FANTABULOUS means – Top of the line, marvelously great, peachy keen, and DYNAMITE! The Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence is all that! I usually don’t pick desserts for the FANTABULOUS Dish but this one is exceptional. All the food I had that evening was truly amazing. Everything was creative and masterfully prepared like from the best restaurant anywhere but….a really FORKING FABULOUS dessert sure doesn’t happen at most places (even the most expensive of places)……. really is The Forking Truth….just saying.
Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence in Carefree AZ
Gosh it’s tragic that you can’t taste it because it’s more FORKING FANTABULOUS than I can describe…..They don’t have a pastry chef here……The chef here does it all (bakes delicious breads, prepares all the dishes….probably washes all the dishes and pans)…and creates the desserts too! ………….and It’s like this Gianduju chocolate mousse came from the finest restaurant…..anywhere.
We got Gianduja Chocolate (that’s a sweet chocolate spread with 30% hazelnut) mousse. On top of the mousse is something that looks like a cheese curl but it taste just like orange zest!!!! I don’t know WTFork it is but it’s crunchy and orange zest-e. Maybe it’s some sort of concentrated dehydrated orange segment?…….The yellow sauce on thee plate is caracara orange curd that has the perfect amount of sweet and tartness to it with a lot of orange flavor it’s so YUM! To the right is caramelized white chocolate ganache that’s also is wonderfully flavorful with a rich mouth feel. The the left is a chocolatey Florentine cookie and there are other crunchy yumminess that make things more interesting. It’s just FANTABULOUS! It’s a very rare that you get desserts this jaw dropping astonishingly delicious!
The Gianduja Chocolate Mousse from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
The menus at Confluence do change often. You might have already missed it? (but they are sure to have something else that is also amazing)
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
36889 Tom Darington Dr Carefree AZ
480-488-9796
Everything is subject to change. Remember thee menus do often change!
Phat Turtle BBQ is a casual Kanas City Style Barbecue restaurant located in Cave Creek Arizona. Kanas City type BBQ is suppose to be dry rubbed and slow smoked over wood and is served with a tomato based sauce. It is typical of Kanas City BBQ places to offer something called burnt ends. The burnt ends are the crusty fatty pieces from the point of the brIsket.
You know that you have walked into a barbecue when you have walked in. You smell the smokey delicious smell of barbecue when you walk in.
The atmosphere has an Old West and antique shop sort of decor to it with lots of mismatched older furniture, a collection of saddles, all kinds of nick nacks, compasses on every table, and lots of other things.
We ordered.
They run their sauces to our table.
They have sweet, hickory, and spicy.
Our server returns and said that they are out of the bbq chicken from my 2 meat plate that I ordered. So I change my order.
She leaves and didn’t say anything to my husband who ordered the Phat Sampler that also includes chicken. We figure that maybe they had a little bit of leftover chicken for him??
Soon my side salad comes out.
It’s a nice big (almost meal sized) salad. I share it with my husband while we are waiting for the rest.
Around 30 minutes latter my 2 meat plate comes out.
I got brisket, burnt ends, and potato salad. The brisket is a bit on the dry side but ok. The burnt ends are extremely fatty and succulent. … but they all succulent with a succulent bark. (I’ll save them for my husband) The potato salad is eggy and seasoned with dill.
My husband got his plate and a few surprises.
Well lets start with the good.
The onion rings are very good and the pork is ok.
The surprises are that the plate is missing two of the meats (the chicken and the sausage) and the other surprise is that the chopped brisket is all little hard crumbs (at about 2:00 on the plate (like the type of meat crumbs that get cleaned off of the cutting board and get tossed into the beans……….). He also got burnt ends but on his plate they are very chewy and kind of dry. The Phat sampler was suppose to be 1/8lb. bunt ends, 1/8lb. pulled pork, 1/8lb. brisket, 2 baby back ribs, chopped chicken, 1/4 lb sausage filled onion rings with one side.
(I do note that all BBQ restaurants are never consistent due to the nature of hours of food preparation ((smoking) and then keeping the meat fresh for you…)
For the side was macaroni and cheese.
