I found some different foreign snacks from Asiana Market in the Deer Valley part of Phoenix Arizona. Here are Surati Cheddar Jalapeño flavored potato tubes. I found them in the India aisle but this snack is from Canada.
The front of the bag is marked suitable for vegetarians.
The ingredients are a mix of mostly natural and some chemical.
I open the bag and take a sniff.
It smells sort of cheesy and I do also smell chili powder.
I spill some out.
They are shaped sort of like French Fries but with. slightly hollow centers. They are dusted with seasonings.
I taste one.
It’s very spicy but it doesn’t burn with a natural cheesy flavor. It’s actually very tasty but the texture is unlike anything I ever tried before. It’s ultra light and airy. It’s so darn light and airy it would be easy to woof down this 3 1/2 ounce bag.
Universal Yums sells snacks from around the world. You can either subscribe or gift in a variety ways and different available sizes.
I get the basic Yum Box. These days it is 5-7 snacks and runs around $16. a month. My box includes a 12 page booklet with fun facts, a recipe and some games.
The first treat we try are the wasabi spicy potato strips.
They taste like they could be made by Pringles but in a long thin strip and wasabi flavored…Ummmm not bad. I’m surprised that they aren’t all busted up. Not bad..I’d buy them once in a while.
Next we try the baked Milk and Dark Chocolate Bar.
It’s a lot of wafers surrounded by a dark chocolaty wax coating. Not awful….but also not great…..I think mine is an off batch…I have next to zero filling between the wafers. It’s kind of dry. Oh well what’s next?
Next we open the Yum Bag. we try a juice filled Ukrainian mixed fruit jelly (yellow wrapper)……It’s weird….Not sure what it taste like….It’s coated with cornstarch and my mouth full of cornstarch…but is more jelly fruity and wet than corn starch…..It’s weird to me.
A day later I tried the other candy in the Yum Bag.
WOW! This candy is even weirder than the last candy. It’s really soft caramel with a strawberry fruit center that doesn’t taste like much. My husband found this candy less weird. He also agreed that you barely taste the strawberry and it’s mostly just a soft caramel…….I would never eat this again.
This is suppose to be a sweeter condensed milk cream cake. I don’t think mine wasn’t made right. It’s very dry and not sweet…I think it taste like it was made with saw dust………YUK! Neither me or my husband could stomach this one.
This one is a creme brûlée milk chocolate bar…It’s very sweet….like as sweet as thick donut icing….It’s too sweet. I think you can get diabetes if you eat more than one chocolate piece. This one was almost good.
Last snack is the roasted garlic rye chips.
My bread chips arrived mostly busted up. I go to taste one…..Not much on garlic taste….Mine taste like dry wheat bread mixed with wood pulp and they are very dry…..
I hope next month is better or I will have to cancel my membership.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Ukraine Universal Yums
Every now and then someone is going to serve you the “I already ate plate.” You might be wondering WTFork is an I already ate plate. It’s a plate of food that isn’t much and might not even be enough to nourish a hamster. Every now and then if you go various restaurants someone sometime is going to stick it to you with the “I already ate plate.”
Here is an “I already ate plate” previous to the one I just had (from a restaurant now closed for business).
It’s a small portion of food that looks more like an appetizer….or something that is a part of a tasting menu. Maybe someone at the restaurant was confused and thought I was doing a tasting menu?
Here is another “I already ate plate.” I do note that this also wasn’t a part of a tasting menu (this restaurant is also now closed for business).
This was my $16.00 lunch. I was still hungry after this. This isn’t enough food for a little pudgy tiny toy poodle dog that is dieting. WTFork was I suppose to do?………Am I suppose to hit a fast food place afterwards? AND I would LOVE to know what the heck did they do with the other half of the egg……They couldn’t re-use it.
Here is my first “I already ate plate of 2021. I do warn you that this plate appears to be large until you get a better look.
