Food Trucks show up from all over the valley for Food Truck Friday West. It is held in Glendale at 18551 83rd Ave between Sam’s Club & Walmart 5pm-9pm most Friday nights. See www.GetLocalArizonaEvents.com for schedule and food truck line ups.
One of the food trucks we tried tonight was Flippin Rice. They are an Asian Fusion and Filipino Food Truck that came here all the way from Gilbert.
We tried them a few weeks back and had the Bulgogi that was pretty good.
bulgogi
So tonight I wanted to try the orange chicken with crispy kale & fennel because that sounded interesting to me.
orange chicken with crispy kale & fennel
Sad to report that this wasn’t as exciting as it sounds. The chicken does have a nice crispy exterior and is very tender inside but lacks a nice flavors. The kale was cut into very small pieces and is almost not there and the fennel was just shaved…..Maybe this is their least interesting dish? The bulgogi from here was much better. We didn’t eat much of this dish so we had some room.
Flippin Rice 480 – 244 – 6102
www.FlippinRice.com
Our next food truck does have a brick and mortar restaurant in Mesa called Que Chevere. They serve Venezuelan Cuisine. The food truck offered empanadas, arepas, plates and more.
Tonight we shared a white corn arepa stuffed with chicken salad with plantain chips on the side.
arepa reina pepiada
WOW! What a game changer! This is unusually delicious! The chicken is moist and developed with flavors. It has a cilantro sauce threw it and avocado but what makes it special is the fresh made white corn arepa. On the side are plantain chips and a dip that seems like ranch dressing to snack on. What a great stop this was!
Que Chevere
480 – 474 – 4954
www.QueChevereAZ.com
Restaurant – 142 W Main St Mesa AZ
Our last stop was Fogo & Soul. They are a Southern Brazilian BBQ Soul Food Fusion Food Truck. We’ve tried them before and it was very good…..Will they be that great again?
They do a nice set up with lights, tables, chairs and a portable heater. We tried their mixed grill trio again but with different sides.
mixed grill trio linguica sausage, chicken, sirloin, potato salad and almost famous cornbread
SCORE! *********** Everything is delicious! The meats are all tender, delicious, and seasoned nicely. The potato salad is seasoned nicely and is laced with dill. The cornbread is buttery, moist and a little sweet. Two times in a row Fogo & Soul was very good!
www.FogoandSoul.com
480 – 849 – 7685
That was a taste of Food Truck Friday West in Glendale AZ
L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon is a high end multi award winning small plate French Restaurant located in the MGM Grand on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. It’s from the late chef and most award wining chef of the century Joel Robuchon.
Most of us mere mortals sit at the counter and watch the action. A few people get to sit at the few tables on the side. Maybe they are high rollers? Or maybe they gave “B” jobs to get a table?
Anyways-
They started us off with a FORKING Amazing amuse bouche. It was some sort of apple gelee, finger limes, and I think some sort of smoked citrus cream? It was a mind-blowing highlight of the evening.
Another highlight is always the incredible bread basket with French Butter.
Baguettes, croissants, milk breads…….All great. The croissants really stand out…… the very best that I ever had anywhere..made with that French butter that you can clearly taste in them along with all the amazing layers of the croissant …..
The menus and prices did differ from my last visit. There are less choices and less Tonight we went a la cart instead of the tasting menu because one round of the tasting menu was not for me.
I started off with the cauliflower salad called Les Choux.
It’s cooked cauliflower with micro vegetables, crunchy peanut tuiles with a sweet and sour vinaigrette. A nice light start……..
My husband started with the Iberico ham.
In case you didn’t know this is very special ham from black footed pigs that were kissed by Jesus and only eat acorns. It’s the finest ham. They serve it with bruschetta.
For dinner my husband went with the La Bavette (seared skirt steak, onions and crispy shallots).
It taste beefy with crispy shallots going crunch, crunch, crunch. It was served with the famous buttery whipped Robuchon Potatoes.
For dinner I tried the Roasted Cod (Le Cabillaud) with grilled shiitakes, and soybeans in a saffron broth. It came with the famously RICH Robuchon Potatoes.
