Ajo Al’s is a Sonaron Style Group of American/Mexican Restaurants in Four locations in Metro Phoenix AZ. They serve up the usual Tacos, Combo Plates,Fajitas and more. As I walked in memories from long ago resurfaced. This restaurant looks identical to the Casa Lupita Chain that latter became a different but similar Mexican Style Restaurant.

The Dining Room is very large and airy. It’s painted with bright colors. There are many Mexican Style Artifacts to look at and there’s an incredible amount of benches and booths to sit on. In the corner of the room near the kitchen entrance is a neon sign that reads tortillas. I remember at Casa Lupita and Don Pablo (they took over some of the Casa Lupita Restaurants)  they used to have a worker make fresh tortillas all day in a similar looking corner. The sign still hangs but I don’t see fresh tortillas being made at Ajo Al’s.

What brought me in were two things. One – it was Restaurant Week and Two – They were offering an Award Winning Menu with the incredible Taco Festival’s 1st prize winning Potato Tacos.

Everything on the menu was prize winning.

I tried the 2016, 2017 First Prize Winning Vegetable Tacos from the 2017 Taco Festival. Those Potato Tacos at the Taco Festival sure were FORKING Delicious! I was hoping to try them again.

We ordered and they started us off with Chips, Two kinds of Salsa, and Drinks.

My husband tries a margarita and I try an Ajo Al’s Mule. The Mule is suppose to contain Tequila, Ginger Beer, Lime Juice and Poblano Chile Liqueur. Doesn’t that sound good?…..I go to taste it….I don’t know what it contains but it taste like Ginger ale mixed with seltzer and something sour….I don’t get a buzz….and I don’t care to Finish it either…….Oh well.

Any Who-

Then I taste the Chips and Salsas.

These chips are very thin also crisp and lack corn flavor and salt. The small container of sauce taste like chile powder mixed with water and lots of dry oregano. The larger bowl of salsa lacks fresh tasting ingredients like onions, garlic and fresh herbs. Chips and salsas taste like they should be avoided.

Then our shared appetizer comes out that also is suppose to be the 2017 1st prize winning guacamole with smoked salmon. (Sorry my photo didn’t come out clear so I added part of it from another photo).

They gave a very large portion of guacamole…..maybe about four portions with a little smoked salmon sprinkled on the top. The Salmon is good but his taste like a combination of fresh and frozen avocados mixed with something creamy…..there are no lumps of actual avocado or onion and I don’t taste any fresh herbs. Actually it could use some garlic and lime juice too. because it’s very flat or one note tasting. The smoked salmon does go well with the avocado dip but this guacamole lacks the delicious fresh flavors and textures that make a delicious guacamole.

Our Prize Winning Tacos, Rice, Beans and Calabacitas (squash with vegetables and cheese) arrive.

I try a Potato Taco. THE FORKING TRUTH is that this doesn’t taste anything like the Potato Taco I tried at the Taco Festival….. 🙁 ……….The Taco at the Taco Festival was all full of delicious flavors. This Taco at the Ajo Al’s Restaurant taste like Mashed Potatoes with LOTS of sour cream…..It’s not flavorful and delicious like the Potato Taco that drew me in.  I feel bamboozled….They did a bait and switch on me.  My husband made me try a piece of steak taco. I took a bite….YUCK! …..It was FORKING  WEIRD…….It Tasted like SOY SAUCE! ……..Nobody wants a Mexican Inspired Taco to taste like soy sauce……..do you?

Sadly the rice and beans were too salty for me. It tasted like some sort of boxed flavoring that was mostly salt and specifically iodized salt.

Lastly was dessert. Our waiter made a big deal out of the dessert. he said only managers are allowed to make the dessert because the ice cream they serve coast $88.00 a gallon. I have my doubts about Ajo Al’s serving $88.00 a gallon ice cream……Maybe he heard wrong and the ice cream cost $18.00 a gallon.

The taco is filled with a caramel sort of ice-cream with a chewy center and also deep chocolate ice cream in a crisp chocolate taco shell.The plate is garnished with stale cotton candy, a jelly rainbow, watery whipped topping and some gel and some jimmies. Looking back the dessert was the best thing I ever tried at Ajo Al’s.

Nothing was spectacular and mostly everything was Disappointing…….

That was my Trip to Ajo Al’s in Glendale AZ.

www.AjoAls.com

Every opinion is subjective.

The Forking Truth is that every FORKING THING EVERYWHERE is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

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******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS******Tacos Tequila Whiskey is an award winning group of a few Denver Based Restaurants with one location in Phoenix AZ. Just one of the several awards T. T. W. received was a Top 50 best new restaurants by Bon Appetit Magazine. T.T.W. serves mainly Tacos and small batch Tequilas and Whiskey Drinks. This is a casual small restaurant with wait service.

Tacos Tequila Whiskey looks sort of like a garage from the entrance and lacks a large sign.

They offer a dog friendly patio.

When you walk in it looks like you order at the counter but you seat yourself.

From my seat the patio looks like this.

We started out by sharing the Arugula and Watermelon salad. The kitchen was nice enough to split it for us.

I thought the salad was very good. The watermelon was fresh, sweet and almost crisp. The peppery arugula was flavorful. I thought the roasted pistachios made the salad pop. The creamy goat cheese and balsamic dressing just made the salad delicious and rounded everything out. It was a very nice salad.

Between us we tried 7 different tacos.

All the tacos we tried were street sized. They are the smaller tacos but most of them were served over stuffed. They were also served doubled shelled on corn tortillas.

At the last Tacolandia Festival in Phoenix I thought among the tastiest tacos of the festival was the mushroom taco from Tacos Tequila Whiskey. Today the best one I tried was the Beer Battered Fish Taco (in the photo above on the right hand side). It was very difficult to eat because it was like the tortilla was too small to wrap around the filling. It was like King Kong trying to squeeze into a Barbie Doll Dress…….It’s just not going to happen. Anyways…… the fish did taste mild, was flaky and the batter was flavorful. The fish taco was very tasty.

Maybe my least favorite I tried was the Pollo Agave (it’s the fried chicken taco to the left in the above picture). I liked the coating on the chicken and I also liked the chicken but this taco is just pure sweetness. The Chimichurri isn’t aggressive enough to cut the sweetness. The tortillas were also the worst on this taco.

The tortilla turned wet, sweet and seemed almost raw. I don’t think these tortillas were grilled enough.

My husband’s favorite taco was the Pork Belly Taco. He thought it had more flavors than the others he tried but he also thought the fish taco was tasty too.

Service was very friendly and various workers checked on us during our stay.

****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS******

www.TacosTequilaWhiskey.com

EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT FORKING differ.

The Forking Truth

Red’s Bar and Grill is located in Litchfield AZ  in the Golf Course of the Wigwam Resort. This is a very casual family friendly restaurant and bar that serves American Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. I thought it might be a pretty good choice for lunch because they were running a couple’s three course special for restaurant week for only $33.00. For $33.00 a couple shared an appetizer, got a sandwich platter and a dessert. That sounds like a great deal to me.

They have a BIG Parking LOT but it was already FULL….

We were able to park nearby on the street.

On the way in I noticed that Red’s Bar and Grill is officially dog friendly too!

We walk in and I see they are cleaning up a buffet.

We get to the hostess desk and one person is in front of us.

DANG……

This guy in-front of us says………….he has a group of EIGHTY people ……

How often does something like that happen?…….

The restaurant is not so full with people yet…….. but since 80 people are ahead of us they tell us we have to sit outside and it’s very hot today…..

I say that I’ll take a patio seat but only if I can get it in the shade. We get a seat in the shade and it’s ok.

It looks like this on the patio.

We order and while we wait we are entertained by a flying plastic bag. No wind at all today…have no idea how the bag is flying all around the golf course.

We start out by sharing the Greek Salad.

My greek Salad is made up of mostly sweet refreshing watermelon, a little red onion, cucumber and feta cheese and a few olives. It’s a just right starter for when you’re hungry on a hot day.

Next we get our Sandwich Platters.

I got the Fish Po Boy.

I got a tempura battered piece of fish that was shaped similar to a hot dog on top of a really BIG Hoagie bun with crunchy citrus slaw, tomatoes and a creamy remoulade. The ROLL is so big that it is impossible to eat this as a sandwich.  It’s way WAY WAYYYYYYYYyyyyyyyy TOO MUCH BREAD for me but I do have to say that it is unusually delicious bread. I should have asked about it. Did they bake it? Who made it for them?……..The Fries were also a very large generously sized portion, seemed hand cut with skins and were generously salted and stayed piping hot.

