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.
One Ingredient Frozen Banana Confection with added cinnamon and crushed chocolate chips
We all heard about one ingredient frozen Banana Ice Cream. Everybody says it’s very easy and delicious. I literally had a BUNCH of Bananas so I thought I’d give it a try. The Forking Truth is that it’s not as easy as everyone says. But honestly after I figured out how to blend it up the “fake Ice Cream” did indeed come out delicious.
Get a bunch of bananas….I hear that you want them ripe but firm. (P.S. you can sometimes get a HUMUNGOUS bunch of bananas just like this once in a while from the 99cent store)
Peel the bananas and cut them in slices and then freeze over night.
I used a tub….
after doing so I think a big ziplock bag would have been a little better because it wouldn’t have been a thick of a frozen brick.
“Wow I got a Rock”
I got a big rock of banana.
I have to let it sit till I can hack off banana slices and blend them with a stick blender…..a little at a time…….I seriously think this recipe will only work with a professional strength stick blender like what I have.
I keep going about a cup at a time till I’m done and the bananas need to firm up a little more in the freezer.
To my surprise the bananas are very sweet and this doesn’t even need a thing but I add a spoonful of cinnamon and swirl it through just for fun. This goes back in the freezer to firm up.
Four hours latter it’s a nice consistency….Firm but very creamy.
One Ingredient Frozen Banana Confection with added cinnamon and crushed chocolate chips
It creamy and almost like Ice Cream. It has a really great banana flavor. I thought a little bit of cinnamon in it would be good ( and it is). I also thought a little crushed milk chocolate would go well here too. Many other variations can be made….A natural peanut butter swirl would be yum!……..Banana/Cocoa……..Banana/Melon……… Banana with Butterscotch …..Banana Malt……Banana/Strawberry……..Banana/Walnut…..How about Banana with Coconut? ……Maybe Banana Rum Raisin….I think Banana, Mango and Lime would be great too.
I think this is a much healthier and maybe tastier alternative to Ice Cream. (well most supermarket ice cream)
This one Ingredient Banana Confection really is Forking Good!
The FORKING Truth is that in 2018 three restaurants in Metro Phoenix AZ served me inedible food that rate 4.5 stars on Yelp. I’m not talking bad food……I’m talking INEDIBLE Food. I didn’t mention the name of any of the restaurants. It is my hope that the restaurants have all improved after my visit. It is not in my interest to put any of these restaurants out of business ……after all….Every THING is subject to change and if they don’t or didn’t change their ways they will go under on their own…….. All of these restaurants opened this year 2018 in Metro Phoenix AZ.
The first inedible food experience of the year came from a BBQ Restaurant somewhere in Metro Phoenix.
Indedible un-cooked Grits… LOOK they are still watery and are like sand mixed with water. Unless you are blind you can clearly see that this dish is not fit to serve to people. The Forking Truth is that we let them know about the grits and nobody said they were sorry. No-one brought us a replacement and nobody took the raw grits off the bill. The person that checked on us didn’t care about what we showed her and just ran away. The brisket we tried was also about not ready to be served as it was very chewy like rubber with hard inedible fat that had to be peeled off. I keep wondering what kind of person would serve this to a paying customer?
The next one came from a Fried Fish Restaurant somewhere in Metro Phoenix in April.
The fish we received was freezer burnt and then coated in crunchy unseasoned corn meal and was fried. It was very strange to bite into something that was like crunchy and chewy dried out fish jerky. The rest of all the food we tried here all was incredibly awful too!….. beyond your imagination. Even the tarter sauce was watered down and old tasting. The problems here might have been a result of a combination of failing restaurant equipment, re-heating foods up multiple times and very poor cooking skills. All the food after tasting went in the trash and we ate someplace else. It’s hard to believe but The Forking Truth is that this restaurant still has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp. (as of Sept. 2018)
This particular Mediterranean Restaurant also has a 4.5 star rating on Yelp. I thought the food would be very good but I found that the food really sucked the day I was there too.
All the food photographed well so you can’t tell how it taste.
