Mifan Claypot Kitchen is located in the Midtown area of Phoenix Arizona. Mifan translates in Chinese to cooked rice so you will find meals with cooked rice. You will also find mostly sizzling claypot cooked dishes. The menu isn’t entirely vegan but a large amount of the menu can be vegan.

Inside is modern and sleek with a small outside patio.

In the right upper corner above is the kitchen with the chef at work.

On tonights visit only soft beverages were offered. They do offer a few kinds of tea. I went with hot oolong tea.

Appetizers offered on tonight’s menu were truffle butter edamame, crispy pork gyoza, soup gyoza (hand made dumplings stuffed with Shanghai pork and soup in a ginger soy vinaigrette),

vegan cauliflower lightly fried with Sichuan peppercorns lollipops (tasty they don’t even seem fried) with a house dipping sauce,

and crispy tofu.

They offer three soup and fans (fan means rice)

Hot and sour, lemongrass noodle soup, and bo zai fan (with Chinese sausage).

The last section of the menu is called Clay 600C …(probably translates to 1112 Fahrenheit) These dishes are served with steamed broccoli and rice.

These dishes are called house dynamite, sweet basil (stir fry with mushrooms, onion chili, vegan sauce),-

mala spices (stir fry with celery, onion, ginger, baby corn, chili, scallions mala sauce),-

hk typhoon style crispy garlic and Sichuan peppercorns) , and Cantonese black dragon (black bean sauce). They also offered a sizzling shrimp in a Vietnamese sauce.

The two dishes we tried (the sweet basil & mala spices) came out bubbling like a cauldron…..Honestly I thought the chicken would be over cooked BUT IT WASN’T….The chicken in both dishes was incredibly insanely MOIST and VERY TENDER….like melt in your mouth tender. Both sauces were tasty….I thought the sweet basil had a slight edge from the fresh basil but both were good. The sauces are both described as spicy on the menu. They do have a slight heat to them but are more flavorful than spicy hot.

My husband helped me to finish so I could try the dessert that they offer.

Asian style strawberry beignet.

They are very different than New Orleans beignets. Not the taste but almost the texture inside like a Philly pretzel. Not too sweet and a really good strawberry flavor.I also like the small size…even if you are full you can manage to indulge.

Mifan Claypot Kitchen is located in the Muse Building.

Street level right half. A few parking spots are next to the building and also a parking garage is there.

Mifan Claypot Kitchen is Worth a Fork!

www.MifanAZ.com

1616 N Central Avenue PHX AZ

602-334-1516

Everything is subject to change.

Paradise Valley Pizza Co offers Unique, Southwest, and Traditional Italian Pizzas and MORE! They are located in the Paradise Valley part of Phoenix Arizona. Inside Paradise Valley Pizza Company is the newly opened house made ice cream shop that they call Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S. The Ice Cream Counter does have it’s own website and phone number even though its just a small counter inside the pizza parlor. Both P,V,P,Co. and Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S are sister restaurants of Paradise Burger Company next door.

I didn’t notice hard beverages here but they do have a selection of sodas and some of them look very interesting…..(Like WYFork is Rat Bastard?……..I looked it up..It’s root beer)

Paradise Valley Pizza Company offers some very unique varieties of pizza such as-

Pizza Brûlée – burnt sugar, four cheese blend, bacon, beef, caramelized onion, ricotta cheese, and egg.

Margarita – tomatillo-marinara, lime, tequila, pickled serrano, avocado, cheese blend, queso fresco, and cilantro (I’ve had this one before)

The Phoenix – chipotle-truffle bbq sauce, pork, corn, bacon, jalapeños, cheese blend, and cilantro.

The cannoli they sell are also different. Lucky Charms and Oreo.

We started out by sharing the salad called Brussel & Artichoke.

It’s made of a lot of Brussels sprouts, artichokes, lemon, basil, fresh mozzarella, parmesan, and the menu reads pine nuts but I think I have sliced almonds here? Its tasty and different.

Today I just got a plain slice because I was saving room for some Jonny Cream.

It’s the size of a New York Slice and is very thin with a short crust. It’s made with a blend of cheese, house made red sauce, basil, and parmesan…..I don’t know why but it taste smoky to me……..It’s also different…the bites are oilier….not like a real New York that get a heavy topping of olive oil…….It’s like the oil feels like it’s coming out of the cheese. It’s different.

My husband got a special….This one is called GODZILLA.

It’s cheese stuffed double crust MONSTER pizza with basil, jalapeños, green Chile, herbs, pepperoni, sausage, and hella cheese…whatever hella cheese is?

Here it is from the side.

It’s very thick.

The ice cream is at a small counter on wheels in the dining area. The ice cream to my surprise doesn’t get scopped out. You purchase containers that look around pint sized. You buy a container and take it home or I guess you can eat it there. They did give us plastic spoons and they gave us packed ice for taking it home.

Today I picked the Vanilla, Caramel, fudge, ricotta, cannoli flavor.

