PT Pho Express is a casual Vietnamese local chain of restaurants in Metro Phoenix Arizona. They offer most of your Vietnamese favorites…..The offer appetizers like spring rolls, crispy egg rolls, and wings. They also offer a chicken salad, sandwiches, a Vietnamese burrito, 8 varieties of noodle soup called Pho, noodle bowls called bun, stir fry noodle dishes, plenty of rice dishes, teriyaki, curry, orange chicken and more. They offer many of your usual beverages and they also offer Vietnamese coffee, mint lemonade, and smoothies. They offer macarons for dessert.
It’s casual inside. You get partial wait service. They take your order. They run out your food and beverages. When you are done you walk up to the counter and pay.
inside
We started out with chicken spring rolls.
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
They are larger than others I’ve had and do have a nice dramatic presentation. They seem free of herbs. Chickens is tender in them. The sauce is a slightly flat.
Tried the PT Chicken Curry.
The sauce is good. I get fresh lemongrass, and fresh ginger, I added one slice of jalapeño and it is also pretty hot. The chicken in it is tender but it taste undeveloped with flavors. They were very generous with the carrots and potatoes in this dish. Some people might make two meals out of this.
My husband tried the Hot & Spicy Bun Bo Hue.
It’s a slightly spicy beef/pork broth with rice noodles and sliced beef. It also is a very large portion.
Worth a Try!
That was my visit to PT Pho Express in Glendale AZ – Newly Opened
Bouchon is a Parisian Style Restaurant by multi award wining chef Thomas Keller. Bouchon on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada is located in the Venetian Hotel Casino. It may be somewhat challenging to find because it is located on the tenth floor in the Venezia Tower.
The restaurant has a rich old fashioned look and the servers are formally dressed.
If you are in the mood for shellfish you are in luck. The shellfish bar might have what you desire.
shellfish bar
Depending on the day you are here….For lunch or as a starter you might want to start out with something masterfully prepared.
Butternut squash soup
Salmon rillettes
Spinach ravioli with forest mushrooms, bacon, potato chips, and parmesan cream
endive salad with red wine poached pears, candied walnuts, and goat cheese
Big Buddha Chinese Restaurant is located in Surprise Arizona. According to Phoenix Magazine they are BEST IN THE VALLEY for American Chinese Food so I wanted to give them a try. It’s best to get here early. This restaurant is close to Sun City West and the blue hairs line up like they are in line for a rock concert….and wait for the restaurant to open. It’s small inside with only a few patio tables and fills up fast and goes on a wait.
insideinside
Once seated they work very efficiently as a team to wait on you.
I went for the flounder in black bean sauce because I can’t get that anywhere near my area.
flounder in black bean sauce
It’s cooked perfect. The flounder is lightly coated and is mild, and light as air. It’s in a black bean sauce with tender crisp green bell peppers, carrot slices, and mushrooms. A generous amount of steamed white rice is on the side.
My husband asked for the tomato beef dish but they were out of that today so he went with the Hunan beef.
Hunan beef
This is beef sautéed with mushrooms, snow peas, carrots, bamboo shoots, and peppers in a chili paste black bean sauce. The beef is infused with some flavors and is very tender. The sauce is only slightly spicy but basically taste like black bean sauce.
I got the idea for this from dining out at a James Beard Award Wining chef’s restaurant called FnB in the arts district of Scottsdale Arizona. The chef and co-owner Charleen Badman had Grilled Broccoli with Tangerine Aioli and Pistachios on her menu that I tried. Today when I went to prepare my broccoli I thought about it and came up with something similar with what I had around the house. I learned that there are a lot of different ways to make aioli. It really isn’t just a mayonnaise. Some chefs thicken it up with soaked bread. I used potato as my thickener. Serving size might differ….For me this made two servings.