This is pla rad prik (fish in spicy chili sauce) from Tom Yum Thai Restaurant in Peoria.
I go and open up the fish to dig in.
Up above it appears that this fish was already consumed but it wasn’t. When they cleaned out the fish they also removed nearly all the fish flesh. I spent over $20. and all I got was some fish skin, rice, the sauce and a few over cooked soggy falling apart vegetables. What am I suppose to do? If I was dining in I would show this to someone. But I did take out……If I called them up they wouldn’t believe me….. I must note that normally this restaurant is better. I had no issues with my previous visit. I just don’t recommend fish dishes from Tom Yum Thai (salmon was very over cooked from a previous visit but chicken was good).
Every now and then someone sticks it to you with “The I Already Ate Plate.” And that’s The Forking Truth.
Every once in a while I taste a dish that is stupendously impressive. Something unexpected that is jaw droppingly astonishing. I’m not even a beef person it’s normally my least favorite protein that I still eat…….I actually partially gave it up (I gave up commercial ground beef). Anywho- I know that beef cheeks are usually very good on menus so I decided to try the confit wagyu beef cheek as a hot appetizer from the modern American Restaurant Confluence in Carefree Arizona.
This confit wagyu beef cheek wasn’t just good…or just great….It was EXCEPTIONAL.
I start by tasting a chunk of beef. It is infused with great flavors and really does melt in the mouth. It actually FORKING MELTS in your mouth…You don’t need teeth. But it turns MAGICAL when you get a piece of beef with some of the silkiest flavorful scrambled egg hiding underneath dripping with this amazingly developed sauce and a sweet nutty creamy bite of kabocha squash…..pops of celery….that taste more like celery than celery that I have at home. It was so unexpected and so surprisingly impressive. This truly taste more superb than I can possibly describe.
Just go and get it (FAST). *******(menus at Confluence are ever changing to the freshest of what’s out there so they change often)
The Confit Wagyu Beef Cheek – scrambled egg, celery, kabocha squash, black garlic, apple. It was listed as a hot appetizer on the dinner menu for $16.00 From Confluence in Carefree AZ.
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
The menus at Confluence are ever changing.
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
Everything is subject to change….That confit wagyu beef cheek won’t stay on the menu too long.
I got a smoker and a little while back I made the FORKING BEST smoked pastrami ever. I only make a pastrami once or at the most twice a year. Smoked salmon a few times ….nothing fancy…just basic with a basic brine and leave in the smoker around 4 hours. I thought I should try to smoke other things.
I smoked some acorn squash, some beets and some seafood mushrooms. The beets came out really well and we enjoyed with the smoked salmon. The vegetables are super easy to smoke. You just put them in the smoker for 15 minutes with a mild wood. (alder is great for fish so I was using alder and it went extra well with seafood mushrooms!)
Smoked Beets with Goat Cheese Musse, Orange, Almonds, Mint, and Orange Champagne Vinaigrette
I had a bunch of food in my refrigerator so I had to freeze the acorn squash….I’m not sure what I will do with that yet but will think of something!
I tasted a mushroom. I thought it was a little too smoky for me……..Somehow I got the idea in my head to fry my smoked mushrooms. I used this kind of mushroom (seafood mushroom) I think it’s one of the very best buys at a supermarket. Seafood mushrooms usually only cost around a dollar a package and are amazing in soup and have a slight seafood taste to them.
After the mushrooms were smoked I dredged them in cornstarch and shallow fried them in a mix of unsalted butter and canola oil. (I tried the same thing with an un-smoked seafood mushroom and DO NOT GET THE SAME RESULTS AT ALL)
Smoked Crispy Seafood Mushrooms
OMG! These things are FORKING Amazing with my cheese sauce. My sauce was made with all the ends of white cheese I had in my refrigerator. I only use a small amount of butter (butter is what breaks the sauce), corn starch, milk lots of cheese, paprika, cayenne and Frank’s Red Hot Sauce. This combo is BOMB-DIG-IT-TY!
