Zuzu Restaurant is located in the Hotel Valley Ho in Scottsdale near to Old Town Scottsdale in Arizona. This restaurant is named after the Hotel Valley Ho’s Matriarch of the family known as Zuzu who they say was an amazing cook with great hospitality.
Zuzu
Zuzu the restaurant offers brunch, happy hour, dinners, cocktails and more!
Zuzu has a sort of club-like or lounge type of atmosphere.
insideinside
They also offer patio seating for when the weather is nice.
A few items offered for early bites are things like avocado toast, for sweet eaters they have breakfast cinnamon buns, Moroccan style hummus, and garlic stuffed pretzel bombs with mascarpone.
They also offer salads, and brunchier foods like eggs Benedict, huevos rancheros, breakfast fried rice, half chicken and waffles.
They offer a few southwest style plates like fish tacos.
grilled fish tacos – red snapper, pineapple slaw, spiced crema, avocado, cilantro, flour tortillas
If you are a burger or sandwich person they also offer that too on the brunch menu.
For dinner some of the offerings are grilled Portuguese octopus, salt roasted beets, scallops, sea bass, pork shank, beef filet, and a SURPRISE dinner called, “Zuzu Take The Wheel.”
That was a Little Taste of Zuzu
Zuzu – located in the Hotel Valley Ho Scottsdale AZ
Namaste is a full service Indian Restaurant located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They offer variety of Indian dishes. They offer the popular North and South Indian Dishes. They also offer some Hyderabad and Pakistani dishes. You can get soft beverages and some alcohol here, You can also find beef dishes here too!
They offer traditional tables and some booths for seating. You might notice a buffet in the right side of the lower picture. (at this time June 2022) the buffet is not in use.
There are hand paintings around the restaurant that tell the story of the Taj Mahal.
When you decide what you want. They ask you your heat preference. You can pick mild, medium, hot, or chef hot (chef hot is molten hot!) We think hot is really perfect here…It does make our noses run but the food is delicious. It’s the most flavorful Indian foods that we have tried so far. Our first meals here were from the buffet. Everything we tried was very flavorful and delicious but to please most people they didn’t put out anything spicy on the buffet. At this time they discontinued buffet service because of the recent sharp increases in food cost.
Anyways.
We came back to try other things.
We tried possibly three delicious appetizers so far.
onion bhaji (if you like crispy onions then you will love this)
Aloo tikki choley (choley are spicy chickpeas)
samosa choley (this was full of all kinds of flavors) (we ordered samosa choley…..But they do look like the aloo tikka choley above??????? whatever these are they are incredibly delicious)
We also tried several of the naan that are offered. They are always delicious and fresh made to order. Here’s the garlic chile naan.
Some of the entrees we tried were –
take out – beef vindaloo
achari fish masala, kadai chicken masala, cumin rice
fish curry (spicy highly seasoned tomato gravy…..This was the best fish curry that I’ve ever had), cumin rice, chile chicken (like an Indian chicken cacciatore…..we previously tried this dish in chef hot and that was too hot for us….
Every single dish that we’ve tried at Namaste was delicious and full of flavor. The chicken meals were also masterfully moist. I’m so happy they they don’t dull the food here. Service has also been consistently good.
I have to say Namaste Restaurant in Scottsdale is Worth a Fork!
Veneto Trattoria is a Venetian Style Italian Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. For many years now they have offered Passover Dinners in Venetian Style to honor the Jews of ancient Italy. Incase you didn’t know Passover is a Jewish holiday that celebrates the Israelites liberation from slavery from the Egyptians. Foods for Passover are a little different and are unleavened.
They offer seating on the patio.
It’s pretty hot today so we picked indoor seating.
Got sat in the next dining room.
They started us out with matzoth with this delicious honey nut marmalade. (They should bottle and sell that marmalade…It was really great!)
Next came polpette with brodo di matza e pollo alla Veneziana (homemade Venetian style matzah ball soup) (This was better than from a famous place that sells this soup daily that begins with a “C”)
Three different main courses were offered (sole, stuffed chicken, braised brisket)
I went with the sogliola alla mosaica (petrale sole, tomato raisin sauce braised fennel, Brussels sprouts)
My husband went for the brisket called brisket in salsa Pasquale (dried plum sauce, braised fennel, Brussels sprouts)
They were extra generous with dessert. They gave us each a delicious torta tradizionale di mandorce per pesach (almond cake with chocolate sauce)
Delicious but we really only needed one so we took one home for latter.
