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.

That was my trip to Oak On Camelback.

111 E Camelback Rd PHX AZ

602-200-8111

www.OakOnCamelback.com

Everything is subject to change.

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.”

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 ………

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.

We shared the Grilled Meat Trio (sirloin, chicken, linguica sausage) with sides of Brazilian Cheese Bread and Macaroni and Cheese.

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.

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

Everything is subject to change.

Family Fattoush Mediterranean Restaurant opened this past summer 2022 in North Phoenix. They offer a large menu that offers the usuals but also differs a bit from other similar Mediterranean Restaurants. Some of the different offerings are the fried onion beet and lentil salad, chicken curry, a dish called bamya made with okra, and a dish called fasulia made with white beans. They also offer several fish dishes…. fish and chips, shrimp scampi, grilled fish and spicy tilapia.

It’s not a fancy place. But it looks like they are working on a large patio that looks fancy that isn’t ready for use yet at this time fall 2022.

You order at the counter, seat yourself, they run the food to you and then you pay.

On one visit we started out by sharing the vegetarian plate.

On the top left corner is a very smoky baba ghanoush. to the right is the creamiest hummus that I have tried in Arizona.

The falafels have a crispy exterior and a moist herby interiors.

The stuffed grape leaves seem like house made. The tabbouli seems nice herby and freshly made. There also is a ramekin of a white bean dip….that isn’t mentioned in the description of this plate. It might be the fasulia?…..It way too sharp, tangy, and metallic for both of us…but everything else was at least good. This plate also came with nicely toasted flat breads.

On another visit we tried the chicken pie appetizer…..That look more like crispy rolls.

WOW! are they tasty and delicious! I’ve never tasted anything like this at a Mediterranean Restaurant. Lots of flavors and packed with ground chicken….but they are a little greasy today. They were served with garlic sauce.

Tried a mixed shawarma plate of chicken and beef….but they spell it shawirma…..

This is a very large plate and we have a basket of flat bread on the side too. The chicken shawarma is very developed with flavors and is tendered nicely caramelized….It is very different than any other chicken shawarma that I have tasted. The beef is very tender but is not as flavorful as the chicken. There is a big pile of yellow fluffy seasoned rice that is laced with a small amount of red sauce that is very tasty. The hummus is extra creamy. The baba ganouj (ganoush) is better batch today. Smokey but not too smoky. The plate also includes tzatziki and garlic dip, pickles, and olives.

My husband tried a plate of lamb that they call Mandi.

Its lamb shanks with toasted almonds, over seasoned tasty rice, with house made hot sauce and chopped vegetables. I forgot to ask about the cup that looks like broth. I was told that the lamb is a strong lamb taste. It is also very succulent and fatty.

On a different visit I tried the spicy tilapia.

This plate is garnished with a chopped tomato and cucumber salad, pickled turnip, pickles and a half lemon. The tilapia is tender and perfect. It’s topped with a spicy tomato sauce and is over a bed of yellow fluffy rice. We both liked this plate better than the gyro plate.

The gyro plate is very similar but also comes with a thick rich tzatziki. The gyro meat is very average and on the dry side today.

I should mention that service is very minimal.

Worth a try and be sure to get the very creamy hummus.

Family Fattoush

15610 N 35TH Ave PHX AZ

602-314-4557

www.FamilyFattoush.com

Every THING is subject to change.

Authentic Ethio African Restaurant is located in Phoenix Arizona. They are a small but full service Ethiopian restaurant and bar.

We were going to try one of the appetizers called sambusa (pastries stuffed with lentils, beef, or chicken)……not ready yet for today so we went for our main digs. We tried the sampler plates….We tried one vegetarian sampler plate. and one meat sampler plate.

We had around 10 choices of vegetable dishes to pick from.

To try anything you have to use the spongy injera bread to pick things up with your hands. In the middle of the plate is a little salad.

We tried-

(top left) Yesuf Fit Fit – butter squash or pumpkin, garlic, ginger, spicy berbere – This one was our mutual favorite on this plate. It was delicious, wild with flavors and and heat. This was the only vegetable side that was served hot. The others seemed like room temperature.

(top right) Keyser – beets, potatoes, garlic ginger …not bad …tasty

(bottom left) Ater Kik – yellow split peas mild turmeric sauce, garlic, ginger – tasty

(bottom right) – Gomen – mustard greens, onion garlic, ginger….WOW…Bright, Strong, Bitter…….Good in small amounts….It breaks all the other flavors up.

You don’t pick the meats for the meat sampler plate.

At the top of the meat sampler plate was the Doro Wat with Hard Egg (Onion Stew and Berbere spiced chicken).

Middle of the plate was house made cottage cheese.

(bottom left) Sega Wot Beef Stew – ginger, garlic, onion, some berbere

(bottom right) Gomen Besga collard greens with beef

My favorite of the bunch was the doro wat…The chicken was tender, developed with LOTS of flavors and it was spicy and delicious. The Sega Wot was good too but I just enjoyed the doro wat much more. The Gomen Besga was for an inquired taste.

I must mention that the hot tea is special and is very delicious here.

I also must mention that you come here when you have a couple spare hours to spend.

They only have one person cooking and one person serving so things take time.

When you go out to any restaurant you will like some things better than other things.

You can park to the side of the restaurant or behind the restaurant.

Worth a Try!

Authentic Ethio African Restaurant

1740 E McDowell Rd PHX AZ

623-404-9907

www.AuthenticEthioAfrican.com

Everything is subject to change.