Monthly Archives: August 2020

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 22 – Taco Fusion, La Piazza Al Forno, CHZBURGR, Aiello’s East Coast Italian, Chino Bandido

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All restaurants are struggling these days. ABC News reported that 16,000 restaurants across the country have permanently closed after temporally closing from the pandemic as of July 25 2020. We LOVE going out to eat so we are giving as much support to independent restaurants as we can. Take out dining is less risky than dining in during a pandemic so we do take out instead of dine in.

Our first take out of the week was from Taco Fusion in Glendale.

They serve a good variety of mesquite style tacos on hand made tortillas. They are smaller sized tacos that are a little bigger than street sized and are stuffed more than street tacos. Today I got a carne asada on flour, a mild habanero chicken on flour and the fish on corn tortilla. They are all so delicious! I very rarely like carne asada because it’s usually not tender enough and doesn’t have enough flavor but the carne asada is much better here than from many other places and the tortillas either flour or corn ALSO taste better than from most places. I also enjoy their fish taco on corn….but my favorite is the mild habanero chicken taco with pineapple salsa. I’ve had a lot of chicken tacos from many places and also Mexico. The mild chicken habanero taco is really great. My husband had several tacos that were different than what I ordered and his favorites are the different asada tacos and his other favorite is the shrimp taco. He said they do shrimp better than from most places. The only thing that is difficult is asking for the salsas because you don’t know what they have. I saved some meat for the dogs and they were very excited to try some.

Next was La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They offer certified Neapolitan pizzas and the popular in Italy Roman type pizza. So we got one of each, a salad and their amazing cheese cake for latter.

WOW it smells really great! The basil is very aromatic. We start with some salad. Then we dig into the pizzas. They are both really great pizzas made with house made mozzarella that is really great and the certified San Marzano Tomatoes. The Roman Style Pizza is unique and the dough is thick but very light because it’s mostly air and looks sort of like a sponge. Saving the cheese cake for latter. I always share some food afterwards with the dogs.

CHZBURGR is a small casual restaurant that serves extremely good flat style burgers, outrageously GREAT chicken sandwiches, all beef hot dogs, milk shakes and more. I wasn’t planning on coming this week because I came here last week but when I heard about the crispy boneless chicken leg special sandwich I had to try it.

One the left is the triple cheese burger my husband loves. On the right is a crispy boneless chicken LEG with chipotle honey, house made pickles, asadero cheese and green leaf lettuce. WOW! another great sandwich from CHZBURGR! Of course my dogs wanted to try some.

We also did take out from Aiello’s East Coast Italian.

The food all looks great! They got mixed up there and gave me someone else’s dinner. We called to let them know and something was worked out. I don’t eat veal but I enjoyed the cannoli. My dogs were very happy with the result.

Our last take out of the week was curbside pick up from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. This is a popular mishmash restaurant of sort of Asian, Mexican and Caribbean Inspired creations. Food Network figured out that you can order around 90,000 different combinations here. You get a big pan of food that comes with complimentary snickerdoodle cookies and the combination pans start at less than $10.00 each and might be more than one meal for some people. This is better than fast food and priced cheaper than fast food.

I got the chile relleno, emerald chicken, white rice and black beans. My husband got a carnitas quesadilla, matchacha beef, white rice and refried beans. We had plenty to share with the dogs.

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

The restaurants we did take out from on week 22 –

Taco Fusion – Glendale

La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Chino Bandido – North Phoenix

Aiello’s East Coast Italian – Phoenix

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

The Forking Truth

Moroccan Spiced Beets Recipe (www.BBCGoodFood.com Moroccan Spice Rub Recipe)

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I had some beets and wanted to do something new and different with them. I was thinking about Moroccan Food so I looked up recipes for Moroccan Spice Rub. WOW all the recipes I found are so different. The only common ingredients in most of the recipes were ginger, cinnamon and coriander. Other than that they differed greatly. So I picked one that sounded the most delicious for beets. It is from www.BBCGoodFood.com for Moroccan Spice Rub. Well I picked a great one because these beets came out amazing! I served the beets with pickled onions, olives, gooseberries, feta cheese, urfa pepper and fresh mint so it was delicious. This recipe is only for the beets but you can easily put it together in a similar way. I do note that my idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. This makes around 8 small servings.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

2 lbs beets – peeled and cut in any shape you like

water to almost cover beets in pan

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon sea salt

3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper (I rounded up to 1 teaspoon and it came out a bit spicy)

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon coriander

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

optional pickled onions to taste (recipe can be found on this site)

optional olives to taste

optional gooseberries to taste (apricots or other fruit would work)

optional feta cheese to taste

optional urfa pepper (taste really great on the feta cheese)

optional fresh mint to taste

Directions

Set oven to 400 degrees F.

Your peeled cut up beets go in a loaf shaped pan. Then I poured all the spices on top of the beets. The cumin, ginger, salt, black pepper, cinnamon, coriander, cayenne, allspice and cloves. Then I added enough water to almost cover beets. The pan gets covered tight and goes in the middle of the oven till beets are tender. Around 45 minutes to an hour. Timing will differ because all ovens differ and beets differ depending on size and freshness.

When ready to use drain beets and suggested serving is pickled onions, olives, gooseberries, feta cheese, urfa pepper and fresh mint.

Moroccan spiced beets

Most people will enjoy this! Even my husband enjoyed them and he isn’t a fan of beets!

The Forking Truth

Bad Food I got from Mostly NEW Restaurants in Metro Phoenix AZ

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I was thinking even with the pandemic going on that the food I get out has been better than from previous years. Usually I hit a few really BAD ONES once or twice a year. The other thing that is different is that I am rarely going to restaurants that are new to me. I’ve been not entirely but mostly only going to restaurants that I know. Anyway I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the food I didn’t enjoy from mostly New Restaurants in Metro Phoenix.

Up top was the worst taco I ever had served to me in my life. The taco shell expired on it’s way to me. It was filled with the driest unseasoned chicken that you can ever imagine. It seemed like they just chopped off raw chicken and without seasoning or anything heated it up in the microwave until it got hard and dry. Don’t worry this restaurant that was located in Scottsdale is no longer in business. I wonder why?….

These falafels were very dry and lacked fresh herbs. This falafel place was written up as serving some of the best falafels in metro Phoenix. IDK what’s going on here…Did they get a new chef? Maybe they made better falafels for a professional critic? I’ll never know what happed here but honest… these were horrible falafels. This small restaurant is still in business so I am guessing some sort of recipe change has occurred. A great falafel has a crispy exterior and is moist and fluffy with lots of fresh herbs incase you were wondering.

What is this?

It’s a polenta tower that is unusually stiff and bread-like texture. It’s not very good and it looks like it’s happy to see me…..Or maybe that is the chef’s way of saying that he is pissed off and is trying to say f*** you? Don’t worry…this particular popular restaurant has changed chefs a few times since I had this plate.

I went to a new BBQ place and the brisket was tough with hard fat. I will say that the brisket might have been delicious if it was cooked maybe two hours more……..But the cheesy grits were even worst. They served them to me raw.

I can’t believe they served me this. We even told someone about this and instead of saying something like “I’m sorry” or “I’ll take it off your bill she just walked away.

We visited a restaurant that is no longer in business that was somewhere ion Scottsdale.

I don’t understand why they opened a restaurant before they learned how to cook. The sauce was bitter and acidic with harsh flavors. The meatballs contained hard crunchy carrots. Maybe they were hoping to just sell lots of drinks?

Went to a new sandwich shop somewhere in metro Phoenix.

Looks like my sandwich threw up on itself. My husband sort of liked his sandwich that didn’t look as bad. We did go back and this place did improve.

This time I went to a new Asian Chicken restaurant somewhere in Metro Phoenix.

They gave me the half good half bad plate. Chicken on the left was moist and edible. Chicken on the right was all dried out and very stringy.

Even pizza can be screwed up!

Imagine getting an individual pizza with part of it that doesn’t come with any topping……No topping on a pizza is like getting empty presents on your birthday…BAH!

This next restaurant was already in business but was sold to new owners and opened with a new menu. It used to be ok so I thought we’d give it another try. I was thinking that maybe it got better………Well I was wrong it got worst.

WOW this chicken salad was awful. It came with these processed tasting COLD chicken fingers that seemed like they previously exploded in the microwave and were served chilled to me on a mediocre salad. The chicken finger were sort of hallow in the middle and were crunchy in a microwave kind of way. WOW this was bad beyond all expectations.

Many people will not order fish in Phoenix for these reasons.

I’m thinking one of the worst plates I was served was the trout plate from somewhere in Metro Phoenix.

Wow this was bad on all kinds of levels. Mediocre questionably edible fish. I got lovely boiled from frozen vegetables. I got green mashed potatoes. I asked the waitress why the mashed potatoes were green. She runs back to talk with the chef. He said mashed potatoes turn green when you add black pepper. WOW I guess his pepper was green and moldy. This restaurant is still in business…..maybe some people like this kind of food?

The next one might not look as bad but something very strange was wrong with it.

I got this whole fish from a restaurant that I enjoyed before. This time the fish seemed like it was made out of rubber, We couldn’t eat it. I think they served us an embalmed fish.

Well The Forking Truth is that there is GOOD and BAD everywhere out there!

Be CAREFUL!

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

The Forking Truth

Roasted Choyote Squash with Golden Raisins Coconut and Almonds in Pomegranate Cocoa Vinaigrette

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Choyote squash is different than the other squashes that I know of out there. This one is crisp when it’s raw almost like an apple. When you cook this squash it’s slightly sweet with little flavor. I picked up one choyote squash not knowing what I’d do with it. It just so happened that maybe the next day I came across local chef Tandy Peterson’s recipe for Cocoa Pomegranate Vinaigrette recipe in a Phoenix Home and Garden Magizine. Instantly I thought her vinaigrette or a similar vinaigrette would be great with Choyote Squash. After I read her recipe I figured I’d have to make a similar but different recipe because I didn’t want to use a whole cup of oil and I didn’t have pomegranate juice at home. Instead I used only one tablespoons of oil, some dijon mustard and a few spices that Tandy doesn’t have in her recipe like smoked paprika and cinnamon. My recipe is an inspiration of Tandy’s recipe and is meant to give flavor to the squash with less fat. Tandy’s recipe is a true vinaigrette recipe. You might prefer to do Tandy’s Cocoa Pomegranate Vinaigrette – 1 t. minced shallots, 2 T. pomegranate molasses, 3 T. pomegranate juice, 3 T. apple cider vinegar, 1 cup extra virgin olive oil, 1 t. cocoa powder, 1 pinch cayenne, 1 teaspoon salt. Just shake it up in a mason jar till it’s done. Below is the recipe for Roasted Choyote Squash with Golden Raisins, Toasted Coconut, Toasted Almonds, Scallions in Pomegranate Cocoa Vinaigrette. I did make it a 2nd time and I really enjoyed it more with a little charred cabbage added so that isn’t in this recipe buy it’s something you might want to add.

Ingredients for around 2 servings

1 choyote squash – washed well – cut in rough chunks or cubes – cut around the pit

drizzle olive oil

fresh ground sea salt to taste

fresh ground black pepper to taste

2 Tablespoons unsweetened coconut flakes – toasted at 300 degrees F till brown- (maybe 5 minutes)

12 almonds – crushed – toasted at 300 degrees F (maybe 6-7 minutes)

1 Tablespoon golden raisins

1 scallion – chopped

1/2 teaspoon shallots – minced

1 Tablespoon pomegranate molasses

1 Tablespoon + 1 1/2 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon cocoa powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne

1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika

pinch cinnamon

pinch sea salt

Directions

Set the oven to 425 degrees F

Put the squash on a small baking sheet and lightly drizzle with oil. The squash stay in till slightly brown on a middle rack in the oven. Mine took about 20 minutes but timing may differ.

