The Italian Daughter is a somewhat upscale Italian Restaurant located in North Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is by the daughter (Melissa) of the award wining late chef and restauranteur Tomaso Maggiore. The Italian Daughter Restaurant is a tribute to Melissa’s late father.
They offer seating at the bar. Inside at traditional tables, high tops and patio seating.
This restaurant offers an ever changing Italian menu with lots of variety. Some of the appetizers offered might be (remember the menu changes) – meatball, charred octopus, or spicy clams. They also offer sharing boards.
Salads like a Caesar salad with white anchovies and a crispy parmigiana basket.
They offers all kinds of different fresh made pasta dishes.
Some of the pastas offered were butternut squash purses, lobster ravioli, and linguine clams.
rigatoni vodka with sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and house smoked salmonfusilli col bucco bolognese (veal, pork & beef ragu)
Not all but a few of the entrees were slow braised short ribs, veal chop saltimbocca, prime porterhouse tagliatta,
Salmon in bourbon mustard glaze, vegetables and whipped potatoes chicken and sausage scarparielcobarramundi special halibut in lemon caper sauce. Israeli couscous and vegetables weekend osso buco
Not all but some of the desserts offered –
cannoli pizza cioccolato take out – lemoncello cake(special) spumoni
That was a Taste of The Italian Daughter Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ.
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
www.TheItalianDaughter.com
23655 N Scottsdale RD Scottsdale AZ
480-404-6085
Everything is subject to change (remember changing menus)
FANTABULOUS means – Top of the line, marvelously great, peachy keen, and DYNAMITE! The Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence is all that! I usually don’t pick desserts for the FANTABULOUS Dish but this one is exceptional. All the food I had that evening was truly amazing. Everything was creative and masterfully prepared like from the best restaurant anywhere but….a really FORKING FABULOUS dessert sure doesn’t happen at most places (even the most expensive of places)……. really is The Forking Truth….just saying.
Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence in Carefree AZ
Gosh it’s tragic that you can’t taste it because it’s more FORKING FANTABULOUS than I can describe…..They don’t have a pastry chef here……The chef here does it all (bakes delicious breads, prepares all the dishes….probably washes all the dishes and pans)…and creates the desserts too! ………….and It’s like this Gianduju chocolate mousse came from the finest restaurant…..anywhere.
We got Gianduja Chocolate (that’s a sweet chocolate spread with 30% hazelnut) mousse. On top of the mousse is something that looks like a cheese curl but it taste just like orange zest!!!! I don’t know WTFork it is but it’s crunchy and orange zest-e. Maybe it’s some sort of concentrated dehydrated orange segment?…….The yellow sauce on thee plate is caracara orange curd that has the perfect amount of sweet and tartness to it with a lot of orange flavor it’s so YUM! To the right is caramelized white chocolate ganache that’s also is wonderfully flavorful with a rich mouth feel. The the left is a chocolatey Florentine cookie and there are other crunchy yumminess that make things more interesting. It’s just FANTABULOUS! It’s a very rare that you get desserts this jaw dropping astonishingly delicious!
The Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
The menus at Confluence do change often. You might have already missed it? (but they are sure to have something else that is also amazing)
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
36889 Tom Darington Dr Carefree AZ
480-488-9796
Everything is subject to change. Remember thee menus do often change!
UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS********The Tasty Touch Flavors of India is located in Phoenix Arizona pretty close to Desert Ridge. This is a small casual Indian Restaurant that offers North Indian Dishes, Vegan Options, lunch specials and is Halal. Recently they were awarded the 2021 BEST INDIAN RESTAURANT by the Phoenix New Times.
It’s very casual. You order at the counter, pay, get a beverage, and seat yourself either in the dining room or on the patio.
We started by sharing an order of onion pakora.
This appetizer is very large and is enough for four people (maybe they made extra by accident?). It’s onions that are seasoned and fried with chick pea batter. They are tasty and seem free of oil. They also came with a sweet and tangy tamarind sauce.
We shared the korma chicken, tikka masala fish and garlic chili naan.
korma chicken
The chicken is masterfully moist and melts in your mouth. The curry in this dish is very mild. If you eat all the sauce and rice you can make two meals out of it but there is only a small amount of protein.
tikka masala fish
We both prefer the tikka masala fish. It’s made with a mild white fish that seems fresh and is very tender. The curry in this dish is also very mild but seems more complex with interesting exotic flavors.
fresh made garlic chili naan
Fresh hot from the oven garlic chili naan is delicious. Not too spicy and not too garlic-y…It taste just right.
That was a little taste of The Tasty Touch in Phoenix.
Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana is an Italian Restaurant located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They offer much of the usual Italian dishes that you would expect like meatballs, arancini, house made pastas, pork chops, veal osso buco, and more, many of the dishes are laced with Calabrian chilies and they also offer a lot of seafood dishes that you might not expect from a smaller restaurant like this.
This is most the the dining room.
Above is the bar area. This is where you will be sat if you don’t have a reservation.
On another visit I had a reservation.I thought I’d get a table inside but was sat outside during our coldest weather (If I knew that my table was going to be outside I would have worn a coat).
They started us off with delicious (cold) bread and herb butter.
You might want to start with an appetizer like the Roman Style Artichoke because that was delicious both times we had it.
Roman Style Artichoke
The paolanzana (grilled eggplant) wasn’t as enjoyable to us.
palanzana
While the cured olives were oh so delicious the combination of olives, raw tomato slices, basil and rubbery cheese was so overpowering to the eggplant you really couldn’t tell that eggplant was even there.
Or maybe you’d want to share a pasta like the cacio e pepe (spaghetti, black pepper, pecorino (we found this to be very buttery tasting and a little light with the pepper and cheese)
cacio e pepe
One of the many fish dishes is the branzino with farro, roasted red pepper, butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and figs. This one was good!
branzino
Or maybe you want something meatier like the veal osso buco (ok …could have improved since we had it)
veal osso buco
On our last visit my husband had the Shrimp pasta dish called pasta Isabel.
pasta Isabel
It’s gemelli pasta (that was slightly over cooked), broccolini, jumbo shrimp, garlic, e.v.o.o., and whole Calabrian chilies. My husband thought that this was under seasoned. He also would have preferred that the Calabrian chilies had their stems removed and could have been chopped up in the dish so he didn’t have to do that. He was going ti say something to our server ….but….
Our server asked us how things were before we tried the food and we didn’t even see him again until after someone cleared our plates and then he asked us if we waited dessert.
I noticed that almost every table had a salmon tortelloni. I also over heard table next to us. I heard someone say that the salmon tortelloni is their favorite dish at this restaurant. So I went with the salmon tortelloni.
salmon tortelloni
It looks delicious! I can tell you that it is in vodka sauce that is very good. I can tell you that the pasta on this plate is perfection. The filling does seem to differ some from the menu description.
The filling is suppose to be salmon, mascarpone cheese, and spinach. You don’t see it in this slice but this is packed with TONS of dill……All I taste is dill and dill doesn’t taste good with this sauce. If there is cheese in here it is such a small amount that it is impossible to detect. I don’t know if this is how they normally make the dish?
We left and nobody asked how things were.
That was Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana in Scottsdale a bit hit or miss. Go for the hits.
Chula Seafood offers sustainably sourced high quality seafood and prepared seafoods. They come to us from San Diego where they hand harpoon swordfish (their specialty) and bring the best fish of the pacific coast to us. Currently in Arizona they have two locations (Scottsdale, Phoenix). A North Scottsdale location is expected to open early this year. (2022)
It’s casual here. During the day you wait in line and order and pay at the counter.
You will see all kinds of fish and more in the counter.
various smoked and or cured fishfresh fish
Up above is a menu board. They offer daily specials, starters like oysters, and sashimi platters. They also offer bowls and salads. They have various plates like swordfish burritos, fish sandwiches, fish and chips, fish tacos, fish plate entrees, and more!
Then (during the day) you seat yourself and when you meal is ready they will call your name.
Today my husband started out with the fried oysters.
Fried Oysters
My husband said that these fried oysters with chili oil were really very good and they were served on delicious toasted and seasoned Nobel Bread.
Today I tried the Friday Daily Lunch Special.
Today it was a Hawaiian Lunch Plate.
The fish is crispy seared albacore katsu.
It came with blistered shishitos, jalapeño onion jam, soy marinated egg, kewpie slaw, bulldog sauce and sushi rice. Everything taste amazing. Today the jalapeño onion jam is really delicious but almost too spicy for me to eat….(Almost). I like that the slaw is almost dry…..I tell The Forking Truth so as amazing as everything really does taste…I have to admit ……It is strange to me that every single thing on my plate was served cold….I think if I could tweak this slightly it’s the rice and peppers that I would like better warm.
