Tia Carmen is a high quality contemporary southwestern style restaurant. They use Arizona purveyors and cook with a wood fired grill. The restaurant is led by Michelin star chef, restauranteur, Bravo Top Chef, and cookbook author Angelo Sosa (pictured below in the white chef shirt).

The restaurant is airy and modern.

They also offer a very large patio and for V.I.P.S. semi private cabanas.

Tonight’s menu started with appetizers in a section called Light Bright + Fresh . They offered things like a seafood platter, avocado aguachile, lamb ragu with mesquite noodles,(a really FANTABULOUS) tuna crudo, –

and (really great) wagu kebabs (that might be twist on a Thai snack food called Miang Kham (stuffed perilla leaves).

They had three tostadas on the menu tonight. They were tuna, beef and beef bone marrow, and corn.

The entree section is called Charcoal + Wood + Fire. Some of the entrees that they offered tonight were mushroom menudo, whole mesquite smoked chicken, whole trout, third day dry aged tribal land Arizona grass fed New York Steak, Wagyu Tomahawk rib eye, (interesting and really good) Baja striped bass,-

and Tia Carmen’s (the chef’s aunt’s famous chicken dish) Chicken Guisado with high quality olives, hard to find chimayo Chile, garlic, and turmeric rice.

They offered a selection of side dishes called Grains Greens + Roots. Some of those offerings were street corn, yucca brûlée, and tepary bean chorizo ragu.

The appetizers were delicious but very light. The striped bass also was very light so I did have room to try a dessert and tried the coriander torte.

Here is a better look.

It’s described as dulce de leche and orange cream. The tart is very well made with a perfect thin crust. It creamy but not very sweet or overly rich. I sort of want more orange but it still is very good and was a nice sweet ending.

That was a taste of Tia Carmen – Newly Opened and Worth a Fork!

Tia Carmen at JW Marriott Phoenix Desert Ridge Phoenix AZ

5350 E Marriott Drive Phoenix AZ

480-293-3636

www.JWDesertRidge.com

Everything is subject to change.

Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen is a casual Jamaican Restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona. They offer a lot of Jamaican dishes, cocktails and more that you don’t find all the time. It’s not a fancy place but looked sparkling clean on my visits.

Besides soft beverages they offer beer, wine, and signature cocktails.

They offer appetizers like jerk wings, codfish fritters with a tasty creamy Jamaican pepper spiked sauce, –

Jamaican beef patties, Jamaican jerk chicken patties, calaloo (large green leaf from the amaranth family) & cod stuffed pockets, and jerk chicken kabobs.

They also serve some things that you would never expect like jerk chicken tacos, FLAMING (spicy not actually flaming) beef tacos, shrimp tacos, and a spicy chicken jerkadillo!

Not all but some of the entrees offered are- Jamaican jerk chicken (prepared expertly tender but we thought that this ran on the mild side for jerk the day we tried it), –

molasses rubbed jerk pork, braised oxtails, –

curry goat, curry chicken (melt in your mouth tendered no bones), –

Island flavor shrimp fried rice, chicken fricassee,-

Island spiced fried fish escovitch (the pickled onions make this dish pop!), brown stew snapper, ackee & salt fish (national dish of Jamaica), vegan chicken stir fry, and rasta pasta.

They offer sides like steamed vegetables, fried plantains, festival (slightly sweet cornmeal bread), bammy (cassava flat bread), potato salad, and breadfruit.

Children’s meals such as grilled cheese, chicken tenders, and hot dogs served with fries are offered.

Desserts are also available. They offer Jamaican fruit and rum cake, sweet potato pudding, tropical fruit cobbler pineapple upside down cake, mango lime cheesecake, chocolate cake, and a few ice creams.

Parking is easy because they are in a strip mall.

Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen offers so many Jamaican dishes that you can’t find at most places so it can be considered a Jamaican Destination restaurant and is Worth a Try especially for foodies!

That was a little taste of Topnotch Island Flavor Kitchen in Phoenix AZ.

www.TopnotchIslandFlavorKitchen.net

16816 N Cave Creek Rd Phoenix AZ

602-283-5600

Everything is subject to change.

The Stillery in Nashville is famous for live country music, drinks, and bar food. It’s only been open a few days and is already a packed house early in the evening.

Not all but most of the tables inside and out are high tops. I usually have trouble with high tops but these are easier than others that I have tried because they are light chairs that are easy to move with a step in just the right place.

They have brought in a very good singer from Nashville.

It is almost COLD on the patio in 97 degrees F. These are the strongest misters that I have ever felt.

I decided to try a drink off of the cocktail menu.

I tried the mason jar smoking mule on the left. It’s a mixture of Fossil Creek Whiskey, ginger beer, amaretto, and lime. It’s not for me but might be great for others.

We tried the sriracha devil eggs (with crispy prosciutto, parmesan, chives).

The chives didn’t really make it to the eggs but they were tasty.

For my main I tried the hot chicken sandwich (crispy chicken, spicy sauce, fried pickle, lettuce, tomato, blue cheese spread) with a side salad.

I do have to say that the bun is grilled nicely. To be honest my first two bites were disappointing because I ate the part of the sandwich that didn’t have any sauce. Then I tried the other side and it tasted like what a hot chicken sandwich is suppose to taste like cayenne, paprika, garlic, pepper…….. in medium hot (when you order the hot-hot…….regular hot chicken here is no heat) This chicken today is slightly over cooked and is a little dry today…..The top bun soaked up some of the hot sauce is also tasty. I like that they gave me a large fresh salad but the dressing is a bit bland. I had the blue cheese spread on the side and it is also on the bland side.

My husband was going to order a burger but the burgers are smaller here and they only cook them medium-well so he tried the Mac and cheese with added hot chicken tenders in hot-hot.

The tenders seem like pre-cooked. They are very dried out and almost cold.

The macaroni and cheese is very unique. It’s thick creamy and rich. It taste like cheese mixed with something that taste similar to cream cheese. It might be the house made gournay cheese? If you like cream cheese then you might like it. My husband hates cream cheese so he was very unhappy.

This trip wasn’t the best. I would still consider trying it again and order different things that I might like more.

The singer was very good.

www.TheStillery.com

2501 W Happy Valley Rd PHX 623-248-6595

Everything is subject to change.