Aftermath is a small swanky restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona. They offer elevated modern detailed cuisine. Some of the plates are globally inspired. They also offer craft cocktails and more. You need to know that you park and enter behind the restaurant. At the time of my visit the door was unmarked.
Most of the seating is indoors at a booth or a traditional table.
They also have a few bar seats and a very small patio of only four tables.
We started out with the grilled broccolini.
grilled broccolini
It was adorned with mushrooms, cashew cream, fish sauce caramel, and smoked parmesan.
We also shared a grilled hamachi collar.
grilled hamachi collar
It was a very detailed plate of two very small collars, kelap mann (Indonesian sweet soy sauce), miso pickled vegetables, shiitake mushrooms, and peanuts.
For our main we shared the picanha steak a la plancha.
picanha steak a la plancha
The came with long beans, pee wee potatoes, smoked onion jam, and gorgonzola butter. The flavors were amazing on this one but the beef was a little chewy.
A perfect sweet ending was the key lime bar of praline graham crust, crystallized ginger Chantilly and topped with a candied lime.
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 was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed eating so I took him out to eat as often as I could. Instead of the 3-6 month diagnosis Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat.
There is a lot to know about dining out with dogs. First of all not all restaurant patios are dog friendly. Even if a patio is dog friendly it is always best to call because you never know if the patio is. reserved for a party. It’s also always better to dine at off times. It’s always best to avoid as many people and other dogs as possible. Some people don’t share your love for dogs and other people are allergic. It’s best to avoid other dogs because dogs like to bark at each other and that can be a disturbance and you might be asked to leave. Dine at off times to avoid potential trouble.
Here in Phoenix it is often to hot to dine out with dogs. Your dog is not as heat tolerant as you. Dogs wear fur coats, they can’t sweat, and they absorb heat up their paws. Just like people all dogs have individual heat tolerances. Hopefully you know your dog well enough to determine if you should dine out together. In general 90 degrees and higher is too hot for dogs to dine out. But maybe up to 90 degrees for younger healthier dogs in shade. Shade makes a difference here. When there is any doubt be smart and leave your furry friend at home.
Most food and drink that you consume can be harmful or toxic to your dog. It’s best to get the facts from your veterinarian on what is safe and what to avoid. Usually a small lean un-sauced piece of meat is a best bet.You should bring a water dish so your dog can lap up some water.
When you dine out with your dog(s) you should keep them close to you. You should never let them sit on restaurant furniture. You should also never let them eat off of restaurant plates.
We went out to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Vietnamese restaurant that offers around a dozen different Banh Mi Baguette sandwiches and most of your Vietnamese favorites except for pho.
Today I had a chicken cabbage salad and chicken pot stickers. (this big and delicious salad with fresh herbs is only $7. and the tasty hand made potstickers are only $5.)
Someone is eyeing up the food.
My husband had a shaken beef Banh Mi today.
Someone is hoping extra beef shakes out.
We all enjoyed our meals at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
Next we went to Cucina Tagliani in the Arrowhead part of Glendale. Cucina Tagliani is a neighborhood type restaurant that offers American Italian style favorites, build your own pastas, soups, sandwiches, salads, a few entrees and more!
Cucina Tagliani happens to also have a nice large officially licensed dog friendly patio and it’s usually very quiet on Sundays so we like to take advantage of that and we get treated like kings and queens.
My dogs were served their own water pans right away.
We ordered and my husband started with some minestrone soup.
Each dog got a piece of bacon from the soup.
Soon the meals came out.
I had the strawberry chicken salad and dogs got lots of the chicken.
My husband had the chicken parmesan.
All the chicken was moist today so we did ok at Cucina Tagliani.
www.CucinaTagliani.com
This next trip out with the dogs went into plan “B.”
Our destination was Phila-Deli in Glendale. When we got there we saw a note they posted on the door and it read that they are temporarily closing on Sundays. Plan “B” was to go down the street to Skewers Mediterranean Grill ( fast/casual fresh Mediterranean foods). The …Skewers doesn’t have a patio but just across the street is a small park with tables for us to dine at.
I got a chicken kabob salad with turnips and chick peas.
It’s a pretty nice and tasty salad with lots of tasty moist delicious chicken to share with the dogs.
The dogs are waiting for their chicken.
My husband got a gyro salad.
The dogs are enjoying the food from Skewers.
Nice tasty large salads from Skewers Mediterranean Grill in North Glendale that don’t cost much more than fast food and is much better.
www.SkewersAZ.com
Since we couldn’t do Phila-Deli last week we thought we’d try again this week. We tried to call in our order 6 times and nobody answered the phone. We were afraid that they went out of business. When we got there we were relieved that they were open. We found out that they no longer make salads….(my first choice)…..Then I found out that they discontinued wraps too…..(my second choice). I like the people there and my husband likes the sandwiches but I am pickier…..and only liked the wraps and salads here…………We decided that we’d go down the street to Oscar’s Pier 83. Unfortunately the patio was already packed with lots of babies and other dogs. So we did take out and the dogs had to eat on our patio.
I got a salmon salad. It’s nothing fancy but the fish is fresh here.
My husband got a three piece fried fish (cod) dinner.
www.OP83.com
Well that was dining out with dogs in metro Phoenix for November 2021. We hope that you’ve enjoyed and we hope to see you next month.
“YUM!” “We LOVE eating!”The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
Mac Shack is a casual fresh pasta restaurant recently opened in north Glendale Arizona. The pasta is fresh made daily. They offer a variety of pastas with meat, vegetarian, vegan, and also offer build your own pasta pans. Other offerings are a few salads, bread, kid’s meals, marshmallow cereal bars, and soft beverages.
It’s small and casual inside.
There’s an artwork of Anthony Bourdain on the wall.
You order and pay at the counter. There is only a few tables and a couple seats at the counter.
the pasta machine is on the counter. There is a fresh tray of pasta that was just made.
Your order is fresh made for you and takes around twenty five minutes to prepare.
They bring our salad and pastas at the same time.
Cesar salad
The Caesar salad isn’t fancy but it is very large and is fresh and crisp.
I tried the pasta pan called Happy Valley (orecchiette, roasted garlic oil, olives, sun dried tomatoes, parmesan, capers, fresh basil, artichokes, and spinach)
My husband suggested getting the large size…..Nobody can eat a large…..I was able to do like almost a third of this pan. It’s good but they were overly generous with the olives….and too light with the basil. Mine stayed piping hot the whole time we were here.
This one was gooey and cheesy. It’s not as piping hot as mine.. He likes it. My husband is a big eater…..and loves to eat pasta. Even he could only eat half.
Went back to just to try the plain mac-n- cheese called the Mac Shack and took out the small size.
It’s cheesy with melted cheddar and crumbs on the top. Could use a little seasoning for adults but it just right for kids.
Doesn’t cost much to dine here and it’s better than fast food. (most large pans are around $15. and they can certainly feed at least two people)
Mac Shack – Newly Opened in north Glendale AZ #UpperWestSide
Here is the SKINNY on the thinnest dough pizzas and such in Metro Phoenix Arizona. If you are a fan of the extra thin doughs and are around Phoenix this might be of interest to you.
Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in north Glendale offers all of their pizzas (around 16 varieties Milano Style……….. that means EXTRA thin…much thinner than their normal thin Neapolitan pizzas. Thin pizzas never weigh you down. You can enjoy more pizza when you go for the extra thin. Up above is the vegetariana pizza made of D.O.P. tomato sauce, flor di latte, red bell pepper, zucchini, eggplant, basil, and extra virgin olive oil.
Next is a spinach calzone from Pane Bianco in Phoenix.
It looks like a normal doughy calzone.
But look!
This dough is paper thin…This is super thin calzone dough….gives you more belly room for that rich creamy cheesus filling. BTW- The cheeses are incredible here. For my taste it is a little light on the spinach but it does taste great.
Pomo Pizzeria offers quite a few extra thins. One is the Pizza Rimini in 4 varieties.
It gets baked for a very short time at around 900 degrees in a certified Italian wood oven.
Pomo also offers the Focaccia di Recco in three varieties. (below is the formaggio)
This focaccia gets rolled even thinner than the Rimini pizza because it gets stuffed with stracchino cheese and you can add on local honey to enjoy it even more.
Focaccia di Recco from Pomo Pizzeria
Here is the focaccia di recco in the pesto variety from Pomo.
focaccia di recco pesto
LOOK how paper thin it really is.
I loved the Focaccia di Recco so much from Pomo Pizzeria that I had to try it when I saw it on the menu at Mora Italian in Phoenix.
The Mora Italian Focaccia di Recco was very different from the Pomo Pizzeria. Mora’s wasn’t as crisp and the cheese didn’t come out all melty.
I was told by the manager that Mora Italian uses a different oven so the results do differ.
The thinnest non-extra thin pizza that we have received was the mushroom with mozzarella and salamette picante from PA’LA Downtown.
It was a very chewy very thin pizza.
This was the SKINNY on the thinnest dough pizzas and such in Metro Phoenix AZ.
I recently went to one restaurant in Phoenix Arizona and had a most unpleasant experience. I doubt whoever just opened this restaurant knows anything about the hospitality business. My gut told me that I should leave as soon as I got here….It was my bad for staying…….Note to self listen to your gut. This is the only restaurant (so far) that I am not mentioning by name. This restaurant has so many problems I doubt they will be around for long anyway unless they bring someone in to help. The only reason I wanted to eat here is because I was BAMBOOZLED on Yelp. I read mostly all 5 star reviews and looked at mouth watering photos of food……I can only figure that the reviews must have been done by friends and family…..I have no idea where they got the photos from……….I sure didn’t get anything that resembled the food I looked at…….This is the only way that I can write about this restaurant.
We walked in early just twenty minutes after they opened. Every table in the restaurant was left dirty from the night before with crumbs and smudges.
crumbs and smudges on every table “actual table”
I thought our waitress was dressed like a slut.
not actual waitress but similar
Since every table was filthy I thought our server would wipe the table off that she sat us at…. but she didn’t…. so we wiped off the table ourselves………………….. They obviously don’t even concern themselves about sanitation.
Then she introduces another slut…I mean waitress that she is training who is even sluttier.
Not actual waitress …ours had even more cut outs
We order and soon complimentary chips and salsa come out.
actual complimentary chips and salsa
Oh my they don’t know how to make chips and salsa. These chips taste like the ones that Costco sells (that aren’t good). They tried to heat the chips up but didn’t do that right because they taste burnt….. The sauce taste just like crushed canned tomatoes with too much added dry oregano and doctored up slightly with a little hot sauce. Wow it’s like a child made the salsa.
We needed silverware for our meals that arrived. We were the only table on the restaurant and our server was unaware that we needed silverware…….So we asked for silverware……Then we got some and I unrolled my silverware and they were covered in soap residue. I used my glass of water to soak off the soap from the silverware.
All the food that we received was mediocre….meats were like dry stringy pot roast. Flavors weren’t so good. I ordered a grilled fish taco and the cook made me a breaded fish taco that seemed like it was already reheated a few times. It was similar to bad buffet food.
Finally we asked for the bill. They have some sort of new electronic paying system where you don’t see the bill until you see it in your email on the computer.
They added on without telling us an extra 3% called processing tech charge.
Dirty Tables, Bad Chips and Bad Salsa, Soupy Silverware, Dry stingy meats, Undisclosed 3% processing tech fees, and some peoples daughters dressed like sluts from some restaurant in Metro Phoenix Arizona.
Everything is subject to change….This restaurant will probably close and re-open soon as another restaurant.
I only went here because of the glowing reviews and amazing looking pictures of food from a certain review site. It turns out that I was bamboozled by a review site.
