Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Random Forking Items of Interest

The FANTABULOUS Dish – The Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Confluence in Carefree AZ – Worth a Fork!

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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!

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.RestaurantConfluence.com

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Whacky Hot ‘N’ Sweet Chilli (Chili) Potato Chips

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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.

Your Forking Thoughts may differ.

The Forking Truth

Universal Yums – Germany March 2021

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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.

That was Germany Universal Yums for March 2021.

www.UniversalYums.com

The Forking Truth

Mediterranean Restaurant Casa De Falafel The #5 TOP Restaurant in greater Phoenix AZ – according to Yelp

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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 Forking Truth

The Fantabulous Dish – The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire Peoria AZ – Worth a Fork!

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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!

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.FabioOnFire.com

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Surati Cheddar Jalapeño flavored Potato Tubes

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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.

I might buy them again.

Worth a try if you can do spicy.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Universal Yums – February 2021 Ukraine Box

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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

www.UniversalYums.com

The Forking Truth

Every now & then someone sticks it to you with “The I Already Ate Plate”

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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.

The Forking Truth

STUPENDOUSLY IMPRESSIVE – The Confit Wagyu Beef Cheek from Confluence in Carefree AZ

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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.

The Forking Truth

SMOKED Crispy Seafood Mushrooms is a FORKING GREAT Idea

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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 Forking Truth