My husband had the Cobb Burger requested with the blue cheese on the side and no guacamole. His Cobb Burger had a Fried Egg, Smoked Bacon, Lettuce, Onion and Tomato.

I watched the egg yolk burst when my husband took a bite. The burger was dripping golden goodness.

However the Burger was prepared to a perfect MEDIUM so my husband didn’t get his medium rare he was hoping for.  It seems that Medium Rare Burgers happen as often as Snowy days in Phoenix. Medium Rare Burgers just don’t happen and neither does Phoenix have snowy days. I was told the pickle was very good but the burger was sort of dry.

After the sandwich plates we were presented with Two Great Big Ice Cream Sandwiches.

Now both of these ice cream sandwiches were really good and were made with fresh hand made detailed cookies.  The Ice Cream Sandwich on the left was made with Peanut Butter Drizzled Chip Cookies. The center was Milk Chocolate Ice Cream and around the sides was some peanut butter and some fudge. The Sandwich on the right had Chocolate Chocolate Chip White Drizzled Cookies and was filled with milk chocolate ice cream.

A sweet ending to our Visit to Red’s Bar and Grill.

www.WigwamArizona.com

The Forking Truth is that EVERY THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Arriving at Omni Montelucia in Scottsdale AZ

Prado is a high end Spanish Style Restaurant located in the Omni Resort in the Paradise Valley Part of Scottsdale. The Atmosphere is rich and majestic.

Not all but many of Phoenix’s most prestigious Chefs have worked at Prado at one time.

Many of the dishes that Prado serves are prepared in the wood fired oven that you can see at the end of the dining room. When you walk in it ……you don’t know what it is but there is some sort of delicious aroma in the air that possibly comes from the wood burning oven.

We get seated and made our order.

They start us off with Prado’s signature Sourdough Bread and Arugula Pesto.

The bread is INCREDIBLY crusty, not too sour but with a tender center and rich tasting. The pesto is delicious but more like a spread than a pesto.

We share the Roasted Beet Salad and the Baked Triple Cream Brie.

The Beets were soft, fresh and delicious. The Quality strong tasting Valdeon Creamy Cheese sure left an impression (how could it not?) and played well against the Wild Amarena Cherries. All the flavors went together very well. I thought I thought the salad could have used a few more more candied pecans. I think I only got a total of one. Maybe there were more on the half I didn’t eat?…But still it was really great as far as Beet Salads go.

The Baked Triple Cream Brie was baked in the Prado Sourdough Bread and was served with Meyer Lemon Jam. The Taste was AMAZING but this is super heavy bread. It’s too darn delicious not to eat but I lost a lot of stomach room after trying only two small slices of Prado Sourdough Bread with Arugula Pesto. I wish I had a steak knife so I could slice my slices thinner.

For dinner I tried the Wood Grilled Half Chicken with Harisa Potato Puree, asparagus and Chermoula.

WOW as far as Chicken goes this was FORKING STUNNING! Mostly deboned Breast and Dark Meat all juicy with thin crisp skin and MIGHTY FLAVORFUL. I didn’t see the Chermoula but those were the delicious flavors in the chicken. Something like paprika, garlic, lemon, coriander, cumin…like those kind of flavors. Just delicious. The Asparagus was substantial, tender crisp and delicious too. The Harisa Potato Puree didn’t scream Harisa to me…as if it did the flavors would be too strong and compete with the Chicken…….The Potatoes were more mild than they look  but were still rich, tasty and delicious.

My husband had the Paella Valenciana. It was a combination of Shrimp, Mussels, Roasted Chicken, Spanish Chorizo, Salmon, Peas and Bomba Rice.

All the proteins were seasoned well and prepared to perfection. This Paella lacked the bottom crust one might expect but all the flavors were delicious.

For dessert we shared the Wild Berry Crumble and the Chocolate Mousse Bomba.

The Wild Berry Crumble was much lighter and fruitier than we both imagined. It’s doesn’t look it but the dessert was mostly strawberries. The bottom was an unusual almost granola tasting light cake filled with strawberries. The dessert was topped with a very creamy vanilla flecked custard. It was very good. The Chocolate Bomba was SO RICH an SOOOOOoooooo Chocolate-tee. It was filled with very rich thick very chocolate-tee mousse with a rich caramel mousse filling. Both desserts were a sweet ending to an incredible dinner.

Prado is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.OmniHotels.com

Everything is always subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth