Monthly Archives: July 2020

Vegetarian Jicama Shawarma Recipe

I had this big jicama and I wanted to make it into shawarma because Noma That famous restaurant had a celery root shawarma on their menu that was suppose to be amazing. Celery root by me is always old and usually rotten. So I picked a different root vegetable and went with jicama. I didn’t do it the way Noma did their amazing celery root brushing it for hours with lots of fat on a charcoal bbq………but I did mine with the same flavors and almost without fat. I have to say that It came out pretty darn amazing. You should serve it with charred onions and grilled tomatoes, tahini sauce, fresh parsley and either pita bread or rice. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. This will make around 6-8 servings.

Ingredients for 6 servings

1 very large jicama – peeled, sliced thin on mandolin

1 smaller head garlic – all cloves ground to paste

1/2 lemon – just the fresh juice

4 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon ground cloves

1 teaspoon Aleppo pepper

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds

1/2 teaspoon ground cardamon

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon tahini sauce (must be pourable) (tahini sauce)

1 1/2 lemons – just the fresh squeezed juice + a little ice water to desired taste and consistency (tahini sauce)

4 garlic cloves – ground to paste (tahini sauce)

salt to taste (tahini sauce)

fresh parsley

Directions

Set oven to 425 degrees F.

In a small bowl combine the head of ground garlic cloves, lemon juice (1/2 lemon), vinegar, oil, cloves, salt, Aleppo pepper, cumin, caraway, cardamon, thyme, cinnamon, nutmeg, black pepper, cayenne and ginger. Mix well. Add this mixture to the sliced jicama and mix well. Put this mixture in a baking dish. Put this in the middle rack of your pre-heated oven. Keep it in till it browns on the edges about 25 minutes. After it browns flip the vegetables over and brown the underside of the pan for around 25 minutes more so you have more brown edges. During this time you should be cooking up tomatoes and onions for the shawarma.

Make the tahini sauce

In a small bowl add the tahini and ground garlic. Add lemon juice and if desired some ice water for consistency and taste. Add salt to taste.

Top with some fresh parsley and and serve with pita bread or rice.

Vegetarian Jicama Shawarma

It’s DELICIOUS!

The Forking Truth

NEW WeiRD DIFferenT Limited and Special Edition Foods Out There July 2020

There is ALWAYS something New, Weird, Different, Limited and Special Edition out there in the wonderful world of food. I just never know what I will come across. Lately during the pandemic I’m not taking my chances on going to a store very often so most of what I come across is from the internet.

Up above are LIMITED TIME ONLY Sweet Corn Pringles Chips. I tried to buy them but haven’t found them. I heard that they are only to be found at Walgreens…..

LIMITED – Pringles Wendy’s Baconator ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED that are suppose to taste like a Wendy’s Bacon Cheese Burger……That might work if the burgers are artificially flavored??????

DIFFERENT and maybe WEIRD – Chirps Eat Bugs Cricket Chips in Barbecue and Cheddar Cheese flavors. Are you going to hop to the store and buy them..? Or does the idea of eating crickets bug you?

NEW – Ritz Cheese Crispers Crackers in Cheddar and Four Cheese & Herb. They sound tasty but I haven’t tried them so I don’t know if they are?

NEW – Pepperidge Farm Veggie Crackers Cheesy Tomato with 1/3 servings of tomato a serving. These I bought. No cheese taste at all but sort of tomato. Some of the crackers are fish shaped and some fish have smiles. Some of the crackers look like pumpkins to me.

NEW – Lil’Nitro World’s Hottest Gummy Bear! (no thanks ((ick!))

NEW – Sensible Portions Screamin’ HOT Veggie Straws……Might be tasty?

And now food something healthy.

NEW – Gummy Berry Grapes. I don’t like gummy bears so I think I’m going to skip over these grapes.

NEW – Stouffer’s Classic Lasagna bites ….sounds tasty!…but below is That’s Tasty….lol

NEW – That’s Tasty organic ginger and garlic toothpaste……JUST KIDDING! But it looks like toothpaste……It’s squeezable ginger and garlic….OH MY!

WEIRD – Cap’n Crunch’s BettyTastic Pancake Mix with Aunt Jemima Light and Fluffy Texture with Cap’n Crunch’s Ocean Blue ARTIFICIALLY Maple Flavored syrup.

I needed some things from PetSmart so I saw a few Weird foods for dogs.

