Monthly Archives: January 2015

Zahav Restaurant in Philadelphia PA is Absolutely Worth a Fork !

Zahav Restaurant Philadelphia PA

Zahav Restaurant Philadelphia PA

Zahav in Philadelphia PA is a multi award winning restaurant and has a James Beard award winning Chef/Owner. I saw Zahav featured on the Travel Channel with Anthony Bourdain and decided that one day I’d try this restaurant.

Zahav is a modern Israeli Restaurant that offers authentic Middle Eastern Cuisine.  The flatbreads called laffa are baked in an authentic wood burning oven called an Arabic Taboon. The skewered meats and fish are cooked on live coals.

The atmosphere is seductive with lanterns and the walls look like sandstone. The focal point is the energetic exhibition kitchen where you can view the action threw textured and stained glass.

The ever changing vegetable heavy menu is mostly made of small plates that are meant to be shared. However enough meat items are on the menu to please meat eaters alike.

Israeli Wines and a very interesting  and unique cocktail menu are offered. I tried a cocktail called the Harif, it was made with some sort of hot pepper liquor and other ingredients. I liked that it wasn’t too sweet and the heat and liquor volume was enjoyable.

We started with what they call salatim, a variety of cold vegetable salads, hummus and fresh from the wood oven hot laffa bread. Every salad was very detailed and layered with flavors and every salad was delicious. It’s too hard to pick a favorite because they all were so special. The fresh baked laffa bread was also delicious and I never had hummus like that before. It was so light but creamy and more delicious than any other I ever tried before. I never knew hummus could be like that. My husband isn’t a big fan of this kind of cuisine but even he was amazed by how delicious everything was and even he who dislikes hummus thought this one was very good and kept eating it too.

Then we got 4 warm plates to share. Each one of them was like nothing else I ever had before. Again very layered with flavors and also very detailed all all delicious. We had roasted brussels sprouts with brussels sprouts tehna, Bulgarian Feta, and pickled lemon. My husband kept eating them and kept saying over and over how really great they were.

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Fried cauliflower was served over a chive labaneh, with dill, mint and garlic.

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Crispy haloumi was over cooked dates and topped with pickled onions, walnuts and a turkish pepper called urfa thats sort of raisin like with a slight building heat.

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Yemenite Beef Stew was melt in your mouth tender beef that came with a potato.

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And house smoked sable with house made challah bread, soft egg and fresh herbs.

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If you are counting that is five plates. I don’t know if it’s typical or not but they gave us the delicious brussels sprouts as an extra dish. We kept waiting for one dish to be disappointing or not so great or just ok but that never happened. Everything far exceeded our expectations.

Next was our main plates and yes I was full by now. I had the branzino. It came with cerlery root,  apples and tzatziki. I never had fish cooked better anywhere and I’ve been to many of the best places and I almost always order fish. This fish was absolutely perfect and delicious. I never eat the skin but here it was crisp and delicious. Everything on the plate complimented everything together.

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My husband picked something duck. I don’t recall what it was called. He thought of the dish as duck meatballs. I KNOW it wasn’t called duck meatballs but he said he didn’t know duck meatballs could ever be that delicious. He they were the most delicious duck meatballs he ever had and was glad he picked them to eat.

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The desserts we tried were prepared just as well as everything else we tried. I never had a baboosa before so I ordered the pumpkin baboosa served with mascarpone, cranberries and walnuts. It wasn’t too sweet and had a nice light texture to it. I liked the almost tart fresh cranberries they the perfect accent and went really well cutting threw the rich cream and that crumble was just so tasty.

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Our other dessert was the Honey cake bread pudding with green apple frozen yogurt, apple compote, and golden raisins. When you got a spoonful of everything at once it was very refreshing with interesting textures and flavors.

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Service was very informative, friendly, and efficient. We were checked on often. Our plates and silverware were cleared and changed as needed. Crumbs were removed and we were personally thanked by the manager for coming in.

This restaurant is located in Old Town Philadelphia PA in the Society Hill Section. With limited street parking available you most likely will need to valet park at the Ritz Garage or the Sheraton   Garage. You also need to be able to walk over the old cobblestone street and walk up a few stairs to dine at Zahav.

This was one of the best Forking Meals I had anywhere!

ABSOLUTELY  WORTH A FORK!

ABSOLUTELY WORTH A FORK!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

I was just Forking eating threw New Jersey and Pennsylvania

Grilly Cheese Glassboro NJ

Grilly Cheese Glassboro NJ

We were forking tired after a day of traveling with connected flights with delays.

Grilly Cheese Glassboro NJ

Grilly Cheese Glassboro NJ

This casual Grilled Cheese Restaurant called Grilly Cheese seemed comforting  and just right for a casual dinner.

They also offer hot dogs and a few other things but we decided to go with grilled cheese sandwiches.

I ordered a Rueben Steiner. It was described as a sauerkraut and Swiss Cheese grilled sandwich topped with dressing and corned beef. To me it sounded like a knife and fork sandwich but it was just a regular rueben with a not so forking cheesey inside.

Grilly Cheese Glassboro NJ

Grilly Cheese Glassboro NJ

I opened the sandwich and ate the corned beef. It was tasty and seemed better than most forking corned beef I can find in Arizona. The bread from my sandwich was grilled nicely but it wasn’t cheesey like a melty grilled cheese sandwich. My sandwich came with a cup of tomato soup. The  soup was very thin but was made with a touch of cream and had a lot of fresh basil in it.

Had some less than Good Food from the Courtyard Marriott Rowan-Glassboro in New Jersey.

Courtyard Marriott Rowan-Glassboro New Jersey

Courtyard Marriott Rowan-Glassboro New Jersey

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Plain pizza that was almost raw on the bottom and forking burnt on the top and

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forking burnt toast with one breakfast and missing fruit with the muffin sandwich. The next day we ate at Angelo’s Diner in Glassboro NJ.

Angelo's Diner Glassboro NJ

Angelo’s Diner Glassboro NJ

It was very vintage and actually was a very Bare Bones kind of place with a very limited basic menu.

Angelo's Diner Glassboro NJ

Angelo’s Diner Glassboro NJ

This is a very small diner and you almost forking rub elbows with other people while you dine here. I ordered a spinach and cheese omelette.

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The omelette had a batter taste to it like they might have added a little forking pancake batter to it. Inside was spinach that seemed like prepared from frozen and a better quality American Cheese than what I can buy in Arizona. The home fries had a crunchy exterior and were fluffy inside. The seedless rye bread had a deep rye flavor. Service and the food were forking speedy and quick!

I had the pleasure of Dining with my Sister

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and her beautiful Family.

The Girls

The Girls

The Boys

The Boys

At one of their favorite restaurants, Cotardo’s Ristorante n Clemintine NJ.

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I think my sister’s family loves this place because of the forking garlic bread they raved about. It’s crispy but fluffy and kissed with forking pizza kind of seasoning and taste good dipped in the soup.

Garlic Bread with House Made Vegetable Orzo Soup

Garlic Bread with House Made Vegetable Orzo Soup

Our table mostly had luncheon parmesan platters of chicken, veal, and eggplant. They were of generous size and came with nicely prepared pasta and a choice of use house made vegetable orzo soup or fresh green salad. Most of us shared a few desserts since Mrs. Cotardo made them herself. Most of us mentioned that the desserts were very good. I thought the Tartufo was delicious.

Cotardo's Tartufo

Cotardo’s Tartufo

Most of the city and surrounding areas were preparing to shut down because of a forking massive snow storm they were expecting. (that didn’t FORKING happen) So we got the fork of there and stayed close to the airport.

So our next few meals were at the Grill at the Reserve located in the Embassy Suites Hotel at the Philadelphia Airport.

With a forking two star average on Yelp I was expecting the worst but honestly it was forking OK and not great but OK food. I wasn’t forking stupid enough to order a forking $40.00 meal here so

The Grille at the Reserve Embassy Suites Philadelphia Airport Steak Salad

The Grille at the Reserve Embassy Suites Philadelphia Airport Steak Salad

for dinner I figured I’d try the steak salad. The steak was seasoned and cooked to medium. The salad seemed fresh made. The eggs, cheese, tomatoes and croutons weren’t the best but the salad was an overall ok to me since it seemed fresh and the meat was tasty.

