Category Archives: Forking Restaurant Reviews

Honest unbiased reviews based on actual experiences

Fe La Cubana Glendale AZ – Limited Selection but FORKING DELICIOUS! – Worth a Fork!

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Fe La Cubana is a small hole-in-the-wall casual Cuban Cafeteria style restaurant located in a rougher area of Glendale. The GPS gets a little screwy here and brings you to the newer side of the shopping center….Fe La Cubana is located behind where the GPS sends you.

I note that this is NOT A FANCY PLACE…and the Latin Music is a little loud. Remember that you are only here to try the food.

This is basically the whole dining room.

You step in and you will see a menu on the wall but I’m not certain if the menu is used.

There is also a pizza menu on the wall but I don’t think they make pizzas here?

The owner wearing a Fe La Cubana Shirt smiles but doesn’t speak English. A youthful looking girl that might be his daughter speaks some English.

We see her here behind the buffet pans and ask what they are serving today.

There are about seven different offerings today three were beef and four were pork. She said that you could have what you pick with either white rice or black beans.

I went with Ropa Vieja with rice.

It’s not much to look at but it taste FORKING GREAT! OMG! It’s delicious! It’s so tender and so flavorful. It’s juicy tender tasty perfection! WOW what a great surprise.

My husband also gets Ropa Vieja but adds on an oxtail and a pota je de garbanzo (pork chick pea soup).

Oxtails are too succulent for me but I did try the sauce from the oxtail. WOW! a BOMBSHELL of flavors with some acidity, brininess and a small amount of gentle heat. It’s incredibly developed with flavors. IT FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! Crazy CRAZY crazy good!

I heard that the soup is just as great!

Limited selection but – WOW really great food.

When you are ready to pay you wait by the register. We didn’t get a receipt so I don’t know what the individual pricing was but the total for 2 ropa viejas, 1 oxtail, 1 soup and a bottled water came to a total of $32.00.

Parking is easy because there is a lot but you might not be coming from far because there isn’t a restroom.

I haven’t found a website for Fe La Cubana but they are on Facebook.

Fe La Cubana is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

REALLY FORKING DELICIOUS FOOD!

The Forking Truth

The Farm Kitchen in Phoenix Arizona – Nice Back Yard Patio Atmosphere

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The Farm Kitchen is located in Phoenix Arizona at The Farm at South Mountain. It is actually home to three restaurants a breakfast cafe called Morning Glory Cafe, The Farm Kitchen (lunch) and for Fine Dinner Dining Quiessence. For the Morning Glory Cafe and The Farm Kitchen you are suppose to park across the street but The Farm Kitchen is just steps away.

The Farm Kitchen serves mostly cold sandwiches and salads. They also have some local goods and fresh baked cookies for sale.

The menu is posted outside so you can order right away at the counter and pick up a beverage or help yourself to complimentary water outside.

Then you pick a table.

You pick up your order at the pick up window when your number is called.

Pick up window

If you ordered a salad it will arrive packaged and with a chilled metal bowl for mixing.

I tried the pecan turkey Waldorf ($12.95). It was made with moist flavorful turkey breast, organic greens, grapes, really crisp celery, apples, carrots, pecans and creamy jalapeño dressing.

My husband tried the Italian sandwich ($12.95).

This sandwich was made of thickly sliced soppresata, mortadella and salami. It also was dressed with olive relish, greens, pepperoncini, Italian dressing and was on a rustic baguette.

Everything was good……in a nice lush atmosphere. It was like sitting out in someone’s back yard. Could be a nice lunch destination before or after the zoo or botanical garden or just because.

www.TheFarmatSouthMountain.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Flint By Baltaire in Phoenix AZ – Lunch – nice but for smaller appetites

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Flint by Baltaire is an upscale wood fired contemporary mediterranean accented restaurant with great atmosphere, a big exhibition kitchen and an all weather indoor patio.

