Fabio On Fire is an Italian Restaurant, Bakery and Pizzeria located in North Peoria Arizona. Fabio On Fire is also well known for selling his delicious baked goods and fresh baked pizzas via his mobile pizza oven at food festivals, farmers markets and catering.
I did mention that Fabio On Fire is well known for his delicious Italian Food. Don’t hesitate making a reservation because usually by 4:30 the restaurant is already on a wait and you might not be able to get in.
(This photo was taken before the pandemic…many tables have been removed for distancing)
Fabio is often seen making pizzas….He also chats with guest when he can.
A year or so back the restaurant was expanded with a second dining room behind the pizza oven. Fabio’s portrait is painted on the back dining room wall.
Fabio’s fresh baked goods are featured in a case
The restaurant has a NEW out front patio in addition to the side patio that they already have.
Below is the side patio.
No matter where you are seated they also start you out with Fabio’s amazing crusty bread and olive oil dotted with balsamic.
I don’t really like to eat bread when I’m ordering pizza but it would be a horrible mistake not to eat Fabio’s delicious bread. We have to eat one piece and take the rest home for breakfast tomorrow.
Tonight I’m having the bufalina pizza.
It’s made of San Marzano tomato sauce, imported buffalo mozzarella, oregano, garlic, arugula, balsamic reduction and extra virgin olive oil. It’s a mix of all kinds of wonderful flavors. The buffalo cheese here isn’t watery and is firm like the way I prefer.
The crust is nice and thin…This kind of pizza is light and easy to eat. Mine is very crisp today.
My husband got the salciccia (San Marzano Tomato sauce, mozzarella, sausage, mushrooms and extra virgin olive oil).
If we get dessert usually but not all the time we often get the house made gelato because it is truly FABULOUS and possibly might be the best gelato in the country. Fabio should bring his gelato to Shark Tank and have them invest in him. So today we took a leap of faith and went with the cannoli.
It’s a good cannoli. I am usually disappointed with cannoli that I get out at restaurants because I make my own from scratch. I even make the cheese. If I say that this is good then it is good!
Here are some of the food items we tried previously from Fabio On Fire.
pear saladstrawberry spinach saladbeet goat cheese and arugula saladgnocchi pestoveal tortelloni specialspinach ravioli with walnut sauce special. This one was really amazing!!!! Both me and my husband loved this one…This one is extra special.eggplant parm specialshort rib ravioli specialsausage ravioli specialnapoletano (anchovy) pizzatake out- halibut special, meatballs, orecchiettetakeout – funghi porcini ravioli special, strawberry gorgonzola salad, gnocchi sorrentina limoncello tiramisublood orange gelato (we’ve also had passionfruit, chocolate and the strawberry. They are all amazing.
Take out food is a safer option than dining in during the coronavirus pandemic. We will not be dining in during the pandemic but we do consider dining out on uncrowded out door patios at off times.
The Twisted Italian is located in North Peoria in the #UpperWestSide. This restaurant is located in a large newer shopping center. They do have two outside tables but most seating is indoors. They serve most of your usual American Italian foods but also offer a few things that are “Twisted” like three kinds of pierogi on the menu and also an Italian Relleno that comes with fried raviolis.
Tonight we took out the the Friday Dinner Walleye Special and the Pepperonata with extra sausage.
OMG they gave me a whole buffet pan of food. Look how ENORMOUS that pan is with the walleye. The vegetables (a mix of green beans, asparagus, and zucchini) are tender crisp, very fresh and very good. The fish is mild and meaty. It’s lightly breaded and covered with a tangy lightly creamy citrus sauce. It’s slightly more tangy or sour than the sauce usually is. This same sauce is on the angel hair pasta. It’s too tangy or sour for me. I can’t eat it because it is painful to me…..(but I am more sensitive than most people.) I do note that I had this special before and it was delicious last time. This special is very popular. According to the website all this food is only $17.50. They must have made an error on my receipt because they only charged me $14.75 so I don’t know if I should bother them and let them know they made an off batch of sauce?