Smoked Crispy Seafood Mushrooms is a FORKING GREAT IDEA!
The Bourbon Cellar is a small independent steak and seafood restaurant in North Scottsdale Arizona. The owner is also the chef and does the in house butchering. Inside is sort of rustic with lots of wood, bricks, bourbon barrels and American Flags.
Outside is a lush dog friendly patio with a water feature.
I’m not a burger person…Most burgers are just food that is very filling. A few are tasty out there and some burgers out there are of a higher quality……..but none are like The Bourbon Cellar’s Prime Filet Ground in House Burger……..I’ve been here several times and I just can’t get past the ground-in-house prime filet burger. This burger is different.
Here is a closer look. All beef does taste different. Especially ground beef. Commercial ground beef just isn’t up there with ground in house beef. Commercial beef is much gamier tasting…..with a slight sourness to it. It’s that dead cow taste….I know it because I used to cook up a few hundred pounds of beef when I was a cook. It does smell like a dead cow. Ground in house beef is a cleaner taste and doesn’t smell as bad at home when you grind your own beef.
It is an amazing big burger so I cut it in half and remove the toppings.
This burger is great but it isn’t cheap and might run you more than most burgers you eat. The bourbon pickles that I added (90cents) and onion ring topping (90cents) are really great. The onions rings are super great because they are shattering crisp and the onion doesn’t pull out when you bite into it. But it is the burger that is the main event here. It’s seasoned to perfection. I think “medium” is perfect here….medium rare would be too much raw meat. It’s like eating a really great steak. It’s so flavorful. I think it’s maybe the best tasting burger that I have ever tried. It’s so good that it shouldn’t be covered up with stuff. I love stuff….but then it covers up this amazing burger. You really have to eat it open face…It’s that good.
My dogs are always happy to help me with the other half.
Even the cole slaw was good. It was made fresh to order and came out after my burger.
It was very crisp and fresh.
We tried one different thing off the menu and went for the macaroni and cheese appetizer.
This was made fresh to order and did take some time but it is a perfect mix of cheesy and creamy. (Gave my dogs some too)
The ground in house prime filet burger from The Bourbon Cellar is Worth a Fork!
I had around a cup of leftover cooked cabbage and around 20 wonton wrappers in my refrigerator. I also recently made Justin Chapple’s recipe from Food and Wine Magazine (minus the bacon) chili crisp condiment. You can also buy chili crisp from an Asian Market or on-line but it’s easy to make so do what you want.
All I did was chop of the leftover roasted cabbage and flavor it with fresh chives and chili crisp (around a heaping teaspoon I think.
Then I put a small amount into the center of a wonton wrapper. I wet the edges of the wonton wrapper with water.
Started pleating up the wrapper on both sides.
Some I did round shape. I just hand squeezed them.
Boiled the plated ones. Salted the water with Red Boat Salt.
Boiled the round ones and added a little beet powder to the water.
Dressed the dumplings with more chili crisp and more chives.
Today I am mentioning the black owned restaurants that I can personally recommend. I do note that I haven’t been everywhere in metro Phoenix so other great black owned restaurants are out there that you should want to visit too. The restaurants mentioned are not in any particular order.
I had dishes that were to die for from The Larder + The Delta in Downtown Phoenix.
It’s a cute little casual restaurant in Phoenix that offers high quality Southern American Inspired Modern Cuisine.
This Hoppin John is like no other. It’s FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! It’s earthy, spicy, deeply flavorful with interesting textures. It’s a Hum-YUM-Dinger!
A LONG While back I had the very best of the hot chicken sandwiches that I have tried anywhere. It was like a religious experience.
I had many delicious hot chicken sandwiches before but this one had the best and most delicious flavors of any hot chicken sandwich that I’ve ever had. One thing that really stood out was that the chicken was the only one that still tasted like it was on the bone. Then this one also had many layers to it that were the most delicious. It was so amazing that I wonder why this sandwich isn’t often found on the menu.
