Tag Archives: #PhoenixEats

My Trip To Pizzicata in Carefree AZ – Pinsa Romano (Healthier Alternative to Pizza)

Pizzicata is an Italian Restaurant located in Carefree Arizona located in the Spanish Village. They serve appetizers, salads, soups, house made pastas and Pinsa Romano (a healthier alternative to pizza). The Pinsa compared to pizza is 48% less sugar and 85% less fat according to Pizzicata’s website. It’s made from wheat, soy, rice and sourdough with high hydration and long proofing.

I’ve come here twice and on my first visit they had to suddenly close because they ran out of food so a couple weeks latter I thought I’d try them again. On my second visit they were open but the menu differed slightly than what I read on their website.

Website menu
Actual Saturday Lunch Menu

It was a really nice day so we sat on the patio.

But inside it looks like this.

We decided to share a Caesar salad ($12.00) and a Margherita Pinsa Romano ($14.00). They arrived at the same time.

We start with some caesar.

The romaine is fresh and crisp and the croutons are seasoned nicely. The dressing is thick and rich and laced with anchovy and grated cheese. It’s a bit light on the salt and pepper but you can adjust to your liking.

Here’s a closer look at the pinsa.

It’s topped with a nice melty mozzarella. The sauce is slightly seasoned and has a little pucker to it. The crust is very different. It has the texture of fine sandpaper from a sprinkling of something like semolina. The crust is crispy and chewy. It kind of reminds me of a toasted English muffin bottom. I ate three or four pieces and it didn’t seem heavy at all in my stomach.

We had room to try a pistachio gelato so we did ($10.00).

The flavor is good but the texture is a bit icy. I asked if they make it and the waiter told me no but it’s made locally.

That was my trip to Pizzicata in Carefree AZ.

www.PizzicataUSA.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to The Larry Restaurant in Phoenix AZ

The Larry is a casual restaurant located past downtown Phoenix in the warehouse district in a warehouse. You order at the counter, pay, grab your name tent and seat yourself. They offer seating on an officially dog friendly patio.

Or you can sit inside in at the bar or someplace else in the open airy warehouse.

The Larry offers breakfast, a variety of sandwiches that include a vegetarian burger, pizzas, salads, sides, soup, cocktails, wine, beer and more.

We seat ourselves and someone runs us napkins and silverware.

My photo doesn’t show how mirror reflective and crystal clean the silverware appears to be……

Soon we are off to share several things.

We start out with what they call the inside outside grilled cheese sandwich with an upgraded side of bang bang broccoli instead of the Larry Fries ($8.00 + $3.50 subject to change)

We start with the fried bang bang broccoli that is topped with bonito flakes and Asian Seasoning and come with sweet chili sauce. The Broccoli is delicious and amazing….It has such a great meat like texture and doesn’t seem too heavy or too oily. It’s just right! It’s so good that it doesn’t need the sauce…really REALLY yummy! I could eat them all day long.

The inside outside grilled cheese is made with double cheddar and fontina cheese. For me this sandwich is too greasy, taste sort of like burnt cheese and lacks a gooey cheese center. Sorry but if I tell The Forking Truth I can’t stomach this one…..But what is not great to me is magnificent to my dogs and they thought it was tail wagging great!

The other sandwich we shared was the KFC Korean Fried chicken sandwich upgraded to hash brown fries instead of Larry Fries ($12.00 + $3.50 subject to change).

The hash brown fries had a really delicious potato flavor to them…….They had a mashed potato texture inside that might have been over mixed because they seemed sort of gluey. The KFC Korean Fried Chicken sandwich is an inspiration and lacks the crisp crackly seasoned crunch and the sweet and spicy flavors that real Korean Fried Chicken has. I liked that the sandwich was served on a house made bread that was the perfect size for the sandwich. There were also pickles that seemed like house made. The sandwich gets an A-OK……Could be a little more tender, juicy and more flavorful. It was A-OK.

That was my trip to The Larry in Phoenix.

www.TheLarryPHX.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to the 2019 Arizona Taco Festival at Westworld of Scottsdale AZ

The 2019 Arizona Taco Festival was a two day event held at Westworld in Scottsdale. It ran from Saturday October 12th and Sunday October 13th. General Admission tickets ran around $15.00 a person but discounted tickets were available on Groupon for half price. Tacos did cost around $3.00 each. In addition to tacos there were other activities such as a chihuahua beauty contest, a hot pepper eating contest, a hot sauce expo and a tequila expo and more. Certain activities were for an additional charge. Parking was about a mile from the event. Closer parking was available for $20.00.