My husband got the crispy fish sandwich with potato mac salad.
He started with the parts that were spilling out of the sandwich and he said that it was very good. Then he went to pick it up…………(I tell The Forking Truth)…………
The whole bottom of his bun was coated with a creamy dill flavored sauce….so he didn’t eat the bottom bun.
Below are previous things that we tried from Chula Uptown (Phoenix)
Tuna confit sandwich with Moroccan carrot saladSmoked Fish Plate with Biscuit (looked like a bite was taken from the biscuit??????)Take Out Halibut Collar for Two Special Take Out – Chula Chopped Salad with added Salmon, Tuna Melt, Spam Macaroni
That was Fintastiic Seafood from Chula Seafood in Phoenix.
The Hash Kitchen is an Arizona based group of brunch restaurants currently with five locations in the valley but are soon to spread nation-wide. The Hash Kitchen offers a long menu with lots of variety and over the top drinks………..They offer all kinds of HASH breakfast plates such as green chili pork, braised beef, chicken, birria, huevos ranchero, carnitas, and corned beef hash. A very unique offering is called the Ferris WheeI it’s 3 tie dyed cupcakes served with a trio of cereal milk pudding shooters. They also offer French toast, pancakes, salad, burgers, sandwiches, beef burritos, a loco moco, kids meals, and many interesting sounding cocktails such as mega glitter bomb mimosas and something called giggle milk. Hash Kitchen is well known for the make it yourself Bloody Mary bar………You pick the rim salt, heat level, vodka flavor, and mixer flavor and then you have a whole buffet of toppings for your drink…..(you almost or don’t need food after the Bloody Mary Buffet.
Bloody Mary with all kinds of treats pickled egg, spicy melon, Calabrian Chilies, Italian Pickles, cheese, blue cheese stuffed olives, a fancy onion, pickled Brussels sprout
I tried to dine at the Peoria location but wasn’t expecting an hour and a half wait (that is too long to wait for lunch for me). The next week I hit the Gainey Ranch location and it was on a similar wait. Since then I have learned that the Hash kitchen doesn’t take reservations but at the North Scottsdale location and the Arcadia location you can join a wait list threw Yelp and the wait was very short that way.
I got in and it was packed with an extra LOUD atmosphere and a disk jockey playing loud music.
People like to make an entrance here.
I tried the Louisiana hot fried chicken and waffle.
The waffle is amazing. I never had a waffle so light and fluffy before. The waffle is topped with lots of crispy fried leeks and warm maple syrup and creamy soft butter are on the side. The chicken is a little tough and hard to cut. It’s tangy like hot sauce but is only mildly spicy. It’s also a bit greasy and the coating is soggy…but did I tell you how fabulous the waffle was? I saved a Calabrian Pepper from my Bloody Mary and chopped it up and sprinkled it on the waffle and it was so tasty and delicious with the creamy butter and maple syrup.
My husband tried the Braised Green Chili Pork and Grits Hash.
He said that the green chili pork was very good. This technically isn’t truly hash . To be hash the meat needs to be cooked with the potatoes…The potatoes look like just deep fried cubes……but it’s tasty and we are not food police anyway.
This was a little taste of Hash Kitchen in North Scottsdale
Phat Turtle BBQ is a casual Kanas City Style Barbecue restaurant located in Cave Creek Arizona. Kanas City type BBQ is suppose to be dry rubbed and slow smoked over wood and is served with a tomato based sauce. It is typical of Kanas City BBQ places to offer something called burnt ends. The burnt ends are the crusty fatty pieces from the point of the brIsket.
You know that you have walked into a barbecue when you have walked in. You smell the smokey delicious smell of barbecue when you walk in.
The atmosphere has an Old West and antique shop sort of decor to it with lots of mismatched older furniture, a collection of saddles, all kinds of nick nacks, compasses on every table, and lots of other things.
We ordered.
They run their sauces to our table.
They have sweet, hickory, and spicy.
Our server returns and said that they are out of the bbq chicken from my 2 meat plate that I ordered. So I change my order.
She leaves and didn’t say anything to my husband who ordered the Phat Sampler that also includes chicken. We figure that maybe they had a little bit of leftover chicken for him??
Soon my side salad comes out.
It’s a nice big (almost meal sized) salad. I share it with my husband while we are waiting for the rest.
Around 30 minutes latter my 2 meat plate comes out.
