Monthly Archives: December 2022

My Trip to Sushi Plus – Glendale AZ

Sushi Plus is located in Glendale Arizona. They are named for what they serve. They serve a variety of sushi, sushi combination plates and lots of rolls. Many but not all of the sushi items are cooked.

As for the “Plus” they also offer appetizers like gyoza, soft shell crabs, and tempura. They offer noodle dishes – several ramen dishes, yakisoba, and seafood noodle soup. They offer a few salads, a kids menu, and entrees like teriyaki, sesame chicken, fish and chips, and bibimbap. They offer soft beverages, sake, and wine.

They happen to have an impressive 4.5 average out of 5 stars on Yelp so I thought this restaurant should be pretty darn good.

We thought we’d start out by sharing a combination sushi plate. We waited a while. But for some reason our server serves us our entrees first.

Japanese Curry Rice

I got the Japanese Curry Rice with Vegetables with chicken. I guess it was sitting a while because the sauce has grown it’s own skin. The vegetables in this dish are microscopic. It is suppose to be with vegetables…… I think this bowl was microwaved because parts of the bowl are steaming hot. Some of the chicken is ok but about half the chicken has a very strange texture. Like biting threw an over cooked chicken gizzard….The sauce is thick and very gingery. It is torture eating this dish. Our server only has one other table but didn’t ask how it was.

My husband tried the spicy chicken.

It is better than the curry rice. The chicken seems fresh prepared and is reasonably tender. The thin flat sauce taste taste laced with gochujang. This came with one piece of broccoli, some cabbage, and a generous portion of rice.

When we pushed the plates to the side our combination sushi plate arrived. We got a variety plate of sushi and a spicy tuna roll.

I started with a salmon nigiri. (look at the bottom end of the fish)

It’s leathery and warm. It’s also unseasoned under the fish. It isn’t spoiled but isn’t the freshest.

Then I try some spicy tuna roll. It is actually spicy. It seems ok. The white fish nigiri is a little warm but seems ok.

I try the tuna nigiri. I take a very small bite.

I can’t eat it. It’s way too fishy tasting for me. My husband tries it and can’t eat it either.

The server here didn’t ask how anything was, didn’t clear plates, didn’t even ask if we wanted to bring leftovers home. Didn’t question the tuna we left behind.

That was my trip to Sushi Plus in Glendale.

Sushi Plus

5830 W Thunderbird Rd Glendale AZ

602-595-9891

They are on Facebook and UberEats.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Buddy V’s Ristorante – Las Vegas NV 2022 Venetian – Still Worth a Fork!

Buddy V’s Ristorante is an East Coast Style American Italian Restaurant located in the Venetian Hotel Casino in the Grand Canal Shops that is on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. Celebrity Chef Buddy Valastro’s is well known for his TV roll playing the Cake Boss.

Carlo’s Bake Shop across from Buddy V’s

Buddy V grew up working in his father’s bakery called Carlo’s Bake Shop. The business grew. Buddy became the Cake Boss and opened his American Italian Restaurant based on food recipes his grandmother and mother made for him.

Inside is casual.

inside

They start you off with light fermented focaccia bread and olive oil splashed with balsamic.

We shared the Tuscano Salad as an appetizer. I don’t know but I think they accidentally gave us full size portions because these are enormous even for full size portions.

Toscano salad

This is an arugula based salad. The arugula is small and tender and sweet for arugula. This salad contains crispy artichokes, a good amount of pecorino, marinated tomatoes, prosciutto and lemon vinaigrette.

Today I tried the Sicilian Style Fish & Chips.

Sicilian Fish & Chips

This is parmesan crusted Atlantic cod, Tuscan Fries, fresh, crispy well seasoned but drippy slaw, ketchup, and unusually really great tartar sauce. The tartar sauce has chunky pickled pieces in it that taste extra good. This is very good. Everything is nicely made and seasoned nicely. This is better and almost half the price of fish & chips I had somewhere else in Vegas. I did use my lemon from my iced tea to squirt on the fish. Maybe you should ask for a wedge of lemon when you get this dish? I do warn you that this is a very big lunch….I could only eat almost half and I am a good eater but I did notice that someone at the next table had this and ate the whole thing.

My husband had the Nonna’s Lasagna al Forno.

Nonna’s Lasagna Al Forno

This is made with Italian sausage, beef, pork, ricotta, mozzerella, and provolone cheeses. My husband thought that it was very good. He was going to try to eat the whole thing but stopped around half. This is a really crazy large portion for lunch. But sometimes when you see a show it’s good to have a big lunch so you can skip dinner.

A lighter lunch is the salmon that I had last time.

Salmon with chickpea salad

Behind the salmon is the orecchiette plate but sadly it wasn’t on the current menu. My husband said it was his favorite plate of orecchiette that he has ever had.

DAM it! ………….. We saw everyone getting these amazing looking cakes so we had to order one.

This is called the Italian Birthday Cake. It’s a sponge cake soaked with rosolio liquor. It has cannoli filling, really chocolatey pastry cream and toasted almonds.

Italian Birthday Cake

Yes it’s worth the calories. It’s rich and very delicious! You can Taste why Buddy V is the Cake Boss.

Buddy V’s Ristorante is still Worth a Fork! It’s also a very good value.

Worth A Fork!

Buddy V’s Ristorante 3327 S Las Vegas BLVD Las Vegas NV

702-607-2355

www.BuddyVsRestaurants.com

www.VenetianLasVegas.com

Grand Canal Shoppes Shopping Mall – Venetian

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Food Truck Friday West – Que Chevere, Fogo & Soul, Fippin Rice – at Glendale AZ

Food Trucks show up from all over the valley for Food Truck Friday West. It is held in Glendale at 18551 83rd Ave between Sam’s Club & Walmart 5pm-9pm most Friday nights. See www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com for schedule and food truck line ups.

One of the food trucks we tried tonight was Flippin Rice. They are an Asian Fusion and Filipino Food Truck that came here all the way from Gilbert.

We tried them a few weeks back and had the Bulgogi that was pretty good.

bulgogi

So tonight I wanted to try the orange chicken with crispy kale & fennel because that sounded interesting to me.

orange chicken with crispy kale & fennel

Sad to report that this wasn’t as exciting as it sounds. The chicken does have a nice crispy exterior and is very tender inside but lacks a nice flavors. The kale was cut into very small pieces and is almost not there and the fennel was just shaved…..Maybe this is their least interesting dish? The bulgogi from here was much better. We didn’t eat much of this dish so we had some room.

Flippin Rice 480 – 244 – 6102

www.FlippinRice.com

Our next food truck does have a brick and mortar restaurant in Mesa called Que Chevere. They serve Venezuelan Cuisine. The food truck offered empanadas, arepas, plates and more.

Tonight we shared a white corn arepa stuffed with chicken salad with plantain chips on the side.

arepa reina pepiada

WOW! What a game changer! This is unusually delicious! The chicken is moist and developed with flavors. It has a cilantro sauce threw it and avocado but what makes it special is the fresh made white corn arepa. On the side are plantain chips and a dip that seems like ranch dressing to snack on. What a great stop this was!

Que Chevere

480 – 474 – 4954

www.QueChevereAZ.com

Restaurant – 142 W Main St Mesa AZ

Our last stop was Fogo & Soul. They are a Southern Brazilian BBQ Soul Food Fusion Food Truck. We’ve tried them before and it was very good…..Will they be that great again?

They do a nice set up with lights, tables, chairs and a portable heater. We tried their mixed grill trio again but with different sides.

mixed grill trio linguica sausage, chicken, sirloin, potato salad and almost famous cornbread

SCORE! *********** Everything is delicious! The meats are all tender, delicious, and seasoned nicely. The potato salad is seasoned nicely and is laced with dill. The cornbread is buttery, moist and a little sweet. Two times in a row Fogo & Soul was very good!

www.FogoandSoul.com

480 – 849 – 7685

That was a taste of Food Truck Friday West in Glendale AZ

www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com

Every thing is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

2022 Trip to L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon – Las Vegas Nevada

L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon is a high end multi award winning small plate French Restaurant located in the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. It’s from the late chef and most award wining chef of the century Joel Robuchon.

Most of us mere mortals sit at the counter and watch the action. A few people get to sit at the few tables on the side. Maybe they are high rollers? Or maybe they gave “B” jobs to get a table?

Anyways-

They started us off with a FORKING Amazing amuse bouche. It was some sort of apple gelee, finger limes, and I think some sort of smoked citrus cream? It was a mind-blowing highlight of the evening.

Another highlight is always the incredible bread basket with French Butter.

Baguettes, croissants, milk breads…….All great. The croissants really stand out…… the very best that I ever had anywhere..made with that French butter that you can clearly taste in them along with all the amazing layers of the croissant …..

The menus and prices did differ from my last visit. There are less choices and less Tonight we went a la cart instead of the tasting menu because one round of the tasting menu was not for me.

I started off with the cauliflower salad called Les Choux.

It’s cooked cauliflower with micro vegetables, crunchy peanut tuiles with a sweet and sour vinaigrette. A nice light start……..

My husband started with the Iberico ham.

In case you didn’t know this is very special ham from black footed pigs that were kissed by Jesus and only eat acorns. It’s the finest ham. They serve it with bruschetta.

For dinner my husband went with the La Bavette (seared skirt steak, onions and crispy shallots).

It taste beefy with crispy shallots going crunch, crunch, crunch. It was served with the famous buttery whipped Robuchon Potatoes.

For dinner I tried the Roasted Cod (Le Cabillaud) with grilled shiitakes, and soybeans in a saffron broth. It came with the famously RICH Robuchon Potatoes.

It really is very good…but….is the smallest dinner that I have ever had here….and I have been coming here for over TEN YEARS…..

See it’s more of a tasting. The cod is only slightly bigger than a quarter.

I know small plates is very small but this is extra tiny more like a tasting….See even ALL the appetizers that I’ve have prior to this visit are much more filling than this dinner was. (this is only some of the appetizers I’ve had here)

SEE!

Salmon Carpacchio – appetizer

Beef Cheek – appetizer

Kampachi belly with eggplant compote in cilantro sauce – appetizer

smoked salmon potato waffle with dill cream cheese – appetizer

Red snapper carpaccio with lemon gelee and turmeric vinaigrette – appetizer

All the appetizers that we’ve tried here were all more substantial than the dinner I was served tonight….

Anyways

Roasted cod entree

I had room for dessert so we shared the les tartes.

The top one taste like a chocolate candy bar, We both really enjoyed the lemon meringue, Pumpkin was lightly spiced, my husband’s favorite was the cinnamon cream pie.

Then they usually surprise you with another dessert. Tonight was blackberry macarons.

That was my 2022 trip to L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand Las Vegas Nevada.

3799 Las Vegas BLVD South Las Vegas Nevada

702-891-7358

www.MGMGRAND.com

Everything is subject to change

The Forking Truth

Ocean One Bar & Grill – Great Value CHEAP Food on Las Vegas NV Strip

Ocean One Bar & Grill is a full service restaurant and bar located in the Miracle Mile Shops on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. They offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks at rock bottom astonishingly low prices and are better and cheaper than fast food. Breakfast starts at $5.99 and the whole lunch menu is only $5.99 EACH! Dinner isn’t much more. And drinks….

I tried a glass of wine and GOT THREE of these for $12. It’s not the finest wine but it’s drinkable.

This is even filled more than most places would fill

They have a patio that wraps around the restaurant, lots of inside and bar seating.

half of the patio….It continues down past the corner
inside
inside

One day we tried breakfast. My husband went with the $8.99 Spanish Omelette with added on sausage $2.50.

He was happy with it.

I tried the $9.99 smoked salmon platter.

The smoked salmon platter is very large. I think that it is nice that it comes with fresh fruit. The salmon is good, it comes with a slice of Philadelphia cream cheese, capers, red onion mixed greens and a toasted west coast style bagel.

We have tried a lunch here.

We tried the wings on the lunch menu….I wasn’t expecting this much food or it to be as good as it was.

Wings $5.99

I also had a $5.99 Salad.

Not bad for $5.99….Sometimes I get $14. salads that aren’t as good.

My husband got a HOUSE MADE pasta dish for $5.99.

Not bad for $5.99……….

Tried dinner here.

I got the Wild Island Salmon Salad $11.99. It’s made of greens, marinated onions, pistachios, supreme oranges, and house made mango vinaigrette.

I am very surprised on how well they prepared the salmon. It’s as moist as a fully cooked salmon can be. Even the oranges are very fresh tasting like they were just picked. It’s a great salad for only $11.99. A lot of salmon salads are very expensive these days. They often run twenty dollars and up these days. I was somewhere and I remember seeing a salmon salad for $30.

My husband tried the 1/2 pound burger and asked for it to be medium rare $6.99. He added on extra cheese ($1.00 + sautéed onions .50 cents) With the burger you have a choice of fries or rice and beans.

The burger DID COME OUT MEDIUM/RARE! They don’t use the best buns but the actual burger came out very flavorful and juicy.

I haven’t tried dessert yet here but they do look delicious!

Ocean One Bar & Grill – Great Value CHEAP Food on the Las Vegas Strip!

702-696-9080

3667 Las Vegas BLVD South Las Vegas Nevada (at the Miracle Mile Shops)

www.OceanOneGrill.com

Every THING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth