This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES. Today I went to restaurant that I have been to before that was good last time. I went back and things were different. This time I ordered the ensalada fresca salad. It sounded so good. The menu reads watermelon, cucumber, red onion, jicama, aji lemon vinaigrette, panela cheese, pepitas, fresno, tajin, salsa macha, cilantro. This sounds incredible doesn’t it? The salmon was also really great last time so I added salmon to this salad.
Here is what I got.
Lets take a closer look.
At the time I didn’t remember everything I read about the salad and didn’t know at the time that it was missing things.
I soon try the salmon.
It is not fresh tasting. I can’t eat it. I give a small piece to my husband to try. He said that it was very fishy tasting. He said, “get something else.”
I removed the salmon from the salad and put it on a side plate away from me. Soon someone that seems like a manager comes over and asks about the salmon. I told him that the salmon taste spoiled.
The manager said that his salmon is thrown out after four days. He also said that he will taste it. He also asked me if he could make a new one or give me chicken. I went for chicken but I did tell him that I have had salmon here before that was fresh and delicious.
He comes back and says that the salmon isn’t spoiled. He said that it just tastes off from the grill marks………..(whatever the FORK that means?).
Anyways-
Here comes the chicken.
I do have to say that the chicken really is very good and also is an extra generous portion. It’s tender, moist , full of flavors and is delicious.
BUT back to the salad.
Remember that I didn’t know that I was missing a few things.
But at the time I also was a bit bummed because the watermelon, cucumbers, and jicama also didn’t seem so fresh. Here is a closer look. They seem a few days old (look at the melon).
I think that I am missing cilantro, pepitas, aji lemon vinaigrette, tajin, and salsa macha.
My husband wasn’t thrilled with his meal but thought it was ok.
Decided to try dessert to make myself feel better.
I go for this one because our server said it was new and the best dessert.
It reads flambe table side.
Someone drops this off with no flambe.
We look around to find someone.
We find our server and she says that she has to find the manager.
She comes back and says the manager will serve us the dessert.
We wait and wait. (my husband starts to boil while we are waiting and wants to pay and leave)
The manager does come back, uses a portable lighter and we get this.
It wasn’t flaming but it really was a delicious dessert. It was the best thing I ate there today. They didn’t have to but after everything didn’t charge us for the dessert.
This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES.
Paradise Valley Pizza Co offers Unique, Southwest, and Traditional Italian Pizzas and MORE! They are located in the Paradise Valley part of Phoenix Arizona. Inside Paradise Valley Pizza Company is the newly opened house made ice cream shop that they call Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S. The Ice Cream Counter does have it’s own website and phone number even though its just a small counter inside the pizza parlor. Both P,V,P,Co. and Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S are sister restaurants of Paradise Burger Company next door.
I didn’t notice hard beverages here but they do have a selection of sodas and some of them look very interesting…..(Like WYFork is Rat Bastard?……..I looked it up..It’s root beer)
Paradise Valley Pizza Company offers some very unique varieties of pizza such as-
Pizza Brûlée – burnt sugar, four cheese blend, bacon, beef, caramelized onion, ricotta cheese, and egg.
Margarita – tomatillo-marinara, lime, tequila, pickled serrano, avocado, cheese blend, queso fresco, and cilantro (I’ve had this one before)
The Phoenix – chipotle-truffle bbq sauce, pork, corn, bacon, jalapeños, cheese blend, and cilantro.
The cannoli they sell are also different. Lucky Charms and Oreo.
We started out by sharing the salad called Brussel & Artichoke.
It’s made of a lot of Brussels sprouts, artichokes, lemon, basil, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and the menu reads pine nuts but I think I have sliced almonds here? Its tasty and different.
Today I just got a plain slice because I was saving room for some Jonny Cream.
It’s the size of a New York Slice and is very thin with a short crust. It’s made with a blend of cheese, house made red sauce, basil, and parmesan…..I don’t know why but it taste smoky to me……..It’s also different…the bites are oilier….not like a real New York that get a heavy topping of olive oil…….It’s like the oil feels like it’s coming out of the cheese. It’s different.
My husband got a special….This one is called GODZILLA.
