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Take Out In Metro Phoenix During The CoronaVirus Pandemic – Week 13 – Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante, Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Fabio On Fire, Skewers Mediterranean Grill, Collins Small Batch Kitchen

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Leaving your house can be deadly. Nothing is for certain and you can never be careful enough. Take out is a safer option than dining in. Our first take out of the week was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale (#UpperWestSide). We shared two of the seasonal specials – Chicken Piccata and Pappardelle al Funghi.

Both dishes were delicious and intense with flavors. Our fur friends were also very excited to try the dishes too!

Next stop was Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a pho-free Vietnamese restaurant and offer around a dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches and most of your favorite Vietnamese dishes except for pho.

My husband got the pork rice plate and I got the curry chicken with rice.

Portions are around double for some people but we had our usual help with that.

Next we did curbside take out from Fabio On Fire in Peoria #UpperWestSide. They have a 100% no contact service. They communicate by text, pay on line and they sanitize a table for your take out. I had the halibut Mediterranea special. My husband had the meatballs and the orecchiette.

The halibut was prepared to perfection and everything was delicious!

I had some help with the large portion of halibut.

Then we did Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead #UpperWestSide. They serve very nice salads that are fast food priced (around $7.50@) I also like trying their side salads (most are around $3.00@)

Pups enjoyed the chicken and gyro meat from Skewers.

Last take out of the week was curbside take out from Collins Small Batch Kitchen in Phoenix.

We had the wood fired Scottish salmon with herb butter, sweet blistered tomatoes and cauliflower, the braised beef short ribs with risotto and Brussels sprouts and for dessert a Ghirardelli mousse pie. All was delicious and this traveled well. Our pups were very enthusiastic about helping out with the food.

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

This week we did take out from –

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – North Phoenix

Fabio On Fire – North Peoria

Skewers Mediterranean Grill – North Glendale

Collins Small Batch Kitchen – Phoenix

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

Take Out in metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 12 – Desert Island Eatery, Taco Fusion, Fe La Cubana Cafeteria

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These are the worst of times and all restaurants are struggling. Many restaurants have permanently closed from lack of business due to the pandemic. If you want your local or favorite restaurants to stay in business then you should support restaurants as much as you can. Your money is their life source. Many restaurants in metro Phoenix have reopened for limited dine in service and you can dine in but there is risk. We still are in a serious health emergency and I don’t feel ready to risk dining in so I am doing mostly take out but I do consider patio dining. Some scientist believe that you are less likely to catch the virus outside so patio dining can be an option if the weather is nice.

Our first take out this week was from a Caribbean Restaurant that also serves Vegan Caribbean options in North Phoenix called Desert Island Eatery.

Since my last visit they added outside tables.

I always get the combo plate of curry chicken with jerk chicken, rice and peas with cabbage. Tonight my husband got the same and a side order of jerk shrimp.

Everything is delicious and flavorful. Portions are very large and I have extra for another meal even with sharing with my fur buddies.

Our next take out was from Taco Fusion in Glendale.

Since my last visit there I noticed that they added two outside tables and installed some sort of take out window in the glass wall. (left side of photo)

We ordered a variety of tacos and a quesadilla and their new vegetarian black beans. They also added two different rice dishes to their menu and will be adding breakfast dishes soon.

Gosh everything is amazing! The sauces also are very good! Today they offered red, green, black and pineapple salsas. I usually don’t enjoy carne asada tacos anywhere but the carne asada is tender and has a delicious mesquite taste. The Pineapple salsa with pico is really great on the mild chicken habanero tacos. The tortillas are also hand made and are better than from most places. I like the corn on most tacos but I think flour goes better on the asada. Everything here is really great and all this food was only around $26. We had our usual help with all this food.

Last take out this week was from Fe La Cubana Cafeteria in Glendale.

This is a TINY Cuban restaurant. They have food prepared in a steam table and they serve you a platter in a styrofoam container. They make the most amazing Ropa Vieja on earth in this little hole in the wall kind of place.

They put together your platter from the steam table.

We got-

BIG GIANT platters of tender chicken with yucca and black rice. My husband got the Ropa Vieja with black rice, pork chickpea soup and an oxtail. The Ropa Vieja is incredible….You might consider driving across town for that dish but everything is good.

Our pups were waiting for theirs.

Don’t worry we are in this thing together.

This week we did take out from –

Desert Island Eatery – North Phoenix

Taco Fusion – Glendale

Fe La Cubana Cafeteria – Glendale

We also dined out on a patio at Cucina Tagliani. I’ll tell you about that tomorrow!

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

Make your Deviled Eggs Rosy

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I discovered that it looks prettier to make deviled eggs into roses. It’s not very hard to do but might require a bit of practicing. The eggs come out delicious but you need a smooth filling or the rose tip will clog. Make any smooth recipe for deviled eggs. I usually just do a basic deviled eggs with Amora brand dijon and dust them with French red pepper. I suggest to season the egg white slightly too with a little bit of crushed sea salt and whatever pepper or paprika you like. Below is a cream cheese rose but the method is the same for just about any kind of rose you want to make.

First you need a rose tip.

Both tips are for roses but I used the bigger #104 Wilton Brand Tip

Then you insert tip (with out without a coupler) and fold down pastry bag and stuff.

Twist bag and push down filling to hold in filling and twist again. The shorter end of tip is away from you when you decorate.

