Pomodoro Italian Grill and Seafood is a higher end Italian Restaurant located just above Phoenix in Cave Creek Arizona. They offer appetizers, salads, fresh made pastas, fish and shellfish dinners, various meat dinners and a luxury tomahawk ribeye.
From the exterior to the interior it’s a very western looking restaurant like most things in the small Western Town of Cave Creek.
The tables are set with crisp linen, glassware, heavy silverware, a candle, and hand made plates.
They start you off with complimentary crusty bread and oil.
In interior of the bread is fluffy, moist and sort of sweet………It’s good but unique. I’ve never tasted bread like this in an Italian restaurant.
We started out by sharing the tasting trio of pastas (cacio e pepe, Pomodoro, and carbonara). To me this pasta is different. It is a different style with less tooth to it. The pastas are good but also are all unique and a little different from other similar pastas out there. My favorite of the trio is the Pomodoro (middle). The Pomodoro was made with very sweet farm fresh tomatoes and it’s laced with creamy rich cheese. It’s a more flavorful Pomodoro pasta than most out there because the pasta is also infused with tomato.
For dinner I had the Chilean Sea Bass.
The plump meaty mild fish was pan seared and was served over a stack of fresh grilled vegetables and was topped with a lemon butter caper sauce and came with a nicely grilled half lemon. The fish was fresh, moist and flaky. It was prepared to perfection.
My husband went with the veal osso buco.
It was slow braised and came with a mound of creamy polenta. It was good……but could have been braised in a richer deeper braising liquid.
Our server was efficient and knowledgeable.
Parking was easy because they have their own lot.
That was my trip to Pomodoro Italian Grill and Seafood in Cave Creek AZ.
Seoul BBQ & Sushi is located in Phoenix Arizona. They serve a variety of Korean and Asian Foods. Seoul BBQ & Sushi is well known for serving Korean BBQ. They also offer Korean and Japanese appetizers, noodle dishes, hot pots, house specials, stews, sushi, all-you-can-eat specials and more.
Inside is very spacious with a very large dining area and bar in the front of the restaurant. Behind the bar other large dining areas are available.
They do have a patio but it is not in use.
Today we sat inside. They started us out with an assortment of side dishes called banchan (they do refill the banchan if desired).
Today we got a garlicky fresh green, something shrimpy, kimchi, caramel sweet potato, kimchi type cucumbers and radish, vegetable pancakes, Asian bean sprouts, and-
sweet spicy and delicious peanuts garnished with a few vegetables that resemble green beans. On prior visits we also got things like fish cakes, bell flowers, and potato salad.
Then we got our #9 – crispy rice sushi.
It’s deep fried sushi rice topped with spicy tuna, avocado and tasty sauces. This is a really tasty start.
For my main I got the #78 called samgye tang. (This dish takes around 45 minutes to prepare) This is the traditional Korean chicken soup for good health. I read that traditionally it is to be made with jujube instead of dates.
It’s a special Korean Chicken soup. It’s a small young chicken that is stuffed with sweet rice, dates, garlic, and ginseng. There are also some noodles made of egg and more dates. It is also served with a side of rice. I suggest to ask for a fork to tackle this one. It’s a mild not too exciting dish but it is very good and seems healthy. The sweet rice stuffing is the interesting part of the dish with the most flavors.
Today my husband got the #61 dol-pan bibimbap. (they have around three of them on the menu) It’s Korean meat or meats with vegetables, an egg, rice, and Korean hot ketchup called gouchujang, that they mix for you table side.
Here are some of the prior foods we tried from Seoul BBQ and Sushi.
side dishesbellflowe – It was very tastymiso soupa bibimbap after getting mixed upyellow croakercomplimentary vegetable pancake special with to-go orders only (this its really delicious!)to-go- side dishes called banchanto go – bulgogi (the rice is from the other dish)to go -spicy dak (chicken) bulgogito go – broiled atka mackerelto go – jalapeño bombersscallion pancakebulgogi
beef rib and tofu vegetable soup
That was a TASTE of Seoul BBQ and Sushi in Phoenix AZ.
The Harbor Seafood Buffet is located in Phoenix Arizona. They are located in the Metro Center Parking lot by where the Metro Center Mall used to be. They offer over a hundred different food items for you to try. Prices are reasonable.