It’s a high quality dense ice cream with lots of texture but the textures and flavors are far apart…..like canola shells were only near the top and on the bottom but they were in very large broken pieces that stayed crisp. The Fudge is very fudge-ee……and deep. I don’t have much at the top but about a quarter down and to the end here is a enough. It’s good….I’d like to try some of the other flavors I heard about….Like bananas foster.

www.ParadiseValleyPizzaCompany.com

www.JonnyCreams.com

4001 E Bell Rd PHX AZ

602-283-5705 (P.V.P.CO. )

480-776-9944 (Jonny C.R.E.A.M.S)

Everything is subject to change.

Tia Carmen is a high quality contemporary South-West Style restaurant located in the Desert Ridge JW Marriott in North Phoenix Arizona. For an authentic taste of Arizona this restaurant uses Arizona purveyors and cooking is done with a wood fired grill. The restaurant is led by Michelin star chef, restauranteur, Bravo Top Chef, and cookbook author Angelo Sosa (pictured below on the patio).

Inside is modern and contemporary with large light fixtures.

Tonight we were seated in the back dining room that is less bright.

We LOVED the amazing FANTABULOUS tuna crudo we had last time (pictured at the top) and we are so glad that it was still on the menu tonight. We did notice that the other FANTABULOUS dish the wagyu kababs have been replaced with tri tip kababs.

Tonight we wanted to try new things so we shared a bunch of plates.

We started with the tomato salad.

It’s a tasty WOW! These tomatoes make angels sing and it’s all so delicious with the corn puree, burnt corn dust, basil, pickled onions, fancy greenery, and flowers.

Next was another WOW!

It’s expensive for a tostada ($20) but I guess it was delicious enough to be worth it. It’s a beef and bone marrow tostada with guacamole, pickled onions, and fancy micro greens.

We shared something really interesting, delicious and really different mushroom menudo.

Here’s a better look.

It’s so flavorful that you wouldn’t guess that it is vegetarian. Also the mushrooms are so different and interesting. I never heard of or tasted cordycep and cauliflower mushrooms before. They are not like mushrooms at all……It’s more like eating a fancy grain pasta….They are really great…I think that this is another WOW dish.

This next dish does taste really great but my only complaint is that I don’t agree that this is a dinner. I think that this is more of an appetizer or side dish but truly it is delicious. This is the ember roasted purple yams in queso sauce with a 30 week aged tepary bean (local bean) mole negro and burnt corn dust.

Again really delicious but I don’t agree that this is a dinner.

My husband did a great job helping me eat everything but he is a big eater and needs one more plate than I do. He tried the native grain fried rice with lingica sausage, bacon, serrano Chile, garlic, ginger, sunny up egg.

He ate it but I think that this might be his least favorite plate because he thought that it tasted like soy sauce.

I was pretty full but I was able to enjoy some blood orange sorbet.

The blood orange sorbet is another WOW!…It was very flavorful and really great!

Last time I enjoyed the striped bass very much. It’s very unique with Thai basil and mole verde and was prepared to perfection.

My husband had the Tia Carmen’s famous chicken dish called chicken guisado (a very good stewed chicken).

For dessert we tried the coriander torte.

It was very well made but the orange flavor was very subtle………… so the coriander could shine.

Tia Carmen Phoenix AZ is still

Worth a Fork!

Tia Carmen at Desert Ridge JW Marriott Phoenix AZ

5350 E Marriott DR PHX AZ

480-293-3636

www.TiaCarmenDesertRidge.com

Everything is subject to change.

Ocotillo is more than a fabulous restaurant that always offers ever changing seasonal menus of astonishing variety of farm to table slightly global goodness. Ocotillo is a mile square compound event center that includes a coffee lounge, a beer garden, a fire pit, a wine bar, and more in a park-like setting.

You can also dine inside in the bar area or dining room. There are also more patio areas to sit at.

Ocotillo always offers a bountiful menu of great variety of around twenty different dishes for a variety of appetites and taste. Some of the dishes offered are globally inspired. Meats are smoked in-house and pastas are made in house. The sections of the menu are salads, vegetable pates, small plates (usually not so small), house made pastas, and large plates.

It happened to be restaurant week so we went with that because it was a jackpot getting three courses for $44. But all the plates we got were also offered on the restaurant menu.

Tonight my husband started with the roasted duck leg with French beans, frisee, hearts of palm, pecans, citrus, banyuls vinaigrette. (This was really great!)

I went for the dried balsamic strawberries with herbed ricotta and grilled bread. It’s big enough to share. Nice starter.

For my main I had the halibut with fiddlehead ferns, rancho gordo butter beans, green garlic, spring onions in a fino sherry sauce.

The halibut (an unforgiving fish) was seared and prepared to perfection and was delicious! The fiddlehead ferns were a really nice foodie treat! (and they are very expensive too!)

My husband went for the nettle pappardelle with lamb bolognese, Calabrian chili, olive oil, garlic crumbs, and pecorino. (He said that this was really great!)

Then we got to share TWO desserts.

strawberry shortcake

flourless chocolate cake with pistachio ice cream, caramelized white chocolate cream, and candied orange.

It was one of the best restaurant week meals ever!

