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Eight Restaurants that offer $10.00 or less Food for Take Out in North Phoenix AZ

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We got many places around North Phoenix where you can take out DELICIOUS food for $10.00 or less around North Phoenix. One restaurant that is on my local rotation is Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Bistro in North Phoenix. They are a pho free Vietnamese Eatery that offers around a dozen different Banh Mi Sandwiches and many other Vietnamese Favorites except for pho. Pictured up above is the noodle bowl. It’s a lot of different flavors in one (or two) meals. Minty salad, fried shallots, tasty protein that taste even better with fish sauce, lots of rice noodles and a tasty egg roll for me.

Here’s the shaken beef Banh Mi my husband recently got.

shaken beef from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery

Below is a $5. Chicken and cabbage salad and on right are the potstickers $4. They are delicious and tasty. The $5.00 is the right size for many people. The papaya salad and the lotus root salad both come with shrimp and are the same size as the chicken and cabbage salad.

Below is a rice plate. It a large amount of tasty meat with a double scoop of rice, a fragrant pickled salad and a pork egg roll.

Rice Plate

Another restaurant that we enjoy is Taco Fusion in Glendale.

They sell the BEST tacos in the area!

It sure doesn’t cost much to eat from Taco Fusion. Most tacos are less than $3.00 each and are made on hand made tortillas that just TASTE BETTER than from most taco places. It isn’t just the tortillas….The FILLINGS ARE DELICIOUS TOO!

I usually don’t even like carne asada from not all but most places. It has to have a really good flavor and be tender for me to eat it. I do really like the carne asada tacos here. My personal favorite taco at Taco Fusion is their mild chicken habanero taco on flour with pineapple salsa and a little pico. That taco is stuffed with flavorful moist dark chicken meat. It’s even better than chicken tacos I ate in Mexico. I also like their fish taco but I prefer that one is better on a corn tortilla. My husband eats the different styles of asada tacos here and he always tells me that they do shrimp tacos very well here. The salsas differ everyday. Sometimes they have.a real interesting black salsa that’s next to too hot but really delicious. I really enjoy their pineapple salsa because it usually has so many flavors in it. All the salsas I tried are good but you have to ask for the salsas. They also offer cilantro rice and two kinds of beans here and MORE.

Also in Glendale is Skewers Mediterranean Grill.

I get big beautiful salads here for only around $7.50.

On the left is my chicken kabob salad and on the right is the salad with shawarma. Look at the GREAT LOW pricing below. You get your meal as a pita, rice bowl, fry bowl, wrap or salad like I always get.

Almost across the street from Skewers MG is Phila-Deli in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

My husband enjoys the cheese steaks from Phila-Deli but they cost over ten so we will talk about the really great $7.50 salads that Phila-Deli offers. (My salad was 75cents extra because I added avocado.)

You can get a very good salad for only around $7.50 at Phila-Deli to FILL YOUR BELLY!

We also like Rocket Burger in North Phoenix for burgers, Mexican Fish sandwiches maybe the largest collection of bottled sodas anywhere and MORE!

It doesn’t cost much to eat from Rocket Burger. Not all but more than half of the menu is priced under $10.

On the left is a cheese burger with a big fried chili pepper on it. At the right is the Mexican Fish Sandwich. The slaw and rocket sauce are so tasty that you can slap it on a hamster and the hamster will be delicious.

In Glendale we love going to CHZBURGR. They offer great cheese burgers, FORKING delicious crispy chicken thigh sandwiches, hot dogs, milk shakes, SPECIALS and more!

Most of the time I get the Crispy Chicken Thigh Sandwich with added Calabrian Peppers because IT’S FORKING AMAZING!

It’s crisp! It’s delicious, It’s Juicy! It sort of POPS from the house made pickles! The bun is delicious and not too big. It’s just perfection. My bigger dog is usually well behaved when I eat but when I have this sandwich she slaps me for some.

My husband gets the Triple cheese burger.

He said it’s just so perfect he can’t get anything else.

CHZBURGR is a GREAT Place for $10. or less. During the pandemic CHZBURGR offers the safer Curbside Pickup.

