pasta, salad and ice cream.
www.OrganStopPizza.com
Organ Stop PizzaOrgan Stop Pizza
That was 4 uncommon restaurants of Metro Phoenix Arizona.
The Fantabulous Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
There are several restaurants that serve amazing fried chicken out there in metro Phoenix but the buttermilk fried chicken from Confluence is FANTABULOUS!
Confluence is a small modern upscale American restaurant in Carefree Arizona.
The buttermilk fried chicken is usually on the lunch menu. I’ve had this dish a number of times and it’s FANTABULOUS every time. They do change up the sides now and then but the chicken is special. It’s a high quality from a local farm.
It’s tender as can be and is very juicy and flavorful. It has this shattering thin crisp coating. Then there is this BOMB delicious sauce on it. It’s called chili tepin honey mustard…..DANG it’s FANTABULOUS! It’s a little spicy, a little sweet and that just right YUM! Oh and did I mention that this is a large portion? I eat the vegetable (it’s often broccolini) and one of the pieces of the FANTABULOUS chicken and I am left with a FANTABULOUS meal for another time.
YUM! It’s so FORKING Delicious!
This gotta be one of the BEST boneless fried chicken dishes in metro Phoenix.
The Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
I picked up this bag of Lay’s Whacky Hot ‘N’ Sweet Chili (spelled Chilli on bag) Potato Chips from the Asiana Market in Deer Valley Phoenix Arizona. This bag is from India so it is not a flavor that you will find everywhere. I like Chili and Sweet can be ok so I decided to give this bag a try. It’s a very small bag with very little in it.
The bag only weighs 2 ounces.
The ingredients look pretty good for flavored potato chips.
I’m so glad that the potato chips main ingredient is potato and they used edible vegetable oil instead of inedible vegetable oil.
I open the bag and sniff them.
They smell really odd. Something like tahini mixed with a frozen pizza.
The chips are smaller in size with ridges and do have a powdery surface.
I get scared to taste them.
I taste one….
It’s very spicy but not too spicy and it is sweet.
They are more savory than sweet with a tiny bit of onion and garlic an also an odd taste in the background.
You get the odd taste more near the
bottom of the bag.
It’s something like soy sauce.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Whacky ‘N’ Sweet Chilli Potato Chips.
The Fantabulous Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante is an Italian Restaurant that also specializes in serving Neapolitan pizzas, They serve other pizzas. They also offer hand made pastas, seasonal specials, a Sunday Brunch and more.
Universal Yums is a gift or subscription service for a box of international snacks.
You have three choices of size boxes.
Besides snacks your box comes with a booklet that includes some facts, trivia and a recipe.
I don’t know why but my box is marked reject.
That’s just dandy. WHATEVER
Lets try our first snack.
It’s puffed rice with a thin coat of waxy chocolate. It’s much lighter in texture than the Asian puffed rice bars. I think it might have ground rice powder in it with the texture of almost angel cake holding it together. I like the center of this bar with the ultra light texture. It ALMOST seems like the rice is suspended in angel cake but it isn’t…just taste that way.
Next
They smell tangy……They taste better than they smell…..Sort of like a ketchup taste…..Not awful (“PHEW”) but not something that I would buy.
Next we try the onion rings.
They smell just like onion powder. They have the same texture as softer lighter cheese curls but don’t taste like cheese curls. They taste onion flavored. Light oniony rings…they are ok.
Now we will go for something sweet.
Here are cinnamon almond cream wafers.
They are cinnamon-ee…kinda almond-ee………They remind me of other wafer snacks from all over the world. I think every country out there makes some sort of wafer snack.
Here is premium white chocolate with strawberry rhubarb crumble. I think this is pretty good. It taste like lots of strawberry in a cream……maybe the sour finish is the rhubarb? I think that this was the best of the box.
I saved this for last because I’m not a big fan of marzipan.
Well it’s a stick of marzipan. It’s covered in dark chocolate that isn’t too bad.
According to Yelp a small casual Mediterranean Restaurant located in a gas station called Casa De Falafel is the #5 TOP restaurant in greater Phoenix Arizona. *****UPDATE no longer located in gas station moved to own spot in Glendale AZ.
Also according to Yelp Casa De Falafel is the number 2 falafel restaurant in the United States.
Lets see what Casa De Falafel is like.
We order at a counter and pay here.
The menu is limited.
I noticed that they sell their very own packaged lentil soup.
We ordered 2 falafels and a beef and chicken shawarma plates. While we wait we look around a little.
Here is the dining room. It’s currently not in use during the pandemic.
Here is the view if you were seated.
We start with falafels.
They look like small donuts. One is with a little hummus and the other is with a little tahini sauce that are very similar today and are very delicate tasting.
They are fried nicely and do have a crisp exterior and a moist fluffy interior and are lightly herbed and seasoned. It’s good……to some this falafel might be under seasoned.
Now we are digging into the shawarma plates with garlic sauce, tahini and extra HOT green sauce.
There is a lot packed into this plate. I got a serving of lentil soup, chicken shawarma that is moist, flavorful and nicely caramelized. there’s Mediterranean pickle slices, olives, chickpeas, salad, red onions dusted with sumac and what might? be?
Mexican style rice? Perhaps a nod to part of the name of the restaurant?
The beef shawarma plate is the same but made with beef.
I preferred the chicken over the beef shawarma because the chicken was moist and I think flavored better. For me the beef wasn’t tender enough but my husband said it was good to him. He doesn’t mind a little chew. I also thought the food was tasty and a good value. My chicken shawarma plate was only $9.50 before tax and tip.
That was my trip to Casa De Falafel in Peoria AZ. According to Yelp they are the #5 TOP Restaurant in Greater Phoenix and the #2 Falafel Restaurant in the country.
Casa De Falafel does not have a website but you can find them on Facebook.
Address and phone number is below.
Everything IS subject to change.******UPDATE They’ve moved. to Glendale.
The Fantabulous Dish means……top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
There are many fantabulous pizza restaurants out there in metro Phoenix. But each one is unique and many of them do a particular pizza better than from other restaurants.
Burrata or bufala cheese is the most exquisite mozzarella cheese that you can imagine. It’s the top of the line of mozzarella.
Most bufalina pizzas (margherita pizzas but made with Italian Buffalo milk cheese) look something like this……and this is GOOD but …….
Fabio On Fire elevates the bufalina pizza. His Bufalina Pizza is special.
Fabio On Fire in Peoria AZ makes his Bufalina Pizzas like this one below.
This Bufalina Pizza starts with San Marzano Tomato sauce, Imported bufalina cheese, oregano, garlic, arugula, reduced balsamic vinegar, farm fresh sweet tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil.
Sometimes they spread out the cheese.
The heat of the pizza warms the creamy imported bufala cheese without cooking it. You get the most exquisite mozzarella the way it was meant to be.
It’s FORKING DELICIOUS! It got all kinds of flavors going on. The BEST bufala cheese, San Marzano tomato sauce (the BEST), farm fresh sweet tomatoes (the BEST), peppery arugula, sweet but tang from the balsamic, flavors from the garlic and oregano….It’s going on here.
The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire is an official Fantabulous Dish!
