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The Halloween Special Edition – A Collection of Frightful Horrific Foods Served to Me in Metro Phoenix

Here is a special Halloween Edition of The Forking Truth that is a collection of some of the most Frightful, Horrifying and also Terrible Foods that was served to me in Metro Phoenix Arizona. It’s not in my interest to bring negative attention to a restaurant that is still in Business. I will only mention the name of the restaurant if they have since closed……

Taco Haus Scottsdale AZ (wow that was really bad)

The worst chicken taco imaginable came from Taco Haus that used to be in business in Scottsdale. Imagine a taco restaurant that makes dry flavorless tacos. Even the tortilla sort of expired before it made it to the table. I don’t recall this restaurant being in business for very long. You can see why……..

There are many different reasons for horrible or frightening……Imagine that you are hungry….You go out to a very nice restaurant and only get this much food at lunch time for $16.00. Dang I could have used that other half of the egg….What do you think they did with it?

Seared Tuna Nicoise ($16.) from The Local, PHX AZ

The Local that used to be in Phoenix had a very talented Chef. I enjoyed his food from years ago at Atlas Bistro. This Seared Tuna Nicoise didn’t give me enough food to even meet 1/2 of a weight watchers standard…..NOBODY only eats just this much food for a $16.00 lunch entree. For God’s Sake even a Gerbil eats more!

Note..Hamster got more forking food…..

What am I suppose to do purchase TWO or Three lunches? Getting a portion of food like this is Horrifying for $16.00. Perhaps that is the reason this place didn’t make it….No matter how delicious the food might be you have to have some common sense on what you serve someone for lunch for $16.00….and this was a few years back.

Glendale AZ

Old tasting sushi is one of the worst things that can happen to you. This sushi Asian restaurant is still in business today and has a 4 1/2 star average on Yelp……WOO Hoo 4 1/2 stars lets get some disappointing sushi!

Both these desserts were AWFUL…..I couldn’t eat either and I love desserts. .This is a well known restaurant from somewhere in Phoenix that should be great but had an off night. The main courses were just as bad. Below was my main course from this restaurant…Looks like someone already ate it and Forking threw it up to me……..Would you eat it?

Here was my main course

Scottsdale AZ Salmon Alla Francesca

The fish from this restaurant in Scottsdale was so strong  tasting it could do push ups.

The meatballs from this restaurant were so dry they should have given us a rain check.

The food was good at this particular restaurant somewhere in Phoenix but the desserts were inedible. They were hard as rocks….neither of our forks could penetrate them…..My husband was determined to bust them up with his hands. We should have brought a jack hammer with us. It was very odd when we brought this to the attention of the owner or manager. He said nothing was wrong with the desserts….and they just needed to be heated up….Dang I should have brought my portable furnace with me to warm up rock hard desserts that are served to me…..Dang!

Fondant from Indi Fusion

Indi Fusion was a very nice mixed culture restaurant that used to be located in Scottsdale. Most of the food I tried was reasonably tasty….But I will never forget the Fondant they served me…..In case you are not familiar with the French Dessert Fondant….It’s basically a Molten Lava Cake…..The Chef at Indi Fusion misunderstood what a Fondant was and served me a big lump of frosting.

Nobody likes finding things in their food…..I don’t know what it was but this thing seemed just like lump of silicone in the dessert. The waiter just laughed and said it was part of the dessert….(yeah right…that’s a good one)……My stomach turned from most of the food I tried at this place.

I prefer my Bon Choy Washed…..instead of that earthy style……

The 2nd worst falafel I ever tried….It was number one until recently. This one lacked herbs and was very dry. This restaurant is on several Best of Metro Phoenix List……..I’m telling you that this is not a good falafel…..A good falafel might have a crisp exterior, should be fluffy and has a moist but not mushy or dense center and is embedded with fresh herbs…..It is possible that this restaurant’s recipe for falafels have changed since my visit but I wouldn’t know……Why would I go back when all the food sucked?…….

My fish was a little over cooked but the worst part of my plate were the vegetables…..The vegetables appear that they were re-heated for several days…..maybe two weeks old… The vegetables are in a state of decomposing…….It’s terrible that this was a $34.00 dinner …By the way this restaurant is also featured on a Best of Phoenix List. I note that I did also have very good food from this restaurant too…… but this dinner sucked the big one! Nobody wants to pay $34.00 for OLD reheated food.