I got brisket, burnt ends, and potato salad. The brisket is a bit on the dry side but ok. The burnt ends are extremely fatty and succulent. … but they all succulent with a succulent bark. (I’ll save them for my husband) The potato salad is eggy and seasoned with dill.
My husband got his plate and a few surprises.
Well lets start with the good.
The onion rings are very good and the pork is ok.
The surprises are that the plate is missing two of the meats (the chicken and the sausage) and the other surprise is that the chopped brisket is all little hard crumbs (at about 2:00 on the plate (like the type of meat crumbs that get cleaned off of the cutting board and get tossed into the beans……….). He also got burnt ends but on his plate they are very chewy and kind of dry. The Phat sampler was suppose to be 1/8lb. bunt ends, 1/8lb. pulled pork, 1/8lb. brisket, 2 baby back ribs, chopped chicken, 1/4 lb sausage filled onion rings with one side.
(I do note that all BBQ restaurants are never consistent due to the nature of hours of food preparation ((smoking) and then keeping the meat fresh for you…)
For the side was macaroni and cheese.
It was pasta shells in a thin white sauce that was very light with cheese (almost not cheesy).
We had a service issue here. – My husband informed our server that if he knew that he wasn’t getting two of the meats from the sampler platter that he would have ordered the 2 meat plate instead that came with two sides.
When she brought the check she gave us a slice of peach cobbler to go to make up for our troubles.
The cobbler is dry and dense and comes with one peach slice.
I heard back already from the owner.
He apologized and said that he wish I brought all this to his attention and he would have taken care of us. He also said that this is unusual and isn’t the way they normally serve.
I should note that you shouldn’t judge any barbecue restaurant from one visit because none of them are always consistent. They spend hours smoking the meats and then the tricky part is timing the meat for you.
That was my trip to Phat Turtle BBQ in Cave Creek.
www.PhatTurtleBBQ.com
30845 N Cave Creek Rd Cave Creek AZ
602-527-3257
Everything is subject to change and everything usually does change anyway.
Revolu Modern Taqueria + Bar is a Mexican Southwest street food style restaurant and bar. They have two locations in metro Phoenix. One is in Phoenix and the one I visited is in Peoria Arizona by the Peoria Sports complex by P83. The majority of the menu offerings are shareable plates and over a dozen types of street tacos. They also offer cheese crisps, bowls, fajitas, and more.
We came around a holiday weekend when most places were closed today.
They have bar seating.
They also have traditional seating and a large patio with high top tables.
We started out by ordering the chips and trio of salsas. (this I forgot to photo)
The seemed freshly made and were served warm. The three salsas that we received were a roasted salsa, a tomatillo salsa, and pineapple habanero salsa. Everything was tasty. The pineapple habanero had very strong pineapple flavor with a nice not too hot heat from the habanero.
I tried three street tacos. They come with rice and beans or you can upgrade the sides to elote.
I tried the potato head, Del Mar (beer battered mild white fish), and the Nashville hot chicken street tacos. All the tacos are over stuffed and some are extra saucy. I wouldn’t recommend them on a first date with someone unless you are very comfortable with any situation……(You will look very messy). The first one I tried was the one called potato head “queso style” with a crispy hard cheese shell around the taco (I thought the cheese shell would taste best on the potato taco and I think that I was right) This potato head taco is really scrumptious queso style. It’s full of all kinds of flavors. The Del Mar (beer battered fish taco) is tasty with the chipotle aioli. The Nashville Hot Chicken taco doesn’t remind me of Hattie “B”s but it sure is tasty so it’s a win. I was pretty full by now. but I did manage to taste the rice and beans. Both. were very good and better than from most places. I’d say the beans might have been the best vegetarian beans that I have tasted anywhere.
My husband tried the chorizo, carne asada, shrimp diablo, and carnitas. All of them were good. The carne asada was tender. The shrimp diablo was extra spicy.
I have to say that our first taste of Revolu Modern Taqueria + Bar was Worth a Fork!
*******NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS********S Maranto’s Market and Bar (and restaurant) has recently opened in Scottsdale Arizona just before the beginning of 2022. This is a casual Italian style deli, restaurant, bar, market and soon to be Pizzeria. They offer sandwiches, salads, meatballs, wings, pastas, platters, Italian beer, Italian wine, Italian spirits, some groceries, and more!
It’s casual.
You order at the counter, pay, grab your drink and seat yourself in the dining room or get service seated at the bar.
order here or seat yourself at the bar
Pick a table inside or on the dog friendly patio.