While the squash is roasting make the vinaigrette.

In a small mixing bowl ass the shallots, pomegranate molasses, apple cider vinegar, olive oil, dijon, cocoa powder, cayenne, smoked paprika, cinnamon and salt. Mix till emulsified and the golden raisins and let it sit.

As soon as you take the squash out of the oven hit them with fresh ground salt and pepper to taste. If you didn’t toast the coconut and almonds do that now and lower the oven temp to 300 degrees F. The coconut toast really fast like in 5 minutes and the almonds only take a couple minutes more. When ready to serve toss the squash in the vinaigrette and top with the toasted coconut, almonds and scallions.

Roasted Choyote Squash with Golden Raisins Coconut & Almonds in Pomegranate Cocoa Vinaigrette

A SPECIAL THANKS to Chef Tandy Peterson!!!! For sharing her recipe for Cocoa Pomegranate Vinaigrette. I think similar flavors go really well with Choyote Squash Golden raisins, coconut and almonds. Actually I made this a second time and it was even better when I added some charred green cabbage to the Choyote Squash.

The Forking Truth

Salads I took out in Metro Phoenix AZ

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I often eat salads so I do a lot of take out salads too. Here is a collection in no particular order of the salads I took out in metro Phoenix. Up above is the Greek Salad with chicken kabob from Pita Kitchen in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. The chicken has a delicious char taste and about 18 out of twenty times is juicy, super flavorful and delicious.

Next is the chicken fajita salad from Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

This is a great big salad. It differs slightly every time I order it. But it is always BIG.

These salads from Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide are really great and are only $7.50.

The side salads are very good too above is tabouli and below is beet salad ($3)

Below is the chicken and cabbage salad from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

It’s always tasty and it only cost around $5.00.

Next is the strawberry and goat cheese chicken salad from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

They make their own dressings that are very good and this salad is always delicious. (It usually has more goat cheese on it)

Below is the strawberry and chicken salad from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

It’s also delicious and is also served with house made dressing.

From Phila-Deli in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide is the select-your-own $7.50 Salad.

It’s a BIG pretty nice salad too!

Below is a family style pear salad (lower left) from Fabio On Fire in Peoria #UpperWestSide. Also pictured is his amazing bread, gelato and pasta.

Next is a mista salad from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

It’s surrounded by their delicious pasta.

Below are two salads from newly opened Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale.

On the left is the mistral salad with added salmon and on the right is the chop chop salad with added steak. These salads were really unusually great with all kinds of yummy surprises in them.

Below is a lovely chopped chicken salad from Confluence in Carefree. This is an upscale modern American food type restaurant. Most of the foods they serve are more unique but sometimes you just need to eat a salad.

All kinds of goodies are here like beets and apples. There’s house made from scratch croutons.

In the middle of the picture below is the lotus root salad from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

We even got a house salad from La Piazza Al Forno in Glendale.

Upper left corner is the house salad. On the right is their CRAZY GREAT Bianco pizza with added Calabrian Chili Peppers..(CRAZZZZZZY GOOD!)

Well that is most of the salads that I took out 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 21 – CHZBURGR, Stratta Kitchen, Glai Baan, Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante, Mrs Chicken

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The GOOD NEWS is that not everyone will get sick or catch the coronavirus. The Bad news is that it is easier to catch coronavirus than to win big with the lottery. Anywho- We are doing take out because we want to support restaurants. On the news they reported that 16,000 of small business restaurants in the U.S. have already shuttered because of the lack of business due to the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option than dining inside these days so that is as risky as we get.

One restaurant we did the safer curbside take out from was CHZBURGR in Glendale. They serve amazing flat style cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, milk shakes and more. They are very above average and have an upscale twist for what they are despite being priced only slightly more than fast food.