This was a newly opened restaurant. Multiple problems with all these plates. Sorry now I didn’t take a better photo of the tuna tartare because it was really hacked in a bad way.  It was like one piece of fish that was scored by a chimpanzee. The fish also didn’t taste fresh. But the major problems were the sauces and the slaw (and management). The slaw was suppose to be a corn jicama slaw and didn’t contain corn or jicama.  When I told the management about the slaw they told me that green cabbage looks the same as crisp white jicama……they said nothing about missing corn (at this time).   The sauce on the falafel Sandwich was suppose to be a green curry coconut sauce but it just tasted like loose white liquid. The sauce on the tuna tartare was also loose white liquid. The management of this restaurant reacted very negatively to me when I pointed out some of the problems with their food (and service). They said they were new so I should expect them to run out of stuff…….OK dudes….New restaurants run out of stuff, push out the food any old way and are not obligated to inform you…THANKS I get it now!

Over Cooked and Over Salted Phoenix AZ

You don’t expect a small lump of dry over salted fish when you go out and spend $300.00 for dinner. I note that this is a very nice restaurant and all the other food we had was very good…..but they did screw this fish up.

This dry fish was even worst…..this one came from a nice resort in Scottsdale. This fish seemed like it was saved from a buffet (or the trash) and then was slightly re-heated for me……….How Forking Nice was that?

This beef was so bad I couldn’t eat beef again for the rest of the year. I’ll be honest and admit I blocked out what the green sauce that looks like pond slime tasted like but I do remember it was horrible. I remember the beef was very chewy, didn’t have a good flavor and me and my husband decided it wasn’t good enough to bring home to my dogs. (and the dogs I have now aren’t as fussy as my last dog Louie….incase you didn’t know Louie had a palate better than most people)

This came from a food truck. The fryer grease must have been very old and ripe ……the food tasted like a they were cooking up old sour road kill every week for a year before they cooked these meat stuffed rolls for us….(oh what fun……)…The rolls didn’t even get crisp……..We were suppose to receive a roll filled with corned beef and the other was suppose to be beef…..The roll with corned beef was mostly empty because the corn beef fled to find a better resting place.

The other roll was a mystery roll filled with mystery meat…….??????? Could have been a varmint like chipmunk but it was probably pork……or was at one time.

After this I thought I might not ever eat from a food truck again.

This Fish Platter was awful from some place in Peoria….that is on a Best Food in Peoria List. Even the couscous was awful…Shame because the last time I was here the food was delicious….below is what I had last time.

sometime pre-2017

I contacted the restaurant because I wanted to know if they changed the chef. They told me that they had the SAME chef……….I guess he lost his touch or came down with a memory disorder and forgot on how to cook…….

Every FORKING THING is subject to change…….You and ME have to remember those truthful words.

The food we tried at this particular restaurant in Phoenix was good but their apple pie is one of the worst in the whole world. It was filled with unseasoned hard apples and the dough is RAW. Even the ice cream taste like NO FRILLS ice cream. It’s a YUK!

A restaurant should be tested by a crew of critics before it gets a license to open.

We were served breaded freezer burnt fish here. The red beans and rice were sour. The tarter sauce was watery and old tasting. Macaroni and cheese was very artificial but also watered down tasting with gooey noodles.  Sadly the sweet potatoes have seen better days. After tasting we threw out the food and ate someplace else.  I don’t know but I think this was the result of poor cooking skills combined with possibly failing restaurant equipment…………..But I think the Owner/Cook missed her calling…….she should prepare food for the county jail.

$13.99 Salad from a Mexican Restaurant in Phoenix AZ

Wow! I’ve been to one of the worst Sonoran Style Mexican Restaurants in Phoenix.  The Chips were not as good as packaged chips (they were flavorless and salt free). The salsas were not as good as bottled salsas and lacked salt and seasoning. For some odd reason the hot sauce  tasted like they added strawberry sauce to it (WTFork). This salad was the most uninspired salad I ever had anywhere. I would NEVER come back for anything I tried here. I would also never recommend this restaurant to even my enemies. I am clueless as to why this is one of the most popular restaurants in town. Anytime you drive by this place the parking lot is full……

www.pinterest

The fresh baked bread and the slaw were delicious but the chicken in this sandwich was very similar to a steel belted tire.

