The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite!
I kept thinking about my recent restaurant week dinner from SWB in Scottsdale. Every dish I tried exceeded my expectations and EACH dish was a FANTABULOUS dish. I zeroed in on this dish because it is offered on the lunch and dinner menu..
I usually don’t even ever like cream based soups but this one was different and was not too heavy and had layers of flavors that were delectable. First your mouth gets the velvety sweet corn accented with the right amount of poblano taste. Just enough poblano to make the corn more interesting….But leaves you with that perfect corn finish. You get more layers in your next spoonful because you go for a little chili oil and maybe some queso fresco and a bright grassy little pop of cilantro.
The cream of corn poblano soup from SWB Bistro in Scottsdale (Hyatt Regency) is one FANTABULOUS Dish and is Worth a Fork!
Namaste is an Indian Restaurant located in a shopping center in North Scottsdale Arizona. This is a small family ran business. The owners are the cooks and their son serves tables. During the day (10:30-3 ) they offer their menu and a lunch buffet with a little over a dozen items that change every day. They offer some dishes that you don’t find at other Indian Restaurants like BEEF vindaloo.
Across the buffet is a series of paintings telling the story of the Taj Mahal.
There are other paintings around the restaurant.
It’s small but cozy. They offer both booths and traditional tables.
Bright light comes in threw the glass front windows.
We decided to try the buffet today.
With the buffet they made us fresh naan. We started with hot steamy garlic naan and they later brought us plain naan.
All the dishes that we tried were all very flavorful but nothing was spicy. We were told that they don’t put out the spicy dishes on the buffet so it can appeal to everyone. A few of the dishes that they offered today were – tandoori chicken, curry chicken, butter chicken, a ground lamb dish, dal, salad, chutneys, sweets.
The buffet was good so we decided to take out a few spicy dishes to see how they really are. We tried chili chicken chef hot.The chicken is tender…It’s flavorful and MIGHTY HOT! The rice was cumin scented.
and BEEF vindaloo chef hot. Also scotching molten HOT! The stewed beef cubes were very tender. The chunks of sweet potato gave some relief.
OMG! They are scorching molten hot! I’m so glad that they don’t dull the food.
Then we went back and tried some other things.
onion bhaji
Onion Bhaji – garbanzo bean flour coated spiced onion fritters with tamarind sauce…tasty and delicious!
aloo tikki choley
aloo tikki choley – potato patties with hot North Indian chick pea curry, mint chutney & tamarind date chutney.
onion chili naanonion chili naan have lots of flavor insideachari fish masala & kadai chicken
Achari fish masala ( achari spice blend, yogurt, onion and ginger) & kadai chicken (spicy chicken with onions, tomato, ginger, bell pepper, and kadai masala spice)
That was a Little Taste of Namaste Indian Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ.
The SWB Bistro (A southwest bistro) is located in Hyatt Regency in Scottsdale Arizona. It’s kind of a blend of fine dining in a casual resort atmosphere. It looks like this when you enter.
It’s just a few steps down or you can use an elevator.
Here is the other end of the restaurant.
Tonight it was around 100 degrees F but the outside was nice cool and refreshing with the misters so we sat outside tonight and saw a friendly duck or two splashing around in a water feature.
It was restaurant week so not all but most of the goodies aren’t normally on the menu like the nicely detailed Dungeness crab and octopus with piquillo cream, red onion, huitlacoche and preserved lemon.
Everything was tender moist and delicious.
We both thought the cream of corn and poblano soup was amazing. My husband gave me the most wonderful compliment and said, This taste like something you would make.”
The flavors were amazing…..You do taste the poblano and it finishes with sweet creamy corn. The soup is rich and has delicious accents of queso fresco…pops of medium spicy chile de arbol and cilantro…Just amazing! This soup is on the lunch and dinner menu so you can enjoy it just as we did.
It was hard to decide on what dinner to pick but I went with the free range stuffed chicken.
It was the moistest, most tender, most flavorful, chicken that you can ever hope for. It seemed like it was in a marinade that broke it down and then was sous vide and finished somehow to crisp the skin up….The chicken was truly astounding and was placed in this marvelously great green mole sauce sauce accented with crispy cancha corn. On top of that a mound of ricotta, a crisp squash blossom and some micro greens adorned the plate.