This time we got (starting from the left) the triple CHZBURGR, in the middle is a special request no onion plain double cheese for my lucky dogs and on the right is the special of the day. It was a salt, sugar and herb cured chicken breast that also was brined. The sandwich came with marinated tomatoes, spinach and garlic aioli. It was suppose to also come with provolone cheese but I have some food peeves and that is too much fat for me so I did without the cheese and did with the garlic aioli. We also shared some potato tots. The food is ALWAYS delicious from CHZBURGR. My dogs got to enjoy a small portion of their CHZBURGR for dinner.

Our very own Michelin Award Wining Chef of Top Chef Masters Alex Stratta opened Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale. It’s a casual health focused restaurant. They offer a menu of small plates, grain bowls, salads and a few other things where you add the protein and sauce of your liking. This restaurant offers dine in or patio dining and take out and curb side. We went with the safest option of curbside for our first time here.

In the left hand corner we shared the Sicilian Caponata that came with grilled Noble Bread. For my main I tried the Mistral Salad with added (expertly cooked) Alaskan Sterling Salmon. My husband tried the Chop Chop Salad with added strip steak and we shared a Double Trouble Chocolate Cake. WOW everything was AMAZING! My salad popped with all kinds of flavors. I also really enjoyed the harissa with this salad and the fish was really prepared to perfection. That cake was also really rich and very chocolatey. Everything was really GREAT! We save some salmon and steak for my dogs too!

Next we did take out from a little Thai Restaurant in Phoenix called Glai Baan. According to their website they serve Thai Street Food and Northeastern Thai Dishes.

We shared the son-in-law eggs, beef salad, chicken gra pow and mackerel fried rice. WoW it was interesting and different. Less saucy than from most places and the gra pow is very flavorful and much spicier than from most places. This type of food isn’t dog friendly so we gave them other leftovers.

Next take out was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. They are an Italian restaurant that specializes in serving Neapolitan Type Pizzas. Tonight we shared a salad and I got the papardelle al fungi and my husband got the sallsiccia.

I think Bottega does an extremely great mushroom pasta. The mushrooms are so meaty and so flavorful. My husband said that the sausage pasta is very good. Dogs got to eat some cheese here (and other stuff I saved for them)

We were able to squeeze in a 5th restaurant and we both like spicy chicken so we decided to try Mrs Chicken in Phoenix.

We both got the two piece dark chicken meat on the “Hot” level of heat. For our sides we both went the mustard slaw. The chicken is crisp and is coated with spicy heat that builds. The inside is tender moist chicken. We saved some moist, mild from the inside chicken for our dogs.

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

Restaurants we did take out from are –

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Stratta Kitchen — Scottsdale

Glai Baan – Phoenix

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Mrs Chicken – Phoenix

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

The Forking Truth

Forking AWESOME Mexican Inspired Marinated Chicken Breast Recipe

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Safeway has had some pretty good buys on chicken breast recently so I’ve been busy making lots of different dishes with chicken breast. Today I played around with a Mexican tasting marinade for chicken breast. WOW DID IT COME OUT FORKING GREAT! It is NOT a traditional Mexican marinade but the flavors swing that way. I then pan seared the breast and they were full of juice and flavors. The outside I forgot to write down exactly what I put in my dusting mix but it was a LIGHT DUSTING of masa flour (VERY LIGHT) that was mixed with salt, pepper and Emerils’ recipe for Bam (a cajun seasoning) I just pan seared the chicken in a regular fry pan that I sprayed with non stick canola oil.

recipe for up to 2 pound of skinless boneless chicken breast

2 pounds chicken breast – skinless, boneless, pounded some, butterflied and cut in reasonable sizes – room temperature

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 oregano

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground annatto

1/4 teaspoon coriander

1/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (I buy at Sprouts)

non stick spray

Directions

In a gallon ziplock bag add everything but the chicken first and squish the bag so the liquid is mixed. Then add the chicken and squish it around till the chicken looks all coated. Leave this sit on the counter and squish it around a few times during the hour.

Get your fry pan on medium high heat with non stick spray.

Take maybe a 1/3 of the chicken from the bag and blot them off with paper towels. Season the chicken on both sides LIGHTLY with a seasoned masa flour dust.

Timing will differ but put the chicken in the pan and don’t crowd it too much. Cook the chicken till it looks half way cooked on one side and then flip the chicken over to finish the other side. Timing will differ but with my stovetop and my pan mine took around 5 minutes on one side and around 4 minutes on the other side.

Place either on a cooling rack with a liner or a pan that is lined with paper towels.

Repeat till alll the chicken is cooked.

Serve with fresh cilantro, lime, pickled onions and other vegetables.

Forking AWESOME Mexican Inspired Marinated Chicken Breast

Everyone will love this!

The Forking Truth

FORKING FUNNY IMAGINARY Foods Out There on the Internet

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Since the pandemic I’ve been researching food more on the internet. I’ve found many imaginary food products that seem amusing. I think a few I found might actually be for real but the majority and part of someones imagination. I found many odd flavors for Oreo Cookies. Up above are McDonalds Cheeseburger Cookies. Can’t you mustard that?

Next are Spam Oreos made with 100% Spam that you might want to pig out on.

They even have the U kosher mark on the package (lol)

How about-

Limited Edition College Flavor Oreos made with pot and ramen.

Or maybe Limited Edition Zombie Brains is more your thing?

They are artificially flavored with Blood Orange.

Lets move on to something different but also weird.

Tastes Like Grandma – Homemade Black Raspberry Jam……Sounds like someone was licking up grandma……

Then there is Fuke brand ??? Not sure what this is suppose to be? Is it meat shredded by a child? Is it meat for children? Or is it bottled meat from children?

The next one is “R” rated.

Grace Brand Cock flavored soup….It looks real? …Maybe it’s male chicken soup?……Don’t know if it is?

I heard of monkey bread…but this is not that.

Roasted Monkey Nuts……Product of China…. (eat before December 23 2010….LOL…OLD NUTS)

Next is 100% “HAND” Reared Pork.

Pinky’s Sausages….Can you handle this?

How about some Limited Edition Pop-Tarts?

But just the crust?…….

Maybe potato chips are more your thing?

Lay’s Sour Milk Potato Chips…That might taste something like sour cream, yogurt or buttermilk?

Maybe some Fagottini?

???

Found another Oreo Cookie!

Nabisco GOreo made with blood cookies that are artificially flavored.

Well that is some of the Forking Funny (mostly) IMAGINARY Foods Out There on the Internet.

The Forking Truth

Old Bay Beer Battered Lobster Mushrooms and Onion Rings with Anchovy Caper Sauce Recipe

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I got these lobster mushrooms so I knew that I had to do something special with them. Lobster mushrooms are different from other mushrooms and do have a faint seafood taste. I thought seafood and that is how I came up with Old Bay Beer Batter and Caper Sauce. They came out delicious but I made about twice as much batter as I needed so I also battered onion rings and a couple small heirloom tomatoes. My idea of serving size might differ from your idea of serving size. For us this made 8 small servings. I used almost a half a pound of lobster mushrooms and one large onion. (I am guessing around a total of 8 servings) I do note that reheated servings did become crisp again when reheated in the oven.

Ingredients for around 8 servings

canola or vegetable oil to fry with (about thumbs length in pot)

1 can beer (I used almost the whole can….the amount of liquid will differ slightly depending on the flour you use)

1 cup flour

1 egg – beaten

1 Tablespoon Old Bay Seasoning – plus extra to dust afterwards

1/2 lb lobster mushrooms cut in strips

1 large onion – thick slices for rings

6 anchovies

1 Tablespoon anchovy oil from can or bottle

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

1 garlic clove – ground to paste

1 teaspoon capers

1/4 cup parsley leaves

Directions

Make sauce. Blend together the anchovies, oils, lemon juice, garlic and parsley. Set to the side.