I went on day two Sunday the 13th. I got there bright and early about 20 minutes before opening. The line wasn’t too bad today and the weather wasn’t too bad either. It was on the warm side but breezes blow by to cool you off.

I warn you that I tell The FORKING Truth so don’t expect every stop here to be perfect.

The people behind us

Our first tacos came from Taqueria Mi Lindo Guanajuato.

The one on the right was chicken and the one on the left I forget…It was either beef or pork. These were ok and messy to eat. I noticed that most of the tortillas were not grilled today.

Next we tried a combo taco plate (chicken, beef and pork) from Taste of Korea.

This was one of the few places that prepared nicely cooked moist proteins….but these tacos were made with LOTS of mayonnaise that sort of grossed us out. The beef was very sweet tasting. The chicken might have been the best of what’s here.

Next we shared a bean taco from Los Sombreros.

It was on the bland side……

Next was a red chili chicken taco and a fish taco from Vaqueros.

These tacos were tasty and it was nice to have the grilled hot serano pepper. I know that tacos in Mexico usually have some more vegetables in them to be tastier. These were also almost impossible to eat standing up.

It really wasn’t too busy here at lunch time.

They have someone spinning records.

This lone tent looked interesting….Might have missed out on something good?

Tried a chicken taco from Superfarm Super Truck because they displayed a lot of awards.

The sauces on this tacos were VERY GOOD but this taco shell has seen better days…..It’s like air dried and crunchy.

Next was Sr. Ozzy’s

They had a line and were selling TWO Tacos for Three dollars.

By now I’m sort of full and couldn’t go on much more but my husband is still hungry. So he eats these tacos and I just take one bite out of the beef taco. (bottom left) Beef is seasoned well but it’s sort of boring without all the vegetables. I didn’t try the seafood taco. It was the only cooked tortilla we tried today but my husband said it tasted fishy.

Next is a chicken taco from Vecina.

This chicken is dry and the taco is cold. I think these were made a long time ago.

I really had high expectations for a vegan carne asada taco from Verdura. I’ve been to Verdura and have had good vegetable plates there.

It looks good. I’m very thankful that I tried the tiniest morsel before attempting a bite. THIS IS INEDIBLE. THIS WAS THE FORKING WORST TACO I TASTED AT THE TACO FESTIVAL> It’s a #FORKNO …..They must have had an accident and dumped a whole large container of salt into it. It’s so salty that this taco could kill people. I wished at the moment that there was some sort of food super hero that I could call to fix this……. I bet the nearest trashcan is full of these tacos.

That was my trip to the 2019 Taco Festival.

I don’t expect to return again.

www.AZTacoFestival.com

But EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change……Your experience may or may NOT differ…..

The Forking Truth

My Trip To Fellow Osteria in Scottsdale AZ

Fellow Osteria is a full service Italian Inspired Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona (the area between the Phoenix Zoo and the area the boarders Tempe). From the outside and inside the first thing you notice is how lovely, vast and park-like the outdoor seating is.

The indoor atmosphere is bright, airy, crisp and modern and is filled with lots of bright light during the day.

We started by sharing the arancini.

We received five fried rice balls that were crisp and seemed free of oil. They were dusted with hard grated cheese and were made with saffron, fontina cheese and sat in an oregano heavy tomato sauce.

They had a perfect texture and the correct amount of saffron but were on the one note side. Today’s batch could use just a small amount of pepper, stock, onion and wine and a more flavorful cheese like parmesan inside……. Then they’d be really great. ($10.00 subject to change)

We both tried the Lunch Love – eight inch pizza with half house salad, kale salad, or arugula beet salad. ($9.99 subject to change). What’s not to love? A personal size pizza and a healthy salad for only $9.99.

We were served our salads first. Both salads were the perfect size.

The top salad is the house salad. It’s made of mixed greens, heirloom tomatoes, Parmigiano cheese and is lightly dressed with a vinaigrette dressing.

My salad was the bottom salad.

I liked that my salad had a lot of textures to it. This salad is a bowl of arugula, tender-crisp beets, whipped ricotta, candied walnuts, chives and a light vinaigrette. I thought the cheese was very good and creamy but the walnuts were heavily coated with lots of sugar today……………..