Ingredients for around two servings
1 large broccoli crown – break down to florets
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (split 2T + 2T)
1/2 cup almonds toasted (mine were whole that I crushed and toasted but you can use sliced)
sea salt – to taste (I used my home made smoked pecan sea salt)
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
ground Aleppo pepper – to taste
1 potato – peeled – cut into 8 pieces
2 1/2 oz sweet roasted whipped garlic – (I buy a Costco bag of garlic split the heads in half, generously olive oil them and roast them covered at 375F for an hour. Squeeze the cloves out and blend them. I portion cup them at 2 1/2 ounces and freeze them)
2 oranges – the juice and zest
1 egg yolk
sea salt – to taste
fresh ground pepper – to taste
Directions
Fill a medium sized sauce pot with water and a palmful of salt to boil. When the water is boiling add the potatoes. When the potatoes are soft (10-15 minutes) take them out to drain. Add the broccoli to the boiling water. They only need about three minutes. Then put the broccoli in an ice bath.
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Put the potatoes threw a ricer. Mix in the egg yolk, sweet roasted whipped garlic, 2 Tablespoons oil, orange juice and zest. Add salt and pepper to taste.
The broccoli goes on a sheet pan in a single layer. Spray with olive oil. Add salt and peppers to taste. Put the broccoli on the top rack. Turn the broccoli over in 10 minutes…….Maybe 5 or a few more minutes and they are done. If your almonds need toasting put them on a sheet pan and give then a little spray of oil and put them on the bottom rack for less than ten minutes. Take the broccoli out when lightly charred.
Put aioli on bottom of plate. Top with broccoli and almonds.
Spicy Roasted Broccoli with Orange Aioli and Almonds
ENJOY!!!!!!
A Special THANKS!! To FnB Restaurant so I could come up with this!
There is always something new, weird, different, limited, and or special edition out there in the wonderful world of food. We just never know WTFork we will come across when we shop for food.
Up above is-
LIMITED TIME FLAVOR – Lay’s Cheetos Cheese Flavor potato chips. If I wanted Cheetos I’d buy a bag of Cheetos for a Chip replacement.
LIMITED TIME FLAVOR – Lays Doritos Cool Ranch Potato Chips. Same here if I wanted Doritos in Cool Ranch I’d buy a bag of Doritos. I guess Lays is just trying to be tragically Chip.
NEW – Brosdus Foods – Snoop Loopz with MORE marshmallows. This is by Snoop Dogg. It resembles Fruit Loops………..I wonder how that will go.
LIMITED EDITION – General Mills naturally flavored Pumpkin Spice Cheerios cereal.This might be gourd-ious to some people.
DIFFERENT and Probably NOT NEW? – Kellogg’s Smorz now with MORE FORKING Marshmallows……OMG! Why more marshmallows? Breakfast cereals are now boxes of marshmallows……UGH!
DIFFERENT and maybe WEIRD – Kraft macaroni & cheese in what they call Unicorn Shapes…..WTFork a star and a rainbow is not a unicorn shape….A unicorn is sort of horse shaped with a horn……I just don’t know how this got manufactured without anyone questioning this………
DIFFERENT- Cheetoes Mac’N’Cheese in flaming hot and bold and cheesy. Could be something that some are fondue of.
DIFFERENT – Nature – Dried watermelon with seeds. I bought dried watermelon before. I didn’t like the seeds in it.
DIFFERENT and hard to find – on top cordycep mushrooms and cauliflower mushrooms…..The funny thing is that neither taste like mushrooms……
DIFFERENT and maybe WEIRD – Just the fun part? – Looks like the ice cream fell off………Waffle cones filled with chocolate. Might be good?
DIFFERENT – Nature’s Garden Raspberry yogurt covered pretzels………Not for me but maybe for you?
DIFFERENT – Nature’s Garden blueberry yogurt covered pretzels………This one gets a maybe from me???????
DIFFERENT – Nature’s Garden Key Lime yogurt pretzels…?????? I feel twisted about this…….Maybe?????