Why go to a buffet?
It’s kind of nice to stroll around picking up food to graze on just like you are at a food festival.
It’s nice that you pay a set price and all that food is ready waiting for you.
Sometimes you just need something different. Sometimes you just need that element of surprise.
Sometimes you just don’t want to spend much….You can get a few appetizers, a salad, some hot foods and dessert and then some for a low set price.
It’s squeaky shiny clean when you walk in. You almost need sunglasses.
I came in just as they opened to get the freshest experience possible.
They have lots of seating. Pictured above is only a fraction of all the seating they have.
Now lets walk around and see only some of the offerings.
On my visit I thought the best chicken dish that I tried was the teriyaki chicken. It was moist, flavorful and nicely charred. (no guarantees it’s the same three hours later or tomorrow) To the left is a ham and to the right are mussels.
I picked up the bun marked Zhong zi…..Inside was rice mixed with sweet tasting squash. I like the texture of the steamed buns. It seemed almost like meringue mixed with pizza dough but I know it isn’t. Oh and they did have pizza on the buffet too!
My husband was very brave and tried an oyster and a shrimp. He said that the oyster didn’t taste fresh and I didn’t ask about the shrimp????
Neither of us felt like pigging out on the Pig Feet.
The green beans were very fresh and tender crisp with some mild garlic. We both really liked the bok choy too. Next to the bok choy were mushrooms. These three pans were good. It’s always nice to get nicely prepared fresh vegetables with your meal.
They had corn on the cob and beef ribs. Neither of us tried but they look ok.
They brought back the typical salad bar with puddings, jello, grapes, canned and fresh fruits, mayo based salads………..
The other end of the salad bar with many sauces and dressings.
Forgot to photo the sushi and sashimi. I tried a salmon sushi, a tuna sushi and a fried sushi and a salmon sashimi. On my visit everything except the tuna was much better than I expected. The salmon was actually good and better than from some sushi restaurants. Only the tuna tasted like buffet sushi tuna…(like not good to me)….. Some of the sushi didn’t have signs naming what it was….
Off the buffet I tried some flounder with scallions that could have used some sauce or flavor but the fish seemed freshly prepared and was moist and tender. Another highlight were the chicken meatballs. They are pictured below in the upper middle pan. They were moist and flavorful today….Further down it seemed they they had a million fried offerings like onion rings, fries, chicken nuggets, fried fish, and many other things.
Thee chicken (lower left on skewers) was a little dry today. Apple pie (lower middle) had raw dough on the bottoms.
Finished up with fresh sweet strawberries. They did have some baked goods but I passed on them. Oddly next to the baked goods they had a steak to carve. I think I saw a stir fry station or Mongolian grill there too! But gosh how much food can a person eat?
That was my trip to the Harbor Seafood Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ.
I would say Harbor Seafood Super Buffet is …….
Worth a Try! *******I wouldn’t drive across town for this but on the other hand it is a good value if you pick the right pans to try.
The Italian Daughter Restaurant is an Italian restaurant by the daughter (Melissa) of award winning and well known restauranteur Tomaso Maggiore. This restaurant is a tribute to her father. This Italian Restaurant offers a varied menu for what you are in the mood for. They offer chicken, short ribs, veal, sausage, fish, Italian burgers, weekend veal osso buco, hand made pastas, sharing boards and nightly live piano music.
bar area
They have a bar area.
part of dining area with mostly high tops
Part of the dining room near the piano is mostly high tops. They also have a lovely father and daughter photo on the wall.
patio
They do offer some patio seating.
part of dining room
The wall reads, “Whatever is happening in your life, always remember to enjoy the table….be it yours or ours.”
part of dining room
They started us off with a basket of bread with herbed butter.
We shared the caesar salad served in a crispy parmigiana basket.
The romaine was fresh and crisp. The dressing tasted house made but was on the milder side of caesar. The fresh made buttery croutons were especially good and the parmigiano basket was a unique extra special touch. Fresh crushed black pepper is on every table for seasoning.
Today I tried the pan seared salmon with bourbon mustard glaze and whipped potatoes.
The potatoes are so smooth and buttery. The broccolini is a perfect tender crisp. under the broccolini is very nice extra fancy carrots of three different colors. The fish is moist and is a large portion. The sauce is unique but tasty. It does have sweetness to it.
My husband had the weekend veal osso buco.
He said it was tender and infused with delicious flavors. He also said that the saffron risotto was better than most risotto that you get out. He said that this was really GREAT!
We tried dessert. Our server highly recommended the cannoli pizza cioccolato so we went with that.
This is a made to order chocolate dough with lots of cannoli cream, berries and Nutella. This dessert is much larger than it looks. This can feed a family.
I noticed that with one dish on the menu is to honor the owners late father….. They donate 100% to the Tomaso Maggiore Culinary Education Scholarship. (since my visit the has had added shrimp to it)
The Italian Daughter Restaurant in Scottsdale is Worth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
www.TheItalianDaughter.com
Everything is subject to change. We visited a couple of times since and the menu differed some on each visit but everything was very good.
We enjoyed our first visit so we went back for a second visit. There were slight changes to the menu on our second visit. Another change was that the bread came with regular butter and herbed oil this time instead of just herbed butter.
On our third visit we received tapenade instead of oil and butter with the bread.
This time we tried the Sicilian Trio. It was an arancini (short rib stuffed saffron laced rice crochet), caponata, and stuffed squash blossoms. ( a tasty start).
On another visit we tried the Italian sharing board with brie and apple, fig and prosciutto, pepper, goat cheese, and pine nuts, and wild mushroom, taleggio, and fontina.
My dinner was the fish of the day….barramundi.
WOW! This was MUCH BETTER than the salmon I had last time….don’t get me wrong…that salmon was good but this barramundi was masterfully prepared with a shattering crisp skin that stayed crisp and very tender mild, moist fish flesh. My waiter didn’t know that this special came with shrimp so I removed them and my husband ate one and my dogs latter ate the other one. My husband said that the shrimp was prepared perfect….I’m generally not a pasta person but this spaghetti was particularly great tasting with the perfect amount of crushed red pepper white wine lemon fish sauce. For me it was really great.
My husband had the chicken and sausage scarpariecco this time.
He said that this was unusually moist flavorful chicken and the sausage was good but slightly overcooked today.
On another visit I had the fish of the day halibut in a lemon caper sauce with Israeli couscous and fresh vegetables.
It was perfect!
My husband had the osso buco again.
He really enjoyed it. He said it is one of the best osso buco that he has ever had.
I took home a slice of lemoncello cake. It was really great I think anyone would like it. It seemed light and was lemony and was very moist. A little white chocolate shaving and some berries accented the cake.
On another visit we got what they called the secret dessert of the day….a spumoni.
The Fantabulous Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
There are several restaurants that serve amazing fried chicken out there in metro Phoenix but the buttermilk fried chicken from Confluence is FANTABULOUS!
Confluence is a small modern upscale American restaurant in Carefree Arizona.
The buttermilk fried chicken is usually on the lunch menu. I’ve had this dish a number of times and it’s FANTABULOUS every time. They do change up the sides now and then but the chicken is special. It’s a high quality from a local farm.
It’s tender as can be and is very juicy and flavorful. It has this shattering thin crisp coating. Then there is this BOMB delicious sauce on it. It’s called chili tepin honey mustard…..DANG it’s FANTABULOUS! It’s a little spicy, a little sweet and that just right YUM! Oh and did I mention that this is a large portion? I eat the vegetable (it’s often broccolini) and one of the pieces of the FANTABULOUS chicken and I am left with a FANTABULOUS meal for another time.
YUM! It’s so FORKING Delicious!
This gotta be one of the BEST boneless fried chicken dishes in metro Phoenix.
The Buttermilk Fried Chicken from Confluence in Carefree is a FANTABULOUS Dish!
Leo’s Island BBQ is a Hawaiian Plate Lunch (including dinner) casual restaurant located near Arrowhead Town Center (mall) in Peoria Arizona. Leo’s Island BBQ is one of the few independently owned restaurants in this area. They offer around THIRTY varieties of the Hawaiian Plate Lunch. The Hawaiian Plate Lunch is a large styrofoam container filled with around eight ounces of one or two proteins, a bed of steamed cabbage, maybe some other steamed vegetables, a double scoop of white rice (or up-charge to brown rice) and a big scoop of Hawaiian style macaroni salad. They also offer appetizers, soups. salads, mini meals, burgers, Hawaiian bowls, family meal deals and catering. The food is never from frozen and is fresh made and even the sauces are made in house. Not all but many of the Hawaiian Plates are priced under $10.00 before tax. It’s not fancy food but it is superior to anything fast food and isn’t priced much different than fast food.
Inside is casual and you order and pay at the counter.
During normal times you. can seat yourself in the dining room (currently closed during covid.) Or you can seat yourself at one of the few tables on the patio or just do take out.
Today I got the maui maui grilled fish.
It’s a lot of food…I get 2-3 servings out of this. The fish is always prepared to perfection with a nice slightly crisp exterior and is always moist inside. I get LOTS of steamed cabbage and a few pieces of broccoli that seem healthy….There is a very generous serving of rice that can feed a small family and a good sized scoop of creamy macaroni salad that always get tastier if you hit it with a little sriracha.
My husband got the chicken kalua pork combo.
It’s a good amount of grilled marinated chicken thigh with grilled smoked pulled pork and a lot of rice, cabbage vegetables and macaroni salad.
Below are some of the other. plates we tried.
combo with bbq chicken and crispy shrimp (shrimps are shaped like onion rings)
island curry chicken (white meat)
lemon pepper chicken
garlic shrimp
loco moco (burger patty, fried egg, gravy.( added Spam)
curry bbq chicken MINI MEAL (………not so mini)
bbq chicken salad
chicken and rib combo
That was a taste of Leo’s Island BBQ in Peoria AZ.
According to Yelp a small casual Mediterranean Restaurant located in a gas station called Casa De Falafel is the #5 TOP restaurant in greater Phoenix Arizona. *****UPDATE no longer located in gas station moved to own spot in Glendale AZ.
Also according to Yelp Casa De Falafel is the number 2 falafel restaurant in the United States.
Lets see what Casa De Falafel is like.
We order at a counter and pay here.
The menu is limited.
I noticed that they sell their very own packaged lentil soup.
We ordered 2 falafels and a beef and chicken shawarma plates. While we wait we look around a little.
Here is the dining room. It’s currently not in use during the pandemic.
Here is the view if you were seated.
We start with falafels.
They look like small donuts. One is with a little hummus and the other is with a little tahini sauce that are very similar today and are very delicate tasting.
They are fried nicely and do have a crisp exterior and a moist fluffy interior and are lightly herbed and seasoned. It’s good……to some this falafel might be under seasoned.
Now we are digging into the shawarma plates with garlic sauce, tahini and extra HOT green sauce.
There is a lot packed into this plate. I got a serving of lentil soup, chicken shawarma that is moist, flavorful and nicely caramelized. there’s Mediterranean pickle slices, olives, chickpeas, salad, red onions dusted with sumac and what might? be?
Mexican style rice? Perhaps a nod to part of the name of the restaurant?
The beef shawarma plate is the same but made with beef.
I preferred the chicken over the beef shawarma because the chicken was moist and I think flavored better. For me the beef wasn’t tender enough but my husband said it was good to him. He doesn’t mind a little chew. I also thought the food was tasty and a good value. My chicken shawarma plate was only $9.50 before tax and tip.
That was my trip to Casa De Falafel in Peoria AZ. According to Yelp they are the #5 TOP Restaurant in Greater Phoenix and the #2 Falafel Restaurant in the country.
Casa De Falafel does not have a website but you can find them on Facebook.
Address and phone number is below.
Everything IS subject to change.******UPDATE They’ve moved. to Glendale.
The Fantabulous Dish means……top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.
There are many fantabulous pizza restaurants out there in metro Phoenix. But each one is unique and many of them do a particular pizza better than from other restaurants.
Burrata or bufala cheese is the most exquisite mozzarella cheese that you can imagine. It’s the top of the line of mozzarella.
Most bufalina pizzas (margherita pizzas but made with Italian Buffalo milk cheese) look something like this……and this is GOOD but …….
Fabio On Fire elevates the bufalina pizza. His Bufalina Pizza is special.
Fabio On Fire in Peoria AZ makes his Bufalina Pizzas like this one below.
This Bufalina Pizza starts with San Marzano Tomato sauce, Imported bufalina cheese, oregano, garlic, arugula, reduced balsamic vinegar, farm fresh sweet tomatoes and extra virgin olive oil.
Sometimes they spread out the cheese.
The heat of the pizza warms the creamy imported bufala cheese without cooking it. You get the most exquisite mozzarella the way it was meant to be.
It’s FORKING DELICIOUS! It got all kinds of flavors going on. The BEST bufala cheese, San Marzano tomato sauce (the BEST), farm fresh sweet tomatoes (the BEST), peppery arugula, sweet but tang from the balsamic, flavors from the garlic and oregano….It’s going on here.
The Bufalina Pizza from Fabio On Fire is an official Fantabulous Dish!
The Golden Pineapple is a bar and restaurant located in Tempe Arizona. They offer craft beers, cocktails and a limited chef crafted menu that includes a few children’s dishes. The foods offered are casual like tacos, burgers and hot dogs but are high quality that have ingredients like Chula Seafood and Noble Bread in them. Much of the foods offered have a southwest accent. You can sit inside at a table or the bar.
There is also another big area inside for seating but the lights were out so I didn’t photo it. It was a nice day today so almost everyone was seated outdoors. There is also a patio with a veery old very large tree. Something that you don’t see very often in metro Phoenix.
Parking is easy because they have their own parking lot with plenty of bike racks.
They offered an interesting brunch special today but I went with the AZ hot fried chicken sandwich with seasonal greens.
I go and take a bite. WOW the exterior of the chicken is shattering crisp with lots of paprika, a little sweetness and other spices and the white meat chicken is incredibly juicy. This is a very flavorful detailed sandwich that is also very delicious but it isn’t spicy (I wonder if they forgot the cayenne or other hot pepper that it should have?). The Noble Bread Bun is nicely toasted. It’s spread with avocado aioli and adorned with house made crisp pickles. The slaw is fresh made and crunchy. It’s really good but isn’t spicy….I am very picky….too picky……… for me this would be a perfect sandwich if the bun was a little smaller and the sandwich was made with some heat……….but…….Can’t be mad…It’s darn good and better than most chicken sandwiches so I am very happy with it. I think anyone would enjoy this sandwich. The greens are great too. Lightly dressed with pickled onions that just brighten it up.
My husband got the green chile burger with egg with hand cut fries as his side.
It’s a brisket patty with chilis, colby jack cheese, caramelized onions, lettuce, pickled tomatillos, avocado aioli and hand cut fried that were nicely stacked. It was prepared to a perfect medium rare. He said it was one of the best burgers that he has had.
Both sandwiches were very good.
That was a little taste of the Golden Pineapple in Tempe AZ.
The FANTABULOUS Dish means top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and Dynamite!
For lunch and sometimes for dinner I enjoy ordering salads at restaurants even if I’m at a restaurant that is well known for making great pizzas. I do love pizzas too but sometimes I feel like I need a salad. I like to save a little stomach room for that dessert that I go for sometimes. We found ourselves at Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale and I ordered the Salmon Salad. I did not expect to receive something even better than fish house worthy but I did! I noticed that the salmon came from Chula Seafood so I knew that it would be better salmon and probably very fresh but I didn’t expect that I would be receiving perfection and a really great salad to boot.
This salmon is as perfect as perfect gets. It has a crisp skin and the flesh just melts in the mouth. It seemed like it was slow cooked because of how moist and succulent it was. It was also finished with tasty grill marks. My salad was adorned with this grilled juicy lemon. WOW the taste of the sweet lemon and pink peppercorns on the fish sort of popped. WOW! What a great combination. Under the fish was a bed of spring mix, gold beets, fennel and grape tomatoes. And did I mention how great the salmon really was?
It was a pleasure to eat.
P.S.
I was able to save some room for their amazing house made Luna Gelato.
Fish House Quality Fresh Salmon Salad and Delicious Gelato from Pomo Pizzeria in Scottsdale AZ.