Things were timed nicely and our pizzas arrive after we finish our salads. I got the pizza made with sweet charred corn, ricotta cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano and Calabrian Chile.

It’s a non traditional pizza that is delicious!……The crust is unusual too……It is crisp on the bottom and looks like it’s made with some sort of wheat or grain flour that is organic. The menu reads organic flour and tomatoes….

Anyways…….I taste that the corn was fresh, sweet and charred. The ricotta is creamy and lightly seasoned. The Calabrian Peppers add a good deal of yum and zip…..This non traditional pizza is YUMMY DELICIOUS!

My husband to my surprise ordered the pizza with pesto, mozzarella, braised chicken and heirloom tomatoes.

I tried two bites. This pizza was cooked perfect….It was nice and crisp and fully cooked. The cheese was rubbery on this pizza and the chicken was dry. We both enjoyed the corn pizza much more. The corn pizza is the way to go…It’s delicious!

That was my trip to Fellow Osteria

www.FellowOsteria.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Little Cay Restaurant Scottsdale AZ – Worth a Fork! DELICIOUS Caribbean/Latin Foods****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*****

******UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS******Little Cay is a casual sort of fast full service Caribbean/Latin Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. They serve Cuban Style pressed sandwiches, tostones (bread-less) sandwiches, salads, classic platters, layered rice and bean with greens chop chop platters, desserts, kids menu and more.

They offer some patio seating.

Seating at the bar.

High top seating, traditional tables and booth seating.

Lots of natural light comes in threw the glass front. It’s bright and cheerful with bright accents and beach theme photos. Tv’s are up for viewing.

Each table is set with a house made vinegar that a bit spicy but flavorful. It was called something like picay (sounds like pee-kay).

I tried the Key West Chop Chop ($9.95 subject to change)

It’s made up of moist delicious grilled marinated chicken, greens, tomatoes, YUMMY curry mayo sauce, rum (yes) rum soaked cranberries and underneath is yellow rice and black beans.

Ohhhhhh all these flavors are delicious…but when you add a little sprinkle of that magic vinegar every thing really POPS! It’s so GOOD!

It was opening weekend so they gave us complimentary maduros. (normally $3.95 subject to change)

They are caramelized sweetened plantains. YUM! just right for dessert!

My husband tried a classic plate of la isla bonita ($11.95 subject to change)

His plate was made of ropa vieja beef, lechon pork, yellow rice, pink beans, tostones and and delicious sauce called ajilimojili sauce. Woo HOO! All is delicious here too!

Honestly I thought this was a typo………The key lime tartlet is only $2.75 (subject to change……it should…..) So we had to try it.

A little bit of fresh lime zest adorns the whipped cream. The filling is absolutely delicious with just the right amount of lime flavor and tang. It’s not too sweet either. The filling in this pie is up there among the better key lime pies that I’ve tried. Delicious and just the right size.

We really enjoyed all the food at Little Cay. We’ll be back!

*****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS*****

Little Cay in Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.LittleCayAZ.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork! It doesn’t matter if you are into Paleo to dine here.

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen is a small French Style, Paleo, gluten free, B.Y.O.B, restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. They offer healthy quality Paleo inspired French Cuisine by the experienced French trained master chef Aurore de Beauduy. Paleo is healthy cuisine designed to choose foods for your best health. Many foods such as grains, most dairy sugar, and more are avoided. This is a SMALL restaurant and the whole dining room is pictured above. Reservations are necessary.

The tables are small and are somewhat spaced close together.

It seems like you get more space when you gaze at the Mountain View threw the front window.

We started out with a paleo bread platter ($10.00…subject to change) and the balsamic braised brussels sprouts ($5.00….subject to change).

We received an assortment of thin toasted breads and chunks of bread, smoky tomato jam, artichoke tapenade. Some bread thins were herbed and some contained fruit. The chunk bread seemed richer and all the dips were tasty. Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts had a nice tender crisp texture. The portions ran larger than from a typical French Restaurant.

For dinner I had the branzino special ($31.95….subject to change).

This branzino is seasoned just so and just melts in my mouth. I don’t recall having a branzino that was prepared or tasted this well before. There is also this delicious parsnip puree here and hericot verts, large capers, frilly lettuce, persimmon and a sweet tomato.

My husband went with the rabbit stew in a dijon mustard sauce with potatoes and onions. ($28.00….subject to change).