That was Passover at Veneto Trattoria.
www.VenetoTrattoria.com 6137 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale AZ
480-948-9928
Easter is a Christian celebration commemorating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The Italian Daughter offered a very nice reasonably priced menu for Easter. They offered pretty much their whole menu plus some extras.
The Italian Daughter is a full service Italian Restaurant located in North Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is brought to you by the daughter Melissa of the award wining late chef and restauranteur Tomaso Maggiore. This restaurant is a tribute to Melissa’s late father.
Father and Daughter photo
They offer bar seating. Traditional table seating, high tops, and patio seating.
They started us off with complimentary crusty bread and soft herb butter.
For our appetizer we shared the butternut squash purses.
They were in a creamy Frangelico cream sauce with amaretti dust. We had the pancetta on the side.
I had the Roman Salmon. It was a very generous portion. I got a nicely prepared moist piece of salmon in a lemon-ee white wine sauce. The plate was adorned with tender crunch asparagus, cauliflower, creamy risotto and was topped with a long stem artichoke. I do note that the risotto was especially good. It’s very rare that you get decent risotto out.
My husband enjoyed the slow braised short rib.
It came in a Demi/tomato sauce with asparagus and gnocchi.
I saved half my food for another meal so I’d have room for dessert.
The limoncello cake is always a perfect sweet ending.
www.TheItalianDaugther.com 23655 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale AZ
480-404-6085
That was Passover at Veneto Trattoria and Easter at The Italian Daughter both in Scottsdale AZ.
Weft and Warp Art Bar and Kitchen is a modern American restaurant located in the twenty three acres of the Andaz Resort and bungalows in Scottsdale Arizona. Weft and Warp A.B.& K. is named after a fabric term. Weft is the name for the threads that run up and down and Warp is the name for the threads that run across resulting in a beautiful creation and a beautiful creation is what is that you are excepted to find here.
Inside is open and airy with lots of bright light during daylight hours.
They also offer patio dining with view of the pool area.
The offerings from Weft and Warp do differ some than from most restaurants out there. They offer breakfast, drinks, dinners, sunset menu (happy hour), and desserts like many other restaurants. They also offer a pool menu, a picnic menu, and maybe the greatest doggy menu anywhere….The doggy menu is offered for breakfast and dinner and some of the offerings are scrambled eggs, grass fed burgers, chicken burgers, flat iron steaks, and baked fish of the day. One dollar of every doggy platter goes to Lucky dog rescue. Wednesday’s also go to the dogs and are called, “Dinner with your dog,” and are %15 off.
By now you must be hungry to hear about Weft and Warp’s dinner for people menu after hearing the amazing doggy menu. Some of the interesting starters are –
Mediterranean bass with crispy. seasoned skin, a dab of buckwheat polenta,, raisins, and a tiny bit of Swiss chard, and zhoug (Moroccan spicy sauce). a hatch chile rubbed filet, also
Duck Confit Rigatoni
a flavorful duck confit rigatoni with mushrooms, chestnuts, tarragon, and. Granda padano.
They do offers desserts.
We tried the detailed dessert called, ‘not a Newton.’
not a Newton
frosted orange ricotta cake, toasted fig, black currant sorbet and balsamic chutney.
That was a Taste of Weft & Warp Art. Bar and Kitchen in Scottsdale AZ
K Scoop is a fast casual Korean Restaurant located in the Promenade in Scottsdale Arizona. It’s set up like a buffet and you scoop all you want from the buffet.
Then they weigh your plastic tub of goodies, grab a beverage, pay, (tips are donated to charity) and seat yourself inside or on the patio.
This is what I took from today’s buffet.
Today I took vegan chewy noodles. They were really delicious….(I would have took more if I knew) The kimchi rice was tasty. The onion ring was shattering crisp. The vegetables (cauliflower, carrot, broccoli was very plain and almost still raw but ok. under them was a kimchi pancake that was tasty but hard to eat with just a plastic fork. (today they only had forks and spoons) I also took a tempura piece of broccoli that was tasty. The fried thing next to the onion ring was very unusual…….It was marked mashed potato but it taste like potato salad in a fried crust……Up top are the meats I took. Beef Bulgogi, and spicy beef with a little kimchi. Both are very tasty and tender with different flavors. The spicy beef is tasty but isn’t spicy today. I also took a chunk of maui maui fish, battered fish with sauces, and chicken teriyaki. The tastiest of that group was the battered fish with sauces but nothing was bad.
My husband took some things that I didn’t take.
He took a different pancake, shrimp, and a few dumplings. He liked everything for the most part. Today the dumplings were. marked beef but he thought that they were something else?