There are several different kinds of restaurants out there. Most go under the categories of neighborhood restaurants….and neighborhood restaurants also are very good restaurants. We LOVE neighborhood restaurants……….but…… Some restaurants out there are destination restaurants. Destination restaurants serve the FANTABULOUS dishes. These are the restaurants that you drive across town for. We lost some of our destination lunch restaurants like Tarbell’s Tavern, Christopher’s and Vincent Market Bistro possibly due to the pandemic. Some restaurants have cut back lunch service to limited days. It is important that we still have some destination lunch restaurants. These restaurants are great for a special lunch out. Some only offer lunch on the weekends. Maybe you want to impress a friend or a relative. Maybe you want a special lunch for an anniversary or a birthday. Or maybe it’s for just because…….
Here they are in no particular order.
The Craftsman (lunch Fri, Sat. Sun.) in North Scottsdale offers some expectational cuisine. When you taste just even a salad you know that it isn’t ordinary. It’s the highest freshest quality.
crunchy quinoa salad with chickenCraftsman muffuletta with friesshipwright ahi saladtomato and melon burrata
www.TheCraftsmanAZ.com
We have Elements at Sanctuary (lunch Mon., Tue., Wed., Thurs., Fri.) in Paradise Valley with celebrity chef Beau Macmillan. The menu is ever changing and seasonal. But you are sure to find a variety of appetizers a special of the day, bento boxes, a very good exceptional chicken dish, and pastry chef quality desserts.
bento box house made cavatelli with duck confitseasonal chicken thigh dishfive spice beef tenderloinchef crafted dessert
www.SantuuaryCamelback.com/dining/Elements
Ocotillo (lunch Sat., Sun. subject to change) is a restaurant and more. It is technically also a coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, event space and park. They offer a mostly American menu laced with global cuisine. The menu offered is a large brunch menu of mostly sharing plates of salads, vegetable plates, sweets (breakfast), light plates, savory plates. I counted over 20 different plates to choose from. The menus are seasonal and do change. Also the hours change. Before the pandemic Ocotillo offered a great lunch everyday. Currently brunch is offered on the weekends of mostly lunch sharing plates.
house smoked salmon platecrispy chicken meatballstandoori chicken salad pita with tomato watermelon saladvanilia roasted pear with goat cheese and bitter chocolate with mintsmoked brisket on parmesan polenta, fried egg, crispy onions, brisket jusJapanese fish and chips
It’s easy to see why Ocotillo is a destination restaurant.
www.OcotilloPHX.com
Superstition Downtown Meadery (lunch 7 days a week) in Phoenix offers chef crafted food and award winning meadery (ancient honey wine). They offer sharing boards, small sharing plates and large sharing plates and food and mead pairings.
12 mead sampler $24.piri piri chicken & warm cannelli bean saladgorgonzola. & herb butter skirt steak blondies with cocoa nibs and Marion berry mead sauce whipped cream
www.SuperstitionMeadery.com
Another one of the top destinations for a special lunch would be the small restaurant in Carefree called Confluence (lunch Wed. Thurs., Fri., Sat.) They serve ever changing seasonal menus of elevated modern cuisine….You can order appetizers, lunch, and don’t miss dessert….because the desserts are equally amazing as the food.
Some of the amazing detailed and delicious lunches from Confluence that we tried were- –
kampachi crudo appetizermiso braised beef cheek (don’t miss out on any beef cheek you ever come across from Confluence) (this was only on the lunch menu maybe one week)Wagyu pastrami sandwich cubano sandwichBBQ chicken sandwich, celery root, spicy pickle, beet greens, smoked onion mayo, on a house made fontina roll (This might have been the most delicious sandwich that I have ever eaten anywhere)buttermilk fried chicken with broccolini, grits and chili tepin honey mustardmixed fruit granitespiced plum with black pepper oat crumble, sake poached cherry, candied manderanquat, mint, matcha creme anglaisechocolate mousse smoked toffee risotto, spiced pear, cocoa nibs, hazelnut, mint
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
These are some of the destination restaurants of metro Phoenix for lunch.