In North Phoenix on Bell Rd inn an older strip mall is Wraps ‘N’ Curry. They offer aromatic delicious Indian Food in fresh made naan wraps and many Indian Dishes and MORE! Below is one of their delicious wraps that you can order for take out that is only around $9.00.

Wraps ‘N’ Curry expanded their menu since opening and now offers at least 20 different Indian dishes priced at $9.99.

In North Phoenix is the home of Chino Bandido A sort of Chinese and sort of Mexican and Other foods type of restaurant. According to Food Network Chino Bandido offers (starting at $9.35) NINTY THOUSAND different combination plates. You get a BIG Pan of food that is BETTER than fast food and cost LESS than fast food if you figure that amount of food you get for your money. During the pandemic they even offer curbside pick up. Once I got the veggie salad combo with the Chili Relleno.

Our most recent take out is more typical of what to take out. I got a chili Relleno again because it is good! They use a real pepper that doesn’t taste canned (like from certain more costly restaurants) The cracker coating is unique and all that cheese is darn tasty. I like the emerald chicken with scallion ginger sauce. I get lots of rice and lots of black beans. It’s more food than I can eat and could be two meals for some people. They also give you a BIG complimentary snickerdoodle for dessert.

That was EIGHT $10. or less food from Restaurants for Take Out in North Phoenix AZ

Restaurants Mentioned-

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – North Phoenix

Taco Fusion – Glendale

Skewers Mediterran Grill – Glenndale/Arrowhead/#upperWestSide

Phila-Deli – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Rocket Burger – North Phoenix

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Wraps ‘N’ Curry – North Phoenix

Chino Bandido – North Phoenix

Prices are subject to change at any moment.

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out In Metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 23 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Alzohour Market, Desert Island Eatery, Phila-Deli, Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol

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You can never be too careful. Take out is a less risky option than dining in these days during the coronavirus pandemic. All restaurants are struggling these days so we are doing take out as much as possible. Besides there isn’t much else to do safely these days besides staying home.

Our first take out of the week was from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Vietnamese Eatery that offers most of your Vietnamese Favorites except pho, Meals are very large portions and can be two meals for some people. Prices are very low and I believe everything on the menu is $10. or less. They even offer $4. & $5. menu items. My husband had the shaken beef Banh Mi Sandwich. I know the beef is ribeye but it is as tender as filet mignon. It’s delicious and you can’t go wrong with a shaken beef Banh Mi. I got the chicken & egg roll noodle bowl.

There’s lots of rice noodles and a pile of refreshing minty salad, tasty chicken covered with some fried shallots, crushed peanuts and an egg roll for me. (there are other choices). You can mix the whole thing up and eat it dressed with chili sauce if you want. Or just eat it the way it comes. Just make sure to dip the protein inn the fish sauce because it makes it taste even better. This is a very large platter and can be two meals for some people. My dogs sure didn’t mind helping me out with this.

Next take out was Moroccan/Middle Eastern Cuisine from Alzohour Market ion Glendale. We’ve enjoyed many amazing dishes from Alzohour Market.

Today we had quite a feast! This time we took out kashkebademjan (eggplant sautéed w/garlic and mint) a fish tagine, a chicken tagine and kunafa for dessert (noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with sweet syrup and pistachios. The tagines were both different and both were delicious and very large portions! I’ve had the sautéed eggplant before here dining in and it was much better when I dined in I guess it just didn’t travel as well as everything else But WOW that dessert was delicious and worth the calories. It also was made fresh for us and came out piping hot! .Here’s a better picture of the dessert. LOOK at this amazing wonderful dessert!

Saved some goodies for my dogs.

We got two jerk chicken curry chicken combos from Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a very small mainly take out restaurant that offers Caribbean Food and Vegan Options.

The food is always delicious. The chicken meat is always developed with great flavors and is always falling off the bone. They give you a very generous portion of food that might be two meals for some people. Both the jerk chicken and curry chicken are delicious. I think they make the best around. Sometimes it is saucier than other times. It’s CRAZY GREAT when you get it a little extra saucy. My dogs sure don’t mind samples.