DIFFERENT – Duncan Hines Post Fruity Pebbles Cake Kit (cake mix, frosting, cereal) This must be made for kids. I can’t see an actual adult buying this unless they are on drugs or something.
DIFFERENT – Duncan Hines Post Cocoa Pebbles Cake Kit includes cake mix, frosting, and cereal…..?????
WEIRD – Heinz – Tomato Blood tomato ketchup. I saw this at Safeway around Thanksgiving Week……..Guess they didn’t have the help to put them out around Halloween time?
WEIRD – Liquid Death….not spring water….Mountain Water?????? Since when is a mountain filled with water???? WTFork is this???? and Just Saying Liquid Death doesn’t sound like trustworthy water….Think about it….What would Grandma say if you handed her one of them?
Holidays are coming!
DIFFERENT and maybe WEIRD – Turkey Hot Chocolate Bomb…? Gobble? or Slurp?
DIFFERENT and maybe NEW? – Jelly Belly Happy Chanukah Jelly Beans……What flavor are they? Dreidel? or Menorah?
They FORKING even make WERID beverages and WIERD FOODS for dogs.
Maybe – WEIRD? – Best Buds craft dog beer?????? Maybe it’s good and you might woof on some?
DIFFERENT – Milk Bone – Apple Cinnamon Biscuits…..Betcha most dogs prefer meat flavored biscuits…just saying….
DIFFERENT – Bocce’s Bakery – Fireside Pie Apple, Cheese & Cinnamon natural dog treats……Might be good?
DIFFERENT – Greenies – Pumpkin Spice dental treats. Look at top (that I cut off) The dogs is wearing a GREENIES Santa hat! HA!
SPECIAL EDITION – Wiggles and Wags Bake Shop Excite-mints…….My Dear Departed Louie might have loved this……He was a mint-ta-hallic…..He loved mints so much…..He ate threw a few of my purses for anything mint in my purse.
There is usually something Oreo to find.
DIFFERENT – (but really not so different……Oreo ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED Chocolate hazelnut cookies……How good can that be?
Oh NO there’s more!
LIMITED EDITION – ARTIFICIALLY FLAVORED Snickerdoodle Oreo Cookies. This I really don’t understand. Snickerdoodle cookies are basic cookie dough with cinnamon……How can you make that artificially flavored?
That was the new, weird, different, limited and special edition foods out there for November 2022. Who knows WTFork I’ll come across next month.
Dining out with dogs in Metro Phoenix is just a “FLUFF” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie. He was elderly and got diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed going out to eat so I took him out to eat as much as possible. Instead of the three-six month diagnosis Louie made it another seventeen months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when I can. It’s Phoenix so the temperature is an issue. Anything over 90 degrees is too hot and not safe to dine out with dogs. Also not all restaurant patios are dog friendly. You must see a dog friendly sign or call and ask the restaurant if it’s ok to dine there with your dog. You also need a list of safe and non-safe food to feed your dog because most food and drink that you consume might be harmful or toxic to your dog. dogs should be kept close by your side and you should not let your dog(s) sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates.
We made it to Squid Ink Sushi in Peoria.
The nice server brought my dogs a bowl of water to start with.
We all tried the tempura green beans.
The green beans were very lightly battered and came with a dipping sauce that tasted mostly like soy sauce. To my surprise the dogs really liked eating green beans.
I tried the blackened salmon bowl.
It came with a medley of fresh vegetables, sushi rice, and an Asian dipping sauce. I scrapped off the seasoning so my dogs could eat some salmon….They really enjoyed the salmon too. My bigger dog kept whacking my knee to give her more.
My husband got the wagyu cheese and bacon burger.
It was a really great delicious juicy burger last time…This time it came out kinda dried out but the dogs sure didn’t mind….My smaller dog waits nicely for his next bite.
Squid Ink Sushi
9947 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ
623-561-7747
www.SquidInkSushi.com
The dogs and us also got to dine at Twisted Italian in Peoria. It’s an Italian restaurant that offer a lot of your usual Italian dishes but also offers pierogi and Italian rellenos. They only have two patio tables but so far we’ve been lucky and manage to get one.
The server was very nice and started the dogs off with a pan of water.
My husband started out with a Mediterranean side salad.
This plate might be the best deal on the lunch menu. It’s a big plate that can sure be dinner. lots of fresh vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, broccoli) Today they added marinated bell peppers. I got 4oz of salmon that is cooked perfect today and on the side is a very generous serving of angel hair pasta in a garlic-parm wine sauce with capers. The dogs get to eat all of my zucchini (they always love zucchini) and they get a good portion of the salmon.
My husband got the made-to-order queen cut lasagna with a side of sausage.
The dogs got to eat a little bit of sausage.
We did alright at Twisted Italian
Twisted Italian 9940 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ
623-537-4000
www.EatTwisted.com
We always go to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Pho Free Vietnamese casual restaurant. The main digs are the banh mi sandwiches, rice plates, and noodle salad bowls.
Today we both got banh mi sandwiches. I got the chicken and my husband got the shaken beef.
chicken banh mi
I eat half but some people can eat the whole thing. It really is very delicious with the fresh herbs, pickled vegetables and house made aioli. The chicken is seasoned just so and is tender. Even the bread is very good. It’s made with rice flour locally. It is easier to eat because it doesn’t feel as heavy as a flour roll.
Both dogs enjoy the chicken and the beef.
We always enjoy going to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery!
2340 W Bell Rd Phoenix AZ
602-843-3637
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
We did take out from Naked Q BBQ in Phoenix. They also have two other locations. One in Glendale and one in Scottsdale. We enjoyed our take out at a nearby park.
My personal favorite from Naked Q is their smoked turkey. The turkey is consistency moist and delicious. You will never go wrong with the turkey from Naked Q BBQ. Today me and the dogs had it with a garden salad.
Both dogs really enjoyed the turkey.
“YUM!”“Keep it coming!”
My husband got a two meat plate of BBQ Brisket, Chicken, with cornbread, slaw, macaroni and cheese and added on sausage.
You never go wrong with the sausage. The chicken is also good…not very BBQ-ee but good. Today the brisket taste great but some of the slices are a little dry. The dogs are great and they don’t mind if they get the drier slices. They also enjoyed moist chicken.
“Ill eat all you dry meat for you”“Keep it coming…..Don’t stop!”
We enjoy Naked Q BBQ.
Naked Q BBQ 2340 W Bell Rd PHX AZ
602-439-4227
www.NakedQ.com
That was Dining Out With DOGS for November 2022.
We hope to see you next month!
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
Oak On Camelback is a New American Casual full service Restaurant and bar located in Phoenix Arizona not too far from the Biltmore area and not too far from Midtown. They serve American food and globally inspired food. Oak On Camelback is mostly a dinner restaurant but also offer weekend brunch and happy hour.
Some of the appetizers offered are – Thai style mussels, Moroccan meatballs, and baked goat cheese.
They offer salads in two sizes like OAK roasted beets, Thai peanut, and blue cheese salad.
Wood fired pizzas are on the menu. Many of the usual pizzas are offered but some of the more unusual pizzas are the Moroccan meatball pizza, duck confit Asian BBQ pizza, and a jalapeño chicken pizza.
Burgers and sandwiches like pork belly banh mi, and maui maui sandwiches are offered.
You can find entrees like Argentina Ribeye, Oak fired lamb curry, scallops and risotto and more.
Inside is energetic loud and busy.
But beware of parts of the patio.
The misters are very aggressive and certain tables, chairs, and parts of the floor are covered with water.
My husband started off with a $3. Happy Hour pork schnitzel Nashville Hot slider sandwich.
He said it was good but they forgot the pickle…..
Next were the Oak roasted beets and the kung pow Brussels sprouts.
Both are tasty and good but was surprised that the Oak roasted beets lack a wood fired taste…..Still good though. Also was surprised about the difference in portion size….
Dinners arrived exactly three minutes after all the appetizers arrived. My husband felt the need to alert the manager about this. She said that she was sorry but made no offer to take the dinners back and time them better………
Anyways-
For my main I had the salmon with quinoa black rice studded with eggplant, tomatoes and almonds.
The fish is cooked to a perfect medium and has a beautiful sear on the other side. But they seared the fish with so much salt that I had to cut the sear off to eat the fish. Other than that it was good.
The cassoulet special was duck confit, pork sausage, beans, mirepoix, crumbs and toasted focaccia.
A cassoulet is suppose to be a slow cooked rich stew……….
This is not a slow cooked rich stew. It actually seemed pieced together and the beans are still hard.
Dessert was A – OK.
berry and peach cobbler was sort of like fruit soup
Food Trucks from all over the valley head to Glendale at 18551 83rd Ave (between Sam’s Club & Walmart) for Food Truck Friday West from 5pm-9pm most Friday evenings. (see www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com for schedule and Food Truck line up)
Tonight the first food truck we tried was Gibson’s BBQ for a variety plate called, “The Plate.”
Gibson’s Smokehouse BBQThe Plate
We got smoked brisket, pulled pork, macaroni and cheese, green chili cornbread, apple Cole slaw, and potato salad.
The brisket had a nice smokey taste and was flavored well but ………
hard fat on brisket
Was kinda dried out with hard fat on the end. I think maybe my stomach went sour from this because I couldn’t enjoy anything on this plate. My husband has a stronger stomach than me….He said that the pork was also dried out but was better than the brisket. He also wasn’t a fan of any of the sides. Maybe it was just an off day?
Gibson’s Smokehouse BBQ 602-475-8730
I haven’t found a website for Gibson’s Smokehouse BBQ but they are on Facebook
We went on to try Fogo & Soul. They serve Southern Brazilian BBQ mixed with Soul Food Fusion. They also have a nice set up with tables and a heater for the chilly night we had this evening.
Fogo & Soul
We shared the Grilled Meat Trio (sirloin, chicken, linguica sausage) with sides of Brazilian Cheese Bread and Macaroni and Cheese.
Grilled Meat Trio
The meats are all DELICIOUS, juicy, and fresh cooked. They all are seasoned well too! The cheese breads are good and cheesy. The macaroni and cheese is a little over cooked and a little on the dry side. Also maybe for some people a little heavy handed with black pepper but does have a real cheese taste. …….Still a very good stop!
Fogo & Soul
www.FogoandSoul.com 480-849-7685
Our last stop was Mingos Louisiana Kitchen. Tonight they were offering po boy sandwiches and plates.
Mingos Louisiana Kitchen
Difficult decision on what to try here…….The chicken from the Mingo’s Screaming Hot Chicken Food Truck was so delicious that I tried a couple weeks back that I had to pick the Buffalo Chicken Plate.
It’s Buffalo Chicken, well seasoned fries, lettuce, tomato pickle, with Louisiana tartar sauce. The man cooking said that he didn’t give us enough chicken? He said come back for the rest?
Gave us more!
I think that he was overly generous! This plate was only $10. I do have to say that this chicken is amazing. The sauce taste like Frank’s Red Hot but has a rich consistency. The chicken just melts in your mouth like butter……………It’s really FORKING Amazing. The fries are also delicious and are well seasoned. They also soaked up some of the Red Hot Sauce taste. The Louisiana Tarter is also unique. I taste Old Bay Seasoning. I have some yummy leftovers to bring home too.
Mingos Louisiana Kitchen
www.MingosLouisianaKitchen.com
480-540-7872
That was a little taste of Phoenix Food Trucks – Gibson’s Smokehouse BBQ, Fogo & Soul, Mingos Louisiana Kitchen
This is pretty easy and fun to prepare. I saw someone on Pinterest made potato cannoli shells. Their recipe sounded like a great idea but when I tried it it didn’t work. I had to figure out on how to make it work. I experimented a little. I had to roll it the other way and mine needed almost twice as long in the oven to get done. I also tried this with different sized cannoli tubes. It really didn’t make a difference on what size tube I used…they came out about the same. I do NOTE that a few of the potato “cannoli” shells do not come out because a few will unwind in the oven….and become a really tasty potato chip. I note that you do need a mandolin to slice the potatoes “POTATO CHIP THIN” or they will be too thick to roll around the cannoli shell tubes. Then the fun part was coming up with a filling. I thought something like a real cannoli would be perfect….So I mashed the potato with home made ricotta, some shredded parmesan, and one small dried Calabrian chile. Serving size is difficult to judge because I don’t know if you want a small or large serving. I’d guesstimate around 7-8 smaller servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
neutral non stick spray
4 oz unsalted butter – melted in a small tub
2 potatoes – sliced very thin on a mandolin…if you don’t slice thin enough the potato won’t wrap around the cannoli tube)
sea salt – to taste
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
1 pound potatoes – boiled till soft with salted water
1/4 cup parmesan – grated
1/2 cup ricotta – drained well and preferably home made – (Adding the ricotta is like adding the milk and butter to regular mashed potatoes……you might need slightly more or less depending on how well drained the cheese is)
1 Calabrian short pepper – crushed or any pepper you like to taste…………crushed red pepper is hotter with less flavor than Calabrian pepper so my second choice for this would be 1/4 teaspoon of ground white pepper with a small pinch of nutmeg..
Directions
Peel and rough cut up the pound of potatoes. Boil them in salted water until they are soft and then drain them. (around 10 minutes but timing can differ.
Set your oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray your cannoli tubes and a baking sheet with non stick spray.
Put the sliced potatoes one at a time in your tub of melted butter so they can soak the butter up a little.
The potato slices get wrapped around the cannoli tubes that you might want to put seam side down to try to hold them together.
When I did this with my mini tubes I had to rest the tubes against each other so they wouldn’t roll around.
You need to watch them because the timing could differ. I don’t know if you sliced yours as thin. Mine took around 12 minutes on the middle rack at 400 degrees F and salt and peppered them.
I let them cool enough so the tubes didn’t burn my fingers. The potatoes slid off easily.
When the boiled potatoes were done they got drained. I mashed them with the parmesan and ricotta. Added the crushed short Calabrian chile. I thought that the seasoning was perfect but you might want to adjust to your liking.
Then I used a pastry bag and got them done.
Potato Cannoli
These were garnished with fresh basil, home made traditional pesto, and cherry pepper slices.
When I see a new M&M’s I usually just have to give them a try. I found these White Chocolate M&M’s Snowballs at my local Safeway….I wasn’t sure if I was going to try them because one of the last white chocolate M&M’s that I tried I didn’t care for but I picked them up because very few new flavors of M&M’s came out this year.
I open the bag up.
The M&M’s are in slightly irregular shapes. They are in colors of bright blue, Robbins egg blue and white……
When I take a closer look I see some are marked “N” instead of “M”…?
These are really different. They have a perfect salty to sweet ratio. I taste the pretzel slightly more than the chocolate or candy. Actually they are pretty good with a really nice textures. The pretzel in them is very light but crunchy with pieces of salt on them. The white chocolate is not too sweet and it’s melty and not waxy. The shell gives it some sweetness and a nice crunch. They seem so light that they are easy to eat….Maybe too easy to eat? ……….These are too easy to keep eating.
My FORKING Thoughts are that the White Chocolate Pretzel Snowball M&M’s are pretty good!
I do note that YOUR FORKING Thoughts may indeed differ.
