******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.

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*****

Desi Fusion seems to be Worth a Fork!

Everything is subject to change.

*****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 many car dealerships. They offer vegetarian and non vegetarian curries, breads, pizzas, biryani’s, tandoori, shawarma, soups and more. It’s casual and you order and pay at the counter, get your beverage and seat yourself.

(They also have a few patio tables outside)

We shared several things.

Tasty onion kulcha.

Tasty stuffed vegetarian battered peppers called mirchi bajji.

I also got two sauces. One tasted like it was made with tamarind. The other was a thin green one that tasted like it was made with cilantro.

Here’s an appetizer called chicken 65.

WOW! I’ve had chicken 65 before but this is much better! It’s melt in your mouth tender chicken but it’s fiery hot but not so hot that you can’t eat it…..It’s full of all kinds of flavors…and I taste crushed nuts too!

I’ve read on www.Recipes.TimesofIndia.com that Chicken 65 is a classic South Indian dish that was first served at a famous restaurant called Buhari in 1965. There are many explanations for the name of this dish…….chicken 65.

Some say that the chicken has to be cut into 65 pieces……

Some say that the chicken takes 65 days to marinate…..

Some say that 65 different chilies go into the dish

If you can take spicy this dish here is delicious.

We also shared the Nellore Chepala Pulusa (South Indian Fish Curry) Sorry I forgot to photo this one….. 🙁

It was made with a chunky tomato based sauce that was spicy and filled with delicious flavors. It came with some fluffy rice. I don’t eat much rice so I had some sauce leftover to bring home…(WIN!).

Went back for take out and tried a few more things.

We shared bullet naan. It is suppose to be cilantro and jalapeños….It wasn’t too spicy but was fresh and tasty.

We also shared some chili eggs.

I’ve had these before at another Indian restaurant and these chili eggs from Desi Fusion are WAY BETTER. These eggs are battered in a tasty sweet and spicy sauce. It’s like they are also almost caramelized. These eggs are really tasty. All the flavors and textures are really good. (It’s also a very large portion….((WIN!)))

We shared some lemon pepper chicken. I never had Indian lemon pepper chicken before. It’s full of chunks of very tender chicken that is bursting with exotic flavors. It’s also a generous sized portion.

Here is the chicken dum biryani.

I was told by the owner that this is an authentic style of biryani. This one is really delicious and a bit spicy. One condiment is creamy raita for cooling. The other is a spicy chunky tomato sauce that is very developed with flavors and lots of heat…GOSH it is delicious. *******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS******

This was a little taste of Desi Fusion in Peoria AZ.

www.DesiFusionAZ.com

Everything is subject to change.

The only sign with the Tacos Calafia name of the restaurant is on the back of the restaurant. Tacos Calafia is a casual restaurant that serves what they call street size tacos of five varieties, quesadillas, mulitas, vampiros, burritos and taco nachos.

According to The Arizona Republic they say that Phoenix Magazine awarded Tacos Calafia as the BEST tacos in Phoenix. The Phoenix New Times wrote that it is worth driving from all corners of the valley to taste Tacos Calafia Tacos. On The Phoenix New Times this restaurant is mentioned often as a BEST so since I’m a foodie I wanted to try it for myself. I am very picky about tacos. Most I taste are not my favorite. I’ve been to Mexico a number of times. I don’t claim to be an expert on tacos but I ate many tacos in the streets of Mexico. I thought most tacos that I tasted in Mexico were more delicious than the majority of tacos I try here in metro Phoenix. They were more developed with flavors. Most tasted very slow cooked. They all had a special freshness to them as well. That is why (not all) but most tacos here are not as good and I’ve also tried tacos from many taco festivals. Well I’m giving Tacos Calafia a try today.

I see they have a patio so I will eat outside today.

Here’s the menu.

According to the Phoenix New Times Tacos Calafia was a BEST NEW Restaurant in 2017. Also according to Eater Tacos Calafia is one of the 11 Hottest restaurants in Phoenix.

It’s very casual inside. You order at the counter, pay and pick up at the window. Then you make a trip to the taco bar and load your tacos up.

Here’s the taco bar.

We wore gloves to use the taco bar.

Our tacos came out like this. They are generously stuffed with meat.

Then I made them look nicer with the taco bar and we tried a variety of salsas.

The first taco I try is the grilled chicken.

I add lime to all the tacos. The green and red salsas are a very thin consistency ……almost like water. The green salsa has a nicer flavor than the red so I try a little of that and a little bit of guacamole cream on the chicken taco. …………It’s ok and not bad. The tortilla is not as flavorful as others I’ve tried. The chicken is very average. It’s not bad because it is tender but it doesn’t have a lot of flavor or char taste to it. It taste like plain grilled chicken.

Next I try the carne asada. The meat is tender but also lacks any flavor and even a char taste. I use a small amount of the spicy smoky thick sauce on this one to give it some flavor. Flour tortilla is average. Don’t take what I say the wrong way…..This is not bad taco…I’ve had much worst……..but it’s not up there for me.

My husband eats one more tacos than me and tries the pastor. He said it was different but I couldn’t get him to explain to me why it’s different. he said it was ok….he thought good but he said it was like the asada…not so flavorful.

The last taco I try was the cabeza (pulled beef cheek) This one is much different from all the other tacos. This taco is very good. …..(finally)….The meat is infused with a good slow cooked beefy flavor. I’m not a beef person but this is the best and most flavorful of the tacos that I tried today. My husband agrees with me.

Well that is how the tacos from Tacos Calafia were today. I imagine that it is possible that when the Phoenix New Times, Phoenix Magazine and Eater were here they made some of the tacos different. Did they changed their recipes since???????….. Or maybe it’s just someone different cooking today?

That was my trip to Tacos Calafia in Peoria.

www.TacosCalafia.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may indeed differ.