Our next take out was from Phila-Deli in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

Their salads might be the best deal in town! They are only around $7.50. Many other places charge over $12. for salads that aren’t as good. My husband likes the cheese steaks at Phila-Deli. The people there are extra nice. They also have treated our dogs extra nice when we dine on the patio. My dogs are always happy to help eat Phila-Deli Food.

Our last take out of the week was from Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. They are a casual Sonoran Style Mexican Restaurant.

I got my usual chicken fajita salad and my husband got the carnitas fajita. They gave us chips and salsas. The chicken was really good today and they loaded the salad up with lots of caramelized onions. I had plenty to share with the dogs.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat alll that delicious food”

That was week 23 of take out during the coronavirus pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ.

The restaurants we did take out from-

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Ratery – North Phoenix

Allzohour Market – Glendale

Desert Island Eatery – North Phoenix

Phila-Deli – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Bad and Disappointing Food I had in Metro Phoenix AZ Part 2

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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.

The Forking Truth

27 Fish Take Out Dishes We Took Out in Metro Phoenix AZ in 2020 so far

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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.

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 22 – Taco Fusion, La Piazza Al Forno, CHZBURGR, Aiello’s East Coast Italian, Chino Bandido

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All restaurants are struggling these days. ABC News reported that 16,000 restaurants across the country have permanently closed after temporally closing from the pandemic as of July 25 2020. We LOVE going out to eat so we are giving as much support to independent restaurants as we can. Take out dining is less risky than dining in during a pandemic so we do take out instead of dine in.

Our first take out of the week was from Taco Fusion in Glendale.

They serve a good variety of mesquite style tacos on hand made tortillas. They are smaller sized tacos that are a little bigger than street sized and are stuffed more than street tacos. Today I got a carne asada on flour, a mild habanero chicken on flour and the fish on corn tortilla. They are all so delicious! I very rarely like carne asada because it’s usually not tender enough and doesn’t have enough flavor but the carne asada is much better here than from many other places and the tortillas either flour or corn ALSO taste better than from most places. I also enjoy their fish taco on corn….but my favorite is the mild habanero chicken taco with pineapple salsa. I’ve had a lot of chicken tacos from many places and also Mexico. The mild chicken habanero taco is really great. My husband had several tacos that were different than what I ordered and his favorites are the different asada tacos and his other favorite is the shrimp taco. He said they do shrimp better than from most places. The only thing that is difficult is asking for the salsas because you don’t know what they have. I saved some meat for the dogs and they were very excited to try some.

Next was La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. They offer certified Neapolitan pizzas and the popular in Italy Roman type pizza. So we got one of each, a salad and their amazing cheese cake for latter.

WOW it smells really great! The basil is very aromatic. We start with some salad. Then we dig into the pizzas. They are both really great pizzas made with house made mozzarella that is really great and the certified San Marzano Tomatoes. The Roman Style Pizza is unique and the dough is thick but very light because it’s mostly air and looks sort of like a sponge. Saving the cheese cake for latter. I always share some food afterwards with the dogs.

CHZBURGR is a small casual restaurant that serves extremely good flat style burgers, outrageously GREAT chicken sandwiches, all beef hot dogs, milk shakes and more. I wasn’t planning on coming this week because I came here last week but when I heard about the crispy boneless chicken leg special sandwich I had to try it.

One the left is the triple cheese burger my husband loves. On the right is a crispy boneless chicken LEG with chipotle honey, house made pickles, asadero cheese and green leaf lettuce. WOW! another great sandwich from CHZBURGR! Of course my dogs wanted to try some.

We also did take out from Aiello’s East Coast Italian.

The food all looks great! They got mixed up there and gave me someone else’s dinner. We called to let them know and something was worked out. I don’t eat veal but I enjoyed the cannoli. My dogs were very happy with the result.

Our last take out of the week was curbside pick up from Chino Bandido in North Phoenix. This is a popular mishmash restaurant of sort of Asian, Mexican and Caribbean Inspired creations. Food Network figured out that you can order around 90,000 different combinations here. You get a big pan of food that comes with complimentary snickerdoodle cookies and the combination pans start at less than $10.00 each and might be more than one meal for some people. This is better than fast food and priced cheaper than fast food.

