The way I made this one was very awkward but also came out too delicious not to mention. I scored some corn from my local supermarket real cheap and wanted to try something new. I wondered if anyone smokes corn. Turns out lots of people smoke corn. Most people say to soak the corn for an hour before smoking……So I did that……but my corn wasn’t cooked yet…so I wanted to cook it. Other people just oil or butter up the corn and eat it a few people add grill marks just for looks.
So I threw the corn covered into a 350 degree oven for an hour with a stick (4oz.) butter sliced up and water that almost covered the corn.
Something FORKING Amazing happened……..The corn is delicious and juicy and a just right good tasting smoke. BUT I GOT ANOTHER gift…The water is incredible with flavors. It actually is smelling the whole house up with deliciousness.
I was thinking that I need to make some sort of sauce out of the water…maybe I should reduce it……….?
Anyways-
I was thinking that an onion and a bell pepper would go well with the corn.
Since a stick of butter is in the water maybe I can flavor it up. cook the onion and pepper and maybe reduce the rest????
I drain the corn and add to the corn/butter water
2 Tablespoons of date syrup
2 Tablespoons paprika
2 Tablespoons chili powder
2 Tablespoons sea salt
I let it cook on medium simmering for around 30 minutes.
1 onion diced
1 red bell diced
After the 1/2 hour the vegetables have absorbed lots of flavors and are soft like soup vegetables. I remove them with a slotted spoon and add them to the corn that I sliced off of the cob. I taste the corn liquid and decide to take it off the heat. I add some to the corn side dish and the rest I am saving to use on the next vegetable I make.
Golden Phoenix Chinese Cuisine is a casual Asian neighborhood type Restaurant that serves mostly American Chinese Cuisine. They also offer a few Thai dishes, Singapore curry, teriyaki, lunch specials, family dinners and more! They are located in North Las Vegas Nevada.
We tried two dishes. The tomato beef because that is not often found on American Chinese menus and the hot garlic Szechuan chicken with upgraded brown rice.
We were surprised with a small plate of fried crispy noodle with duck sauce.
The tomato beef is made with scrambled eggs.
I’ve had this dish before a few times…….and at each place it differs some. Here the beef is tender and the sauce is mildly tomato beefy………Here it is not sweet like it is from some places.
The hot garlic Szechuan chicken here has lots more going on with it.
The white meat chicken is lightly coated and is masterfully moist and tender. Todays vegetables are scallions, zucchini, carrots, bell peppers, onions, and two kinds of mushrooms. The sauce does have sweetness to it but not too much and has other flavors and HEAT from dried and fresh hot peppers.
The food so far was reasonably good and better than from a lot of American/Chinese restaurants we tried in Phoenix so we came back and did take out.
We tried the chicken potstickers.
These were fried and are crispy all over but tasty.
The hot and spicy chicken REALLY IS HOT and SPICY.
It’s also PACKED with LOTS of tender chicken. I like that this dish contains fresh basil but I wished they didn’t include the basil stems because they aren’t edible.But this dish does have a nice flavor to it.
Hunan beef also is pretty good!
The beef is slightly coated and crispy but also very tender and tasty. There is a little tender crisp broccoli and a generous portion of rice.
For another take out we shared the mu shu chicken.
It came with two wrappers that are similar to thin flour tortillas. This dish is very different but also very good. The flavors are much lighter and delicate. This dish is also lighter and easier to eat. This dish is also packed with more vegetables and the chicken is expertly moist and tender. It also came with this sauce that was delicious with it and was sort of mainly star anise taste.
That was a little taste of Golden Phoenix Chinese Cuisine in North Las Vegas Nevada.
Juan’s Flaming Fajitas & Cantina as of April 2023 has three locations in Las Vegas Nevada. I went to the North Las Vegas Location. Their specialty is the flaming fajita so that is what we were set to try. They also offer fresh made tortillas made in house.
Occasional live music.
They also offer a long menu of many traditional Mexican Dishes like carnitas, chile rellenos, fresh seafood, and more!
Whatever you order they start you off with two salsas and warm bean dip with fresh just made hot chips. (red sauce taste like chile de arbal to me?, green salsa is a delicious tomatillo based sauce, and my husband enjoyed the bean dip)
Our fajita for two came with cups of fideo soup (tasty tomato based soup with pasta).
In a little while our fajita cart comes out rolling over to us.
