Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Just a Little Taste of The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen in North Scottsdale AZ

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Here is just a little taste of the newly opened The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen in North Scottsdale. By the time you go there a permanent new sign might be on the building. They offer lots of patio dining that wraps around the building. There are also windows on garage type doors that open up to extend the patio.

The inside is bright, airy, rich and modern.

To the left of the entrance is an in-house distillery and also another dining area.

To the right is the main area of the restaurant.

The menu offers many interesting sounding things to try. The menu is mostly American. The chef is from the fine dining Italian restaurant that used to be located in North Scottsdale called Sassi.

For our first visit we did some take out.

We started out by sharing (top left) a small order of lollipop wings over blue cheese slaw. They were manicured very nicely and were tasty and tender. They were not too tangy or too hot so most people would like them. The slaw seemed fresh made and liked getting the big chunks of blue cheese every now and then.

For my main I tried the wagyu pastrami on pretzel bun with a side salad.

The pastrami is flavored very nicely. The pretzel bun is also very good and is toasted to perfection. I got some crunchy fresh slaw on the side. But the roll It’s just too large for my taste so I eat the sandwich on just the smaller bottom part of the bun and I still have a good amount of bread. They forgot to give me the caraway mustard that it is suppose to come with so I don’t know how that would be. I do have to say that the side salad was very above average for a side salad. All the vegetables tasted unusually fresh and flavorful. Even the carrots didn’t taste like supermarket carrots and I like the flavorful house dressing too.

My husband tried the hammer and anvil porchetta sandwich on ciabatta with house potato chips.

He got a sandwich packed with pork shoulder, Craftsman sausage, rapini, cheddar, and for him herb aioli on the side. Perhaps from the car ride home the porchetta got sort of dry……But need to mention that the sausage, rapini, herb aioli and cheese were exceptionally good. The potato chips were also very good. Nice and thin and seemed free of oil.

That was just a little taste of The Craftsman Cocktails and Kitchen in North Scottsdale.

www.TheCraftsmanAZ.com

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

The Forking Truth

WARNING Food Related “Fluff” Story Today Dogs Catching Treats

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I’m spending more time at home these days. I find that I am entertaining my dogs more too. My dogs enjoy catching treats and it is challenging to toss a treat and snap a picture with my phone. Well Thursdays are my freestyle day and this IS FOOD RELATED so…WTFork here we go…. Here’s a small collection of the photos I took of My Dogs Catching Treats….P.S. I warned you that this was a FLUFF story.

That’s my Food Related “FLUFF” Story Today …Dogs Catching Treats

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of Jalapeño Inferno (N. Peoria) Just Biryani (N. Phoenix) in North Phoenix AZ

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Two weeks in a row I got to visit two brand new restaurants in North Phoenix. Last week I got to try out Jalapeño Inferno in Peoria at Park West. It is a Sonoran Style Mexican restaurant with a few outside patios and a beautiful bright modern decor and lots of outside patio seating on multiple patios.

This time I did take out.

We started out with chips and salsas.

Their red salsa is extra mild and is only mildly seasoned. The jalapeño inferno sauce (green $3.00 extra) is so hot that you can’t eat it. It does have good flavors to it but as someone who likes hot food I can only use a drop of it on my food.

For my main I went with the naked poblano.

I thought the poblano would be stuffed but it is on the side of cubed chicken breast, corn and black beans in a creamy corn sauce that was sprinkled with pomegranate. It’s tasty and doesn’t seem too heavy. A little fresh cilantro and scallions would go a long way here….but it’s still good.

My husband went with a combo plate.

He got a tamale, a burrito and a chili relleno with rice and beans. He was happy with it and said that everything was tasty.

That was what we tried from Jalapeño Inferno in Peoria at Park West.

www.JalapenoInferno.com

This week I got to try Just Biryani in North Phoenix. It’s an Indian Restaurant with over 20 different Biryani dishes on the menu. It’s also a cheerful and clean looking restaurant.

Today we did take out.

We started out by sharing the samosa chaat.

It’s chana masala (seasoned chickpeas) with sauces and wet bread (might be the samosas but it seems like bread in here). It’s full of exotic flavors herbs, onions, fried vermicelli and some mild heat. I think the sauces on the side might be chutney and raita but are unlike any I had before. These are both have a water-like consistency and are ultra delicate with flavor.

We then shared the gongura chicken biryani.

It’s mainly fluffy rice with a little raw onion, half an egg and some seasoned very tender boneless chicken with some exotic flavors and slight heat.

We also shared the ulavacharu chicken biryani.

This one is also mostly fluffy rice, raw onion and half an egg with a small amount of chicken on the bone. This dish has very little flavor. I never had an Indian dish like this before.

www.DosaGrillAZ.com (this restaurant was previously a Dosa Grill)

Those were my experiences at Jalapeño Inferno at Park West in Peoria and Just Biryani in North Phoenix two of the new restaurants in North Phoenix AZ.

Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.

The Forking Truth

Take Out Food In Metro Phoenix AZ During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week – 30 CHZBURGR, Just Biryani, Pomo Pizzeria, Chula Seafood

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We have been doing take out during the coronavirus pandemic because experts say that there is less risk to catch the virus if you do take out instead of dining in. We are also trying to give support to as many small business restaurants as possible because they are all suffering during this crisis. Besides we are spending much less these days on shopping, groceries, entertainment and vacations that we missed. We have a little extra to treat ourselves to extra take out food. The weather will be nicer soon and we hope to do patio dining soon at off times on uncrowded patios.

Our first take out of the week was from CHZBURGR in Glendale. They serve especially great cheeseburgers and fried chicken thigh sandwiches. They also offer hot dogs, milk shakes, specials children’s meals and MORE! It’s hard to believe but the food is only priced about the same as from Jack In The Box and is a BILLION TIMES better than from Jack In The Box.

Crispy Chicken Thigh, Triple CHZBURGR and Tots

I had the crispy chicken thigh sandwich. The chicken is very good, moist juicy, flavorful, nicely seasoned and crispy. To elevate the sandwich they use hand made pickles, Asian mayonnaise and I was told that the buns are special and come from a Philadelphia Bakery. I liked it best when Calabrian Peppers was an option to add on. They haven’t had them lately so I just add my own on and it taste amazing that way. My husband always gets the Triple CHZBURGR. He says that it is just perfect. He says the fat, juice and cheese ratio is perfect. The tots are really good here too. My dogs can’t wait to eat some chicken.

Next take out from from a brand new restaurant that just opened in North Phoenix called Just Biryani.

We started out by trying the samosa chaat. It’s seasoned chickpeas with exotic flavors, a little heat, sauces and wet bread mixed in. Then we shared the gongura and ulavacharu chicken biryani dishes. They both are mostly fluffy rice with a little raw onion and half a boiled egg and a small amount of chicken. The gongura is made with tender boneless chicken. It has more flavors and some heat compared to the bone in ulavachara chicken biryani. My dogs got to try some.

Then we did take out from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale. They an Italian Restaurant and Pizzeria. They are currently running a limited special fresh Burgundy Truffle Menu that we ordered from.

We started by sharing the tortelloni tartu. OOOOOOh this is really great! It’s like a twisted spinach ravioli stuffed with ricotta and gorgonzola cheese in a buttery sauce with truffles. This is really great! I also really liked the Bianco pizza. This pizza is ultra thin like paper. It’s topped with DELICIOUS stracchino, mozzarella, parmigiana cheeses, and truffles. My lucky dogs got some cheese and truffles.

Last take out of the week was from Chula Seafood in Phoenix. We took out the Saturday Surprise grilled Alaskan Halibut Collar for TWO special ($35.)

We got a very large halibut collar, a root vegetable tangine, herbed couscous, za’atar labneh and roti bread. WOW! it’s really great and everything goes together well. It’s a big portion of fish too. Had enough for two dinners and some left over for a lunch. Glad I was able to do this special.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”

That was week 30 of take out in Metro Phoenix AZ during the coronavirus pandemic.

CHZBURGR – Glendale

Just Biryani – North Phoenix

Pomo Pizzeria – Scottsdale

Chula Seafood – Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Italian Red Meat Flavor (Italian Braise) Potato Chips from China

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I picked up these Lay’s Italian Red Meat Flavor Potato Chips at an Asian Market so I thought I’d give them a try. The bag is small and is less than 1 1/2 ounces.

Here’s what the back looks like.