Except for the pickle.
Would you eat this Forking pickle?
We threw out nearly all the food we purchased.
To make a long story as short as possible-
Falafels-Not Edible – Hard as rock garbanzos that seemed not to get cooked but got sort of burnt. The falafels were similar to a mouthful of rocks, pebbles and gritty mortar that was dry and sandy inside.
Baba Ghanoush – Not Edible – They must have dropped a whole large bottle of liquid smoke in it. This was so over-loaded with smoke flavoring I thought it was sour at first. It actually made me scream in the restaurant when I tasted it because it was so shocking.
Pickle-Not Edible – like from an opened can from a year ago…..also very sour. (I wouldn’t try but my husband did…..he’s a very brave man…he said it’s very sour)
Steak Shawarma – Not Edible – Might have been good before it got dried out. Like chewing on a thick nautical rope.
This is not a 4.5 Star to me.
WhyyyyyyyWhyyyyyWhy…..Eating at those places was as painful as getting clubbed in the knees
Some people make better food than other people but what kind of people serve such inedible food? ………..To me it seems like only something a child would do and not a normal person…. All kinds of people work in restaurants. I think it boils down to two kinds of people put out inedible foods. There are some people that don’t have a care on what they serve and there are also the others that don’t know how to do things better………
www.HuffingtonPost.com
www.Walsinepierce.com
Three Restaurants that score a 4.5 star average on Yelp served me inedible food this year in 2018.
That’s FORKED UP!
A 4.5 STAR AVERAGE MIGHT NOT BE WORTH A FORK!
NOTE that EVERY THING is subject to change and your experience may or MAY NOT differ……..
………and that’s The Forking Truth
******As a slight update The Mediterranean Restaurant contacted me. They claim that they don’t use smoke flavoring. They are sorry the falafels tasted burnt to me.******
We are all excited about Nashville Hot Chicken anything here so these Nashville Style HOT CHICKEN Potato chips sound mighty intriguing. I look at the bag and the ingredients. I believe these chips to be vegetarian. They are marked kosher and I don’t see any ingredient that seems like meat.
I open the bag and smell the chips.
They do have an unusual odor. Maybe something like a fryer filled with old grease and paprika.
Take a closer look at the chips.
Smaller sized chips. some are folded. Dusty on the surface. Very crisp and shattering hard.
I taste one…..Taste like spicy BBQ……with lots of paprika….with a little sweet but not too much.
These chips lack chicken flavor and have too much paprika…..I should taste mostly LOTS of cayenne, chicken and dill pickle.
Not a bad chip at all but doesn’t taste like Nashville Style Hot Chicken.
This is subjective and I note that your taste or opinion may differ.
The Chef of the Century Joel Robuchon has passed away. My favorite restaurant in Las Vegas was L’ATELIER by Joel Robuchon. It’s a casual exhibition restaurant that serves the most high end tapas plates you can ever imagine. Everything was so masterfully crafted. You have to expect the unexpected….everything is the most wonderful surprise….I don’t know if there is a future for his restaurants so I’m sharing my memories here today.
This is what it looks like inside. You sit at a bar with a view of the kitchen. Everything is black and red.
They always start you off with an Amuse Bouche.
They also give you the most amazing bread basket with French Butter.
Here are not all but many of the plates we had here.
Le Canard L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon MGM Las Vegas NV
Le Bar L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon MGM Las Vegas NV
L’Oeuf – L’Atelier MGM Las Vegas NV
L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon Las Vegas NV
The Famous Joel Robuchon Potatoes
L’Atelier MGM Las Vegas
L’Atelier de Joel Robuchon MGM las Vegas Hotel Casino
All this was from the most Stared Chef in the World!
Nashville Hot Chicken is only authentic in and is a specialty of Nashville Tennessee. Here in Phoenix you can find Nashville Style Chicken….and other Hot Chicken…….we should just call it Hot Chicken. The Chicken should be marinated, floured and fried. It needs to be sauced either before or after flouring (or breading) with what they call a dry sauce or paste. If a wet sauce is applied then IT IS NOT NASHVILLE STYLE CHICKEN according to the Nashville Hot Chicken Coalition. Nashville Hot Chicken IS HOT because the paste is suppose to be 1/3 fat (often lard) OR it can be OIL and 2/3rds cayenne pepper that gets cooked and reduced till thick. A few other seasonings are sometimes added. Nashville Hot Chicken is not just about heat as it’s is also suppose to be about flavor. Authentic places serve the chicken with dill pickles over the chicken and one-two slices of white bread under the chicken to soak up juices and flavors.
Here’s the Hot Chicken Sandwich from 6 Degrees Urban Kitchen in Scottsdale.
This sandwich was stuffed with a plump juicy marinated notable crispy chicken breast that was topped with honey hot sauce. House made pickles were tucked inside and the sandwich was served on a grilled eggy bun. (*****UPDATE***Sadly 6 Degrees Urban Kitchen has CLOSED for business since)
The Hot Chicken Slider from PNPK in North Scottsdale.
This Hot Chicken Slider is seasoned fried chicken, topped with dill pickles, slaw and spicy aioli sauce. It’s tasty….not scorching hot but hot that might be mellowed by the slaw.
Hot Chicken from Starlite BBQ in Scottsdale.
Here was a plump juicy breast and leg quarter. Both were SCRUMPTIOUS flavored chicken in a crisp HOT but delicious crust. It was just delightful with house made pickles and this really tasty whole grain mustard.
From Famous 48 in Old Town Scottsdale.
By far the most stingingly HOT! I almost couldn’t eat this one. This one had some sort of Mayonnaise applied to the chicken. This one was topped with an insanely HOT but delicious Buffalo kind of sauce with a good TANG. It topped the crunchy chicken and they gave me extra hot sauce on the side. You had to open your mouth a mile deep to eat this one as the eggy bun was extra thick and was difficult to eat… (I do note that Famous 48 was recently opened when I tried them and it’s possible this sandwich has been toned down or tweaked since to please the masses…….Another note is that Famous 48 has closed for the summer 2018. (*****UPDATE****Famous 48 closed and happened to re-open in a different location in Scottsdale) I recently tried the Famous 48 Nashville Style Chicken at a festival and it’s a completely different sandwich. It will be pictured at the bottom after the fork.
I also tried the Hot Chicken Sandwich at Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen in Phoenix. It’s a LOUISIANA Style Hot Chicken Sandwich and Not a Nashville Style…..But it’s Hot Chicken so this sandwich is included here.
Mingo’s Chicken is flavorful and very moist. The chicken coated in a seasoned Corn meal and has a much better texture than than other corm meal coated foods I’ve tried. I know it’s the best cornmeal coating I’ve ever tried. The sandwich has a generous application of Tangy Hot Sauce with a great bite. There is some shredded lettuce, tomato, pickle chips and a slathering of remoulade that is a French style of Tarter Sauce that is more detailed and complex than any I remember trying before. Old Bay dusted Fries came with the sandwich as a side.
Tried the Hot Chicken Sandwich from The Larder + The Delta in Phoenix. This was one of the milder of the Hot Chickens but WOWEEE this chicken was just DIVINE….This was the BEST of the boneless chickens in flavor, texture and juiciness. It’s tough to say but this chicken really was among the best…It had a quality about it unlike the all the others…..It was a very large amazing thigh. The coating was different. It was thin but sort of shattering crisp and caramelized. I could taste cayenne, onion and other flavors in or on the coating. The chicken was topped with an apple slaw and B&B pickles that were thick and delicious and hot sauce aioli ……This one here was off the charts!
Maybe you are curious about GENUINE Nashville Hot Chicken.
There are only SIX Restaurants that are Certified in the Nashville Hot Chicken Coalition.
They are Prince’s Hot Chicken Shack, Bolton’s Spicy Chicken and Fish, Pepper Fire Hot Chicken, Hattie B’s Hot Chicken, 400 Degrees, and Deezie’s in Murfreesboro.
