Monthly Archives: April 2019

Cafe Chenar in Phoenix AZ – Bukharian Cuisine – Greatest Cabbage Roll Ever – Worth a Fork!***UPDATE NOW CLOSED for business

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***UPDATE NOW CLOSED for business******Cafe Chenar is a small casual restaurant in North Phoenix that serves Bukharian (also spelled Bukharean) Cuisine. You might be wondering WTFork is Bukharian Cusine. To sum things up as simple as possible Bukharian Cuisine is a kosher offshoot of pan-central Asian Cooking with influences from Russian, Muslim, Uzbek and Korean Cooking. Cafe Chenar serves grilled kababs, meat pies, potato pies, assorted dumplings, soups, salads, vegetable plates and more! On my most recent visit they also offer specials of the day!

This restaurant has been featured a few times in our local paper the Arizona Republic and has been named a top 10 best new restaurant of the year for metro Phoenix. Cafe Chenar has also been featured in the Phoenix New Times and Phoenix Magazine.

Take a peek!

Inside is small but clean and neat.

The walls are textured tiles that are more colorful than my photo shows. My photos don’t catch the rhinestone embellished light fixtures either.

Bright light comes threw from the window front. Since I took this photo they’ve added two outdoor tables.

This is an alcohol free restaurant. The beverages are coke products, Snapple and hot tea. Today I tried the hot tea.

The Hot Tea set up is quite pretty isn’t it!

Today we shared three plates that I haven’t tried before.

We shared Hanum.

It’s a very large steamed pasta roll that is stuffed with potatoes and onions and is also topped with chunky fresh tasting tomato sauce. In the center of the roll is a almost salsa-like condiment. It’s tasty and different. It’s seasoned nicely.

Next was Chuchuara.

My husband really loves this one….It’s pan fried beef stuffed pelmeni with onions. My husband calls this plate beef tortellini after I got full my husband goes to finish off the “tortellini.” (wink!)

Went for one of the chalk board specials and tried the stuffed cabbage rolls.


These are the most tender light cabbage rolls that I have ever tried……The cabbage just melts in the mouth….The beef is very light and extra tender similar to being cooked in a sous vide water oven. it’s mixed with rice and some potato. These are so light and easy to inhale. DANG these cabbage rolls almost dissolve in your mouth like cotton candy. The seasoning is absolutely perfect. These are the best cabbage rolls that I have ever had…..

Just like my past visits we had yummy extras to bring home.

Summing up past plates I’ve tried.

Piroshki and Belyash – potato and beef pastries

Very Gingery Kimchi

Chicken, Lulya (seasoned ground beef) Kababs (we also tried sea bass)

Fatir Bread – Onion Bread (GIANT PORTION very delicious)

Markov – Russian/Korean Carrot Salad

Pelmeni Soup – Beef Dumpling Vegetable Soup

Crusty Lepyoshka Bread

Plov – Russian Beef and Chicken Vegetable Rice Stew

Every dish we tried was fresh tasting, delicious, perfectly seasoned and well prepared. Service on all visits was helpful and efficient.

I have to say Cafe Chenar is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

You might want to give Cafe Chenar a try but you need to check hours as they differ from most other restaurants. it’s best to call first because they might be closed for a holiday that you don’t know of. 602-354-4505

I haven’t found a website for Cafe Chenar but they are on Facebook.

******UPDATE NOW CLOSED for business *****

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

www.momentmag.com

First Taste at Meat The Ball Restaurant in Phoenix AZ – a little bumpy but the food was – Worth a Fork! – With update at the end ***Temporarily Closed but OPEN in Scottsdale*****UPDATE Now CLOSED for Business***

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****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS *****Meat The Ball (meatball) restaurant recently opened in the Biltmore Fashion Park in Phoenix. This restaurant is part of the Pomo – Mora – Luna Gelato Restaurant Group. Meat The Ball is a very small casual restaurant that specializes in serving a high quality menu around all sorts of meatballs. They offer bar seating, a few tables inside and a larger outdoor patio for dining.

At the time of this review Meat The Ball is newly opened and several items of the menu are not available yet. As luck would have it the cold line was also being repaired so cold items also weren’t available during my visit.

We tried three of the TEN types of meatballs, a pasta and a polenta.

The majority of what we tried exceeded our expectations!

To BOTH of our surprise the meatball that I thought would be my least favorite was AMAZBALLS!

Unadorned quinoa meatless ball

I ordered the Quinoa meatballs (meatless) as an add on ($4.00) to the pasta. When you add on balls they come out without a sauce on them. These Quinoa Meatballs have a light crisp what seems like oil free bread coating and a stacchino cheese core. Stacchino cheese is a super flavorful delectable cheese……it”s like what mozzarella wants to be but isn’t. These balls are packed with tons of flavors and are SPICY! ………A delicious spicy……They should be called SPICY quinoa balls! BUT WOW PACKED with delicious flavors.

We also loved the Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon Balls.

The Salmon Balls were just delicious and tender and flavored just so………with a lemon dill butter sauce that was perfection!

We both were also blown away with the masterfully hand made tomato rigatoni.

It’s almost shocking to get such amazing pasta in a tiny casual restaurant. The texture of the pasta is perfection. The perfect al dente in a secret slightly creamy tomato sauce with fresh basil and parmigiano. The sauce is heavenly and can make angels sing…..so delicious!

The spicy sausage meatballs were good but not spicy today. We thought the polenta was good but also could be kicked up a notch. The crispy onions were a nice tasty embellishment.

We had a few hiccups with service but in the end we enjoyed the food.

On wall by the door

That was my first taste at Meat The Ball – a little bumpy but the food was Worth a Fork.

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

Newly opened…..Full menu might not be available. One server lacked training on the menu.

www.MeatTheBall.com

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

The Forking Truth

Went back for another visit.

Sat on the patio and shared the quinoa balls since they were so amazing last time.

Still tasty but the recipe has changed and not as flavorful or spicy but still tasty. The bell pepper sauce is good with the sautéed vegetables….

We also shared the pesto straccetti.

The pasta is perfect and has a good texture. The sauce is flavorful and delicious.

We also share the chicken meatballs that come with an arugula, tomato fennel salad.

The chicken meatballs are very good….Nice and moist, flavorful with a perfect texture…..If they were patty shaped they make a darn tasty sandwich….Salad is good and goes well with the chicken balls…….

Newer update *******Temporarily Closed but OPEN in Scottsdale