The sous vide venison was just as incredible.
This came with yuca, English peas, pistachio and chimichurri rojo.
TWO desserts (and two glasses of wine) were included with restaurant week. Both of the desserts were WORTH EVERY CALORIE!
Cherry cheesecake empanadas with the most delicious chocolate sauce ever.
Tres leches cake with caramel croquant, strawberry and Chantilly cream.
It was a FANTABULOUS dinner!
Parking does cost here. Tonight it ran $8. an hour for self park and the valet cost $10. plus tip.
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
www.Scottsdale.Hyatt.com
Everything is subject to change and often does change.
Sel is a small modern upscale restaurant located in Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The name Sel is also French for salt.
Salt may symbolize amazing benefits and is a choice at meals.
They have an outdoor patio.
Inside Sel also has an open kitchen.
There is a cozy dining room and bar.
And salt shakers on the walls of the bathrooms.
This week (May 2021) it was restaurant week and Sel was offering a three course tasting menu for $44.00 a person with an optional wine pairing for $50.00 a person. Tonight they were only offering the restaurant week menu with a few add on options and a cocktail menu but not a wine list.
We are more wine people than cocktail people. We usually get a bottle of wine with dinners but since there are no wine bottles on our menus we went with the optional wine pairings.
Our first course was sweet pea & wild ramp vichyssoise.
it was topped with mint and a buttermilk emulsion. It taste like cold creamy pea soup with a potato base to me with mint. Whatever it is….the soup is good.
Our second courses were…heirloom tomato and roasted beet salad.
This salad is very unique. There are stringy things on the plate that have a little curly parsley-like heads with slightly pinkish stems. Here is a closer look.
Gosh the tomatoes are amazing…they taste just picked like from a tomato plant in New Jersey but I know they must be local. There is also some pickled ramp, very good creamy Crow’s Dairy goat feta cheese, a tasty lightly fermented red pepper & brown butter emulsion. The puffed forbidden black rice didn’t make it to our plates but the rest of the salad was very good. (the dark stuff on the plate are the beets)
For my main I went with the Thai Basil Crusted Alaskan Halibut.
I received a nice meaty piece of fish that was flaky and lightly dusted with Thai Basil. It was in a tasty slightly spicy miso curry with roasted sweet corn, some fresh spinach and micro greens. The miso curry goes expertly well with everything.
My husband got a very nice upscale kind of grilled filet mignon plate.
The filet was prepared to perfection and was flavorful and tender. There also was fancy romanesco cauliflower, white truffle and black garlic jus braised potatoes and bordelaise sauce.
That was my visit to Sel in Scottsdale AZ for Spring Restaurant Week 2021
From a prior brunch at Sel we had…………
Black truffle deviled eggs with dijon vinaigrette and tarragon aioli with crisp chicken skin and micro greens
Piri Piri chicken with lemon blueberry ricotta Dutch baby pancake
Iberico pork skirt steak with poached eggs, potato patty, arugula preserved lemon slaw and Creole hollandaise
Flourless chocolate tiramisu with hazelnut praline and dulce de leche gelato
www.SelRestaurant.com
Everything is subject to change and often does change.
I haven’t been everywhere but I have tasted some amazing dishes this year. There are many GOOD ONES that I can list here but narrowed it down to the ones that stood out the most……….All the dishes taste TOP of the line, They are all marvelously good, peachy keen and Dynamite.
The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire in Peoria – Is made with high end ingredients such as San Marzano Tomato sauce, imported buffalo cheese, oregano, garlic, arugula, reduced balsamic vinegar, farm fresh sweet tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil. This has all kinds of flavors going on. Also the heat of the pizza warms the cheese JUST SO and you taste the most exquisite mozzarella the way it was meant to be enjoyed instead of just heating it to death on the pizzas like most places do.
The ground filet burger from The Bourbon Cellar in North Scottsdale. This is a ground in house burger that taste more like a fine steak. I have no idea how this burger has so much flavor. I think that it is best to enjoy this burger open face with a knife and fork because it taste like a juicy steak.
Speaking of a juicy flavorful steak…..
The filet mignon from Confluence in Carefree is excellent and not your grandfather’s plate of steak. This plate came with fried green tomato, fiddlehead ferns, white asparagus, black eyed peas, basil creme fraiche and the most buttery tender flavorful steak ever. (NOTE*******the menu at Confluence is ever changing with what is fresh from the local farms and does change often)
The Confit Wagyu Beef Cheek from Confluence in Carefree is a FORKING JAW-DROOPINGLY astonishing. …. The only bad news is that the menu from Confluence is ever changing so you might not be able to get this dish when you want it. But the good news is that this restaurant pretty much always is serving something amazing.
The Strawberry Gelato from Fabio On Fire in Peoria might be the best in the whole country. I take that back….because…It probably is the best in the country!
The Salmon Salad is very special from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale. The salmon is from Chula Seafood. This one was melt in your mouth succulent with tasty grill marks. It POPS from the sweet grilled lemon and PINK PEPPERCORNS…that are a magical combination that I didn’t expect. The rest of the salad is fresh spring mix, gold beets, fennel and grape tomatoes…It’s only a salad so you can splurge for the Luna Gelato that is extra special too!
The Chicken from Valentine in the Melrose area of Phoenix was superb. It was smoky (but not too smoky), masterfully tender, moist, and flavorful. With that deep developed sauce, cabbage, durum wheat berries and kerned dill yogurt it was an explosion in every bite.
The Kokomo Chop Bowl from Little Cay Latin Caribbean Kitchen is one BAM-Diggitty-YUM-Dinger (When you add the seasoned Puerto Rican Pique sauce on the table) This Chop Bowl is full of yummy marinated chicken, yellow rice, black beans, curry mayo, rum soaked cranberries, add that pique sauce and it is FORKING BOMB!
I think a doughnut can be on this list if it is the FORKING BEST that I have tasted.
There is a donut shop on Bell Road in North Phoenix called Daily Donuts and Wings. I have only tried a few donuts so far and each one that I tried was the best of it’s kind that I have tried anywhere. I think my favorite might be the glazed lemon filled. These donuts are so fresh, have the perfect sweetness, seem light as air, and are DELICIOUS and overly easy to inhale.
The buttermilk fried chicken that is usually on the lunch menu from Confluence in Carefree is a OMG YUM kind of plate. It’s incredibly crunchy and crisp on the outside. The interior is JUICY, flavorful, EXPERTLY prepared tender chicken…..but I didn’t mention that INSANELY delicious sauce on it. The sauce is called chili tepid honey mustard sauce. It is a little spicy but not too spicy and is really FORKING plate scraping delicious. I also note that for me this is a very large portion and I make two meals from the chicken. My husband eats more than me and just eats the whole thing.
Taco Fusion in Glendale makes VERY GOOD Tacos (especially the habanero mild chicken taco with pineapple salsa) on hand made tortillas that are delicious. But this corn cake from Taco Fusion is amazing. It has a great corn flavor and taste like it’s a mix of custard and cake together. It’s just an AMAZING dessert! It’s better than the majority of desserts we get out at most places.
But I must mention this one…..
I have to give it to Fabio On Fire in Peoria again. This Strawberry Rum Cake is so good I’d tell a diabetic to eat it. It was really so delicious! I had to mention it.
My husband ate something very special that I didn’t eat so I want to mention it.
He REALLY LOVED the slow braised osso buco from the Italian Daughter in North Scottsdale.
It was falling off the bone tender. He loved digging into the bone and enjoyed the marrow. The sauce was nice and rich with the perfect deepness. He really enjoyed this and wants to have it again.
These were some of the Marvelously Great Foods that stood out in 2021 so far. I do note that many others are out there.
