Monthly Archives: December 2019

Proof Restaurant at The Four Seasons Resort at Troon North Scottsdale AZ – Good Food Spectacular Views

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Proof Restaurant is located at The Four Seasons at Troon in North Scottsdale Arizona. This is a casual restaurant that serves American Food. House cocktails have a whiskey or bourbon theme. Ice cream is fresh made in house.

As soon as we turned in the sky changed and this is how it looked.

It was very chilly tonight in mid December but I wanted to sit on the patio anyway and take in the stunning views.

And then as fast as the sunsets came they have gone.

patio

While we were waiting for a portable heater to be set up we enjoyed a rye based cocktail.

They had trouble getting the heaters to fire up. The third one was successful…but only for about three minutes. I heard a pop and then it went out. Without a heater it was too cold to stay on the patio so we sat at a table inside.

The inside is casual with a big shuffle board, a big screen TV, a bar and an ice cream bar.

I thought we’d start out by sharing the wild mushroom soup ($16.00). That is listed under the start or share section on the menu.

I see them serving us two small crocks that are half full with lots of bread topped with shattering crisp cheese. I was thinking that it was so nice that they split the soup for us and gave us extra bread (only to find out at the end of our meal that we were INDEED CHARGED FOR TWO SOUPS)

Anyways-

The soup is actually very good and has a very intense mushroom flavor. It contains trace amounts of heirloom grains….like not a spoon full more like a small pinch..like the amount of ground pepper that you would add. the minuscular amount of grains get stuck in my throat when I eat the soup. I’d rather have slightly more grains that I could eat or no grains added. The noble bread with the shattering crisp cheese tops were very good. They gave us so much bread we took a bunch home and had it for breakfast the next day.

For dinner I went with the Light as a Feather section of dukkah crusted salmon ($29.00).

The salmon is prepared to a perfect medium and has a very nice sear and is lightly coated with a tasty sort of spicy crushed nut seasoning called dukkah. Also on the plate are little open rings of sliced squash, cauliflower pilaf and turmeric cauliflower puree.

My husband had the shrimp and grits ($32.00).

The shrimp were cooked to perfection. The sauce was delicious and the grits were full of lots of cheese. This was a very good plate.

The ice cream is made in house so we thought we’d share a bananas foster sundae ($10.00).

The ice cream taste very fresh and has a perfect creamy consistency. Maybe it’s just me (and my husband) but I’m not real found of the flavors with this one. This doesn’t sing banana to me……The sugar crisp taste burnt and sticks to my teeth. The ice cream and banana jam doesn’t taste like bananas foster to me and lacks a sweet caramelized banana flavor, lacks cinnamon and lacks dark rum…Maybe I’d feel different about another flavor…The little cakes are tasty and moist and citrusy.

That was dinner at Proof in Scottsdale.

I was a little bummed that the portable heaters didn’t function. I also was slightly upset that the server didn’t tell us that the soup was too small to share and decided to just order us two soups without asking. If I knew the soup was too small to share I would have ordered something different to share. But in the end the soup and entrees were very good. I wasn’t a big fan of the bananas foster sundae but I did previously enjoy a bourbon pecan pie that I tasted from Proof at a recent food festival. For the most part the food really was very good and the outdoor atmosphere is exceptional.

www.ProofCanteen.com

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

The Forking Truth

My Trip to ComicX Restaurant and Bar at Desert Ridge Marketplace Phoenix AZ – Spiderman Batman and Thor OH MY!

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ComicX is a superhero/comic book theme restaurant and bar located in Desert Ridge Marketplace in Phoenix. They serve a casual menu of appetizers, sandwiches, salads, hamburgers, pizza and some south west favorites and a few entrees.

When you walk in it looks like this.

Then you look uo and see Spiderman.

Next you want to see more but it will wait until after your meal because you are seated now.

If you are a fan of rock hits of the late seventies – eighties you might be a fan of the music that fills the air while you are watching a big screen TV of either sports or maybe a Spiderman Movie.