Then you make a little mountain or Hershey Kiss size drop on a rose nail.

needed to use apple so I’d have a hand food my cell phone.

Then you squeeze out a little filling around the pointy tip and move the rose nail while you are squirting the little mountain.

Slightly below the tip make around three petals around the tip…

Then make at least five petals around the three but slightly lower.

Then a little lower make around seven petals. Scoop the flower off with a small spatula or butter knife.

That’s how you make a rose. Happy Decorating!

Deviled Eggs
The Forking Truth

Take Out During the CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 11- Chula Seafood, Kabob Grill N Go, Twist Bistro & Gallery, Angelina’s Pho & Grill (Lemongrass Vietnamese Bistro)

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All restaurants are struggling to stay in business. Several restaurants have already permanently closed from lack oof business due to the pandemic. Many restaurants have opened their dining rooms with limited seating. Nothing is for certain but take out seems like a safer option with less risk.

Our first take out this week was from Chula Seafood in Phoenix.

I enjoyed the Chula Chopped Salad with added Salmon and my husband got the Tuna Melt with Spam Macaroni Salad and chips. My fur buddies were booth highly interested in the foods but my bigger fur buddy is well behaved and waits till she is served.

Next take out was from newly opened Kabob Grill n Go in Phoenix.

This is a postage sized kabob take out restaurant with around three small tables. Prices are low. Portions are big.

We tried on the left is a chicken tenders kabob. In the middle is the beef (steak) kabob and on the right is the whole Cornish chicken kabob. My dogs were waiting for theirs.

Next take out was from Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale. We got the amazing take out special of one appetizer, two dinners and one dessert for $55.00.

We shared muffins with honey butter and then southern fried chicken breaded shawarma kabobs with minted cucumbers, marinated olive and jalapeño preserved lemon basil syrup. For my dinner was that AMAZING loch dart salmon with tomato salad, asparagus, black rice and basil pistou. My husband had the shrimp and sausage diablo. It came with spicy Italian sausage, shrimp, asparagus, olives, tomato confit and three cheese polenta. WOW! all this was really great and then we enjoyed mascarpone cheese cake with pistachio praline, salted caramel, whipped cream and strawberries. Gosh Twist Bistro and Gallery really knocked it out of the park again! I have some fur buddies that are also excited about the food here.

“Twist Bistro was a GREAT choice”
“I can’t wait for mine”

Last take out of the week was from Angelina’s Pho & Grill that is possibly changing their name to Lemongrass Vietnamese Bistro.

current menu

Angelina’s is officially one of the best places in metro Phoenix for pho. I’ve been here bunches of times and often do get one of their amazing pho bowls but felt like having something different today.

The dining room had customers when I arrived and I noticed the fresh new paint job.

We did take out and got the yellow chicken curry and the mixed three rice plate.

Both plates were delicious and also were very large portions but we had help with that.

“We are in this thing together”

That was week 11 of take out in metro Phoenix. This week we did take out from-

Chula Seafood – PHX

Kabob Grill N Go – PHX

Twist Bistro & Gallery – North Scottsdale

Angelina’s Pho & Grill (Lemongrass Vietnamese Bistro) – Glendale/UpperWestSide

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out During the CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 10 – Twisted Italian, Pane Bianco Van Buren, Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante

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These are the worst of times and all restaurants are struggling. Some have already closed permanently due to the lack oof business from the coronavirus pandemic. We are trying to support as many restaurants as we can. Not all but many restaurants have opened for indoor dining but we feel safer doing take out but will consider sitting on a patio because it is far less likely to catch the virus outside in the open air.

Our first take out this week came from Twisted Italian in north Peoria.

I went with the Friday Dinner Special and they gave me a WHOLE BUFFET PAN OF FOOD. I got pan fried walleye in citrus cream sauce. It came with vegetables and a whole dinners worth of angel hair pasta (this was only $17.50) My husband had the Italian Relleno. It was a poblano pepper stuffed with house made Italian sausage, provolone cheese, mozzarella cheese, peppers onions basil. It was in a creamy tomato sauce and came with three fried raviolis. As per usual our fur buddies didn’t mind a bit helping us eat all that food.

Next take out was from Pane Bianco Van Buren.

I got the line caught tuna salad and my husband got a sandwich called the Italian Combo. We also took home a side of olives. The tuna salad is very good and comes with a large piece of that famous crusty Bianco bread. My husband just loves his sandwich. My dogs anxiously wait for some meat and cheese.

Our last take out for the week was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead. They offer a new variety of Pizza called Pina Romana so I wanted to try it.

We tried a Margherita (cheese, sauce, fresh basil) and a Patata E Cipolla (mozzarella, provola, multi color potatoes and red onion.

It’s completely a different dough and crust from regular pizza. It doesn’t sit heavy in your stomach like regular pizza.

It’s thin and airy but shattering crisp and the bottom is covered with either corn meal or semolina. It has heavier toppings than a regular pizza would have. I saved some of the cheese from the margherita for my dogs.

I think a reduced balsamic drizzle goes really well with the potato pinsa Romano.

This week we did take out from –

Twisted Italian – North Peoria (#UpperWestSide)

Pane Bianco Van Buren – PHX

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale/Arrowhead (#UpperWestSide)

We also did our first Patio Dining during the pandemic at Confluence in Carefree. The Patio stayed mostly empty the majority of the time we were there and the food was truly amazing.

I’ll tell you about it tomorrow.

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