Here are the ingredients. It reads like it might be free of meat.

It also reads Italian braise flavor?

Whatever-

I open it up and take a whiff.

This one smells.

It smells like a combination of fried pastries and burnt tomato sauce.

I’m afraid to try them now.

Oh no here they come.

They are powdery and greasy and have an orange complexion.

I go to taste one.

It’s not horrible…….but it’s not good………It sort of taste like it smells…..Sort of like burnt tomato sauce but sweetened…….

I’m not a fan of this flavor

I note that your opinion and experience may indeed differ…

The Forking Truth

Take Out Food During The CoronaVirus Pandemic Week 29 – The Rec Detroit Style Pizza, Confluence, Jalapeño Inferno, Rocket Burger

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Instead of dining in at restaurants we have been doing take out because experts say that take out food involves less risk to catch the coronavirus during the pandemic. We will consider dining out on uncrowded patios when the weather gets nicer. Some experts do say that out side patio dining can be a safer alternative to dining in.

We haven’t been to The Rec Pizzeria in Peoria/#UpperWestSide in a while. They serve Detroit style pizza. Detroit style pizza is thick dough pizza that is cut in squares. It is cheesed up dough with a thick rich sauce dripped on top. But what is most different about it is the cheesy crisp crust ends.

Today this pizza is a slightly different batch than what I had the last few times. It’s still good but different. Not buttery tasting……Not as crisp and hard cheesy either. It used to taste like a grilled cheese on the bottom. (below is an old picture of what it used to be like)

It used to be just like a grilled cheese on the bottom

It’s still good but the cheese taste different too. Today it is more like a thick crust with a little Detroit style. Still good but different. Like the nice rich sauce on it. Gave my dogs a little cheese and leftovers from yesterday.

Next take out was Confluence Restaurant in Carefree. They are an upscale Modern American Restaurant. It’s a really amazing restaurant. The dinners from here are fabulous. They are always very detailed with wonderful ingredients that go together well in a magical kind of way.

We started out by sharing blistered shishito peppers with romesco, hazelnuts and basil. For my main I enjoyed fresh opah tacos with lime pickled cabbage, poblano chili, creama, and chili de arbol salsa with a side salad. My husband enjoyed the hardier pulled lamb and veal on house made sourdough bread that was packed with brussels sprout, oyster mushroom, red onion, and whole grain mustard. He picked the house made bbq chips for his side. My dogs didn’t mind a bit to sample the meats.

We tried a brand new restaurant that just opened this week in north Peoria called Jalapeño Inferno. It’s a Sonoran Style Mexican Restaurant.

They gave us a BIG bag of corn chips and very mild salsa. We got the inferno sauce. I got the naked poblano (chicken, corn and beans in corn sauce) and my husband tried a combo plate with rice and beans. The inferno sauce is too hot to use straight but if you only use a very small dab it really adds a lot of flavor. My dogs helped with some chicken and shredded beef.

Last Take out of the week was from Rocket Burger in North Phoenix. They serve a variety of sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, ice cream sodas and offer a big wall of around 300 different kinds of soda.

On the right is a double cheeseburger with fried onions. My husband said it is one of the best cheeseburgers around. It also travels well. On the left is the Mexican Fish sandwich with this CRAZY DELICIOUS SLAW with this awesome amount of YUM! It just has that perfect lime tang too it. They should bottle this and sell it somewhere. It is so delicious that it would make a hamster taste great. The fish is really big with a very light coating. It is so light and oil free hit almost doesn’t even seem fried. It just turns into a really delicious sandwich. I call it the Mexican Fish Sandwich but the actual name of the sandwich is called Pescado De Cohete and it’s only priced at $8.99. (double cheeseburger was only $7.) It’s only around the same price as Jack In The Box and it’s a MILLION times better than Jack In The Box…….My dogs were very happy to help eat the fish and cheeseburger.

“Don’t worry we are in this thing together and are here to help you eat all this delicious food”

That was week 29 of take out in metro Phoenix during the coronavirus pandemic.

The Rec – North Peoria

Confluence – Carefree

Jalapeño Inferno – North Peoria

Rocket Burger – North Phoenix

Everything is subject to change and we hope it does change for the better.

The Forking Truth

My Forking Thoughts on Ruby Cacao Chocolate

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Chocolate comes in more flavors now. There is milk chocolate, dark chocolate, white chocolate (white chocolate is controversial and some people would say to not include it) and there is ruby chocolate.

My first experience trying the ruby chocolate flavor was from That’s Amore Gelato shop in North Scottsdale AZ.

Ruby is on the right half

To me it taste like a berry. I would say maybe raspberry or mixed berry with raspberry.

The very next week I found the NEW LIMITED EDITION Ruby Cacao coated Haagen Dazs ice cream bars so I bought them to try. I have a bar next to my 7in knife.

We usually share a dessert so I’m cutting it in half.

The flavor in the candy coating is more intense than from the gelato. it’s more sweet and tangy……Here I get maybe more of a raspberry taste but it finishes with a sort of milk chocolate taste that I didn’t get with the gelato. I can’t wait to see ruby chocolate bars and higher end ruby chocolates coming out soon. I bet they will be even more intense with different flavors. If I see them I will try them and let you know how they are.

Those were My Forking Thoughts on the Ruby Chocolate that I’ve tasted so far.

The Forking Truth

The Forking Truth is that Fall Restaurant Week Phoenix AZ 2020 Wasn’t My Favorite

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Around 140 Phoenix area restaurants were participating in fall restaurant week (September 18 – 27 2020). Most of these restaurants were offering three course dinners for $33.00 & $44.00 a person.

The first restaurant that I was excited to try was Zinc Bistro in Scottsdale because they were offering a fresh truffle option. I was going to do Sel in Scottsdale first because their menu sounded really special too but because of the fresh truffles at Zinc I figured that I better do Zinc Bistro first because the truffles will taste better now and might not be as good next week.

Here’s my take out from Zinc Bistro.

The food was mostly very good. My soup was missing the parmesan crisp but it still was a delicious treat. The dinners were really great with complex interesting sauces….. But I traveled across town to do this take out and my fresh truffles were left off. My husband called to let them know that I didn’t get my fresh truffles to take them off the bill since I didn’t get them. The manager apologized and took my whole meal off the bill since I was disappointed. That was as generous as any restaurant can be. I DO appreciate that but I still missed out on fresh truffles.

My next restaurant week take out was from The Mission (a modern Latin) restaurant in Scottsdale.

A few things were missing from the descriptions on the restaurant week menu. My stone fruit salad was missing the goat horn dined cucumbers that sounded so interesting. My husband’s chorizo porchetta (lower left) was missing cotija cheese, possibly white bean puree (my husband insisted the little white tub wasn’t beans….we couldn’t identify what it was….) and arugula. Besides that there were some other issues. My salad was good but my fish was a little dry and fishy tasting. I did enjoy the chiltepin achiote sauce. It made my fish taste better. It’s hard to tell the size of the fish from my photo but if you compare it to the pork belly appetizer in the upper left hand corner you might be able to tell that it is a very small sized dinner. It didn’t come with the sliced vegetable on top of the fish and doesn’t look like the example this restaurant made to impress the press. (press picture is below…..My fish dinner is also pictured below the press photo)

www.facebook.com

I saw this on Facebook so I thought I’d get a nice piece of fish instead od two very small dry ends.

There were some other issues.

I didn’t try it but I was told that the crispy pork & cola glaze pork belly was dry.

The chorizo porchetta was very large but also was very dry with even dryer sausage and not much flavor.

I was told on the phone when I was ordering that the dessert that I wanted wasn’t available for take out so we tried the other two options that were carrot cake and pumpkin bread pudding. I do note that I normally don’t care for carrot cake but can usually eat some. This one I tried a taste and I couldn’t eat. My husband couldn’t eat it either. I’m not even sure why I found the cake inedible……I didn’t really like the bread pudding but the sauces and toppings were very good. My dinner was very small portioned so I still was hungry and had to eat something so I ate half of the bread pudding.

I was saving Sel in Scottsdale for my last take out for restaurant week but sometime after their restaurant week menu was posted they changed their menu a little bit.

We were both good with corn soup, grilled asparagus salad with black truffle fondue and other stuff. A grilled New York and the Halibut. The seconded course sounds so amazing…..Grilled asparagus salad with black TRUFFLE potato fondu, GRAFRETTE (waffle cut sweet potato), organic farm EGG 63, caramelized onions…WOW!!!!!!

Then the day I was going to order take out I saw this on the Sel Website.

It’s still a very nice menu but it isn’t as great for us now. We are both good with corn soup as course one. The amazing sounding asparagus salad was replaced with a tomato stack………..My husband can’t eat a plate of raw tomatoes so this doesn’t work for him. …..(so we can’t go….(BAH!). He also would have ordered the Grilled New York over the Filet Mignon.

Bummer…….. maybe the change of menu was better for some people?

The Forking Truth is that Fall Restaurant Week in Metro Phoenix AZ 2020 wasn’t my favorite. 2020 isn’t my favorite year either.

The Forking Truth

Some of the Bread Recipes that you can find on The Forking Truth www.TheForkingTruth.com

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I’m baking less these days but was thinking that over the years I baked many delicious breads here. One thing I learned about baking bread is that all recipes for bread are not accurate. I know almost every time I follow a bread recipe I always have to make adjustments. Every brand of flour is ground different and produces different results. Also when you measure some people pack more flour into a cup than other people. There are other factors that also produce different results such as altitude, humidity, different ovens. The good news is that once you make your first really nice bread you almost don’t need a recipe for bread because you will learn quick what the dough should feel like. He are the breads. My apologies in advance if the recipe isn’t 100% accurate because of different brands of flour or other factors.

Up top is a beautiful classic boule bread.

Next one is dukkah feta cheese and barberry bread.

Dukkah Feta and Barberry Bread

Pumpernickel Bread

Pumpernickel Bread

Pizza bundt bread.

Bunt Pizza Bread

Rye Bread

Rye Bread

Twisted Date Bread

Twisted Date Bread

Hatch Chili and Roasted Red Pepper Challah

Hatch Chili and Roasted Red Pepper Challah Bread

Socca Bread

Socca with sautéed red peppers and onions

Butternut Squash Cinnamon Buns

Butternut Squash Cinnamon Bun

Scaccia Bread (also known as lasagna bread)

Scaccia also called Lasagna Bread

These are some of the breads that you can find on The Forking Truth.

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of Little Saigon Vietnamese Restaurant in Old Town Glendale AZ

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Little Saigon is a small but charming Vietnamese Restaurant located in Old Town Glendale Arizona. They offer a large patio out front.

The building is lined with lots of plants and I noticed many pomegranates.

The first thing that you see when you enter is a large but clean fish tank. The last few times that I was here I got seated in the small dining room to the side. Here is another dining room were we picked up our take out.

Our timing was perfect and was ready and placed on a table the moment we walked in the door.

We started out by sharing the Bo Cuon La Nho (beef wrapped in grape leaves with vegetables, fresh herbs and rice paper.

If you never had this before then you can think of it like making a fajita but different. On the right is the rice paper. You have to soak a sheet of rice paper in warm water to make it soft. Then you add a stuffed grape leaf. Top the grape leaf roll with some rice noodles, fried shallots, peanuts, mint, cilantro, radish and roll it up like a burrito.

You’re not done yet. Your mini Vietnamese burrito gets wrapped in lettuce and then you dip it in fish sauce. Enjoy! After we finished these off I went to my main. This time I tried the Ga Xao Xa Ot (Chicken & Vegetables in lemongrass soy fish sauce)

This is not like anything I tasted before…It’s moist dark meat boneless chicken with broccoli and carrots in this sweet and funky sauce that has mild heat to it.

My husband tried the Tom Xao Thap Cam Cay (spicy shrimp stir fry with vegetables).

It looks like a nice assortment of vegetables. It has cabbage, snow peas, tomatoes and carrots. I was told that it was good but was very light with the heat.

The last time that I dined in I had the chicken and cabbage salad. It was refreshing crisp and light. It was just right on a hot Arizona day.

My husband had a pork rice plate with shrimp.

There are many more dishes that I want to try here so more are coming in the future.

That was a Little Taste of Little Saigon Restaurant in Old Town Glendale AZ.

I haven’t found a website for Little Saigon.

They are located at 7016 N 57TH Ave Glendale 85301

Call them for more information 623-939-6136

Everything is subject to change and we hope things do change for the better.

The Forking Truth