Memorable can be wonderful, or different or even bad. This is a collection about the foods I had out in Metro Phoenix AZ Restaurants over 2016 that I remember most. I warn you that it wasn’t all negative or all positive because I tell TheForkingTruth. You know that in life there is no Ying without Yang…No light unless you have dark…Maybe no God without the Devil….I just tell The Forking Truth! I do note that every experience in a restaurant may differ so you may or may not experience the same. In the beginning of the year some of the Forking  doozies started…. and here are some……..

Filipina  Bakeshop and Restaurant is a very much loved restaurant in the area for Philippine Food. I enjoyed a nice meal there but dessert was another story.  I read in a local publication that the baked goods are expectational too. As my luck would have it on the day of my visit both tarts I tried were hard as rocks. Trying to eat them was impossible as I couldn’t even stick a fork threw them and that was memorable. My husband actually wrestled with them to get them to crack. They were almost as hard as cement. We did bring the tarts to the attention of the owner and he said that nothing was wrong with the tarts…and they just needed to be heated up. Afterwards he did bring edible tarts.

Sadly Inde Fusion is no more. The atmosphere was great and they had so much potential. Some things I tried there were very good….but…..The Fondant dessert they served me wasn’t a molten lava cake like a Fondant is known to be…..Instead they served me a forking lump of fondant icing. I will NEVER forget that and it was memorable.

The Nosh accidentally served my husband the wrong burger and he sent it back. (big mistake)….Instead of preparing a new burger they recycled the old burger leaving behind some residue and serving a dried out burger. I’ll never forget how mad my husband got and we never went back. I note that they were newly opened and might not be recycling burgers anymore.

One of the biggest and most memorable plates I tried came from Azteca Estilo DF.  It was the biggest and best folded quesadilla called a Machete I ever had stuffed with Huitacoche and was only $7.99. Look at the fork on the platter. Not only was it humongous but it was delicious filled with a delicacy of Huitacoche also called Mexican Truffles. This one Machete can feed 2-3 people and it did.

The Shaved Truffles with Prunes are what dreams are made of…….from Binkley’s. This plate will blow anyone’s mind.

The Organ at Organ Stop Pizza is the biggest or one of the biggest Wurlitzer Organs in the country and the whole restaurant is filled with it. This photo only shows you about 1/10 of the organ. The music I heard was amazing. The pizza is ok. The Music made the food memorable.

I will never forget pulling out a silicon like object from my mouth from a dessert at The Vic Bar and Grill. Now THAT was memorable! Forking memorable!

One of the Best Meals of the year I had came from Tratto Restaurant as everything was superb. Everything was perfect.

Most interesting Salad came from Barrio Gran Reserva.  A very complex salad that hit everywhere in your mouth. I tasted bold flavors and ingredients I never tasted before. It was very memorable and delicious.

 

WOW! Best Sandwich I “Discovered” this year was at The Boulders in The Discovery Lounge. The  Boulder’s Chef battled Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay on  Food Network TV and beat Bobby Flay with this “Bobby Slayer” Steak Torta Sandwich. It’s worth the trip just for this sandwich as it was FORKING GREAT! It was a great big sandwich that we split and it was filled with Skirt Steak, Oaxacan Chiles, Crispy Chicken Skin, Avocado Creama and Cabbage. I never imagined I’d eat a sandwich like that but It was Forking Awesome!

I love the idea of the Chicken Scoop Restaurant that’s an all Chicken Salad Restaurant. The food did taste good that I tried but all the chicken salads I tried seemed whipped and smooth without chunks. More like chicken spreads……..I am not used to chicken salad being prepared that way so it seemed very odd to me and I keep thinking about it.

Quiessence served some of the most amazing bites I tried this year. The first three courses of the tasting menu truthfully were astonishingly great!……..

It was a night of mostly astonishingly great food, that mostly all came with corn and an covered cooked and salted dinner.

Kitchen West offers an incredible menu that’s interesting and unique. We started out with a mushroom flatbread where the mushrooms on top were forgotten and the provolone cheese was missing but replaced with a spreadable cheese. We did inform the manager and she brought us the mushrooms we were missing and kindly took the appetizer off our bill. The appetizer was a bit of a miss and I thought we were done with misses but I was wrong……I was looking forward to  an amazing salad that contained Amazing Ingredients such as fiddlehead ferns, pickled blueberries (got blueberries but they didn’t seem pickled), candied sunflower seeds and more. I didn’t get ingredients promised for the salad. At this point I felt cheated but more bummed out because I was looking forward to those things. I also received what seemed like a piece of leftover overcooked salmon with albumin formation that was slightly reheated. Then I really felt cheated……That was Forking memorable like a bad dream. I’ll  never forget that.

Had a wonderful dinner at Christopher’s Bar and Crush Lounge. Every single plate was incredible. Techniquely perfect and delicious. The plate in the picture even has an edible spoon that contains cheese for the expertly prepared house smoked salmon. The dessert was amazing and the one I enjoyed most this whole year. It was Lemon Tart with Berry sauce with a side of Lemony Lime Ice in an edible basket..just sublime……(insert angels singing here)

Best Baba Ghanoush and shawarma I tried in Metro Phoenix so far came from Kitchen 18. This is what eggplant dip is suppose to taste like. I haven’t tasted any other Baba Ghanoush out at any other restaurant that even comes close. It’s creamy, there is a taste of smoke, Tahini and lemon are accents to perfectly prepared eggplant.  Baba Ghanoush should be mostly eggplant that’s double or triple cooked. I note that I haven’t been everywhere (not to many places in Tempe or Mesa) in Metro Phoenix for Mediterranean Food but I have been to many places in Glendale and Phoenix and for sure all the Mediterranean was very above average but the Baba Ganoush was so great that it earns a shout out. The other items I tried were all solid and the chicken shawarma was the best I tried too!

The Dessert from Match Cuisine certainly was among one of the best of the year. It certainly was the most detailed dessert I had all year and it was interesting and tied together with a chocolate mole sauce. It was a work of art that was interesting and different!

Tang Dynasty is a newly opened restaurant that made the best Sichuan style food I tasted in a LONG time. This Sichuan Style Beef with lettuce was amazing. I so wanted to scoop out the beef and eat on a roll like a steak sandwich… It was that great!

Taj Mahal sure makes a killer Chicken Biryani and a tasty Fish Vindaloo. The owner claims his Masala is the best you can get anywhere….and people do drive two hours for it. This was overall the best Indian food I had this year.

CC’s Mesquite Grill makes REALLY delicious Mesquite prepared meats but the sides of  beans and rice were weak like they didn’t come from the restaurant. The atmosphere is very unusual. More strange than my photo shows….Like sea shore graffiti and weird objects are glued to walls…. All together it’s memorable.

Sonata’s serves Eastern European and Lithuanian foods I tried the most complex and BEST pirogies I ever had in my life and maybe the tastiest Filet I ever had. Mostly everything I tried at Sonata’s was incredible.

Fat Ox is a newly opened restaurant that serves Modern Italian Food. They did serve one of the best plates I tried this year and it was hand made pastas that contained butternut squash.

It was so flavorful and so detailed. It was a light bite that was gone in minutes but it was amazing and memorable. It had everything going on with it.

This was a collection of what was most memorable to me from Metro Phoenix Restaurants that I visited over the 2016 year.

 

 

 

It’s no secret that in metro Phoenix AZ we often pick up expired foods and less than perfect produce at the supermarket. I doubt in ten years I ever picked up a perfect bag of potatoes from any supermarket since I moved here. I don’t do all my shopping at any one store but I was really floored when I came across all this fresh produce from the 99cent store this particular week. Don’t get the wrong impression I do note it doesn’t roll this way all the time. I came back a few weeks later and had nothing to throw in my cart so it’s Feast or Famine.