During the pandemic The Larder + The Delta did hot chicken take out.
They did re-opened for dine in service but these are uncertain times so you must contact them for up to date details.
I only got to eat at Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen once (because this place is pretty far for me) but everything we tried was delicious. My husband said that the red beans and rice were really great. He usually only eats this dish in New Orleans…because usually it is usually only good in New Orleans.
He also enjoyed the Shrimp Po Boy.
Hot Chicken Sandwich
I had some sort of hot chicken sandwich that was different but delicious. If I remember correctly I think it was made with his own hot sauce and specialty remoulade sauce. The fries were seasoned with Old Bay.
Currently Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen operates out of a food truck so you have to look up their schedule.
At a food festival in Peoria (Devour The World) I enjoyed the food from Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe very much.
I decided that I should try the Ethiopian Restaurant Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe myself. (PHX)
We got a couple dishes on one large platter lined with injera bread and served with rolls of it. Everything was DELICIOUS! There were three kinds of lentil dishes, vegetable dishes…..a couple meat dishes and in the middle was this insanely delicious dish called Doro Wat. It was a great experience.
We enjoyed many dishes from Carribbean Cuisine in Glendale. I do note that this is a very small place that is mainly open for take out. (possibly only take out during the pandemic)
Red Snapper
Jerk chicken
Curry chicken
Oxtail (not always ready because this takes hours to prepare)
Escoviitch
Everything was delicious from Caribbean Cuisine.
We enjoy Desert Island Eatery and Cafe very much. This is a Caribbean Restaurant that also serves Vegan foods. Inside is only three tables but they recently added a patio. Currently during the pandemic they are Take Out only and the patio is not in use.
Our mutual favorite dish here is the Curry/Jerk Chicken combo that comes with cabbage and your choice of rice and peas or yellow rice.
Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken
We are both crazy about this curry and jerk chicken. Many other people in town love it too and this restaurant has been expanding the menu and their hours.
D’s Jerk Hut recently opened in Phoenix. They offer Caribbean and some vegan foods sort of cafeteria style. It’s sort of like a buffet behind the cashier and your order is kept warm in a warming oven.
We tried a number of things there.
Above is small sized jerk chicken and curry chicken. The jerk chicken his less spiced and less hot than all the other jerk chickens that I’ve tried. I really liked the curry chicken here. It was very flavorful and falling off the bone.
Here’s medium sized brown strew chicken. It’s very flavorful and really good but this one gets the developed flavor from the bones and there are lots of bone fragments in it.
D’s Jerk Hut is the only place that I have found Jamaica’s national dish Ackee (a fruit) and Salt Fish. It’s VERY Unique….You have to go to D’s Jerk Hut to try it.
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar is another place for Jerk Chicken and other Caribbean foods.
Friday night jerk chicken for two special from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix
We’ve enjoyed numerous dishes from the Breadfruit and Rum Bar from Festivals that we’ve been to. Often The Breadfruit and Rum Bar served us our favorite bite from various food festivals. Each Jerk Chicken that I tried taste different and the jerk chicken here is also very unique. Ours that we took out was more breast meat with all kinds of flavors that danced on the exterior of the chicken. There also was this WICKED mighty nuclear HOT sauce to pour onto it (If you dare). Ours came with nicely prepared farm fresh vegetables.
These were the Black Owned restaurants that I can recommend personally recommend.
The Larder + The Delta (PHX)
Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen (Food Truck)
Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe (PHX)
Caribbean Cuisine (Glendale)
Desert Island Eatery (N.PHX)
D’s Jerk Hut (PHX)
The Breadfruit and Rum Bar (PHX)
Again I haven’t been everywhere and I know that there are other great ones out there.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Potato Chips have been out for a while now but I finally got up the nerve to try them. About a year ago I tried several different flavors of Lay’s potato chips that just didn’t do it for me so I gave up trying new flavors until recently.