Line a pan or two with paper towels for your fried food.

Get your sauce pot for frying. Fill about a thumbs length with oil. Set it on medium high. Once hot turn down around medium. When oil is ready make the batter. In a big bowl add the flour and old bay seasoning. then add beer and egg and mix well. Do a sample piece first before you fry all of them so you can adjust the flour and beer ratio. It will be very hot so be careful. When you are happy with it drop some mushrooms into the batter and coat them. Shake off excess batter and BE CAREFUL. Use tongs to drop them in the oil. They get done really fast but need to be turned over to brown on both sides. Do the same with the onion rings. Dust lightly with more Old Bay Seasoning. Serve.

Old Bay Beer Battered Lobster Mushrooms and Onion Rings with Anchovy Caper Sauce

Everyone will love this.

The Forking Truth

My Four Take Outs from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale AZ

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Twist Bistro and Gallery is a small modern Mediterranean style restaurant, bar and art gallery located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They opened for business during the coronavirus pandemic sometime around May 2020. I haven’t stepped in yet but my husband snapped the next two photos.

It’s colorful and cheerful. The walls are accented with colorful artwork.

On the other side (not shown) is the bar.

All four of our take outs included complimentary biscuits with honey butter.

The biscuits did differ some on every visit but all of them were tasty. Most of them were studded with feta cheese and some had fresh dill. The texture differed. Some were scone like and others were light as a feather.All were delicious.

On one visit we tried a mushroom crepe that was stuffed with black truffle ricotta cheese.

On two of my visits I had the Loch Duart Salmon. It’s EXTREMELY GREAT! It’s prepared to perfection. It came with delicious seasoned black rice, vegetables, tomato salad and pistou sauce. It’s very rare in metro phoenix to get salmon that is this good and prepared this well. …It’s grilled nice and is medium/mediium rare in the middle.

My husband enjoyed the shrimp and sausage diablo just as much as I enjoyed the salmon and he also had this meal twice. It comes with cheesy polenta.

We tried the house made beignets.

They are powdered doughnuts with delicious house made sauces.

Then we did take out again.

In the upper left hand corner is the southern breaded shawarma kabobs with minted cucumbers, marinated olives, jalapeños and preserved lemon basil syrup. We had the same dinners as last time (salmon & shrimp and sausage diablo). This time we tried an amazing dessert (left hand lower corner) It was the mascarpone cheese cake. It came with pistachio praline, salted caramel, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It was a really great dessert. Just like from a fine restaurant that has their own pastry chef.

We tried a few different things on our third take out.

In the middle is an everything flatbread topped with house made lox. (yum!) On the right are two different dinners. Upper right is willed boar meatballs served with an different style of gnocchi. Bottom right is their “Twist” on chicken and dumplings. It’s really delicious marinated chicken that is moist and flavorful but because of my 30 minute car ride home in the hot heat the sauces and dumplings sort of baked together. It would have been much better to dine in with this one. However it still was delicious. There was all kinds of goodies here like goat cheese, berries, braised greens and a different kind of dumplings that they call gnocchi. On the left are the complimentary biscuits and a strawberry rhubarb cobbler (minus the ice cream because I knew it would melt).

My forth take out was really great too!

Top left corner we shared the Moroccan festival soup. It’s a vegetarian soup with spiced vegetables lentils, chick peas , preserved lemon and cilantro. It’s deep earthy and fabulous! I went with the grilled Hawaiian opah. The fish was prepared to perfection and came with a orange basil beurre blanc sauce, vegetables and scallion almond rice. My husband had the steak sandwich pallard. It’s a grilled tenderloin with mustardy horseradish sauce, mozzarella cheese, demi sauce on a garlic Noble Bread baguette. I tried a small piece of the tenderloin and it was so tender with a really great taste. WOW it was crazy good!

Those were my first four take outs from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale.

www.twist-bistro.com

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

The Forking Truth