My husband did alright with the Pepperonata with extra sausage. He said that the sausage in his meal was very good and had extra to save to snack on. I shared some of the fish with my dogs and they got a taste of the sausage.
www.EatTwisted.com
Our other take out of the week was from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix. They serve burgers and other sandwiches, sides, soft serve and a few 100 kinds of bottled sodas. Recently The New Times wrote an article that Rocket Burger serves one of the top ten chicken sandwiches in metro Phoenix. I’ve been here a bunch of times but never tried a chicken sandwich here so today was the day.
The chicken sandwich is the one in the middle of the picture. The one I got is made with a large soft eggy bun, thin sliced pickles, a tomato slice, horseradish mayo, sliced jalapeños, really REALLY HOT Rocket Relish, two ultra thin battered chicken fingers and this sandwich is only $8.49. The person from The New Times said her chicken sandwich had an incredible crunch to it. Mine just taste battered and isn’t crunchy……(maybe it got soft due to take out and not dining in????) But WOW that horseradish mayo is really great and that rocket relish has a great flavor to it. This sandwich is boarder-line too spicy for me but I like the flavors of the sauce and relish. The chicken is ok. It’s a very good sandwich for only $8.49. I sure have paid more for sandwiches that weren’t this good.
We shared some fries and my husband had a double cheeseburger today. It usually is great but today was a little dry.
My dogs sure didn’t mind trying some cheeseburger and some chicken from Rocket Burger.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”
www.TheRocketBurger.com
That was week 36 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic in metro Phoenix AZ.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it DOES CHANGE for the better.
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.
pastor, cabeza, cabeza on corn tortillas chicken on corn tortillas and carne asada on flour tortillas
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.
Experts say that take out food and delivery are less risky options during the pandemic. So take out is a logical choice but we also do consider out door patio dining.
Our first take out of the week was from Alzohour Market in Glendale. They are offer Moroccan, Middle Eastern Foods, baked goods, a small amount of grocery and Islamic Clothing. The food is always delicious and if you can you must try the hot tea. Today we took out the cod tangine and a chicken dish. We asked for chicken couscous but we got rice instead. She gave us LOTS of rice…way more than a person can eat. It was still delicious.
The entrees came with fresh salads. The Cod tangine is always delicious. It’s made with red peppers, tomatoes, onions and lemons in a warm seasoned tomato based sauce. The cod is nice and light but is a generous portion. The chicken is also delicious, lots of olives, very tender and falling off the bones. Today it came with potatoes that soaked up all the delicious Mediterranean and chicken flavors. These meals came with an ultra generous portions of colorful fluffy rice. the dogs sure enjoyed sharing some of the fish and chicken.
We also did take out from Fabio On Fire in North Peoria #UpperWestSide. This is an Italian Restaurant that offers Italian Foods such as Neapolitan Pizzas, Pastas, Great baked goods, Specials that may include fresh seafood and the BEST GELATO maybe in the world.
We went with two of the specials halibut Mediterranean, polenta with Italian sausage and peppers and that amazing strawberry gelato. I didn’t try the sausage and polenta but I can tell you that the halibut was delicious and prepared to perfection. The vegetables were also nice and fresh and included rainbow carrots. Fabios bread is also excellent. It was nice to enjoy a piece with dinner. The next day we enjoyed more of the amazing bread with breakfast. We also had a small taste of that amazing strawberry gelato. I’m lucky to have the rest in my freezer. My dogs got to also enjoy some sausage and halibut.
That was Week 33 of Take Out during the coronavirus pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ.
Alzohour Market – Glendale
Fabio On Fire – Peoria #UpperWestSide
Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.
Two weeks in a row I got to visit two brand new restaurants in North Phoenix. Last week I got to try out Jalapeño Inferno in Peoria at Park West. It is a Sonoran Style Mexican restaurant with a few outside patios and a beautiful bright modern decor and lots of outside patio seating on multiple patios.
This time I did take out.
We started out with chips and salsas.
Their red salsa is extra mild and is only mildly seasoned. The jalapeño inferno sauce (green $3.00 extra) is so hot that you can’t eat it. It does have good flavors to it but as someone who likes hot food I can only use a drop of it on my food.
For my main I went with the naked poblano.
I thought the poblano would be stuffed but it is on the side of cubed chicken breast, corn and black beans in a creamy corn sauce that was sprinkled with pomegranate. It’s tasty and doesn’t seem too heavy. A little fresh cilantro and scallions would go a long way here….but it’s still good.
My husband went with a combo plate.
He got a tamale, a burrito and a chili relleno with rice and beans. He was happy with it and said that everything was tasty.
That was what we tried from Jalapeño Inferno in Peoria at Park West.
www.JalapenoInferno.com
This week I got to try Just Biryani in North Phoenix. It’s an Indian Restaurant with over 20 different Biryani dishes on the menu. It’s also a cheerful and clean looking restaurant.
Today we did take out.
We started out by sharing the samosa chaat.
It’s chana masala (seasoned chickpeas) with sauces and wet bread (might be the samosas but it seems like bread in here). It’s full of exotic flavors herbs, onions, fried vermicelli and some mild heat. I think the sauces on the side might be chutney and raita but are unlike any I had before. These are both have a water-like consistency and are ultra delicate with flavor.
We then shared the gongura chicken biryani.
It’s mainly fluffy rice with a little raw onion, half an egg and some seasoned very tender boneless chicken with some exotic flavors and slight heat.
We also shared the ulavacharu chicken biryani.
This one is also mostly fluffy rice, raw onion and half an egg with a small amount of chicken on the bone. This dish has very little flavor. I never had an Indian dish like this before.
www.DosaGrillAZ.com (this restaurant was previously a Dosa Grill)
Those were my experiences at Jalapeño Inferno at Park West in Peoria and Just Biryani in North Phoenix two of the new restaurants in North Phoenix AZ.
Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.
During the pandemic I’ve been doing takeout instead of dining in because it’s less risky. Since I’ve been just doing take out I noticed that the food has been better in general. I usually get a few HORRIBLE dishes a few times a year. Outside of dry chicken a couple of times I really haven’t had any bad food. I’ve been more careful with my restaurant selections and mostly but not entirely go to restaurants that I know. Here is a collection of NOT ALL but some more of the BAD and or DISAPPOINTING foods I had in Metro Phoenix. My bad experiences might be humorous for you to see.
The crust taste burnt from this deep dish pizza restaurant. I waited around an hour for this to be served to me. They told me that they pre-bake the crust and these pizzas come out that way. WOW if I did that like this nobody would tell me to open a pizza restaurant.
Bad food can come from a food truck. The next one came from a food truck in Metro Phoenix.
The fried dough had a rancid taste and was suppose to be stuffed with corned beef. I think they used the deep fryer for frying not fresh but very old road kill.
The next one seemed like a culinary wonder after this.
This restaurant serves the most uninspired fajita salad I ever had with the worst salsa and chips I’ve ever tasted. Bagged chips and jarred salsas are superior to what I tasted. Not to mention that somebody dripped something with strawberry into one of the salsas on its way to me. I have no idea why this is a popular restaurant.
The next restaurant was very good when they opened. Unknown to me at the time the chef left and they must have let the dishwasher take a shot at cooking for them.
Smelly tasting fish topped with lots of raw tomato paste and served with two styles of splats of blended corn.
That wasn’t the only bad dish.
Below are the gooiest pierogi in the world.
This restaurant went out of business shorty after this.
This steak was so chewy that I didn’t even bring it home for my dogs. I was able to eat the potato cakes but something was wrong with them and that side of pond slim on the plate was disgusting. This upset me so much I didn’t eat any beef for a year.
Last week I gave you the worst taco I ever was served so here is the 2nd worst taco I ever tasted.
The 2nd worst taco I ever tasted came from the 2019 Taco Festival. This taco wasn’t just salty but it tasted like it was made with 50% salt. Some poor boob must of accidentally dropped a container of salt into the taco mix and said oh well. This was so salty I thought I was going to turn into a pillar of salt. I spit this out so I wouldn’t get sick.
You know of lava cakes?….. well the French name for lava cake is fondant. Well these people served me a Fon-DON’T
The chef from this restaurant didn’t put a molten filling in this thing. He gave me a lump of solid frosting. Who wants a solid lump of frosting? It seemed like someone besides the chef wrote the menu for this restaurant without training the person in charge of cooking. Although this was a promising restaurant that did serve some delicious dishes this restaurant has closed for business)
This next one came from a well known Asian Restaurant.
Guess I hit them on an off day. The dumpling were soggy and falling apart.