In no particular order-
The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen – (Fri-Sun.) North Scottsdale
Tap & Bowl is a unique small restaurant and bar located by the arts district and on the end of the waterfront near to Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant offers appetizers like dips, wings, and fried pickle chips. They also offer a variety of seasonal and some globally inspired bowls. They offer craft beers, cider, cocktails, hand crafted sodas and water filtered by an Italian soda machine.
You can sit inside at the bar, at a high top, on a sofa or booth. Outside on the shaded patio are traditional tables with bench seating.
On my last visit I tried a watermelon cucumber soda.
It was light refreshing and delicious.
This time I went with iced tea.
Both times here I had the Atlantic salmon & cali rice bowl. It is mostly riced cauliflower that is really pretty good and you almost forget that you are eating cauliflower…It’s almost like eating quinoa and it’s studded with edamame, carrots, onions, peppers, mushrooms and maybe some seasonal veggies. It’s all laced with Asian tasting sauces.
Last visit Atlantic salmon & cali bowl
The recent Atlantic salmon and cali bowl did differ slightly but was still delicious.
The biggest difference between the two bowls was the salmon. Last time it was served medium-rare and this time it was served well done.
The meal my husband enjoyed last time (the chicken macaroni and cheese bowl has been discontinued so this time he ordered the puerco con masa (masa caked topped with pulled pork with pico, honey and hot sauce.
He said that it was very tasty. He also said that he thought the hot sauce was particularly good.
Tap & Bowl is a nice little stop that maybe you haven’t thought about. On both visits all the food was tasty and not too heavy.
That was just a Little Taste of Tap & Bowl in Scottsdale AZ.
Mesquit Fresh Street Mex is a small local chain of eight (subject to change) casual-quick Mexican Restaurants in Metro Phoenix. They offer tacos, burritos, protein bowls, quesadillas, burritos, sides, Mexican beverages and more! Mesquite Fresh Street Mex has earned awards from the Phoenix New Times for Best Street Taco and Best Tortilla.
It’s very casual.
There is a window that you walk by where they cook the steak, chicken, and vegetables. It was empty when I walked by so there is nothing to see or smell.
Then you order.
It is Chipotle Style and they add sauces or vegetables to what you ordered. You then get either a bottled soda or water or order from the beverage station.
Then you seat yourself.
I went with a chicken bowl with salad instead of rice and beans. I added cilantro, pickled onions, and red and green sauce.
JEEPERS….The red sauce is too hot for me and I usually like hot.
The green sauce is ok……the guacamole sauce is smooth like a smoothie. I like the pickled onions. The chicken is tender and some pieces are seasoned more with a salt seasoning than other pieces. My chicken lacks mesquite taste. It is also cold. I told the person working there that it was cold.Not just cool but actually like refrigerator cold. She said that she took the chicken from the bottom of the pan to try to get the warmer chicken……………. That is an odd thing to tell me. I now know that the food they served me was mishandled. The food should have been properly heated up first before being placed in a steam table. The steam tables function is not to heat up food but to keep food at a proper temperature. It’s going to take a long time for that steam table to get that big pan of chicken hot. I hope they don’t make people sick here. I mean I sure hope that they change their ways and do things the right way next time.
My husband had a chicken and steak quesadilla. He thought it was ok…..It’s wasn’t bad…..but didn’t have much flavor.
That was my trip to Mesquite Fresh Tex Mex – Newly Opened in North Phoenix
Chantico is a Mexican style restaurant, bar, and event space located in Phoenix Arizona close to the Biltmore area. Chantico is a sister restaurant of Ocotillo in Phoenix and Starlite BBQ in Scottsdale. The signs for Chantico are easy to miss when you are driving up Camelback Road to get there but when you see a large building with lots of trees and plants that resembles Ocotillo you are there.
side of Chantico
Chantico is large with three main dining rooms, a few patios, a bar (maybe more bars?) and I noticed another smaller dining room. It looks like this when you walk in and you are asked if you want to sit at a table or a booth.
Behind this glass wall are the tables and behind this room is a patio. To the right is a large dining room that was closed at brunch time. The booths are in a bar area.
On the brunch menu are a long list of appetizers that sound like things that you might find on Ocotillo’s menu sometimes such as – a fancy detailed Chantico salad, spicy halibut ceviche, a beet dish, short rib appitizer, charred sweet potato, and grilled cauliflower.
The brunch dishes offer lots of variety……..You can get entrees like an anchiote chicken or a grilled New York steak. They have blue corn pancakes. They offer Mexican style dishes and some include eggs like burritos, chicken flautas, tyludas, chimiquiles, a shrimp relleno, and a pibil sandwich. If you order the Chantico Breakfast you get birria tacos, broth, scrambled and a beverage of coffee, agua fresco, or horchata. If you order the tacos you get three tacos that come with sour cream guacamole and your choice of sangria, Mexican beer, or a margarita.
Then they serve us fresh hot chips and salsas.
The chips are delicious. One salsa taste like ground tomatillos. The other salsa taste just like enchilada sauce.
We ordered and I picked the crispy chicken tacos and I picked the margarita that came with the tacos.
The margarita is really good! It’s made with fresh tasting juices. It’s better than some $12.00 margaritas from some places and it’s included with the $15.00 tacos..WOW!
We did order a grilled cauliflower appetizer but our brunch items came out first.
My husband tried the pibil sandwich.
pibil sandwich
It’s anchiote pork, scrambled eggs, grilled onion on a roll. It’s suppose to be spicy with habanero sauce but either they were extra light with the sauce or maybe the sauce might have been forgotten? A-OK here.
I got the crispy chicken tacos.
crispy chicken tacos
I got three good sized very crispy tacos with a good amount of sour cream and guacamole. This is a very large portion of food for brunch. The chicken in the tacos is tasty and crispy. (this is a lot of food and drink for only $15.)
It a good amount of breast meat fried crispy with skin topped with some shredded cabbage…..These tacos are kind of plain but you can add some of the salsas from the chips to add some additional flavors.
Then our grilled cauliflower arrives. Our server was very apologetic about forgetting to order the cauliflower. He said he was taking it off our bill. I said that he didn’t have to take it off but he did anyway.
grilled cauliflower
The cauliflower has mole negro, tomatillo pico, cilantro and crispy corn on it. This is tasty and spicy……My husband added that this was much spicier than the pibil sandwich he had.
This was a little taste of brunch at Chantico in Phoenix AZ.
Original Cuisine is a casual Chinese Restaurant located in Mesa Arizona. They offer mostly Sichuan Chinese foods that run mild, spicy, molten spicy, and also American Chinese Foods. This is not a fancy place. It is very casual here. On our last visit they served our beverages in paper cups.
You walk in and see part of the dining area is used for storage. But to be fare this is a small building that appears to have been a small fast food restaurant. I can tell that by the drive threw (no longer in use) and the floor tiles that look like from Burger King.
The current menu does differ some but you will find things here that are not found on average Chinese menus like the rabbit meat with bullfrog with pickled peppers and ginger.
Today I wanted to try different menu items so this restaurant would be new and fresh to me.
We shared three dishes.
chongqing spicy crispy chicken
The chongqing spicy crispy chicken are small but very tender chunks of chicken that are fried crispy but isn’t oily at all. It’s not as fiery hot as it looks if you don’t eat the crispy peppers. This is a tasty dish that I think most people would be able to eat the one I had. But a word of warning….hot peppers run much hotter sometimes…could vary.
beef on sizzling iron
This is the most tender beef that I have had in a long time. Zero heat here…..If you blind folded me and made me taste this I’d be veery confused………The sauce and the texture are not shawarma but it taste something like shawarma……The dominate flavor is allspice.
We shared a vegetable dish of stir fried eggplant with green beans.
Not spicy but tasty and not too sweet or oily soaked. The green beans are tender crisp and the eggplant isn’t soggy.
Previously we have tried the house special BBQ fish (catfish).
Now THIS WAS FIREY MOLTEN HOT AS HOT GETS! But it was really delicious. Hope they still make it the same way!
That was a taste of Original Cuisine in Mesa AZ.
www.OriginalCuisineAZ.com
Everything is subject to change and usually does eventually change.