It really is very good…but….is the smallest dinner that I have ever had here….and I have been coming here for over TEN YEARS…..
See it’s more of a tasting. The cod is only slightly bigger than a quarter.
I know small plates is very small but this is extra tiny more like a tasting….See even ALL the appetizers that I’ve have prior to this visit are much more filling than this dinner was. (this is only some of the appetizers I’ve had here)
SEE!
Salmon Carpacchio – appetizer
Beef Cheek – appetizer
Kampachi belly with eggplant compote in cilantro sauce – appetizer
smoked salmon potato waffle with dill cream cheese – appetizer
Red snapper carpaccio with lemon gelee and turmeric vinaigrette – appetizer
All the appetizers that we’ve tried here were all more substantial than the dinner I was served tonight….
Anyways
Roasted cod entree
I had room for dessert so we shared the les tartes.
The top one taste like a chocolate candy bar, We both really enjoyed the lemon meringue, Pumpkin was lightly spiced, my husband’s favorite was the cinnamon cream pie.
Then they usually surprise you with another dessert. Tonight was blackberry macarons.
That was my 2022 trip to L’ATELIER de Joel Robuchon at MGM Grand Las Vegas Nevada.
****UPDATE CLOSED AND EXPECTED TO RELOCATE****Ocean One Bar & Grill is a full service restaurant and bar located in the Miracle Mile Shops on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. They offer breakfast, lunch, dinner, and drinks at rock bottom astonishingly low prices and are better and cheaper than fast food. Breakfast starts at $5.99 and the whole lunch menu is only $5.99 EACH! Dinner isn’t much more. And drinks….
I tried a glass of wine and GOT THREE of these for $12. It’s not the finest wine but it’s drinkable.
This is even filled more than most places would fill
They have a patio that wraps around the restaurant, lots of inside and bar seating.
half of the patio….It continues down past the cornerinsideinside
One day we tried breakfast. My husband went with the $8.99 Spanish Omelette with added on sausage $2.50.
He was happy with it.
I tried the $9.99 smoked salmon platter.
The smoked salmon platter is very large. I think that it is nice that it comes with fresh fruit. The salmon is good, it comes with a slice of Philadelphia cream cheese, capers, red onion mixed greens and a toasted west coast style bagel.
We have tried a lunch here.
We tried the wings on the lunch menu….I wasn’t expecting this much food or it to be as good as it was.
Wings $5.99
I also had a $5.99 Salad.
Not bad for $5.99….Sometimes I get $14. salads that aren’t as good.
My husband got a HOUSE MADE pasta dish for $5.99.
Not bad for $5.99……….
Tried dinner here.
I got the Wild Island Salmon Salad $11.99. It’s made of greens, marinated onions, pistachios, supreme oranges, and house made mango vinaigrette.
I am very surprised on how well they prepared the salmon. It’s as moist as a fully cooked salmon can be. Even the oranges are very fresh tasting like they were just picked. It’s a great salad for only $11.99. A lot of salmon salads are very expensive these days. They often run twenty dollars and up these days. I was somewhere and I remember seeing a salmon salad for $30.
Momofuku is a Global US, Korean, and Japanese Fusion sort of restaurant established by Celebrity Chef David Chang. Today’s (Nov 30/22) Momofuku website shows four locations of Momofuku New York, Toronto, Las Angeles and the Las Vegas Location. The menu highlights steamed buns, noodles, meat, and raw seafood.
Inside you can sit at a table or the bar or around the counter watching the action from the open kitchen.
inside
We started with a small plate of pork belly buns with hoisin sauce, cucumber, and scallions.
pork belly buns
For my main I had the spicy tuna bap.
spicy tuna bap
It’s made of , chopped tuna, tasty sesame rice, seaweed salad, beni shoga (pickled ginger), crisp cucumber, a creamy pepper sauce. You are suppose to mix it all together. The flavors are all delicious together.
My husband had the ginger scallion noodle dish.
ginger scallion noodle
The pickled shiitake really make the flavors pop. This dish also contains wakame salad (seaweed), noodles, scallions, cucumbers.
Really delicious dishes!
Last time here we enjoyed –
Pear Burrata small plate
Jidori Rotisserie Ssams This was really great too!
Momofuku at The Cosmopolitan is still Worth a Fork!
Superfrico calls themselves an Italian American psychedelic restaurant and bar that is located in the Cosmopolitan hotel and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada. I’ve read very good reviews for the food and that it is almost like a show with dinner………So I thought why not?
We entered.
entrance
It’s a little dark inside. It is moderately loud with a disk jockey playing records. Some colorful lights are all over. There is a person walking around with a full length penguin mask……….slightly weird.
We ordered the hamachi crudo to start with….
hamachi crudo
The first piece of fish that I tasted I had to spit out because it had a strong fish taste that it shouldn’t have. This got sent back.
We got a Sicilian salad instead.
Sicilian Salad
This salad was light and fresh tasting. It contained fennel, onion, citrus, candied pine nuts, olive gremolata, and fennel vinaigrette.
During dinner we see a few characters waltz threw the restaurant.
My main was the eggplant parmesan rollatini.
Eggplant parmesan rollatini
It’s very small…..but it’s almost very good! I three thin small rolled eggplant slices stuffed with a fresh good quality ricotta cheese that is on top of acidic tomato sauce and topped with parmesan, parmesan fricos, and crisp basil.
We also shared a side order of mushrooms.
Side of roasted mushrooms
The mushrooms sounded interesting because they were made with sherry vinegar, shoyu, cured and smoked yolks. These were pretty good with a nice rich flavors.
My husband had the beef cheek rigatoni.
beef cheek rigatoni
It was slightly disappointing because the pasta was over cooked. Beef cheeks usually have a great tenderness to them and an extra good beef flavor but the beef here could pass (taste wise) like pot roast. Also the mushrooms weren’t nearly as flavorful as from the side order of roasted mushrooms.
Superfrico they say that they are an American Italian Psychedelic Restaurant…..
PT Pho Express is a casual Vietnamese local chain of restaurants in Metro Phoenix Arizona. They offer most of your Vietnamese favorites…..The offer appetizers like spring rolls, crispy egg rolls, and wings. They also offer a chicken salad, sandwiches, a Vietnamese burrito, 8 varieties of noodle soup called Pho, noodle bowls called bun, stir fry noodle dishes, plenty of rice dishes, teriyaki, curry, orange chicken and more. They offer many of your usual beverages and they also offer Vietnamese coffee, mint lemonade, and smoothies. They offer macarons for dessert.
It’s casual inside. You get partial wait service. They take your order. They run out your food and beverages. When you are done you walk up to the counter and pay.
inside
We started out with chicken spring rolls.
Vietnamese Spring Rolls
They are larger than others I’ve had and do have a nice dramatic presentation. They seem free of herbs. Chickens is tender in them. The sauce is a slightly flat.
Tried the PT Chicken Curry.
The sauce is good. I get fresh lemongrass, and fresh ginger, I added one slice of jalapeño and it is also pretty hot. The chicken in it is tender but it taste undeveloped with flavors. They were very generous with the carrots and potatoes in this dish. Some people might make two meals out of this.
My husband tried the Hot & Spicy Bun Bo Hue.
It’s a slightly spicy beef/pork broth with rice noodles and sliced beef. It also is a very large portion.
Worth a Try!
That was my visit to PT Pho Express in Glendale AZ – Newly Opened
Bouchon is a Parisian Style Restaurant by multi award wining chef Thomas Keller. Bouchon on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada is located in the Venetian Hotel Casino. It may be somewhat challenging to find because it is located on the tenth floor in the Venezia Tower.
The restaurant has a rich old fashioned look and the servers are formally dressed.
If you are in the mood for shellfish you are in luck. The shellfish bar might have what you desire.
shellfish bar
Depending on the day you are here….For lunch or as a starter you might want to start out with something masterfully prepared.