WEIRD – Bocce’s Bakery – Coconut, Carob and Mint Treats…….I doubt any dogs has ever thought about eating coconut…….?

Different – Bocce’s Bakery Peanut Butter and Bacon Treats…Now this one makes sense to me.

DIFFERENT – Lazy Dog The original Pup-Pie Happy Birthday Treat for girl dogs……when I left I saw the same for boy dogs…

I looked for a new Oreo Cookie and didn’t find any but I did find something Oreo.

NEW – Pillsbury Eat or Bake Cookie Dough with Oreo Pieces.

I dug a little harder and I did find a new Oreo.

NEW – Nabisco red, white and blue layers of cream Oreo Cookies with the American Flag and Olympic Rings embossed on the cookies…..Interesting the 2020 Olympics are held off because of the pandemic so I guess they can offer these cookies all year while we wait.

A SPECIAL BONUS NEW – WEIRD – DIFFERENT AND LIMITED EDITION Danzeison Dairy Alice Cooper Chocolate Milk

Well that was the New, Weird, Different, Limited and Special Edition foods for July 2020. Who knows WTFork I’ll come across next month.

The Forking Truth

Easy Thai Style Son-In-Law Eggs No Recipe – Recipe

Thai Style Son-In-Law are delicious and easy to prepare. They are so easy that you don’t need a recipe. They are usually hard boiled eggs that are fried in either lard or coconut oil and are served with fried shallots and a delicious sauce that is made from tamarind, fish sauce and usually palm sugar.

Start by cooking eggs to either hard or less. That means slow boiling 6.5 minutes for somewhat loose. 7 minutes for jammy. Up to ten minutes for hard. Place in ice bath and when cool peel shells and set to the side.

Make sauce. Boil part of tamarind brick. For 5 eggs I used around a thumb sized piece (maybe more but I wasted some). You boil a block of the tamarind and let it get soft. It says that it is seedless but that is a lie because they always have pieces of seed in them. The softened tamarind has to be pushed threw a fine strainer….or some people just use the tamarind water…..but I think it’s to watery that way or I have to reduce too much. This gets mixed with a little bit of some kind of sugar (usually palm or brown sugar) I used a little squirt of honey and fish sauce to taste (I used Red Boat Brand fish sauce) My sauce seemed too loose so I reduced it some. Then set it to the side.

Start by frying up thinly sliced shallots till crisp. Drain on sheet pan lined with paper towels. In the same oil fry up the eggs till they brown some (this is pretty quick).

If you like spicy fried up some hot peppers for the eggs. (Thai peppers would be good here)

Finish with some fresh cilantro and ENJOY!

Thai Style Son-In-Law Eggs

Everyone will enjoy this.

The Forking Truth

Xtra LARGE Portion Take Out Food in Metro Phoenix AZ

Some restaurants in metro Phoenix are extra generous with the amount of food they give you for take out. All the food is in no particular order. All the food I did take out but if I found an eat-in picture fist I used it. Up above is the Friday night walleye dinner special from The Twisted Italian in North Peoria. It’s so big that they pack it in a half buffet pan. WOW it’s a lot of food!

Pretty much EVERYTHING from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix is a double portion. I can only eat 1/2 a banh mi, 1/2 the curry chicken and 1/2 a rice plate any time I order there. Pictured above is one of the about dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches they offer. Below is a rice plate. I usually get the chicken rice plate and they generously give you around 8 ounces of chicken. I didn’t measure the beef and pork portions but I bet they are similar. BTW- the food is delicious from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.

Rice Plate

Another restaurant where I get a double portion is Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Caribbean Restaurant that also offers some vegan dishes.

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken

I always enjoy the curry chicken and the jerk chickens I get the combo. It’s always so flavorful and delicious. I don’t mind eating twice in a week.

Next is my take out from Starlite BBQ near Old Town Scottsdale. My husband is a big eater and they gave him a good size chicken leg, thigh and a really big juicy plump chicken breast. We had enough leftover chicken breast to give chicken for two salads next week.

Same thing from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in DT Phoenix.

Friday night jerk chicken for two special from The Breadfruit & Rum Bar in Phoenix

We tried the Friday night jerk chicken for two take out special from the Breadfruit & Rum Bar. We ate all the chicken we could and had enough leftover chicken breast for two lunch salads.

