Wren & Wolf Restaurant is located in Downtown Phoenix Arizona. It’s a very swanky spacious restaurant that serves craft cocktails and food.

It’s a mix of fancy and rich inside accented with taxidermy and paintings of wolves and wren and has a sort of retro feel.

We try craft cocktails called Fredricksons.

It has one single large ice cube. This is really strong but very smooth and not sweet. It’s the type of drink that might make you sprout hair on your chest. It’s made of rye, vermouth, Alpine & French liqueurs, saline, and citrus smoke.

For dining we started with the full bread service and stuffed peppadew peppers.

On the top tier are small puffy cheesy pao de queyo breads (Brazilian cheese breads). They are nice and light and go with the truffle butter in the fancy egg shaped container. I’ve had Brazilian cheese breads before and these are much puffier and lighter. There also is sweet chili butter in the ramekin that goes with the bing bread (flat breads……the bing bread today is a little too greasy for me) On the lower level and on the right side is a generous amount of fresh grilled local Noble Bread that is very good. This really is too much for two people but it’s a treat and we don’t mind bringing the leftovers home.

The stuffed peppadews are really great with all kinds of flavors and textures dancing around in your mouth. The peppers are stuffed with local Crow’s Dairy goat cheese. Charred romesco, Marcona almonds and local citrus enhance the plate.

For dinner I tried the wild Tasmanian salmon.

The salmon is prepared a tad over done but is reasonably well prepared. It’s a little different with bitter arugula, curry finagling potatoes and finished with serrano lime glaze. They must have accidentally gave me extra potatoes….They sure are way more than I can eat. I didn’t mind bringing them home for another time.

My husband tried the dry aged meatloaf and they were nice enough to let him substitute their mac’n’cheese for the buttermilk mashed potatoes that are normally served wit it.

Great Swap!!!! That macaroni and cheese is really very good! I was told that the meatloaf had a really great sauce one it……but it was an off day for meatloaf because my husband said that its was the driest meatloaf that he has ever tried…….The management apologized sincerely and made things right with us the best that they could.

Tonight I really. didn’t have room for dessert but. the manager insisted that we try one. The house specialty dessert is a bourbon butter cake with lots of ultra rich toppings, like cream cheese frosting, bourbon caramel, bananas foster, and candied pecans…… that might be delicious and did sound hard to pass up…….We tried the lime tart that seemed a little lighter and refreshing.

This lime tart really is VERY GOOD and is among the better lime tarts that I have tried. It’s not too heavy or too sweet with a nice bright lime taste. It also has a very tasty pecan crust.

That was a little taste of Wren and Wolf Restaurant in Downtown Phoenix AZ

www.WrenandWolf.com

2 N Central Ave Phoenix AZ

602-562-3510

You can get validated parking at Renaissance Square Garage on 1st Ave

Everything is subject to change.

Hula’s Modern Tiki Restaurant is a Tiki Bar type restaurant with three locations. They have two locations in Phoenix and one location in Scottsdale. The North Phoenix location on High Street by Desert Ridge has an indoor outdoor bar and wrap around patio and is casual and airy inside.

Natural light come in the glass front during the day. You also get a view of the farmers market on Sundays.

They offer and all day menu and the weekend brunch menu. Both menus offer starters, sides, bowls, tacos, burgers, and sandwiches. The all day menu offers more starters like ceviche, poke, and wings. fresh fish, jerk plates, and Hawaiian kalbi ribs.

I tried the spicy Thai chicken bowl.

I received a generous amount of sliced chicken breast, fresh shredded cabbage, creamy fried plantains, beans, avocado, soy glaze and Thai Sauce. I was surprised that this wasn’t spicy. The sauce today doesn’t taste Thai to me but does have something soy or soy sauce like in it. This dish is not for me and I would not order this again but have heard that this dish has been a beloved favorite from this restaurant for over twelve years. I did enjoy the plantains….they had a nice creamy texture and a natural sweetness to them. They seemed less starchy than others I’ve had.

My husband enjoyed the hunkin Samoa burger. he did much better than me.

This burger came with jack cheese, fried Spam, linguisa sausage (he said it was very good), sunny side up egg, and Hula sauce (ketchup, mayo, ginger, other ingredients).

That was my trip to Hula’s Modern Tiki in North Phoenix.

www.HulasModernTiki.com

5450 E High St PHX AZ

480-597-5808

NoRa Asian Fresh is a fast growing chain of fast/casual restaurants that offer limited sushi, American Chinese and other bowls, ramen, Asian Entrees, soft beverages, and more. At the moment (subject to change soon) there are around a dozen locations of NoRa Asian Fresh in the valley and two locations in Texas.

