Lue Fish House is a reasonably priced seafood restaurant located in Gainey Village in Scottsdale Arizona. They are a family owned business with 4 other locations in California. I was told that the fish is fresh flown in daily and the vegetables that are served are all organic. Seating is at the bar, oyster bar, dining room or either side patio around the building.
Delicious fresh baked sour dough bread to start you off with.
Miso glazed sea bass skewers with organic brown rice, vegetables and spicy slaw with soy ginger dressing
shrimp skewer with potato cake and beans
seasonal harvest salad with added salmon
Mexican burrito bowl
flourless chocolate cake
east coast (blue point) and west coast (British Columbia) oysters.
Dining out with dogs in metro Phoenix Arizona is just a “Fluff” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started when my dog Louie was diagnosed with aggressive cancer. They told us that he was only expected to live three more months and up to 6 at the most. Louie already was old and couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed eating and going out to eat so I took him out as often as I could and instead of the 3-6 months Louie made it another 17 months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when I can.
There are some things that you need to know if you dine out with dogs. Not all restaurant patios are dog friendly. You need to see a sign or license posted that the restaurant is dog friendly….
If you don’t see a sign then you need to call and ask the restaurant if you can bring your furry friend.
From experience I highly recommend that you dine out with your dog at off times to avoid possible problems. Some people just don’t like dogs and other people are allergic. It’s best to avoid other dogs too because dogs enjoy barking at each other and that might be considered to be a disturbance and you could be asked to leave.
You need to know that dogs must be by your side at all times. Dogs are NOT to sit on restaurant furniture and dogs are NOT to eat off restaurant plates.
Did you know that most food and drink that you consume can be harmful or even TOXIC to your dog? You must get a list of safe foods and foods to avoid from your veterinarian. You also need to be aware that your dog is NOT as heat tolerant as you are. Dogs wear a fur coat all the time and absorb heat up their paws. They also can’t sweat. All dogs do differ just like people but in general 90 degrees F is too hot to dine out with dogs. Maybe some dogs can take 90 degrees or less but only in shade.
Our first destination this month is Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante. They are an Italian restaurant that specializes in serving Neapolitan Pizzas, House made pastas, Italian foods, seasonal specials and more. They also have a comfortable all weather dog friendly patio with misters and shades for cooling. They also have portable heaters for those few chilly days and an indoor outdoor bar with a TV for other people.
The patio has a nice park-like atmosphere.
Our nice server brings water for the dogs.
Then we get some fresh baked breads.
I get the seasonal special of Chicken piccata. I had a small side salad with it that I forgot to photo.
The chicken is intense with lemon. It really doesn’t taste like other chicken piccata dishes that I have had. They tell me that the food here is authentic Italian and the chef and pizza maker are both from Italy.
My husband gets the Bottega Pizza (sausage and pepperoni).
My dogs are pretty happy to be getting lots of chicken.
www.BottegaRistorante.com
Next we went to Oscar’s Pier 83 in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.
They have a nice comfortable patio that is nicely spaced with large comfortable tables. They also have some new outside shades too.
My husband got fried cod, oysters and shrimp.
I got the cajun catfish with added vegetables.
To my surprise the dogs enjoyed squash and zucchini very much. They also got to eat fish but I had to be extra careful on what I fed them because there was a lot of cajun seasoning on the fish that contains onion and garlic that is very bad for dogs. I cut both sides of seasoning off the fish so the dogs could have some. The fish was very crispy…much crispier than it normally is here. With all the seasoning it was hard to tell that it was catfish but it seemed fresh.
www.OP83.com
We love going to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They offer most of your favorite Vietnamese dishes except for pho.
Today my husband had a shaken beef Banh Mi baguette sandwich. (the beef is always REALLY great here….to me it is like filet mignon but I know that it is rib eye)
I got a noodle bowl….