I’ve been to this restaurant a few times and it was great. I go back and find out the chef left and got lousy food. Everything pictured here was AWFUL. I remember I sent my plate of the left with 80% of the food back to the kitchen to trash it. The waiter said that he was sorry. The fish was old tasting and was topped with with a thick spread of raw sour tomato paste. One of the corn splats tasted like wet RAW flour and the other corn splat was just awful.  On the right was not good tasting soggiest gooiest pierogi I ever tried in my life. It was all horrible!

Oddly the management contacted me and said something along the lines that since my first two visits were great….That I should be happy and the first two visits made up for my last visit….

It’s always wonderful to get uncooked food!

This was a newly opened restaurant at the time but there is no excuse for serving grits that are uncooked. A normal person would say our grits aren’t ready yet. A person that serves paying customers uncooked food isn’t cut out for the restaurant business. (What kind of person does this?…..) We did tell someone that worked there about the grits and they didn’t do a thing. Nobody said they were sorry. Nobody said we will take that off your bill. Nobody got us a new one. The person just ran away.

This particular restaurant also served the brisket before it was ready so the meat was like rubber with hard fat to pull off.

What do you think that tall yellow tower is?

This particular restaurant had a different chef at the time………(doing their damage someplace else)…… But WOW I will never forget the Polenta Tower on my plate. It was a very stiff polenta. The artichoke sauce on the plate was awful too.

I got this beauty from a Steak Sandwich Shop that opened up somewhere in Metro Phoenix this year. The filling they made isn’t bad but they use the WORST BREAD IN THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD HERE that just disintegrates……Why WHY WHYYYYYYYYYYYYY would someone open a sandwich shop and use the worst bread in the whole wide world?

Unfortunately I went to a Mediterranean Restaurant that was mostly HORRIBLE (the rice and bread was good…not great but good). The Falafels were the worst I ever tried….They had hard garbanzo beans that turned kind of burnt and never got soft…actually the whole ball just sort of was burnt like with little hard rocks. It was gritty like mortar and burnt tasting rocks. You couldn’t really eat it because you could break your teeth trying to eat the falafels but you also didn’t want to eat them because of the burnt taste. The Eggplant dip was so smokey I screamed when I tried it……… Beef Sharma was so dry I couldn’t eat it because it was like trying to eat a braid of hair. I thought a very large bottle of smoke flavoring was added to the eggplant dip but the owner contacted me and said he doesn’t use smoke flavoring so I have no idea on how he got so much smoke in there.It was eating a pack of used cigarettes. Also I received a decomposing pickle ……that’s not the end but I’ll stop here.

This doesn’t look bad but it was mostly horrible. The meatballs were incredibly mushy and contained hard carrots. The sauce was bitter and also contained hard carrots. This was awful….who opens a restaurant that can’t cook? This is tragic. I also thought this restaurant shouldn’t have a license to sell food….After all you need a license to drive…..you pass a test and get your drivers license…..I think restaurants should also pass a test to sell food. Some restaurants really do need to pass a test first.

This bread pudding might have been the worst I ever tried in my life. It was so heavy and dense that it was painful to eat. It was also hard to stomach the rubbing alcohol flavor it had. I tried this bread pudding at a very nice well known restaurant. For GODS Sake The Forking Truth is that even ten year old children make better bread puddings in their home economics classes than this one I tried……

Here comes another one

Doesn’t this plate look scrumptious?

Don’t the potatoes and vegetables look delicious!

Oh Goody Goody Joy Joy….I got me some mediocre fish, once frozen then water logged vegetables and potatoes that look like they are infected with gangrene……how FORKING Tasty is that?

Here’s an even better look at the yummy potatoes…..

I know you’re jealous!

WhyyyyyyyWhyyyyyWhy…..Eating at these places was as painful as getting clubbed in the knees

This was the Halloween Special Edition of FRIGHTFUL HORRIFYING Food served to me in Metro Phoenix AZ.

www.shutterstock.com

and they were-

NOT WORTH A FORK!

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

I hope you enjoyed The Special Halloween Edition of the most Horrific Frightening and Lousy Food served to me in Metro Phoenix.

