Seydi’s Pupuseria and Grill is a little casual Salvadorian restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona. They specialize in serving these crazy delicious Salvadorian stuffed flatbreads called pupusas. Prices are low! Portions are large! Pupusas are crazy delicious!

All the pupusas are stuffed with cheese and some contain a vegetable, wild flower, or meat. They offer TWELVE different kinds so there is something for everyone. (plain cheese, bean, wildflower, jalapeño, zucchini, spinach, green pepper, pork, chicken, steak, shrimp)

They are really cheesy inside. You really are suppose to eat them with your hands. But if you use a knife and fork it’s up to you.

You eat the pupusas with Salvadoran slaw and rojo sauce. The slaw is very unique. It’s fermented but isn’t sour like sauerkraut. It’s also not strong tasting like kimchi. It’s just really good and cuts the fat to make it pop. The red sauce is thin but it has a sort of salsa taste. It’s all very delicious on the pupusa.

Besides pupusas…..They also offer breakfast like fried plantains with rice and beans, an egg and sausage burrito with rice, beans, and jalapeños. Or maybe you are a little hungrier and want a ten ounce New York Steak with eggs home fries and toast.

They offer appetizers like yucca fries with pork, Salvadorian Cole slaw, and tomato sauce, Salvadoran chicken sandwich (yes on the appetizer menu), This one other appetizer can feed a family…..It’s a chicken tamal, yucca fries and pork, Salvadorian pie, one papusa, Salvadoran slaw, and tomato sauce.

They offer combination plates that include two tortillas. A few of them are-…………grilled steak with two pupusas,

stewed beef with rice and salad, fried tilapia with rice, beans, salad, jalapeños (pictured below),

twelve grilled shrimp with rice, beans, salad, breaded chicken with rice, beans, salad, jalapeños.

They offer two soups. One is farm hen vegetable and the other is beef stew with rice. Both come with tortillas.

The farm hen vegetable soup contains maybe half a small bone-in skin-on chicken with all kinds of vegetables (zucchini, potato, carrot, maybe cassava?, cabbage, and peas). It also comes with hand made tortillas, vegetable studded white rice, lime, and a small condiment of chopped onions, cilantro with jalapeños to give the soup some punch. It’s also a very large portion.

Or you can just order pupusas…..and if you can fit it in they also offer two desserts. One is plantain empanadas and the other is cassava and honey.

It’s not a fancy place but it seems clean.

You order and pay at the counter and then you seat yourself.

And you would be nuts (unless you are lactose intolerant) to drive here and not enjoy a crazy great pupusa.

Worth a Fork!

Seydi’s Pupuseria and Grill

2625 E Greenway PKWY Phoenix AZ

602-404-7634

www.Seydis-Pupuseria-Grill.business.site

Everything is subject to change.

Clean Eatz is a casual chain of restaurants that offer healthy….meal plans,,,,,,,,,,

grab and goes, an eat-in cafe, and more. I went to the location in Glendale Arizona. This is a fast growing chain of restaurants with around 80 locations. Two new ones are coming to Arizona in Phoenix and Surprise.

The cafe offers a menu of “Good for you snacks,” Build a bowls, build a salads, build a burgers, wraps, flat breads, a kid’s menu, smoothies, and more. Prices are very low so I wasn’t expecting the best quality.

You order and pay at the counter. They don’t sell many beverages that most places sell. Only what is considered health conscious. They don’t even sell plain bottled water. We went with the complimentary orange-mint infused water.

We sat ourselves and in reasonable time someone runs out our bowls to us.

The bowls are small, medium, or large protein I went with medium. My base was sweet potatoes, my three vegetables were carrots, asparagus, banana peppers, protein was salmon, sauce was sweet potato chipotle, and heat level was swole N spicy.

I received much more salmon than I expected but it’s not the best. It’s over cooked, fishy tasting (NOT SPOILED but fishy like frozen fish from Safeway) and is topped with powdery stuff that is weird. I am undecided if I can even eat it. My husband generously offers to leave and go someplace else. I decide that I can eat it but it’s not good. The sweet potatoes are really weird and sponge-ee. I have no idea on how sweet potatoes can be made that way. The carrots are between raw and cooked and the asparagus are mostly overcooked and squishy. I picked the sweet potato chipotle sauce…..It’s just weird tasting……It doesn’t taste like real food……. I can see how you can lose weight eating here.

My husband went with the large portion bowl. He picked rice noodles, corn & beans, asparagus, banana peppers, shrimp, salsa, and smokin chipotle.

His bowl turned out a little better than mine.

He could tell that the shrimp are from frozen but were ok. The worst part of his bowl were that the noodles all stuck together. He said that his wasn’t really bad. Not great either……but not bad.

You can lose weight eating at Clean Eatz.

5870 W Thunderbird RD Glendale AZ

602-374-3806

www.cleaneatz.com

Everything is subject to change.

African Kitchen is located in Phoenix Arizona not too far from the Metro Center Area. They offer mostly Liberian and other African Cuisine like Nigerian and Ghanaian. It’s a casual small restaurant. I noticed many people with a similar accents to the man serving us doing take out and dining here. Soft beverages and some unique soft beverages like ginger juice are offered. The atmosphere is loud. They have a TV on with a soccer game playing. The people dining here are into loud conversation while dining.

The menu is on the green board at the rear of the restaurant. They also have printed menus. There are many foods that are seldom found at any restaurants that I know of. They offer foods such as ahieke (a fermented kind of couscous), potato greens, torborgee soup (a spicy bitter Liberian stew of beans, palm oil, dried meat), chuck rice (Liberian green rice), egusi soup (Usually Nigerian or Ghanaian melon seed, bitter leaf, and meat soup).

Ingredients are listed on the wall with the menu.

My husband was going to order the torborgee soup but was warned if you aren’t used to the ingredients in that soup it has very unpleasant effects on you that aren’t good to talk about while you are reading about food……….So he got the palaver sauce soup that comes with rice.

It’s a popular West African stew of beef, turkey, skin-on chicken ….It seems like it was prepared well but is very different from American Food or any food that I have tried before…..Besides the unfamiliar flavors and funk (maybe bitter leaf, palm oil, smoked dried fish, melon seeds)…..The amount of rice is enormous. The protein amounts really are very small in the two dishes that we tried. Maybe two – three ounces at the most.

I planed to order the chuck rice (green rice) with fish gravy but was told that they weren’t serving that today and made a quick switch……

I had the tilapia with dry rice and plantains. Again an enormous amount of rice. The rice fills the whole plate and is higher than it looks.

The fish is prepared reasonably well. The plantains are nicely fried. The rice is very unusual to me. It’s not dry like the name implies. It’s actually kind of slime-ee in an okra kind of way. It probably contains okra and little bits of fish and cubes of beef that are similar to lunch meat or hot dogs. This rice might be delicious for an acquired taste.

I did notice that everyone dining there had enormous plates of rice that they actually were finishing. It looks like that is how African people eat.

African Kitchen in Phoenix AZ sure seems like the real deal.

Try it for a taste of Africa.

African Kitchen Phoenix AZ

3543 W Dunlap Ave Phoenix AZ

480-532-5512

Everything is subject to change.

Chilli King Chinese Food is located in Glendale Arizona not too far from Old Town Glendale. They offer American Chinese Foods, Hot Pots, some other dishes that you don’t find everywhere like scrambled eggs with tomato and Yangzhou fried rice (shrimp, sausage, pork, eggs, peas, carrots, scallions). The foods we tried so far were all flavorful. They also offer the ultra spicy foods. Portions are large and prices are low………The only downside is that service is usually poor when you do take out. They have their young son run the restaurant. He does a good job at taking orders and payments but there are issues with take out. …..Usually you need to wait about 40 minutes for your order to be done even if you prepay your order. They don’t start making your order until you show up. We waited around 45 minutes every time we did take out. My husband tried to speak to an adult about this but couldn’t because of the language barrier with the chef. On our first visit the boy’s mother helped with service. This restaurant is mainly open for take out. They do have four small tables inside that you can dine at if you wish. Soft beverages are offered here.

They offer the usual appetizers like –

spring rolls

crispy chicken dumplings.

On the menu they offer-

Szechuan beef (tender beef flavorful and spicy)

spicy chicken (tender chicken, very flavorful….this one was REALLY very hot spicy…this was one of the Ultra Spicies)

coconut curry chicken with steamed vegetables (flavorful and tender chicken)

sautéed vegetables with chicken

They offer sides such as chow mien, fried rice, steamed rice, and steamed vegetables

Above are chow mien and fried rice

This dish is very different to us….

shredded potatoes in red spicy oil….

They are kind of funky and spicy…………..texture is weird ……maybe slightly raw………really different…not sure if I like or not?…………too different for me.

Now for more Ultra Spicy!

MY favorite dish here (so far) is next.

Spicy boil chicken with greens and sprouts….The chicken is so tender and moist and this spicy (really good spicy with Szechuan peppercorns is magically delicious)

Here’s the what they call instant boil hot pot (they say it’s an authentic Chinese Soup)

sausage (we think they are hot dogs?), beef, chicken, potato, tofu, cabbage, mushrooms, steamed rice) Spicy and flavorful. Proteins are very moist and tender.

Oh and did I mention that portions run extra large?

The food is very good and a good value…Service….well ….usually isn’t the best.

Still Worth a Fork!

www.ChilliKing.US

4721 W Olive Ave Glendale AZ

623-440-1900

Call for hours as they change often.

Everything is subject to change.

Fly Bye is a casual order at the counter and take out restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona in Desert Ridge and is soon to be in three locations in Metro Phoenix. This restaurant is one of eleven Fox Restaurant Concept Group restaurants that are in at least fourteen states. On the menu at Fly Bye are snacks like mozzarella sticks and crispy Brussels sprouts. They also offer chicken tenders, chicken wings, salads, a few hoagies, hand stretched pizzas, and Detroit Style pizzas. Bottles and cans of soft beverages, beer, and wine are available.

This is a small place but they do have a some tables inside and a few tables outside.

You order and pay at the counter.

Then you pick up your beverage from the beverage refrigerator and get your napkins, silverware and plates yourself. When your order is ready someone runs your food to you.

We ordered far more food than we could eat in one visit just to try as much as we could.

We started with the roasted buffalo cauliflower bowl.

This is a bowl of fried cauliflower, avocado seasoned with za’atar, tomato, arugula, cucumbers, onions, and creamy feta dressing is in the bottom of the bowl. It’s not bad but neither of taste any buffalo…maybe it was left off? The za’atar is good but it’s only on the avocado….? I wonder why they don’t add harissa here…It could pop with a little harissa.

Next we tried three chicken tenders. They come with a few crinkle fries, ketchup and your choice of sauce. I picked Nashville Hot sauce.

This was my favorite plate here today. The breading has a good texture and seems free of oil. It’s also a lot lighter than they look. Without sauce they do taste under seasoned. But the chicken inside is incredibly moist. I think that the Nashville Hot sauce is very good…..It’s so full of flavors and a little heat. Now I wish I had a pickle…..The crinkle fries are better than I expected them to be and are very fluffy inside and are seasoned nicely.

They offer hand stretched pizza in regular and large sizes and Detroit Style pizzas in regular and large sized. We ordered two pizzas to try and started with the classic cheese regular sized Detroit Style.

The pizza does have nice crispy edges but lacks that cheesy corner. The crust is MUCH lighter and fluffier than any other Detroit style pizza that I have tried. It taste just like Wonder Bread to me……The tomato is a rich tomato taste and the cheese is nicely melted.

We also tried a regular sized hand stretched Lebanese Mom Pizza.

This pizza is made of marinated tomatoes, roasted garlic, spinach, za’atar, and feta yogurt.

The crust also has that Wonder Bread Taste and it is stretched very thin so it’s not too heavy. It’s not a hard crisp bottom and is more like a party pizza bottom. The marinated tomatoes taste about the same as the regular tomato sauce today. You get the feta flavor from the feta yogurt. A little bit of za’atar was used to slightly season it………. It’s up to you to add salt, or a pepper.

That was a little taste of Fly Bye in Phoenix AZ

21001 N Tatum Blvd PHX AZ (next to Albertson’s at Desert Ridge Mall)

www.FlyByeto go.com

602-351-5150

Everything is subject to change

Chick A Dee is a small Thai Restaurant that serves a limited menu of mostly chicken and rice dishes in Phoenix Arizona. The chicken and rice dish (khaow sun kai) is a traditional comfort food dish that you would find being served on the streets in Thailand. Some of the things that you can get are……..steamed white meat chicken, steamed dark meat chicken, half white – half dark chicken, crispy fried chicken, a combo of fried and white meat, all with mild ginger garlic steamed rice, clear chicken soup, and a sauce. One plate is offered as a salad and they also offer a faux chicken served with purple rice that is vegan. They also offer a few sides. Some of the sides are chicken nuggets called “cluckets,”potstickers, wings, and fried bananas with coconut ice cream. Thai beverages and regular soft beverages are served here.

It’s very casual. You order and pay at the counter. You pick up your tray of food when it’s ready.

While you’re waiting you can read the story about their food.

The food is ready in reasonable time and share a variety of what they offer.

The cluckets (chicken nuggets) are very unique.

They are some sort of formed chicken with a coating that is dusted with a little sugar, flavors and HEAT. They are tasty but are NOT for children….or whimps.

Potstickers are fried and crisp to perfection but are not the main attraction here.

Crispy chicken taste exactly the way it looks. It has a nice crisp coating without any unusual seasonings….We tried the sweet black sauce and it was something very unusual to us and was far too sweet for us. The other sauces they offer are sweet chili, sweet & sour and Thai Traditional (That I liked).

For me the main dig was the dish called half and half (steamed white meat chicken and steamed dark meat chicken with mild ginger garlic rice, cucumbers, Thai traditional sauce and a black sweet Thai style iced tea.

The chicken was steamed but comes out the same as poached. It’s fresh tender and moist. You eat it with the clear soup. I think that the Thai Traditional sauce gives it all the flavors that it needs. My husband isn’t a fan of ginger so the sauce was too gingery for him. But I thought that it was just right.

Traditional Thai Chicken and Rice.

Chick A Dee – Give it a try!

49 West Thomas Rd Phoenix AZ

623-440-4750

www.ChickADeeAZ.com

Every THING is subject to change.