It’s cheese stuffed double crust MONSTER pizza with basil, jalapeños, green Chile, herbs, pepperoni, sausage, and hella cheese…whatever hella cheese is?
Here it is from the side.
It’s very thick.
The ice cream is at a small counter on wheels in the dining area. The ice cream to my surprise doesn’t get scopped out. You purchase containers that look around pint sized. You buy a container and take it home or I guess you can eat it there. They did give us plastic spoons and they gave us packed ice for taking it home.
Today I picked the Vanilla, Caramel, fudge, ricotta, cannoli flavor.
It’s a high quality dense ice cream with lots of texture but the textures and flavors are far apart…..like canola shells were only near the top and on the bottom but they were in very large broken pieces that stayed crisp. The Fudge is very fudge-ee……and deep. I don’t have much at the top but about a quarter down and to the end here is a enough. It’s good….I’d like to try some of the other flavors I heard about….Like bananas foster.
Tia Carmen is a high quality contemporary South-West Style restaurant located in the Desert Ridge JW Marriott in North Phoenix Arizona. For an authentic taste of Arizona this restaurant uses Arizona purveyors and cooking is done with a wood fired grill. The restaurant is led by Michelin star chef, restauranteur, Bravo Top Chef, and cookbook author Angelo Sosa (pictured below on the patio).
Inside is modern and contemporary with large light fixtures.
Tonight we were seated in the back dining room that is less bright.
We LOVED the amazing FANTABULOUS tuna crudo we had last time (pictured at the top) and we are so glad that it was still on the menu tonight. We did notice that the other FANTABULOUS dish the wagyu kababs have been replaced with tri tip kababs.
wagyu kababs *(past menu)
Tonight we wanted to try new things so we shared a bunch of plates.
We started with the tomato salad.
It’s a tasty WOW! These tomatoes make angels sing and it’s all so delicious with the corn puree, burnt corn dust, basil, pickled onions, fancy greenery, and flowers.
Next was another WOW!
It’s expensive for a tostada ($20) but I guess it was delicious enough to be worth it. It’s a beef and bone marrow tostada with guacamole, pickled onions, and fancy micro greens.
We shared something really interesting, delicious and really different mushroom menudo.
Here’s a better look.
It’s so flavorful that you wouldn’t guess that it is vegetarian. Also the mushrooms are so different and interesting. I never heard of or tasted cordycep and cauliflower mushrooms before. They are not like mushrooms at all……It’s more like eating a fancy grain pasta….They are really great…I think that this is another WOW dish.
This next dish does taste really great but my only complaint is that I don’t agree that this is a dinner. I think that this is more of an appetizer or side dish but truly it is delicious. This is the ember roasted purple yams in queso sauce with a 30 week aged tepary bean (local bean) mole negro and burnt corn dust.
Again really delicious but I don’t agree that this is a dinner.
My husband did a great job helping me eat everything but he is a big eater and needs one more plate than I do. He tried the native grain fried rice with lingica sausage, bacon, serrano Chile, garlic, ginger, sunny up egg.
He ate it but I think that this might be his least favorite plate because he thought that it tasted like soy sauce.
I was pretty full but I was able to enjoy some blood orange sorbet.
The blood orange sorbet is another WOW!…It was very flavorful and really great!
Last time I enjoyed the striped bass very much. It’s very unique with Thai basil and mole verde and was prepared to perfection.
My husband had the Tia Carmen’s famous chicken dish called chicken guisado (a very good stewed chicken).
For dessert we tried the coriander torte.
It was very well made but the orange flavor was very subtle………… so the coriander could shine.
Caminero Mexican Food is a small casual Mexican Restaurant located in North Peoria Arizona (#UpperWestSideAZ). It’s a small restaurant with a very large menu located in a strip mall. They offer soft beverages, appetizers, a very long burrito menu, tacos, chile relleno, combo plates, fajitas, cube steak, steak and onion plates, salads, chimichangas, enchiladas, breakfast plates, a kid’s menu and MORE! Prices are reasonable and portions are very large.