It’s BIG and everything here is delicious! I got a BIG bowl of rice noodles topped with minty herby salad, marinated seasoned chicken with crushed peanut and fried shallots, (my husband accidentally got me tofu too that is very tasty) a crispy egg roll, fish sauce for dipping and chili paste. Both meals could be two meals for some people. I got plenty to share.
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
My lucky dogs got to revisit Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale again.
We all got to see the NEW expanded patio.
Today they started us off with a complimentary basket of fresh baked focaccia and a bowl of water for my VIPS ( Very Important Pups) My husband got the sausage special with a choice of fresh hand made pasta (he picked trofie)
I got the strawberry chicken salad.
We all enjoyed our visit to Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante!
That was dining out with Dogs in Metro Phoenix for January 2021.
******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS******Desi Fusion is a casual South Indian Restaurant located in Peoria Arizona in a strip mall on Bell Road by a cluster of car dealers. Desi Fusion offers both non-vegetarian and vegetarian biryanis, curries, tandoori, naan, bread, pizzas, shawarma, soups and more. It’s very casual. You order at the counter and seat yourself inside or on one of the few tables outside on the patio.
I was told by a penpal in India that it is a welcoming thing to hang leaves and flowers in the restaurant.
Desi Fusion
The inside is casual.
Things that I tried so far –
onion kulcha – YUM! Get It
mirchi bajji (vegetarian stuffed and battered peppers) Tasty! Worth a Try!
Chicken 65 – If you can do spicy YOU MUST GET THIS!!*******Chicken just melts in your mouth and is full of many delicious flavors with nuts and heat.
Got but forgot to photo the Nellore Chepala Pulusa (South Indian Fish Curry) If you can do spicy GET THIS!….It’s mild white fish in a very flavorful chunky tomato sauce that comes with fluffy rice…really delicious!
Bullet naan -not sure what I got here but was suppose to be jalapeño and cilantro. Tasty whatever it was.
Chili Eggs – GET THEM if you can do spicy. Very tasty battered eggs that are sort of sweet a little sour and spicy full of flavors.
lemon chicken – very tender and very flavorful…not similar to any American Lemon Chicken. Worth a try!
Dum Biryani – I was told that this is an authentic Biryani – GET THIS! Ours was extremely flavorful and spicy. The chicken in it was tender as can be and was developed with flavors. I also was very impressed with the chunky tomato condiment. It was much more spicy and more flavorful than from other near by Indian restaurants that I have been to.
Desi Fusion was busier on our last visit and our order took 45 minutes to prepare.
In the left upper corner is zeera ajwain naan. Worth a try!
Left lower corner – kahi thalawa machi (mild white fish marinated in spices and fried in gram flour. Delicious…Worth a try.
Middle – Desi Spl Chicken Maharaja spicy biryani – Very Good…Flavorful but not as spicy as the Dum Biryani. The Chicken here was boneless and as tender as can be. Although this dish was flavorful and delicious I am concerned about the heat level because this dish was described as spicy and was far less spicy than some of the previous dishes I tried………….(I hope the heat levels aren’t being toned down to please the masses…….or maybe this dish just runs with less heat?……I don’t know…) Worth a try and better than most biryani I’ve tried in this area but I did prefer the dum biryani over this one.
Really enjoy the chutneys or condiments. They are much more flavorful (and also spicy) than from some of the other Indian restaurants that are or were in the area.
Right bottom corner in picture – The Forking Truth is that we ordered a tandoori vegetable platter….this is obviously not a tandoori vegetable platter…We ate it anyway. All tasty a variety of vegetarian appetizers.
www.DesiFusionAZ.com
That was a bigger TASTE of Desi Fusion. I read on their Facebook that they recently opened a second location in Mesa.******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*****
Twist Bistro is a restaurant and art gallery located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They offer an ever changing menu of detailed delicious food that leans towards Mediterranean. The restaurant is ran by a husband and wife team. The wife is the artist who painted many of the beautiful colorful paintings (they are for sale) and also runs the front of the house. The husband is the creative chef.