It was pasta shells in a thin white sauce that was very light with cheese (almost not cheesy).
We had a service issue here. – My husband informed our server that if he knew that he wasn’t getting two of the meats from the sampler platter that he would have ordered the 2 meat plate instead that came with two sides.
When she brought the check she gave us a slice of peach cobbler to go to make up for our troubles.
The cobbler is dry and dense and comes with one peach slice.
I heard back already from the owner.
He apologized and said that he wish I brought all this to his attention and he would have taken care of us. He also said that this is unusual and isn’t the way they normally serve.
I should note that you shouldn’t judge any barbecue restaurant from one visit because none of them are always consistent. They spend hours smoking the meats and then the tricky part is timing the meat for you.
That was my trip to Phat Turtle BBQ in Cave Creek.
www.PhatTurtleBBQ.com
30845 N Cave Creek Rd Cave Creek AZ
602-527-3257
Everything is subject to change and everything usually does change anyway.
Confluence is a small restaurant that serves an ever changing menu of farm fresh modern elevated American cuisine located in Carefree Arizona. They offer patio dining with a view of the mountains. They also offer a cozy dining room and bar seating.
They always start you off with a house made bread.
Today it was a generous slice of crusty sourdough served with oil and white balsamic vinegar.
We started out with a hot appetizer of gnocchi.
The gnocchi were pan fried and were elevated with morel mushrooms, cured goose egg yolk, ramps and thyme.
For dinner I usually go with a fish dish because Confluence serves some of the best fish dishes in the valley and it’s hard to get super great fish dishes in the valley…….(but really everything they serve is always excellent)………. Today I went with the filet mignon. This is the first time I ever ordered a steak from here for dinner.
The fillet is very flavorful and is tender like butter. For me it’s a very large portion too. The flavors of the vegetables next to the steak go magically well together. They are fiddlehead ferns, white asparagus, black eyed peas, basil creme fraiche and a fried green tomato. This plate cost much less than filet my husband had from a well known steak house and is so much better and a million times more flavorful. This has to be maybe the nicest best filet mignon plate that you can get anywhere. Prices for filet mignon start at what this steak cost and sometimes are $25. MORE and DON’T come with sides……and if you buy the sides they sure won’t be this nice……….. That is part of the reason on why it’s a great fine dining value to eat here. The tasting menu options are the other reason. They just knock it out of the park with them.
My husband got the Iberiaco pork loin.
It’s as pretty as a picture.
It was also prepared to perfection and came with corn grits, caulilini, brussel’s sprouts, and pomegranate.
For dessert we went with the lemon curd with shortbread, elderflower macerated strawberries and fresh mint.
Everything was equally stupendous!
That was just a Taste of Confluence in Carefree – Great Value Fine Dining
I haven’t been everywhere but I have tasted some amazing dishes this year. There are many GOOD ONES that I can list here but narrowed it down to the ones that stood out the most……….All the dishes taste TOP of the line, They are all marvelously good, peachy keen and Dynamite.
The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire in Peoria – Is made with high end ingredients such as San Marzano Tomato sauce, imported buffalo cheese, oregano, garlic, arugula, reduced balsamic vinegar, farm fresh sweet tomatoes, and extra virgin olive oil. This has all kinds of flavors going on. Also the heat of the pizza warms the cheese JUST SO and you taste the most exquisite mozzarella the way it was meant to be enjoyed instead of just heating it to death on the pizzas like most places do.
The ground filet burger from The Bourbon Cellar in North Scottsdale. This is a ground in house burger that taste more like a fine steak. I have no idea how this burger has so much flavor. I think that it is best to enjoy this burger open face with a knife and fork because it taste like a juicy steak.
Speaking of a juicy flavorful steak…..
The filet mignon from Confluence in Carefree is excellent and not your grandfather’s plate of steak. This plate came with fried green tomato, fiddlehead ferns, white asparagus, black eyed peas, basil creme fraiche and the most buttery tender flavorful steak ever. (NOTE*******the menu at Confluence is ever changing with what is fresh from the local farms and does change often)
The Confit Wagyu Beef Cheek from Confluence in Carefree is a FORKING JAW-DROOPINGLY astonishing. …. The only bad news is that the menu from Confluence is ever changing so you might not be able to get this dish when you want it. But the good news is that this restaurant pretty much always is serving something amazing.