I was able to have one great meal out and it came from the James Beard winning Chef Solomonov his multi awarding winning restaurant called Zahav.

Zahav Restaurant Philadelphia PA

Zahav Restaurant Philadelphia PA This was just the starter before 8 more plates to come

There is too much to say about the Israeli Restaurant called Zahav that translates to mean gold in Hebrew. The menu is made of up mostly small vegetable plates that are amazing and very detailed. Meats are on the menu and are cooked on live coals and the ones we tried were really forking outstanding. My Branzino I had was prepared as well or better than from the finest forking fish house out there can make it. The Cuisine at Zahav is Middle Eastern with a Modern Farm Fresh Approach. Even my husband who isn’t found of this kind of cuisine thought everything he tried was better than forking very good and was indeed exceptional forking cuisine.

That was the majority of what I forking ate from New Jersey threw Pennsylvania.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

 

 

 

Lasagna is Forking Easy to Make

 Pomodoro Pizza Lasagna

Pomodoro Pizza Lasagna

Lasagna is forking easy to make. It’s so easy you don’t even need a recipe.

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I start by making the ricotta cheese.

It’s just a combination of milk, cream, fresh squeezed lemon juice(from one lemon) and a pinch of salt. This batch was actually made with a nonfat dry milk (enough to make a quart) and a pint of whipping cream (less fat than heavy cream) and it still forking came out. It was much better tasting than most ricotta cheese I can buy from most Arizona Supermarkets but comes out velvety smooth when cream, whole milk and heavy cream are used. Bring the milk, cream and salt it a slow boil for a few minutes and slowly add the lemon juice to make it curdle.

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Now drain with paper towel lined colander.

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I season the cheese with a small amount of fresh ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, a pinch of ground white pepper, a pinch of oregano, small amount of fresh ground nutmeg, about a cup of grated parmesan cheese and one beaten egg and mix to combine.

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Either make fresh pasta sheets (about 1  cup semolina, 1  cup all purpose flour, one egg and salt)

or Boil lasagna noodles

Or use no boil noodles

Or Forking PURCHASE already made Pasta Sheets.

Use your own home made pasta sauce or your favorite jarred sauce.

Coat your lasagna pan with oil.

Start the laying process with sauce in the pan.

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Know lay down some pasta sheets and top them with some sauce.

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Add about a third of your ricotta mixture and just a little sauce.

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Cover with more pasta sheets going in the other direction.

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Top with more sauce and make a different layer.

I cooked up and seasoned up fresh sprigarella but you can use anything like spinach, broccoli, mushrooms or sausage and mix that up with maybe less than a third of your ricotta mixture and top with a delicious blend of mozzarella, provolone and sharp provolone. (my signature blend of cheese is 1 1/2 lb. mozzarella, 1 lb. provolone, 8oz. sharp provolone) That much cheese usually makes two pizzas and one lasagna. leftover shredded cheese stores well in the freezer.)

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Season the cheese with fresh ground sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, oregano and basil and then top with pasta sheets and more sauce, and the rest of your ricotta mixture.

Top the top with sauce and more shredded cheese blend, fresh ground pepper, fresh ground sea salt, oregano, basil  and more sauce, a light drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and cover with aluminum foil that has been oiled lightly. (oiled side goes down and faces lasagna) bake at 350 degrees for an hour. Let cool over night cut, serve and reheat the next day.

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Lasagna is Forking easy to make!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Latest WEIRD Foods I saw at the Markets

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There’s a never ending supply of forking weird foods out there! I actually decided to try these crispy crunchy broccoli florets. They seemed a little oily and salty but they still were crisp. They sort of tasted like broccoli but were seasoned sort of weird.

I don’t know who the fork would ever buy a Hot Sauce called Gringo Bandido? This one is just a WTFork.

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Some people will make the “TRIP” to the store for Grateful Red Sauce. I wonder if it comes in “Shroom Flavored”?

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I noticed many forking flavors of cream cheese are out there.

Bacon is like Jesus…..It’s everywhere even in forking cream cheese.

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I guess you don’t dip White Chocolate Pringles in forking sour cream.

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Maybe the forking weirdest food I’ve seen recently was roasted and salted cucumber chips.

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I was excepting a nice refreshing cucumber flavor. The chips are light textured, crisp and airy but forking flavorless. I don’t know why the fork I thought these would be good. Lots of forking weird foods are out there. I don’t know WTFork I’ll see next.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

Donuts seem to be on the Forking RISE in the Metro Phoenix Area

Glazed Donut from Bosa Donuts Phoenix AZ

Glazed Donut from Bosa Donuts Phoenix AZ

There’s a forking HOLE World of Donuts in the Metro Phoenix Area. All kinds of Donut Shops seem to be to be suddenly rising up everywhere all over the Metro Phoenix Area. Springing up in a similar way that the YOGURT Shops did only a few years back.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Donut Rollover Donuts Phoenix AZ

Peanut Butter and Jelly Donut Rollover Donuts Phoenix AZ

Donuts might be baked or fried and might have a hole or be filled. They are usually iced and are often sweet. Donuts are eaten in almost every culture out there and there’s a lot of love for Donuts in the Metro Phoenix area.

When I did a search for Donuts I found a listing of 651 locations of donuts listed for the metro Phoenix area.

Beyond Donuts and Cafe Glendale AZ

Beyond Donuts and Cafe Glendale AZ

Besides the bigger chains donut shops  like Dunkin’ and Krispy Cream, only JUST a few of the other Donut Shops we have are –  Bosa Donuts, Rainbow Donuts, Lamar’s Donuts, Desert Donuts, Arizona Donuts, Lil Orbit Donuts, Good Donuts, Beyond Donuts & Cafe.

Some off the hook gourmet kind of Donut Places we have areWelcome Donuts and Rollover Donuts that feature forking uncommon flavors of Donuts. These are “Not your Grandmothers Kind of Donuts” These days you might be eating forking Donuts that are SPICY, Bacon, Thai Flavored, Spiced Pear with Balsamic Drizzle, Rose Water Meringue, Apple Fritter with forking Pork Rinds and Amaretto with Cherry Glaze and Spicy Thai Coconut Curry Donuts.

I heard about the Donut Shop called Fractured Prune. It’s some sort of interactive forking Donut Shop where they make Donuts Fresh to Order from a menu you pick from.

Orange Pistachio  Rollover Donuts Phoenix AZ

Orange Pistachio Rollover Donuts Phoenix AZ

These Donut Shop donuts are priced higher than your regular pedestrian supermarket donuts.

Supermarket donuts are usually 2 for a dollar.

Donut Shop Donuts run about $1 up to about $3.00 each.

Donut Shops seem to forking be on the Rise in Metro Phoenix AZ

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

WTFork is Gastrique and Grapefruit Saffron Gastrique Recipe

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Gastrique is basically a sweet and sour sauce that’s usually made with fruit. Gastrique is sometimes added to other sauces to give the tart element. Gastrique often is also used as a visual effect on a plate.

Recipe

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Fresh Squeezed juice from 1 red grapefruit

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1 c. sugar

1 c. white vinegar

2 Tablespoons butter

pinch saffron

pinch kosher salt

Directions

Melt butter in fry pan on medium heat and then add sugar and let it melt till it just starts to get color. You don’t want it to bubble too much so you might need to turn heat down a little.

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Then add vinegar, stir and then add grapefruit juice and sir and lately add the saffron and salt.

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Reduce the sauce slightly on medium low heat.

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Grapefruit Saffron Gastrique

Forking Good!

Forking Good!

 

 

WTFork is Kaniwa

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Kaniwa (Kah-nyee-wah) is grain- like but is actually a seed that’s smaller than quinoa.  It’s a little easier to cook than quinoa because you don’t need to rinse it before cooking. To prepare Kaniwa you need two parts water to one part kana and a little salt. Bring to boil and then simmer covered for about 15 minutes and your done.

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It’s kind of earthy and a little crunchier than quinoa. It has the texture of wet coffee grinds.

To eat it you need to add a lot of texture to it.

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I made a salad out of it.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

The Forking Truth that Fish Bladder Might be in Your Beer and Wine

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Isinglass is the forking name for fish bladder that has been dried and turned into a powder.

That powder is used to filter out particles in some forking beers…

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And some forking wines.

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Therefor this process leaves these beers and wines forking unsuitable for vegetarians.

The Huffington Post reported that Fish Bladders are used in the production process for Guinness.

It’s the Forking Truth that FISH BLADDER Might be in your wine or beer!

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

First Forking Awful Meal of the Year

One would never FORKING guess that you can get awful food with not so great service at one of the finest  resorts in Phoenix. We entered a winding road of lush greens and beautiful manicured gardens and past by the valet and then garage parked ourselves. When I entered the restaurant I was taken with how airy the restaurant was and it had this groovy kind of masculine vintage look that I liked. I sort of ignored the crumbs I saw on the floor and I noticed bowls of tortilla chips sitting out on the open kitchen line just out in the open thinking that was forking odd. Don’t they get dusty and stale sitting out?    WTFork!

I usually order something like a salad for lunch but the house made corned beef seemed much more interesting to me so I went with that.

Frank & Alberts at the Biltmore Phoenix AZ House Made Corned Beef

Frank & Alberts at the Biltmore Phoenix AZ House Made Corned Beef around $16.00

The sandwich looked OK. I kind of thought it might come with a forking pickle but it didn’t. I took a bite and it was very lacking in flavor with a mushy texture. The bread was old people rye, the kind without seeds that almost taste like rye (whatever). I took a piece of meat out to taste and found that it was mostly just FORKING Fat.

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Then I sawed off the fat part and tasted the meat by it’s self. It was oddly almost flavorless with a slimey texture. I give a piece to my husband to try and he says the same forking thing I just said. Then I go eat some fries and found they are cold. I was going to add pepper to the forking cold fries but the salt and pepper shakers were filthy. I was hoping our waitress would stop by so I could tell her how my forking sandwich was…..

My husband got the pork belly BLT.

F&A BLT from Frank & Alberts at the Biltmore Phoenix AZ

F&A BLT from Frank & Alberts at the Biltmore Phoenix AZ

I thought the Pork Belly BLT looked OK and I asked my husband how it was. Then he started pulling out the tomatoes.

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He said the tomatoes seemed about three days old and the roll was hard and the pork belly was very dry. He did say the bacon was OK. Wow one would think in a nice place like this someone could actually cut a tomato fresh to order? And how can you make pork belly dry?

This is Forked Up!

This is Forked Up!

We were never asked how our forking meals were. Even when the waitress stopped by to drop off the bill, she just dropped off the bill. At that point I had to tell her I had a Scottsdale preferred Card and then she had to remove one meal from our bill.

I know I should have said something to the manager but I just was so bummed out I didn’t feel like making the effort. Besides I got one meal off the bill and didn’t want anything more from this place.

I didn’t know how dry the forking pork belly was till I got home. My husband bagged some up for the dogs. Honest it was the driest meat I ever felt. It was so dry that if you were boarding an airplane they might take it away from you because it was hard and sharp and you could forking cut someone with it.

Not Worth a Fork

Not Worth a Fork

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All the Presidents have forking been here except President Obama (as of 1-18-14) Say what you want about him but I think he heard about the forking corned beef and pork belly from here and that’s why he might have skipped this place on his recent visit.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth

 

 

 

The Forking Truth about Potato Salad & other Mayo based Salad Spoilage

Potato Salad

Potato Salad

According to Snopes.com commercially -made mayonnaise is completely safe as it doesn’t really even need refrigeration. The PH in mayo is set at a point were bacteria can not forking survive.

The Forking Truth is that the first question asked to victims of food poisoning is… when did they last eat onions.

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Onions are a magnet to forking bacteria especially RAW ones. Even raw wrapped onions kept in a refrigerator are already contaminated just from being cut.

Both onions and potatoes from potato salad will attract bacteria faster than any commercial mayonnaise will break down.

And that was the Forking Truth about Potato Salad and other Mayo Based Salad Spoilage.

Forking Truth

Forking Truth