Our server asked us if we’ve been here before….(I laughed to myself since this is our 7th visit and she asked us that last time too) Anyways- We started by sharing the farm to table salad. Today’s was made of Abby Lee Farms heirloom tomato, Hass avocado, radish, Blue Sky farms greens, pepitas, tortilla strips, Serrano pepper and lime vinaigrette. It’s a nice aggressively spiced substantial salad. We enjoyed the spiciness but it would be too much for tenderfoots. The salad is filling with all the silky meaty avocado and everything is very fresh.
Then fresh hot feta dill biscuits with honey scallion butter come our way.
These are really delicious. Getting these biscuits is like getting a gift. We share one and take the two home to enjoy latter.
This was the first time I didn’t notice any fish on the menu or as a special either. They only had shellfish today. I went with the filet mignon provencal.
The filet has a nice sear on it and is topped with cabernet jus and aioli. It rest on braised kale and garlic masked potatoes. Confit tomatoes and a grilled artichoke complete the plate. I wasn’t served a steak knife but did ok with a butter knife because the steak was tender. My lucky dogs went crazy for the piece I fed them. They were glad I went for the filet.
My husband always enjoys the shrimp and sausage diablo.
It contains spicy Italian sausage, gulf shrimp, fresh basil, asparagus, olives and tomato confit over three cheese polenta.
Below are foods from previous visits to Twist Bistro and Gallery.
Complimentary feta and dill biscuits with honey scallion butter
wild mushroom and truffled ricotta crepe
loch duart salmon with tomato salad, vegetables, black rice and pistou
*****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*******D’s Jerk Hot is a small casual Caribbean Restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona.
It very casual. You order at the counter and seat yourself or do take out.
It looks like they serve food sort of cafeteria style with an oven to keep dished out orders hot.
It also looks like music might be preformed here?
The menu is large with lots of variety. I like how some of the main dishes are offered in small, medium or large sizes.
They offer the more seafood dishes than from other Caribbean restaurants that I have been too and also some dishes that I have never tried before.
We shared a lot of things.
I tried the National Dish of Jamaica called Ackee & Salt Fish and something called a festival. Both of these foods are new to me.
WOW! The medium size is much larger than I thought it would be.
The ackee is that stuff that looks like scrambled eggs but is actually a fruit. It doesn’t taste like much by it’s self…….the yellow ackee taste and texture is most similar to silken tofu and the salt fish taste similar to anchovies but maybe a little more fishy. The cabbage is well seasoned and the rice & peas are delicious. The small yellow fried pastry taste like a corn meal doughnut that is a bit dense.
We also sampled the jerk chicken and the curry dishes in small size. (The small size is bigger than I expected too)
The curry chicken is delicious. It falling right off the bones and is well developed with flavors. I like that it is saucy with a few potatoes in it too.
The Jerk chicken is different. Every place makes jerk chicken different. This one is FLAVORFUL and delicious but is more delicate with seasonings and heat than other jerk chickens that I’ve tried. I tell The Forking Truth so I have to add that this batch is dry today. Maybe tomorrows batch is better like the curry chicken.
We both have never tried brown stew chicken (medium sized) before.
Just like everything else we got another very large portion. The chicken is SUPER falling apart tender and is infused with all KINDS of flavors. It is really good and delicious but is also full of bone fragments everywhere.
That was my trip to the newly opened D’s Jerk Hut in Phoenix.
There are many great dishes to try from many metro Phoenix Restaurants. Some might inspire you to try to do a copy cat version. Here are some that inspired me. They are listed in no particular order.
Miso eggplant with bonito flakes and crisp enoki mushrooms
This miso eggplant with bonito flakes and crisp enoki mushrooms and peanuts was inspired from one of my visits to Confluence in Carefree AZ.