Spiderman is playing

I was seated in the darkest part of the restaurant looking at the Halo that is also near Harry Potter Stuff so I had a very hard time reading the menu.

We ordered and our meals arrived in 45 minutes.

I ordered the Asian Pow Salad ($10.00). The greens were fresh and I had peanuts, fried crunchy strips and orange supremes. I mistakenly thought my salad would contain chicken but it doesn’t. I misread in the dark. My salad was ok…but the paper napkin is far too tiny and too thin to deal with.

My husband went with the steak fajita ($16.00).

The fajita didn’t come out sizzling like they normally do but the pan was hot. The steak was seasoned nicely and it was tender but it seemed like a very small portion. The beans might have been fresh made but tasted more like from the can because they lacked seasoning. Unfortunately the beans also came out warm on the top and cold on the bottom. The rice had something acidic going on with it. I didn’t taste it but my husband thought the rice had either lime juice in it or just was sour? He thought it had a little parsley in it.

Our waiter comes to check on us and my husband tells the waiter about the cold beans. The waiter takes back the beans AND THE RICE. Around 5-10 minutes latter the beans arrive and they are even colder than they were in the first place…BUT HE DIDN”T bring back the rice. Maybe 10-15 minutes after that and my husband is done the rice arrives.

Then we decide to take a tour ourselves.

Marge is missing left breast and Maggies body is there minus her head

This is a novelty restaurant. You are there for the cool super hero atmosphere.

That was my trip to ComicX Restaurant and Bar at Desert Ridge Marketplace.

www.ComicX.US.

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

The Forking Truth

Healthy Light Vietnamese Inspired One Pot Chicken Recipe

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I had a great idea and went with it. If you enjoy Chicken Pho then you most likely will enjoy this recipe. I thought I could make something that taste like Pho Ga as a one pot dish and I FORKING DID! I do note that this recipe make around four bowls that contain about four ounces of chicken meat each with about 6 ounces of tender flavorful leftover chicken that you can use for maybe two lunches. This comes out soupy but it has more vegetables to it than soup. This is not PHO but it is Pho Flavored. I didn’t add rice noodles to the dish and instead added thinly cut onions and cabbage and on my second serving added some spiral cut zucchini that I liked very much. It came out delicious and it only took 2 1/2 hours in the oven. Again if you consider 4 oz of dark chicken a dinner then you will get 4 dinners and two lunches of leftover chicken. Or you can serve this over some rice noodles or rice and stretch this to be 6 meals. I do also note that the chicken skin will not be edible but it is what gives amazing flavor to this dish.

Ingredients for almost 6 meals

1 large sweet onion – sliced very thin

1/2 smaller cabbage head – core removed – sliced thin

1 carrot – peeled- shredded (long shreds if you can)

13 garlic cloves – fine chopped

1 teaspoon ground cardamon

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground star anise

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper

1 Tablespoon dark brown sugar

1 cup water

4 1/2 lbs chicken thighs (with bone and skin)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 Tablespoon kosher salt

1 Tablespoon granulated garlic

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large baking pan or 1/2 buffet pan add the onions, cabbage, carrot, garlic cloves, cardamon, coriander, ginger, star anise, cinnamon, white pepper, sugar, water and place the chicken thighs skin up in a single layer. On top of the chicken thighs sprinkle them as even as you can with the kosher salt, black pepper and granulated garlic. Cover tightly with foil and place on a ,middle rack in the pre-heated oven. Mine were perfect for me at 2 1/2 hours but your oven, pan and doneness of the chicken might differ. To be considered safe to eat the chicken must reach at least 165 degrees F. I don’t like the dark meat until it’s very soft and comes off the bone easily. I strongly prefer the chicken to reach 180 or even slightly more. It always is delicious, tender and flavorful. It always comes out so good that it even re-heats amazing.

You are going to have to let the chicken cool down for30-60 minutes to clean off the bone and skin…If you are eating now then you might want to use a paper towel and blot the fat off that is on the top.

You can serve now. But I think that this dish is better for the next day. Let it cool to room temperature and refrigerate over night so you can easily scrape off the fat at the top of container.

Healthy Light Vietnamese Inspired Chicken one Pot Stew

Serve like Pho with cilantro, mint, lime, jalapeño, hoisin, fish sauce and sriracha. The next day I served it with some spiral cut zucchini that I salted in a colander and left out on the counter at least 30 minutes so the water in the zucchini ran out. The zucchini turns more like noodles that way. The dish was much prettier and maybe even better that way.

This is healthy light delicious and easy to prepare. You will be surprised that it is so darn flavorful.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts of my First Taste of The Cosmic Crisp Apple comparing it to the Honey Crisp Apple.

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The Cosmic Crisp Apple was developed from a cross of honey crisp apples and enterprise apples. The Cosmic Crisp is the darker apple pictured on the left and on the right is a honey crisp. The apples are suppose to taste similar but the Cosmic Crisp is developed to have a much longer shelf life.

Lets give them a taste and see what I Forking think.

I did notice before I tasted the apples that the Cosmic Crisp are harder to slice.

Trying a slice of Cosmic Crisp.

It’s a good tasting apple with sweetness, apple flavor and acidity. The skin might be a little tough….though.

Now trying a slice of Honey Crisp.

This apple is much lighter in texture, much juicier, much sweeter and easier to eat….

Back to the Cosmic Crisp….After a slice of honey Crisp I know that the Cosmic Crisp is a MUCH DENSER Apple. I wonder if it has more calories because the Honey Crisp almost…I mean ALMOST seems like watermelon texture compared to the Cosmic Crisp. After eating the Honey Crisp I really notice how tough the skin on it is.

We didn’t finish all this apple on day one so I got to try them again together the next day.

Day two- The Cosmic Crisp is still more dense. The only difference on day two is that I thought it was as sweet as the Honey Crisp…..To me it seemed like the flavors were more concentrated on day two. Day Two the flavors in the cut Honey Crisp seemed slightly diluted.

Both the Cosmic Crisp and Honey Crisp are very good apples.

I do note that I only purchased one Cosmic Crisp apple from AJ’s Fine Foods at $3.99 a pound. My Honey Crisp was recently on sale for around 95 cents a pound.

That was my Forking Thoughts of my First Taste of comparing the Cosmic Crisp Apple to the Honey Crisp Apple.

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

The Forking Truth

Stuffed Peppers with Greek Style Squash Recipe

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This came out tasting like a Greek Salad (with walnuts) in a roasted pepper. I added walnuts for a crunch factor that I thought it needed because I don’t like an all soft texture. Did something different to the squash so it wouldn’t be so squashy. The squash was spiral cut and then was salted with the paper thin cut onions. You would believe how much water poured out….you have to do the mixing in a colander that sits over a large bowl. It looked like maybe 2 cups of water poured out when I let it sit on the counter for about an hour. The squash turns into like almost a noodle texture. It’s not squashy anymore. My other secret was by adding some dijon mustard (Amora brand). After the mustard the flavor really popped. It doesn’t taste mustardy….but it’s the right amount of bite that makes it pop. I used some very small bell pepper halves and some whole Mexican Guero yellow peppers (that are similar in heat to shishitos). This recipe (after draining) makes around 9 servings……so you need about 9 smaller (but not mini) half bell peppers or around 9 medium sized peppers.