I got the chile relleno, emerald chicken, white rice and black beans. My husband got a carnitas quesadilla, matchacha beef, white rice and refried beans. We had plenty to share with the dogs.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”

The restaurants we did take out from on week 22 –

Taco Fusion – Glendale

La Piazza Al Forno – Old Town Glendale

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Chino Bandido – North Phoenix

Aiello’s East Coast Italian – Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Bad Food I got from Mostly NEW Restaurants in Metro Phoenix AZ

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I was thinking even with the pandemic going on that the food I get out has been better than from previous years. Usually I hit a few really BAD ONES once or twice a year. The other thing that is different is that I am rarely going to restaurants that are new to me. I’ve been not entirely but mostly only going to restaurants that I know. Anyway I thought you might enjoy seeing some of the food I didn’t enjoy from mostly New Restaurants in Metro Phoenix.

Up top was the worst taco I ever had served to me in my life. The taco shell expired on it’s way to me. It was filled with the driest unseasoned chicken that you can ever imagine. It seemed like they just chopped off raw chicken and without seasoning or anything heated it up in the microwave until it got hard and dry. Don’t worry this restaurant that was located in Scottsdale is no longer in business. I wonder why?….

These falafels were very dry and lacked fresh herbs. This falafel place was written up as serving some of the best falafels in metro Phoenix. IDK what’s going on here…Did they get a new chef? Maybe they made better falafels for a professional critic? I’ll never know what happed here but honest… these were horrible falafels. This small restaurant is still in business so I am guessing some sort of recipe change has occurred. A great falafel has a crispy exterior and is moist and fluffy with lots of fresh herbs incase you were wondering.

What is this?

It’s a polenta tower that is unusually stiff and bread-like texture. It’s not very good and it looks like it’s happy to see me…..Or maybe that is the chef’s way of saying that he is pissed off and is trying to say f*** you? Don’t worry…this particular popular restaurant has changed chefs a few times since I had this plate.

I went to a new BBQ place and the brisket was tough with hard fat. I will say that the brisket might have been delicious if it was cooked maybe two hours more……..But the cheesy grits were even worst. They served them to me raw.

I can’t believe they served me this. We even told someone about this and instead of saying something like “I’m sorry” or “I’ll take it off your bill she just walked away.

We visited a restaurant that is no longer in business that was somewhere ion Scottsdale.

I don’t understand why they opened a restaurant before they learned how to cook. The sauce was bitter and acidic with harsh flavors. The meatballs contained hard crunchy carrots. Maybe they were hoping to just sell lots of drinks?

Went to a new sandwich shop somewhere in metro Phoenix.

Looks like my sandwich threw up on itself. My husband sort of liked his sandwich that didn’t look as bad. We did go back and this place did improve.

This time I went to a new Asian Chicken restaurant somewhere in Metro Phoenix.

They gave me the half good half bad plate. Chicken on the left was moist and edible. Chicken on the right was all dried out and very stringy.

Even pizza can be screwed up!

Imagine getting an individual pizza with part of it that doesn’t come with any topping……No topping on a pizza is like getting empty presents on your birthday…BAH!

This next restaurant was already in business but was sold to new owners and opened with a new menu. It used to be ok so I thought we’d give it another try. I was thinking that maybe it got better………Well I was wrong it got worst.

WOW this chicken salad was awful. It came with these processed tasting COLD chicken fingers that seemed like they previously exploded in the microwave and were served chilled to me on a mediocre salad. The chicken finger were sort of hallow in the middle and were crunchy in a microwave kind of way. WOW this was bad beyond all expectations.

Many people will not order fish in Phoenix for these reasons.

I’m thinking one of the worst plates I was served was the trout plate from somewhere in Metro Phoenix.

Wow this was bad on all kinds of levels. Mediocre questionably edible fish. I got lovely boiled from frozen vegetables. I got green mashed potatoes. I asked the waitress why the mashed potatoes were green. She runs back to talk with the chef. He said mashed potatoes turn green when you add black pepper. WOW I guess his pepper was green and moldy. This restaurant is still in business…..maybe some people like this kind of food?

The next one might not look as bad but something very strange was wrong with it.

I got this whole fish from a restaurant that I enjoyed before. This time the fish seemed like it was made out of rubber, We couldn’t eat it. I think they served us an embalmed fish.