The Italian Daughter Restaurant is an Italian restaurant by the daughter (Melissa) of award winning and well known restauranteur Tomaso Maggiore. This restaurant is a tribute to her father. This Italian Restaurant offers a varied menu for what you are in the mood for. They offer chicken, short ribs, veal, sausage, fish, Italian burgers, weekend veal osso buco, hand made pastas, sharing boards and nightly live piano music.
bar area
They have a bar area.
part of dining area with mostly high tops
Part of the dining room near the piano is mostly high tops. They also have a lovely father and daughter photo on the wall.
patio
They do offer some patio seating.
part of dining room
The wall reads, “Whatever is happening in your life, always remember to enjoy the table….be it yours or ours.”
part of dining room
They started us off with a basket of bread with herbed butter.
We shared the caesar salad served in a crispy parmigiana basket.
The romaine was fresh and crisp. The dressing tasted house made but was on the milder side of caesar. The fresh made buttery croutons were especially good and the parmigiano basket was a unique extra special touch. Fresh crushed black pepper is on every table for seasoning.
Today I tried the pan seared salmon with bourbon mustard glaze and whipped potatoes.
The potatoes are so smooth and buttery. The broccolini is a perfect tender crisp. under the broccolini is very nice extra fancy carrots of three different colors. The fish is moist and is a large portion. The sauce is unique but tasty. It does have sweetness to it.
My husband had the weekend veal osso buco.
He said it was tender and infused with delicious flavors. He also said that the saffron risotto was better than most risotto that you get out. He said that this was really GREAT!
We tried dessert. Our server highly recommended the cannoli pizza cioccolato so we went with that.
This is a made to order chocolate dough with lots of cannoli cream, berries and Nutella. This dessert is much larger than it looks. This can feed a family.
I noticed that with one dish on the menu is to honor the owners late father….. They donate 100% to the Tomaso Maggiore Culinary Education Scholarship. (since my visit the has had added shrimp to it)
The Italian Daughter Restaurant in Scottsdale is Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
www.TheItalianDaughter.com
Everything is subject to change. We visited a couple of times since and the menu differed some on each visit but everything was very good.
We enjoyed our first visit so we went back for a second visit. There were slight changes to the menu on our second visit. Another change was that the bread came with regular butter and herbed oil this time instead of just herbed butter.
On our third visit we received tapenade instead of oil and butter with the bread.
This time we tried the Sicilian Trio. It was an arancini (short rib stuffed saffron laced rice crochet), caponata, and stuffed squash blossoms. ( a tasty start).
On another visit we tried the Italian sharing board with brie and apple, fig and prosciutto, pepper, goat cheese, and pine nuts, and wild mushroom, taleggio, and fontina.
My dinner was the fish of the day….barramundi.
WOW! This was MUCH BETTER than the salmon I had last time….don’t get me wrong…that salmon was good but this barramundi was masterfully prepared with a shattering crisp skin that stayed crisp and very tender mild, moist fish flesh. My waiter didn’t know that this special came with shrimp so I removed them and my husband ate one and my dogs latter ate the other one. My husband said that the shrimp was prepared perfect….I’m generally not a pasta person but this spaghetti was particularly great tasting with the perfect amount of crushed red pepper white wine lemon fish sauce. For me it was really great.
My husband had the chicken and sausage scarpariecco this time.
He said that this was unusually moist flavorful chicken and the sausage was good but slightly overcooked today.
On another visit I had the fish of the day halibut in a lemon caper sauce with Israeli couscous and fresh vegetables.
It was perfect!
My husband had the osso buco again.
He really enjoyed it. He said it is one of the best osso buco that he has ever had.
I took home a slice of lemoncello cake. It was really great I think anyone would like it. It seemed light and was lemony and was very moist. A little white chocolate shaving and some berries accented the cake.
On another visit we got what they called the secret dessert of the day….a spumoni.
******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS********Little Cay is a casual full-service Caribbean/Latin Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. The Atmosphere is bright, cheerful and beach themed.
They have big screen TVs inside. They offer all kinds of seating. There are lots of cozy booths, partial booths with chairs, traditional tables, a bar, and a small patio outside.
Kokomo Chop Bowl – tasty marinated chicken, yellow rice, black beans, curry mayo, rum soaked cranberries…..(This is my favorite plate so far…..a BOMDIGGITY YUM-DINGER!)…but wait this plate gets even better soon.