A liquid ignites the fajitas. (We asked two different people what the liquid was but didn’t really get an answer…..but I thought I might have heard one of the workers mumbling vodka and something else?……When I worked for Chi-Chi’s many years ago we used a lemon wedge to ignite the skillet)
Then almost instantly the fajitas go KA-BOOM!
Juan’s Flaming Fajitas REALLY are served FLAMING!
Here the fajita after the flame.
You do get fresh made tortillas (corn or flour) side boats of rice and beans (refried, black bean, or pinto) Or you can get steamed vegetables…..(I’ll try that next time)
Here’s the black beans and rice it comes with pico, sour cream, and guacamole.
Here’s the pinto beans and rice.
Back to the fajitas.
This is one of the best fajitas that I’ve tasted and I’ve tasted a lot of them over the decades. The meats taste marinated and are both developed with flavors. Both are tender. Both really are good but both of us love the chicken more………It’s just Phenomenally great.
I HAVE TO SAY-
Juan’s Flaming Fajitas & Cantina is-
Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
Juan’s Flaming Fajitas & Cantina – 2660 W Centennial PKWY North Las Vegas NV
I can across a recipe from Milk Street for Red Chimichurri. For some reason I imagined it going with parsnips. I didn’t do their recipe as written and changed the formula some. The biggest change I made was changing the amount of oil they put into it. I cut the amount of oil to around one third and added some water instead. My homemade smoked pecan sea salt might have also made a delicious difference here. Anyways this came out FORKING AMAZING but it is spicy…….Not sure if it would be as delicious with less heat?………. It’s so FORKING delicious I don’t want to screw with it……..I added some roasted red peppers to cool it off a little at the end.
Ingredients for around four servings
1 lb parsnips – (peeling is optional…organic don’t peel) cut into chunks (if core is woody remove it……If you knife passes threw keep core)
4 Tablespoons water
4 Tablespoons canola oil
2 Tablespoons sweet paprika
2 Tablespoons red pepper flakes
2 Tablespoons dried oregano
4 cloves garlic – ground to paste
4 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon sea salt – preferably smoked pecan sea salt
non stick spray
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 F.
Really you can cut your parsnips however you want but if you cut them similar to what I did they will get done in around 30 minutes. I cut mine like this.
In a large bowl mix together the water, canola oil, sweet paprika, red pepper flakes, dried oregano, garlic, balsamic vinegar, salt. Mix well. Mix in parsnips to get well coated.
Spread out the parsnips in a single layer on a sheet pan. They get covered with foil that was sprayed with non-stick spray so the top foil doesn’t stick to the parsnips.
They go on the middle rack for around 30 minutes or until the parsnips are fork tender.
Parsnips in Spicy Red Chimichurri
I added two roasted red peppers. This is SPICY but it really is FORKING DELICIOUS!!! A special THANKS!!!!! to Milk Street so I could come up with what I got here!
My local stores Walmart and Safeway grocery have exploded with all these New and Different Reese’s products. I’m a fan of original Reese’s so I thought I’d give them a try.
Honestly it’s kinda hard to tell how they are. They are similar to the regular original Reese’s Cup but sort of melted. The chocolate and peanut butter are both much softer. Maybe slightly less flavorful….They are harder to enjoy because they are too soft. Maybe they’d be good with ice cream? I prefer the original to this creamy version. I would not buy them again.
Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Creamy. I do note that your FORKING Thoughts may indeed differ.
Don Michael’s Restaurant is a small casual Italian Restaurant located in a strip mall in North-West Las Vegas Nevada. It’s not a fancy place. I can tell you that from just one visit that portions are large and prices are low.
They did start us off with garlic toast that I forgot to photo.
We shared an appetizer called portobello mushrooms. I was expecting a few mushrooms stuffed with some cheese and crumbs……..but we received a large bowl of mushrooms with fresh spinach in a very rich mushroomy cheese sauce.
This is a big bowl and can certainly feed far more than two people.
This is very good with the bread. I think it would also be really great on a potato.
For dinner I tried the salmon Da Vinci that is salmon in a sherry dijon sauce with capers, artichokes, and pasta.
Everything is prepared reasonably well. The sauce is tasty and the salmon isn’t overcooked. It’s also a very large portion.
My husband went with one of the specials called chicken saliccia. It was tender chunks of chicken with sausage, bell peppers, onions, olives, rosemary, thyme, wine, and Sunday sauce….topped with a little grated cheese.
He said it was flavored very good!
Don Michael’s Restaurant is a casual neighborhood type restaurant that serves very large portions and is reasonably priced.
Worth a Try!
Don Michael’s Restaurant – 4864 W Lone Mountain Rd Las Vegas NV
This is a collection of the very best foods that I have tried from Metro Phoenix AZ Restaurant since the beginning of the year. They are pictured in the order I tried them.
The Kengi burger from Then Burger – red Leicester cheese, teriyaki, caramelized onion, arugula, yuzu aioli, Noble bread Bun
The Kengi Burger from Then Burger in Glendale WAS worth traveling across town for. The burger is unusually delicious and flavorful and all the other ingredients are just magic here.*******UPDATE********Then Burger recently lowered their prices and shortened the menu. *******The Kengi Burger is NOT on the current menu.****** (but we can hope that it will return)
******UPDATE******
Unfortunately things do change. Then Burgers at the time of my second visit are no longer a blend of sirloin, short rib and chuck. They changed them to all chuck and they taste different and cook up different. Also the Kenji burger has been discontinued. I tried a marrow and mushroom burger. My husband tried another drugstore burger.
Both beef patties were dry like a hockey pucks. I had to send it back because this is a 36$ burger. I was promised that they could do better so I let them try. In reasonable time our second burgers came out. Again both dry like hockey pucks.
I FORKING have no idea on how the burgers are now but the first burger I had here was the FORKING BEST in all the land. I can only hope that Then Burger returns to the original recipe……..Maybe they will change again…..???????
Then Burger 9220 W Glendale Ave Glendale AZ – 623-328-9388
www.ThenBurger.com
Pastrami Sandwich from Little Pickle1st Brisket Sandwich from Little PickleLox from Little Pickle
Little Pickle KILLED it three times this year. TO DIE FOR Pastrami……I have to tell The FORKING Truth because that is my thing….The first time we tried the Brisket it was FORKING AMAZING……on a 2nd visit it was so different…not awful ….. but not amazing. I did contact Little Pickle about it and they told me that their help didn’t follow the recipe???????? I don’t know what happened there……..But then I tried the lox and it was like 100 times better than what you can get anywhere else in Phoenix. So they still killed it three times this year. I sincerely hope that the brisket returned to the original recipe.
This restaurant may or may not relocate soon….
Little Pickle – 2501 E Camelback Rd Phoenix AZ – 602-466-7098********UPDATE Little Pickle has CLOSED***** but is expected to reopen very close to the same location.
www.LittlePickleAZ.com
This was the best chicken taco that I’ve had in a long time. Who knew that it would come from a food truck? The chicken had a great developed flavor and a delicious char taste, flavors, and was tender and delicious. The tortilla was hand made and the salsa seemed house made. That handmade tortilla was incredibly delicious too.
Good Eats Only Mexican Kitchen Food Truck 623-521-8473
You can find them on Facebook
12 oz. N.Y. Strip – SW seasoning spice blend, bone marrow butter, tepary bean mole negro …from Tia Carmen
Tuna crudo – (corn coconut broth, smoked chili oil, dill) from Tia Carmen
Tia Carmen makes many magical dishes. The Tuna Crudo alone is the single best dish that I tasted anywhere last year. This year it still is the best or among the best. The New York Strip is also an incredible dish. The tepary bean black mole FORKING takes a year to make!
Tia Carmen 5350 E Marriott Dr PHX AZ – 480-293-3636
www.TiaCarmenDesertRidge.com
Puchka snack from Feringhee Modern Indian Cuisine
The Puchka snack with passion fruit was a TIDAL WAVE of flavors. I tried it at the 2023 Dish Fest but it was from Feringhee Modern Indian Cusine. I’d love to go to that restaurant but it’s a 45 mile hike for me.
Feringhee Modern Indian Cuisine – 3491 W Frye Rd Chandler AZ – 480-534-7178
www.Feringhee.com
This next one is really amazing but very hard to single out a single dish because the menu often changes…….If any beef cheek is on the menu when you happen to go here it would be crazy to miss out on those beef cheek dishes here………Once you try one it’s actually life changing. Nobody else’s can compare. Same with a lot of the other dishes. Fish dishes are always amazing. The desserts are also more detailed and more complex than from maybe any other restaurant I’ve been too. Actually when you go to other higher end restaurants you get disappointed because their desserts seem like nothing compared to desserts you get here.
Confluence in Carefree serves high quality modern-American foods. The chef is well seasoned and is very masterful. He has worked in impressive restaurants including Binkley’s.
The food is always masterfully prepared. The chef himself prepares the food …not a second line cook and also not some young kid that just started cooking. The Chef himself is cooking.
Here is the aged gouda and caramelized onion tart. It contains Iberia chorizo, horseradish, sunflower seed, arugula, pomegranate molasses, and freeze dried honey.
No other restaurant will serve such a detailed and complex dessert like the smoked butterscotch tapioca pudding.
Embellishments are blueberries, pepitas, candied butternut squash, and smoked vanilla creme faiche . The main courses are always perfection. If you catch a menu with beef cheek on it that is an absolute must get dish.
Confluence – 36889 N Tom Darlington Dr Carefree AZ – 480-488-9796
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
It’s worth driving across town to dine at Alzohour Market and Restaurant in Phoenix for many of the dishes. BUT I DO WARN YOU that service is done by one woman that also is your chef, runs, the market, and clothing store so you are going to wait a while. The dish that she is most famous for is the B’Stilla. It’s her handmade pastry with chicken, sugar, almonds, and cinnamon. Other dishes that you might want to try are the grape leaves, kashe bademjam (eggplant & walnut on a sizzling skillet with vegetables and pita bread) tangines or mixed grill plates. Desserts are also not to be missed because the pastry is hand made in house. The baklava is really great and not too sweet. Maybe my favorite is the noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with pistachios.
cod tangine
Alzohour Market & Restaurant
7814 N 27TH Avenue PHX AZ – 602-433-5192
www.Alzohour-Market.Business.site
You sure don’t find much laffa bread or lolas in Phoenix. My Spot Mediterranean Grill recently opened in North Phoenix Arizona. This is a super casual kosher Israeli type restaurant. The One dish that blew me away was the beef lola on laffa bread.
It’s like a giant burrito…I’ll open it a little so you can look inside.
The beef inside is amazing and isn’t like any other out there. It’s full of delicious flavors and is really moist and tender. Tahini sauce, spicy pickles, a spicy sauce, onions, cabbage really go amazing together. I recommend to get this with the works so you get all these flavors…….The laffa bread was also fresh made. This was a great surprise treat that I doubt you can find anywhere else in Phoenix.
My Spot Mediterranean Grill – 1601 E Bell Rd PHX AZ – 602-612-3955
www.MySpotKosherKitchen.com
The Banh Mi Baguette Sandwiches from Banh Mi Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix are always good. The shaken beef is almost like filet but is really ribeye. I like the chicken one too! My husband switches back and forth between the beef and bbq pork. We also do noodle salad bowls here, rice plates, and curry chicken. Portions are very large and can be two meals for some people. Prices are reasonable.
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – 2340 W Bell Rd PHX AZ – 602-843-3637
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
Fabio On Fire makes the most delicious bread that I’ve tasted in Metro Phoenix. He makes this very special ciabatta pugliese bread with a hundred year old starter…….But it doesn’t stop there…..It keeps going and going……….Phoenix Magazine named his porchetta as one of the top 100 dishes of metro Phoenix. His Neopolitian style pizzas are FANTABULOUS and the crust has a developed taste unlike other pizzas out there that are flat in comparison.
If you are a fan of meat pizzas you might want to try the salsiccia fungi.
That one is great but the pizza with the most bells and whistles might be the bufalina.
This one is that amazing developed crust that’s perfect….Topped with San Marzano D.O.P. tomato sauce, sugary sweet local tomatoes, bitter arugula, oregano, garlic, creamy imported bufalina cheese that melts into everything. reduced balsamic, and extra virgin olive oil. It’s just layers of great flavors that dance all over your mouth. This is either number one or at least one of the BEST pizzas in Metro Phoenix.
You’d be foolish to skip dessert here. Fabio makes most of the best desserts on the west side single handed……..His gelato is the best in Arizona…..Maybe the best in the country……
You’ll never taste strawberry gelato as fabulous. Today we tried half strawberry and half limoncello..
JEEPERS the limoncello is as great as the strawberry. Some of the other amazing flavors are peach, passionfruit, and blood orange. Fabio SHOULD sell his gelato nation-wide!
Fabio On Fire
8275 W Lake Pleasant PKWY Peoria AZ 623-680-5385
www.FabioOnFire.com
I made it back to Tia Carmen for lunch. I didn’t want to mention this restaurant twice but as great as these dishes were I had to.
This tomato salad is FORKING AMAZING.
The tomatoes taste so sweet and so farm fresh . You dip them threw this extra flavorful corn puree and charred corn dust. Fresh basil, pickled onions, and serrano chile pepper for a little heat. So delicious, light and refreshing. A perfect light appetizer to share.
This fish torta sandwich is far more delicious than I can describe. It taste so FORKING FANTABULOUS that I MUST MENTION IT!
Oh and my husband doesn’t usually even like fish and he even thinks it’s amazing. The fish torta is crispy mild perfectly prepared mild tasting white fish that is really great. But it is the embellishments of turmeric sweet onion jam, FRESH DILL, and this really good spicy mayo….a little cilantro, and this delicious toasted bun that taste FORKING INCREDIBLE together. The sandwich come with hay fries. The spicy mayo reminds me of espelette pepper but I don’t think they’d use that kind because that pepper is expensive …whatever it is it is really delicious.
Tia Carmen – 5350 E Marriott Dr PHX AZ – 480-293-3636
www.TiaCarmenDesertRidge.com
BEST of January-April 2023 – WORTH DRIVING ACROSS TOWN FOR!
Egg salad doesn’t have to be the same old egg, mayo, mustard, celery. You can make it Global anything! I happened to have leftover eggs, feta, harissa, and dukkah so this egg salad practically made itself. Instead of mayo or (what I normally use…Amora Dijon) I used tahini because I thought that would work well and I also needed to use it. I used my own recipe for the harissa that I make in batches and portion out and keep frozen in my freezer but you can use any harissa you like….I also always make dukkah and usually follow any Yotam Ottolenghi recipe for dukkah because that will always be like a 100 times better than what you can buy in a jar. But you can use what you want.
Ingredients for 4 servings
10 eggs – boiled 10 minutes, then ice bath till cool, then peeled, then rough chopped
2 slightly heaping Tablespoons tahini
4 Tablespoons harissa – split in half (or amount to taste….fresh made taste different than from a tube or jar)
1 lemon (just the fresh squeezed juice)
1 – 6.5oz small jar marinated artichokes – drained (mine was quarters and pieces that looked small. you might need a rough chop)
2 oz feta cheese either crumbled or sliced thin. (preferably a good quality that isn’t too salty and taste creamy not sour)
1 1/2 Tablespoons dukkah – Preferably a Yotam Ottolenghi recipe dukkah or purchased dukkah to taste.
3 Tablespoons – cilantro, parsley leaves, or a mix of the two – chopped
Optional – black or Aleppo pepper to taste (I don’t think you will need salt because feta cheese even mild is salty)
Directions
Mix the tahini, 1/2 the harissa, lemon juice together. Add the artichokes and mix. Gently mix in the eggs trying not to break them up much. Top with remaining harissa, cilantro and or parsley, feta, and dukkah. Taste and adjust seasoning to your liking. You might want to serve with pita bread.
Egg Salad with Artichokes, Harrisa, Feta, & Dukkah
I found this unusual Limited Edition Blood Orange Chocolate Chip French Ice Cream by Van Leeuwen at my local Walmart. I thought that sure is a FORKING interesting flavor. I’ll give this high fat ice cream a try.
This limited edition flavor has far more ingredients in it than their regular pistachio flavor. (Below is Van Leeuwen Sicilian Pistachio )
Below are the Limited Edition Blood Orange Chocolate Chip ingredients.
But it still seems more natural than a lot of other brands.
I open it up.
it looks sort of like cherry chocolate chip. I know blood oranges are a berry color and usually don’t look orange.
I taste some…….
This flavor is creamier or softer than most.
Actually each spoonful does taste different.
You get only a very faint citrus taste about one in out of every three or 4 spoonfuls……..Most spoons taste like vanilla chocolate chip. A few spoons are maybe like a faint berry taste.
It’s very good but is hard to identify as orange…. I’m yearning for some orange zest for this flavor to be better.
It’s actually better when you get less chocolate chips. The chocolate chips are EXTRA bitter…..they can pass as bottom of the pot coffee grinds.
It’s not bad but would be better with milk chocolate chips….The chocolate here is over-powering and bitter.
I asked my husband to taste it….He had a different FORKING Thought…He said it taste like vanilla with chocolate chips. He said he didn’t taste any orange or even citrus..but it wasn’t bad.
Not bad….so not a throw away.
I think this flavor might differ in every cup depending on the red swirls and chips that you get.