The Strawberry Gelato from Fabio On Fire in Peoria might be the best in the whole country. I take that back….because…It probably is the best in the country!
The Salmon Salad is very special from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale. The salmon is from Chula Seafood. This one was melt in your mouth succulent with tasty grill marks. It POPS from the sweet grilled lemon and PINK PEPPERCORNS…that are a magical combination that I didn’t expect. The rest of the salad is fresh spring mix, gold beets, fennel and grape tomatoes…It’s only a salad so you can splurge for the Luna Gelato that is extra special too!
The Chicken from Valentine in the Melrose area of Phoenix was superb. It was smoky (but not too smoky), masterfully tender, moist, and flavorful. With that deep developed sauce, cabbage, durum wheat berries and kerned dill yogurt it was an explosion in every bite.
The Kokomo Chop Bowl from Little Cay Latin Caribbean Kitchen is one BAM-Diggitty-YUM-Dinger (When you add the seasoned Puerto Rican Pique sauce on the table) This Chop Bowl is full of yummy marinated chicken, yellow rice, black beans, curry mayo, rum soaked cranberries, add that pique sauce and it is FORKING BOMB!
I think a doughnut can be on this list if it is the FORKING BEST that I have tasted.
There is a donut shop on Bell Road in North Phoenix called Daily Donuts and Wings. I have only tried a few donuts so far and each one that I tried was the best of it’s kind that I have tried anywhere. I think my favorite might be the glazed lemon filled. These donuts are so fresh, have the perfect sweetness, seem light as air, and are DELICIOUS and overly easy to inhale.
The buttermilk fried chicken that is usually on the lunch menu from Confluence in Carefree is a OMG YUM kind of plate. It’s incredibly crunchy and crisp on the outside. The interior is JUICY, flavorful, EXPERTLY prepared tender chicken…..but I didn’t mention that INSANELY delicious sauce on it. The sauce is called chili tepid honey mustard sauce. It is a little spicy but not too spicy and is really FORKING plate scraping delicious. I also note that for me this is a very large portion and I make two meals from the chicken. My husband eats more than me and just eats the whole thing.
Taco Fusion in Glendale makes VERY GOOD Tacos (especially the habanero mild chicken taco with pineapple salsa) on hand made tortillas that are delicious. But this corn cake from Taco Fusion is amazing. It has a great corn flavor and taste like it’s a mix of custard and cake together. It’s just an AMAZING dessert! It’s better than the majority of desserts we get out at most places.
But I must mention this one…..
I have to give it to Fabio On Fire in Peoria again. This Strawberry Rum Cake is so good I’d tell a diabetic to eat it. It was really so delicious! I had to mention it.
My husband ate something very special that I didn’t eat so I want to mention it.
He REALLY LOVED the slow braised osso buco from the Italian Daughter in North Scottsdale.
It was falling off the bone tender. He loved digging into the bone and enjoyed the marrow. The sauce was nice and rich with the perfect deepness. He really enjoyed this and wants to have it again.
These were some of the Marvelously Great Foods that stood out in 2021 so far. I do note that many others are out there.
The Fantabulous Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
There are several restaurants that serve amazing fried chicken out there in metro Phoenix but the buttermilk fried chicken from Confluence is FANTABULOUS!
Confluence is a small modern upscale American restaurant in Carefree Arizona.
The buttermilk fried chicken is usually on the lunch menu. I’ve had this dish a number of times and it’s FANTABULOUS every time. They do change up the sides now and then but the chicken is special. It’s a high quality from a local farm.
It’s tender as can be and is very juicy and flavorful. It has this shattering thin crisp coating. Then there is this BOMB delicious sauce on it. It’s called chili tepin honey mustard…..DANG it’s FANTABULOUS! It’s a little spicy, a little sweet and that just right YUM! Oh and did I mention that this is a large portion? I eat the vegetable (it’s often broccolini) and one of the pieces of the FANTABULOUS chicken and I am left with a FANTABULOUS meal for another time.