He said it was really great and just right for him. He also mentioned that for me it might run a little high on salt..

We decided to share the daily made les chocolates ($10.00…..subject to change).

At first taste you know that you are eating high quality chocolate. I sort of wish I had a big box of this to take home. It’s really Forking Good! Some chocolates have fruit, some have nuts and one is filled with coconut. This is a generously sized plate and we shared it with two other people at our table.

High quality, reasonably priced, masterfully prepared food that is healthy.

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen in Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.SapiensKitchen.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Hand Cut Burgers & Chophouse in Scottsdale AZ

Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse is located in Scottsdale by The Scottsdale Fashion Mall. This is a full service restaurant with a bar that offers appetizers, sandwiches, salads, burgers, steaks, other dinners and more.

They offer high top tables, booths and bar seating. Three turntables are by the front of the restaurant for music. Sports are playing on big screen televisions.

From most seats you can view the open kitchen and the cold prep area.

Today we came for lunch and I went with a Chop Salad with added salmon ($10.00 + $7.00 subject to change and it it did just change……….just a few days ago they updated the menu and the chopped salad now does indeed differ some but is the same in price).

I received a plate of fresh greens, corn kernels, blueberries, goat cheese, pine nuts with blueberry balsamic dressing. All is OK here. (****NOTE the menu has changed slightly as of October 1st 2019)

My husband got the Steak Salad ($15.00 subject to change) (this one is still the same on the menu)

Here was fresh greens, sliced flank steak, blue cheese, garlic croutons, tomato, avocado with balsamic vinaigrette. All is ok here too.

Both salads were made with fresh greens and were made with a generous amount of delicious cheese.

That was my trip to Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse in Scottsdale.

www.HandCutChophouse.com

Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse is of the Riot Hospitality Group of restaurants that include Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, El Hefe, Farm and Craft and Riot House.

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Old Town Taste – Tempe AZ – Szechuan and Non-Spicy Chinese Food – Worth a Fork!

Old Town Taste is located in Tempe Arizona. This is a Chinese Restaurant that offers Szechuan and non-spicy authentic style Chinese Food. The atmosphere is neat and clean and during the day lots of bright light comes in threw the glass front exterior.

There is wallpaper around the restaurant that illustrates an “Old Town.” It looks like it could be an old town anywhere but it’s probably suppose to be an old town in China. A place where you can get Chinese Food the way it’s been made since long ago.

They offer all kinds of different dishes here. A few of the dishes offered are peanuts in vinegar, spicy sour shredded potatoes, sauté garlic lettuce, fried egg with tomatoes, braised beef with mint, bacon with wide green beans. They offer dishes you might be familiar with or just sound familiar with like kung pao chicken, braised meatballs in brown sauce, braised duck in cooking beer iron wok stewed organic chicken and fried cumin lamb. They also offer dishes like red oil intestine noodles, garlic flavored chicken gristle, steamed duck heads with spicy sauce, Chen’s sour spicy lamb spine and Szechuan Style blood curd.

We shared two dishes…the fried eggplant, bell pepper and potato dish ($12.99 and the Szechuan Style spicy fish ($15.99).

We started with the eggplant dish.

This is a lighter dish. It’s mostly eggplant with a small amount of green bell pepper and a little bit of potatoes. It’s a mild dish in a light garlic soy kind of sauce. That turned out to be a great choice to cool us down from the Szechuan Style Spicy Fish.

It’s spicy and delicious! The mild white fish was fried with a crispy coating that seems free of oil. It’s very spicy, nose running spicy but doesn’t hurt. The Szechuan peppers numb your mouth so you can enjoy the heat. There also is garlic and other seasonings and crispy fried green beans. This dish is really GREAT!

That was my first trip to Old Town Taste in Tempe. Can’t wait to try other dishes!

Old Town Taste is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

I have not found a website page for Old Town Taste but they are on Facebook.

1845 E Broadway Rd Tempe

480-702-7101

closed Mondays

Open for lunch hours Tue-Sun 11:30-2:45

Dinner hours are Tue-Sun 5pm-9:30

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

J&G Steakhouse at The Phoenician in Scottsdale AZ – Worth a Fork!

J&G Steakhouse is an upscale restaurant located in the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale Arizona. The Steakhouse menu offers much variety with slight Asian Accents done by French techniques. The menu is also offers a few dishes of the namesake celebrity chef Jean-George Vongerichten. At this time the current executive chef is French Trained Jacques Qualin who has worked with chef Jean-George Vongerichten.

