Author Archives: The Forking Truth

Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree Arizona 2017

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The third annual Enchanted Pumpkin Garden is taking place in beautiful Carefree AZ October 20th – 29th. This is a FREE no cost family friendly and even dog friendly event. Pumpkin Artist Ray Villafane is the genius behind the whimsical creations. If his name rings a bell that might be because you caught him on Food Network’s Halloween Wars where competitors compete in teams that transform food and pumpkins into amazing Halloween Themed Creations. Here is some of what I saw this year.

 

 

That was some of the pumpkins from the 3rd annual Enchanted Pumpkin Garden.

The Forking Truth

Dining out with Dogs in Metro Phoenix AZ October 2017

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“Hi there!” #We are on our way to Bpttega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale AZ”

Dining out with dogs in Metro Phoenix is just a “Fluff” story of my dining adventure out with dogs. Dining out with dogs stories are not restaurant reviews just stories about taking my dogs out to eat. Not all but many restaurants in Metro Phoenix do have patios but not all patios are dog friendly. It’s always a great idea to call a restaurant just before your about show up with your dog because you never know if the patio is booked up for a party or if the restaurant suddenly stopped allowing dogs on the patio. It is also a good idea to dine at off times to try to avoid other people and other people’s dogs because you could be asked to leave if something goes wrong. (like dog barking or if a customer is allergic to dogs) There are some rules for dining with dogs. Dogs are never to eat off restaurant dishes. Dogs must stay close to your side and dogs are not allowed to sit on restaurant furniture. Other things that you must be aware of are that most foods and drink you consume might be harmful or toxic to your dog. To be on the safe side feed your dog plain lean meat.

October here in Phoenix was mostly hot…mostly too hot to dine out with dogs…. šŸ™ But we just had a cool day so we went off to Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante in Glendale.

They were offering a special seasonal menu today along with the regular menu so I decided to try the Butternut Squash Pizza with some pancetta on the side for my dogs. (I know pancetta is fatty but I am very careful with the amounts I give to the dogs)

The Butternut Squash Pizza is really different. Instead of a tomato base we have cooked pureed Butternut Squash with crispy sage and melted cheese. Very different. Don’t know if I want some sweet or spice or heat for my taste…It does have an excellent chewy blistered crust. It’s not a wet center like from some of the other pizzas I had here.

“Ummmm Butternut Squash Pizza….I Forking want some!”

“Hey Runt move the Fork over I’m getting some Butternut Squash Pizza!” Both dogs get to try small tastes of Butternut Squash Pizza. Then they get to try some of my husband’s pizza.

My husband got a Spicy Salami Pizza….Not sure if it was made with the same salami as last time?

 

“Let’s Forking move in on the Butternut Squash Pizza.”

 

Both dogs decide they want more of the Butternut Squash Pizza.

www.BottegaRistorante.com

That was Dining out with Dogs in Metro Phoenix for October 2017. We hope to see you next month!

The Forking Truth

In Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017

My Visit to The Horney Toad Restaurant in Cave Creek Arizona

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The Horney Toad Restaurant in Cave Creek has been in business for over FOURTY years. Because of the rustic charm this restaurant has it’s been used in many movies and photo shoots. When you walk in you see autographs from celebrities and you hear cowboy music. It seems like the Old Wild West really does live here.

View of patio from the booth I sat at.

The offerings aren’t fancy but they are very well known for very good fried chicken and Strawberry Shortcake. They serve SIMPLE BASIC American Food. NOTHING here is fancy.

The menu is sort of humorous in spots. Here’s the home made salad dressings.

Eye-tallion, 999 Island! LOL šŸ™‚

I had to go with the 1/2 Chicken.

Sounds great! Fresh not frozen.

It came to me like this. (I did ask for no gravy on the potatoes because I don’t care for the gravy most places serve) Here get a better look. I think the dish that sat on top of the chicken damaged the coating slightly.