Dos Cays – ropa vieja beef, lechen pork, yellow rice, pink beans, tostones, ajilimojili sauce. (another highly recommended plate)
THIS IS IT!………seasoned Puerto Rican Pique hot sauce – vinegar to enhance food (you MUST FORKING use this on your food….It’s FORKING BOMB! GOOD!) This is what makes the food BANG!
maduros – over ripe black plantains
Jerk Chicken Empanda and plantain latkes with garlic, ketchup and curry sauces
guava empanada dessert special
Key Lime tartlet (favorite dessert here so far)
That was a little taste of Little Cay Latin Caribbean Kitchen in Scottsdale.
The FANTABULOUS Dish means top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and Dynamite!
For lunch and sometimes for dinner I enjoy ordering salads at restaurants even if I’m at a restaurant that is well known for making great pizzas. I do love pizzas too but sometimes I feel like I need a salad. I like to save a little stomach room for that dessert that I go for sometimes. We found ourselves at Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale and I ordered the Salmon Salad. I did not expect to receive something even better than fish house worthy but I did! I noticed that the salmon came from Chula Seafood so I knew that it would be better salmon and probably very fresh but I didn’t expect that I would be receiving perfection and a really great salad to boot.
This salmon is as perfect as perfect gets. It has a crisp skin and the flesh just melts in the mouth. It seemed like it was slow cooked because of how moist and succulent it was. It was also finished with tasty grill marks. My salad was adorned with this grilled juicy lemon. WOW the taste of the sweet lemon and pink peppercorns on the fish sort of popped. WOW! What a great combination. Under the fish was a bed of spring mix, gold beets, fennel and grape tomatoes. And did I mention how great the salmon really was?
It was a pleasure to eat.
P.S.
I was able to save some room for their amazing house made Luna Gelato.
Fish House Quality Fresh Salmon Salad and Delicious Gelato from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale AZ.
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse is located in Scottsdale Arizona. They have around one hundred and forty locations in around thirty seven states. Menus, some recipes and some prices do differ at the different locations.
The Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse in Scottsdale Arizona is located on a second level above other businesses. You enter by either walking up the stairs or taking the elevator. They offer indoor seating.
And outdoor seating.
They start you off with a loaf of warm ordinary bread and ordinary butter. (My FORKING Thoughts are can’t they serve a tastier bread? and at least clip some fresh chives for the butter….maybe serve a fresh herb pesto????? This is going to cost an arm and a leg….Why is this is soOoooooo ordinary?)
The bread is ok but not tasty enough to want a second taste. The butter is just plain butter.
When I go to similar price point restaurants going out to eat I usually get bread that is more like this (pictured bellow). (those were my FORKING thoughts)
Twist by Pierre Gagnaire at Waldorf Astoria Las Vegas
or
L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon Las VegasRuth’s Chris Bread and Butter
Oh Well the bread and butter are ordinary …lets move on.
Next we share a chopped salad.
It’s presented very nice. The crisp onions are tasty. This salad contains raw button mushrooms. Maybe it’s just me but raw mushrooms don’t taste good in a salad. This salad is bland. It’s like made for blue hairs in Sun City. It’s suppose to have blue cheese in it. I think we shared one small crumb of blue cheese…………( I think it should have a few teaspoons of blue cheese not just a small crumb). (My husband insist that this same salad at other Ruth’s Chris locations are much tastier and do include more blue cheese???……I’ve noticed that other locations do have different ingredients listed on the menu )……Oh well………
We share some sides because we are at a steakhouse so you have to buy the sides.
We tried the three cheese sauce potatoes au gratin and the grilled asparagus with hollandaise sauce.
The potatoes are ok but very ordinary. Like something you’d get at a family cook out. They are a smaller amount than expected. I took two chunks so my husband could eat the rest. The asparagus was tasty and nicely grilled. The asparagus might have been the highlight of the meal. The hollandaise sauce seemed fresh made but was very thick, laced with lemon and very mild.
My husband got the eleven ounce prime filet mignon.
