Maybe you didn’t get your fix of fried fish yet? You might not be aware that there is a lot of fish frying in Metro Phoenix. Here’s a collection of some of the fried fish I tried in Metro Phoenix in no particular order.

I never went to a Long John Silver’s before….I thought maybe it might be similar to the old time Arthur Treacher’s from before they got sold and went down hill several decades back. WOW this was awful. It had an old oil taste to it. The fish actually tasted frozen….I offered a piece to my dog Louie and poor old Louie spit it out…..he really was a foodie.  I felt I committed doggie abuse by offering him this fish. My other dog isn’t as picky and ate the spit out fish.

Tim Finnegan’s Irish Restaurant and Pub makes one of the best Fish and Chips I’ve tried here. The batter was shattering crisp and the mild tasting fish was meaty.

Here’s a Fried Cod and Salmon Combo from Oscar’s Pier 83 in Glendale AZ. Fried Salmon is maybe too rich for me to be fried….Somehow Fried Salmon is so buttery it’s almost like eating fried avocado. The Cod was better…..I usually get the broiled fish here but their speciality is the fried fish and they do Fried Fish better.

Here’s Fried Walleye from Jim Michael’s in Sun City.

You can also get Fried Walleye from Q Bar and Grill in Peoria AZ.

I got this Fried Walleye from Scottsdale Beer Company in Scottsdale AZ. I liked the flavor of the batter but coating was soft and bread-ee……I have a preference for shattering crisp batter. But I have to add that they gave me a big meaty Walleye.

This Fried Walleye came from TapHouse Kitchen. I hit them when a new cook must have been on because all the batter on the fish went soggy. I think maybe the fries steamed the batter on the fish here and made it soggy.

The Mexican Fish Sandwich from Rocket Burger is very tasty…..They don’t use high quality fish but all the the zesty slaw and Rocket sauce are so delicious. It just turns into a yummy sandwich.

It’s really sad that they can teach a dumb teenager at a fast food restaurant such as Culver’s to make shattering crisp battered fish better than at from some restaurants.

I had a whole Fried Perch at La Barquita in Phoenix AZ. The fish looks very big but I think I only got maybe two ounces of fish to eat……

The most surprising really great Fried Fish came from Original Cuisine in Mesa AZ.

I always thought I didn’t like the texture and taste of Catfish. It more slimy than other fish and usually muddy tasting. But in the right hands of someone from Original Cuisine they turned a Catfish into a feast for two!. It was almost like eating incredibly spicy mouth numbing fried chicken. The fish was very meaty and had a very crisp crunchy skin.

Another one of the best Fried Fish I tried came from Ocotillo in Phoenix.

This one is a little different. Here is Meaty Sweet Cod that’s Panko Coated. The fries were also delicious and were seasoned with seaweed and sea salt.

That was some of the Fried Fish I tried in Metro Phoenix.

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

 

It’s not my intention to bring negative attention towards this particular restaurant in Metro Phoenix. But on the other hand I do tell The FORKING Truth so here it is. If you read my reviews you will be able to figure out what restaurant this happened at. I can only hope that I hit them on a bad day………..because last time the food and service was wonderful.

Tonight we were seated on the patio. I noticed the meatballs I had last time were discontinued and I went with another variety that I also wanted to try – The Eggplant Parmesan Balls. Doesn’t that sound yummy? It sounds delicious to me….I wondered how’d they would make them. I wondered if they’d have a cheesy molten center…..Or maybe they’d be wrapped in a blanket of melted cheese………I ordered the Eggplant Balls in the spicy arrabiatta sauce I enjoyed last time and tried the stuffed gnocchi that also sounded really interesting to me……

Our meals arrived by a food jockey or runner. (Not Our Server) We wait and wait and nobody offers us cheese for our meals….My husband gets up and walks to the other end of the patio to someone who is carrying around cheese to come to our table and we get some.

I notice my gnocchi are sitting in a lot of oil…… At home I make gnocchi too and I also coat them in oil because it adds a nice flavor (if your using quality oil) and also keeps the gnocchi from sticking together…but this is too much oil. I don’t want to eat all this oil….It’s too much oil for a person to eat…so I try to blot off each gnocchi.

They are indeed stuffed with spinach and cheese but they have a strange texture. It’s hard to explain but better gnocchi are suppose to be soft and light and when made correctly melt in your mouth. These are soft in a different way…….I’m not sure what happened here…I’m thinking the potatoes used were too wet or maybe the gnocchi are just over cooked.

The sauce doesn’t taste like the DELICIOUS Spicy Arrabiatta sauce I had last time. The sauce is still good but I’m thinking it might be regular marinara sauce….It isn’t spicy at all.

Now I go for an Eggplant Parmesan Ball….to me it sounds like it should be breaded eggplant with melted cheese.

It’s very mushy…… 🙁 with tough eggplant skin…..:( and it FORKING COLD in the center! Maybe it isn’t even cooked all the way??? …I know when I cook eggplant at home the skin (if I use it) is always soft……

WTFORK this sucks…….

I got mushy pasta and mushy balls in a very oily sauce and tough chewy eggplant skin.

I’m very hungry because I only had a salad at lunch……so I manage to eat one of the three mushy not good balls……My husband asks me to try a second ball because last time one of the meatballs differed from the other two….No such luck this time number two is also mushy with tough eggplant skin and COLD in the center. ………..

Our waitress didn’t bother to check on us…….after we were done someone acting as a manager does ask us how things were and if I’d like my leftovers wrapped up

……I told her that I didn’t want my leftovers wrapped up and then we tell her why ………

Sauce is not the same as last time and isn’t spicy.

Nobody offered us cheese.

Eggplant balls were mushy and were served with cold centers. They didn’t even taste good.

I didn’t say anything about the pasta…..I think maybe it was just over cooked.

We were offered a complimentary dessert that we turned down so we paid and left.

That’s how it went this time.

Every FORKING THING EVERYWHERE is subject to change and your experience or MY EXPERIENCE may or may not differ.

 

 

 

Popbar is located in Westgate in Peoria AZ. This is a small casual dessert eatery. They specialize in frozen confections in several mixtures that you can customize. They offer Pops in Gelato, Sorbetto, Sandwich Style, Yogurt Pops, Treats and More!

So many bars…..What to pick? I know I don’t want a Yogurt Bar………Not that it’s bad or anything like that ……….but to me Yogurt isn’t fun as Gelato or Sorbetto. Gelato bars in many flavors….some are pistachio, hazelnut, peanut butter, green tea, coconut and many more. Some of the gelato flavors are pineapple, peach, mango, lemon, blood orange, apricot…….I decide to go with Passionfruit Sorbetto.

I think they offered 5 or 6 dips and mostly different nut toppings. Now I pick white chocolate dip and milk chocolate.

My husband got Pistachio Gelato coated in milk chocolate and pistachios.

WOW!  The Passionfruit is FORKING AMAZING! The Flavor is very strong and very true to the way a passionfruit taste. The chocolate coating are on the thick side but seem ok. The Pop melts in my mouth pretty well.  The Pistachio is ok……not as true as the passionfruit but ok. The Pistachio Gelato is slightly harder than I want it to be……It doesn’t melt as well…you have to eat it. The Passionfruit just melts in your mouth and it as delicious as a fresh passionfruit.

The Passionfruit Pop was so Forking Good I doubt that I’ll ever get to try any of the other flavors.

www.pop-bar.com

That was my trip to Popbar in Peoria AZ.

Every FORKING thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

 

 

Devour Culinary Classic is an annual two day sold out event that is considered to be the premier culinary event of Arizona. Unlike other culinary events across the country that offer celebrity chefs Devoured is uniquely Arizonian and only features our local culinary elites.

2018 is a big year for change. No longer is this event hosted at the Phoenix Art Museum. Devoured has now moved to bigger grounds at the Desert Botanical Gardens. Bigger grounds are suppose to offer more people the opportunity to attend the annual sold out event and this is a bigger venture to offer more things…..Will it be bigger? Are more people attending? I know this annual event always sells out and it did again months ago so I do have to wonder……I also got informed that there is limited parking…..

That worries me…WTFork do I do if I don’t get a parking spot…..leave? I always had a place to park at or near the Art Museum……If you can’t park at the Botanical Garden there is nothing near by except for the zoo and if you park there it’s a few mile walk. in the desert with the brutal Arizona Sun.

Way back when I attended Devoured back in 2012 it only cost me $45.00 for each of the two days if I purchased my tickets in advance for general admission. Today in 2018 the same two general admission tickets has rocketed to a whopping $210.00 and if you times that by two it cost a couple $420.00 for two days of general admission. That’s a great deal of money so I’m only doing one day this year.

This year the tickets were broke down into THREE price ranges with no discounts.

general admission “tasting package” $105.00 per day

connoisseur package (1 hour early admission) $155.00 per day

VIP package (1 hour early, VIP gift bag and special VIP tastings and cocktails) $205.00 per day

Everyone ($105. $155. & $205. ticket holders) gets admission, access to Hensley/Quench Beverage Garden, access to chef demos, passport, wine glass, yolk, lift discount.

Connoisseur ($155.) also gets lift discount plus, admission to heritage food experience, admission to AZ Beverage experience.

The VIP’s ($205.) get all of above plus

One hour early admission, VIP access to Chef Welcome Beverage Service, Early admission and reserved seats to Heritage Foods Service & AZ Beverage Experience, VIP Swag Bag, Collector Pin, Reserved Parking & Lyft discount plus.

Parking was unorganized. They directed us to an already filled parking lot so we just found a spot ourselves.

We get paper wrist bands and wait in line. I look at the wines offered and most are not well known wines. I used to enjoy Merry Edwards wine at Devoured for years……Merry Edwards is a well made wine…..even the lower end Merry Edwards was awesome. ($38-$65). I recognize Marietta a $10.00 bottle that’s ok some years. I didn’t drink any wine today…….I don’t want to make myself sick……(well here anyway)

A one man band person entertains us while we wait to get in. It seems we got this instead of the nice reception room with goodies we used to enjoy……Gone is the reception room for general admission. Three years back you could stuff yourself silly in the reception room if you wanted to…..they have been cutting back on that but it was still something to look forward too.

The clock strikes 11:30 and we get to go in.

Tammy Coe – Cake

Pe’la – Shrimp Grain Bowl

Worth- Cuban Sandwich, Cocktail and Banana Pudding

District American Kitchen – Corn Pudding Avocado Mousse, Mole dusted Meringue and Waffle, bacon bourbon Ice Cream, apple butter compote, maple cotton candy, caramelized white chocolate pecan bark…Woof! This was among the better that I tried.

I think one of the most memorable (in a good way) dishes I tried came from Artisan. The Smoked Broth Congee with Mesquite smoked black garlic, chicken, spicy daikon and dehydrated onion was so interesting that I actually forget most of all the other things I tried. Artisan also served Indian Spiced hot shrimp.

Different Point of View – Duck Two Ways over Corn Cakes.

I didn’t try the Pibil  Tostada from Mi Catering but my husband said the salsa on the tostada was exceptional.

I didn’t come back to try the noodles from Red Thai but I did try the Chewy Pounded Rice Noodle in Spicy Ginger Sauce. (sorry I forgot to photo)

My husband enjoyed this Pork Belly Dish from House of Tricks.

Gluten free pasta from the Parlor.

The Larder & The Delta – Pork Tamale

Sel – Pork Taco in steamed Bun.

Crujiente Tacos – Short Rib with Szechuan Sauce.

Clever Koi – Szechwan Chicken Feet and a Duck Dish.

Becket’s Table – Eggy Bread stuffed with Creamy Shrimp and Peanut Butter Topped Chocolate Cake.

Handlebar Diner – Crusted Green Chile Ice Cream and Sweet Corn Cake. This was interesting!

Green – Vegetarian (or Vegan?) Burger and fried potato strings.

Scallop and Short Rib Dish from Windsor

Federal Pizza – Chicken Parm  (?)

This section is really crowed.

Sweet Republic ran out of Ice Cream before 1:00  🙁      🙁     🙁    🙁   🙁    🙁      ;(

Sweets from Nutwhats

Wigwam – Lamb Belly

Hawaiian Ahi Poke Taco and Mongolian Beef Bowl from Hulas and then we left. Only one dish pictured here made me gag……It was awful…..most were good a few were exceptional……..There were several restaurants missing from the general admission ticket that were moved up to the VIPS. Devoured is different now. I would recommend going if you can swing the VIP Admission. But they cut back on the General Admission so much I doubt I will attend again.

That was most of the General Admission Experience for Sunday Day Two of Devour Culinary Classic for 2018.

The weather for Devour 2018 was the best we ever had. It wasn’t too hot and it wasn’t rainy either…….The surroundings were lovely but……………..

Between the higher cost and getting much less for General Admission compared to past years I don’t think I’ll be attending Devour in the future.