The Forking Truth

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Visit to the 2018 Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree Arizona

 

The Enchanted Pumpkin Garden takes place in Carefree Arizona at the Carefree Desert Gardens every year at the end of October. 2018 was the fourth year for this event that took place October 19th-28 2018.  This was a free event. Pumpkin Artist Ray Villafane is the artist that is responsible for these Whimsical Creations. No need to worry about parking or fighting your way threw the crowds……Just sit back and enjoy the photos!

Some Quality Food Trucks were there!

That was the 2018 Enchanted Pumpkin Garden in Carefree Arizona.

www.CarefreePumpkinGarden.com

The Forking Truth

Ocotillo Restaurant in Phoenix AZ – One of My Favorites! – Worth a Fork!

 

Ocotillo is a (what seems like) one mile square compound in down town Phoenix that is a modern farm to table global style restaurant with a wonderfully enormous menu of astonishing variety. Ocotillo offers a modern atmosphere, multiple patios, an outdoor coffee bar and an outdoor cocktail bar.

 

As you enter from parking lot.

Park like setting.

Outdoor seating.

Patio by the front of restaurant.

Coffee Bar.

More outdoor seating.

Patio and Cocktail bar.

Dining Areas

It’s fun to share plates here since they offer so many interesting detailed plates.

Thirty -one detailed plates on the menu today with great variety. How could you not be happy with a menu like this?

We started with one of the Small Plates.

It’s not so small.

But it was Delicious!

Here was the House Smoked Salmon with Capers, Tea Egg, Pickled Shallot (it looks like a rose) Pickled Shallot, Dill Creme Fraiche Salad and Seeded Bread. The Salmon was carefully smoked and was buttery. The flavors of everything went really well together. This small plate is very large and can feed three people pretty well or a small bite for four people.

Then we wanted to share one of the vegetable plates and went with the Charred Sweet Potato with Avocado, Lime, Pickled Shallots, Pasilla Pumpkin Salsa.

OMG this is one of the most delicious things I tasted this year! The Char adds something delicious here against the potato and they sprinkled the sweet potato with what I think was Aleppo Pepper. There was a fresh herb salad with mint and cilantro too. When you ate everything on this plate together it became magical……Incredibly delicious……I wasn’t expecting this vegetable plate to be so large so I got to bring home a second take out box…..

Lastly we shared a House Made Pastrami Sandwich with Oil-Vinegar Coleslaw, Grain Mustard and Seeded Bread. The Sandwich came with lemon broccolini salad.

The Sandwich was just delicious! The Pastrami was tender and on the lean side. It had a nice smoke to it but not too much. It wasn’t crusted but had lots of flavors in it that included cloves. Slaw was good and crisp, grain mustard not to strong. This is really good. The Broccolini salad is better than I expected. I was expecting the broccolini to be a little chewy but it was unusually light and easy to eat.

Wow! that was really great! And I get to enjoy most of it again at home! That’s a win!

Here are not all but some of the previous dishes I enjoyed from Ocotillo. The menu changes regularly. Everything was wonderful and delicious. Portions so far have always ran very large.

I have to say Ocotillo is one of my favorites in Phoenix and is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.OcotilloPhx.com

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

The Forking Truth

My Trip to the Disney Epcot 2018 Food and Wine Festival in Orlando Florida

 

From August 30th till November 12th 2018 Epcot at Disney turns Global Foodie. Just walk your feet off all around Epcot and sample different tastes from around the world…..Don’t worry about over doing it because you know it’s a Small World After all.

You need at least two days to do the Food and Wine Festival. Most of the booths offer three choices of food, a beverages or two and maybe a dessert that cost $5-$10.00 on the average. The festival foods run not all but mostly beef and pork……We skipped all the beverages (except for water), wines and most desserts for more stomach room. We cherry picked the foods we picked and it took two days for us and that is with us skipping some booths (some skipping was accidental).  If you are more serious about trying all the food and drink you need to split the food with a group of people and you might need at least three days in Epcot. Two Days of all this food for two people only cost us $138.00….(plus park admission).

Our first stop was Thailand and we shared a Red Hot Spicy Thai Curry Beef with steamed rice.

New Zealand was Seared Venison Sausage with Kumara Puree and Wild Mushroom Marsala Sauce.