FnB in Old Town Scottsdale also gave out extremely large portions.From the two dinners we ordered each we got around 2 pounds each of potato salad and macaroni salad. We also had enough chicken for two lunches after we ate dinner.

BTW- It was FORKING GREAT!

Scott’s Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen in Phoenix serves insanely large portions of food.

A few times a year I like to get the Fish Supreme Plate. It comes with a bagel, cream cheese, potato salad, Cole slaw, pickles, vegetables and THREE kinds of fish, I get the sturgeon, nova or belly lox (belly is best but sometimes it’s too salty) and the smoked whitefish. It states on the menu that this is for one person but I get THREE meals out of it. The sandwiches are crazy large. I think it’s impossible to eat more than half even if you are very large.

A newer restaurant called Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide offers these BIG salads for only around $7.50 each. I think I get more than I pay for here.

The salads are also delicious. They also sell hummus, beet salad, eggplant salad, Baba G and tabouli for only $3.00 and I think it’s a big portion (and delicious) for only $3.

The fajita salad from Popo’s fiesta del Sol in north Glendale-Arrowhead – #UpperWestSide seems bottomless. I eat several a year for many years now. I have never finished one and I consider myself a good eater.

Taylor’s Chowder House is located in Glendale in the North Mountain section.

Look at how large the platter is on the left. It;’s called the two plus two. You get two BIG pieces of cod and two shrimp and a whole giant potato that is cut in wedges and fried. You also get a side of vegetables and a roll . That is enormous… The dish on the right wasn’t enormous but it did come with a potato big enough to feed a family.

Below was one of my favorite take outs from Confluence in Carefree.

I get THREE lunches of FORKING DELICIOUS chicken here. First meal I eat the biggest piece of chicken and the vegetables…some of the potato. Each other piece of chicken is enough for a lunch salad. I don’t mind mind that they are crazy generous with this spectacular fried chicken.

Below is the tasty kabob salad from Pita Kitchen in Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide.

They are extra generous with the chicken. I only need to eat half of this chicken.

Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale offers a really great take out special for two.

We got delicious complimentary feta and dill muffins with herb butter, and appetizer, two dinners and desert. It’s dinner for two with some extra.

I get about twice as much food as I can eat from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix.

Chino Bandido

We always get the combo plates at Chino Bandido so we can try two different entrees. It’s always fun to get a pan of food that is a little Asian, a little Tex Mex and some other. Food Network figured out that Chino Bandido offers over 90,000 different combination plates that you can choose. These great big pans of food are around fast food priced and are much better than fast food. They also come with a big snickerdoodle cookie for desert.

Below is a couscous dish from Alzohour Market in Glendale. It’s a Moroccan/Middle Eastern restaurant – bakery – mini grocery and an Islamic clothing boutique.

All the food from Alzohour Market is delicious but also served in extra large portions. This take out platter weighs a ton. This platter was a few meals and they gave us enough couscous for around 5 dinners.

Phila – Deli is a sandwich shop in Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide. They offer big cheesesteaks, hoagies and salads. My husband likes the cheesesteaks there.

But I think the great buy at Phila-Deli are the select-your-own $7.50 salads. Look how big and nice this salad is for only $7.50. This is too big for a $7.50 salad. Phila-Deli always fills your belly…..and then some.

Down below is my take out from The Barrio Cafe in Phoenix.

GOSH it was amazing! Look at my platter in the left hand corner. That is enough food….then they go crazy and give me two of the boxes and those TWO little round tubs and hand made tortillas too. I ate some of the food all week long and even froze some.

These were the Xtra-Large Take Outs I found in Metro Phoenix.

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ – Week 19 – Skewers Mediterranean Grill, Taylor’s Chowder House, Wraps ‘N’ Curry, Starlite BBQ

Dining out can be deadly during the coronavirus pandemic. Take out is a safer option and curbside pick up involves even less risk. Most restaurants are struggling and we are trying to support restaurants as much as we can with doing take out.

Our first take out of the week was from Skewers Mediterranean in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

Here’s a better look of the food.

We got DELICIOUS BIG salads for only around $7.50 each. I got the chicken kabob salad. The chicken was even better than usual. It’s always good but today it was far more flavorful and very juicy with a really good char taste. My husband got the gyro salad. We added some fresh herby tabouli to the salads to jazz them up. (tabouli was only $3.) These salads are really great! One of the best deals in town. I had plenty to share with my dogs.

