Category Archives: Forking Thoughts

Random Forking Items of Interest

FORKING AMAZING Food of the Week – Alzohour Market, Bro Bro’s BBQ Food Truck, Tia Carmen – Phoenix AZ

Leave a reply

I got lucky and tried some FORKING AMAZING food this week. FORKING AMAZING is not just very good…….It’s FORKING AMAZING! So here they are.

Alzohour Market is a HIDDEN GEM with SEVERAL FORKING amazing dishes. You can taste some of the very best Moroccan and Middle Eastern food in the Valley. This is not a fancy place and the service and the cooking is usually done by one woman so it is slow but it’s worth waiting for. The Moroccan tea is the best that you can taste anywhere. Tea doesn’t sound so special but here it is something different that you probably have never tried before…..GET IT…..It is really special!!!! ………Grape leaves usually aren’t anything special….But here at Alzohour Market they are by far the best that you’ve ever tasted anywhere. These stuffed grape leaves are like FIFTY TIMES BETTER than any other grape leaf that I’ve ever tried anywhere………..They are extra special. I didn’t have this today but I have had the b’stilla (house made sweet pastry with chicken) and it should be mentioned because it is extra special and is painstakingly made. The house made baklava is also the very best that I have ever tasted.

baklava

It’s not too sweet or too gooey. It’s delicious! When I have more room I usually get the house made spaghetti type cheese stuffed pastry…OMG it for certain is one of the best baked goods in Phoenix. Alzohour Market is worth driving across town for. I usually but not always get the fish tagine that is very good.

Alzohour Market 7814 N27TH AVE PHX AZ

602-433-5191

www.Alzohour-Market.Business.site

From Food Truck Friday West in Glendale I hit a few ok food trucks and we shared the FORKING AMAZING Brisket Sandwich from the Bro Bro’s BBQ Food Truck.

BBQ Brisket Sandwich with added corn and fire roasted poblano pepper from Bro Bro’s BBQ Food Truck

OMG it’s overflowing with goodness. You can’t pick it up and you have to eat it with a knife and fork. I wish you could smell it………..It smells like the most delicious BBQ that you can imagine…I wasn’t planning on eating here because I’m not a beef or pork person……but it smelled so amazing I had to make a stop here. This sandwich is on an extra flavorful tasty roll that is embellished with cheddar cheese and jalapeños. Inside is GOLD……..Really tender flavorful smoky brisket chunks and pulled….ad it’s a really perfect mix of lean and fatty….(but not TOO fatty). We added the corn option that is another tasty treat and another perfect accent is that fire roasted poblano pepper that adds another special layer of delicious! This sandwich was FORKING AMAZING!

Bro Bro’s BBQ Food Truck

www.BroBrosBBQ.com

Tia Carmen is a high quality contemporary (mostly South-West) type of restaurant. It’s located in North Phoenix in the JW Desert Ridge Marriott. The kitchen is led by Michelin Star Chef, Restauranteur, Bravo Top Chef, and Cookbook Author Angelo Sosa. I already written about Tia Carmen’s FANTABULOUS Dish (the Tuna Crudo) and I’ve also written about several of their stunning dishes. Tia Carmen has recently opened for lunch Monday-Friday. They offer several of the lighter dishes from their dinner menu and a few tortas and some additional desserts.

It’s hard to imagine a salad as a FORKING Amazing dish but this one truly stands out.

baby greens salad from Tia Carmen

The baby greens salad is a bit spicy and so full of so many flavors. Who knew a salad could be so complex? This salad contains fennel, Persian cucumber, epazote, pickled onions corn puree, serrano chile, and green olive dressing. It sure doesn’t compare to most salads out there and you can add chicken, crispy white fish, or grilled shrimp to turn it into a meal.

We also shared two of the tortas…….The fish torta stood out flavor wise as a FORKING AMAZING FANTABULOUS Dish. It EXPLODES like fireworks in your mouth. THIS IS SOOOOOO FORKING GREAT!!!!!

fish torta with hay fries from Tia Carmen

WOW! One of the great sandwiches in Metro Phoenix. This is a great surprise and also unexpected from this restaurant because it taste like the best Cha Cha La Vong (National Dish of Hanoi) that I’ve ever had. This sandwich is a crispy sea bass with sweet onion jam, spicy mayo, fresh dill, fresh cilantro, turmeric, and other FRESH HERBS that make it POP! It’s the combination and all the FRESH HERBS that make it taste so special. It also comes with fries that they call hay fries…..that are like a cross between fries and crispy potato sticks.

Tia Carmen at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Phoenix AZ

5350 E Marriott Dr PHX AZ

480-293-3636

www.JWDesertRidge.com

*****Honorable Mention****

I didn’t eat the Shish Kafta but my husband said that the shish kofta from Alzohour Market is the very best that he has ever tried anywhere because it was juicy and full of delicious flavors.

Mixed Grill Plate from Alzohour Market

The Mixed Grill Plate from Alzohour Market contains a chicken kabob, shish kafta, gyro, with rice and whatever she feels like putting on the plate. Even the green pepper salad is AMAZING!

Alzohour Market 7814 N 27TH Ave Phoenix AZ

602-433-5191

www.Alzohour-Market.Business.site

Got lucky this week and really tried some of the very best plates that Metro Phoenix offers. These were a collection of the FORKING AMAZING Foods that I tried this week. I also got to eat out more than I normally do.

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Van Leeuwen Honey Cornbread with Strawberry Jam French Ice Cream

Leave a reply

I came across this container of Van Leeuwen Honey Cornbread with Strawberry Jam French Ice Cream today at my local Walmart Grocery and felt compelled to try it. Van Leeuwen is a high quality (usually all natural) really full fattening ice cream. It’s French style so that means that it is made with egg yolks. Their pistachio flavor is awesome and only contains Sicilian pistachios, cream, milk, egg yolks, cane sugar, and salt. I also really liked their hazelnut chocolate mini ice cream bars. But they do some WEIRD flavors….I haven’t tried (as of yet) their Kraft macaroni and cheese flavor or their Grey Poupon mustard and pretzels flavor. But I have tried their pizza flavor. It wasn’t awful……It did taste good but I thought that it was a far cry from tasting like pizza.

Back to the Honey Cornbread with Strawberry Jam French Ice Cream.

I open it up.

Peel it open.

It looks different from what I was expecting. There is hardly any strawberry.

I taste some…….

WOW it’s completely not at all what I expected…….

This one seems light ……….or lighter……but it isn’t…….

It doesn’t have that rich creamy texture like the others did. I would have guessed it to be ice milk………Did it melt in Walmart???????……. or was it mishandled…???????????? Or is this the way it’s suppose to be?????????

It’s milky with what seems like cooked grains of cornbread……..It’s like you spilled cornbread mix that is cooked into vanilla ice milk…..You get very little strawberry. It’s predominantly a cornbread taste. The little bit of strawberry jam taste caramelized…. It’s also not as sweet as it sounds. It’s almost not sweet.

It’s interesting….not sure if I’d buy again but it’s not a throwaway.

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Van Leeuwen Honey Cornbread with Strawberry Jam French Ice Cream. I do note that YOUR FORKING thoughts may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

Foreign Chocolate Covered Corn Puff Battle – Gusto VS Bamba

Leave a reply

I like to try foreign snacks once in a while for a taste of something different. Usually it’s weird flavors of potato chips but these chocolate coated corn puffs caught my eye so I decided to give them a try.

In this corner is something called Gusto from Romania.

It was only around $1. at the Asiana Market in Glendale. I can’t read the package and I thought the picture on the package looked like chocolate covered peanut puffs. I should have worn reading glasses because I didn’t even notice the raspberries on the package. ………..These things are Corn Puffs coated in milk chocolate with raspberry flavor. I ate one…These are hard for me to stomach. They are sickeningly sweet and just awful ……..I think that cheap chocolate kind of taste mixed with artificial raspberry is stomach turning…The corn puff has very little or almost no flavor…Its the coating that is unappealing and just packed with YUK.. These are going to hit the trash can after I make my husband try one. Maybe their other flavors are better?????? I read that they make a BOOZY RUM corn snack…..Maybe they make that flavor better????? But this one sucks so bad I doubt I’ll ever feel like trying it.