Butternut squash soup
Salmon rillettes
Spinach ravioli with forest mushrooms, bacon, potato chips, and parmesan cream
endive salad with red wine poached pears, candied walnuts, and goat cheese
Big Buddha Chinese Restaurant is located in Surprise Arizona. According to Phoenix Magazine they are BEST IN THE VALLEY for American Chinese Food so I wanted to give them a try. It’s best to get here early. This restaurant is close to Sun City West and the blue hairs line up like they are in line for a rock concert….and wait for the restaurant to open. It’s small inside with only a few patio tables and fills up fast and goes on a wait.
insideinside
Once seated they work very efficiently as a team to wait on you.
I went for the flounder in black bean sauce because I can’t get that anywhere near my area.
flounder in black bean sauce
It’s cooked perfect. The flounder is lightly coated and is mild, and light as air. It’s in a black bean sauce with tender crisp green bell peppers, carrot slices, and mushrooms. A generous amount of steamed white rice is on the side.
My husband asked for the tomato beef dish but they were out of that today so he went with the Hunan beef.
I got the idea for this from dining out at a James Beard Award Wining chef’s restaurant called FnB in the arts district of Scottsdale Arizona. The chef and co-owner Charleen Badman had Grilled Broccoli with Tangerine Aioli and Pistachios on her menu that I tried. Today when I went to prepare my broccoli I thought about it and came up with something similar with what I had around the house. I learned that there are a lot of different ways to make aioli. It really isn’t just a mayonnaise. Some chefs thicken it up with soaked bread. I used potato as my thickener. Serving size might differ….For me this made two servings.
Ingredients for around two servings
1 large broccoli crown – break down to florets
4 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (split 2T + 2T)
1/2 cup almonds toasted (mine were whole that I crushed and toasted but you can use sliced)
sea salt – to taste (I used my home made smoked pecan sea salt)
fresh ground black pepper – to taste
ground Aleppo pepper – to taste
1 potato – peeled – cut into 8 pieces
2 1/2 oz sweet roasted whipped garlic – (I buy a Costco bag of garlic split the heads in half, generously olive oil them and roast them covered at 375F for an hour. Squeeze the cloves out and blend them. I portion cup them at 2 1/2 ounces and freeze them)
2 oranges – the juice and zest
1 egg yolk
sea salt – to taste
fresh ground pepper – to taste
Directions
Fill a medium sized sauce pot with water and a palmful of salt to boil. When the water is boiling add the potatoes. When the potatoes are soft (10-15 minutes) take them out to drain. Add the broccoli to the boiling water. They only need about three minutes. Then put the broccoli in an ice bath.
Set oven to 425 degrees F.
Put the potatoes threw a ricer. Mix in the egg yolk, sweet roasted whipped garlic, 2 Tablespoons oil, orange juice and zest. Add salt and pepper to taste.
The broccoli goes on a sheet pan in a single layer. Spray with olive oil. Add salt and peppers to taste. Put the broccoli on the top rack. Turn the broccoli over in 10 minutes…….Maybe 5 or a few more minutes and they are done. If your almonds need toasting put them on a sheet pan and give then a little spray of oil and put them on the bottom rack for less than ten minutes. Take the broccoli out when lightly charred.
Put aioli on bottom of plate. Top with broccoli and almonds.
Spicy Roasted Broccoli with Orange Aioli and Almonds
ENJOY!!!!!!
A Special THANKS!! To FnB Restaurant so I could come up with this!
Dining out with dogs in Metro Phoenix is just a “FLUFF” story about taking my dogs out to eat. It all sort of started with my dog Louie. He was elderly and got diagnosed with aggressive cancer. He couldn’t do a lot but he always enjoyed going out to eat so I took him out to eat as much as possible. Instead of the three-six month diagnosis Louie made it another seventeen months. Today I take my current dogs out to eat when I can. It’s Phoenix so the temperature is an issue. Anything over 90 degrees is too hot and not safe to dine out with dogs. Also not all restaurant patios are dog friendly. You must see a dog friendly sign or call and ask the restaurant if it’s ok to dine there with your dog. You also need a list of safe and non-safe food to feed your dog because most food and drink that you consume might be harmful or toxic to your dog. dogs should be kept close by your side and you should not let your dog(s) sit on restaurant furniture or eat off of restaurant plates.
We made it to Squid Ink Sushi in Peoria.
The nice server brought my dogs a bowl of water to start with.
We all tried the tempura green beans.
The green beans were very lightly battered and came with a dipping sauce that tasted mostly like soy sauce. To my surprise the dogs really liked eating green beans.
I tried the blackened salmon bowl.
It came with a medley of fresh vegetables, sushi rice, and an Asian dipping sauce. I scrapped off the seasoning so my dogs could eat some salmon….They really enjoyed the salmon too. My bigger dog kept whacking my knee to give her more.
My husband got the wagyu cheese and bacon burger.
It was a really great delicious juicy burger last time…This time it came out kinda dried out but the dogs sure didn’t mind….My smaller dog waits nicely for his next bite.
Squid Ink Sushi
9947 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ
623-561-7747
www.SquidInkSushi.com
The dogs and us also got to dine at Twisted Italian in Peoria. It’s an Italian restaurant that offer a lot of your usual Italian dishes but also offers pierogi and Italian rellenos. They only have two patio tables but so far we’ve been lucky and manage to get one.
The server was very nice and started the dogs off with a pan of water.
My husband started out with a Mediterranean side salad.
This plate might be the best deal on the lunch menu. It’s a big plate that can sure be dinner. lots of fresh vegetables (asparagus, zucchini, broccoli) Today they added marinated bell peppers. I got 4oz of salmon that is cooked perfect today and on the side is a very generous serving of angel hair pasta in a garlic-parm wine sauce with capers. The dogs get to eat all of my zucchini (they always love zucchini) and they get a good portion of the salmon.
My husband got the made-to-order queen cut lasagna with a side of sausage.
The dogs got to eat a little bit of sausage.
We did alright at Twisted Italian
Twisted Italian 9940 W Happy Valley Rd Peoria AZ
623-537-4000
www.EatTwisted.com
We always go to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery in North Phoenix. They are a Pho Free Vietnamese casual restaurant. The main digs are the banh mi sandwiches, rice plates, and noodle salad bowls.
Today we both got banh mi sandwiches. I got the chicken and my husband got the shaken beef.
chicken banh mi
I eat half but some people can eat the whole thing. It really is very delicious with the fresh herbs, pickled vegetables and house made aioli. The chicken is seasoned just so and is tender. Even the bread is very good. It’s made with rice flour locally. It is easier to eat because it doesn’t feel as heavy as a flour roll.
Both dogs enjoy the chicken and the beef.
We always enjoy going to Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery!
2340 W Bell Rd Phoenix AZ
602-843-3637
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
We did take out from Naked Q BBQ in Phoenix. They also have two other locations. One in Glendale and one in Scottsdale. We enjoyed our take out at a nearby park.
My personal favorite from Naked Q is their smoked turkey. The turkey is consistency moist and delicious. You will never go wrong with the turkey from Naked Q BBQ. Today me and the dogs had it with a garden salad.
Both dogs really enjoyed the turkey.
“YUM!”“Keep it coming!”
My husband got a two meat plate of BBQ Brisket, Chicken, with cornbread, slaw, macaroni and cheese and added on sausage.
You never go wrong with the sausage. The chicken is also good…not very BBQ-ee but good. Today the brisket taste great but some of the slices are a little dry. The dogs are great and they don’t mind if they get the drier slices. They also enjoyed moist chicken.
“Ill eat all you dry meat for you”“Keep it coming…..Don’t stop!”
We enjoy Naked Q BBQ.
Naked Q BBQ 2340 W Bell Rd PHX AZ
602-439-4227
www.NakedQ.com
That was Dining Out With DOGS for November 2022.
We hope to see you next month!
The Forking TruthIn Memory of Louie 5-5-2001 – 3-3-2017