Next take out was from Taylor’s Chowder House in Glendale (the North Mountain Area). TCH is a budget seafood house. I got the sole Florentine and my husband got a BIG fried plate called the two plus two (fried battered cod & shrimp).

They were very generous with the potatoes. I got enough for a family with my dinner. All was good and our dogs wanted to try some too!

We also did take out from a tiny casual Indian restaurant called Wraps ‘N’ Curry in North Phoenix. This is a very tiny restaurant with only a couple tables. The sign outside says they offer authentic Indian food. I noticed that the menu has expanded quite a bunch since my last visit. They offer some dishes I haven’t noticed from other Indian restaurants.

My husband got the tandoori prawns. I got the Goa fish (cod) curry and we shared some stuffed chicken naan.

Here’s a nicer picture of the Goa Fish Curry.

The sauce is really delicious. If someone gave this to me to taste and didn’t tell me what it was I would say it’s an unusually great tikka masala. The taste is very similar to tikka masala but has more depth and heat. The fish is cooked nicely and it came with my choice of rice or naan. My husband said that the shrimp were very tasty and cooked well. The stuffed naan was flavorful because the chicken inside of it was very flavorful. What an interesting and delicious take out!

For the last take out of the week we took a little trip by old town Scottsdale and did take out from Starlite BBQ. At the moment (subject to change) they are only open for take out. Incase you didn’t know Starlite BBQ is a sister restaurant of Ocotillo in Phoenix (closed for the month of July).

WOW! It’s abundant and DELICIOUS! We shared mesquite grilled cauliflower, hot chicken and hot fried catfish. Everything is so DARN GOOD! The chicken is a very big portion and we have enough leftover chicken (and extra vegetables) for two small lunch salads.Oh and even the breast meat was super moist and delicious. But gosh it all was DELICIOUS! My dogs were happy to try some.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help with all that delicious food”

The restaurants that we did take out from this week-

Skewers Mediterranean Grill – Glendale-Arrowhead-#UpperWestSide

Taylors Chowder House – Glendale-North Mountain

Wraps ‘N’ Curry – North Phoenix

Starlite BBQ – Scottsdale (By Old Town Scottsdale)

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

The Forking Truth

Forking DELICIOUS Marinated Healthy Style HOT Chicken Breast Recipe

Safeway has been offering chicken breast on special at very low prices so I have been taking advantage of that. Here is my marinade recipe for juicy FORKING Delicious chicken breasts. I marinated mine for close to two hours dried them off with paper towels. Then I LIGHTLY dusted them with a very light dusting of seasoned flour. I whipped up the flour mixture real fast and didn’t measure it exactly. It was something like a half cup of flour with maybe 1/2 teaspoon sea salt, heaping teaspoon cayenne, teaspoon paprika, 1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic, 1/4 teaspoon white pepper. Then the chicken got pan seared in a fry pan with non stick spray on medium high heat. The chicken came out FORKING Scrumptious! Everybody will love this. I hate to brag but this came out FORKING GREAT! Very moist and incredibly delicious. Even leftovers and from frozen came out juicy.

Ingredients for up to two pounds of chicken breasts. (8 smaller servings)

2 pounds chicken breast , boneless, skinless, butterflied, pounded, cut in reasonable sizes

4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2 large garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

1/4 teaspoon paprika

pinch of celery seeds

non stick spray

Directions

Everything except for chicken and non stick spray goes din a gallon zip lock bag. Squish the bag to mix up everything in the bag. Now add the chicken and keep squishing it around till the marinade is all over the chicken. Marinade 1 and no more than 2 hours. Blot off chicken with paper towels.

Get your fry pan on medium high heat. Chicken gets seasoned on both sides with your seasoning of choice or seasoning of choice with a small amount of flour. (Your chicken won’t come out as delicious as mine if you do something different than what I described in the beginning.)

Place chicken in pan but don’t crowd in too many pieces and cook till it looks around half way cooked and then flip over and cook the other sides. Timing will differ but on my stove top in my pan my chicken took around 5 minutes on one side and around 4 on the other side.

When cooked place on cooling rack or pan lined with paper towels.

Serve with vegetables

Forking DELICIOUS marinated Healthy Style HOT Chicken Breasts

EVERYONE WILL LOVE THIS!