I read in our local newspaper an article called, The Good Stuff. It was about this restaurant and the writer had very high praises about the beef fajita quesadilla she enjoyed. She said that the beef fajita meat was the gold standard for beef fajita meat. So I thought…WOW! I drive by here quite a bit so I should try it!
It’s not fancy.
You order and pay at the counter. Pick out a beverage and seat yourself. Someone runs out the food when it’s ready and that person offered us salsas. They have mild, hot and green.
beef fajita
Here’s the beef fajita. It came with choice of tortilla. I picked corn and received warmed tasty white corn tortillas. The beef is tender and developed with lots of flavor (soy sauce and seasoning salt). For me and I note that I am different….It’s too much flavor that is over-powering to me….I taste soy sauce that is very strong and I taste seasoning table salt…..this might be delicious to most people but for me it’s too much. I do think both the hot salsa and green salsas are good. I also like the guacamole. The salsas and the guacamole help to mellow the beef. I guess if you had this beef in the quesadilla with all that cheese you wouldn’t notice the soy sauce and seasoning salt as much.
My husband thinks his steak and onion plate is tastier and offers to switch plates.
It’s very similar to the beef fajita plate. It’s also made with tender beef that is developed with flavor. It’s too hard for me to taste because my taste buds are blown now and all I can taste is soy sauce and salt from the fajita beef.
In the future I do plan to return but I will try something chicken or fish next time.
That was my trip to Caminero Mexican Food in Peoria AZ.
Ocotillo is more than a fabulous restaurant that always offers ever changing seasonal menus of astonishing variety of farm to table slightly global goodness. Ocotillo is a mile square compound event center that includes a coffee lounge, a beer garden, a fire pit, a wine bar, and more in a park-like setting.
You can also dine inside in the bar area or dining room. There are also more patio areas to sit at.
inside
Ocotillo always offers a bountiful menu of great variety of around twenty different dishes for a variety of appetites and taste. Some of the dishes offered are globally inspired. Meats are smoked in-house and pastas are made in house. The sections of the menu are salads, vegetable pates, small plates (usually not so small), house made pastas, and large plates.
It happened to be restaurant week so we went with that because it was a jackpot getting three courses for $44. But all the plates we got were also offered on the restaurant menu.
Tonight my husband started with the roasted duck leg with French beans, frisee, hearts of palm, pecans, citrus, banyuls vinaigrette. (This was really great!)
I went for the dried balsamic strawberries with herbed ricotta and grilled bread. It’s big enough to share. Nice starter.
For my main I had the halibut with fiddlehead ferns, rancho gordo butter beans, green garlic, spring onions in a fino sherry sauce.
The halibut (an unforgiving fish) was seared and prepared to perfection and was delicious! The fiddlehead ferns were a really nice foodie treat! (and they are very expensive too!)
My husband went for the nettle pappardelle with lamb bolognese, Calabrian chili, olive oil, garlic crumbs, and pecorino. (He said that this was really great!)
Then we got to share TWO desserts.
strawberry shortcake
flourless chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream, caramelized white chocolate cream, and candied orange.
It was one of the best restaurant week meals ever!
Not all but a few of the previous plates we enjoyed from Ocotillo.
house smoked salmon plate
sweet potato
house made pastrami sandwich
Japanese Style fish and chips
cauliflower, kale, pesto, pine nuts, peanuts, herbs, lemon vinaigrette
Thai Style roasted chicken
pork shank
Tandoori chicken sandwich with watermelon salad
Vanilla roasted pear with goat cheese, smoked almonds, bitter chocolate and mint
Dining out with dogs is just a “FLUFF” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie. He was elderly and diagnosed with aggressive cancer. We were told probably three months or maybe up to six months was for what to expect for him. Louie was elderly and couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed eating and going out to eat so I took him out to eat as often as possible. Instead of the 3-6 month diagnoses Louie made it another seventeen months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat as often as possible.
There are some things that you need to know about dining out with dogs. One thing is that many restaurants have patios but not all patios are dog friendly. You should see a sign or license posted that they have a dog friendly patio. If you don’t see that then you should call to ask if it is ok to dine there with your furry friend. Another thing to be aware of is that it is always best to dine at off times with dogs. You need to avoid as many people and other dogs as possible. That might sound weird but many people don’t share your love for dogs. Other people might be allergic to dogs. It is best to avoid other dogs because dogs tend to bark at each other and this can be considered a disturbance and you might be asked to leave. JUST FORKING dine at off times and avoid the potential problems.
Here in Phoenix heat can be a problem and often it is to hot to dine out with dogs. Your dog is not as heat tolerant as you….They wear fur coats and can’t sweat. For the most part 90 degrees and up is too hot to dine out with dogs. It’s always better to leave them home when there is any doubt.
Did you know that much of the food and DRINK that you consume can be dangerous or even toxic to your dog? It’s always best to get a list of safe and non-safe food list from your veterinarian. Usually a lean piece of lean meat without sauce is usually a safe bet.
Maybe you are ready to dine out with dogs? Some things that you still need to know are-
Dogs are not to sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates. They should also be close by your side at all times.
We regularly go to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They don’t serve pho but specialize in serving around a dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches. They also offer a nice variety of other Vietnamese dishes. The food is always good, and fresh, is also always a large portion and prices are very reasonable. The beef is unusually good here. To me it is so tender it reminds me of filet mignon but I know it is ribeye. I only get it a few times a year because to me the chicken is usually just as good and seems lighter.
Today I felt like the lotus root salad and the chicken pot stickers. The salad is nice, tasty, refreshing and not double sized like most of the food here. The pot stickers are just tasty.
My dogs get all the shrimp and the little ends of the potstickers. They really enjoy that. My husband got the grilled pork rice plate today.
This dog was very enthusiastic and in my face about eating Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery food.
The rice plate come with a refreshing pickled vegetable salad, a big scoop of steamed rice, a pork egg roll, and a generous portion of grilled pork. The dogs got some of that too!
We always enjoy going to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese eatery in North Phoenix.
2340 W Bell Rd Phoenix – 602-843-3637
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
We did take out from a newly opened Pad Thai Cafe in North Glendale. We dined at a near by park.
Someone is sucking up to me to try some Thai Beef from my Thai Beef Salad.
Thai Beef salad
The beef is very tender and melts like butter in the mouth. There are lots of seasonings and heat that might not be so good for the dogs so I suck off everything I can before I feed it to them.
I know it sounds gross but they appreciate it!
My husband also gave them some beef from the drunken noodles.
drunken noodles with beef
He ordered it Thai Hot but it seems less hot than my hot Thai Beef salad???? It still good though….The dogs really enjoyed the tender beef today. I was going to order the chicken larb salad but I thought that would be too difficult to share with the dogs because larb is ground chicken. Anyway we all enjoyed ourselves.
Pad Thai Cafe
18425 N 51ST AVE Glendale
623-213-7297
www.PadThaAZ.com
Today we went to Squid Ink Sushi in North Peoria. I got a salmon bowl today and my husband got the wagyu cheeseburger. Both dishes were very good today. They prepared the juicy burger to medium-rare and the salmon was fresh tasting and moist.
Both dogs were very happy with these choices. They enjoyed the salmon and some of the wagyu cheeseburger.
www.SquidInkSushi.com
W. Happy Valley Parkway Peoria AZ
23-561-7747
The Temperature was still under 90 degrees so we went to Twisted Italian in North Peoria. The Patio there is always shaded during the day so It can’t get too hot.
He is squishing into my belly waiting for food.
She is waiting for food too!
Soon they bring us complimentary bread and oil with vinegar.
I give then only a few tiny bites of bread…While we wait to order.
In reasonable time I get the salmon off of the lunch menu. It’s a really good deal. It’s healthy and a large portion. I skip the pasta but my husband usually likes to eat some. It’s nice that it comes with lots of nice vegetables. Today I got zucchini, green beans, asparagus, and a piece of broccoli rabe.
I give my dogs all the zucchini and part of the salmon.
They enjoy that!
My husband got the Italian Relleno off of the all day menu.
It’s a poblano pepper stuffed with house made sausage, mozzarella and provolone cheeses, marinara, onions, bell peppers, and Italian herbs. It’s topped with tomatoes onions, basil, and tomato cream sauce. It also comes with three breaded ravioli.
The dogs get some sausage and some ravioli.
Everyone was happy with what we got at Twisted Italian.
Twisted Italian
9940 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ
623-537-4000
www.EatTwisted.com
Well That was Dining Out With DOGS for May 2022. It’s getting hot in Phoenix but we will try to get out early if we can and we hope to see you next month!
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
Jet’s Pizza is an American Chain of Pizza Restaurants since 1978. Jet’s Pizza is best known for its square Detroit Style Pizzas with cheesy, crispy crunchy edges. The pizzas can be customized by adding a flavor to the crust. You can also order house made ranch dressing for dipping the crust.
Jets also offers six kinds of pizza crust. They offer – deep dish, hand tossed round, thin NY style, seasoned cauliflower, and gluten free. They also offer sides of breads, wings (reg & boneless), salads, calzone boats (baked sandwiches made with pizza dough), soft beverages, and a few baked desserts.
On my visit this location of Jet’s Pizza is Take Out Only. But they are expecting a delivery of a few tables at some time.
They offer a few lunch specials.
We took out a Greek Salad and two four corner Detroit Style Pizzas.
Here’s the Greek Salad.
It looks ok but taste terrible……
My husband and I disagree on this one but we both don’t like it.
The lettuce is soggy and has a chemical taste to me………..I don’t know if I think that I am tasting sink residue from only God Knows what…or maybe they use some sort of produce soap on the lettuce?
My husband said, ” it’s just old soggy lettuce that doesn’t taste right.”
Either way it’s soggy lettuce that just doesn’t taste good……
We do need to remember that it is possible that the salads are fresh tasting sometimes and I am hitting them on a bad day…………..Old tasting soggy lettuce isn’t good for business.
Then we go to try the pizzas.
On the left is a our corner Detroit Style pizza with bold pepperoni, Italian sausage and Romano crust.
On the right is a basic four corner Detroit Style pizza with turbo crust (butter, garlic, Romano) and a butter garlic dip on the side. I try it……
I’m not sure why but this doesn’t taste good to me……….I taste powdered stuff…..It’s like the powder from badly flavored potato chips………But the pizza is crispy and crunchy as promised ….Then I try the butter garlic dip…….OMG YUK! This is stomach turning…….It doesn’t even taste like butter….It taste like MARGARINE…NOBODY wants to eat margarine………I thought I might get sick…then I feel like I need to stop eating this pizza. My stomach is a mess…
Or maybe the dough contributes to why I don’t like it?
Under the cheese the dough is all wet and gooey…..like raw and GROSS……maybe that is making me feel sick?
My husband didn’t like his pizza either. He didn’t know why….He did say that the sausage seemed flavorless and the bold pepperoni was nothing special.
This trip to Jet’s Pizza was very low calorie for us because it was so hard to eat.
But a lot of people do love Jet’s Pizza.
There are around 450 Jet’s pizza restaurants in America so that means that many people do love Jet’s Pizza.
Maybe other locations differ?
Your opinion may or may not differ.
That was my visit to Jet’s Pizza. Newly opened in Arrowhead (North Glendale AZ).
Mexcelente is a small casual family owned and ran taco and more restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona. It’s a cute little place that looks sparkling clean. They offer tacos, burritos, nachos, bowls, quesadillas, tostadas with around nine topped or protein choices. It’s very casual here. I only noticed soft beverages.
inside
You order at the counter and get what you ordered topped with your choice of toppings and sauces. Then you pay and grab your beverage and seat yourself.
We both tried a variety of tacos. The choices of tacos that they offer are – al pastor, alambres (steak with peppers, onions, and cheese), carne asada, carnitas, cochinito pibil, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, tinga, and nopales. You can pick corn or flour shell but the default is corn. The tacos are bigger than street tacos and are well packed.
My husband picked alambres, carnitas, carne asada, and shrimp tacos.
The tacos get topped with whatever you pick from their line of toppings and sauces.
I got grilled chicken, chicken tinga, and carne asada. I added pico, lettuce, cilantro onions, two guacamole, and one hot sauce.
Just like most places some days some meats are better than others. Today both of the chicken tacos are the best of the bunch. Both are flavorful and moist. They were overly generous with the hot sauce….I almost can’t eat the taco with the hot sauce…..It’s way too hot….borderline nuclear……The only other issue here are the single shell corn tortillas. They taste good but are very thin and fall apart while you are eating the tacos. The salsas we tried are very flavorful and good but I recommend if you want a spicy salsa to ask for it on the side.
That was my trip to Mexcelente. At this time they are newly opened.
Salt Tacos Y Tequila recently opened I The Shops at Norterra in North Phoenix Arizona. Two other locations are in San Tan and Glendale. This is a Mexican style restaurant and bar. It’s LOUD and energetic.
You can sit inside at the bar or a table or outside with really great misters that makes 103 degrees F seem almost cold.
The chairs are specially made for this restaurant.
We started out with margaritas. One house margarita and one Cadillac margarita.
I think they taste watery…….?
We try the taquito appetizer. We got two blue tortilla shredded beef, two yellow corn tortilla shredded chicken that were covered in chipotle cream, lettuce, avocado salsa, pickled onions, pico, and queso fresco.
The flavors are tasty……the meats inside dried out a bit but still tasty.
For dinner I tried the grilled salmon with asparagus, jalapeño mashed potatoes, and serrano garlic butter.
It came with a grilled lemon. This is reasonably good….Not fish house quality but better than from some places. They removed the skin and the bloodline. The fish is nicely grilled and is cooked all the way but still has some moisture. It doesn’t taste fishy at all. The portion is large and the flavors are good.
My husband tried the carne asada plate. It was a marinated skirt steak that was sort of burnt and crispy.
They forgot to give him one of the sauces that it comes with but they did give him fajita vegetables, sour cream, guacamole, grilled jalapeño, refried beans and tortillas.
He did complain about the steak and they quickly took the plate and replaced the steak with a much better one. They are newly opened at this time. (May – 17 – 2022)
Salt Tacos Y Tequila Newly Opened at The Shops at Norterra in North Phoenix.
Dynasty Chinese American Restaurant has recently opened in Cave Creek Arizona. They serve mostly Chinese-American favorites but they also offer other unique dishes like crispy Brussels sprouts, truffled filet mignon, and black truffle fried rice.
They are newly opened and on the day of my visit they are without a sign….The previous restaurant in that spot was J Chen and you see that very clearly where the sign was removed.
We walked in and were greeted ad seated quickly.
We started out by sharing the crispy Brussels sprouts.
The Brussels sprouts were crispy and tasty. They seemed like they were free of oil. They also gave us a very large portion and we sure didn’t mind taking some home for latter.
I was going to order the black truffle fried rice. I was told that they didn’t have truffles today but would have some tomorrow. I was thinking about ordering the sizzling sea bass but I didn’t know if they would do fish well so I thought for my first try here I’d try the Szechwan garlic chicken.
The chicken is masterfully moist (yeah!) vegetables are tender crisp. It has a nice heat to it. This is a very large portion….It is flavorful but it does run sweet.
My husband tried the kung pao with chicken, beef, and shrimp.
All the proteins are tender and moist. It is flavorful, a bit spicy, and it also runs sweet.
Went back for a second visit.
Started with the vegetable rolls.
They are expertly fried and are ever so slightly garlicky….
This time we got the black truffle fried rice with added chicken.
It does have a nice black truffle aroma….It’s really different. Most of the rice is steamed but some of the rice is crunchy and there’s soft fluffy egg. The chicken is very moist and tender. It’s subtle with truffle taste….I smell it more than I taste it until I hit a cluster of truffle dust. It’s also a little peppery. It’s really different…Never had a fried rice like this before.
We also shared the black pepper filet mignon. It comes out on a sizzling hot bubbling skillet. The filet is mixed with tender crisp red bell peppers and onions.
The filet is tender like butter. Honestly you can cut it with your fork. The sauce is slightly garlicky but you taste more black pepper like you should.
They have a sign now.
Dynasty Chinese Restaurant – Newly Opened in Cave Creek