Reathrey Sekong is a Cambodian Restaurant that I have been to a few times in Phoenix. They make a Cambodian flavor paste to flavor some of the dishes and did it on video for our local newspaper. I watched and took notes. A combination of turmeric, lime leaves, lemon grass, galangal, shallots and garlic makes Cha Kreung Paste and that is what I used to flavor the above vegetables.
Ethiopian Style Chicken Stew
I went to Abyssinia Restaurant and Cafe in Phoenix. The Doro Wat Chicken was so delicious I had to find out on how to make it.
Flat Bread with Blue Cheese Butter and Pistou Inspired from Eddie’s house of Scottsdale AZ
Eddie’s House in Scottsdale is no longer in business but part of the complimentary bread basket inspired me to make a flat bread with blue cheese butter and pistou.
At Angel’s Trumpet Ale House in Phoenix I had this amazing salad that inspired me to do the above plate with the majority of ingredients that were in the salad. Up above are smoked beets, goat cheese mousse, oranges, pea sprouts, almonds, mint and orange champagne vinaigrette.
Spaghetti Squash with Harissa Vinaigrette
We enjoyed spaghetti squash with harissa from FnB in Scottsdale so I made something similar.
No Pasta Squash Manicotti
We often dine at Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante and one special they had was a squash wrapped manicotti. I thought that was a good idea and made up my own ricotta cheese and did the same.
Melon with Preserved Lemon, Lavender and Cream Cheese
The most memorable plate I tried from The Vic Bar & Grill in Buckeye was a melon salad with preserved lemon and lavender.
Reduced Fat Potato Green Pepper & Eggplant
Miu’s Cuisine was one of the best Chinese Restaurants. They had this dish with potatoes, green peppers, eggplant and black garlic that was so delicious. I attempted a reduced fat version.
Roasted then Fried Rutabaga topped with oven fried Lotus Chip
We enjoyed the Gilfeather Rutabaga from FnB in Scottsdale. I purchased the same rutabagas from the Scottsdale Farmers Market and did something similar. (should have used more chives)
Spicy Vegetarian Cauliflower Meatballs in Spicy Butternut Squash Indian Spiced Sauce
I really enjoyed the spicy cauliflower meatballs from Meat The Ball in Scottsdale. Sadly Meat The Ball is no longer in business but I still remember several of the meatballs I tried.
Indian Inspired Green Beans and Chickpeas
Even food from a buffet can inspire. There used to be an Indian buffet and restaurant called Mayuri Palace in Phoenix. I tried an okra dish that was marked kauai bhindi masala and gosh it was amazing. At the. time I was unable to find a similar recipe. Somehow I came up with this Indian inspired green beans with chick peas. I know it came out pretty good because this recipe has been featured in an Indian on-line publication and rates 5 stars on a certain recipe site.
Pickled Beet Israeli Couscous and Harissa Vinagrete
This pickled beet, Israeli couscous with harissa vinaigrette was inspired by a plate I enjoyed from Atlas Bistro in Scottsdale.
Focaccia di Recco
I tasted this AMAZING Focaccia di Recco at Pomo Pizzeria. This I didn’t know how to make so I followed Mary Ann Esposito’s recipe. Mine didn’t come out quite as amazing as Pomo’s but still was very tasty.
Brazilian Inspired Potato Salad
The Brazilian potato salad was really delicious from Carvalho’s in North Scottsdale. It’s different…Looks very creamy but the creaminess is made by over cooking the potatoes. Can’t get it there anymore because they are closed for business.
Indian Inspired Beets
I really enjoyed the beets poriyal from Vaigai that used to be open in Glendale. I looked up a recipe for them and they came out close.
Baked Asian Seasoned Broccoli and Cauliflower Bites
The bang bang broccoli from The Larry in Phoenix was SUPER tasty. I had to make something similar and I did!