YUM! It’s so FORKING Delicious!
This gotta be one of the BEST boneless fried chicken dishes in metro Phoenix.
The Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
Athens on Easy Street is a Greek Restaurant located in Carefree Arizona. At this time they are open for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They have indoor dining.
They also offer a dog friendly patio.
We decided to try a few things and I noticed that they offer many different dips that you don’t come across very often at most Greek Restaurants. We wanted to try the lentil dip but they were out of that so we went with the eggplant dip.
Our eggplant dip was extremely delicate with the seasonings. It tasted like just eggplant to me. The pita bread was very average. It taste like they buy the bread.
We had to try the saganak (flaming kasseri cheese).
Opa!
I don’t know why but our cheese taste burnt.
Now our dinners arrive.
I got the Athenian pressed herbed chicken. WOW! The chicken is really great! It’s very moist and very flavorful. This plate also came with really nice spinach and nicely flavored orzo topped with some feta cheese. I thought that the orzo was a nice touch since most Greek Restaurants just serve rice with platters.
My husband got the pork kabob platter.
The pork had great flavors in it but was slightly dry today. It came with Greek salad, orzo and tzatziki.
That was a little taste of Athens On Easy Street in Carefree AZ
Every once in a while I taste a dish that is stupendously impressive. Something unexpected that is jaw droppingly astonishing. I’m not even a beef person it’s normally my least favorite protein that I still eat…….I actually partially gave it up (I gave up commercial ground beef). Anywho- I know that beef cheeks are usually very good on menus so I decided to try the confit wagyu beef cheek as a hot appetizer from the modern American Restaurant Confluence in Carefree Arizona.
This confit wagyu beef cheek wasn’t just good…or just great….It was EXCEPTIONAL.
I start by tasting a chunk of beef. It is infused with great flavors and really does melt in the mouth. It actually FORKING MELTS in your mouth…You don’t need teeth. But it turns MAGICAL when you get a piece of beef with some of the silkiest flavorful scrambled egg hiding underneath dripping with this amazingly developed sauce and a sweet nutty creamy bite of kabocha squash…..pops of celery….that taste more like celery than celery that I have at home. It was so unexpected and so surprisingly impressive. This truly taste more superb than I can possibly describe.
Just go and get it (FAST). *******(menus at Confluence are ever changing to the freshest of what’s out there so they change often)
The Confit Wagyu Beef Cheek – scrambled egg, celery, kabocha squash, black garlic, apple. It was listed as a hot appetizer on the dinner menu for $16.00 From Confluence in Carefree AZ.
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
The menus at Confluence are ever changing.
www.RestaurantConfluence.com
Everything is subject to change….That confit wagyu beef cheek won’t stay on the menu too long.
How many times do you go out and you might have had a great meal but the dessert just isn’t up there with the meal? I think that happens often. Confluence in Carefree is a small upscale restaurant that serves an ever changing menu of elevated modern American food. This is one of the very few restaurants that I have been to that serves desserts that are just as amazing as the food.
Some say that you can eat with your eyes….So here we go! Get ready to enjoy!
Up above is chocolate mousse. It’s not ordinary. It’s the highest quality and detailed.
It goes a little further here. – caramelized white chocolate pudding, pine nuts, dark chocolate mousse, pistachio, gianduja chocolate semifreddo and hazelnut brittle.
caramelized white chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse, macadamia nuts, bananas and banana bread
Confluence is a small but upscale restaurant ran by a husband and wife team in Carefree Arizona that is just north of North Scottsdale. The food that is served is high quality modern American Cuisine. The changing seasonal menu usually contains a few hot and cold appetizers, a few fresh fish options, a few meat options and a few desserts. Tasting options are also available. Currently Confluence offers lunch and dinner every day but is closed on Sundays.
Today we sat on the patio. It’s around five degrees cooler in Carefree than Phoenix. Tonight it is almost too cold to dine on the patio but with the fireplace and a heater it’s very comfortable.
Everyone else is dining inside.
