Ono Hawaiian BBQ is a Californian chain of casual Hawaiian restaurants with around three locations in Phoenix Arizona. The popular entree at Hawaiian BBQ restaurants is called the Hawaiian Plate Lunch. Maybe you are not familiar with the Hawaiian plate lunch? The Hawaiian plate lunch is usually a large Styrofoam container filled with two scoops of steamed rice, a scoop of creamy macaroni salad, some steamed vegetables and a generous serving of a protein or two. I finally tried the newer Ono Hawaiian BBQ Glendale Arizona location.
It’s casual. You order and pay at the counter.
insideinside
Seat yourself.
Our name was called and we picked it up.
Here’s the white fish and BBQ chicken.
whitefish and BBQ chicken
Two scoops of steamed white rice, macaroni salad that is on the dry side today. The fish is very greasy…and taste like grease. The chicken really is nicely caramelized and is tender……It’s also a very generous portion but it taste like soy sauce. Under the fish and chicken is mostly what they call steamed cabbage and some broccoli. I tried to eat the cabbage but it is very oily and too tough to cut with a plastic knife. The broccoli drips with oil but is next to raw. I can’t eat the vegetables or much of this.
Here’s the BBQ Combo (short rib, BBQ chicken, BBQ beef)
BBQ Combo
All the beef is tender but oddly leathery…….And it all taste like soy sauce. Vegetables, macaroni salad, and rice are same as above.
Ono in Hawaiian usually means good or delicious…….Tonight Ono at the Glendale AZ location means Oh No!
Bigs is an American Casual Comfort Food and Sports Bar kind of place with two locations. The original location is in California and the one I went to is in Peoria Arizona. It’s in the entertainment and sports area called P83.
It’s a sports bar so there are a lot of big screen TVs inside and a lot of high top community tables.
inside on a non-sports day
We sat at one of the few traditional tables on the patio.
We started out by sharing the mac ‘n’ cheese balls.
mac ‘n’ cheese balls
They are deep fried panko coated white truffle mac ‘n’ cheese that sit in what they call Asian zing and chipotle ranch. The balls are fried very nicely and don’t seem greasy at all. The inside is strange.
inside
They are made with chopped up pasta. The strangest part is that they don’t even taste like cheese. To me they taste more of butter than cheese. They aren’t terrible but don’t taste like what I was expecting. Neither of us cared for the Asian zing sauce. I thought the chipotle sort of overpowered everything in the ball but it was ok that way.
For my main I had the seared ahi quinoa salad.
seared ahi quinoa salad
It’s a very large salad with mixed very fluffy greens, thin slices of avocado, crispy cucumber, tomatoes, little bits of quinoa, cajun seared ahi tuna, and honey ginger vinaigrette. Everything seems fresh! It all taste good. But there are so many greens…enough for two big salads.
My husband tried the chili verde plate.
chili verde plate
It’s a big bowl of slow cooked pork in tomatillo sauce with neutral rice, refried beans, and tortillas. It’s different…..There is a lot of pork that is cooked nicely. The tomatillo sauce is good but kind of plain…..They do have a variety of condiments that can be added. The tortillas were nicely heated but we received flour instead of the corn tortillas ordered.
The Rec Pizza & Detroit Eats Offers Detroit Style Pizzas, other eats, canned adult drinks, and more now. This restaurant has gone threw a lot of changes in the past few years with recipes and ownership. The new owners are from Michigan and lets see what they are offering now.
They got rid of the outdoor tables. Inside still has Detroit memorabilia but it does look different and they have some large screen TVS playing sports and have added a few arcade games.
Order and pay here
Some of the appetizers that they offer are tempura pickles, fried dough balls stuffed with mozzarella cheese, wings, and chili. They also offer something like slider burgers called slim shadys. They offer Coney dogs, salads, and of course PIZZAS.
Slim Shaddys……Pickles are very good but the burgers are kinda dried out today
Besides offering a variety of sizes pizzas …..personal, medium, and large….in cheese or meat and cheese varieties.
They also offer cauliflower crust and vegan options.
I went for the plain personal sized pizza.
It really is a nice personal size. I didn’t have a ruler on me but it might be less than a 6 across and long. It has nice crispy cheese edges. A rich tomato oregano laced sauce, and a good quality melty cheese.
But it’s a soft fluffy dough.
Here’s the same pizza but with pepperoni and sausage.
That was a little taste of The Rec Pizza and Detroit Eats in Peoria AZ.
Fabio On Fire is an Italian Restaurant and MORE in Peoria Arizona. Fabio On Fire besides being an Italian Restaurant also happens to be a pizzeria, bakery, gelateria and a mobile catering service. The restaurant offers, Neapolitan pizzas, seasonal specials, hand made pastas, house made baked goods, house made gelato, bar drinks and wine too.
Fabio at workinside
This is an award winning restaurant.
The porchetta dish is officially one of the best dishes of the valley according to Phoenix Magazine and was featured on the cover (Feb. 2022)
My picture of it isn’t as good but it certainly was a Fantabulous dish.
Whatever you choose you are going to start with the complimentary FANTABULOUS ciabatta puglese bread…possibly the tastiest most delicious bread in the valley…
ciabatta puglese
All the pizzas are very good but maybe the very best bufalina pizza in the valley is this one. It goes a few steps further than others that you can find.
bufalina pizza
The cheese is the best bufalina from Italy….But unlike most bufalina pizzas out there the high quality imported cheese gently melts on the pizza instead of being baked like at most places so you can taste it more and is enhanced with the best flavors that bounce all over……balsamic, bitter arugula, sweet tomatoes, and a rich certified San Marzano tomato sauce.
Certain times of the year spinach raviolis are a special on the menu. These raviolis are layered with flavors…..
The spinach raviolis are in a delicious slightly creamy walnut sauce. The pasta has an extra taste and maybe it was cooked in a little vegetable stock that adds another layer of taste. They might be the tastiest ravioli anywhere.
I’ve tasted vodka sauce at a few different Italian restaurants but none of them where as delicious as the vodka sauce dishes I’ve tried from Fabio On Fire. They do offer a lobster ravioli in vodka sauce on the regular menu but I was lucky to try a few specials with that delicious vodka sauce.
One special was smoked salmon pasta in vodka sauce.
Another was –
Arugula and sweet tomatoes with pasta and vodka sauce.
Off the regular menu you can get these incredible butternut squash stuffed purse shaped ravioli in an amaretto laced rich sage cream sauce……vegetarian or with crispy prosciutto di parma. These are really a treat to eat!
butternut squash ravioli
My husband loves the orecchiette with broccoli and sausage. He said that it is very good.
I don’t have a good picture of the halibut special that was offered several times but I can tell you that the halibut seemed as fresh as from a fish house and was prepared as well as from a fish house and came with extra fancy vegetables…..It was very good and maybe was the best fish dish offered on the west side of the valley.
Often wood roasted lamb is a special of the evening.
wood roasted lamb
The most delicious desserts and BEST gelato can be found here.
The baked goods do change up now and then.
strawberry rum cake
But this strawberry rum cake was amazing.
Fabio makes the best gelatos. Some of the flavors I’ve tried were blood orange, pistachio, brownie, passionfruit, peach, cherry, and STRAWBERRY.
All the gelato was amazing and delicious but the strawberry for sure gotta be the BEST strawberry gelato in the country. If you taste it then you WILL agree!
Tacos Chisco is a small casual taco restaurant in North Glendale Arizona in the area known as Metro Phoenix Upper West Side. They are open seven days a week for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
For breakfast they offer breakfast burros and breakfast tacos.
The regular menu offers five kinds of tacos (asada (steak), carnitas (braised pork), cochinita pibil (baked pork), nopal (cactus), pollo (chicken).
They also offer bowls, salads, elote, burritos, quesadillas, kids meals, soft beverages, aguas frescas, margaritas, and paletas (popsicles) and more!
It’s a small place with only five or six tables. One table is outside. Most of the indoor tables are high tops.
inside
You order and pay at the counter and seat yourself by the bright cheerful wall.
inside
When your meal is ready you pick it up at the counter.
Today we tried a variety of tacos and elote in a cup. They don’t sell the tacos by the each and you are suppose to pick three of the same type of taco. We came just before they got busier and was told when they are slow you can mix them up a little.
carnitas, chicken, and cochinita pibil
two chicken tacos and asada steak
elote in a cup
Our mutual favorite taco was the chicken tacos. They were tender delicious and the most flavorful of the tacos. All the tacos came on grilled corn tortillas that were good. The steak was tender but lacked that char, fire, or charcoal taste that taste good with asada. The elote is boiled corn in a cup with mayonnaise, shredded cheese, and some seasoning. It wasn’t drained as best as it could have been and the bottom of the cup is full of water.
Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Restaurant is located in the P83 area of North Peoria that is near to the Peoria Sports Complex. This area is also known as the UpperWestSide in Metro Phoenix Arizona. Everything that Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi restaurant serves is never from frozen. They also offer a full bar, thirty two taps and lots of big screen TVS for watching sports. As for food they offer lots of starters, wings, burgers, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, big plates, sushi, sushi rolls and some fun sushi fusion like the FORKING TASTY Sushi Burger. FORKING Tasty just means FORKING Tasty. It’s unusually good tasting. Recently I had a high quality fish sandwich from somewhere and it didn’t taste nearly as tasty as this Sushi Burger from Headquarters.
The FORKING TASTY Sushi Burger
The FORKING Tasty Sushi Burger is made of really (FORKING) tasty fried rice patties, spicy tuna, shredded krab (faux crab…usually does not contain crab and is usually made from lower costing pollock fish), soft greens, cucumber, avocado, eel sauce (sweetened soy based sauce), and spicy mayo. Somehow this combination is unusually FORKING TASTY. A little dab of of that thick neon green wasabi paste and it’s even a little MORE FORKING Tasty.
The Sushi Burger from Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Restaurant in Peoria AZ is FORKING Tasty!
Caminero Mexican Food is a small casual Mexican Restaurant located in North Peoria Arizona (#UpperWestSideAZ). It’s a small restaurant with a very large menu located in a strip mall. They offer soft beverages, appetizers, a very long burrito menu, tacos, chile relleno, combo plates, fajitas, cube steak, steak and onion plates, salads, chimichangas, enchiladas, breakfast plates, a kid’s menu and MORE! Prices are reasonable and portions are very large.
I read in our local newspaper an article called, The Good Stuff. It was about this restaurant and the writer had very high praises about the beef fajita quesadilla she enjoyed. She said that the beef fajita meat was the gold standard for beef fajita meat. So I thought…WOW! I drive by here quite a bit so I should try it!
It’s not fancy.
You order and pay at the counter. Pick out a beverage and seat yourself. Someone runs out the food when it’s ready and that person offered us salsas. They have mild, hot and green.
beef fajita
Here’s the beef fajita. It came with choice of tortilla. I picked corn and received warmed tasty white corn tortillas. The beef is tender and developed with lots of flavor (soy sauce and seasoning salt). For me and I note that I am different….It’s too much flavor that is over-powering to me….I taste soy sauce that is very strong and I taste seasoning table salt…..this might be delicious to most people but for me it’s too much. I do think both the hot salsa and green salsas are good. I also like the guacamole. The salsas and the guacamole help to mellow the beef. I guess if you had this beef in the quesadilla with all that cheese you wouldn’t notice the soy sauce and seasoning salt as much.
My husband thinks his steak and onion plate is tastier and offers to switch plates.
It’s very similar to the beef fajita plate. It’s also made with tender beef that is developed with flavor. It’s too hard for me to taste because my taste buds are blown now and all I can taste is soy sauce and salt from the fajita beef.
In the future I do plan to return but I will try something chicken or fish next time.
That was my trip to Caminero Mexican Food in Peoria AZ.
The Pacific Seafood Buffet is two locations again. They have one location in Chandler Arizona and One again in Glendale just two miles away from their old location that was torn down and will become a Cheddar’s Restaurant. The buffet is open everyday even holidays for lunch and dinner. They offer over a hundred different things to choose from.
Maybe you want to start with common sushi.
Or maybe you want some sashimi? Oh take both!
They have lots of fried tasty things. My favorite here are the little sesame balls stuffed with sweet bean paste.
They have dumplings, steamed buns and stuffed leaves and more! DIDN’T I TELL YOU THAT ALMOST NOTHING IS MARKED? Everything (almost) is a surprise. I took one of each steamed bun…Both I never had before. One was filled with sweet egg custard. The purple one was filled with sweet white bean paste. I saw a few different kinds of chicken feet here today and they added pizza as we were leaving.
They do offer several shellfish dishes. I took some mild whitefish with ginger scallions and a dish that I never had at a buffet before…The sweet and spicy mild fried white fish….It might have been the best dish I tried today. The other best dish I tried were the mushrooms….They were baby brown mushrooms that were really good. I also like the baby bok choy. They were smaller than what I usually find and were tasty and slightly still tender crisp.
That mackerel in the upper right was my least favorite today. I couldn’t stomach it.
The green beans were good. Next to it was a tofu stir fry. On the other side was some sort of stir fried tilapia that looked like chicken…..My husband tried it…….It was not great but edible.
Don’t remember what was in the pans below.
The desserts………..nothing too exciting. Fill up before you get here.
And the frozen desserts.
That was a little taste of the Pacific Buffet in Glendale AZ. It’s not high end but The FORKING Truth is that it is better than some places.
Pad Thai Cafe recently (4-1-2022) opened in North Glendale Arizona. This is a casual full service Thai Restaurant and Bar.
insideinside and bar area
They offer protein choices of vegetable, tofu, chicken, beef, pork, shrimp, squid, and seafood combo for certain dishes. The food is offered in a variety of heat levels and when you dine in you can customize the heat to your liking with a four compartment chile caddy. On the menu they also offer many of the usual appetizers like chicken potstickers, egg rolls, and chicken satay.
chicken potstickers with sweet and sour sauce
They also offer several noodle dishes. A few that you don’t see on many menus are the rad na (flat rice noodles, Chinese broccoli, egg), and the pad woon sen (glass noodles, egg, vegetables).
pad woon sen with chickento go – Drunken noodle (Pa Kee Mao) (ordered Thai Hot seemed more like hot)
Pad Thai Cafe offers a good amount of salads. A few of the salads are –
to go – Thai Beef Salad (hot)
Thai beef salad, larb, and two different papaya salads (Thai Style and Lao Style).
They offer several curry dishes-
to go – Thai green curry with chicken (hot)
green, yellow, red, pa nang, and massaman.
They have around five soups on the menu including vegetable, Tom Yum and Tom kha.
Most of the rest of the menu is broken down into entrees, chef’s specials, and fried rice dishes. Not all but a few of these offerings are…..spicy basil (made with holy basil),
spicy basil with chickento go – Mixed Vegetables with chicken (hot)
mixed vegetables, pad king, pad prik king, spicy eggplant with pork, pa nang short ribs, grilled salmon in green curry noodles, and fish three flavors.
take out – grilled salmon in green curry noodlesto go – Fish Three Flavors (hot)
They also offer desserts like mango or custard with sticky rice and fried bananas with coconut ice cream.
Pad Thai Cafe Glendale AZ
Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
Pad Thai Cafe Glendale AZ – 18425 N 51ST AVE Glendale AZ – 623-213-7297
Dining out with dogs in metro Phoenix is just a “FLUFF” story about where I take my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie. He was elderly and diagnosed with aggressive cancer. We were told to only expect three months and maybe up to six months for him to live. He couldn’t do a lot. but he always enjoyed eating and going out to eat. so I took him out to eat as often as I could. Instead of only three to six months Louie made it another seventeen months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when I can.
There are a lot of things that you need to know about dining out with dogs. First thing that you need to realize is that many restaurants do have patios but not all patios are dog friendly. You need to see a sign posted that reads dog friendly patio. If you don’t see that then you must call the restaurant and ask if it is ok to dine there with your dog. It might seem strange but it is ALWAYS BEST to dine at off times and avoid as many people and other dogs as possible. Some people do’t share your love for dogs….Other people may be allergic to dogs. It’s best to avoid other dogs because dogs tend to bark at each other and this is a disturbance and you can be asked to leave.
You need to know that most food and drink that you consume can be harmful or even toxic to your furry friend. You need to get a list of foods to avoid and safe foods for your dog from your veterinarian. Usually a small un-sauced lean piece of meat is usually a safe bet. Also here in Phoenix it often gets too hot to dine out with dogs. Your dog is not as heat tolerant as you. They have fur coats, they can’t sweat, and they absorb heat up their paws. Everyone and every dog is different but for the most part 90 degrees F and up is too hot to dine out with dogs. When ever there is any doubt keep your dog safe and leave them at home.
If you do take your dog out to eat you need to know that your dog must be by your side at all times. Dogs are not to sit on restaurant furniture or to eat off of restaurant plates. You should bring a water bowl with you for dining out with dogs.
We thought about a new treat for the dogs today and went to NakedQ BBQ in North Phoenix. It’s a casual BBQ restaurant. I like the BBQ turkey here because it is consistently delicious and moist. My other favorite is when they offer the BBQ corned beef…GOSH it’s usually FORKING amazing.
They have two high top tables for dining outside and we thought it would be difficult so we took our food togo and stopped at a cute little park on Union Hills & 59TH. The dogs were delighted by the smell of BBQ.
Me and the dogs enjoyed NakedQ BBQ’s AMAZING BBQ turkey on a garden salad.
The BBQ turkey is always amazing at this NakedQ BBQ. It was so good my bigger dog kept whacking me in my gut with her paw to get more turkey.
The dogs also enjoyed some BBQ Brisket, BBQ Pork, and Hot Links from my husband’s plate.
We enjoyed our take out from NakedQ BBQ in North Phoenix.
www.NakedQ.com
2340 W Bell RD PHX AZ
602-439-4227
We made a trip to The Craftsman Cocktails & Kitchen in North Scottsdale. This restaurant is a craft kitchen and distillery. Today my husband got the Brunch Burger.
Look at the BIG SMILE on my dog’s face. This burger was ground in house of short rib and brisket. The. burger is also made of a fried egg, American cheese, and house made maple ketchup on a brioche bun and house chips. My dogs were WAY MORE excited about my husband’s lunch than mine today…….(They also got to eat mostly his burger today)
I had the shipwright ahi tuna salad today.
I have had this before and today’s does taste different. It was still good so I didn’t complain but it taste like it was missing some of the ingredients…or maybe it just had too much wasabi taste today that burnt out all the other flavors?????? Still good though…..The dogs got a small amount of ahi tuna.
We also took the dogs to Twisted Italian in North Peoria. They serve mostly typical Italian foods and some twisted things like home made pierogi and Italian chili rellenos. The Twisted Italian is always a good choice for dining out with dogs because they only have two outside tables so we avoid potential problems.
I had the salmon lunch platter.
It comes with a lot of vegetables (green beans, asparagus, zucchini, and broccoli) and a good amount of pasta in a lemon white wine caper sauce. My dogs liked helping me eat almost everything on this platter. I was surprised that they liked the zucchini about the same as the fish. I liked the green beans but I think the green beans were the dogs least favorite.
My husband got the Italian beef and sausage sandwich with fries.
They gave him an enormous amount of meat there. They gave him beef jus, giardinier. The dogs got to enjoy some of the beef and a tiny bit of sausage.
We did alright at Twisted Italian in Peoria.
www.EatTwisted.com
9940 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ
623-537-4000
We regularly go to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They specialize in serving around a dozen different banh mi baguette sandwiches. Other popular dishes that they offer are noodle bowls and rice plates but they don’t serve pho.
We both got the noodle bowls today. I got the chicken and my husband got the grilled pork. Here’s a better look at the chicken noodle bowl.
It’s a very large bowl of food. There is salad with pickled vegetables and fresh mint and rice noodles, a crispy egg roll and lots of marinated chicken. For some people this can be two meals. I have my dogs to share with and they sure don’t mind helping to eat the chicken.
They get to eat grilled pork too.
We always do great when we go to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery.
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
2340 W Bell Rd PHX AZ
602-843-3637
That was dining out with dogs in metro Phoenix. We hope that you have enjoyed and we hope to see you next month.
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