Browse the market while you wait for your order to arrive.
Soon our order arrives.
I got the spicy turkey sandwich.
It’s different. I really like the olives that the sandwich is topped with. The olives are spicy and citrus-y. I’ve never tasted an olive like these before. My sandwich is made mildly spicy with pickled goats horn peppers..(they taste similar to cherry peppers). The sandwich was made with smoked turkey lunchmeat….with a slice of mild provalone, lettuce, tomato, onion, and vita sauce. When we asked what vita sauce was we didn’t get a description. The person we asked just said that it was good so I can’t say exactly what it was but it was sort of creamy and was a little spicy with a smoked paprika type flavor. The baguette was a soft roll. It also came with a tasty cucumber salad that you can see in the next picture.
My husband tried the sausage and pepper sandwich.
He said the sausage was good. His roll came toasted but was also a soft roll.
That was a little taste of S Maranto’s Market and Bar – Newly Opened (and pizzas soon to come) in Scottsdale AZ.
Dining out with DOGS in Metro Phoenix is just a “FLUFF” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie who was elderly and diagnosed with aggressive cancer. Louie couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed eating and dining out. I took him out to eat as much as possible and instead of his 3-6 month diagnosis he made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat as long as the weather agrees.
There are many things to know about dining out with dogs.
Not all restaurant patios are dog friendly.
Most food and drink that you consume can be unhealthy or even toxic to your furry friend. It is best to get a list of foods from your veterinarian on what to avoid. (or to find what is safe. Usually a small lean piece of un-sauced meat is a good bet)
Your dog is not as heat tolerant as you are. (90 degrees and up is too hot to dine out with dogs).
If you do decide to dine out with dogs….
Your dog(s) need to be by your side at all times.
Dogs are not allowed to sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates.
Bring a water bowl for your dog.
It’s also best to dine at off times to avoid as many other people and dogs. (many people don’t like dogs and some people are allergic) (dogs often bark at each other and this might be a disturbance)
I called Greek Palace in North Peoria and they confirmed to me that they are dog friendly so we took the dogs there! They serve most of your traditional Greek dishes and a very good Greek Flaming Cheese called saganaki. Greek patio has not one but TWO dog friendly patios.
We placed our order and they started us out with salads.
The salads were tasty and fresh but not much here to give the dogs.
I tried the veggie chicken shawarma.
I got more than I can eat! That makes a couple of pups very happy.
You can see my dog on the right is drooling.
My husband got what they call the fire fighter platter. It’s sliced beef and lamb cooked on a vertical skewer. It came with grilled onions , rice, and vegetables.
The dogs also tried some of that too.
www.GreekPalace.net
We dined at Twisted Italian in North Peoria. They are an American Style Italian Restaurant that offers some Twisted options like house made pierogi and Italian chili rellenos. The official dog friendly patio is extra great for dining out with dogs because they only have two tables so we avoid lots of potential problems here.
They started us off with crusty hot bread, and olive oil with balsamic.
Today I got the citrus salad with added salmon. The salmon is cooked medium and is nicely spiced. I also have blue cheese candied. walnuts, mandarin oranges, and cranberries.
My husband got the antipasto salad.
We did alright at the Twisted Italian in Peoria.
www.EatTwisted.com
We regularly dine at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They specialize in serving around a dozen different Banh Mi Baguette sandwiches. They also offer most Vietnamese dishes except for PHO. Prices are low, portions are large and the food is consistently good!
Today I had the curry chicken with rice.
The Curry chicken is lots off chunks of tasty marinated white chicken with potatoes, carrots, onions, crispy shallots in a tasty curry sauce (rice is on the side)
My husband got the pork rice plate today.
It comes with a pork egg roll, rice, pickled vegetables and a generous serving of marinated flavorful pork.
“We are always happy to dine at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery!”
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
We went to The Rec Pizza & Dogs. They offer Detroit Style Pizza, some fried things, bread sticks, Hot Dogs, and a few other things.
I tried the seasonal pumpkin and ricotta pizza (individual size).
The dogs got to eat some pumpkin and cheese.
They also enjoyed some pepperoni and sausage from my husband’s pizza.
We also shared a n individual plain pizza and brought the leftovers home.
We did alright at The Rec Pizza & Dogs in Peoria.
www.TheRecPizzeria.com
We hope that you’ve enjoyed reading Dining Out with DOGS in Metro Phoenix December 2021. We wish you happy holidays and we hope to see you next year!
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