It’s very casual here. You order at the counter and seat yourself.

A few minutes latter our order arrives.

We tried a nigiri combo (It’s tuna and salmon at this location)

The fish is clean and fresh tasting today! The rice under the fish holds together very well without falling apart. The wasabi paste is a bit on the dry side. You have to add the wasabi paste under the fish if you like it seasoned that way.

We also shared a tuna lover roll (spicy tuna topped with fresh tuna)

It’s mildly spicy. The rice holds together very well and doesn’t come apart. They don’t have chopsticks here so you have to pick up pieces with a fork. The tuna doesn’t look like hand cut tuna?????? I’ve never seen tuna cut so perfect before. Looks like it was cut on a slicer but I don’t know how they did it.

We also tried a chicken egg roll and chicken dumplings.

We both didn’t care for the egg roll or either of the dipping sauces. The chicken dumpling were fried nicely but were just ok.

While the sushi we tried is not high end sushi it was fresh and clean tasting. There is something to be said for that! Many of the sushi restaurants in this area didn’t serve me sushi as fresh tasting. So this seems to be a quick low priced option.

That is a little taste of NoRa Asian Fresh in North Phoenix.

www.NoraAsainFresh.com (locations differ slightly with prices and menu items)

www.Nora OnlineOrdering.com

4225 W Bell Rd PHX AZ

602-675-0301

Everything is subject to change.

Tarbell’s is a New American High Quality Restaurant owned by a very decorated chef Mark Tarbell. Chef Tarbell has been featured in numerous publications and TV shows including The Talk, and Food Network’s Iron Chef. On Iron Chef he chef Mark Tarbell won the cooking battle. Not only is chef Tarbell a famous chef he also is a wine expert, a serious skier, a pilot, a dancer, and a musician. He owns at least three businesses in the central Phoenix Corridor. His casual restaurant called, The Tavern. His wine store called, The Wine Store and of course his namesake restaurant called Tarbell’s.

Recently they added a nice patio inn front of the restaurant.

Inside there is a long bar and traditional tables and booths dressed with crisp linen, and set with heavy silverware.

There are some good deals on the wine list if you know your wine….

They started us off with complimentary hot from the oven bread and herbed oil.

We shared the cotija cheese crusted cauliflower.

You can’t tell by my photo but it seems that the cauliflower was steamed. I wasn’t expecting the cauliflower to be steamed…..It’s very soft and almost collapsing. This plate is also adorned with tomato braised lentils, red bell pepper, radish, beets. The description also reads butternut squash puree and creamed peas but the squash and peas are there to color the plate…you can’t scrap much off the plate to taste. This plate is mostly mildly seasoned and the cauliflower is extra soft. I don’t mean to complain but this cauliflower is so scant with the cotija cheese that it doesn’t seem cotija. crusted.

The dinners were both excellent.

I had the pan seared Argentine Sea bass.

The flaky, moist, mild, seared fish is topped with tasty tomatillo and pumpkin seed relish and sits over curry tomatoes, carrot, spinach, saffron rice, butternut squash puree, and coconut reduction. The flavors all go together well here.

My husband had the Tarbell’s Bolognese.

All I know about this plate is that it was made with a combination of beef and pork and takes four days to prepare…….My husband said that it was the best bolognese he’s ever eaten……..

During our dinner they sat a party next to us.

It might be hard to see in my photo but the party sort of overflowed into our space…..It was impossible for me to exit on my side and we had to be careful not to bump into the woman hanging off the end of her table. I’m surprised at a nice place like Tarbell’s that they would squish that table so close to ours when the table on the other side of the party wasn’t being used.

I was too full to try dessert so we were done.

Suggested tipping at Tarbell’s is 21-29%

They did hand us fresh baked cookies on our way out.

That was dinner from Tarbell’s. I’d recommend the sea bass and Tarbell’s bolognese.

www.Tarbells.com

3213 E Camelback Rd PHX AZ

602-955-8100

Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana is an Italian Restaurant located in North Scottsdale Arizona. They offer much of the usual Italian dishes that you would expect like meatballs, arancini, house made pastas, pork chops, veal osso buco, and more, many of the dishes are laced with Calabrian chilies and they also offer a lot of seafood dishes that you might not expect from a smaller restaurant like this.

This is most the the dining room.

Above is the bar area. This is where you will be sat if you don’t have a reservation.

On another visit I had a reservation.I thought I’d get a table inside but was sat outside during our coldest weather (If I knew that my table was going to be outside I would have worn a coat).

They started us off with delicious (cold) bread and herb butter.

You might want to start with an appetizer like the Roman Style Artichoke because that was delicious both times we had it.

The paolanzana (grilled eggplant) wasn’t as enjoyable to us.

While the cured olives were oh so delicious the combination of olives, raw tomato slices, basil and rubbery cheese was so overpowering to the eggplant you really couldn’t tell that eggplant was even there.

Or maybe you’d want to share a pasta like the cacio e pepe (spaghetti, black pepper, pecorino (we found this to be very buttery tasting and a little light with the pepper and cheese)

One of the many fish dishes is the branzino with farro, roasted red pepper, butternut squash, pumpkin seeds and figs. This one was good!

Or maybe you want something meatier like the veal osso buco (ok …could have improved since we had it)

On our last visit my husband had the Shrimp pasta dish called pasta Isabel.

It’s gemelli pasta (that was slightly over cooked), broccolini, jumbo shrimp, garlic, e.v.o.o., and whole Calabrian chilies. My husband thought that this was under seasoned. He also would have preferred that the Calabrian chilies had their stems removed and could have been chopped up in the dish so he didn’t have to do that. He was going ti say something to our server ….but….

Our server asked us how things were before we tried the food and we didn’t even see him again until after someone cleared our plates and then he asked us if we waited dessert.

I noticed that almost every table had a salmon tortelloni. I also over heard table next to us. I heard someone say that the salmon tortelloni is their favorite dish at this restaurant. So I went with the salmon tortelloni.

It looks delicious! I can tell you that it is in vodka sauce that is very good. I can tell you that the pasta on this plate is perfection. The filling does seem to differ some from the menu description.

The filling is suppose to be salmon, mascarpone cheese, and spinach. You don’t see it in this slice but this is packed with TONS of dill……All I taste is dill and dill doesn’t taste good with this sauce. If there is cheese in here it is such a small amount that it is impossible to detect. I don’t know if this is how they normally make the dish?

We left and nobody asked how things were.

That was Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana in Scottsdale a bit hit or miss. Go for the hits.

Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana in Scottsdale AZ

20775 N Pima RD Scottsdale AZ

480-513-2048

Everything is subject to change.

Chula Seafood offers sustainably sourced high quality seafood and prepared seafoods. They come to us from San Diego where they hand harpoon swordfish (their specialty) and bring the best fish of the pacific coast to us. Currently in Arizona they have two locations (Scottsdale, Phoenix). A North Scottsdale location is expected to open early this year. (2022)

It’s casual here. During the day you wait in line and order and pay at the counter.

You will see all kinds of fish and more in the counter.

Up above is a menu board. They offer daily specials, starters like oysters, and sashimi platters. They also offer bowls and salads. They have various plates like swordfish burritos, fish sandwiches, fish and chips, fish tacos, fish plate entrees, and more!

Then (during the day) you seat yourself and when you meal is ready they will call your name.

Today my husband started out with the fried oysters.

My husband said that these fried oysters with chili oil were really very good and they were served on delicious toasted and seasoned Nobel Bread.

Today I tried the Friday Daily Lunch Special.

Today it was a Hawaiian Lunch Plate.

The fish is crispy seared albacore katsu.

It came with blistered shishitos, jalapeño onion jam, soy marinated egg, kewpie slaw, bulldog sauce and sushi rice. Everything taste amazing. Today the jalapeño onion jam is really delicious but almost too spicy for me to eat….(Almost). I like that the slaw is almost dry…..I tell The Forking Truth so as amazing as everything really does taste…I have to admit ……It is strange to me that every single thing on my plate was served cold….I think if I could tweak this slightly it’s the rice and peppers that I would like better warm.

My husband got the crispy fish sandwich with potato mac salad.

He started with the parts that were spilling out of the sandwich and he said that it was very good. Then he went to pick it up…………(I tell The Forking Truth)…………

The whole bottom of his bun was coated with a creamy dill flavored sauce….so he didn’t eat the bottom bun.

Below are previous things that we tried from Chula Uptown (Phoenix)

That was Fintastiic Seafood from Chula Seafood in Phoenix.

Worth a Fork!

www.ChulaSeafood.com

100 E Camelback Rd PHX

602-354-3599

Everything is subject to change.