Here it is! Hattie B’s Famous Hot Chicken from Nashville Tennessee.
Somebody brought me back a piece of Hattie’s Hot Chicken to try. Here it is………..
I put in the oven for 15 minutes at 350 to heat up.
This one has a strong cayenne aroma. (the most aroma of all the hot chickens I tried)
I pick it up and it’s a bit greasy. It’s not crisp but I was told even fresh made it’s not particularly crisp but better than what I had.
I tried the one that sold as hot. First bite seems very HOT (stingingly)…..I taste mostly cayenne…..followed by onion. The Chicken is very moist and flavorful…..for some odd reason it doesn’t seem that HOT to me as the first bite did. It’s just flavorful moist chicken.
These were a few of the places for Hot Chicken in Metro Phoenix pre Mrs. Chicken (soon to come…Phoenix’s first Nashville Style Hot Chicken Restaurant) (****UPDATE***Mrs Chicken did indeed open since I wrote this)
******Slight update…since I wrote this back August 2018 Monroe’s Hot Chicken has opened in February 2019 in downtown Phoenix and became the First Hot Chicken Restaurant in Phoenix. I did happened to try a few items and wrote about them but I was there opening week and read somewhere that recipes were tweaked since so I can’t describe what you might taste there today. This week (last week of April Mrs Chicken did open. I expect to try it out sometime but didn’t yet)
EVERYTHING IS SUBJECT to change and your experience may or may not differ.
Some more updates are below the FORK.
The Forking Truth
www.Hot-Chicken.com
www.Wikipedia.com
Monroe’s Hot Chicken Sandwich
Another notable Hot Chicken Sandwich I tried since was the Carolina Style Hot Chicken Sandwiches from The Root and Soul in Phoenix.
The Root and Soul
I remember that this one was among the better Hot Sandwiches of what I tried. It was a mighty tasty delicious sandwich with very juicy flavorful chicken.
A new chicken restaurant opened up in Scottsdale called The Hot Chick. I enjoyed the HOT Chick sandwich very Forking Much!
This one had tons of spice flavor, a little sweet, very scrumptious and super crunchy and juicy. This new one is close to the best! I also liked that they offer Hot Chicken on the Bone….
Famous 48 Nashville Style Chicken that I tasted this time was plump, juicy and developed with flavors. It wasn’t as spicy as last time and was a different exterior texture.
Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale AZ offers Northern Italy Style Extremely THIN DOUGH Focaccia Di Recco pictured below.
and also Pizza Rimini, also a Northern Italy specialty in four or more varieties (one extra special flavor on my visit).
The Parmigiana Pizza Rimini is pictured below.
Today I decided to ask a few questions about the pizza and focaccia…..Are they the same?
NO……
One is a focaccia and the other is a pizza.
They start out the same with the same dough……….
Both get stretched out paper thin but the focaccia gets stretched out EVEN THINNER because it’s sandwiches cheese. It’s stuffed. There is a top layer and a bottom layer.
The Pizza goes in the certified Italian Wood Oven at over 900 degrees F for a very short time.
The Focaccia goes in a regular oven in the kitchen at a much lower temperature for a much longer time.
The TASTE……YES the crust come out tasting VERY DIFFERENT!
The Focaccia almost taste like it was fried……I’m thinking that some of the oil from the Stracchino Cheese flavors both sides of the crust and the cheese is still all melty inside. It’s just really delicious! It’s so flavorful with almost cheese sauce inside the two tissue thin crusts.
You might feel different than me………..
I do think the Pizza Rimini is good…..i’d eat it anytime.
What I like about it is that is is so light…..It’s like pizza made for angels. It’s like the best diet pizza ever. You have the taste of pizza without the heaviness. You can eat half a pizza and feel like you can eat more no problem….It must be low in calories………….. The only thing I didn’t like about the Pizza Rimini was the outer ring of crust. To me it taste like burnt matzoh….. but I note the parts with cheese and sauce are yummy and don’t taste burnt.
While I enjoyed the Pizza Rimini…….it just isn’t as tasty as the Focaccia Di Recco….( TO ME!!!!!!! maybe not you?) That thing is just off the charts! It was just CRAZY YUMMY! Way more flavors that were more enjoyable to me. OH and I forgot to mention that you can add on local honey to embellish the Focaccia even a little more. A small amount of warm honey applied just adds another level to the Focaccia.
Both were good but for me (and my husband) we both preferred the Focaccia Di Recco.
www.PomoPizzeria.com
You know The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may indeed DIFFER! Just remember that!
Salt and Pepper Shakers are Food Related….after all they hold salt and pepper! Here’s a little history of some Notable and Historic to Phoenix Arizona Salt and Pepper Shakers.
Pictured above are Apple Shaped Salt and Pepper Shakers that have a Bill Johnson’s Big Apple Logo of a tuxedo Apple headed person about to serve a Plate of Barbecue to someone. There is also a 3757 Van Buren Phoenix Arizona Address under the Glaze on the Ceramic Salt and Pepper Shakers.
Bill Johnson was a celebrity who was known as an actor, stuntman and radio personality. He became a restauranteur in 1956 and hosted a radio show in his restaurant. Famous guest such as Wayne Newton, Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings were guest on his show.
Bill Johnson’s Big Apple Restaurant had a Western theme Atmosphere. The menu offered breakfast skillets, pork wings, sliders, snake bite green chili, burgers, country fried steak, burgers, a chuck wagon combo of many things, steaks, deep dish apple pies and much more.
Bill Johnson’s Big Apple Restaurants were a small local Chain in the Phoenix Area with a few locations. The last one closed in May 2015.
References
www.PhoenixNewTimes.com
www.AZCentral.com
www.localYahoo.com
Mid Century Phoenix Home Builder Staggs-Bilt built homes in Metro Phoenix from 1949 – 1973. They built around 14,000 homes. The largest clusters of the homes they built are in Westown, Northtown, Papago Parkway and New Papago Parkway. At the time these homes were considered affordable options that were smaller in size and price. These homes were mostly one level homes with carports that were built on small lots.
Pictured above are anthropomorphic Ceramic Shakers. They look like Men in overalls that read “Happy Homer” and they hold hammers. They have house shaped Cartoon heads that are cheerful looking. They stand on small bases that read STAGGS-BILT HOMES Phoenix . Arizona.
Reference www.ArizonaReport.com by David Meek.
J.B. Bayless moved to Arizona with Food Market Experience in 1917. He started a local Food Store Chain of 18 locations. The chain was sold in 1929 and a provision of the purchased stated that J.B. Bayless would not open a competition chain for a certain number of years. After some time J.B. Bayless’s son A.J……. purchased Butcher’s stores and started his own chain of Food Markets. In the 1980’s Aj’s went bankrupted and in 1993 Aj’s was acquired by Bashas’ and then Aj’s became A.J.’s Fine Foods an Upscale grocery and Specialty Store that it is today (at the time of this writing July-2018).
The Shaker set pictured above is a two piece salt and pepper shaker set. Each shaker is rectangular in shape and sits together to form a picture of the front of a J.B. Bayless Grocery Store. It appears to be very old fashioned with an antique type car possibly with a rumble seat parked in front of J.B. Bayless. On the bottom of the fronts of the Salt and Pepper Shakers reads Country Store Phoenix, Arizona.
references
www.AFMAAZ.org
www.Wikipedia.com
Here was a little of the history of some Notable Historic Phoenix Arizona Salt and Pepper Shakers.
The Forking Truth is that a Sandwich can’t be good unless it’s prepared with decent bread. I went to this new sandwich shop located somewhere in Metro Phoenix. This is a very tiny sandwich shop with a very limited menu. They sell a few cheesteak sandwiches and a few hoagies ……….It’s a very casual little tiny place. You order at the counter and they hand you your order in a take out bag. You either take out or you can dine at one of the small tables inside.
Since this restaurant newly just opened and may or may not be working the hiccups out I don’t feel the need to mention the name of this restaurant.
Both of us were excited to try this new place because they say on their website they offer authentic Philly Cheesteaks………. Well I know an authentic Philly Cheesteak can only be purchased around Philadelphia PA but I can hope for a Philadelphia Style Steak Sandwich. I also have to wonder why they call the cold sandwiches on long rolls subs?…..In Philadelphia we call those sandwiches hoagies….
Any who-
We asked about what kind of peppers we could get with the sandwiches…The owner says all they could get were pepadews and jalapeños…. my heart sort of sank when I heard that because an authentic Philadelphia Cheesesteak always has a cherry pepper option…hot, sweet or both.
Any Ways- about the peppers…..we… FOGETTABOUDIT.
We each try a Steak Sandwich. My husband tries the large Cheesesteak.
OMG This is an extremely large sandwich and it’s stuffed with a cow! Lots of tender, flavorful sliced ribeye. It’s not chopped up like a Pat’s Steak….it’s more like grilled rib eye slices more like a Geno’s Cheesesteak. It gets cooked on the grill and put face down in the sandwich and the cheese and meat melt into the roll…… I taste some of the beef and it is remarkably tender and flavorful…….But there was one problem with this almost amazing sandwich.
It’s hard to see on my husband’s sandwich but maybe a little easier to see on my sandwich.
Small Chicken Steak Sub
I just unwrapped my Chicken Steak Sub. The roll is already deteriorating. Actually the roll is dissolving. My sandwich is also overstuffed and falling apart. The squishy Arizona type bread is not able to cradle a Chicken Steak Sandwich. It’s like a BIG FAT Elephant was squeezed into a tiny dress made of wet paper towels. This is a Forking Mess. Everything is falling apart all over.
IT’S A SHAME…….because……..
Believe it or not that this would be a really great sandwich if it was just made with decent bread. The chicken was really so tender and so juicy…It was actually better than the thin sliced chicken you’d get in most chicken steak sandwiches. This chicken was juicy and flavorful.
Both sandwiches could have been very good sandwiches if only they were made with decent bread.
I know it’s difficult in the Phoenix Area to get decent bread….but it’s not impossible.
I can’t help but wonder if the owners tried a few of these sandwiches before opening up a restaurant and selling them?
I wish this new place the best of luck as they have tons of potential for being a great steak sandwich shop if they just find better bread.
As a slight update…..The owner is aware about the bread problem and is looking around for another source for the bread.
The Forking Truth is that a Sandwich can’t be good unless it’s made with Decent Bread.
Everything is subject to change (and here I hope it does) so your experience may or may not differ.
There has been some hype on the internet about the release of Private Label Wines being released under the Winemaker Name from Walmart. The majority of the wines cost around $11.00 or slightly more. But the kicker is that in most of the articles about this wine they say the wine buyer from Walmart claimed that these wines drink like a $30.00 – $40.00 bottle.
Like anyone else that enjoys wine I was really pumped to try this wine and see what I thought. I didn’t see the wine at one Walmart but the following week I found a bottle of Winemaker Red Blend at my local Walmart Grocery. It’s made in Italy with Italian Grapes.
Today a week latter I forgot what the aroma was like…….sorry.
I swirled it.
It had slight legs.
I sip some.
ummmmmmm
It taste mostly of burnt wood.
It taste like no frills orange juice with lots of burnt wood with added baby aspirin.
Zero body in the mouth. It feels like water.
It’s difficult to swallow.
I’ll give it a generous 1.5 star rating out of five for the $10.97 price point.
NOT WORTH A FORK!
I do note it is a possibility my local store mishandled the wine as I have in the past many times purchased spoiled or out of date grocery from my local Walmart Grocery Store and other stores.
Corn from my local Walmart Grocery Store
Apples from my local Walmart Grocery Store
I called up Knudsen and they told me the thing I see in the cottage cheese is fungus from being mishandled from my local Walmart Grocery Store
Your results can possibly differ but I doubt it.
Those were my Forking Thoughts on Walmart’s Winemakers Selection Red Blend Wine.