The restaurant overlooks the beautiful resort grounds and golf course.

The seating is sort of set up orchestra style with different levels so everyone can have a view.

On this visit it happened to be restaurant week and J&G Steakhouse offered an ultra amazing detailed generous three course menu for $44.00 a person.

They start everyone out with hot fresh slightly salted Parker House Rolls and butter…..I’ve been here before so I knew we had to order the black truffle cheese fritters ($11.00 subject to change).

Six TINY marble sized balls of pure JOY! So easy to woof down…….One person could easily eat all of them.

They just taste SOOOooooooooooOOOOOOh FORKING GREAT! Yummy delicious comte cheese black truffles that actually taste like black truffles and this ultra thin crisp miracle shell that holds in so much treasure. These are just SO FORKING GREAT!

We both went with the restaurant week menu.

My first dish was the smoked salmon toast.

WOW! It stunning! Sliced smoked silky salmon, salmon roe, borage flowers, dill, shaved cucumber, creamy spread and toasted quality bread and the most amazing delicious micro herbs and sprouts. Take a closer look.

This was so detailed…the flavors in the micro herbs were OUT OF BOUNDS and were so FRESH……I forgot to ask if they grow them there because that’s what they tasted like.

My husband started with the longevity noodles.

This was a generous bowl of noodles with three grilled wild shrimp in a ginger broth with pea shoots , herbs and chili.

For my main I had the slowly cooked arctic char.

The arctic char was so creamy and mild it almost was like custard. I rarely eat the skin but it was delicious here and was seasoned to perfection. The green in the middle of the plate is wood sorrel and wood sorrel emulsion…..It’s sort of like green borscht on the plate and adds a nice interest between the fish and the rest of the plate. The other side of the plate are perfectly cooked chanterelles (what a treat like $50 a pound at AJ’s and always in bad shape). The little slices aren’t potatoes but are pan fried slices of lighter more vegetal kohlrabi. This was really a stunning dinner….This dinner alone was worth $44.00 that restaurant week cost.

My husband had the grilled PRIME sirloin cap.

This plate also came with roasted Japanese Eggplant, chimichurri sauce, wine sauce, fresh herbs and Fresno-garlic marmalade. Stunning plate with strong bold flavors.

Then we shared TWO desserts.

One was a poached pear covering amaretto ganache in a hazelnut frangipane with some sort of white chocolate puffs.

The other was a molten chocolate lava cake with caramel ice cream and a crunchy sweet laced edible snow flake.

By the way…This was FORKING GREAT!

J&G Steakhouse at The Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale AZ was Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork! Worth driving across town for!

www.JGSteakhouseScottsdale.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Bamboo Cafe Glendale AZ – Asian Food – Different and Double Sized Portions and Low Prices

The Bamboo Cafe is located on the boarders of Glendale and is across the street from the Peoria boarder and Phoenix but actually is listed as Glendale on the Upper West Side. This is a small Asian Restaurant that serves a mix of Chinese Take Out Foods and OTHER foods. When you walk in you see a cluttered hostess desk that blocks the view of the restaurant and doubles as a storage and pick up area. A waiter just tells you to seat yourself.

We start with cucumber salad. ($3.00 subject to change)

We received a large portion of seed free cucumbers and carrot slices in a sweetened vinaigrette. The carrots were crisp but the cucumbers might have seen better days.

For my main I got the yellow curry chicken. ($9.50 subject to change)

I receive an extremely large plate of food. I got a lot of bamboo and onion slices, very tender sliced chicken breast, falling apart over cooked potatoes and soggy French fries. For what it’s worth the sauce is actually delicious and even has fresh Thai Basil and fresh lemongrass in it. There is even some heat here…….

My husband had the blackened shrimp and chicken. ($12.50 subject to change)

The chicken and shrimp are tender. There’s lots of nicely prepared green beans, carrots and onions. This one doesn’t taste Asian at all.

Both plates came with an enormous bowl of fresh steamy fluffy rice.

You are not going to drive across town to dine here but if you’re in the neighborhood you might want to give Bamboo Cafe a try.

If you are in the area then you might want to give them a try. Large portions, tender chicken, low prices and a little different.

I haven’t found a website for Bamboo Cafe

I also haven’t found a Facebook page.

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

The Forking Truth