These Lay’s Flamin’ Hot Dill Pickle Potato Chips smell just like a jar of dill pickle!
I got to look at the ingredients.
They have a few ingredients that are unexpected like whey and sour cream…..???? Why whey and sour cream? They don’t go into spicy dill pickles!
Here are the chips up close.
The chips are smaller in size and are a little powdery.
I taste one. It’s almost too hot and *****IS*****too vinegary for me.
My husband loves them and is woofing them down.
The chips for me are painful to eat slow.
If I eat them faster they don’t hurt my mouth and they really do taste like spicy dill pickles.
Pretty good and worth a try! …Just don’t eat them slow.
I tried many great dishes in 2020 in Metro Phoenix Arizona this year. I haven’t been everywhere but I’ve gone to lots of places. Most of the food I did this year was take outs because that is how we rolled most of the year. Here are the best that I’ve tried in no particular order. I do warn you that I live around the upper west side of the valley so it’s not logical to bring back food from too far away. I also might have forgotten a few great ones. It’s hard to remember a whole year. I note that I do happen to fancy fish when I go out because it is hard to get fresh fish to cook or eat near my home. Chula Seafood and Nelson’s are 40-45 minutes of mostly highway driving for me.
Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken from Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix
The Combo with Curry & Jerk Chicken is so good from Desert Island Eatery that I can’t move on to try something else. I must note that this food is always good. The take out version is slightly drier because all the sauces soak in…..but it is always very good. During the pandemic Desert Island Eatery installed a patio but are converted to take out only. Maybe that will change in a few months????
From Confluence is Carefree I got an amazing dinner. Everything is perfection and delicious but that special bit of magic is the way that way that everything is so flavorful and the way goes together. It’s like here’s a green bean…WOW I never tasted a green bean like this before…………but then the magic really happens when Parsnips, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, red quinoa and pomegranate go together so amazingly well. It’s just magical.
Flaming cheese from Greek Palace in Peoria
The Flaming Cheese from Greek Palace is Peoria is Awesome! I’ve had flaming cheese before but this one is the next level…YUM!
I have to give another to Confluence for their Lunch Fried Chicken with Chilitepin Honey sauce……I’ve had this one a few times and the sides do get changed up now and then but that fried chicken is among the Yummiest Tastiest Best. YUM!
Tacos are not part of my heritage but I’ve tasted many tacos. I tasted many tacos on several trips to Mexico. I’ve also tasted many tacos from many of the taco festivals in metro Phoenix and then some. The mild chicken habanero taco from Taco Fusion in Glendale is one of the BEST chicken tacos that I have ever tasted. It’s served on a hand made flour or corn tortilla (your choice). You do have to ask for the salsas….I think the chicken taco is best with the pineapple salsa.
OMG These sandwiches are a THOUSAND Times better tasting than they look. The smoked corned beef special from Naked BBQ is a wonder of the world. It’s a crime that this isn’t on the menu. It’s so great that I would tell a vegetarian to eat it.
🙁 🙁 🙁 Sadly we lost the really great fast but unusually delicious food from CHZBURGR in Glendale. This sandwich was a million times more delicious than it looks. Crispy well seasoned delicious juicy super flavorful breaded chicken THIGH, a special bun from Philadelphia, crafted pickles, mayo, honey mustard (I added Calabrian peppers) Was just awesome. My husband used to enjoy the flat style CHZBURGR. (It was greasy in a good way type of cheeseburger.
The Bianco Pizza (middle) is among the best pizzas in Metro Phoenix from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. It is made with hand pulled in house mozzarella, creamy rich ricotta, Sicilian oregano, garlic, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil (I add on Calabrian peppers). It’s just a taste sensation!
All the food from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery always makes us happy. Here are those tasty pot stickers and the lotus root salad. This great lunch was also only $9.
The salmon from Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale was unusually great! It’s pretty rare to get salmon cooked to such perfection. I enjoyed this a few times and several other dishes from Twist Bistro and Gallery.