In the other corner are Bamba Dark Chocolate Dipped Peanut Corn Puff Snacks are marked, “Sold By Trader Joe’s.” Bamba peanut without chocolate are a well known famous snack food from Israel that are sold at nearly every supermarket in little bags. The Bamba dark chocolate dipped peanut flavored corn puffs do cost more than the Gusto chocolate coated corn puffs. They are in a bigger bag but If I recall correctly they were around $2.99 a bag.

I have to admit that I do occasionally enjoy the regular peanut Bamba puffed corn snacks. I read on Amazon that they are made 50% from peanuts….so they are at least 50% healthy….

OMG these Chocolate dipped Bambas are really good……They seem so light and tasty…..they are almost impossible to stop eating. They are not too sweet and not heavy or greasy…..with that indulgent chocolate on that light as air peanut cloud.

DAM You Trader Joe’s! I’m going to have to buy a bag every time I shop in your store until you stop selling them…..Just like you always discontinue my favs……Then I’ll be mad at you again!

Anyways-

……The combination of peanut puff and dark chocolate is very tasty………savory…….They seem light as air…(But I know they are not)……They are very hard to stop eating.

Gusto lost this battle WAY too easily…….I was hoping for a close battle.

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Foreign Chocolate Covered Corn Puff Battle.

Your opinion may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Hammond’s White Chocolate Lemon Meringue Bar

Leave a reply

I spotted this White Chocolate Lemon Meringue Bar at my local AJ’s Fine Foods and I had to try it.

I open it up carefully. I attempted to break off one brick….That didn’t work.

These bars have lots of filling and the white chocolate is very delicate and almost soft.

I taste the broken ends. The lemony part is really great and sure does taste like really good lemon meringue filling…Like the right tart and the right sweet……the right amount of lemon……….The white chocolate is pretty good for white chocolate but it does end with a sweet finish like it should like some meringue. (I hate when meringue taste like egg whites…ick)

I think that this flavor is pretty good but they’ve forgotten that lemon meringue is a pie and should have some crumbs for crust. A few slightly salted cookie crumbs on the bottom would have balanced it all really well………But it is still pretty good anyway.

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Hammond’s Lemon Meringue White Chocolate Bar. Your FORKING Thoughts may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

The FANTABULOUS Dish – The Arugula Salad from REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar – WORTH A FORK!

Leave a reply

The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen, and dynamite! WOW what a great surprise . You just don’t always know when a FANTABULOUS dish will show up. This salad just blew both of us away. It’s only named Arugula salad. I picked it to share as an appetizer instead of chips because it sounded lighter and healthy. I wasn’t expecting jaw dropping fireworks of flavors……

The Arugula Salad from REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar in Peoria AZ

This salad is made of avocado, watermelon, red onion (pickled), pico, toasted pepitas, cotija cheese, and this MAGICAL chili-lime vinaigrette.

I need to mention as astonishingly delicious as this salad is ………I must mention that it is spicy HOT. Borderline too hot for me but it was so DAM delicious I had to keep eating it. You get sweet from the watermelon, creamy from the avocado, hot and delicious from the MAGICAL chili-lime vinaigrette, Umami from the cheese, yummy from the pepitas and the right amount of bitter from the arugula. It’s far more delicious than I can describe. You can also add on protein to this dish if desired.

The Arugula Salad from REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar is an official FANTABULOUS DISH and is WORTH A FORK!

REVOLU Modern Taqueria & Bar

15703 N 83rd Ave Peoria AZ (a second location is in Phoenix)

623-878-0215

wwwREVOLUTaqueria.com

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Potato Chips BIG CUP

Leave a reply

The Reese’s Big Cup with potato chips have been out for a while but today I finally broke down and tried one.

I open it up.

Mine is slightly defective. I don’t want to know what it’s been though.

I cut it in half.

Lets take a closer look.

At first I thought that they left out the chips but I can see some in there……..

I start on the end.

Wow…that is a good amount of Reese’s chocolate….I never had that much before….I kinda like that……..

Now for a bite into the peanut butter. The peanut butter taste good like it normally does….but……

Not what I was expecting…

SUPER CRISP CRUNCHY HARD small pieces of wavy or ridged potato chips that are tasteless but so crunchy that they seem like coated with something like ceramic. I have no idea how they sucked out all the flavor from the chips? I also have no idea how they got them so oddly hard like ceramic. I was almost worried that I could damage my teeth.

I pulled one out of my mouth.

They’re not bad…….I think the best part is the thick chocolate that you wouldn’t normally get with a Reese’s…..For a Big Cup they really aren’t so big and are less than 200 calories (180 to be exact). If you don’t mind super hard crunches in your Reese’s cup they are pretty good…..but the chips are strange and for me too crunchy……..I was afraid I’d damage a filling or chip a tooth. I will go chipless next time.

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Potato Chips Big Cup. Your FORKING Thoughts on Reese’s Potato Chips Big Cup may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

Sushi Burger from Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Peoria AZ – A FORKING TASTY DISH – Worth a Fork!

Leave a reply

Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Restaurant is located in the P83 area of North Peoria that is near to the Peoria Sports Complex. This area is also known as the UpperWestSide in Metro Phoenix Arizona. Everything that Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi restaurant serves is never from frozen. They also offer a full bar, thirty two taps and lots of big screen TVS for watching sports. As for food they offer lots of starters, wings, burgers, pizzas, salads, sandwiches, big plates, sushi, sushi rolls and some fun sushi fusion like the FORKING TASTY Sushi Burger. FORKING Tasty just means FORKING Tasty. It’s unusually good tasting. Recently I had a high quality fish sandwich from somewhere and it didn’t taste nearly as tasty as this Sushi Burger from Headquarters.

The FORKING TASTY Sushi Burger

The FORKING Tasty Sushi Burger is made of really (FORKING) tasty fried rice patties, spicy tuna, shredded krab (faux crab…usually does not contain crab and is usually made from lower costing pollock fish), soft greens, cucumber, avocado, eel sauce (sweetened soy based sauce), and spicy mayo. Somehow this combination is unusually FORKING TASTY. A little dab of of that thick neon green wasabi paste and it’s even a little MORE FORKING Tasty.

The Sushi Burger from Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi Restaurant in Peoria AZ is FORKING Tasty!

Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

Headquarters Grill Bar Sushi

16041 N Arrowhead Fountain Dr Peoria AZ

623-547-5577

www.HeadquartersAZ.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Some of the other foods I cooked recently

Leave a reply

WOW some prices at the supermarkets are out of sight. Today I saw salmon that was double the price of what I was expecting. I also saw beef ribs that looked like a small amount of beef for $45. Even the cheapest chicken breasts at Walmart gone up from $2 a pound to $3. a pound that is 33% more expensive…….I did notice that beef shanks (smaller sized ones) seemed still very reasonably priced compared to everything else so I picked one pack up. It’s fun to make them osso buco style. I’m not big on beef dishes but this is one of my favorite beefs.

First you brown them up on both sides preferably in beef fat.

Then you get soup type vegetables sort of soft with the dripping from your fry pan. You add white wine and reduce. Add stock and or tomato juice, the vegetables, and the beef shanks to a pan. Cover well and roast at 375 F till falling apart tender. (If you have nice bigger beef shanks you might prefer to tie them up so they stay together.) Depending on the size of the beef shanks this will take at least 3-6 hours (If you have giant ones then maybe more time). But you do need to add water to the pan after a few hours.

The beef shanks came out good. I removed the bay leaves and blended up the liquid and vegetables and used it like a gravy for the beef shank and polenta. I also made a basic gemolata of parsley, celery leaves, and lemon zest.

beef osso buco

The one beef shank was big enough for two dinners.

Got a second meal for two out of the second beef shank. Made Italian flavored tacos. (don’t mean to brag but this came out so good I could get rich selling them)

Used that Italian chili crisp I made recently that adds all kinds of flavors, textures, and heat.

Italian Chili Crisp

Mixed the pulled beef shank meat and mixed it with some Italian chili crisp and the leftover gremolata…….Put them on radish (Korean Radish) slices, topped with some pickled baby bell peppers..

They were really delicious.

Someone was very interested in them.

Earlier in the week recently I made braised and crispy leeks with this tarator sauce ( long story……I made toum sauce (garlic sauce that comes with shawarma…kept adding nuts and other things and turned it into tarator sauce…but it did come out amazing). This dish also came with date brown butter.

Braised and Crispy Leeks with Tarator Sauce & Date Brown Butter

Leftover tarator and datę brown butter also went well with Japanese sweet potatoes with a very thin olive oil crisp.

Those were a few things worth mentioning.

The Forking Truth

My FORKING Thoughts on M&M’s Crunchy Cookie M&M’s

Leave a reply

My husband came across these Crunchy Cookie M&M’s and knew that I would want to try them…and he sure was right I do want to try them.

I wasn’t expecting much because in the corner it reads artificially flavored….BAH!

Well I try them anyway….

They are a weird size for M&M’s.

They are extra tiny.

I eat a few……They don’t taste like cookies….but they seem light and crunchy. They are feel like malt balls in the mouth…but they don’t taste like malt balls……

Not a lot of chocolate here…….They have less chocolate than malt balls.

They’re not bad……..and are easy to eat….They have nice textures to them……a pleasant nice light crunch. They are too light textured to be a cookie inside…….Maybe they are closer to a breakfast cereal type of crunch? They don’t taste bad. Just not a cookie taste.

Not bad.

Not as good as the original or my favorite the almond M&M’s.

That was my FORKING Thoughts on Crunchy Cookie M&M’s.

Your FORKING thoughts on Crunchy M&Ms may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

This is How it Goes When You Go Out To Eat SOMETIMES

Leave a reply

This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES. Today I went to restaurant that I have been to before that was good last time. I went back and things were different. This time I ordered the ensalada fresca salad. It sounded so good. The menu reads watermelon, cucumber, red onion, jicama, aji lemon vinaigrette, panela cheese, pepitas, fresno, tajin, salsa macha, cilantro. This sounds incredible doesn’t it? The salmon was also really great last time so I added salmon to this salad.

Here is what I got.

Lets take a closer look.

At the time I didn’t remember everything I read about the salad and didn’t know at the time that it was missing things.

I soon try the salmon.

It is not fresh tasting. I can’t eat it. I give a small piece to my husband to try. He said that it was very fishy tasting. He said, “get something else.”

I removed the salmon from the salad and put it on a side plate away from me. Soon someone that seems like a manager comes over and asks about the salmon. I told him that the salmon taste spoiled.

The manager said that his salmon is thrown out after four days. He also said that he will taste it. He also asked me if he could make a new one or give me chicken. I went for chicken but I did tell him that I have had salmon here before that was fresh and delicious.

He comes back and says that the salmon isn’t spoiled. He said that it just tastes off from the grill marks………..(whatever the FORK that means?).

Anyways-

Here comes the chicken.

I do have to say that the chicken really is very good and also is an extra generous portion. It’s tender, moist , full of flavors and is delicious.

BUT back to the salad.

Remember that I didn’t know that I was missing a few things.

But at the time I also was a bit bummed because the watermelon, cucumbers, and jicama also didn’t seem so fresh. Here is a closer look. They seem a few days old (look at the melon).

I think that I am missing cilantro, pepitas, aji lemon vinaigrette, tajin, and salsa macha.

My husband wasn’t thrilled with his meal but thought it was ok.

Decided to try dessert to make myself feel better.

I go for this one because our server said it was new and the best dessert.

It reads flambe table side.

Someone drops this off with no flambe.

We look around to find someone.

We find our server and she says that she has to find the manager.

She comes back and says the manager will serve us the dessert.

We wait and wait. (my husband starts to boil while we are waiting and wants to pay and leave)

The manager does come back, uses a portable lighter and we get this.

It wasn’t flaming but it really was a delicious dessert. It was the best thing I ate there today. They didn’t have to but after everything didn’t charge us for the dessert.

This is how it goes when you go out to eat SOMETIMES.

The Forking Truth