Ingredients for around 9 servings

2 lbs yellow squash (smaller squash will work out better) spiral cut

1 medium sized sweet onion – sliced paper thin on mandolin

1 teaspoon course sea salt

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste or microplane

1 large tomato (ripe one) rough cut

9 small/medium sized peppers (of your choice many different kinds would taste good here) You might need more or less peppers depending on size and shape. ( I used a combination of half bells and whole guero peppers)

3 Tablespoons fresh dill – chopped (two Tablespoons go in mix and reserve one Tablespoon for finishing.)

6 oz feta cheese – cut in small cubes

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 Tablespoon dijon mustard – preferably Amora brand

1/2 cup toasted walnuts slightly broken

Directions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

The first thing that you need to do is to get the squash and onions in a colander over a large bowl mixed with the salt…..This needs to sit for an hour on the counter so around two cups of water will be released.

After an hour and the water is released then mix in to the squash mixture the garlic, tomato, 2 Tablespoons dill, feta, oregano, basil, pepper and dijon.

Eiter use pepper halves or whole peppers split with cores removed and stuff tightly.

Roast in pre-heated 425 degree F oven till slightly charred. (will differ depending on pepper size….mine took 35 minutes in my oven on middle rack).

Finish with last Tablespoon of fresh dill and toasted walnuts.

Stuffed Peppers with Greek Style Squash

Nice side dish.

The Forking Truth

Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House Las Vegas NV – Worth a Fork

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The Las Vegas Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House is located in the MGM on the Las Vegas Strip. This restaurant is owned by celebrity chef Emeril Lagasse. This is a full service seafood restaurant that offers a few New Orleans specialties.

bar area
part of dining room

They started us off with four pieces of warm sweetened corn bread and butter. (we each ate a piece before I snapped picture)

My husband started with the gumbo because that is a must have if you can do it ($13.)

I had the fresh catch. It was grilled salmon today with mixed vegetables ($27.).

My husband went with the shrimp po boy that came with pickled cauliflower salad ($16.).

Everything was prepared reasonably well and everything was good!

Emeril’s New Orleans Fish House is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.EmerilsRestaurants.com

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

The Forking Truth

Twist By Pierre Gagnaire at Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas NV – WORTH A FORK! The most FORKING Amazing Food EVER! – *****UPDATE NOW CLOSED

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*******UPDATE NOW CLOSED*******Twist By Pierre Gagnaire is a fine dining French Restaurant located on the 23rd floor of The Waldorf Astoria in the middle of the Las Vegas Strip. They offer a variety of menus. We went with the four course vegetarian tasting menu and it was like OUT OF THIS WORLD FORKING AMAZING….Like from another planet. It was one of the very best meals I ever had.

The dining room is sort of like dining under the stars with all those hanging lights..The tables are covered in linen and silverware actually looks like silver and not stainless steal.

My table has a view of the Las Vegas Strip.

They started us off with a whole bunch of amuse bouche.

They were all so thrilling and delicious and then it gets even better.

We get a baguette and this incredibly delicious bread that’s made from charcoal and apricots…..The butters that go with them are extra delicious too. The butters are hand churned French Butter and one butter is slightly spicy from Piment d’ Espelette.

First course for me is called Quinoa.

It taste as amazing as it looks. It’s made of red quinoa salad, avocado, pineapple mousse, coconut and marigolds. All the flavors are MIND-BLOWING!

My husband isn’t a big fan of quinoa and asked to exchange his starter for different one and got the Zezette Bouillon.

It’s also pretty as a picture…..I can see this on my wall somewhere. It’s made of pumpkin gnocchi, oyster mushroom, and a ricotta croquette.

Next for me was the Bell Pepper.

It’s crispy sun chokes, leeks bell peppers, mascarpone and sauce pitchi. So many flavors that it is impossible to describe…..

We added on the risotto special with white alba truffles and it was served with our main entree the Autumn Vol-au-vant.

We started with the risotto.

OMG it’s Forking amazing! These truffles are super flavorful. It’s bursting with so much flavor and then when you hit the parmesan tuile…it just pops a little more. This is the FORKING BEST Truffle dish I ever tasted!

The Autumn Vol-Au-Vant is also amazing. It’s made with onion cream, celeriac, turmeric cauliflower, Swiss chard, soy beans and quince puree. I don’t know how they made this but it taste so FORKING wonderful.