The indoor patio

The lunch menu is broken down into humus, dips and spreads, salads and vegetables, laffa flatbreads, pizzas, large plates and sides.

We started with a wood grilled artichoke ($14.00).

The artichoke was grilled nicely and salted perfect. It came with a delicious grilled lemon half and a little ramekin of tarragon aioli for dipping.

Our server suggested that we shared plates so we split a Flint laffa flatbread ($13) and a big plate of ora king salmon ($28).

You know the song dude looks like a lady? …well…..This flatbread looks more like a wrap.

It’s served with delicious harissa (a middle eastern condiment made of a roasted pepper base, warm spices, a little hot pepper and something like caraway and also a ramekin of tahini sauce. The laffa bread is nicely charred. My half (the bottom has some cabbage, a slice of egg, a red onion slice, some tahini and a shred of pulled chicken. Fresh greens adorn the plate.

The harissa is delicious on this but this really only appetizer sized. This was only two bites with a small shred of chicken. I think my husband’s half might have had more food in it but not much more. Honestly even if I was here by myself and ate the whole thing this still wouldn’t be much food.

Then we share the BIG PLATE of ora king salmon ($28)

We shared nicely cooked salmon with seasoned crisp skin, a grilled half lemon, a dab of almond-olive relish and maybe the best tasting broccolini I ever had. It was cooked to perfection and had a delicious wood cooked taste to it.

The big plate is not so big.

The food was good, service was good, the atmosphere is stunning but lunch seems to be for people with very small appetites.

Lunch was around $55.00 before tax and tip and we left hungry.

www.FlintByBalltaire.com

Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip To Pizzicata in Carefree AZ – Pinsa Romano (Healthier Alternative to Pizza)

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Pizzicata is an Italian Restaurant located in Carefree Arizona located in the Spanish Village. They serve appetizers, salads, soups, house made pastas and Pinsa Romano (a healthier alternative to pizza). The Pinsa compared to pizza is 48% less sugar and 85% less fat according to Pizzicata’s website. It’s made from wheat, soy, rice and sourdough with high hydration and long proofing.

I’ve come here twice and on my first visit they had to suddenly close because they ran out of food so a couple weeks latter I thought I’d try them again. On my second visit they were open but the menu differed slightly than what I read on their website.

Website menu
Actual Saturday Lunch Menu

It was a really nice day so we sat on the patio.

But inside it looks like this.

We decided to share a Caesar salad ($12.00) and a Margherita Pinsa Romano ($14.00). They arrived at the same time.

We start with some caesar.

The romaine is fresh and crisp and the croutons are seasoned nicely. The dressing is thick and rich and laced with anchovy and grated cheese. It’s a bit light on the salt and pepper but you can adjust to your liking.

Here’s a closer look at the pinsa.

It’s topped with a nice melty mozzarella. The sauce is slightly seasoned and has a little pucker to it. The crust is very different. It has the texture of fine sandpaper from a sprinkling of something like semolina. The crust is crispy and chewy. It kind of reminds me of a toasted English muffin bottom. I ate three or four pieces and it didn’t seem heavy at all in my stomach.

We had room to try a pistachio gelato so we did ($10.00).

The flavor is good but the texture is a bit icy. I asked if they make it and the waiter told me no but it’s made locally.

That was my trip to Pizzicata in Carefree AZ.

www.PizzicataUSA.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to The Larry Restaurant in Phoenix AZ

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The Larry is a casual restaurant located past downtown Phoenix in the warehouse district in a warehouse. You order at the counter, pay, grab your name tent and seat yourself. They offer seating on an officially dog friendly patio.

Or you can sit inside in at the bar or someplace else in the open airy warehouse.

The Larry offers breakfast, a variety of sandwiches that include a vegetarian burger, pizzas, salads, sides, soup, cocktails, wine, beer and more.

We seat ourselves and someone runs us napkins and silverware.

My photo doesn’t show how mirror reflective and crystal clean the silverware appears to be……

Soon we are off to share several things.

We start out with what they call the inside outside grilled cheese sandwich with an upgraded side of bang bang broccoli instead of the Larry Fries ($8.00 + $3.50 subject to change)

We start with the fried bang bang broccoli that is topped with bonito flakes and Asian Seasoning and come with sweet chili sauce. The Broccoli is delicious and amazing….It has such a great meat like texture and doesn’t seem too heavy or too oily. It’s just right! It’s so good that it doesn’t need the sauce…really REALLY yummy! I could eat them all day long.

The inside outside grilled cheese is made with double cheddar and fontina cheese. For me this sandwich is too greasy, taste sort of like burnt cheese and lacks a gooey cheese center. Sorry but if I tell The Forking Truth I can’t stomach this one…..But what is not great to me is magnificent to my dogs and they thought it was tail wagging great!

The other sandwich we shared was the KFC Korean Fried chicken sandwich upgraded to hash brown fries instead of Larry Fries ($12.00 + $3.50 subject to change).

The hash brown fries had a really delicious potato flavor to them…….They had a mashed potato texture inside that might have been over mixed because they seemed sort of gluey. The KFC Korean Fried Chicken sandwich is an inspiration and lacks the crisp crackly seasoned crunch and the sweet and spicy flavors that real Korean Fried Chicken has. I liked that the sandwich was served on a house made bread that was the perfect size for the sandwich. There were also pickles that seemed like house made. The sandwich gets an A-OK……Could be a little more tender, juicy and more flavorful. It was A-OK.

That was my trip to The Larry in Phoenix.

www.TheLarryPHX.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Persepshen Restaurant Phoenix AZ- Worth a Fork! – Newly opened Farm to Table

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Persepshen (per’sepSH(e)n) is a farm to table type of restaurant that opened in Phoenix Arizona. They locally source as much as possible, serve organic and do whole animal cooking. Everything is made in-house by scratch. It’s a small restaurant that offers a large menu with lots of variety. The menu is broken down into snacks, small plates, big plates, real big plates, kiddos, sweet treats and just a bite treats. They offer local beers and liquors and also offer wines and Italian sodas.

Near the main dining room it looks like this. (nonstop people walking by)

From my seat it looks like this.

It might be a sort of a chic rustic sort of atmosphere.

The bar.

The kitchen.

The menu was pretty darn massive with a lot of variety for a small restaurant.

We arrive and my husband is starving so he tries a “just a pig stick” with hatch chili while we are deciding ($3.00).

It arrives wrapped up and here it is unwrapped. It’s made in house from the whole animal. I keep hearing….”this is really good!”………..”this is REALLY good!”

Our server was very knowledgeable on the menu and gave many suggestions.

We finally decide and here the plates come.

Our first plate is the melon ($13.00)

It’s a nice light refreshing starter with house made pickled peppers, mint, honey, goat cheese, black peppered cashews, micro greens and of course melon. (this could also be a nice light dessert)

Our next plate is the wood roasted carrots ($9.00)

They arrive in a hot skillet on a slice of tree. The carrots are wood grilled and are tossed in bbq sauce with pickled sweet peppers and are also topped with crispy onions. This plate ran on the sweet side. Maybe too much bbq sauce.

Our main plate was the wood grilled sirloin steak ($22.00).

It was prepared medium-medium/rare. It had a nice sear with a well seasoned exterior and a fresh tasting tender delicious interior.

The steak was covered with lots of young grilled black eyed peas. They had a nice wood grill flavor to them and sort of were similar to green beans. Tostones and chimichuri completed the plate.

The sweet ending was a yuzu laced slice of pound cake embellished with poppy seeds, blueberry jam, creme fraiche and candied basil leaves.

I’d say that Persepshen was Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

I haven’t found a website for Persepshen but they are on Facebook.

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip To Fellow Osteria in Scottsdale AZ

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Fellow Osteria is a full service Italian Inspired Restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona (the area between the Phoenix Zoo and the area the boarders Tempe). From the outside and inside the first thing you notice is how lovely, vast and park-like the outdoor seating is.