I’m embarrassed to admit that I find the produce from my local 99cent Store superior (sometimes) and cheaper than produce from my local Walmart Grocery Store. I note that I don’t know if all Walmart stores are like my local store or if it’s just my luck the one by me is the way it is.

This day I got a grocery cart full of produce for less than $20.00. Here’s my list of what I picked up for 99cents each and a rough guess to what the same amount of produce would cost like from a budget supermarket like Walmart.

At the 99CENT store these were only 99cents each………

8 limes about $2.00

3 lb bag oranges about $3.00

7 pears about $3.00

1 lb jalapeños about $1.00

5 lb Idaho potatoes about $3.00

3 lb red potatoes about $2.00

3 lbs pasilla chile peppers about $5.00

bag scallions about $1.30

5oz peeled garlic about $1.00

5oz peeled garlic about $1.00

10 oz bag shallots about $1.50

1 lb campari tomatoes about $3.00

1 lb sweet rainbow mini bell peppers about $3.00

1 lb radishes about $1.30

bag cilantro with 3 bunches about $2.25

1 smaller watermelon about $3.00

1 XL head cauliflower about $5.00

1 XL package of mixed greens about $5.00

All this produce at a place like Walmart might have cost me around $46.35…It would cost several dollars more from most of the other Supermarkets that I can shop at and it wouldn’t be any fresher (this day). I can’t even guess what AJ’s Fine Foods would sell it for….maybe double of Walmart’s Price.

All this produce from the 99 CENT Store cost me $17.82

Besides produce dry goods and canned foods the 99cent Store sells meats, wine and lots of snack food here dry goods, frozen foods, health and beauty items, house goods, houseware, things for kids and pets and party and seasonal items. I haven’t had the best experience with the $2.99 wine here but your experience may differ….so I can’t recommend wine from the 99cent store. I do have to draw the line with buying meat and fish here……I just can’t do it……Occasionally one can find find East Coast Brands of food here. Like Hellman’s Mayonnaise,  Breakstone’s Cottage Cheese and the real gem is Temptee Brand Whipped Cream Cheese. I don’t go too much for flavored yogurts but they do usually have a great selection of name brand flavored yogurts that are much cheaper than from any supermarket.

Now don’t get the wrong impression……..The 99cent store is HIT and MISS….You can’t count on getting what I did every week as I visited a few weeks later and the produce bonanza seemed to have evaporated and vanished into thin air.

About half the residents in Arizona are Mexican so it’s normal to come across Mexican Foods at the dollar store. I found Mexican Sauces, Cheeses and snacks in the refrigerated section. And….

Zombie Habanero Cucumber Flavored Corn Tortilla Snacks.

Roasted Chile Flavored Potato Chips.

Other snacks I came across was a Name Brand Healthy sort of snack food.

This bag of name brand Rice and Adzuki Bean Snack Chips goes for around Three dollars at Sprouts Grocery.

I came across these popped Edamame Chips…Betcha they came from Whole Foods and might have cost $3.99 there….YUP I sure bought these….only made from Rice Flour, Edamame, Safflower oil, Cane Syrup and Sea Salt….Those are quality ingredients…..no chemicals……Take back the $3.99… these might have been among the really expensive at Whole Foods…like $8.99…and don’t expire into many months of next year…???????? Don’t know WTFork they’re here…..? You do find some gems now and then at the 99cent Store.

Sometimes you come across very strange things at the 99cent store. On this visit I came across the strangest Kiwi Fruit I have ever seen in my life.

Aren’t they strange?…. They look very abnormal……..Each fruit weighs one half a pound….Now these I am afraid of……Are they radio-active?…..this fruit is just too strange.

You Never Forking Know WTFork You’ll Find at the 99cent Store. It can be Feast or Famine.