Then we get a palate cleanser.

OMG even the palate cleanser is FORKING delicious……..It has so many flavors…..raspberry sorbet, fennel, another MIND BLOWING PLATE!…..I could be done now.

Then we get three desserts each.

These are all CRAZY crazy CRAZZZZZZZZZY good….The little one on the bottom is some sort of lemon curd marshmallow and topped with a really delicious cream and topped thin milk crisps. To the right is a layered chocolate cake with a fig and really great chocolate on top of it with little gel fruit cubes…..But the thing in the glass was SUPER AWESOME FORKING MIND BLOWING….You crack the edible cube open and all kinds of flavors make your brain go bonkers…..There was pomegranate, grapefruit, I think Thai basil, Lemongrass and others I can’t remember….

Then we got surprised with another plate of very detailed amuse bouche…..all desserts.

The layer cakes are thimble sized painstakingly made opera cakes, the ones that look like pears on crackers are passionfruit cakes, little cubes are fruit gels and the chocolate is very intense with a nut….

Twist by Pierre Gagnaire in Las Vegas was astonishing as astonishing gets.

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

Worth a Fork! Worth flying in to Vegas for!!!

www.WaldorfAstoriaLasVegas.com

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

The Forking Truth

Blue Cheese Sriracha Butter Hasselback Mini Potatoes with Radish Recipe

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OMG these are FORKING CRAZY GOOD! When I made them my husband came running in and said what smells so Forking Good? Then he started gobbling them down. I almost didn’t get them to photo. You might want to double up on the recipe. These are going to be a great big hit in your house. I used a pound of mini potatoes that came to ten potatoes. It should be about 4 servings but these are so unusually tasty that it might only be two servings.

Ingredients for about 4 servings

1 lb of mini potatoes (about 10 mini potatoes)

2 oz unsalted butter – melted split in two portions

2 oz blue cheese – crumbled – split in two one ounce portions (one for sauce and one for topping)

2 Tablespoon canola oil – split in 2 portions

1 Tablespoon sriracha + plus around a teaspoon more for topping – preferably Shark Brand available at Lee Lee Market and Asiana Market….it’s much smoother than almost any other brand)

2 radish – sliced paper thin on a mandolin

Directions

Set the oven to 400 degrees F.

The potatoes get sliced across but not all the way threw about 3-4 cm apart on the slices.

Half the butter, 1/2 the blue cheese, sriracha and canola oil get heated up and melted together. This will take very little time. You can do in a pan on medium or do in the microwave for 30 seconds and just a few seconds more. Mix it up till it emulsifies. Set to the side. (this goes on potatoes after they come out of oven.

One oz butter and one tablespoon canola oil get melted together – I don’t Forking care if you do it in a pan or microwave. In a microwave this takes only 30 seconds. This gets brushed on the potatoes after you insert the radish slices.

Insert carefully about 5 thin radish slices into the cuts of each potato.

Put each potato on a backing sheet.

Brush each potato with the melted butter and oil mixture (NOT the mixture with sriracha and blue cheese) until the mixture is used up.

Place potatoes in pre-heated 400 degree oven until potatoes are lightly browned and tender. (timing will differ but in my oven this took 40 minutes)

Pull out and there will be extra melted butter in the bottom oof baking sheet. Brush potatoes with it.

Spoon the sriracha/blue cheese butter mixture over each potato and top each potato with crumbles of blue cheese.

Blue Cheese Sriracha Butter Hasselback Mini Potatoes with Radish

These are FORKING INCREDIBLE!

Your Welcome.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to The Crack Shack Las Vegas Nevada – Worth a Fork for casual tasty food

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The Crack Shack is a casual order at the counter Chicken theme restaurant with California locations and one location on the Las Vegas Strip in Park MGM. The chicken is of a higher quality than the usual and is made of Jidori Chicken.

The restaurant is co-founded by celebrity Top Chef Richard Blais. The Crack Shack offers a variety of chicken sandwiches, fried chicken, a variety of bowls, deviled eggs, biscuits, children’s meals, sweets, a bar and more.

You order at the counter, pay, grab a pager, seat yourself and pick up at the window when the pager goes off. They also offer a variety of sauces to jazz things up.

Don’t recall exactly but from left, sweet, house ketchup, bbq, enchilada and sriracha mayo

In reasonable time the pager goes off.

Here’s Matzo Ball Pazole ($10.)

The Matzo Ball is light and fluffy and sits in a Mexican Seasoned broth with pieces of tender braised chicken. We add seasoned lime, tortilla strips, cabbage and avocado and it becomes a hearty feast.

Then we shared a Firebird Crispy Chicken Thigh Sandwich ($12) with Schmaltz fries ($3.).

The sandwich is made with juicy tender flavorful chicken. It has a very thin crisp exterior. It’s seasoned well and is tasty. It’s a little smoky and a little spicy sort of like a hot smoked paprika kind of taste with a thin shattering crisp coating. The sandwich also contains a good amount of pickle slices that seem like they could be house made. There are also very crisp pieces of fried onions. We had it with the ranch dressing on the side because both of us aren’t big fans of ranch dressing. The fries appear to be hand cut. They are moist inside and tasty. The exterior isn’t particularly crisp and is dusted in a salty slightly spicy seasoning.

The Crack Shack is Worth a Fork for a semi quick casual meal out.

Worth a Fork!

www.CrackShack.com

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

The Forking Truth

Buddy V’s Ristorante Las Vegas NV – Worth a Fork!

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Buddy V’s Ristorante in Las Vegas Nevada is located in the Venetian Hotel/Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. Incase you don’t know Buddy Valastro is the owner of Carlo’s Bakery that has been in his family for many decades in Hoboken New Jersey. He had much success being known as The Cake Boss on a reality TV show called Cake Boss. Buddy now has several locations of his bakery and restaurants and sells packaged products and more too.

We have a reservation and get seated quickly in the restaurant.

They start us off with complimentary focaccia and olive oil dotted with balsamic.

This focaccia is very above average and is very good. It’s fresh made with herbs and cheese but most importantly I can taste the olive oil in it. I’ve read that in the best focaccia you are suppose to taste the olive oil in it.

For my main I went with the Grilled Salmon ($25.).

It’s presented nice and encircled with balsamic and flavored oils. The fish is resting on a bed of vegetable salad and the fish has nice tasty grill marks on it. (It taste like sustainable salmon to me.) It’s prepared next to perfect. Everything is seasoned nice. Only note is that the salad is named Mediterranean chickpea artichoke salad when there actually is far more green beans than artichokes…but who cares…It’s good so we are happy!

My husband had the orecchiette and Italian Sausage ($24.)

It was made with broccoli rabe, blistered tomatoes, basil and pecorino. My husband said the sausage was particularly good. He said his whole plate was VERY GOOD! He kept saying on our whole trip here that Buddy’s was his favorite. He loved the reasonable pricing and the delicious food.

Tried a cannoli for dessert….($9.)…after all he is The Cake Boss!

Oh they gave use two not one cannoli. With thick rich really great chocolate sauce. WOW! This is the best cannoli I ever had out. I KNOW because I make my own cannoli. It’s a little different flavor-wise than mine but the filling is the same texture and richness as mine. It’s excellent like home made cheese. The shell is not bubbled (like from wine or vinegar…like mine) but has a really great light but very crisp texture……The end with chocolate chips is really good but the end with the pistachios KNOCKS IT OUT OF THE PARK!!!!! WOW it’s a very special moment when you taste pistachios that are this great!!!!

WOW VERY GOOD!

Buddy V’s in Las Vegas is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

WWW.BuddyVsRestaurants.com

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

The Forking Truth