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth is that your Thermometer (and your oven) might NOT be accurate

I was braising chicken in my oven and according to my thermometer my chicken was at 180 degrees. I noticed that it didn’t look done. Then I noticed blood running out of the chicken so I knew my thermometer wasn’t working accurately.

Then I thought my chicken was taking much longer to get done than normal so I wanted to get the temperature of my oven. I had two oven thermometers and they both gave me different readings. I figured my thermometers are old so maybe I need a new one? I ran to Ace Hardware and bought a new oven thermometer. WOW I got a another different temperature. My husband did some research into oven thermometers. According to Cook’s Illustrated the CDN Brand are highly recommended so we bought two of them since I have a double oven.

I put all 5 thermometers in my lower oven that I set for 350 degrees F roast. I let my oven run for around 20 minutes before I took a reading.

This is what I got.

New Taylor Thermometer from ACE read around 300 degrees F

NEW CDN Thermometer read around 320 degrees F

other NEW CDN Thermometer read around 276 degrees F

Old Thermometer read around 335 degrees F

other old thermometer read around 350 degrees F

I got between around 276 – around 350 degrees F

Now I will see what my top oven reads. I set it at 350 roast.

My New Taylor Thermometer reads around 280 degrees F

New CDN reads around 298 F

Other new CDN reads around 278 F

Old thermometer reads around 340 F

other old thermometer reads around 340 F

I got between 280 – 340 F reading on my upper oven set at 350 roast.

I’m thinking maybe I don’t FORKING NEED a thermometer? I shouldn’t get hot and bothered about this……..I have to just cook till the food is done.

The Forking Truth is that your thermometer (and your oven) might not be accurate.

The Forking Truth

Easy Glazed Carrots with Cumin and Orange Recipe

Joel Robuchon Style carrots and Jean George Vongerichten carrots are very similar and both feature carrots with cumin and orange so that is what we are doing here. I watched someone on YouTube doing Robuchon style carrots and I thought If I cooked them that much they’d fall apart so I am doing them different and easier. I also used frozen concentrated orange juice since I had it in my freezer for a rich concentrated orange flavor. I do note my idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size.

Ingredients for around 10 servings

2 lbs of carrots – peeled and sliced into thinner coins on a mandolin

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 Tablespoon sugar

2 Tablespoons sweet butter

1 Tablespoon cumin seeds

1/4 cup water

12 oz frozen concentrated orange juice – thawed

1/2 teaspoon piment d’ espelette

1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves – chopped

Directions

Steam carrots. You can do them stove top or do them much quicker with less mess in a microwave. If you do microwave it’s just- Carrots go in a microwavable bowl. Add 1/4 cup watering cover with plastic wrap. Microwave on high three minutes. Let it sit on the counter.

In a large fry pan on medium high heat add the oil, salt, sugar, butter, cumin seeds,and orange juice concentrate. Cook till it reduces and it’s like caramel. It’s not delicious until the sauce turns to caramel. Drain your carrots.

At this point you can add the garlic, piment d’ espelette and carrots. Cook a few minutes. Add the chopped cilantro and serve.

Easy glazed carrots with cumin and orange

Everyone will love this!

The Forking Truth

Three Restaurants in Metro Phoenix for Jerk Chicken – Caribbean Cuisine, Desert Island Eatery & The Breadfruit & Rum Bar

My first jerk chicken I had was in Jamaica. It wasn’t as spicy as I imagined it to be but was a delicious flavorful what seemed like stewed chicken dish. Jerk Chicken is typically marinated with a combination of hot peppers, thyme, cinnamon, ginger, allspice, cloves garlic and onion. It can be cooked either on a wood or charcoal grill or in the oven. I think the most similar version of Jerk Chicken that I tried in Jamaica came from Caribbean Cuisine in Glendale. This is a very small restaurant that is open mainly for just take out. (possibly just for take out these days during the pandemic) Their specialty dish is the cows foot soup.

It’s a delicious fall apart stewy kind of chicken. The generous plate comes with lots of rice and peas, plantains with cabbage and a little salad and extra hot sauce is offered.

In the past year a new restaurant opened up near me that is also mostly a take out Caribbean Restaurant called Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. (They have added outside patio tables not pictured and the three small tables inside are closed during the pandemic)

Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken

I usually get the combo because I LOVE their curry chicken too! Just like the Jamaican jerk chicken and also just like Caribbean Cuisine the jerk chicken is nice and stewy fall apart chicken with the flavors penetrated all threw it. The Desert Island Eatery Jerk Chicken is intense with the flavors, spice and heat. I get legs, thigh and some breast meat at Desert Island Eatery. You get your choice of yellow rice or rice and peas with cabbage and vegetables.

