Carolina’s is a family owned group of four Mexican Restaurants that are considered to be a staple of Phoenix. The original location has been in business since 1968. This restaurant might be most famous for their daily made fresh flour tortillas.

Some of the other offerings are breakfast burritos, 16 combo platters, burros, chimi’s, tacos, tostados, tamales, a children’s menu, soft beverages, and more.

This is a casual restaurant.

You order and pay at the counter, grab a number, and seat yourself.

We started out by sharing a cheese quesadilla.

The flour tortilla is really great. It’s light and thin and melts in your mouth. The cheese adds a little something to it…….I think I should have ordered a fried jalapeño because that would have been tasty here.

I tried three different tacos. They came wrapped up like this.

Potato taco, shredded chicken taco, and a shredded beef taco with sides of guacamole, green salsa, and hot sauce.

The meats are both finely shredded and are tender. The taco shells are good and tasty and were fresh fried to order…….I don’t know if my visit is typical or maybe I hit them on an off day but the potato taco and the beef taco are both flavorless. Only the chicken taco today is infused with flavors. The beef taco and the potato taco are better when you add the green salsa to them. The green salsa is actually very good and full of flavors. I thought that the hot sauce had a taste that is similar to tabasco sauce.

My husband tried the burro 3 way combo platter.

The burro is 3 way because in the middle are beans and on one end is stewed beef in a red chili sauce and on the other end is beef in green chili sauce. The platter comes with Mexican style rice and refried beans. He said that the beef in red sauce was very good……but the green chili side was next to meatless.

Summing things up….From the Glendale location

Get the shredded chicken

Get the beef red chili

Get the green salsa

Take out some flour tortillas

That was my trip to Carolina’s Greenway Location in Glendale AZ

5920 W Greenway RD Glendale AZ

623-878-6277

www.CarolinasMexicanFood,com

Every THING is subject to change.

Artichoke Basille’s Pizza is a New York Based Pizzeria with less than twenty locations in the country. I went to one of their newest locations in North Phoenix Arizona at Desert Ridge Marketplace by the entertainment center.

The entrance is on the side of the building.

Inside are plenty of tabes and they have a wrap around patio. The bar has 16 beer taps and has indoor and outdoor seating.

They offer starters that are found on many pizza restaurant menus like garlic knots, bruschetta, and salads. They also offer meatball sandwiches, chicken parm sandwich or entree, a few calzones, a few pastas and of course PIZZA!

I read I think on Eater Phoenix that if you are a foodie that you MUST try the artichoke pizza. That is why we went here. Pizzas come in 16inch ($33.) 22inch ($44.) and slices (average price $6.) Prices are subject to change.

Between us we tried four different slices.

All the slices are larger servings.

We noticed that the crust differed some. Some crusts were also thicker than others but the crust did taste the same. The crust doesn’t taste very fermented.

I think we hit them on an off day………..Or maybe when someone new was cooking….

The pepperoni and the Staten Island (meatball, red onion, ricotta, mozzerella, grana padano, sauce) Both had a thin cracker like crust.

The Staten Island slice also wasn’t heated up much and was barely warm.

The Artichoke pizza could have been better………

My slice tasted mostly like cream of spinach soup with hardly any artichokes.

It also was burnt on the bottom.

We both thought that the best tasting slice was the vodka pizza.

The vodka slice did have delicious flavors to it. This slice is made with smooth tomatoes, vodka cream sauce and a blend of Italian cheeses. Unfortunately my slice had a raw center.

That was my trip to Artichoke Basille’s Pizza

21001 N Tatum BLVD PHX AZ

www.artichokepizza.com

A phone number is not listed on their website.

Every THING is subject to change.

Tia Carmen is a high quality contemporary sort of Southwest type of restaurant located in the JW Marriott in Desert Ridge that is in North Phoenix Arizona. The Kitchen is led by Michelin Star Chef, restauranteur, and Bravo Top Chef Master Angelo Sosa.

It’s airy and modern inside.

Not all but many of the dishes we tried at Tia Carmen are pictured below. Some dishes are seasonal and are not currently on the menu and a few were from a special event.

But really everything is amazing. This restaurant offers many FANTABULOUS dishes with bold layers of flavors. Some dishes are spicy but not burn your mouth out spicy. Tia Carmen offers something for every taste. The tuna crudo below is what I would call the best dish I tasted anywhere for 2022 and in 2023 it is just as amazing.

tri tip kababs – sesame leaf, pickled onion, serrano chile, Thai basil

fingerlings -bone marrow, manchego cheese, garlic aioli – Really great!

brussels sprouts – manchego cheese, juniper berry crumble -YUM!

Astonishing Foods!

Worth a Fork!

Some of the FORKING ASTONISHING Food from

Tia Carmen at JW Marriott Desert Ridge Phoenix AZ

5350 E Marriott Dr PHX AZ

480-293-3636

www.TiaCarmenDesertRidge.com

Everything is subject to change.

Rosso Italian is an Italian Restaurant located in downtown Phoenix Arizona. This restaurant is a new addition to the Pomo Restaurant Group. They offer a nice modern atmosphere and indoor-outdoor bar area that is dog friendly.

The dining area is a mix of traditional tables and booths.

On the current menu are appetizers like meatball pizzaola, bruschetta trio, creamy polenta short rib. They also offer salads and soup, hand made pastas, Pomo pizzas, and three entrees that were – grilled salmon, roasted chicken, and pork chop Milanese.

We started out by sharing the beet salad.

It contained red and gold beets (some red ones are chips), romaine, frisee, little dots of whipped goat cheese, radicchio, pistachios, citrus vinaigrette.

We also shared the spaghetti cacio and pepe.

It’s made with five varieties of roasted peppercorns and pecorino Romano cheese. Each bite does taste different. Some bites for sensitive people might contain too much pepper.

I tried the grilled wild salmon.

It came with grilled romanesco and fregola sardo. It was slightly over cooked. Both the server and manager offered a replacement.

My husband tried the pork chop Milanese.

It was a breaded pounded pork chop with mixed greens, a grilled orange wedge and citrus vinaigrette.

I was too full for dessert but I did want to see the dessert menu.

They probably offer desserts but our server was the type that didn’t want to sell any. Perhaps you will get a different server.

Rosso Italian – Newly Opened

ROSSO ITALIAN – 2 E Jefferson St PHX AZ 602-218-6001

www.RossoItalian.com

Every THING is subject to change.