We started out with thick slices of the most delicious fresh baked country bread with high quality olive oil and the very detailed white wine poached sea trout.
The flavors all go together well and the fish is prepared to perfection. The flavors dance a bit in your mouth. Sweetness from a little apricot. Pickled shallots cut the fat and sweet. Key lime poppy vinaigrette ties everything together.
For my main I went with the hamachi. The fish dishes are maybe the best fish dishes in all of metro Phoenix. All of them are expertly prepared and are surrounded by interesting and surprising flavors.
The mild white fish is meaty but very tender and melts in your mouth. It has a nicely seasoned exterior that is crisp. The magic here is the way the flavors go together. These blacked figs are really heavenly. They are seared with crispy exteriors and go insanely well with the black garlic and labne. The broccolini is the crunchy neutral player here. Enjoying this plate is like a gift. Now I know that figs, black garlic and labne is a magical combination. I can even imagine these flavors as a not too sweet dessert!
My husband went with the Iberico Puma.
Iberico pork is very special. It comes from free range pigs from southern Spain and Portugal. The pigs eat mostly acorns and their meat is very different than from regular pigs. Iberico pork looks more like beef with the red color and marbling. It’s a more juicy pork with a unique flavor enhanced from acorns. Here it was accented with sweet potato, blue corn – corn bread, green chili, pepitas, and cipolllini onion.
It would be a big mistake to skip dessert here. The desserts are usually just as spectacular as the food.
Tonight we enjoyed sake poached pear with angel cake, candied pecans and yuzu curd. This is just wickedly amazing. That yuzu curd is a bomb that goes crazy well with the soft as a feather angel cake and sake poached pears. The candied pecans add that yummy sweet nutty salty just right crunch to complete all that taste sensations.
Confluence in Carefree AZ is Always Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
www.RestaurantConnfluence.com
Everything is subject to change and your experience could differ.
We do take out during the pandemic because dining in involves risk to exposure to the coronavirus. All restaurants are struggling these days and since we are spending so much less than we normally do we are doing take out as much as possible.
Our first take out of the week was from Pita Kitchen ( a casual Greek Restaurant) in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.
We both got Greek Salads mine was topped with a chicken kabob and my husband’s salad was topped with gyro meat. The gyro was great like it usually is. My chicken had good flavor but was on the dry side today but not bad. We always enjoy the fresh baked pita bread here. I had plenty to share with my dogs.
Our next take out was from Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante (Italian Restaurant) also in Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide.
Today we went with a few specials.a delicate pasta with eggplant, pesto and pine nuts, Chicken piccata, a side salad and chicken pizziola. Everything had really good flavors and the bread is always great too! The dogs couldn’t wait to try some.
We treated ourselves to the AMAZING fried chicken from Confluence in Carefree.
Confluence is a small but upscale restaurant that serves modern American Cuisine. The moist chicken came with blue corn grits, broccoli and this incredible honey mustard chili-tepin sauce. As delicious as it was…and IT WAS! I saved half for latter so we could splurge on dessert. We got sake poached pears with angel cake and yuzu curd with almond brittle……This was all amazing! I shared some chicken and a small amount of cake with my dogs.
Our next take out came from a small Indian Restaurant called Wraps ‘N’ Curry. When they first opened most of the menu was naan wrap sandwiches. I recently noticed that they fully expended their menu and offer over 20 different Indian dishes. They make a DELICIOUS onion stuffed naan bread called onion kulcha.
Today we tried the Karachi Chicken and the Vindaloo Chicken.
Both dishes were nicely spiced but not very hot with heat. The Chicken in both was incredibly moist and tender. My bigger dog was incredibly excited to try some.
Last take out oof the week was from Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale.
They have a family pak special so we gave it a try for lunch and dinner. A few of the things we had before are different now. The salmon is not med/med-rare any more and is now a kabob. The chop salad is made with much less egg and avocado now but everything did taste good. Below is my take out from Stratta Kitchen from just a few weeks ago.
I shared some salmon with the dogs.
“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all that delicious food”
That was week 24 of Take Out in Metro Phoenix AZ During the CoronaVirus Pandemic.