I recently tried the jerk chicken take out special for two people from The Breadfruit and Rum Bar in Downtown Phoenix. This is a nice dine restaurant that is temporarily closed during the pandemic but was open for limited take out.

This was different from the others in many ways. It’s not stewy. It seemed like it was roasted but it might have been grilled. The flavors are intense and delicious but are mostly on the skin of the chicken. They also gave a small cup of hot sauce that should come with a warning label that is MOLTEN HOT (just one drop is INSANELY CRAZY HOT!….I think it could burn a hole threw the center of the earth) This was mostly a large portion of breast meat with some rice and peas fried kale and a few other vegetables.

Those were three places in metro Phoenix for Jerk Chicken.

Caribbean Cuisine – Glendale

Desert Island Eatery – North Phoenix

The Breadfruit and Rum Bar – Downtown Phoenix

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

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix Week 18 – CHZBURGR, The Breadfruit and Rum Bar, Barrio Cafe, La Piazza Al Forno, Szechuan Cuisine

Dining out these days during the coronavirus pandemic can be deadly. Take out is a less risky option than dining in. Curbside is even less risky. Our first take out of the week was from CHZBURGR in Glendale. They offer curbside pick up.

They also offer the best cheeseburgers, best hotdogs and best chicken sandwiches around. The sandwiches are made with the highest quality ingredients. Sauces and pickles are made in house. A little birdie named Clint said the rolls are from a Philadelphia Bakery. Not only are the sandwiches amazing but they only cost almost the same as fast food. You can’t go wrong with anything from CHZBURGR!

Even my dogs get really wild when we have food from CHZBURGR. They both can’t wait and slap me for food.

Next take out was from The Breadfruit and Rum Bar in Downtown Phoenix.

The restaurant is temporarily closed but they were offering a Friday Night Take out special for two of Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas and Vegetables.

It was flavored nicely and there was plenty of breast meat. As per usual my dogs couldn’t wait to try some.

Next take out was from the Barrio Cafe in Phoenix. I haven’t been here in a long time and the last few years have been going to the now closed Barrio Grand Reserva. It’s so lively with rich wall art now.

They have the entrance sort of blocked off and there is only room for one person to do the pick up so I waited outside. The traffic is very bad and several roads are closed. It took us about an hour to get home and the food still traveled well.

OH MY GOSH there is so much delicious food! I ordered the salmon and my husband ordered the pork green chile verde.

There is even two types of hand made mini tortillas. My picture doesn’t do this food justice everything taste FORKING AMAZING! There is even good size portions of spicy home made ketchup for those crazy good fingerling potatoes. So many delicious details. Really awesome take out with lots of delicious leftovers. My dogs are lucky dogs and enjoyed some of the Barrio Cafe Food.

We also did take out from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale.

We got a meat/cheese/vegetable/fried ravioli plate called a tavola mista and two delicious certified pizzas. These pizzas are different from everyone else’s. The crust is very tender. The mozzarella cheese is also different with a lot of flavor and is made in house. Today my husband got the Italian Stallion pizza (D.O.P. San Marzano tomatoes, house made mozzarella, sausage, pepperoni, prosciutto di parma, sopressata). I got the bianco with added Calabrian peppers (house made mozzarella, ricotta (very good ricotta), parmesan, fresh basil, Sicilian oregano, e.v.o.o.) Everything was DELICIOUS! Very VERY Good! Of course I shared some with the dogs.

We were able to squeak in a 5th take out and took out from Szechuan Cuisine in Glendale.

Today we shared fish with fungus and snow peas in egg white sauce, shrimp kung pao and spicy cabbage. The fish dish was xtra mild and delicate. The shrimp dish was also mild. The cabbage dish had nice flavors and a little heat.

My dogs couldn’t wait to try some.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and will help eat all the food!”

Week 18 of Take out during the coronavirus pandemic was from-

CHZBURGR – Glendale

The Breadfruit and Rum Bar – Phoenix

Bario Cafe – Phoenix

La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale

Szechuan Cuisine – Glendale

Every THING is subject to change and we HOPE it DOES CHANGE for the BETTER!

The Forking Truth