The indoor atmosphere is bright, airy, crisp and modern and is filled with lots of bright light during the day.

We started by sharing the arancini.

We received five fried rice balls that were crisp and seemed free of oil. They were dusted with hard grated cheese and were made with saffron, fontina cheese and sat in an oregano heavy tomato sauce.

They had a perfect texture and the correct amount of saffron but were on the one note side. Today’s batch could use just a small amount of pepper, stock, onion and wine and a more flavorful cheese like parmesan inside……. Then they’d be really great. ($10.00 subject to change)

We both tried the Lunch Love – eight inch pizza with half house salad, kale salad, or arugula beet salad. ($9.99 subject to change). What’s not to love? A personal size pizza and a healthy salad for only $9.99.

We were served our salads first. Both salads were the perfect size.

The top salad is the house salad. It’s made of mixed greens, heirloom tomatoes, Parmigiano cheese and is lightly dressed with a vinaigrette dressing.

My salad was the bottom salad.

I liked that my salad had a lot of textures to it. This salad is a bowl of arugula, tender-crisp beets, whipped ricotta, candied walnuts, chives and a light vinaigrette. I thought the cheese was very good and creamy but the walnuts were heavily coated with lots of sugar today……………..

Things were timed nicely and our pizzas arrive after we finish our salads. I got the pizza made with sweet charred corn, ricotta cheese, Parmigiano Reggiano and Calabrian Chile.

It’s a non traditional pizza that is delicious!……The crust is unusual too……It is crisp on the bottom and looks like it’s made with some sort of wheat or grain flour that is organic. The menu reads organic flour and tomatoes….

Anyways…….I taste that the corn was fresh, sweet and charred. The ricotta is creamy and lightly seasoned. The Calabrian Peppers add a good deal of yum and zip…..This non traditional pizza is YUMMY DELICIOUS!

My husband to my surprise ordered the pizza with pesto, mozzarella, braised chicken and heirloom tomatoes.

I tried two bites. This pizza was cooked perfect….It was nice and crisp and fully cooked. The cheese was rubbery on this pizza and the chicken was dry. We both enjoyed the corn pizza much more. The corn pizza is the way to go…It’s delicious!

That was my trip to Fellow Osteria

www.FellowOsteria.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork! It doesn’t matter if you are into Paleo to dine here.

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Sapiens Paleo Kitchen is a small French Style, Paleo, gluten free, B.Y.O.B, restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. They offer healthy quality Paleo inspired French Cuisine by the experienced French trained master chef Aurore de Beauduy. Paleo is healthy cuisine designed to choose foods for your best health. Many foods such as grains, most dairy sugar, and more are avoided. This is a SMALL restaurant and the whole dining room is pictured above. Reservations are necessary.

The tables are small and are somewhat spaced close together.

It seems like you get more space when you gaze at the Mountain View threw the front window.

We started out with a paleo bread platter ($10.00…subject to change) and the balsamic braised brussels sprouts ($5.00….subject to change).

We received an assortment of thin toasted breads and chunks of bread, smoky tomato jam, artichoke tapenade. Some bread thins were herbed and some contained fruit. The chunk bread seemed richer and all the dips were tasty. Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts had a nice tender crisp texture. The portions ran larger than from a typical French Restaurant.

For dinner I had the branzino special ($31.95….subject to change).

This branzino is seasoned just so and just melts in my mouth. I don’t recall having a branzino that was prepared or tasted this well before. There is also this delicious parsnip puree here and hericot verts, large capers, frilly lettuce, persimmon and a sweet tomato.

My husband went with the rabbit stew in a dijon mustard sauce with potatoes and onions. ($28.00….subject to change).

He said it was really great and just right for him. He also mentioned that for me it might run a little high on salt..

We decided to share the daily made les chocolates ($10.00…..subject to change).