$53.00
It came out on a very hot plate. My husband gives me a bite to try. It’s tender but I can’t eat this. It’s oddly tasteless. The beef is not flavorful and is so ordinary tasting and very bland. It really needs salt and pepper too. I don’t know why this filet is tasteless….It’s of high quality……Maybe they didn’t sear it enough???????…….I just had a ground up prime filet somewhere else and it was far more flavorful and cost less than half of what this cost. The last Filet I had also was far more flavorful, detailed and delicious, (pictured below) and also cost much less. (my husband did say that he has enjoyed filets from other Ruth Chris’s Restaurants…to him this one did differ….)
I THANK my lucky stars that I didn’t go with a filet at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.
The Chilean sea bass almost seems amazing after tasting the filet.
$40.
It looks like a large portion and it is enough but not as large as it looks. It is placed on a very small plate. (They are tricky here) This is a standard restaurant side plate….Like the type of plate you would serve a baked potato on or a side of vegetables. The fish is surrounded by small chunks of hard sweet potato and grilled chunks of pineapple in a coconut butter sauce. The fish is prepared well and is tasty with the fresh herbs, salt and pepper. This plate was mostly ok even with the undercooked sweet potatoes. For $40 I think it could have been a little more special. Maybe dressed with a nice vegetable like a few snap peas? A few pretty sprouts? Some toasted macadamia nuts?
For the same price I enjoyed many extraordinary fish entrees from Confluence in Carefree. (They always do fish extraordinary with crispy seasoned skin that is shattering crisp and extraordinary things surrounding the plate).
Hiramasa, huitlacoche, tomatillo, mango, pepitas, arbol chili
The above plate is far superior to-
This was a $300. night out (with tip).
In general there is nothing wrong with ordinary. I expect ordinary at most places but –
……Dinner tasted very ordinary (but was extraordinarily priced).
I left very underwhelmed.
We went to Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse because we had a gift card.
I do note that each location does differ and your experience at Scottsdale could indeed differ.
www.RuthsChris.com
Everything is subject to change and your opinion may differ from mine.
The Bourbon Cellar is a small independent steak and seafood restaurant in North Scottsdale Arizona. The owner is also the chef and does the in house butchering. Inside is sort of rustic with lots of wood, bricks, bourbon barrels and American Flags.
Outside is a lush dog friendly patio with a water feature.
I’m not a burger person…Most burgers are just food that is very filling. A few are tasty out there and some burgers out there are of a higher quality……..but none are like The Bourbon Cellar’s Prime Filet Ground in House Burger……..I’ve been here several times and I just can’t get past the ground-in-house prime filet burger. This burger is different.
Here is a closer look. All beef does taste different. Especially ground beef. Commercial ground beef just isn’t up there with ground in house beef. Commercial beef is much gamier tasting…..with a slight sourness to it. It’s that dead cow taste….I know it because I used to cook up a few hundred pounds of beef when I was a cook. It does smell like a dead cow. Ground in house beef is a cleaner taste and doesn’t smell as bad at home when you grind your own beef.
It is an amazing big burger so I cut it in half and remove the toppings.
This burger is great but it isn’t cheap and might run you more than most burgers you eat. The bourbon pickles that I added (90cents) and onion ring topping (90cents) are really great. The onions rings are super great because they are shattering crisp and the onion doesn’t pull out when you bite into it. But it is the burger that is the main event here. It’s seasoned to perfection. I think “medium” is perfect here….medium rare would be too much raw meat. It’s like eating a really great steak. It’s so flavorful. I think it’s maybe the best tasting burger that I have ever tried. It’s so good that it shouldn’t be covered up with stuff. I love stuff….but then it covers up this amazing burger. You really have to eat it open face…It’s that good.
My dogs are always happy to help me with the other half.
Even the cole slaw was good. It was made fresh to order and came out after my burger.
It was very crisp and fresh.
We tried one different thing off the menu and went for the macaroni and cheese appetizer.
This was made fresh to order and did take some time but it is a perfect mix of cheesy and creamy. (Gave my dogs some too)
The ground in house prime filet burger from The Bourbon Cellar is Worth a Fork!
