Forking dining with dogs isn’t necessarily full blown reviews of restaurants. This is more of a “Fluff” Story of taking the dogs out to eat although I have much more to say about some of the restaurants than others. Not all but many of the restaurant I visit often and have told many stories about them.

Many of the restaurants in the Phoenix AZ area do have patios but not all patios are dog friendly. It should be noted that when dining with dogs you don’t let them eat off restaurant plates or let them sit on the chairs. You also need to be aware that much of the food you eat isn’t dog friendly and you must review a current dog friendly food list.

We started this month going off to the lovely dog friendly patio of Nosh Eatery and Wine Bar in Glendale AZ. This restaurant is newly opened and we were excited to check it out because of the location and great atmosphere that we were familiar with from the former restaurant that occupied this spot.

The atmosphere is modern and attractive with interesting lighting and lots of red accents. They offer an indoor-outdoor bar and an unusual but comfortable indoor-outdoor patio. The menu is traditional American food.

We get a nice table on the patio and a water bowl is brought out for the dog customers.

I ordered the Roasted Chicken Arugula Wrap with House Made Cole Slaw.

The Chicken was prepared well but had a sauce on it that tasted different from the menu description. I was expecting a sun-dried tomato basil mayo but what I tasted seemed more like wing sauce mixed with french dressing. I also was expecting cheddar cheese but they gave me this….forking American processed cheese-like slices that the dogs got to eat.

The slaw seemed fresh and I liked the texture of the vegetables but it was very heavy with heavy mayo and lacked any seasoning.

We also shared a side of Signature Macaroni and Cheese.

It was promising because it was made with a real cheese sauce but unfortunately the sauce was overly watered down and also was unseasoned. You don’t know me but if I have to add salt to a dish it really lacks salt.

My husband ordered the signature burger and the waitress accidentally orders a burger off of the previous restaurant’s menu because it still is an option that hasn’t been taken off the computer yet. He sends it back….and the kitchen recycled the burger scraping off the cheese and adding different cheeses and toppings. This didn’t turn out well because in the process the medium rare burger turned to well done.

Here is a close up of the orange American cheese that was mostly scraped off.

“I get extra burger here because my human doesn’t like it.” FORKING WIN!

The Nosh Eatery is Newly Opened and Most new restaurants often open with hiccups. Hopefully the hiccups have gone away and hopefully Nosh Eatery in Glendale will take the time to prepare a website of some sort.

We got to go back to Leo’s Island BBQ in Peoria AZ

Leo’s Island BBQ is one of the few independently family owned restaurants in the Arrowhead Area in Peoria AZ. This is a casual cafe that features the Hawaiian plate lunch. You have about 30 choices of this plate lunch. Basically on the average your plate lunch will cost about $8.00 and you will get a big styrofoam box filled with a double or triple portion of meat, double scoops of rice, creamy macaroni salad and some steamed vegetables just for fun. I often have the Maui Maui Grilled Fish.

It’s an enormous amount of food that is all tasty. Even with my two helpers.

We still bring some goodies home. For more information on Leo’s Island BBQ in Peoria AZ please visit www.LeosIslandBBQ.com

We were able to manage all that food from Leo’s Island BBQ because we took a bunch home and saved room for a scoop of ice-cream from Baskin Robbins.

I had some pecan praline Ice- cream.

And so did both of the dogs. I only gave them a small amount of the creamy part without nuts because most nuts aren’t good for dogs especially macadamia nuts. Macadamia Nuts SHOULD NEVER BE FED to a dog. For more information on Baskin Robbins in Peoria AZ please visit www.BaskinRobbins.com .

It’s Valentine’s Day and we took the dogs back to Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ for lunch. This budget Italian Restaurant is a staple of the community and has been in business for over twenty years, They serve up all your Italian-American favorites and have one of the nicest dog friendly patios in town.

I had the Strawberry Goat Cheese Salad. A tasty not to heavy salad with lots of white meat chicken to share with the dogs. One of the things I like best about the salad are the natural tasting strawberries. None of the supermarkets near me sell strawberries that taste much different than forking cardboard. These strawberries are delicious.

The beautiful three and a half year old shows interest in my salad.

The still handsome fourteen and three quarter year old dog is far more interested in my husband’s Stromboli.

For more information on Cucina Tagliani in Glendale AZ please visit www.CucinaTagliani.com

The next week we’re off to a newly opened restaurant in town with a dog friendly patio.

The Rogue Tomato in Glendale AZ offers New American Style Food a bit of Southwestern style food mixed accented with some Rogue. They offer a cozy sleek woody artsy dining room and a lovely umbrella shaded patio for their guests.

We picked out a table on the patio and the kind waitress served our dogs some water to start with.

I tried the salmon sliders.

The not so tiny sandwiches were toasted with butter and filled with technically perfect salmon, a very tasty lemon aioli, cucumber and marinated arugula. My platter also came with the Rogue signature seasoned fries, ketchup and a slightly smokey fry sauce.

My husband had the Rogue Burger.

Almost everything about the burger was a home run. Great tasting beefy meat, avocado, munster cheese, crispy onion straws, a bacon with just the right amount of smoke. All the embellishments were very good. Good just over cooked…well fork happens.

Both dogs got some burger and salmon.

For more information on The Rogue Tomato in Glendale AZ please visit www.TheRogueTomato.com

Slight UPDATE 4-18-16 Sadly The Rogue Tomato in Glendale AZ is no longer Dog Friendly.

The weather is heating up in Phoenix. Temperatures are approaching ninety degrees during the day.

The fourteen and three quarter year old dog is still doing reasonably well for his age but now waits for assistance to get into the car. He is living with cancer so his future is uncertain. Last September the diagnoses was six months to a year. He is on a lot of medication including low dose chemotherapy pills. Currently he still is enjoying life and loves to eat.

We forking hope to see you next month!