Not all but a few of the previous plates we enjoyed from Ocotillo.

house smoked salmon plate

sweet potato

house made pastrami sandwich

Japanese Style fish and chips

cauliflower, kale, pesto, pine nuts, peanuts, herbs, lemon vinaigrette

Thai Style roasted chicken

pork shank

Tandoori chicken sandwich with watermelon salad

Vanilla roasted pear with goat cheese, smoked almonds, bitter chocolate and mint

Ocotillo is always WORTH A FORK!

www.OcotilloPHX.com

3243 N 3RD St PHX

602-687-9080

Everything is subject to change.

Jet’s Pizza is an American Chain of Pizza Restaurants since 1978. Jet’s Pizza is best known for its square Detroit Style Pizzas with cheesy, crispy crunchy edges. The pizzas can be customized by adding a flavor to the crust. You can also order house made ranch dressing for dipping the crust.

Jets also offers six kinds of pizza crust. They offer – deep dish, hand tossed round, thin NY style, seasoned cauliflower, and gluten free. They also offer sides of breads, wings (reg & boneless), salads, calzone boats (baked sandwiches made with pizza dough), soft beverages, and a few baked desserts.

On my visit this location of Jet’s Pizza is Take Out Only. But they are expecting a delivery of a few tables at some time.

They offer a few lunch specials.

We took out a Greek Salad and two four corner Detroit Style Pizzas.

Here’s the Greek Salad.

It looks ok but taste terrible……

My husband and I disagree on this one but we both don’t like it.

The lettuce is soggy and has a chemical taste to me………..I don’t know if I think that I am tasting sink residue from only God Knows what…or maybe they use some sort of produce soap on the lettuce?

My husband said, ” it’s just old soggy lettuce that doesn’t taste right.”

Either way it’s soggy lettuce that just doesn’t taste good……

We do need to remember that it is possible that the salads are fresh tasting sometimes and I am hitting them on a bad day…………..Old tasting soggy lettuce isn’t good for business.

Then we go to try the pizzas.

On the left is a our corner Detroit Style pizza with bold pepperoni, Italian sausage and Romano crust.

On the right is a basic four corner Detroit Style pizza with turbo crust (butter, garlic, Romano) and a butter garlic dip on the side. I try it……

I’m not sure why but this doesn’t taste good to me……….I taste powdered stuff…..It’s like the powder from badly flavored potato chips………But the pizza is crispy and crunchy as promised ….Then I try the butter garlic dip…….OMG YUK! This is stomach turning…….It doesn’t even taste like butter….It taste like MARGARINE…NOBODY wants to eat margarine………I thought I might get sick…then I feel like I need to stop eating this pizza. My stomach is a mess…

Or maybe the dough contributes to why I don’t like it?

Under the cheese the dough is all wet and gooey…..like raw and GROSS……maybe that is making me feel sick?

My husband didn’t like his pizza either. He didn’t know why….He did say that the sausage seemed flavorless and the bold pepperoni was nothing special.

This trip to Jet’s Pizza was very low calorie for us because it was so hard to eat.

But a lot of people do love Jet’s Pizza.

There are around 450 Jet’s pizza restaurants in America so that means that many people do love Jet’s Pizza.

Maybe other locations differ?

Your opinion may or may not differ.

That was my visit to Jet’s Pizza. Newly opened in Arrowhead (North Glendale AZ).

www.JetsPizza.com

20229 N 67TH Ave Glendale AZ

623-225-7856

Everything is subject to change.

Mexcelente is a small casual family owned and ran taco and more restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona. It’s a cute little place that looks sparkling clean. They offer tacos, burritos, nachos, bowls, quesadillas, tostadas with around nine topped or protein choices. It’s very casual here. I only noticed soft beverages.

You order at the counter and get what you ordered topped with your choice of toppings and sauces. Then you pay and grab your beverage and seat yourself.

We both tried a variety of tacos. The choices of tacos that they offer are – al pastor, alambres (steak with peppers, onions, and cheese), carne asada, carnitas, cochinito pibil, grilled chicken, grilled shrimp, tinga, and nopales. You can pick corn or flour shell but the default is corn. The tacos are bigger than street tacos and are well packed.

My husband picked alambres, carnitas, carne asada, and shrimp tacos.

The tacos get topped with whatever you pick from their line of toppings and sauces.

I got grilled chicken, chicken tinga, and carne asada. I added pico, lettuce, cilantro onions, two guacamole, and one hot sauce.

Just like most places some days some meats are better than others. Today both of the chicken tacos are the best of the bunch. Both are flavorful and moist. They were overly generous with the hot sauce….I almost can’t eat the taco with the hot sauce…..It’s way too hot….borderline nuclear……The only other issue here are the single shell corn tortillas. They taste good but are very thin and fall apart while you are eating the tacos. The salsas we tried are very flavorful and good but I recommend if you want a spicy salsa to ask for it on the side.

That was my trip to Mexcelente. At this time they are newly opened.

www.MexcelenteTacos.com

4241 W Thunderbird Rd PHX

602-368-1707

Everything is subject to change.