Forking EPIC Guacamole
Thanks to my visits to The Barrio Grand Reserva (no longer in business) I was inspired to make this AMAZING guacamole. I learned some secrets there that I never would have came up with unless I tasted The Barrio Grand Reserva’s amazing food. This isn’t a copy of their guacamole but does copy some of the superb things I tried there. Some secret ingredients are Asain pears, chitepin peppers, home made pickled caccabella peppers and SEAWEED.
Matbucha
We used to have a very above average Mediterranean Israeli Style restaurant called Zabari Mediterranean Grill in Phoenix. One ultra memorable food item from that restaurant was a cold tomato sort of salsa called Matbucha. OMG it was so delicious I had to learn how to make it. I did a lot of research and I was able to figure a recipe that taste similar. This stuff is really great and I have no idea why this food isn’t main stream. I bet I could make a living just selling this.
Latin Inspired Red Lentils, Rainbow Chard, Dates and Almonds
From a visit to Deseo Nation Restaurant in Scottsdale we enjoyed this side order that was delicious. My version of it was made of red lentils, rainbow chard, dates and almonds.
Eggplant Caponata
Tasted an amazing eggplant caponata from Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale. Always thought that I didn’t like eggplant caponata till I tasted the one that Stratta Kitchen serves. Made my own and it is awesome……(Thinking that most people don’t correctly cook the eggplant or study on how to make it right)
Burmese Style turkey soup
At FiGaMi Asian Fresh Restaurant in Phoenix I got an amazing Burmese Style Fish Soup. I had home made turkey stock at home and did something similar after I looked up on how to make Burmese Style Soup. (P.S. I went back to FiGaMi Asian Fresh for the same soup and it was different second time around)
Crisp radishes and capers in an anchovy caper dressing
We enjoyed a radish, caper and anchovy caper dressing salad from FnB in Scottsdale. My radishes were not as special but I did a pretty good job copy catting.
Those were some of my inspirations from Metro Phoenix Restaurants. I wonder what restaurant will inspire me next?
How many times do you go out and you might have had a great meal but the dessert just isn’t up there with the meal? I think that happens often. Confluence in Carefree is a small upscale restaurant that serves an ever changing menu of elevated modern American food. This is one of the very few restaurants that I have been to that serves desserts that are just as amazing as the food.
Some say that you can eat with your eyes….So here we go! Get ready to enjoy!
Up above is chocolate mousse. It’s not ordinary. It’s the highest quality and detailed.
It goes a little further here. – caramelized white chocolate pudding, pine nuts, dark chocolate mousse, pistachio, gianduja chocolate semifreddo and hazelnut brittle.
caramelized white chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse, macadamia nuts, bananas and banana bread
The Copper Mule is an American casual restaurant and bar located in North Scottsdale Arizona.
They offer small plates for sharing, single pizzas, salads, sandwiches, street tacos (that come with chips and salsa), burgers, entrees, cocktails, wine and more. They have seating at the bar, table seating and patio seating that also is dog friendly.
We started with the Montauk fried blue cheese olives with sriracha ranch and lemon.
What’s not to like? Ours were fried to perfection. These are very VERY tasty. They are crisp with a meaty olive center that was filled with blue cheese. The sauce is tasty and the lemon just brightens it all up and is that just right touch here. I think that this is very detailed for what it is.
My husband had a pressed pork prosciutto Swiss cheese, dill pickle and mustard sandwich called the Havana. It comes with plantain chips but the nice server said that he could pick any side that he wanted and he went with tater barrels (tater tots).
The sandwich is really good! It has more prosciutto in it than expected. The serving of tater barrels is also very generous and they are fried to a crisp nice golden brown.
I went with the lemon dill salmon that comes with cheese ravioli and asparagus. It seems so wrong. I guess this is what you call a naughty combination……..
The salmon is prepared reasonably well and is seasoned with dill. It taste similar to most other $16.95 salmon entrees out from most places….(what that means is ……..a bit fresher than salmon from my local Fry’s, Safeway or Sprouts) I would call this neighborhood style restaurant fish…(not fish house style fish). The asparagus is freshly prepared…I was very surprised in a good way with the ravioli and cheese sauce. I figured for only $16.95 (subject to change) that the ravioli had to be from frozen…….Well I didn’t ask if the ravioli were frozen but they did taste fresh made (or might be really good purchased stuff?). The pasta seemed like just made and the inside was very fresh tasting with lots of creamy ricotta cheese. I’m so glad that the ravioli were without that filler that packaged ravioli usually taste like. The creamy cheese sauce was unexpected but was really delicious. It had that really rich American cheese kind of flavor. I could taste that this is mostly some sort of American type cheese. We enjoyed dipping the tots in it too. My husband sure didn’t mind eating two of my FOUR ravioli.
We were excited to splurge and try one of the desserts and went with the blueberry rum caramel bundt cake with ice cream. It was a nice light and fluffy cake that wasn’t too sweet embedded with some blueberries with a caramel drizzle. The ice cream seemed similar to Hagen Dazs Vanilla.
A nice sweet ending to a really nice casual meal out.
Seoul BBQ & Sushi is located in Phoenix Arizona. They serve a variety of Korean and Asian foods. Seoul BBQ & Sushi is well known for serving Korean BBQ. They also offer Korean and Japanese appetizers, noodle dishes, hot pots, house specials, stews, sushi, all-you-can-eat dinners and more.
They do have a patio but it is not in use.
Inside is a long bar and several dinning rooms.
Today we just did take out. We took out a bibimbap (Korean mixed rice dish with egg, vegetables, beef and a chili paste called gochujang and a spicy dak bulgogi (marinated bbq chicken).
They gave us a complimentary vegetable pancake and 16 side dishes called banchan!!!!!!
Here’s a better look at the pancake.
WOW it’s mighty tasty, stuffed with veggies and is very generous in size.
Here’s a better look at the side dishes.
We got eggplant salad, fish cakes, sweet peanuts, cucumber salad, potato salad and potato noodles. All are tasty.
Here the bibimbap. Below it is rice for the other entree.
You are suppose to mix the rice, beef, egg, vegetables with kimchi (fermented cabbage) and the gochujang (chili sauce). It’s delicious!
Here’s the spicy dak bulgogi (marinated bbq chicken).
It’s delicious and so tender. The chicken is full of flavors. The sauce is spicy but not too spicy and has sweetness to it. The rice is also nicely seasoned. I think they accidentally gave us extra food here. Even half is a very large portion.
The take out we just did was a great value and Wroth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
Here are some previous dishes we tried from Seoul BBQ & Sushi.
Pizzeria Bianco is nationally well known for pizza. The owner is the James Beard Award winning chef Chris Bianco. Pizzeria Bianco has earned a positive recognition from various celebrities, Food Network TV, various magazines and by food critics.
I most often go to the Town and Country location in Phoenix.
The atmosphere looks like it’s been here forever. I’ve heard that many of the paintings inside where done by the chef’s father.
There is another dining room behind this one.
Today we will sit on the patio.
They start us up with shattering crisp bread and high quality olive oil.
We share the market salad.
It’s made of radicchio lettuce, sliced Asian pears, gorgonzola cheese and pecans. It’s very balanced. The bold cheese, the nuts and the sweet pears counter the bitter radicchio just so.
My husband had the pappardelle with bolognese sauce.
I had the chicken cacciatore with risotto.
Everything was flavored nicely and the chicken is cooked to perfection but The FORKING Truth is that the risotto is dry and not creamy. I know that it is very rare to get correctly made risotto out so we let this go.
Here are some of the previous dishes we had here.
chicken salad plattermeatball sandwichnutmeg & chocolate Italian iceSwiss Chard LasagnaMarket SaladAranciniGrilled Mortadella SandwichPasta E Fagioli
I’ve had many of the pizzas but as of today I still haven’t had a pizza from this location. I want to include the famous pizza so here is a page I saved from a 2012 Food & Wine Magazine.