At Canada we found Le Cellier Wild Mushroom Beef Filet with Truffle Butter Sauce.

We stopped at Ireland two days. One day was Roasted Irish Sausage with Colcannon Potatoes and Onion Gravy. The Other we tried Warm Irish Cheddar Cheese Stout Dip with Irish Brown Bread. (we were given two slices but noticed the next day they were giving out four slices….

Brazil had Crispy Pork Belly with Black Beans and Onions.

Didn’t eat in Morocco but it was pretty here.

Japan offered of the very few chicken and fish offerings. We tried Teriyaki Chicken Bun and a Spicy Rice Roll of Tuna and Salmon that was topped with Volcano Sauce.

At Italy we tried one of the other chicken offerings – Pollo All Cacciatora – Braised Chicken Thigh with mushrooms, tomatoes and Parmesan Polenta.

At a booth called From The Fire was some of the most delicious food from the festival. Here we tried Smoked Corned Beef with Crispy Potato Chips, Pickled Onions, Pale Ale Fondue, Romano and Grana Cheeses. Then we tried Charred Chimichurri Skirt Steak on a Smoked Corn Cake with Pickled Slaw and Cilantro Aioli. We skipped not all but many of the sweets but luckily tried the Chocolate Picante. It was a delicious plate of Dark Chocolate Mousse with Cayenne Pepper, Chocolate Candy Balls and Mango.

Earth Eats offered a Mushroom Blended  Beef Slider with Brie Cheese Fondue, Arugula, Truffle, Blue Cheese and a Potato Chip on Brioche. Also Offered was the Vegan Impossible Burger Slider with SPICY Asian Slaw and Wasabi Cream on Sesame Bun. The Impossible Burger was slightly over-cooked but both burgers was very flavorful and delicious.

At Active Eats was Loaded Mac “N” Cheese with Cheddar, Pepper Bacon, Peppers and Green Onions. They also offered Verlasso Salmon with Lentil Salad, Avocado and Sherry Vinegar.

At the Chocolate Studio we both LOVED the Liquid Nitro Chocolate Almond Truffle with Whiskey Sauce. But our least favorite plate for BOTH OF US at the festival was the Sweet Chocolate Raspberry Torte…..Wow neither of could eat it…..

Our trip to the Cheese Studio was pretty darn yummy. We tried a Trio of a Profiterole with Boursin Garlic Herbs with Apricot jam, A Smoked Salmon Pinwheel made with Boursin Shallot Cream Cheese and Everything Seasoning and last was a Strawberry Macaron with Boursin Pepper Cheese.

Our last stop outside was the Wine and Dine Studio. We tried a Butternut Squash Ravioli with Brown Butter Vinaigrette, Parmesan Cheese and Pumpkin Seeds and a Cheese Trio of Crescenza-Stracchino, Gorgonzola Dolce Vino Rosso.

Inside the World Showcase were special add on food special event options, Chocolate displays and bottles of wine and liquor for sale.

I was eyeing up a bottle of Lucas Winery Wine…You know the Star Wars Guy. It was $65.00 a bottle so we sampled a tasting with a cheese plate.

We spent $13.00 on the wine tasting to save $65.00. I forget what the cheese plate cost.

Then we finished off with a free British Revolution Concert.

That was my Trip to the 2018 Disney Epcot Food and Wine Festival in Orlando Florida.

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

The Forking Truth

 

Where The Fork I’ve Been and a Taste of what I Ate…..In Orlando Florida

 

For a few days I’m writing about the places I ate at while in Orlando Florida.

One place I ate at was Norman’s at The Ritz Carlton. This is a fine dining restaurant that serves Fusion of Latin, Caribbean and Asian but European Style. This is a James Beard Award Wining Restaurant and the Chef is Celebrity Chef Norman Van Aken who is a decorated cook book author.

We also tried Mrs Potato. This is a small casual Brazilian Potato Restaurant. I found this yummy stop from the Diners, Drive Ins and Dives from Food Network.

One of our favorite stops was Art Smith’s Home Coming in Disney Springs.

The Food is Southern Style American Comfort Food by an Award Wining James Beard Chef Art Smith. The Food was TOO GOOD HERE….It was too good….so good I had to eat too much. The Food was also generously sized……This is a Must do! This one is actually in Lake Buena Vista but that is just by Orlando.

 

Tiffins Restaurant is a slightly upscale Global Cuisine Dining Restaurant located in Discovery Island in Animal Kingdom at Disney. Flavors from Africa and that are, Asian and Latin are featured. This was among our favorite stops. We managed to get a package where you get a three course meal that includes wine or beer, a Lion King Show with VIP Seating and a semi private Safari Tour.

We tried Terralina Crafted Italian in Disney Springs.

Terralina Crafted Italian Menu was created by James Beard Award Winning Chef Tony Mantuano.

At this time (October 2018) this is a newly opened restaurant.

We also tried out Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant.

Cooper’s Hawk Winery and Restaurant is part Gift Shop, Winery, Candy Store and Restaurant. The Reserved Red Blend I tried is very good for it’s price point but if you get a bottle of wine they have a unique way they decant it at the table that looks very impressive.

We also went to the 2018 Epcot Food and Wine Festival and hit about a dozen of the booths over the two days.

This was where the Fork I was and a Taste of what I ate in Orlando Florida.

The Forking Truth

 

After Four Beers Maybe It Doesn’t Matter What The Food Taste Like?

www.Walsinepierce.com

I wanted to try this new Restaurant that opened somewhere in Metro Phoenix about three months back. They currently (October 2018) have a 4.5 star average on a popular review site called Yelp…..I thought they might be pretty good. I thought after being open about three months most of the bugs might be worked out. I didn’t mention the name of this restaurant because it’s not in my interest to put them in a poor light since they are a new business.

Between me and my husband we tried three of the four meatballs they have on the menu and two of the eight sauces they offer.

Here are Vegan Meatballs made with Cauliflower, Mushrooms HARD Carrots, White Beans, Brown Rice, Panko, Herbs and Spices. The Vegan Balls are very mushy and are studded with Crunchy Carrots.

Crunchy Carrots in Vegan Balls and Sauces

The Marinara Sauce is one note, acidic and very bitter and also studded with crunchy carrots.

www.Flickr.com What’s Up Doc! What’s wrong with crunchy carrots?

Up above is undressed Penne Pasta topped with Bolognese, two Beef and one Spicy Pork Meatballs. There isn’t Parmesan or Romano to top the pasta. Pretty much everything is one note or flat and both meatballs are dry.

I think most people know that pasta should be lightly dressed like in the picture below.

Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante Glendale AZ

On the bright side I noticed that beer is very inexpensive here. They had some sort of beer special where the beers were priced at something like FOUR Beers for $8.00.

This restaurant in October 2018 has a 4.5 star average on Yelp. I also noticed that this particular restaurant is a paid Yelp Advertiser. I can’t say if that has anything to do with anything….because there IS a disclaimer posted on Yelp that advertisers with Yelp don’t get any special treatment.

After Four Beers maybe it just doesn’t matter what the food taste like?

****UPDATE since CLOSED for business

www.Jimmy00357.Deviantart.com

EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change and YOUR FORKING experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Same Meal did differ some at Elements 2nd time around but it was still Worth a Fork!

 

This past June I enjoyed the most amazing lunch at the stunning Elements at Sanctuary in the Paradise Valley Part of Scottsdale Arizona. Well it’s fall now so it’s about time to try them again.

This is what it looks like when you enter.

Just past the hostess desk it looks like this.

Here’s one half of the dining room.

We got sat just past here and this was the scenic view of Paradise Valley from my seat.

Just like last time they started us out with locally made MJ Sourdough Bread with salt and sea weed sprinkled butter.

It’s the same bread but today it is hot and far more crisp than last time…….almost like a crouton.

The Tea Brined Chicken Thighs topped with Pickled Watermelon was so amazing last time I had to order them again. Here’s what I had last time.

It might not appear different but today’s Tea Brined Chicken differed some. I don’t like when I say something was a certain way and I go back and the food is different…….so I am writing about how it was this time. STILL VERY GOOD! …but different.

What differs the most is the taste of the sauce and the chicken. Last time the sauces were extremely delicious…..and were slightly more layered but ran on the sweet side or maybe there was another sauce I didn’t taste today…because under the rice last time was a flavor I didn’t get today. Today’s sauce was delicious and for sure wasn’t as sweet…….but this time did run a tad on the salty sidebar was still great…….The chicken looks about the same size but wasn’t. What differed about the chicken this time was that today the skin was almost removed from the thighs. it was just on by an edge and had their own crisp coating so what you see in the second photo are big pieces of crispy skin with a smaller amount of tender delicious juicy breaded chicken underneath. It was more like two treats in one today but the chicken was almost 1/2 crispy skin and 1/2 chicken this time.  It was like a Chicken Chicharron treat connected to the most scrumptious high end chicken nuggets …………well two were chicken nugget in size and one of the three on left side of the plate was a large one. They still  gave a good amount of chicken but different butchery, amount  and taste differed from last time. Either way it’s still a great plate but it differed. ********Please remember every Forking Thing ever written about any food item in any restaurant is subject to change.

Today my husband went with the Five Spice Duck Special.

The 5 Spice Duck was very similar to the special my husband had last time………Beef Tenderloin with 5 Spice and Hoisin. He said it was very good….so I reckon it was. I won’t eat duck……I know it’s not logical but….they are just too cute to eat….can’t do it.

This was the Beef Tenderloin with 5 Spice and Hoisin he had last time.

The dessert menu differed and we wound up sharing a Key Lime Pie.

It’s adorable with the edible flowers. It’s very unusual with a sesame crust that has a granola kind of chewy texture. The filling is smooth with  a perfect mouth feel. The mango coulis is excellent. There’s a little dab of coconut sorbet…………I like it all but…………….You know me if you read my reviews………I have to tell The Forking Truth……………maybe it’s just me and I am the only one in the universe that doesn’t like think crust (even if it’s very good tasting)….The crust is thicker than the filling.  It’s delicious crust…but it’s almost like a cookie that is topped with filling. For my taste this dessert was good but could have been excellent if the proportions differed.

Last time we shared a Lemon Meringue.

I think this was even better than the Key Lime. Every part of this dessert was that perfect lemon/tart to sweet ratio, even the meringue was perfect in taste ….I REALLY LOVED THE FLAVORS….. but it also had an enormous amount of unusually delicious crust.

It was a lovely meal out and even though it differed some and the dessert crust were too thick for my taste I would still say my visit to Elements was worth a fork! This is lovely destination with a stunning atmosphere, professional service and wonderful food you won’t find at other places.

Worth a Fork!

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

www.SanctuaryCamelback.com/dining/Elements

The Forking Truth

 

My Forking Thoughts on Lay’s Chile Con Queso Potato Chips

 

The first Chile Con Queso I ever tasted was from Chi-Chi’s Mexican Restaurant. It was a creamy cheesy sauce made from a Mexican Style Cheese blend and was spiked with little pieces of tomatoes, chiles and scallions. The Queso was served with a bottomless basket of hot white corn tortilla chips. Chile Con Queso seemed very exotic a few decades back but these days it’s a common southwest Texmex kind of snack food that often is served with soft pretzels and beer. These days it’s common to whip up Queso  in your own kitchen when you want to snack while watching a football game. At home most Americans just microwave a brick of Velveeta (a processed cheese food product) with shredded jack cheese or cream cheese with a can of Rotel (chopped tomatoes and chiles).

Well lets see what I think!

I open the bag and take a whiff.

My bag looks only 1/3 filled.

WOW, it smells mostly like a dirty deep fryer……..(ick)…….laced with maybe a little cheese…..just like what Chi-Chi’s deep fryers were like!

The chips are on the smaller side and have a granular feel to them.

The chips are extra thin and are speckled with something.

I eat a couple chips. They feel extra fragile in the mouth.

The actual chip lacks a potato flavor.

The first thing I taste is something sour.

It’s like the sour in sour cream but more sour.

Then it turns a sort of buttermilk taste followed by a soft kick of chile peppery seasoning. The first couple have a sourness to them that is unpleasant.

I eat one chip slowly.

This chip taste better than the first two.

I don’t get that sourness as much and the spice seems to grow. It’s spicy but a mild spicy……not bad for Lay’s……It’s also a little onion-ee……a little….garlic-ee…..it’s kinda black pepper-ee. There are other warm pepper tastes and a little salty. Something here reminds me of margarine…..

The spice and mild heat does grow and covers up the milky sourness.

Too bad the cheese taste is very disappointing……..They didn’t get the cheese taste right.

Almost good…….

1/2 a Fork…

Not horrible….but not great either……….The spice blend is pretty good for Lay’s but the cheese taste is off.  Instead of a processed cheese taste it’s something more like buttermilk.

This tasting is subjective. The Forking Truth is that your experience and opinion may differ.

The Forking Truth

 

 

My Forking Thoughts on trying two Vegan Impossible Burgers in Metro Phoenix Arizona

 

Table Tent on table at The Cuff in Old Town Glendale AZ

I’ve been excited to try the vegan Impossible Burger. These days I’m very selective about any ground beef that I will eat and there are no ground beef worries with the Impossible Burger.  I found that The Cuff Restaurant in Old Town Glendale now offers many Vegan items now and one is the Impossible Burger. The Impossible burger gets it’s meat like quality from something they call heme that comes from soy roots. The heme is also suppose to make the vegan burger patty bleed. Heme is also a protein that most people on a vegan diet don’t get so this burger in moderation can be beneficial to people on vegan diets.

Other side of table tent from The Cuff in Old Town Glendale AZ

At The Cuff you have the choice to go completely vegan with vegan cheese. I went vegetarian with real cheese that was cheddar. The burger was what I was going for here.

Impossible Burger from the Cuff in Old Town Glendale AZ

My burger arrived open faced and was topped with a slice of cheddar and caramelized onions. On the top bun half was mixed greens, tomato and a particularly good pickle chip. I cut my burger in half hoping for vegetable blood like on the Table tent photo.

Table Tent

 

It’s a little dry and crumbly but does have a nice sear.

It crumbles more when I break some off for my husband to try.

I put it together to try the way it’s meant to be eaten.

It’s not bad…….It’s almost like meat but with something textural wise I’m missing and more crumbly. The pickle and ketchup cover up a lot of the Impossible burger’s taste. I get a weird butter-like after taste that I’m not found of but I’m not sure if that taste comes from the cooking process of the burger, cheese or the bun. I think it taste something like margarine…..or an imitation butter.

It seemed like my Impossible Burger might have been over cooked?????

Maybe the Impossible Burger is Impossible to cook correctly?……… I don’t know?….

As luck would have it I found another Impossible Burger at PNPK in North Scottsdale so I decided to give that one a try and see if it differed any……and I was also hoping for blood….VEGETABLE Blood that is….

This impossible burger is offered as a slider. Both Impossible Burgers came with Impossible Flags on them. You have your choice of many different toppings. I tried mine with Brie and Mushrooms.

I’m going in for a bite and ……in a Vampire Voice like in a classic Bela Lugosi ….”I’m hoping for Blood…Blah Blah Blah Vegetable blood!”…….

No blood here either but this one does have juice and isn’t crumbly like the last one. It does have a texture that might be confused for meat.  This one really does feel like meat in my mouth. It’s very close to meat.  I think if I was a vegetarian I might fear that I was eating meat and be grossed out. This one taste better and I’m not getting that imitation butter flavor that the last one had…..My husband refuses to try this one after trying the last one……. He said maybe you can find some Impossible Meat at the store and make it into something better…..

I’m thinking maybe the Impossible Taco, Burrito or Meatball is next?

Who Knows?

Those were my FORKING Thoughts on trying two Vegan Impossible Burgers in Metro Phoenix AZ.

Everything is SUBJECT TO CHANGE and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Did you Forking know about The FREE Ikea Birthday Meal?

 

I think everyone in the world is familiar with Ikea because they are the world’s largest manufacturer of furniture. Ikea is a Swedish based company with locations over most of the world that sells build it yourself furniture, kitchens and they also sell home goods.

If you join the Ikea Family they treat YOU on your Birthday to a complimentary Swedish Meatball Platter with Coffee or Tea and Dessert and that’s not all! They also give YOU $15.00 to spend in the store.

Here’s the meal.

The FREE Ikea Birthday Meal

Here’s the FREE Dessert.

You can FREE Coffee or Tea EVERY DAY!

With the $15.00 FREE Birthday money someone got this very unusual Sansevieria Plant and a roll of shelf liner.

Now you Forking know about the FREE Ikea Birthday Meal.

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

The Forking Truth