This comes from another well known restaurant. It was made special to look like vomit for me.
EVERYTHING was HORRIBLE from this Meditertanean Restaurant that is out of business now.
They served me falafels that I almost broke my teeth on because the chick peas weren’t cooked and were hard as rocks in them. The shawarma tasted like it was grilled chicken baloney and all these goodies came with a decomposing pickle.
I enjoyed lunch a few times at a well known Italian Restaurant so I thought I’d enjoy dinner there…..Well I was wrong again.
My dinner was overcooked and my vegetables that came with my dinner seemed like they were over cooked many times for like maybe two weeks.
I heard about a fish fry restaurant and wanted to give it a try.
The owner seemed very nice and was very conversational. But WOW EVERYTHING WAS AWFUL. It seemed like it was a combination of poor cooking skills mixed with restaurant equipment failure. The macaroni was gooey and cheese seemed water downed. The sweet potatoes seemed old. The tarter sauce was thinned down…..but the fish……was FREEZER BURNT. It’s was like eating crunchy astronaut dehydrated fish. My husbands plate had similar and different problems. After we tried everything and everything was horrible we threw it all out in the trash. This place is still in business so there is a possibility that she improved the food she serves there.
This next one was very disappointing from a restaurant that was newly opened at the time.
On the left was suppose to be corn and jicama slaw. There wasn’t any corn or jicama in the slaw so that was disappointing. The sandwich was also disappointing. Besides being impossible to eat as a sandwich the white sauce was suppose to be green curry coconut that sounds very good but it was just a tangy loose white liquid. I did mention these things to the manager before I was about to write about them. They told me not to criticize them because they were busier than expected and newly opened. I just told them that if someone told me that they might be out of a few things then I would be alright and know what to expect. That’s fair shouldn’t a paying customer know what to expect? Later the owner said nasty things to me on line and told me never to go to his restaurants again. A few weeks later he sent me another email that just read – You Suck!
Anyways-
Over cooked and over salted fish can happen at one of the finest restaurants in Phoenix. (but the rest of the meals were excellent)
Sometimes desserts can be horrifying. It really upsets me when desserts have foreign objects in them that I have to spit out.
I complained about this and the waiter told me it was part of the dessert. (jerk)
I went to a certain Filipino restaurant where I enjoyed the meal so we splurged for dessert. My fork couldn’t penetrate the dessert because it was hard as a rock. It took my husband a long time but he finally busted it apart with his hands.
The owner said nothing was wrong with his dessert. He said if I heated it up it would turn soft. WOW! I didn’t know that I should bring my own oven to heat up his hard as rock desserts.
*****THE I ALREADY ATE PLATE******
Sometimes food can be disappointing because they serve you “The I already ate plate” I do note that this wasn’t a tasting menu for lunch…….This was a regular lunch entree.
This was my $16.00 lunch salad that came from a restaurant that is out of business. (and WTFork did they do with the other half of the egg?….I was still hungry and could have used it)
******THE I ALREADY ATE PLATE********
Here’s another “I already ate plate” The food was very good from this restaurant but this is not a tasting restaurant.
This restaurant is also closed for business.
This last one is a bonus extra and was something my husband had somewhere in metro Phoenix at one of the places I showed you bad food from last week.
It might be the WORST crispy chicken sandwich in Metro Phoenix. They sure don’t give a cluck about what they served there. My husband said the cheese was a mix of hard and melted. Chicken seemed like processed and prepared over done in a microwave because of the rock hard texture and the blown out chicken middles.
Well those were only some of the bad and disappointing foods Part 2 from Metro Phoenix Restaurants.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
Unless I make a trip to Nelsons or Chula Seafood it is hard for me to buy fresh fish. I have purchased inedible fish from Frys, Safeway and Costco. I have paid top dollar from AJ’s Fine Foods and got less than fresh. For those reasons I mostly gave up preparing fish at home and enjoy eating fish out or taking it home these days. The dishes below are not in any particular order. Here are some of the fish dishes I took out from restaurants since around March 2020.
On the right is the grilled salmon from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. It’s a good size portion that is prepared reasonably well and I like that you can have healthy options like double vegetables instead of pasta. I had spaghetti squash and asparagus. My husband had a shrimp and pasta dish that night.
The best tacos near to my house are from Taco Fusion on Glendale. My favorite taco from them is the mild habanero chicken taco with pineapple salsa but all their tacos are good. They even use hand made tortillas. On the right is their fish taco. Doesn’t taste like a fish taco from Mexico but it is a good taco and is better than most fish tacos I try out . My husband says that the shrimp tacos here are really great so I’ll take his word for it.
Everything from Confluence in Carefree is extraordinary!
These are the halibut lunch tacos from Confluence. Nobody prepares fish as masterfully as from Confluence. The crispy skin on fish actually can taste good and stays crisp from beginning to end. Even the finest restaurants anywhere can’t do that as well. If you like to eat fish than you must take the splurge and try one of their fish dinners.
You can even get fish from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix.
On the left is a double cheese burger with a really big fried chili pepper but on the right is their super tasty Mexican Fish Sandwich. It’s delicious I have to have one once in a while. The slaw and rocket sauce are so darn tasty that you can slap it on a hamster and the hamster would taste good.
I would say among the top fish take outs was from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale.
I had the Salmon dish twice. It was really great both times. Very few restaurants in metro Phoenix prepares salmon this well. My husband is just as found of their Shrimp Diablo dish below.
Aiello’s Italian Restaurant in Phoenix offers three course dinners with a bottle of wine and a candle for ($50.&$65.)
I got a generous pan of salmon with artichokes and a tasty potato croquette. The other dishes were tasty too!
In Peoria (#UpperWestSide) is the Twisted Italian and they offer a Friday Night Walleye Special. (It’s that BIG PAN on the left in the picture below.)
It’s more food than a human can eat and I tried to order it a few weeks before and it was sold out. Now I know why.
I also got a salmon salad from Chula Seafood in Phoenix.
It was prepared well and everything was fresh. My husband got some sort of grilled tuna sandwich that day.
Below was our take out from Vincents Market Bistro in Phoenix.
To be honest (like I always am) I didn’t order the salmon dinner but wound up with it. When we called them to let them know of the mix up they quickly took care of things. VMB has been a long time favorite of mine and I have enjoyed dining in here for a decade or so now. Dining in they always give you delicious fresh baked croissants and some of the best desserts in town.
Below is the really great Halibut from Fabio On Fire in Peoria #UpperWestSide.
The halibut was cooked to perfection and also was a large portion that came with fancy vegetables in a delicious sauce. This was really great!
We did take out from Wally’s American Gastropub in Scottsdale.
My husband said the meatloaf from here is really great. I liked the healthier grilled salmon with tomatoes and really tasty cauliflower. It was filling but light enough to add on one of their really delicious slices of pie.
FnB in the arts district of Scottsdale usually offers delicious wood grilled seafood.
Upper left hand corner is the Blue Nose with Citrus and Couscous
One of the plates to get from Scott’s Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen is the fish plate supreme (middle). It’s suppose to serve one person but I always get three servings from it.
It think it’s kind of special because you get to pick three kinds of fish for it. One fish I always pick is the smoked sturgeon because it cost around $40 a pound and you seldom find it anywhere. They offer belly and nova lox. (Belly is better but sometimes it runs too salty) and then I pick something like white fish too. I think it’s fun to get once in a while.
Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix offers a few fish dishes. Bellow is the middle is the Lotus root salad.
I think it only cost $5.00 and comes with shrimp.
Nayana Japanese Kitchen recently opened in the Arcadia Area of Phoenix,
On the left side of the picture is a spicy tuna roll and the very tasty salmon yuanyaki.
Below is the amazing house smoked salmon from the Barrio Cafe in Phoenix (Lower Left)
WOW! it was all so delicious! YUM!
From Szechwan Cuisine in Glendale (on the left) I tried the fish with fungus in egg white sauce.
In the middle my husband tried the kung pao shrimp.
Also in Glendale we did take out from Taylor’s Chowder House.
On the left my husband got the dish that is called 2 plus 2 (2 cod 2 shrimp) and I got the Sole Florentine. They were very generous with the potatoes and fish in the 2+2. I like that they serve vegetables with the dishes.
We even did take out by Old Town Scottsdale and did take out from Starlite BBQ.
I tried the Hot Fried Catfish there and it was very good!
Went back to Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale.
The Grilled Hawaiian Opah Special was really good! (and so was everything else!) That beef sandwich and Moroccan Vegetable soup were really great too!
We did take out from a really special Thai Restaurant in Phoenix called Glai Baan.
On the left corner is their famous Mackerel fried rice. Everything was really great!
Stratta Kitchen recently opened in Scottsdale. I had another one of the best salmons there.
On the left is the mistral salad with added salmon. WOW this was a really great salad and a spectacular salmon. This was really special.
Those were 27 fish dishes we took out in Metro Phoenix so far in 2020.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.
Dining out can be deadly these days during the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option. All restaurants are struggling and we have little else to do these days anyway so we are giving as much support as we can to restaurants.
Our first take out of the week was from a small casual Mediterranean/Greek restaurant Pita Kitchen in Glendale (#UpperWestSide). I didn’t go in to pick up but my husband said that they installed more plexiglass inside for our safety.
Pita Kitchen bakes their own fresh pita bread that is always delicious. I usually get the chicken kabob Greek Salad. The kabob always taste delicious with lots of flavors and always has a delicious char. 18 out 20 times it is also juicy. My husband usually gets the gyro meat on a Greek Salad.
My dogs always love Pita Kitchens’ food.
Next Take Out was from Fabio On Fire in Peoria (#UpperWestSide). This is a small Italian Restaurant that offers Neapolitan Pizzas, various Italian dishes, amazing breads and desserts (FORKING FABULOUS Gelato). They have a 100% contact free curbside transaction. You order and pay online and all the communication is done by text. They sanitize a table and your order is placed there.
We got family style pear salad, pappardelle con fungi and peach gelato. Everything was very good. Portions were very large. P.S. That peach gelato is the best in the whole wide WORLD. Fabio should go to shark tank to sell his gelato across America….YES IT’S THAT FABULOUS!
Pups were happy to try a little cheese from the salad.
We also did take out from Scotts Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen in Phoenix. They offer breakfast dishes and delicatessen favorites.
My husband got a pastrami sandwich (or actually 2) I got the smoked fish supreme platter and tomorrow we will try the latkes for breakfast. My platter is a really great value. My platter is large and I get three meals out of it. One of the fish I pick is Lake Sturgeon…..I don’t think any other restaurant sells it in Phoenix and it cost around $40. a pound. My platter also comes with a bagel, cream cheese, cole slaw, potato salad, fresh made pickles and vegetables. It’s a nice treat to have once in a while. We also like that Scott’s is open on most of the holidays.
Our dogs were very excited to try some of Scott’s.
FnB in Scottsdale had a take out special on fried chicken so we got two. In case you have been living under a rock…..FnB is co-owned by a James Bead award winning chef Charleen Badman so if she offers a take out special like this it would be advisable to try it.
Half a fried chicken with a peach and feta salad, macaroni and corn salad and potato salads. This is also way more food than anyone can possibly eat. But WOW! This take out was GREAT! Reminds me oof a similar take out from Thomas Kellers’ Ad Hoc. His fried chicken was also fabulous but FnBs’ sides are far more detailed and delicious!
Dogs are yappy….I mean happy to try some.
Last Take Out of the week was from Aioli Burgers in Phoenix. I heard about a Nashville Hot Chicken Style Sandwich that was on special for the Fourth of July….But it was Sunday the fifth and they were still offering them so we decided to give them a try.
We each got a Nashville Style Hot Chicken Sandwich with a side of roasted vegetables. Our sandwiches were suppose to come with green chili aioli but the aioli was forgotten….or maybe they ran out?. The sandwiches are tasty and the chicken is moist. They aren’t very spicy but they are tasty as chicken sandwiches. As per usual my dogs helped with the large portion of chicken. (I removed the coating for them since it might contain spices and vinegar that are not good for dogs)
“We are in this thing together!”
That was take out in metro Phoenix week 16 of the coronavirus pandemic.
We went to-
Pita Kitchen – Glendale/#UpperWestSide
Fabio On Fire – Peoria/#UpperWestSide
Scott’s Generations Restaurant and Delicatessen – Phoenix
FnB – Scottsdale
Aioli Burgers – Phoenix
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
I tried a lot of restaurants for take out during the pandemic. Most were good. Some old favorites are great for dining in but lost some of the magic with take out. But surprisingly some were GREAT beyond my expectations. Here are most but not in any particular order. One of the best take outs was from Confluence in Carefree.
This fried chicken with chilitepin honey is to die for. OMG it really is that good!
Binkley’s Dinner was pretty much over the top too!
It was the only take out dinner that felt like dining out when I ate the carefully packaged five courses.
A new restaurant that opened during the pandemic called Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale was also AMAZING!
They gave us these delicious complimentary muffins that were moist and seemed light as air. The muffins were studded with feta cheese and were laced with dill and also came with this warm honey butter with fresh chives…….(these alone were amazing)……We enjoyed an amazing appetizer. Both our dinners were incredible.
I had the salmon and it was one of the very best salmons that I had anywhere in metro Phoenix.
The Bianco pizza (left pizza) from La Piazza Al Forno just might be the best pizza in metro Phoenix……It’s that GREAT!
The untraditional smoked corned beef sandwich special from NakedQ BBQ in Phoenix just might be the BEST corned beef in ALL of ARIZONA! It was tender like butter but the flavors were just out of bounds!
The fried chicken thigh sandwich from CHZBURGR in Glendale is CRAZY CRAZY GREAT! I’ve been told that the cheese burgers are just as great!
Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix serves some the most DELICIOUS curry and jerk chicken.
The best tacos in town come from Taco Fusion in Glendale. All the tacos are really great but my favorite is the mild habanero chicken.
Alzohour Market serves delicious food. This time I had the chicken kabob and it is tender juicy and developed with flavors. All the food from Alzohour Market is delicious.
I may have forgotten a few and for the most part everything I took out really was good…but these are the ones that seemed the most memorable because they traveled well for take out and also were “knock it out of the park’ delicious.
Everything IS subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
Nothing is for certain and you can never be too careful. Dine in restaurant meals mean more contact with more people and germs flying threw the air conditioned air in restaurants. There are also other diners who are probably not wearing masks to hold in their droplets that might contain the coronavirus. We’ve done take out where we’d walk into a restaurant with a small amount of risk but curbside is safer. I note that I haven’t been everywhere but here are the restaurants that offered curbside pickup that I have been too..
Fabio On Fire (N Peoria)
At Fabio On Fire you order and pay on line. They communicate with you by text and a table is sanitized and your order will be placed on the table.
CHZBURGR in Glendale offers you to call in your order but it’s 100% touch free paying.
At Kawaii Sushi and Asian Cuisine you order and pay on line. You park at a special parking spot and call to let them know that you are there and they place your order on a table in front of your car.
The Grassroots Kitchen & Tap in Scottsdale also offers curbside pick up.
You order, pay on line pull into a curbside parking spot and someone runs out and drops off your order.
Vincent Market Bistro (Phoenix) offers curb side pick up.
We ordered and payed on line and gave them our pick up time. As soon as we drove in they asked who we were and placed our order in the back seat.
Chino Bandido in North Phoenix also offers curbside pickup. I don’t remember how we paid but I do remember a worker with a mask did run the food to our car.
The Larder and the Delta in Phoenix also did a curbside pick up. We paid over the phone and our order was placed on a pick up table outside of the restaurant.
Curbside pick up is also offered at Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. I don’t remember how we paid but I do recall that your order was placed on a table outside of the restaurant.
Tratto in Phoenix also offered curbside pick up.
We paid there and then we picked up at a table out side of the restaurant.
Binkley’s in Phoenix no longer offers curbside pick up and has returned to being a dine in fine restaurant again but they also were very careful and did contactless curbside pick up food a few weeks..
These restaurants we went to that had the safer curbside pick up were -.
Fabio On Fire – N Peoria
CHZBURGR – Glendale
Kawaii Sushi and Asian Cuisine – N Glendale
The Grassroots Kitchen & Tap – Scottsdale
Vincent Market Bistro – PHX
Chino Bandido – N PHX
The Larder & The Delta – DT PHX
Desert Island Eatery – N PHX
Binkley’s – PHX But as of this date (5-19-20) has discontinued curbside and has gone back to dine in service.
Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.
