Dining Out with Dogs in Metro Phoenix is just a “fluff story” about my food adventures out with my dogs. It all sort of started when my dog Louie was diagnosed with cancer. I felt I had to take him to as many restaurants as possible because eating out was one of his greatest enjoyments. There are a bunch of things you need to know before you start dining out with dogs. Many restaurants in Metro Phoenix do have outdoor patios but not all patios are dog friendly. It’s always BEST to call a restaurant and ask them if it’s ok to dine there with your furry friend before hand. You never know if the patio is already booked for a party or if the restaurant suddenly stopped accepting dogs. It also is always BEST to dine at off times so your dog(s) is the only dog on the patio. Often even well behaved dogs start barking at each other and you might be asked to leave. It’s also best to dine at off times to avoid other people. Many people don’t share a love for dogs and you could soon find that out….Also some people are allergic to dogs. Other rules to dining with dogs are that dogs must be by your side at all times. Dogs are NOT to sit on restaurant furniture or to eat off restaurant plates. You also need a dog friendly food list available from your veterinarian and a list of foods to avoid. Much of the food and drink you consume is either harmful or can be TOXIC to your dog. Usually the safest thing to feed your dog from the table is a lean piece of sauceless meat. In Phoenix we also have to worry about the temperature so make sure it isn’t too hot for your dog to dine out. Dogs absorb more heat than we do and can’t sweat. I think 90 degrees in the shade is the top temperature most dogs can tolerate. OK now your ready to dine out with Dogs!

Sadly we lost our nicest dog friendly patio recently. Carvalho’s Brazilian Kitchen in North Scottsdale. They actually had a separate patio just for Dining out with Dogs….Amuse Bouche in Surprise was also a nicer restaurant to dine at and is under a new ownership so I’m not certain if dogs will be welcomed there anymore.

Cucina Tagliani in Glendale offers a Certified Dog Patio so we went there. This is a family friendly American/Italian Restaurant. They serve up all your American Italian favorites and offer you the choice of many healthy spins on the food. you can substitute spaghetti squash for pasta. They also offer spaghetti squash lasagna, grilled chicken parmesan and whole grain and gluten free pasta.

I usually like the Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad here but today tried the Chicken Fritte Salad.

It’s just a basic salad with house made Italian Dressing. The Chicken is fried absolutely perfect and seems free of grease. For my taste it could use a little seasoning.

“Looks like we are getting a bunch of chicken!’

My husband get the Sausage Rigatoni.

“We do pretty well at Cucina Tagliani!”

www.CucinaTagliani.com

Pita Kitchen is a very casual Greek Mediterranean Restaurant. They aren’t officially dog friendly but I asked them if it’s ok for me to bring my dogs there and they said yes. I always go at off times. So far we never shared the patio with anyone.

It might be a little boring but the only thing I ever get here is the Greek Salad with a Chicken Kabob. I tasted most of the food here and the Greek Salad with a Chicken Kabob is what they do best to me. The Chicken is usually moist with a nice flavor and a little char. My husband got the Gyro Plate today.

The dogs get very excited for chicken.

“I’m watching YOU!”

“More Chicken Please!”

“We do good at Pita Kitchen!”

www.PitaKitchen.net

We get to try a new Official Dog Friendly Restaurant!

PNPK is a craft slider restaurant and wine bar. It’s sort of mostly Comfort Casual American Tapas Food and Drink…..They offer many different Flights of different foods, dessert, Craft Beer and Wine.

This is an official Dog Friendly Restaurant. The Dogs got started off with individual water bowls and biscuits…..The dogs were very relaxed afterwards.

The patio was very comfortable even at 90 degrees F that it was today.

Dogs got to sample sample some macaroni and cheese and some of the sliders we tried.

For us the macaroni and cheese was good but a little too mild and under seasoned for our taste. The dogs disagreed with us and thought the macaroni and cheese was scrumptious.

Look at the smiles.

They also enjoyed some of the sliders…..(some weren’t dog friendly)

Between me and my husband we tried 5 different sliders. My husband liked the Banger and mashed slider best of what he tried and I liked the Hot Chicken best of what I tried.

Service was really attentive to us and our dogs. They made us feel very welcomed.

www.PNPKAZ.com

The Twisted Italian Restaurant is a small local American Italian Restaurant located in a strip mall. They are indeed a bit different from other American Italian Restaurants. They serve Pirogies of the month (that have been corned beef and cabbage on my every visit all year round here) Besides Pirogies The Twisted Italian offers also offers Italian Rellenos, other American Italian favorites, pizza and they highlight their Chicago Beef Sandwich. I recently found The Twisted Italian listed on www.BringFido.com so I called them up and asked if it was ok to bring my furry friends and they said yes so we did dine with dogs here.

“We are eating “Twisted Today!”

I went with a two course $7.99 lunch special***(subject to change).They gave me a fresh pretty good size salad.  I tried the chicken pesto, mozzarella, provolone, pesto and roasted pepper panini. (I got the chicken on the side for sharing). The bread is pretty good and MUCH BETTER than when this restaurant first opened up. (different ownership) Our waiter tells us that this bread is from New Jersey Ummmmmm. The sandwich is pretty tasty even without the chicken. Then I try some chicken. It’s moist and seasoned well. It’s actually much better than most sandwich chicken I get out from many places….I have paid almost twice the price for chicken sandwiches that weren’t as good.

“This is a BIG FORKING WIN for us….look at all that food…she doesn’t need much chicken.”

My husband got the Chicago Beef.

We were told the owners are from Chicago and they get their beef from Chicago.

While this variation of the Chicago Beef is not up there with the top Chicago Beefs it is still a tasty sandwich with lots of beef.

“We did FORKING GREAT at The Twisted Italian”

www.EatTwisted.com

“That was Dining Out with Dogs for April 2018…..It’s getting Hot here in Metro Phoenix but we hope eat out a few more times and see you next month!”