The Halibut special from Fabio On Fire in Peoria was amazing. It might be the very best fish that you can get on the west side of metro Phoenix. The gelato…especially the strawberry is also the best…maybe in the whole darn country. That little ear pasta is also pretty darn special.
I got an amazing Forking Delicious feast from The Barrio Cafe in Phoenix. Everything was Forking Great! I sure wish her fabulous smoked salmon was still on the menu. I loved it so much!!!! Everything was FORKING delicious even down to the spicy ketchup condiment.
The Fried Chicken Take Out Special from FnB in Scottsdale was incredible. Even all the sides were EXTRA SPECIAL….I never had such GREAT sides with great fried chicken before.
This dessert from Confluence in Carefree was incredible. It’s yuzu curd with angel food cake, nuts and sake poached pears. It was incredible. It was just as spectacular as the food from Confluence.
The other BEST dessert (and Fabio’s gelato) was this noodle cheese pastry from Alzohour Market in Glendale. Actually most of the food from Alzohour Market is incredible.
My first take out from Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale was completely amazing. The salmon was one of the best that I had in Metro Phoenix….The bread was Noble Bread and is great, The Caponata was the best I’ve had and that chocolate fudge cake was a really awesome treat. Since my first visit prices were cut and some things are not the same. You get smaller amounts of bread and appetizer. The fish is now smaller pieces cooked to well on a skewer. It’s still really REALLY good but not Phenomenal like it was.
The salmon from Tarbell’s Tavern is maybe the best salmon that you can get in metro Phoenix. Everything here was delicious. There is this Indian spiced cake that came with it that also was memorable.
The sand dabs from Lure Fish House were crazy fresh and delicious.
The beets with Smoked Salmon from FnB in Scottsdale was well crafted, detailed and delicious. You can almost taste it just by looking at it. Actually everything we had from FnB was incredible. It was had to pick one plate from that visit because EVERY FORKING PLATE is deserving for here.
Lemon sole in a basil white wine broth with fennel salad and house made noodles from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale. It was all prepared to perfection and was also interesting and a little different.
The salt crusted whole striped bass from Bandolero Cocina de Mexico is as good as fish can get. The fresh flavor and texture was incredible. The mojo sauce was also really extra great!
My husband said that this pork shank he got from Ocotillo needs to be on this list. He really enjoyed it. I enjoyed a salmon meal that was pretty darn good too.
Desi Fusion
I just started going to Desi Fusion in Peoria. I forgot to photo the South Indian Fish Curry. That was really great! Really everything I tried so far was great from Desi Fusion. Sometime next year I will know what dishes I like the most.
My take out from Seoul BBQ and Sushi in Phoenix also blew me away. Everything was delicious and they might have made a mistake and accidentally gave us too much food. They gave us a complimentary vegetable pancake and 16 side dishes. Our mains were a chicken bulgogi and a bibimbap. Everything was delicious!
The market salad from Pizzeria Bianco at Town and Country was amazing. This was the BEST bitter greens salad that I have ever tried. It was the only one that tasted balanced to me. The gorgonzola and the sweet Asian pears help to tame the bitterness of the radicchio leaves. Bravo!
From Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante on Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide I got this incredibly delicious tender falling off the bone Chicken Cacciatore that was laced with DELICIOUS Calabrian Chili Peppers. Underneath it all was creamy cheese polenta.
My take out from Mrs. Chicken in Phoenix is deserving of a SPECIAL MENTION. They are a Nashville Style Chicken Restaurant. They do deserve a special mention because Mrs Chicken is a 40 minute drive for me and the chicken had a shattering crisp exterior and a juicy perfectly cooked interior when I got it home. (I brought home a lot of chicken this year…even from some closer places the chicken came home dry.
We both got the two piece dark meat on the bone.
The Better Dishes I tried from Metro Phoenix Restaurants 2020