At first taste you know that you are eating high quality chocolate. I sort of wish I had a big box of this to take home. It’s really Forking Good! Some chocolates have fruit, some have nuts and one is filled with coconut. This is a generously sized plate and we shared it with two other people at our table.

High quality, reasonably priced, masterfully prepared food that is healthy.

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen in Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.SapiensKitchen.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Hand Cut Burgers & Chophouse in Scottsdale AZ

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Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse is located in Scottsdale by The Scottsdale Fashion Mall. This is a full service restaurant with a bar that offers appetizers, sandwiches, salads, burgers, steaks, other dinners and more.

They offer high top tables, booths and bar seating. Three turntables are by the front of the restaurant for music. Sports are playing on big screen televisions.

From most seats you can view the open kitchen and the cold prep area.

Today we came for lunch and I went with a Chop Salad with added salmon ($10.00 + $7.00 subject to change and it it did just change……….just a few days ago they updated the menu and the chopped salad now does indeed differ some but is the same in price).

I received a plate of fresh greens, corn kernels, blueberries, goat cheese, pine nuts with blueberry balsamic dressing. All is OK here. (****NOTE the menu has changed slightly as of October 1st 2019)

My husband got the Steak Salad ($15.00 subject to change) (this one is still the same on the menu)

Here was fresh greens, sliced flank steak, blue cheese, garlic croutons, tomato, avocado with balsamic vinaigrette. All is ok here too.

Both salads were made with fresh greens and were made with a generous amount of delicious cheese.

That was my trip to Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse in Scottsdale.

www.HandCutChophouse.com

Hand Cut Burgers and Chophouse is of the Riot Hospitality Group of restaurants that include Dierks Bentley’s Whiskey Row, El Hefe, Farm and Craft and Riot House.

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Old Town Taste – Tempe AZ – Szechuan and Non-Spicy Chinese Food – Worth a Fork!

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Old Town Taste is located in Tempe Arizona. This is a Chinese Restaurant that offers Szechuan and non-spicy authentic style Chinese Food. The atmosphere is neat and clean and during the day lots of bright light comes in threw the glass front exterior.

There is wallpaper around the restaurant that illustrates an “Old Town.” It looks like it could be an old town anywhere but it’s probably suppose to be an old town in China. A place where you can get Chinese Food the way it’s been made since long ago.

They offer all kinds of different dishes here. A few of the dishes offered are peanuts in vinegar, spicy sour shredded potatoes, sauté garlic lettuce, fried egg with tomatoes, braised beef with mint, bacon with wide green beans. They offer dishes you might be familiar with or just sound familiar with like kung pao chicken, braised meatballs in brown sauce, braised duck in cooking beer iron wok stewed organic chicken and fried cumin lamb. They also offer dishes like red oil intestine noodles, garlic flavored chicken gristle, steamed duck heads with spicy sauce, Chen’s sour spicy lamb spine and Szechuan Style blood curd.

We shared two dishes…the fried eggplant, bell pepper and potato dish ($12.99 and the Szechuan Style spicy fish ($15.99).

We started with the eggplant dish.

This is a lighter dish. It’s mostly eggplant with a small amount of green bell pepper and a little bit of potatoes. It’s a mild dish in a light garlic soy kind of sauce. That turned out to be a great choice to cool us down from the Szechuan Style Spicy Fish.

It’s spicy and delicious! The mild white fish was fried with a crispy coating that seems free of oil. It’s very spicy, nose running spicy but doesn’t hurt. The Szechuan peppers numb your mouth so you can enjoy the heat. There also is garlic and other seasonings and crispy fried green beans. This dish is really GREAT!

That was my first trip to Old Town Taste in Tempe. Can’t wait to try other dishes!

Old Town Taste is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

I have not found a website page for Old Town Taste but they are on Facebook.

1845 E Broadway Rd Tempe

480-702-7101

closed Mondays

Open for lunch hours Tue-Sun 11:30-2:45

Dinner hours are Tue-Sun 5pm-9:30

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth