Authentic Ethio African Restaurant is located in Phoenix Arizona. They are a small but full service Ethiopian restaurant and bar.

We were going to try one of the appetizers called sambusa (pastries stuffed with lentils, beef, or chicken)……not ready yet for today so we went for our main digs. We tried the sampler plates….We tried one vegetarian sampler plate. and one meat sampler plate.

We had around 10 choices of vegetable dishes to pick from.

To try anything you have to use the spongy injera bread to pick things up with your hands. In the middle of the plate is a little salad.

We tried-

(top left) Yesuf Fit Fit – butter squash or pumpkin, garlic, ginger, spicy berbere – This one was our mutual favorite on this plate. It was delicious, wild with flavors and and heat. This was the only vegetable side that was served hot. The others seemed like room temperature.

(top right) Keyser – beets, potatoes, garlic ginger …not bad …tasty

(bottom left) Ater Kik – yellow split peas mild turmeric sauce, garlic, ginger – tasty

(bottom right) – Gomen – mustard greens, onion garlic, ginger….WOW…Bright, Strong, Bitter…….Good in small amounts….It breaks all the other flavors up.

You don’t pick the meats for the meat sampler plate.

At the top of the meat sampler plate was the Doro Wat with Hard Egg (Onion Stew and Berbere spiced chicken).

Middle of the plate was house made cottage cheese.

(bottom left) Sega Wot Beef Stew – ginger, garlic, onion, some berbere

(bottom right) Gomen Besga collard greens with beef

My favorite of the bunch was the doro wat…The chicken was tender, developed with LOTS of flavors and it was spicy and delicious. The Sega Wot was good too but I just enjoyed the doro wat much more. The Gomen Besga was for an inquired taste.

I must mention that the hot tea is special and is very delicious here.

I also must mention that you come here when you have a couple spare hours to spend.

They only have one person cooking and one person serving so things take time.

When you go out to any restaurant you will like some things better than other things.

You can park to the side of the restaurant or behind the restaurant.

Worth a Try!

Authentic Ethio African Restaurant

1740 E McDowell Rd PHX AZ

623-404-9907

www.AuthenticEthioAfrican.com

Everything is subject to change.

Food Trucks from all over the valley are now flocking to Glendale Arizona for Food Truck Fridays West. It was free admission with easy close parking. There also was close to twenty food trucks to pick from. It’s almost like going to restaurants….Some are great, some suck, and a lot are in-between.

We were looking forward to trying Le Chef. They offer a lot of seafood dishes and some Mexican tacos. They also have a food truck in Cozumel Mexico so I was thinking that their tacos would be amazing because the tacos I ate on my visits to Mexico were most of the best tacos that I have tried anywhere.

Maybe they weren’t into the groove yet? The steak taco was too chewy, The shrimp taco was missing the guajillo sauce but had something more like mayonnaise on it, and the fish taco was so strong that it could do push ups….and also was dumped with an accidental lethal DUMP of salt.

Le Chef

602-814-1304

www.LeChefCozumel.com

My husband can eat more than me and also tried Cheese E Wagon for a Philly Steak.

I tried just a little taste of the meat. It was tender but was surprised that it was almost free of onions. I asked about the bread….They use the squishy style Arizona bread and they don’t offer cherry peppers. (everyone that we went to in Philly offers cherry peppers) …Not Philly to us but an OK sandwich.

www.CheeseWagon.Co

215-868-5484

Tried Bulgogi at Flippin’ Rice. They are a Filipino and Asian Fusion Food Truck.

There is a soft runny egg on the top accented with a little seaweed and sesame seeds. Most of the bulgogi is tender. Some of it is hard and crispy. For me it’s a little too soy sauce forward but the kimchi is very good. The seasoned rice is tasty.

www.FippinRice.com

480-244-6102

Our favorite of the bunch was the amazing chicken sandwich from the Screaming Hot Chicken Truck by Mingo’s Louisiana Kitchen Truck Food Family. They offer a few different chicken sandwiches with fries and chicken strips.

The FORKING Truth is that we ordered their Nashville Hot Chicken Sandwich but they gave us their Louisiana Hot Chicken Sandwich. Well that’s what they gave us so we ate it. I already know that it is very good because I had it before. The truth is that it really is even better than I remember. Juicy, perfectly cooked crispy chicken with all kinds of delicious spices and heat play around here. with creamy fresh crispy slaw and soft rich eggy bread to cool things down with a little kick of pickle and (pretty good for) spiced crinkle fries on the side. It was so great that I can’t be mad at them for giving us the wrong sandwich. Maybe we will get to try again?

www.MingosLouisianaKitchen.com

480-540-7872

That was a little taste of food trucks in Phoenix AZ

Le Chef, Cheese E Wagon, Flippin’ Rice, and Screaming Hot Chicken by Mingo’s

Everything is subject to change.

Angry Chickz is a Nashville Style Chicken fast food chain from California that just opened their first Arizonian location in North Glendale Arizona also known as the upper west side of Metro Phoenix.

They use chicken tenders and they come in SIX different varieties of heat from – no heat up to – sign a waver.

Then after you decide what heat…. Then you might go for one of the combos.

Combo #1 – 2 sliders, slaw, pickles, fries

Combo #2 – 2 tenders on white bread, pickles, fries

Combo #3 – 1 slider, one tender on white bread, pickles, fries

Combo #4 – 2 tenders, buttery rice, slaw, pickles

They also offer separate sides and three bowls…

One bowl is called Angry French Fry Bowl, another is Angry Mac Bowl, and the last one was called Hangry Bowl.

You can dine in or go threw the drive thru.

We did take out and dined at a local park nearby with the dogs.

We tried a variety of things and different heats. We ordered way more than we needed. The portions and size of the tenders were bigger than I guessed that they would be.

We ordered (top left) one side order tender in “country” no heat …(bought for the dogs)

(top right) was two side order tenders. One in medium heat and one in hot (not marked but easy to figure out that the redder one was “hot.”)

Our order came out slightly different from what we ordered….(slight opening hiccup)

We were suppose to get a side order of macaroni and cheese but that didn’t come and got an extra order of fries for free instead. (cashier read back macaroni and cheese but didn’t ring it up)

Bottom left is the Combo #4 two medium heat tenders with lots of buttery rice and slaw.

Bottom right is Combo #3 one slider, one tender on bread, fries, pickles.

We’ll start with the tender in country (no spice or heat) It came on a slice of white bread that is lightly toasted.

This one has the BEST texture of all the tenders. This one is the only tender with a crunchy exterior.

The chicken inside is very moist and very tender. I took a tiny taste…It really is pretty good. It doesn’t taste boring. I fed the rest to the dogs.

We tried the medium slider

It’s pretty tasty………But when I taste the chicken alone I am very surprised on how very hot it really is……Medium is PRETTY DARN HOTTTTT!………Again the chicken is very moist and very tender…The exterior of this chicken looks crunchy but is moist and kind of soggy……..I like the flavors but I don’t like how this feels powdery in my mouth….The fries are crisp, well seasoned, and have fluffy interiors.

We also tried one tender in hot……

The tender on the right is the hot…………….I take a bite and it is too FORKING HOTTTTTT! for me………..It’s FORKING PAINFUL….. Same for my husband and we LOVE hot food. But if hot is too hot for us then I think hot is too hot for most people….We had to throw it out. So glad I read reviews warning that medium is to hot for some people…Otherwise I would have ordered mostly hot and would have been very upset.

I can’t believe that they make two levels hotter than hot…

After hot they offer X hot – call 911

and Angry – sign a waver

The “Hot” is so painfully hot……… I think that it is a danger to offer the “X Hot” and the “Angry.” Even the “Hot” is a danger and the “Medium” runs very hot and would be too hot for a lot of people.

We also tried the Combo #4 in medium.

The buttery rice is fresh and perfect. The slaw is also fresh and seasoned very well and isn’t drippy. Again the chicken is very moist, tender and the flavors are good but I don’t like the outer texture. It’s moist and powdery at the same time. Only the tender with no heat (“country”) was the only tender that had a crunchy coating. Maybe the soggy texture on the medium and hot was a packaging issue???????

Not bad for fast food. The chicken seems to be equal quality compared to what supermarkets sell.

I think my favorite was the slider in medium. With the bun, slaw, and pickle the flavors did taste the best and I didn’t really notice the exterior textures that I didn’t like…..But a close second was the no head country tender. It just tasted like a good tender that anyone would like.

I also note that I did Take Out and might have tasted different results than dining in.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND any chicken ordered in HOT, XHOT, or ANGRY.

That was my trip to Angry Chickz in Glendale AZ.

5130 W Bell Rd Glendale AZ

www.AngryChickz.com

800 – 498 – 9836

Everything is subject to change.

Their are two Biryani Pot Restaurants in Metro Phoenix. One is located in Chandler and the one we visited is the one in the Paradise Valley area of Phoenix Arizona. Biryani Pot (PHX) offers almost a dozen Hyderabadi dum biryani dishes, they offer North and South Indian dishes, vegetarian and non-vegetarian appetizers, entrees, tandoor, Indo-Chinese, breads, soups, desserts and more.

You might be wondering what is Hyderabadi cuisine? It’s usually spicy and is rich and aromatic. The dishes usually contain lots of exotic spices, ghee, nuts, and sometimes dried fruit. These dishes are influenced by Muslims who have lived in Andhra for centuries.

It’s very casual inside.

It’s not a fancy place but it seems clean. (there’s a game on today and everyone we saw that came in did take out)

We ordered a variety of plates.

We tried the chilly fish appetizer.

It’s battered stir fried tilapia with bell pepper, onions, and green chilies with a red sauce. This one is tasty and not too spicy.

We also tried the mirchi bajji.

Today the green chilies were nuclear with heat…….I don’t think even most heat lovers could eat them………..and they are battered with a tasty chick pea coating. They are described as being stuffed with onion masala?

Stuffed with onion masala? ************Don’t know but….Maybe they received the wrong peppers and couldn’t stuff them? I noticed just this week that TWO different supermarkets had different peppers marked incorrectly. This happened to me twice in one week.

But the chicken 65 biryani is amazing and is one of the very best biryani dishes that I have ever tried.

This is Hyderabadi Dum Biryani rice layered with onions, flavorful sauce, and tender flavorful, spicy delicious chunks of chicken. This might be the most flavorful aromatic biryani that I have ever tried.

We also shared the House Special fish curry.

Boneless white fish cooked in traditional Andhra tangy style curry. The fish curry here runs more spiced than any of the others that I have tried. It seems mostly onion based with some tomato, ginger, curry leaves, star anise, and probably a bunch of other things.

Really Great Biryani!

Worth a Fork!

Biryani Pot

4030 E Bell Rd PHX AZ

1-602-675-0673

www.BiryaniPotPhoenix.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Gladly is a casual full service Camelback Corridor type neighborhood restaurant and whiskey bar located in Phoenix Arizona near the Biltmore Fashion Park.

It sure didn’t look empty for long and filled up fast…..But crowded my photo didn’t look so great……All you could see were the two large people in the first both. The restaurant is bigger than my photo shows. They have at least two more dining areas. They also have an outdoor patio for dining outside when the weather is nice.

They offer a mostly all day menu of a variety of starters like local Little Miss BBQ smoked sausage and pretzel bun,

crab cakes, and a vegetarian Brussels sprouts dish. Starting at 3pm they offer some raw seafood. The Gladly also offers a few salads, a couple sandwiches, and seven entrees scallops, chimichurri chicken (that was moist and developed with flavors…..the potatoes were also flavorful and a little spicy).

They also offer- filet mignon, salmon, poke, short ribs, and a vegetarian dish of roasted mushrooms, acorn squash, vegetables, rice and quinoa.

In case you didn’t know their most famous dish is the chef’s original chopped salad that has it’s own Facebook page. It’s also served at the older sister restaurant called Citizens Public House in Old Town Scottsdale and at Cowboy Ciao at the Phoenix Airport.

The salad is made of smoked salmon, Israeli couscous, currants, pepitas, dried sweet corn, marinated tomatoes and buttermilk herb dressing. (Avocado is an add on option)

They offer to toss the salad table side.

The salad is seems unusually light but also is filling…..It’s full of textures, sweetness from the currents, smoke and salt from the salmon, airy crunchy dried corn, tomatoes with more flavors than regular tomatoes, and the right amount of bitter from the arugula, yummy from the pepitas. It’s an outstanding salad….No wonder why it has it’s own Facebook Page.

That was a little taste of The Gladly.

2201 E Camelback Rd PHX AZ

602-759-8132

www.TheGladly.com

Everything is subject to change.