Lunch was inexpensive today. We had a combined total of 39 ounces so lunch out at K Scoop was only around $26 today for the two of us.
Clever Ramen is a fast/casual Ramen Style restaurant located in the ASU part of Scottsdale Arizona. Clever Ramen is a sister restaurant of Clever Koi, Fellow Osteria, and Across The Pond. These restaurants are by Born and raised Hospitality. Clever Ramen offers Pre-Built ramen bowls, build your own ramen bowls (confit chicken thigh, lemongrass chicken breast, karaage chicken, bulgogi steak, pork belly, tofu, and soy egg), a variety of fries, extra vegetables like Korean spinach, and grilled bok choy. Extras like crispy shallots and nori. They also offer steamed buns of pork belly, Korean hot chicken, and kimchi cauliflower. They also offer soft beverages and sake cups, and canned beer and wine. We ordered and paid at the counter.
We got our drinks and sat ourselves.
It’s modern and sleek inside.
It was a nice day so we walked threw to the patio. Within only a few minutes someone runs our food to us.
We started out by trying a couple of steamed buns.
Crispy (not crispy) pork belly & Korean Hot (but not hot) chicken steamed buns
They are small so you can eat one and fit in some ramen. The better one today was the Korean hot chicken. The chicken was developed with flavors and was tasty fresh and juicy. It was good with the tasty house made pickles. It wasn’t hot it was just tasty. They put only a scant amount of sauce on mine today….it was almost dry so I hardly got any taste of Gochujang.
It wasn’t the best day for anything pork…Instead of crispy pork belly today it was mushy and chewy. Maybe it’s usually better?
I thought the Pre-Built Bowl of spicy kimchi ramen with confit chicken thigh was pretty good!
The broth is well made and taste developed with flavors. The chicken is tender and delicious. I taste kimchi but it’s not over-powering. Chili crisp is there to heat things up. The soy egg is ok but is missing that ramen taste that only mirin can give……..The only thing that can really improve are the noodles. The noodles are slightly over cooked and don’t have the chew that ramen noodles are known for. The noodles here are more like collage noodles.
My husband tried the pork ramen. Today wasn’t the best day for pork.
The crispy pork wasn’t crispy today and was mushy and chewy. The broth was weak today and the mushrooms were soggy. Maybe tomorrow this dish might be better?
That was my trip to Clever Ramen in Scottsdale AZ.
The Dish Fest is a food and drink festival based on the January/February Phoenix Magazine article naming the one hundred and one best dishes picked by Phoenix Magazine editors. This festival was held February 27/2022 at the Clayton House in Scottsdale Arizona. Ticket holders were entitled to unlimited bites and sips (hard and soft) from participants. This was an indoor and outdoor event with food trucks. Some of the proceeds benefited the Joy Bus Diner.
Here is most of what I came across in no particular order, I did skip most of the libations because the point of being here was tasting today. I couldn’t taste everything but I did sure taste a lot.
Chef Christopherfrom Christopher’sPitchBlack SheepPostinoinsideWeft and WarpWeft and WarpWeft and WarpChula SeafoodValentineObonObonOakCitizen Public HouseCitizen Public HouseCaldwell County BBQCasa De FalafelAimees Swine HouseFlavors Of LouisianaSuperstition MeaderyPA’LACasa CorazonIsland Boys Jerk HutSalsa BitesAioli BurgersRandom AFTempura takeover
That was a little taste of the 2022 Dish Fest at The Clayton House in Scottsdale AZ.
The Italian Daughter is a somewhat upscale Italian Restaurant located in North Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant is by the daughter (Melissa) of the award wining late chef and restauranteur Tomaso Maggiore. The Italian Daughter Restaurant is a tribute to Melissa’s late father.
They offer seating at the bar. Inside at traditional tables, high tops and patio seating.
This restaurant offers an ever changing Italian menu with lots of variety. Some of the appetizers offered might be (remember the menu changes) – meatball, charred octopus, or spicy clams. They also offer sharing boards.
Salads like a Caesar salad with white anchovies and a crispy parmigiana basket.
They offers all kinds of different fresh made pasta dishes.
Some of the pastas offered were butternut squash purses, lobster ravioli, and linguine clams.
rigatoni vodka with sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, and house smoked salmonfusilli col bucco bolognese (veal, pork & beef ragu)
Not all but a few of the entrees were slow braised short ribs, veal chop saltimbocca, prime porterhouse tagliatta,
Salmon in bourbon mustard glaze, vegetables and whipped potatoes chicken and sausage scarparielcobarramundi special halibut in lemon caper sauce. Israeli couscous and vegetables weekend osso buco
Not all but some of the desserts offered –
cannoli pizza cioccolato take out – lemoncello cake(special) spumoni
That was a Taste of The Italian Daughter Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ.
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
www.TheItalianDaughter.com
23655 N Scottsdale RD Scottsdale AZ
480-404-6085
Everything is subject to change (remember changing menus)
The Hash Kitchen is an Arizona based group of brunch restaurants currently with five locations in the valley but are soon to spread nation-wide. The Hash Kitchen offers a long menu with lots of variety and over the top drinks………..They offer all kinds of HASH breakfast plates such as green chili pork, braised beef, chicken, birria, huevos ranchero, carnitas, and corned beef hash. A very unique offering is called the Ferris WheeI it’s 3 tie dyed cupcakes served with a trio of cereal milk pudding shooters. They also offer French toast, pancakes, salad, burgers, sandwiches, beef burritos, a loco moco, kids meals, and many interesting sounding cocktails such as mega glitter bomb mimosas and something called giggle milk. Hash Kitchen is well known for the make it yourself Bloody Mary bar………You pick the rim salt, heat level, vodka flavor, and mixer flavor and then you have a whole buffet of toppings for your drink…..(you almost or don’t need food after the Bloody Mary Buffet.
Bloody Mary with all kinds of treats pickled egg, spicy melon, Calabrian Chilies, Italian Pickles, cheese, blue cheese stuffed olives, a fancy onion, pickled Brussels sprout
I tried to dine at the Peoria location but wasn’t expecting an hour and a half wait (that is too long to wait for lunch for me). The next week I hit the Gainey Ranch location and it was on a similar wait. Since then I have learned that the Hash kitchen doesn’t take reservations but at the North Scottsdale location and the Arcadia location you can join a wait list threw Yelp and the wait was very short that way.
I got in and it was packed with an extra LOUD atmosphere and a disk jockey playing loud music.
People like to make an entrance here.
I tried the Louisiana hot fried chicken and waffle.
The waffle is amazing. I never had a waffle so light and fluffy before. The waffle is topped with lots of crispy fried leeks and warm maple syrup and creamy soft butter are on the side. The chicken is a little tough and hard to cut. It’s tangy like hot sauce but is only mildly spicy. It’s also a bit greasy and the coating is soggy…but did I tell you how fabulous the waffle was? I saved a Calabrian Pepper from my Bloody Mary and chopped it up and sprinkled it on the waffle and it was so tasty and delicious with the creamy butter and maple syrup.
My husband tried the Braised Green Chili Pork and Grits Hash.
He said that the green chili pork was very good. This technically isn’t truly hash . To be hash the meat needs to be cooked with the potatoes…The potatoes look like just deep fried cubes……but it’s tasty and we are not food police anyway.
This was a little taste of Hash Kitchen in North Scottsdale
Ling’s Wok Shop recently opened in North Scottsdale Arizona. By day this is a fast casual Asian inspired food with a small full bar. By night they have wait service. On our visit we ordered at the counter and sat ourselves. Someone ran drinks and the food to us.
As you walk in you see a good sized patio.
It looks like this when you walk in. It’s very small with a few booths and a bench with a few tables.
The other side of the restaurant has seating at the bar.
You order and pay at the counter during the day. They offer small bites such as lettuce wraps, edamame and shishito peppers. They also offer a variety of wok fried dishes that you can add on chicken, grass fed beef, shrimp, scallops, tofu, or salmon. Other areas of the menu are signature dishes, noodle dishes, soups, salads, and side dishes.
We shared a side dish called a complements dish on the menu of Korean Cauliflower.
The cauliflower is fried in a tasty combination sauce of sesame, soy, oil, and is topped with a mild gochujang aioli and micro greens.
We also shared the Buddha’s belly (under Wok-Fried……with grass fed beef). The beef is very tender and the dish has delicate Asian flavors that is described as a stir fry sauce.
and a Ling;s Signature dish of firecracker chicken.
I think the firecracker burned out before it made it’s way to our table ……Everything was all mild here……and a bit one note. Maybe something was left out? Some pieces of chicken are crispy and some are not.
Our favorite dish we tried today was the Budda’s Belly with grass fed beef. It was made with fresh vegetables, tender beef, all laced with balanced mild Asian flavors.
Everyone working there was helpful and efficient. The restaurant seemed sparkling clean.
Ling;s Wok Shop has newly opened in North Scottsdale AZ