Well The Forking Truth is that there is GOOD and BAD everywhere out there!

Be CAREFUL!

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Salads I took out in Metro Phoenix AZ

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I often eat salads so I do a lot of take out salads too. Here is a collection in no particular order of the salads I took out in metro Phoenix. Up above is the Greek Salad with chicken kabob from Pita Kitchen in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. The chicken has a delicious char taste and about 18 out of twenty times is juicy, super flavorful and delicious.

Next is the chicken fajita salad from Popo’s Fiesta Del Sol in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

This is a great big salad. It differs slightly every time I order it. But it is always BIG.

These salads from Skewers Mediterranean Grill in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide are really great and are only $7.50.

The side salads are very good too above is tabouli and below is beet salad ($3)

Below is the chicken and cabbage salad from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

It’s always tasty and it only cost around $5.00.

Next is the strawberry and goat cheese chicken salad from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

They make their own dressings that are very good and this salad is always delicious. (It usually has more goat cheese on it)

Below is the strawberry and chicken salad from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.

It’s also delicious and is also served with house made dressing.

From Phila-Deli in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide is the select-your-own $7.50 Salad.

It’s a BIG pretty nice salad too!

Below is a family style pear salad (lower left) from Fabio On Fire in Peoria #UpperWestSide. Also pictured is his amazing bread, gelato and pasta.

Next is a mista salad from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

It’s surrounded by their delicious pasta.

Below are two salads from newly opened Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale.

On the left is the mistral salad with added salmon and on the right is the chop chop salad with added steak. These salads were really unusually great with all kinds of yummy surprises in them.

Below is a lovely chopped chicken salad from Confluence in Carefree. This is an upscale modern American food type restaurant. Most of the foods they serve are more unique but sometimes you just need to eat a salad.

All kinds of goodies are here like beets and apples. There’s house made from scratch croutons.

In the middle of the picture below is the lotus root salad from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix.

We even got a house salad from La Piazza Al Forno in Glendale.

Upper left corner is the house salad. On the right is their CRAZY GREAT Bianco pizza with added Calabrian Chili Peppers..(CRAZZZZZZY GOOD!)

Well that is most of the salads that I took out in Metro Phoenix.

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 21 – CHZBURGR, Stratta Kitchen, Glai Baan, Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante, Mrs Chicken

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The GOOD NEWS is that not everyone will get sick or catch the coronavirus. The Bad news is that it is easier to catch coronavirus than to win big with the lottery. Anywho- We are doing take out because we want to support restaurants. On the news they reported that 16,000 of small business restaurants in the U.S. have already shuttered because of the lack of business due to the pandemic. Take out is a less risky option than dining inside these days so that is as risky as we get.

One restaurant we did the safer curbside take out from was CHZBURGR in Glendale. They serve amazing flat style cheeseburgers, chicken sandwiches, hot dogs, milk shakes and more. They are very above average and have an upscale twist for what they are despite being priced only slightly more than fast food.

This time we got (starting from the left) the triple CHZBURGR, in the middle is a special request no onion plain double cheese for my lucky dogs and on the right is the special of the day. It was a salt, sugar and herb cured chicken breast that also was brined. The sandwich came with marinated tomatoes, spinach and garlic aioli. It was suppose to also come with provolone cheese but I have some food peeves and that is too much fat for me so I did without the cheese and did with the garlic aioli. We also shared some potato tots. The food is ALWAYS delicious from CHZBURGR. My dogs got to enjoy a small portion of their CHZBURGR for dinner.

Our very own Michelin Award Wining Chef of Top Chef Masters Alex Stratta opened Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale. It’s a casual health focused restaurant. They offer a menu of small plates, grain bowls, salads and a few other things where you add the protein and sauce of your liking. This restaurant offers dine in or patio dining and take out and curb side. We went with the safest option of curbside for our first time here.

In the left hand corner we shared the Sicilian Caponata that came with grilled Noble Bread. For my main I tried the Mistral Salad with added (expertly cooked) Alaskan Sterling Salmon. My husband tried the Chop Chop Salad with added strip steak and we shared a Double Trouble Chocolate Cake. WOW everything was AMAZING! My salad popped with all kinds of flavors. I also really enjoyed the harissa with this salad and the fish was really prepared to perfection. That cake was also really rich and very chocolatey. Everything was really GREAT! We save some salmon and steak for my dogs too!

Next we did take out from a little Thai Restaurant in Phoenix called Glai Baan. According to their website they serve Thai Street Food and Northeastern Thai Dishes.

We shared the son-in-law eggs, beef salad, chicken gra pow and mackerel fried rice. WoW it was interesting and different. Less saucy than from most places and the gra pow is very flavorful and much spicier than from most places. This type of food isn’t dog friendly so we gave them other leftovers.

Next take out was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. They are an Italian restaurant that specializes in serving Neapolitan Type Pizzas. Tonight we shared a salad and I got the papardelle al fungi and my husband got the sallsiccia.

I think Bottega does an extremely great mushroom pasta. The mushrooms are so meaty and so flavorful. My husband said that the sausage pasta is very good. Dogs got to eat some cheese here (and other stuff I saved for them)

We were able to squeeze in a 5th restaurant and we both like spicy chicken so we decided to try Mrs Chicken in Phoenix.

We both got the two piece dark chicken meat on the “Hot” level of heat. For our sides we both went the mustard slaw. The chicken is crisp and is coated with spicy heat that builds. The inside is tender moist chicken. We saved some moist, mild from the inside chicken for our dogs.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all that delicious food”

Restaurants we did take out from are –

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Stratta Kitchen — Scottsdale

Glai Baan – Phoenix

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Mrs Chicken – Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

My Four Take Outs from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale AZ

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Twist Bistro and Gallery is a small modern Mediterranean style restaurant, bar and art gallery located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They opened for business during the coronavirus pandemic sometime around May 2020. I haven’t stepped in yet but my husband snapped the next two photos.

It’s colorful and cheerful. The walls are accented with colorful artwork.

On the other side (not shown) is the bar.

All four of our take outs included complimentary biscuits with honey butter.

The biscuits did differ some on every visit but all of them were tasty. Most of them were studded with feta cheese and some had fresh dill. The texture differed. Some were scone like and others were light as a feather.All were delicious.

On one visit we tried a mushroom crepe that was stuffed with black truffle ricotta cheese.

On two of my visits I had the Loch Duart Salmon. It’s EXTREMELY GREAT! It’s prepared to perfection. It came with delicious seasoned black rice, vegetables, tomato salad and pistou sauce. It’s very rare in metro phoenix to get salmon that is this good and prepared this well. …It’s grilled nice and is medium/mediium rare in the middle.

My husband enjoyed the shrimp and sausage diablo just as much as I enjoyed the salmon and he also had this meal twice. It comes with cheesy polenta.

We tried the house made beignets.

They are powdered doughnuts with delicious house made sauces.

Then we did take out again.

In the upper left hand corner is the southern breaded shawarma kabobs with minted cucumbers, marinated olives, jalapeños and preserved lemon basil syrup. We had the same dinners as last time (salmon & shrimp and sausage diablo). This time we tried an amazing dessert (left hand lower corner) It was the mascarpone cheese cake. It came with pistachio praline, salted caramel, whipped cream and fresh strawberries. It was a really great dessert. Just like from a fine restaurant that has their own pastry chef.

We tried a few different things on our third take out.

In the middle is an everything flatbread topped with house made lox. (yum!) On the right are two different dinners. Upper right is willed boar meatballs served with an different style of gnocchi. Bottom right is their “Twist” on chicken and dumplings. It’s really delicious marinated chicken that is moist and flavorful but because of my 30 minute car ride home in the hot heat the sauces and dumplings sort of baked together. It would have been much better to dine in with this one. However it still was delicious. There was all kinds of goodies here like goat cheese, berries, braised greens and a different kind of dumplings that they call gnocchi. On the left are the complimentary biscuits and a strawberry rhubarb cobbler (minus the ice cream because I knew it would melt).

My forth take out was really great too!

Top left corner we shared the Moroccan festival soup. It’s a vegetarian soup with spiced vegetables lentils, chick peas , preserved lemon and cilantro. It’s deep earthy and fabulous! I went with the grilled Hawaiian opah. The fish was prepared to perfection and came with a orange basil beurre blanc sauce, vegetables and scallion almond rice. My husband had the steak sandwich pallard. It’s a grilled tenderloin with mustardy horseradish sauce, mozzarella cheese, demi sauce on a garlic Noble Bread baguette. I tried a small piece of the tenderloin and it was so tender with a really great taste. WOW it was crazy good!

Those were my first four take outs from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale.

www.twist-bistro.com

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out During The CoronaVirus Pandemic in Metro Phoenix AZ Week 20 – Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery, Barrio Cafe, Confluence, Twist Bistro and Gallery, Cucina Tagliani

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Going out to eat can be deadly these days during the coronavirus pandemic. Take out is a safer option. Curbside pickup involves even less risk. All restaurants are struggling these days so we are trying to give as much support to restaurants as much as we can……. Besides there is little else to do that can be done safely.

Our first take out of the week was from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Bistro in North Phoenix. They are a Vietnamese Restaurant that serves most of your Vietnamese favorites except for pho. Instead they specialize in serving banh mi baguette sandwiches and do offer close to a dozen different varieties of them.

I got the noodle bowl combo on the left with tasty marinated chicken and a vegetarian egg roll. The chicken is developed with good flavors and is topped with some fried shallots. They give you fish sauce to dip the chicken and sriracha for the egg roll. This plate also comes with a refreshing minty salad and vegetables with lots of rice noodles. It’s a very large portion and for some people can be two meals. My husband got the grilled pork rice plate. His meal comes with a pork egg roll, a seasoned salad, rice, fish sauce and lots of tasty grilled pork. You get delicious generous plates of food at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese eatery and at the moment I believe that all the dishes there are $10. or less. My dogs always enjoy helping to finish up the food from BMBVE.

Next take out was from Barrio Cafe in Phoenix. We were there two weeks back and the food was delicious. Incase you live under a rock you should know that the Barrio Cafe is an amazing award winning restaurant for Mexican Food. The chef is James Beard Nominated Sillvana Salcido Esparza.

This time we got a huitllacoche las tlayudas (left corner), a vegan chiles en nogada vegano (right corner), and their famous cochinta pibil. All was delicious and we had plenty to share with the dogs.

Confluence in Carefree is another AMAZING restaurant. They also have an amazing chef that also prepares food on a level that very few achieve. They serve upscale modern farm to table type cuisine. My take out is more casual than what I typically get here but is detailed and is very good!

My husband got a cheese burger. It’s not average and is made of the highest quality. The roll is baked in house. The pickle is made in house and the chips are made in house. Sauces are made in house.

Sauces that go with the cheese burger

I went with a chopped chicken salad and we shared a herb roasted maitake mushroom that was garnished with Brussels sprouts and fingerling potatoes. Everything was delicious. My dogs eagerly were awaiting for their portion.

We also did TAKE OUT from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale (just down the road from Confluence) TB&G is a sort of modern Mediterranean Restaurant that offers an interesting and creative menu.

This time I tried the grilled Hawaiian opah special. WOW! was it delicious! I also tried a small piece of my husband’s steak sandwich pallard. WOW AGAIN! That was CRAZY GOOD beef. It was so flavorful and so tender. It was really great! We also shared the Moroccan Festival soup. It was deep earthy and fabulous! WOW! What a great takeout. My lucky dogs were thrilled to try some of the opah and tender delicious beef.

The last take out of the week was from Cucina Tagliani in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide. They are an American-Italian Restaurant that also offers some healthy options and around a dozen different vegetable choices. They have been here in business for close to thirty years.

Today I got the baked spaghetti squash with a side of asparagus. My husband got the chicken parmesan. and they packed us some garlic toasts. The spaghetti squash doesn’t look light but is very light and delicate. It sits in a rich tomato sauce that is topped with alfredo sauce. Of course we saved some for the dogs.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all that food!”

The restaurants we did take out from on week 20 during the coronavirus pandemic-

Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery – North Phoenix

Barrio Cafe – Phoenix

Confluence – Carefree

Twist Bistro & Gallery – North Scottsdale

Cucina Tagliani – Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth