Miu’s Bistro serves authentic style Chinese Foods that includes the hot and spicy mouth numbing Sichuan Style. This is a very small restaurant with only a few tables and a three booths that isn’t fancy. They also seem unaware or don’t care about looking like Christmas to all in March. Miu’s Bistro has an outdoor banner with Christmas trees and the inside Christmas garland and lights. If you’ve visited the former Miu’s Cuisine Restaurant then you know they had a Christmas Tree set up in the middle of the restaurant all year long. They also didn’t purchase a new sign yet and the sign out side at the time of my visit 3-17 reads Ding Hao Shanghai.

The menu isn’t for everyone that thinks they love Chinese Food.

One page of menu that may be in the process of change.

We start out out cucumbers in Spicy Sauce.

It’s not for the faint of hard or people with delicate stomachs. It’s mouth numbing fire carried by oil on crispy light cucumbers, freshened up with a little cilantro. It makes you feel like you ran a mile without getting tired. It’s a legal rush.

I wanted to try something new that I wasn’t familiar with so I tried Spicy Chicken on the bone with Vine Pepper. I don’t know what kind of pepper is the Vine Pepper but I did spot jalapeños floating on the top.

Large Bowl in the middle is Spicy Chicken on Bone with Vine Peppers

This dish, the Spicy Chicken with Vine Peppers is another fiery, mouth numbing dish. It’s soup-like but it’s not a soup. The flavors are unusual to me but start with a very developed tasting chicken stock, I taste cumin and something very citrus. They really give the chicken the chop here that’s very flavorful and moist but almost impossible to eat to me. This might be a half of a small chicken that’s chopped in very small pieces and contains soft skin and shards of broken bone everywhere. Actually I’m afraid I’ll choke on bone. I’ve had a similar dish at a Taiwanese Restaurant where they prepared the chicken the same way so this way of preparing chicken in Asian Cookery. I watched someone else in the restaurant having the same or similar dish and that person was constantly spitting out bones like it was nothing. It seems that some people are used to this kind of dish.

My husband gets the Flour Steamed Pork that our waitress told us was the most requested dish in the restaurant. She said most people order two orders each. One for now and one for latter. I’m guessing this is a Chinese Comfort Food I never heard of.

The Flour Steamed Pork is surrounded by potatoes. My husband said it was different and almost like eating an Asian Tamale.

Miu’s Bistro  certainly was like a Taste of China in Mesa AZ.

Currently Miu’s Bistro website is not up and running but you can find them on Facebook.

****UPDATE NOW CLOSED FOR BUSINESS

The Forking Truth

Part of the Pedregal Mall that is part of the Boulders Resort that is now (2017) owned by Hilton

The Spotted Donkey is located at Pedregal, the deserted South West Style Shopping Plaza in North Scottsdale that borders Beautiful Care Free Arizona. Pedregal is part of the Boulders Resort that is owned by Hilton.

A few years back there were around 50 luxury shops and cafes. Pedregal hosted special events like live music and salsa and wine tastings that used to bring in crowds of people. This was at one time not to long back a happy fun upscale place to visit that happens to be in a gorgeous area. I used to enjoy the kitchen store, the rock shop and the upscale footware  store and the special events….

Currently (2017) Pedregal is next to deserted since Hilton’s purchase. Even the goldfish and koi have left the Pedregal Pond.

As we stroll the once lively mall it seems that we are living the twilight zone. The episode were there was one last man on earth by himself.

Is this a precursor of things to come?

The only life left is one small shop that sells interesting trinkets and The Spotted Donkey Restaurant of Pedregal.

We enter and it’s pretty quiet but the restaurant has an interesting kind of charm to it. The walls and floors are inlayed with interesting vintage tiles. The ceiling holds detailed beautiful vintage looking fixtures.

The interior is a mix of Mexican, South West, Leather and Wood.

Our waitress seems chipper and friendly. Our orders arrive in reasonable time.

I decided to try the Mexico City Carne Asada.

I look at my plate and my eyes zoom in on old looking picco.

I see a large side of cow with a side of pond scum…What did I order????? This place is owned by Hilton….This plate looks unappetizing……I’m thinking.

My husband sees the look on my face and suggest that we leave and eat out someplace else. I look at him and I say I’ll try the food…….

Maybe it taste better than it looks?

First I taste a piece of steak. It’s chewy….and doesn’t taste delicious…I’m hoping that it might be aged..?……..There are a few poblano pepper strips and onions…I taste them….um…..I don’t know if the chef added too much vinegar and lime juice because they have a sour taste to them…I asked my husband to taste the poblano peppers and onions…he said, “they are weird”….”they taste funky.” I bravely taste the green that looks similar to something that reminds me of the movie Poltergeist. It taste like a blend of honey, lime juice, avocado and tomatillo….it’s on the sweet side…and it needs something….It doesn’t seem seasoned enough and has an off-putting  texture similar to pond slime…….(possibly left behind from the goldfish and koi that vacated Pedregal)………..Off to the side I had some potato cakes that were suppose to contain chile. These were the best things on my plate and I am thankful I had something to eat…. Oh JOY!…… I don’t mean to stick it to the Donkey but the potatoes in the cakes are gluey. However the cakes are fried to perfection and seem oil free with a nice clean panko crunch. The chile is missing but maybe it’s for the better.

My husband tried the Poblano Chile Relleno.

He said his Poblano Pepper contained mushy pork mixed with greasy rice that was topped with weird tasting tomato sauce. He said as mediocre as it was that it wasn’t as bad as my plate.

Donkey Chow………

www.TheBoulders.com

NOT WORTH A FORK!

The Forking Truth is that your opinion may or may not differ and everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Chula Seafood is a Family Owned and operated Fishery located in South Scottsdale AZ. They specialize in offering sustainable fish caught off the Pacific and they feature Harpooned Swordfish. At the fish counter they offer several kinds of fresh fish cut in mostly six ounce portions. They also offer a limited menu of a few Poke Bowls, a Tuna Confit Sandwich and on “Saturdays Only” a Bagel sandwich made with House Smoked Salmon. In addition to the limited menu they also sell local artisan food items like Noble Bread, Home Boy’s Hot sauce and other locally made goods.

The interior isn’t fancy but does seem clean. You order what you want at the fish counter, have a seat and wait for the man at the counter to run your purchase to you.

Besides purchasing some fish we decided to share two items from the menu.

Here’s the “Saturday Only” Bagel with House Smoked Salmon. The salmon is quite tasty and the sandwich has unexpected heat from jalapeño peppers. Other fillings are cucumber, capers, and cream cheese. The everything bagel is very above average for Phoenix.

The other menu item we tried was the Confit Tuna Sandwich.

This sandwich has great textures and flavors and is also surprisingly spicy but not too spicy. This sand contains lively house made giardinia, creamy avocado, a zippy aioli, cucumber and Phoenix’s Famous Noble Bread. The tuna is dry but the dryness isn’t noticeable with all the fillings as it is just delicious. A generously sized fresh salad came on the side.

It’s Forking Great that a store like this has opened in Metro Phoenix.

Chula Seafood is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.ChulaSeafood.com

The forking Truth is that your experience may or may not differ and everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Brocoli, Spinach, Ricotta Stuffed Pizza from Gio’s Pizza in Anthem AZ

Gio’s Pizza in Anthem Arizona serves Italian/Sicilian , New York and what they call…Authentic  Pizza and more. This is a small family owned pizzeria located across the street from The Anthem Outlet Mall. On Gio’s Website they state that they use their family recipes and only use the highest quality ingredients. This small restaurant isn’t fancy and only seats about five small tables inside and two tables outside. As you enter the tight entrance you see all kinds of pizzas on display. In the dining room I noticed a few Sicilian trinkets on the walls and I heard thick Italian accents in the energetic noisy kitchen.

This pizzeria differs in offerings from any other pizzeria I’ve been to in Metro Phoenix. They offer Spaghetti Rolls. They are made with very mild red sauce…just right for children or those who are children at heart!

Spaghetti Roll

Stuffed Pin Wheels that look like fancy stars, garlic knots, calzones, wings, salads-

Regular crust pizza……..Not the most unique but every pizza place offers a plain slice.

Regular Crust Pizza

A Regular Crust Bianca Neve of Mozzarella, Garlic and Ricotta Cheese At the time I had it I know they used Polly-O Brand a popular East Coast Brand. I heard the guys chanting in the kitchen. “Yo we use the Polly-O” as mixers were whirling and the sounds of hands were slapping dough.  I saw a big tub of Polly-O ricotta on the table.  This pizza was my favorite at Gio’s so far……

Gio’s offers Sicilian Thick Rectangular pizzas like the-

Nonna – Bread Crumbs, Onion, Tomato and Mozzarella

Stuffed Pizzas like the Broccoli, Spinach and Ricotta (Pictured at the start…..well it seemed healthy…LOL…..Lots of Spinach and Broccoli…….It’s quite enormous and in my opinion is two or more meals) The top is very unique….the crust folds over and turns into a thin crisp cheese crust)

and

Stuffed Sausage, Pepperoni and Potato my husband had the last two times.

They offer cannoli, espresso and sell small tubs of a frozen confections..(gelato or Italian Ice? not sure..didn’t look too close and couldn’t even consider a tub of confection after eating here)

Unique little Pizza Place that offers something different.

I’d say Gio’s Pizza of Anthem AZ is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork! Not a fancy place……. Small. You might want to give them a try if you are in the area.

www.GiosPizzaAnthem.com

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Mora Italian Restaurant isn’t your typical Italian Restaurant in Phoenix. It’s more like not your Grandfather’s  Italian Restaurant…..It’s like Las Vegas Quality with Approachable Pricing. The Co-Owner is – James Bead Award Wining, Celebrity Chef, Cookbook Author, Restauranteur, Food Network’s Chopped Judge………and recent Phoenix Transplant…Scott Conant.

Picture taken at recent AZCENTRAL Food & Wine Festival

Spotted Chef Conant on the line on my way in.

From my seat the entrance looks like this.

I turn around and see an attractive patio that surprisingly overlooks a busy street.

The dining room features wood, leather or leather like seating, lots of Ferrari Red and Italian Pop Culture adorning the wall.

The Spaghetti Eating Heathen Women are quite memorable.

We start out with Polenta with Mushrooms and Truffle Sugo.

It’s rich and creamy with a variety of well developed mushrooms of different textures. It’s seasoned just so…It’s special occasion delicious!

New we share the Ricotta and Mascarpone Gnudi.

They are like ravioli fillings…Sort of like if a ravioli had a baby with angel food cake, topped with concentrated tomato in a buttery thin sauce.

My husband had a very unique kind of Short Rib. He said it didn’t seem braised and seemed more like a grilled steak. He said it was surrounded with interesting ingredients. He thinks he remembers ingredients like artichoke, arugula, Calabrian Peppers and pumpkin seeds.I think I see endive and radicchio on the plate too. He said it was really all great together.

I had the Whole Boneless Orata ( Gilt Head Bream Fish).

It was so tender, moist and sweet. It just melted in my mouth. Even the skin was crisp and seasoned nicely. The plate came with melted leeks, faro and a grilled lemon. This was just a really great dish….I remember I had this same fish at Bartolotta’s in Las Vegas.

I was too full for dessert 🙁

I’ll save room for dessert next time 🙂

Mora Italian is Worth a Fork….but…it’s important to read below

Worth a Fork! I NOTE at the time of this review Mora Italian is a newly opened restaurant and is subject to mishaps in service and delays in the timing of serving food……but what I tried was outstanding so I’m giving them the Fork.

www.MoraItalian.com

The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may…or may not…differ.

The Forking Truth

Scott’s Generation’s Deli was sort of a fixture for close to 30 years on 7th Street and has relocated in a nice new fresh restaurant only a mile and a 1/2 away. The story is that they closed around 2:00 Friday afternoon, moved everything and opened for business bright and early Saturday morning. The new location is bright and cheerful looking. The deli case is still there in the front of of restaurant and a big portrait of Scott with his Father graces the front by the door.

I got seated in the back dining room.

I ordered one of my favorite plates on Scott’s Menu.

It’s actually among the finest smoked fish plates that you can get in Metro Phoenix AZ. The Smoked Fish Supreme Plate. You pick three smoked fish. The Choices are, Lake Sturgeon ($3.00 extra) Sable, Belly Lox, Nova Lox, Baked Salmon or White Fish and it comes with your choice of NY Bagel. It’s really a great value because it’s enough for two meals and not all but the majority of fish choices cost $40.00 or more a pound! The Belly lox is silky, the Sturgeon is sweet, meaty and careful laced with smoke. White Fish is just yummy! As far as I know NONE of the other NY Style Deli’s in Metro Phoenix offer Sturgeon, Sable and only one other (Chompie’s) sells Belly Lox. You are truly getting a NY Taste. It’s not a deal breaker but the bagel is among the very few served in Metro Phoenix that is similar to a real east coast type of bagel. It’s the size bagels are suppose to be and are not like the giant bagel shaped rolls they serve at most sandwich places. The texture differs slightly but it’s close.

My husband got the “Scottwich” Pastrami Sandwich.

A very stuffed sandwich of Pastrami, Kraut, Swiss Cheese, Grilled Onions and grilled Garlic Rye Bread. It certainly is a delicious sandwich. We both think the pastrami they serve here is the closest to what we remember pastrami tasting like from back east.

Sadly I have yet to try a dessert because I’m always too full. The Brownie’s sound fun. They offer Male and Female Brownies. (with or without nuts)

Other things we tried at the Scott’s Generations NY Deli

The Reuben Reuben

Potato Knish

The Harvey Triple Decker

“The Cuisine of the Delicatessen comes from a world that no longer exists.” from the movie Deli Man.

Deli Food is made by people preserving not only corned beef and pickles but history. (that quote is from me!)

www.ScottsGenerations.com

Worth a Fork!

The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

The Great Wall Restaurant in Phoenix AZ is considered to be the best for Dim Sum in Arizona. In case your not familiar with the term Dim Sum it sort of translates to a lingering Chinese Brunch. Many different carts of foods get pushed around the dining room and some of them stopped at our table. The server says to you, “do you want something?” I admit I’m not the most familiar with dim sum and had to ask what they had on the cart.

The first plate we try are the familiar looking Sesame Balls.

I had sesame balls before but these were different. Instead of being filled with sweetened bean paste these were stuffed with fruit.

Not what I was expecting but still tasty.

The only chicken they offered us were chicken feet and fried chicken so we went with the fried chicken.

What was special about this chicken was the ultra crispy coating that was amazing and delicious. This chicken had many good flavors going on.

We also enjoyed the Chinese Broccoli. This vegetable looks like the Yu Choy my local Asian Market sells.

It taste better than broccoli and is more like spinach on tender not bitter stems.

We took a chance with Bean and Mushroom Stuffed Tofu Skins and Sticky Rice. We’ve had these before at other Chinese Restaurants…..but these items prepared from Great Wall are for an acquired taste.

The check came out to around $27.00…not bad for all we tried.

I saw the fresh fish tanks in the restaurant and asked the cashier what time they start serving the menu. She just recited the opening hours so I figure that English is her second language and she didn’t understand me.

Great Wall doesn’t have a website but you can find Great Wall in Phoenix AZ on Facebook

The Forking Truth

The Canyon Cafe is located in Downtown Phoenix Arizona. They serve Tex-Mex -Spanish Inspired Food. The weather was nice so we choose to be seated on the lovely large patio.

Soon a waitress drops off a generously sized basket of assorted chips and some house made salsa while we’re deciding on what to order.

The chips are very interesting, colorful and fun. The basket contains sweet potato chips and several varieties of crisp corn tortillas. Some are savory, some are sweet and some are plain with different textures. The salsa is very heavily laced with lime.

I ordered a Blacken Salmon Caesar Salad.

The greens were slightly warm and wilted. The salmon was ok but the salad tasted quite bland. Perhaps the kitchen must have been very busy and ran out of anchovy, Worcestershire and black pepper because the only things the dressing tasted like were watered down mayonnaise with lots of  lemon.  I gave a piece of lettuce to my husband to try the dressing and he said he couldn’t taste anything but the cheese on the romaine. I didn’t want to complain or send it back because you never know what kind of person is working in the kitchen.

My husband had the Chile Relleno stuffed with Fajita Steak and a side Paella Rice.

The beef inside was tender and flavorful. The Paella Style Rice was fluffy like regular rice and was infused with a great amount of smoke.

With the check they present a complimentary sweet ending of white chocolate pecan Tamale.

Lunch wasn’t perfect but there were some good things going on.

For more information please visit www.CanyonCafe.com

I note that everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Daawat is a newly opened casual….mostly take out Indian Restaurant in North Phoenix AZ. This isn’t a fancy place with wait service. This is a hole in the wall kind of place. Here it’s no frills and you order at the counter and grab your plastic silverware and wait for your meal served on the finest styrofoam. Daawat serves a variety of styles of Indian Foods…..North Traditional Moghali, South Hyderabadi, Indo-Chinese and on the menu they say THEY Serve the Best Dhum Biryani in the Valley! The menu is interesting but lacks descriptions. Daawat offers some hard to find items that are not offered at some of the other Indian Restaurants in this area. You might need your cell phone to google some of the menu.

We started with Cut Mirch –  toasted garbanzo bean battered spicy pepper fritters. The peppers were served with a cooling sauces of tamarind and a cilantro mint sauce.

The Cut Mirch were tasty with a nice crunch and seemed oil free but were extremely fiery with heat. I’d say they were next to “Thai Hot.”  Tamarind sauce added layers of flavors and provided first aid to the heat best for me although the cilantro mint sauce was pleasant with good flavors.

We shared Chicken Vindaloo and the Chicken Dum Biryani.

This is another example of Chicken Biryani I never had before. Maybe the most fragrant and very floral….maybe made with rosewater?…I liked all the exotic flavors….they were very long lasting and refreshing in my mouth.  For me the down side was that the chicken in this dish was over cooked and on the dry side but edible. I didn’t care for the chicken in this dish but, the side tomato gravy was good an also very fragrant with good flavors.

But be on the look out for large inedible objects…….at Daawat.

My husband didn’t care for this dish because they didn’t remove all the spices and he came across cinnamon bark and accidentally ate a whole cardamon pod….

The chicken in the Vindaloo was moist, fresh and flavorful. The chili element was forgotten in this Vindaloo because it lacked any heat and tasted more like Chicken Masala…….I think they accidentally served us Chicken Masala…In that case it was a more Flavorful Layered Chicken Masala than I tried from some other places.

Portions were large and pieces are low. Menu is priced from $2.99- $10.99

For more information please visit www.DaawatAZ.com

Newly opened restaurant so it’s too new to rate.

The Forking Truth is that EVERYTHING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Ten years back it seemed there was a budget Asian Buffet on every corner. Today many of these places are a thing of the past. It’s very difficult to keep over a hundred items of food at the right temperature and stored correctly and often buffets suffer violations at health inspections. The New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ might be the cleanest buffet in all of Maricopa Country at this time. The New China Super Buffet over the past twelve months has earned a grade “A” health inspections. This is very unusual and very impressive for a restaurant that offers maybe over a hundred different pans of prepared foods so it seemed worthy of a try. The atmosphere is a little dated but seems clean. The dining room chairs are extra wide and are on wheels sort of like chairs from convalescent  homes.

This is an inexpensive and very large buffet. I came for dinner on the weekend and the price was about $12.00 for all one wants to eat including beverages.

We weren’t greeted or felt welcome by the people at the hostess desk but were seated quickly in the dining room.

I take a walk around the buffet and this is what I see.

They offer a variety of sushi. I tried a few pieces and it’s it’s good for buffet style sushi.

This salmon is typical example of buffet salmon. Albumin formation is going on here from over cooking. I will pass on the salmon.

From this row I take chicken on a stick. The chicken is fresh and juicy but is very sweet with slight Asian flavors. They have Mexican Hot Sauce on the table as a condiment. I use some on the chicken to cut the sweet and make it a little spicy.

I did try a taste of the macaroni and cheese…It was very unusual looking. The pasta was florescent orange in color and then topped with a cheese sauce. I never saw florescent colored pasta before. It was slightly better than it looked.

Most of the food I tried came from this row. I tried mushroom chicken, spicy chicken and vegetables. They all seemed fresh and were prepared nicely but they all….. even the vegetables tasted exactly like the chicken on a stick. All sweet with slight Asian seasoning. It seemed like they have one universal sauce for the Asian Inspired Dishes. You can eat like a warrior here if you are a fan of the sweet slightly Asian Taste.

A few pans like the salmon contained over cooked meats. My husband tried the pork dish and he told me that the pork was very dry and tasted exactly like all the chicken dishes.

We shared an egg tart. It was the one thing I tried that I thought was delicious. It had a nice thin perfect crust and the filling was rich and smooth. It tasted cheesy and slightly sweet.

The New China Super Buffet offers many desserts, cookies, macaroons, cream filled puffs, iced cakes, peanut clusters, and four kinds of ice cream.

Our server was efficient at serving beverages and clearing plates but also made us feel slightly unwelcome by rolling her eyes and laughing slightly when she served my husband a refill.

Besides dining in…..New China Super Buffet offers a menu of Take Out Chinese Food and Take Out Buffet Food.

1/2 a Fork….better than some of the other Budget Asian Buffets I’ve been too ……Nothing was too oily or too salty…………. grade “A” by Maricopa county for the past twelve months…..downside was that most of the Asian Inspired entrees tasted the same.

The Forking Truth is that everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

For more information on New China Super Buffet in Phoenix AZ you will have to visit them or give them a call at 602-424-1660

The Forking Truth