Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Some of the Destination Lunch Places in Metro Phoenix AZ

Leave a reply

There are several different kinds of restaurants out there. Most go under the categories of neighborhood restaurants….and neighborhood restaurants also are very good restaurants. We LOVE neighborhood restaurants……….but…… Some restaurants out there are destination restaurants. Destination restaurants serve the FANTABULOUS dishes. These are the restaurants that you drive across town for. We lost some of our destination lunch restaurants like Tarbell’s Tavern, Christopher’s and Vincent Market Bistro possibly due to the pandemic. Some restaurants have cut back lunch service to limited days. It is important that we still have some destination lunch restaurants. These restaurants are great for a special lunch out. Some only offer lunch on the weekends. Maybe you want to impress a friend or a relative. Maybe you want a special lunch for an anniversary or a birthday. Or maybe it’s for just because…….

Here they are in no particular order.

The Craftsman (lunch Fri, Sat. Sun.) in North Scottsdale offers some expectational cuisine. When you taste just even a salad you know that it isn’t ordinary. It’s the highest freshest quality.

crunchy quinoa salad with chicken
Craftsman muffuletta with fries
shipwright ahi salad
tomato and melon burrata

www.TheCraftsmanAZ.com

We have Elements at Sanctuary (lunch Mon., Tue., Wed., Thurs., Fri.) in Paradise Valley with celebrity chef Beau Macmillan. The menu is ever changing and seasonal. But you are sure to find a variety of appetizers a special of the day, bento boxes, a very good exceptional chicken dish, and pastry chef quality desserts.

bento box
house made cavatelli with duck confit
seasonal chicken thigh dish
five spice beef tenderloin
chef crafted dessert

www.SantuuaryCamelback.com/dining/Elements

Ocotillo (lunch Sat., Sun. subject to change) is a restaurant and more. It is technically also a coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, event space and park. They offer a mostly American menu laced with global cuisine. The menu offered is a large brunch menu of mostly sharing plates of salads, vegetable plates, sweets (breakfast), light plates, savory plates. I counted over 20 different plates to choose from. The menus are seasonal and do change. Also the hours change. Before the pandemic Ocotillo offered a great lunch everyday. Currently brunch is offered on the weekends of mostly lunch sharing plates.

house smoked salmon plate
crispy chicken meatballs
tandoori chicken salad pita with tomato watermelon salad
vanilia roasted pear with goat cheese and bitter chocolate with mint
smoked brisket on parmesan polenta, fried egg, crispy onions, brisket jus
Japanese fish and chips

It’s easy to see why Ocotillo is a destination restaurant.

www.OcotilloPHX.com

Superstition Downtown Meadery (lunch 7 days a week) in Phoenix offers chef crafted food and award winning meadery (ancient honey wine). They offer sharing boards, small sharing plates and large sharing plates and food and mead pairings.

12 mead sampler $24.
piri piri chicken & warm cannelli bean salad
gorgonzola. & herb butter skirt steak
blondies with cocoa nibs and Marion berry mead sauce whipped cream

www.SuperstitionMeadery.com

Another one of the top destinations for a special lunch would be the small restaurant in Carefree called Confluence (lunch Wed. Thurs., Fri., Sat.) They serve ever changing seasonal menus of elevated modern cuisine….You can order appetizers, lunch, and don’t miss dessert….because the desserts are equally amazing as the food.

Some of the amazing detailed and delicious lunches from Confluence that we tried were- –

kampachi crudo appetizer
miso braised beef cheek (don’t miss out on any beef cheek you ever come across from Confluence) (this was only on the lunch menu maybe one week)
Wagyu pastrami sandwich
cubano sandwich
BBQ chicken sandwich, celery root, spicy pickle, beet greens, smoked onion mayo, on a house made fontina roll (This might have been the most delicious sandwich that I have ever eaten anywhere)
buttermilk fried chicken with broccolini, grits and chili tepin honey mustard
mixed fruit granite
spiced plum with black pepper oat crumble, sake poached cherry, candied manderanquat, mint, matcha creme anglaise
chocolate mousse
smoked toffee risotto, spiced pear, cocoa nibs, hazelnut, mint

www.RestaurantConfluence.com

These are some of the destination restaurants of metro Phoenix for lunch.

In no particular order-

The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen – (Fri-Sun.) North Scottsdale

Elements at Sanctuary – (Mon-Fri) Paradise Valley

Ocotillo – (Sat-Sun) Phoenix

Superstition Downtown Meadery – (7 Days) Downtown Phoenix

Confluence – (Wed-Sat) Carefree

Some Honorable Mentions

PA’LA – Downtown (Tue-Sat Lunch)

Twist Bistro – North Scottsdale (Tue-Sat Lunch)

Campo Italian Bistro – Scottsdale (Sat-Sun Brunch with Lunch plates)

Chula Seafood Uptown – Phoenix (7 days)

Pane Bianco – Phoenix (Mon-Sat)

Pomo Pizzeria – Scottsdale (7 days)

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Deep River Snacks Chinese Mustard Kettle Potato Chips – Worth a Fork!

1 Reply

I found this bag of Deep River Snacks Chinese Mustard Kettle Potato Chips at Marshall’s. I thought this flavor seemed different and fun so I gave them a try. The bag is different.

The top of the bag reads, “Because we give a chip.” What it means is that they donate from their sales to a charity to feed children.

Then I look at the ingredients.

Seems safe to eat.

I open the bag and it smells like mustard.

Spill some chips out.

These are very small chips. They look fingerling sized??? They are extra crisp, very thin and slightly powdered.

I eat a few.

They really taste like Chinese mustard with that slight horseradish flavor.

Now I go to eat one real slow…………can’t………..the flavors are too strong that way….These you just have to eat.

I have to say these Select Edition Chinese Mustard Kettle Potato Chips from Deep River Snacks are Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

If you are a fan of Chinese Mustard and Crispy Potato chips you might want to give this bag of potato chips a try.

The Forking Truth

Goldbelly.com brings you a taste of ZAHAV – James Beard Award Wining Restaurant from Philadelphia PA

Leave a reply

Goldbelly is an on-line marketplace of special foods from special restaurants from around the country.

Zahav in Philadelphia PA is a multi award wining and James Beard award wining Modern Israeli restaurant by James Beard multi award wining chef and co-owner Michael Solomonov. In 2019 Zahav earned a James Beard Best Restaurant in the Country Award.

www.onlyinyourstate.com
www.cnn.com
www.PhillyEater.com
www.BillyPenn.com

Years ago I found out about Zahav Restaurant on the Travel Channel watching an Anthony Bourdain show. I knew one day that I would dine there (since I am from Philadelphia) and I did. It truly was an amazing experience. We had so many small plates to share and each and everyone of them was delicious and awesome. It truly was one of the most amazing dinners that I ever had to this day. They were all so nice to me there too. They treated us like VIPS too! We got to sit in front of the exhibition kitchen and watch all the magic. We watched as breads were baking in an Arabic wood oven called a taboon and we watched cooks acrobatics with skewered meats and fish were cooking on live coals. The funny thing is that I didn’t recognize the chef but he looked so familiar to me. I honestly thought maybe he was someone that I used to work with long ago in a restaurant in a suburb not so far away. The chef looked at me maybe because I was looking at him……I was trying to figure out if I knew him. Anyways he sent out some extra food to us and the management and host(s) were very chatty with us.

This is my photo of the salatim (small plates of salads) we enjoyed from Zahav in Philadelphia that you start out with….

Zahav Restaurant Philadelphia PA

www.OnlyInYourState.com also used my photo.

I had gift credit to buy something from Goldbelly and picked the salatim from Zahav that includes their best in the world hummus. ( it’s made with special sesame seeds that are grown and made into tahini for this restaurant.) I measured out the hummus in 2 oz portion cups and figured that I got twelve generous portions of that special hummus. I also got twelve large pita breads that are two servings each for me so I did have a lot of hummus and pita to freeze for latter.

It doesn’t look very attractive when it arrives.

Everything is numbered so you can look up what each bag contains on a cheat sheet.

It looks better in your own dishes. You can eat it after it sits out for an hour to warm up slightly.

I was so anxious to taste the hummus that I didn’t wait for it to warm properly. I wasn’t thrilled as I remembered but then when I tried it again warmed up then it was like 10 times better and closer to what I remember but it still does differ slightly from Zahav. The Hummus at Zahav is made fresh in the morning and doesn’t get refrigerated. It’s made the highest quality ingredients that can be grown and is topped with a high quality olive oil. They did serve the hummus to us with laffa bread at the restaurant. It’s a more delicate thin bread than pita bread we got packaged for Goldbelly.

Our mutual top favorites were the hummus, schug sauce, harissa, twice cooked eggplant, and spicy fennel…..But everything was very good….The beets taste more like the hummus than beets….so I liked them a lot. These dishes brought back the memory of the amazing food from Zahav.

It’s so cool that you can order food from famous restaurants from all over the country on Goldbelly. ……

Goldbelly.com brings you a taste of Zahav – James Beard Award Wining Restaurant.

What would you order from Goldbelly?

www.Goldbelly.com

The Forking Truth

Most FANTABULOUS Dinner of 2021 – Confluence Restaurant in Carefree AZ – Stupendously Impressive – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Fantabulous means – Top of the line, marvelously great, peachy keen, and DYNAMITE!

Confluence is a small restaurant located in Carefree Arizona just above North Scottsdale. This restaurant serves an ever-changing menu of elevated modern American cuisine.

They always start you out with some sort of delicious house made bread. Tonight it came with olive oil and white vinegar.

We started out by sharing an amazing cold detailed appetizer of kampachi crudo.

The fish is clean and buttery and is enhanced with baby bok choy, shiitake mushrooms, radish, supreme grapefruit, red onions peanuts and laced with ponzu. It’s light and refreshing but also interesting.

This next one is a drop the mic moment. Sorry my picture doesn’t do it justice.

Above is the miso braised wagyu beef cheek. (Insert the sound of angels singing)

OMG it’s one of the most amazing things that I have ever eaten and I am not a beef person.

This beef isn’t like any beef that I’ve had anywhere……It’s so tender that you don’t need teeth. It really does just melt in your mouth.

The combination of everything on the plate is simply FANTABULOUS! It’s miso braised beef cheek with fried forbidden black rice, kimchi, miso emulsion, lotus root chips, garlic chips, and pickled ginger.

Both dinners were masterfully prepared to perfection……both were fish and both were much better than from any fish house that I’ve been to.

My husband went with the branzino.

This is one of the only restaurants that crisps and seasons the fish skin in a way that I can eat it. The fish also always. comes with something interesting and and very detailed that you won’t get anywhere else…..

On the side of the branzino is house prepared fettuccini with Parmesan, pancetta, kale, crimini mushrooms, eggplant, and white anchovies. My husband usually doesn’t order fish but this one was maybe the best that he has ever tried anywhere.

I went with the grilled steelhead.

Look how crisp the skin is…..It eats like a seasoned. potato chip. You just don’t get this almost. anywhere.

Under the perfectly prepared fish is a combination of wild rice, cauliflower, carrots, celery, scallions in a fumet (reduced stock).

Dessert should never be missed at Confluence because desserts here are ALWAYS as detailed and amazing as the food.

Tonight we tried the smoked toffee risotto.

It’s full of all kinds of surprising textures and flavors that have a confluence together…….The risotto is a very elevated kind of rice pudding with spiced pear, cocoa nibs, hazelnut, mint, and maybe orange zest.

I’ve had some Yum-Dingers this year but This dinner from Confluence in Carefree AZ was the most FANTABULOUS Dinner of 2021. It was stupendously impressive and Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.restaurantConfluence.com

Everything is subject to change. Remember that the menus change often so don’t wait.

The Forking Truth

Halloween Special Edition – All New BAD FOOD Served to me in Metro Phoenix AZ

Leave a reply

My claws come out on Halloween. This is an all new collection of bad and the most frightful food that was served to me in Metro Phoenix Arizona in the past year or so. I already wrote about all of these restaurants so I don’t feel the need to name them again. It is not my intention to put down any restaurant too much. I mentioned them once and once is enough. If you read my blog then you know what restaurants these were.

Got these roasted vegetables somewhere in Metro Phoenix. Half were all shriveled up and chewy and the other half were RAW and crunchy.

Even children know that hummus is suppose to be a creamy dip. Somebody served me hummus that was thick like modeling clay.

Did take out from a brand new seafood restaurant and seafood market in Peoria. A few things were good but a lot was BAD. At the bottom of the photo is a large burro. The steak meat in it was chewy and we waited 30 minutes for it. They didn’t even bother to heat it for us. Here’s a better look at more of the BAD from this place.

This was the worst fish taco that I have ever had and it didn’t even come with a lime. The fish was so strong that it could do push ups. Fish was a throw away. I thought the food would be good here so I purchased a fish for dinner.

It was edible but wasn’t so fresh and smelled. So bummed I really wanted this place to be good.

Here’s another Fish Story.

You might think that I already ate this fish.

The FORKING TRUTH is that I opened up the fish and almost all the flesh was removed. I will never go back to this particular Thai Restaurant in Peoria. Come on…it’s not right to remove all the fish from someone’s meal. They don’t seriously expect anyone to come back for another do they?

The next one doesn’t look bad at all but it WAS REALLY BAD! ( I blurred out the one ok dish)

It’s like what do you want to try today?

Meat tough like leather?

Chicken that can be used for bungy cords with raw tasting starch? (this chicken was so rubbery and strong that you could pull out a tree with it)

Or meat so tough that you can chew and chew all night long and never get it down?

This restaurant should be named Tough MEATS R Us.

OMG this was so bad that I can’t believe this restaurant is in business.

Nothing is as stomach turning as bad sushi.

I tried one and was done. It was very fishy tasting…It turned my stomach. This place used to serve very really very good sushi. They went from hero to zero.

Went to a new upper end restaurant somewhere in metro Phoenix….Yes I ordered fish and it was so fishy tasting it was impossible to eat.

The waiter told me that Bronzino is always fishy because the flesh is so close to the skin (that is BULLSH*T)…….This fish was FORKING OLD…..This did go back and they did prepare me another fish dish that was good.

Sometimes food can be fresh but awful.

This was suppose to be bulgogi risotto.

It FORKING tasted like they put the bulgogi in a blender with cream cheese and then mixed in some rice and a few kernels of corn. This was more like vomit on a skillet.

I thought it would be impossible to really screw up a smoked fish…Well I was wrong.

This one looks very good but it wasn’t.

It taste like ammonia, fishy fish, smoke, mixed with funk. I couldn’t eat it. the fennel orange salad lacked fennel and was mostly fizzy bitter lettuce accented with sour oranges.

This plate also looks good…..but is one of the worst WHOLE PLATEs that I ever had anywhere.

Well start on the left. There is a mahi mahi fish that is coated in a GOD-AWFUL rub, GOD AWFUL house-made reduced balsamic and mango avocado salsa. The combination is impossible to stomach. The only thing that I can eat on the plate are the green beans. Under the green beans is candied red cabbage (ICK!), Next is a cup of jalapeño creamed corn….that looks and sounds good but isn’t……Someone dumped a whole bag of sugar in it and it is sickening……It is way sweeter than any dessert. This whole combination is one of the worst whole plates that I have ever been served anywhere. I think when a restaurant serves food that is this bad they need to loose their license because this was a crime. I could sure understand someone getting unhinged over this dish.

Trying to eat this was pure torture. (and the sangria that went with it was made from OLD SPOILED wine……) They are lucky that I am not the kind of person that gets unhinged….

I tried to eat it but it was too painful. Whoever prepared this missed their calling to cook at the local jail. The server didn’t make a peep when they cleared my plate of food and the full drink………I guess that means this happens often there?

Thought that I was done with bad food. Next is the only restaurant that I have never mentioned by name on my blog. This restaurant recently opened (newly opened restaurant)….It was bad when I walked in for lunch (20 minutes after they opened)….They just opened and all the tables were filthy. (Note to self…When you walk into a restaurant and see only dirty tables leave.) I should have left. Our server said pick any table. I thought she’d wipe it off for us but didn’t……then things got worst.

All the food we tried was mediocre. But the most memorable (in a bad way) was the complimentary chips and salsa.

You’d think that packaged chips can’t be screwed up but that isn’t so…….They didn’t warm the chips at the correct temperature and they taste burnt……:( The salsa taste like a ten year old experimented with a can of crushed tomatoes and added too much dry oregano and then tried to doctored it up with bottled hot sauce. I only went to this restaurant because of all the 5 star reviews and the pictures of food that looked amazing on Yelp. The reviews must have been from friends and the photos I saw of the food must have come from someplace else.

Going out to eat can be scary!

This was the Halloween Special Edition Of All NEW Bad Food served to me in Metro Phoenix.

Happy Halloween!

The Forking Truth

No-Recipe Recipe Beef Osso Buco

Leave a reply

Osso buco is usually a veal shank that is cross cut and braised in vegetables, white wine and stock. It is traditionally served with risotto or polenta and is topped with gremolata. This dish is usually expensive in restaurants.

This dish is pretty easy to make. It is hard to find shanks of any kind. Near where I live they sell beef shanks at my local Asiana Market. They sell mostly the smallest ones.

Anyways.

Just salt and pepper the shanks well.

Brown them on medium high heat on both sides (around 3 minutes a side). (It will come out tasting best if you saved beef fat from something you cooked……you can use oil.

Don’t clean the pan or pot.

Fry up a big onion, a few carrots, one hot pepper, a few celery till almost soft. Add a cup of white wine and let it cook down.

Add around half a can of tomato paste and try to fry it up at the bottom of the pan or pot.

Add around a 14 oz can of Italian tomatoes.

Add 2 bay leaves, Tablespoon thyme, Tablespoon oregano, 3 or 4 garlic cloves. I had seasoned beef jus from something else I made so I added that.

Then it all goes in a baking dish or pan….Or you can do this stove top if you prefer.

This gets covered tight.

It will take at least 3 hours at 375 F The last one I did was a little bigger and took 5 hours. You might need to check on it and add more liquid.

When it finally becomes tender remove the foil that covers the pan and let it go another half hour.

Suggested serving is risotto or polenta.

I had mashed potatoes and Brussel sprouts that I had to use up so that is what we had.

Top the meat with some of the contents of the pan…(some people blend this up Osso it’s smooth…but I didn’t)


beef osso buco

Top with gremolata. (parsley, orange & lemon zest, garlic (ground to paste), salt , pepper.

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Just a Taste of Smoked Food Festival at Ocotillo Phoenix AZ 2021 Hosted by Arizona Foodie

Leave a reply

The Smoked food festival was held Sunday October 17th 2021 at Ocotillo restaurant, coffee bar, cocktail lounge, wine bar, and park near downtown Phoenix Arizona.

The event was hosted by Arizona Foodie Diana Brandt. This festival is called Smoked because it features smoked food, smoked drinks and more!

Here are random pictures from Smoked 2021.

That was just a taste of Smoked Food Festival hosted by Arizona Foodie at Ocotillo in Phoenix AZ.

The Forking Truth

Radish Carrot Salad with Parmesan Custard, Onion Jam, Tarragon Oil

Leave a reply

I had leftovers like parmesan custards, onion jam, and tarragon oil. If you cook along with me you too can have those kinds of leftovers..LOL! I figured that if I make a simple salad of 20 second blanched radishes and carrots and toss them in a basic lemon dressing (I didn’t even measure…basically one lemon (juice and a little zest to top the parmesan custard), a big squirt of olive oil, a spoon of dijon, tiny squirt of honey, some sea salt and pepper. That’s really all it is…..

For the carrot flower you need a little thingy that looks like a pencil sharpener for carrots.

Most of the radishes are shredded. Some radishes were sliced.

I roasted off some peppers that were getting old. (350 F 30 minutes a spray of oil salt and pepper.

I made the tarragon drops with a chop stick.

I spooned a spoonful of onion jam and used the end of the spoon and dragged it across the plate.

That’s how I did this plate and you can to if you care to.

Radish Carrot Salad with Parmesan Custard, Onion Jam, Tarragon Oil

A few basil leaves, some thyme.

The Forking Truth

Not Every Dish a Restaurant Serves is for Your Taste…..Or maybe there were some screw ups in the kitchen?

Leave a reply

It is Restaurant Week here in Phoenix Arizona. Around a hundred and fifty restaurants are participating and are offering three course meals for set prices of $33., $44., and $55. Usually I look forward to going to a restaurant or two that I have never tried before during Restaurant Week. Tonight we made reservations to Fuego at The Clarendon in Phoenix. It’s a Latin Fusion type of restaurant. I do note that this restaurant has earned a 4.5 star average out of 5 stars on Yelp from nearly 900 people so that means that most people enjoy what they order here.

It looks like this when you walk in.

To left is a musician playing the piano.

To the right is the cool looking bar area.

We get seated in the main dining area. It’s early and it’s already a very energetic atmosphere.

All around the main dining area is a wrap around patio. We start with margaritas that seem good.

My husband gets an extra starter and starts with a cubano sandwich off the happy hour menu. (only $5.)

He said that the cubano was very good and tasty……THE CUBANO WAS VERY GOOD!

I soon get my appetizer the salmon croquette.

It looks nice but taste fishy….not spoiled fishy…It taste like the type of fishy fish my local Safeway sells. I’m hungry so I eat it anyway.

My husband got the pernil nachos.

They also look nice. But you can’t see that the pork is dried out tonight. Or maybe this one sat under a heat lamp too long and the fresher ones were carried out first?

I just received my complimentary red sangria. It taste like it was made not good, past it’s time wine. I can’t drink it……………. just tasting it makes me feel queasy now….

I soon get my dinner.

Most of the food on this plate looks great but most of the food doesn’t agree with my palate.

To the right is a cup of jalapeno creamed corn. I can only imagine that someone slipped in the kitchen and accidentally dumped a whole bag of sugar into it. It is so painfully sweet I thought I’d get sick eating it. It’s sweeter than dessert sweet. The green beans are good and very garlic-ee……..I forget what was under them (something like sweet cabbage?). but I couldn’t eat it. The salsa on top of the fish seemed good but whatever the fish is coated with taste unpalatable to me. I tried to scrape the exterior of the fish off but didn’t do so well.

This is what I left on the plate. I tried to eat it but couldn’t.

I’m surprised that nobody said anything to me……….about this.

Anywho-

My husband had different issues from his meal (surf and turf pasta).

It is very hard to eat a steak that is served in a bowl of loose pasta. My husband said that the steak and the pasta had little flavor. The person that ran the food promised to bring salt and pepper but never came back with any………….My husband said, that the beans had an unusual taste in them that he didn’t like. The signature jalapeño corn bread was tasty but very sweet and very rich. At some point during dinner someone did ask how things were….I lied and said ok. My husband was surprised that they accepted the ok the way I said it………. I’ve worked in restaurants. Some chefs are professionals…..and some are not. Some chefs get very unhinged when food gets sent back. You don’t want to know how some chefs get and what they might do to your food that gets “re-fired.” I pretty much never send food back when it isn’t an open kitchen.

Moving on…

For our third course we shared the key lime pie and the ancho chile torte.

These are both very good.

The good news is that currently Fuego at The Clarendon has a 4.5 average on Yelp from close to 900 people so that means that most people order dishes at Fuego at The Clarendon that they enjoy.

BUT The FORKING Truth is – Not every dish a restaurant serves is for your taste…..or maybe they just had some screw ups in the kitchen?

Remember that the cubano sandwich, key lime pie, and ancho chile torte are recommended.

www.FuegoBistro.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The FANTABULOUS Dish – The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

Leave a reply

The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.

The FORKING Amazing FnB Restaurant is located in the arts district by Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The restaurant is co-owned by James Beard Award Wining chef Charleen Badman. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary sharing plates that often feature local vegetables. The menu is vegetable heavy but also features enough meat to please meat eaters. Arizona wines are always featured on the menu.

We enjoyed an amazing meal like we always do at FnB but one dish really stood out. So much so that I actually dreamed about it that night. The flash fried eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots, garlic, pistachios, and honey…….

You can’t make this dish at home because you’d never be able to purchase the speciality farm fresh eggplant that this dish was made with………..and even if you could find such an eggplant who on earth can give you a big slab of eggplant that is very hard to describer but is firm…that you could cut like a potato, but also sort of custardy. This eggplant was extra special….like an eggplant just grown for the GODS……..The flavors were so different and so delicious and unlike anything imaginable with eggplant. They were a genius embellishment. But what was phenomenal was the texture and taste of the eggplant. This eggplant was sweet like white eggplant and seemed seedless. This was really FANTABULOUS eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots and pickled garlic. (I think I dreamed fennel was also in it….not sure if that was real or just added on in my dream ?) All that countered with the pistachios and just the right amount of honey was darn yummy. This eggplant was firm almost like a custardy potato with the skin falling off like the way fish skin can fall off. The eggplant was cooked but wasn’t oily…..It was a magical kind of firm texture but almost custardy texture unlike any eggplant that I have ever had anywhere. It was so light and so delicious and was so easy to whoof down.

The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ is an official FANTABULOUS Dish.

www.FnBRestaurant.com

The Forking Truth