The 1/2 chicken is a really big portion……BUT FORKING DELICIOUS! The breast is so flavorful and juicy with crispy tasty coating! YES! Winner winner chicken dinner! I’m a good eater but I only need to eat the breast as it’s plenty of food and I’m taking the rest of the chicken home. Cole slaw is fresh made and creamy. Potatoes seem like they were riced because they are so fluffy…then I hit one potato lump. The potatoes are seasoned pretty well too.

My husband had the Tijuana Torpedo. (A BIG BURGER stuffed with a green chile and cheese.

They prepared the burger to my husband’s request. My husband said the meat had a good flavor to it and picked up flavor from the mesquite it was cooked with. We could tell the green chile pepper came from a can but still it was a tasty BIG burger on a good bun. The fries are a blast from the past and seemed like batter dipped fries. I think they are the same exact fries Chi-Chi’s used to serve but at Chi-ChiChi’s they added cajun seasoning to the fries.

I’m full I’ll have to try the Strawberry Shortcake next time!

Service was friendly and efficient.

We enjoyed our visit to the Horney Toad. šŸ™‚

If you happen to find yourself in Cave Creek you might want to stop into The Horney Toad for Delicious Fried Chicken or a decent Burger.

www.TheHorneyToad.com

The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Alice’s Cooperstown Phoenix AZ Restaurant Now Closed for Business

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from Cooperstown website before it was taken down today

I was saddened to hear today that Cooperstown has just closed for business. Cooperstown was kind of a novelty restaurant that was co-owned by the legionary Rocker and local Alice Cooper. Inside Cooperstown was a small gift shop and the decor was a mix of rock and sports memorabilia and TVs. Your server wore Alice Cooper like make up and outside was a stage where local bands preformed. The food wasn’t fancy. It was mostly typical bar food. I took a few photos off the website before it was taken down.

Photo from Cooperstown Website

When I was there I remember it looked like half the people dining at Cooperstown ordered the 22 inch long hot dog. It might have been the popular item at Cooperstown. Here is some more of the menu.

According to the menu the No More Mr Nice Guy Chipotle Chicken Pasta was Award Wining.

From Cooperstown website

I clicked a link for shopping or something like that and it took me to eBay and this is what I found today.

 

Hopefully the Cooperstown Gift Certificates Auction was cancelled.

No More Mr Nice Guy……….Cooperstown is now closed for business.

The Forking Truth

My wristband and the guitar pick I caught at a Alice Cooper Concert.

My 2017 Visit to deseo restaurant at The Westin Kierland Resort in Scottsdale AZ

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deseo is a modern upscale Latin Restaurant located in The Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale AZ. They offer a separate bar, an open kitchen with rail seats available and a comfortable dining room.

I’ve been here several times and the food has always been amazing. Here are not all but a few of the dishes we tried at deseo.

A few years back at deseo I tasted a side dish that was made of red lentils, tomatoes, greens, almonds, dates, Spanish Cheese and stock. It left such an impression on me that I recreated my own version of a similar dish on my site. It was absolutely FORKING delicious!

We decided to visit deseo again and have found that some things have changed. The long time Chef has been replaced with another Chef and the new menu differs some. I wasn’t sure about going back after I heard this news but my husband is very optimistic and said to me that maybe deseo is even better now!

We started out by sharing a Hamachi Appetizer called Tiradito Nikkei.

This was a very good dish. Very balanced with truffle ponzu, cilantro, avocado and nori. You can’t see the little pearls of rococo chile. I was hoping that they’d be spicy but they really had little or no heat. Still it was a very nice very delicate balanced dish.

We shared a side dish called Pastel de Choclo. It was described as Peruvian Corn, cumin, Spanish Olives, cotija cheese and eggs.

I really don’t know. Both me and my husband found this dish not palatable. I think it’s possible that this dish is an acquired taste. I just couldn’t stand the taste and textures. It’s very difficult to describe. The Peruvian Corn is very chewy and the rest had a strange flavors that didn’t taste like food to me or my husband. Sort of like some sort of lumps of clay mixed with corn in my mouth. This dish hit both of us the wrong way. Could it was just be horrible????? or Maybe this dish is made correctly and is simply for an acquired taste? I DON’T KNOW!

For dinner I had the Wagyu Hanger Steak “Churrasco” Style.

This dinner was a very large portion. I think for most people this is two portions. The steak was developed with flavor and was mostly tender and covered with lots of sprouts. The Argentine Chimichurri was very mild and delicate. For me it didn’t have or add much flavor to the steak. But the potatoes were amazing. They had almost molten centers. The potatoes were my favorite part of the dish. The potatoes were delicious!

My husband tried the 24 hour Wagyu Short Rib also covered with lots of sprouts.

The Beef was very tender and lacked rib fat. The meat was prepared in a SousVide were it sat in a water bath for 24 hours. It had a black garlic flavor to it. Neither of use tasted the jalapeƱo chimichurri this dish was suppose to have. The horseradish potatoes were too mild and almost didn’t taste like they contained any horseradish. I only had one bite and didn’t taste any horseradish. My husband said he didn’t taste any horseradish until he got to the last bite or two. (opened batch of horse radish?….or they ran out?…????)

In all my visits to deseo I never had room for dessert before. Since I had most of my dinner wrapped up I finally had room to try the dessert cigar.

WOW! What an AMAZING LOOKING Dessert! An edible (sort of) Match pack, a quality multi chocolate and chocolate mousse cigar, cream and gelato. The cigar itself was amazing. Fabulous!

A sweet ending.

www.KierlandResort.com

My experience may differ from yours but on my visit that was mostly ok…… but also was a mix of some hits and some misses.

The Truth is that Every FORKING thing is subject to change and YOUR experience may or MAY NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Socca Bread Recipe

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Socca with sautƩed red peppers and onions

Socca Bread is a popular street food in Nice France. In Italy this bread is known as Farinata. The recipe is basically the same on any website you pick. For the most part it’s half chickpea flour and 1/2 warm water with a little salt, pepper and olive oil. The batter needs at the very least one half hour to sit out. But some people make the batter a day in advance but pull out the batter to warm at room temperature. Most people bake the batter in a preheated cast iron pan and then broil the top to brown. I don’t have a cast iron so I just used a 10 inch pot and sprayed it with non-stick spray because I almost never use anything nonstick. You can make your Socca Bread plain or add tomatoes or peppers and onions like I did. I know that chickpeas are delicious with these spices so I topped my Socca bread with a pinch of sumac, pinch of za’tar, 3 pinches of urfa pepper (it’s really delicious you need to buy some) and Persian blue salt (maybe the most delicious salt I’ve ever tasted). This is really very easy for anyone to prepare and can be done without a cast iron pan. Use any pan and if you happen to have a pizza stone place your pan on the pizza stone for extra heating. The only thing I would have done different was to cook my peppers less so I could brown the top some.

Ingredients

1 cup chickpea flour

1 cup warm water

1/2 teaspoon course sea salt

1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil plus a little extra to drizzle on the top

non stick spray (if you don’t have cast iron pan or two tablespoons more olive oil if you are using cast iron.

Directions

Set oven to 450 degrees F and put pizza stone in oven if you are using a pan that isn’t cast iron.

In a medium bowl mix together the chickpea flour, Ā water, salt, pepper, and two Tablespoons olive oil. Let sit at least one half hour.

Put your 10 inch pot or fry pan sprayed with non-stick spray on a pizza stone in your 450 degree F oven for about ten minutes to heat up. Then carefully remove from oven. Add chickpea batter. Put back in oven about 15 minutes. Broil if desired. You really want a little brown on the top.

Top and season as desired.

Socca Bread

Lighter and healthier than a pizza…you might want to give it a try!

The Forking Truth

My Visit to the Carnegie Deli Las Vegas NV

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The Carnegie Deli was one of the most famous iconic Delis in New York. They were famous for over stuffed sandwiches and over sized slices of cheesecake. The big selling sandwiches were pastrami and corned beef. Many celebrities were known for dining at Carnegie Deli. Ā There is tale that the waiters were surly.

I’ve been here to Carnegie Deli in Las Vegas years ago before the real Carnegie Closed and we thought a re-visit might be fun.

You enter and see some autographs from celebrities.

You order at one of the counters and then take a number.

If your at this counter you try to ignore the picture of the cow so you don’t feel guilty with your corned beef, pastrami or brisket.

Then you seat yourself.

Hope you are hungry and brought a few friends……one sandwich is enough for FOUR hungry people.

Oy VEY! There is too much meat for me. I remove about 70% of the meat for a normal size sandwich.

That’s better.

The Pros-

You get a LOT of food for your money in Vegas. This sandwich can easily feed four people. The food runner is happy to bring you extra bread to make more sandwiches.

The Cons-

This sandwich really is ok but it’s not the best……I really don’t think this is similar to what the real Carnegie Deli Served.

To start with real New York Style Deli Places give you a bowl of assorted pickles (not just one pickle) to get your stomach ready for a big sandwich.

The bread is wrong. The correct bread for a New York Style Sandwich is double baked Rye and not squishy weak tasting rye. Ā  Ā (But hey we are in Las Vegas….It might be a west coast thing…NOT Ā ALL but most bread in Arizona, Las Vegas and California isn’t so great)

The meats (pastrami and corned beef) are ok but not succulent like they should be. I don’t think the flavor is right either. The pastrami is unbalanced with flavors with too much added smoke flavor and not enough black pepper.

Corned beef isn’t bad corned beef but is weakly flavored…..also not succulent like really good corned beef.

We also tried a potato knish.

The knish is also extra large. It’s about four servings. I like that the knish isn’t wrapped in puff pastry like many places are doing these days because to me knishes should be made with knish dough. The potato filling inside is ok…..better than some I’ve tried but not as flavorful as others. Good places with serve a knish with gravy. They didn’t offer gravy here.

The Las Vegas Carnegie Deli is quick and value priced if you are alright with sharing and have the chutzpah to ask for the extra bread you will need to make more sandwiches. ($25.00 at this time can feed four people on the strip)

I started to wonder…..on the menu it reads that the corned beef and pastrami come from the Carnegie Deli in New York…How can that be if the Carnegie Deli is closed?

I called to find out.

A Carnegie Warehouse is still in business and supplies the Corned Beef, Pastrami and Cheesecakes to the Carnegie Deli in Las Vegas. I don’t know but I am guessing that the Carnegie meats are the ones produced for the masses. I know I come across Carnegie Deli meat maybe once a year at Costco. It might be a similar thing that wine companies do… like the major wine companies make high end wines that are very expensive and lesser wines for the masses.

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

Ok food reasonably priced on the Las Vegas Strip located in the Mirage.

www.Mirage.com

The Forking Truth

Really Terrific Banana Bread Recipe

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Really Terrific Banana Bread

I saw a big bag of really ripe bananas and thought I haven’t made a banana bread in a while so here it is. Banana Bread might have been the first thing I ever baked that I free styled. I used to bake a few loaves every week and shared the bread with my co-workers. It’s pretty basic and easy and you can make the banana bread in one bowl. This recipe makes two loaves or about 24 servings. You must use really ripe bananas like as ripe as photo for the banana flavor. The bread comes out sweet (but not too sweet), moist and almost caramelized. It’s a tasty treat that seems almost healthy.

Ingredients for about 24 servings

4 oz sweet butter – melted

2 cups sugar

1 cup dark brown sugar

3 XL eggs – slightly beaten

12 bananas

4 1/2 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 Tablespoon cinnamon

pinch sea salt

non stick canola spray

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl add butter, then sugars, mix well, add eggs, mix well.

Add bananas and mash with potato masher till pretty smooth.

Add rest of dry ingredients and hand mix till combined.

Spray two bread loaf pans with non stick spray.

Divide the batter between the two pans.

In my oven the loaves were done in 45 and 50 minutes. remove from oven when the top of loaf in the crack feels cooked.

Let the loaves rest on a counter and pop them out when they cool to just warm.

Slice and serve.

Really Terrific Banana Bread

Really Terrific Banana Bread

Came out great I just winged it. You might go ape over it.

The Forking Truth

 

 

Lunch at Mowry & Cotton at the Phoenician in Scottsdale AZ

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Mowry & Cotton is a Modern American Restaurant that recently opened in the Phoenician in Scottsdale. The name of the restaurant is suppose to be a western folklore story (that’s very unknown) about two Phoenix Settlers that opened a Fancy Saloon that was comfortable in the 1870s. I didn’t feel or see much western here but whatever this restaurant is I can tell you it’s a very nice place with an interesting menu with a lot of variety.

It was hard to decide on what to try because I was torn on many things but went with the Jidori Chicken Sandwich. My sandwich was filled with a VERY GENEROUS amount of Juicy delicious chicken breast, arugula, flavorful apple bourbon butter and trace amounts of fennel. I did request my brie cheese on the side because I hate the edible coating on brie.

The sandwich is quite large. Even half is a large portion so I did take half home. This is a delicious flavorful sandwich many because of the juicy flavorful chicken and the yummy tasty apple bourbon butter. As great as the sandwich really is I hate to be picky but I think it could use a little more fennel to be more rounded out with flavors and texture. ( I want at least a teaspoon) I only got two shreds of fennel so I can’t say I didn’t get any but I didn’t not enough fennel to make any impact. But still this was a delicious sandwich. Ā I loved the Mowry Pickles….They were GREAT! and a really nice touch. They were gently spiced and pickled. The pickles included blueberries, cauliflower, onion and cucumbers. It was a little dish that was really great. The salad was very simple and very plain but I ordered salad instead of the two potato options so I could have room for dessert.

My husband had the Smoked Brisket Sandwich.

The Smoked Brisket Sandwich contained house made pickles, carefully Ā smoked brisket, grilled Swiss Chard and Carolina Mustard. This sandwich had a lot going on and was a really delicious sandwich. My husband paid the $4.00 extra for the crispy fries. The fries were delicious and had a creamy interior but weren’t crispy. our waiter did offer to bring us a new batch of fries but we declined since the fries were delicious anyway.

Just like the lunch menu the dessert menu offered several delicious sounding desserts. We went with the Apple Crumble because the waiter made that one sound special…AND IT WAS!

LOOK AT THE APPLE!

It’s painted Ice Cream!

It’s Blackstrap Molasses Ice Cream with Apples and an Oat Crumble. It’s so different! It’s almost not sweet at all and very lightly spiced. It’s almost like breakfast but a lot more fun!

Not 100% perfect but very good! I do note at the time of this review this is a newly opened restaurant.

I have to say Mowry & Cotton seems to be Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.ThePhoenician.com

www.MowryandCotton.com

The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

My Visit to the 2017 Arizona Taco Festival

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The 2017 Arizona Taco Festival took place at Salt Rivers Field in Scottsdale Oct 14 & 15 this year. They used a cashless system via a wristband that you exchange for your ticket that you load money on to for your tacos, Ā bottled waters and Margaritas. Ā Tequilas were a separate package or wristband.

Other activities offered were-

Lucha Libre Wresting (oh in 100 degree heat)

Bar

Live Music

Games

Photo Booths

Hot Chile Pepper Eating Contest

Taco Eating Contest

Chihuahua Beauty Pageant (I hope this was cancelled because it is too hot for dogs to be out in this kind of 100 degree F heat) (I don’t know if people were responsible owners and hopefully left their Chihuahuas home)

“I’m 37% Chihuahua according to my DNA. I could have entered in the pageant. I don’t care if I would have won or not. I just wanted to get my teeth into some Forking tacos”

The Taco Festival also offered-

Margarita Mixology Expo

Kid’s Zone

A special guest…The Most Interesting Man in the World Guy Version #1 that’s retired. (Person pictured below Johnathon Goldsmith )

Getting in seemed to move slowly. When we finally got to the person that gives out the money wristband he needed assistance with the transaction.

Tickets were $12.00 to get in and than there was $3.70 processing charge just to get in. Most of the tacos were $2.00 but one booth was selling special tacos that were $4.00. Water was sort of expensive because the bottles were a small size and were $3.00 and in 100 degree F heat you really needed about two bottles of water. I saw a list of the participants and didn’t know that you have to click each one to see if they are participating the day you are attending. I was a little bummed because I wanted to try tacos from T-Cooks, Tarbels, Crujiente Tacos and the Wigwam- all that I mentioned were only participating on Sunday.

Well Any Who-

We shared a bunch of tacos…For me it was a pretty good system. I took a bite and sometimes two bites and my husband would finish up the rest. That way I could eat threw as many as possible. Most (but not all) of the tacos were the very small street sized tacos. Some were filled more than others and some but not all were double shelled like tacos are in Mexico.

Of course with around 50 venders offering tacos I really tried only a small percent of what was offered but one that was among my favorites was the Chicken Taco from Gadzooks. The Tacos had all kinds of things listed in the ingredients such as sweet and spicy corn bread that I don’t see but I can tell you that this taco was among the most flavorful that I tried with a nice balance of flavors and acidity.

Our next stop was Superfarm Ā Supertruck. For some reason I thought the “Cauliflower Maybe” Taco sounded interesting and different. I don’t know if my taco contained cauliflower…I didn’t see any and the cilantro they used was so super strong it was over powering everything in the taco. It was just like taking a big bite of cilantro. I do note that they are well known for making great tacos so this is just a bad batch.

Tried a Chicken Taco at Chico Malo. They had an assortment to sauces to add to your taco. This taco was spicy and the chicken seemed smokey. Different than the other tacos I tried.

We tried a Chicken Taco from the Ranch Market. They offered a variety of tacos and a list of a variety of taco shells. I thought a Red Hatch Pepper Tortilla sounded interesting. The Salsa in this taco was good….but the chicken under developed with flavor.

Maskadores Taco Shop. A pretty decent Chicken Taco.

Decent Fish Taco from Baja Caters. I don’t recall seeing many fish tacos offered. I think I only saw two….

Beef and Chicken Tacos from Two Brothers Tap House. The Beef Taco tasted just like the not the most flavorful pot roast…I think both taco meats just needed to be developed with taco seasonings or maybe something here was just missing?

My husband had this Pork Taco from Tacos Tequila Whiskey. He said it was OK.

The Tacos from Tacos Huicho look pretty authentic. They were good.

To my surprise my husband suggested trying the potato taco from Ajo Al’s. I didn’t expect this taco to be good because my dining experience at the restaurant wasn’t but honestly this was a delicious taco. My husband said it was the best taco at the festival. Somehow they crammed in a lot of flavors into the potato that was delicious. It was a big surprise for sure.

We were very lucky and came early as they opened. Lines moved slow but were bearable to get in. As we left the line was thousands of people long as they were expecting over 30,000 people this weekend. It would have been fun to stay longer and take part in the activities but as the day worn on it was pretty uncomfortable without shade.

This is a very small shot of the line. The line went all the way around. It must have been at least ten times longer. I can’t imagine waiting in this line with the hot sun beating down and the 100 degree heat.

Leaving wasn’t fun. There was a lack of signs and a lack of workers that could guild you out of the parking lot this year. We actually asked one of the lot workers on how to exit. He said he didn’t know. Then the next one we came across just tried to get us to park again. We figured it out ourselves.

That was my visit to the 2017 Arizona Taco Festival. I heard tail from others that entered after I left that have a very different story to tell but I can only tell my story and this was it.

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth