Ocotillo is among one of my favorite restaurants in Downtown Phoenix.  It might be a one mile square compound filled with multiple patios, an outdoor coffee bar and an outdoor cocktail bar in addition to the restaurant.

115 degrees F today

empty at 115 degrees F

Ocotillo offers a large ever changing menu that’s broken down into salads, vegetables, small plates, sandwiches and large plates. Everything is quality and much of the menu is locally sourced.

They were very busy today at lunch time and the dining room was full since it was too hot to dine on the patios in the 115 degree F heat today. They asked us to wait an hour or to sit at a lone table they added to the bar so we sat there.

This seat wasn’t bad. We are away from the dining room but we gained full view of the kitchen and bar.

We started by sharing a Tomato Tartine off the Vegetable Menu….I sort of forgot what a Tartine is…….I was thinking tart……but I was wrong a Tartine is really a French Bruschetta. Anyway is was delicious.

It started with quality toasted bread that was topped with what tasted like fresh made ricotta cheese and fresh herbs. There was shaved squash, nuts and the sweetest grilled tomatoes ever. This was very good!

I tried the Korean Style BBQ Brisket Sandwich.

Wow! What an enormous portion. This is enough to feed a lumberjack. It smells delicious. Here’s a better look at the sandwich.

It’s a generous amount of tender and not too fatty brisket topped with kimchi slaw, lettuce and Sriracha mayonnaise. It’s very tasty and I get to bring home the other half for another day. The fries are very above average and are very good. Really super fluffy moist interiors and crispy and seasoned well on the outside. I think they were fried at least twice to make fries this good.

My husband had the Roasted Pork Torta.

The sandwich came with a spicy sauce.

I’ve always been to full to think of dessert at Ocotillo so sadly I’ve never tried dessert here.

Here are some but not all of the plates we tried in the past at Ocotillo.

Salmon and spinach salad

Thai Style Chicken

Tandoori Style Chicken Sandwich

Japanese Style Fish and Chips

Chicken Mole Salad

Ocotillo is Worth a Fork!

www.OcotilloPhx.com

Worth a Fork! You might travel across town to dine here because it’s a very nice restaurant that offers a very nice menu.

Everything Forking Thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Fabio on Fire is well known and established as a mobile food service that specializes in Italian Food. They feature hand made baked goods, pastas and Neapolitan Pizzas. You might come across Fabio on Fire at local festivals and Farmers Markets. Now Fabio on Fire has a Brick and Mortar location in Peoria AZ. The restaurant is fresh and new looking. It’s casual with an open kitchen so you can see all the action.

The menu offers appetizers, mostly authentic style Neapolitan Pizzas, house made pastas, breads, baked goods and house made gelato.

For our fist visit we decided to try the pizza and went with a Diavola and a Marinara.

Diavola

Marinara

The crust is blistered and charred but not burnt. The pizza has a chewy crust with great structure and is developed with flavor. The pizzas are both very thin and also typical of the Neapolitan Style with a wet but not too wet center. The Diavola is topped with milky cheese, certified tomatoes and a hard to come by quality spicy salami. The marinara is topped with a wildly flavorful sauce that is also very garlicky. Both of these pizzas are light and don’t weigh you down. Thanks to my husband we had room to try the house made gelato.

The chocolate is different and has a great mouth feel and taste like Italian Chocolate. The Strawberry is Amazing. Taste like the very best strawberries ever. It’s so amazing I can only dream that they open a gelato shop next door……..

Fabio on Fire at the time of this first visit has only been open a couple days and is already a gem of Peoria.

The pizzas already are among the best on the west side of metro Phoenix.

www.FabioOnFire.com

Fabio On Fire is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

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

The Forking Truth

Original Cuisine Chinese Restaurant was on my radar for a number of weeks. This week I happened to read a glowing rare 4.5 star review from the Arizona Republic so Original Cuisine got catapulted to my short list on new places to try. I must start by saying that Original Cuisine specializes in Fiery Mouth Numbing Sichuan Food. Not everything they serve is spicy but they serve mostly foods you don’t find at American Chinese Restaurants. Like Pork Blood Intestine in Hot Chili Oil and Spicy Duck Feet.  If you are only used to take out Chinese like Beef and Broccoli, Shrimp Lo Mein or Orange Chicken it’s possible that you won’t enjoy yourself here because this is real Chinese Food. Here’s the menu and see what you think.

One might think of formal dining with a 4.5 star rating but the rating might be mostly based on the food. This isn’t a fancy place but the hanging lights are kind of fun to look at.

This restaurant looks like it used to be a fast food restaurant to me. It has the same woody fake brick floor I remember from the OLD Burger King and Hardy Fast Food Restaurants by my childhood home. The walls here are covered with a variety of wall papers. Some of the wallpapers looks like brickwork. Some wallpaper looks like paneling and some are sort of Asian Cartoonish. On my visit service was ok it was fast and my order was efficient but I never got the extra napkins we asked for……….that we really needed.

They use the tiniest peanuts I’ve ever seen to hold the chop sticks.

All the Dish-ware is cute.

We made our order and decided to share three plates….One of the plates we asked for was Spicy Fried Chicken with Chilies. We were there when they were only open less than an hour and they were already all sold out…..

So we started with Pan Fried Rice Balls with Sautéed Bell Peppers.

The Rice balls are thin shells that are made of pounded rice filled with black sesame seeds that are creamy like tahini. They kind of burst in your mouth when you eat them. Our rice balls were seasoned with something brine-y and sautéed bell peppers. The rice balls are tasty so if you like things like hummus you should enjoy them. I do warn you the rice balls are tasty but seem very rich so you will only want to eat 3-4 balls in a sitting.

The one dish I always wanted to try from Miu’s Cuisine (now closed for business) was the Lettuce in Garlic Sauce. We saw that dish here and also remembered The Food Critic from the Arizona Republic Review enjoying this dish so we decided to try it.

This dish reminds me of my Aussie Shepard because one of her favorite treats is the crunchy part from Romaine Lettuce. She actually slaps my leg when I prepare salads and begs for the crunchy romaine middles. The Lettuce in Garlic Sauce seems like a crunchy romaine leaf in a mild garlicy chicken sauce. The middle of the lettuce stays crunchy and the leafy part is almost unnoticeable. This dish is tasty light and mild and cuts the heat from our main dish.

We shared the House Special Barbecue Fish that is a whole catfish bubbling with molten hot oil, spicy chilies, mouth numbing ash berries (Sichuan Peppercorns), potatoes, peanuts, lotus root and wood ear mushrooms. It’s quite a feast.

I normally don’t care for catfish but I have to say this was really delicious!  I was able to eat some of the fish like pieces of fried chicken. I pulled off the crispy ends and just picked it up and ate it like a leg. It’s spicy but not too spicy because of the mouth numbing pepper. My nose is running yet I am almost craving more heat. But it’s so tasty….

Original Cuisine in Mesa AZ is Worth a Fork for Sichuan Food

No Website you just have to visit them at 1853 W Broadway Rd in Mesa AZ

Worth a Fork! You will travel across town to get the best there is in Sichuan Cuisine.

Remember….Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

La Barquita isn’t a fancy restaurant nor is it in the best part of town. It a hole in the wall kind of place that serves up made from scratch Mexican Foods and Breakfast all day.

They started us off with complimentary chips and very good salsa that was served warm.

My husband picked well and went with maybe the signature dish……..The Molcajete.

A flaming hot (in temperature) Cauldron with bubbling flavorful sauce topped with tender steak (carne asada), chicken, house made chorizo, fresh cut cactus pad, and blocks of cheese. The meat fest included very good guacamole, house made refried beans and very good house made tortillas. All the meats were tender and flavorful. Nothing was too spicy just tasty.

I wasn’t as successful with my pick……the Fried Perch.

The flesh on my fish was a little crisp.

It was like most of the flesh evaporated and was mostly hard and crunchy.

The mushrooms that topped the hard crunchy fish were drowned with what tasted like half a jar of jarred garlic and a few generous handfuls of salt.

Fries were oozing with oil and the rice was porridge-like.

If someone asked me how my meal was I would have told them some of this…but not all because that is too much.

The Mocajete was very good and you should have a positive experience with the Mocajete.

Your experience may or may not differ and EVERY FORKING THING ANYWHERE is subject to change.

La Barquita doesn’t have a website so you just have to visit them at 2334 E Mcdowell Rd in Phoenix AZ

View from parking lot

The Forking Truth

Flower Child is a casual health focused restaurant that’s suitable for vegan, vegetarian and low gluten or meat eaters diets. The menu is mostly vegetable focused. They offer salads, vegetable bowls, wraps and more. You have the option to add proteins. The restaurant is very casual as you order at the counter, grab a number and seat yourself.

In the comfortable potting shed style dining room.

Or the attractive patio that’s comfortable via great misters in even the hot 100 degree days .

I go to pick my tea and went with the Black Passion Fruit.

We decided to share several things.

I went for the Thai Cashew Quinoa bowl with added salmon. (Here is how it looked the first time)

The salmon was a nice portion and was cooked reasonably well. I really enjoyed the snap peas. They were so sweet, fresh and crisp and were just as good as a snap pea can be. While my plate was  ok it was not very flavorful……

I felt cheated as my plate lacked shiitake mushrooms, jalapeños and Thai Basil that my plate was suppose to contain. Below is a better look to see what I had from my fist visit.

I felt cheated so I thought it would be a good idea to let the restaurant know about what I was served. The restaurant offered me a slight discount to come back. I came back and ordered the same plate again and it is not much but slightly different.

This time I came across three pieces of Shiitake Mushroom and one leaf of Basil. Both me and my husband didn’t recognize or taste Jalapeño in the dish but it was ok. The plate didn’t contain enough basil for any flavor. Did the bowl contain any fragment of jalapeño?……….I don’t think so…… If you order this plate you MUST ask for extra Thai Basil and extra Jalapeño or you won’t get enough to notice any. Well this time I can’t say the mushrooms were missing. I was surprised that nobody checked on me and asked if everything was alright since they were aware I had an issue the last time I was here.

Well any who……….

We decided to share a Mix and Match Vegetable plate since it sounds so appealing. On our first visit we tried a combination of Sweet Potatoes, Indian Style Cauliflower and Japanese Eggplant. The Eggplant was our favorite! It wasn’t oily like real Asian Eggplant but it was flavorful and tasty!

The Vegetable Plate we picked the second time was really Great!

Mashed Potatoes…Ummmm, Japanese Eggplant and the surprise was the tasty Asparagus with mint and whole grains. I would get this again as my meal. It was really good!

My husband got The Rebel Wrap and it  is described as contained grass fed beef, charred onion, port salut cheese, horse radish yogurt and arugula on a house made whole wheat flax and chia seed wrap.

My husband said the wrap was flavored nicely and he really liked the port salut cheese but the steak was chewy (the first time) and the wrap only contained a small portion of steak.

Since the amount of beef was so light on our first visit my husband asked for extra beef in his wrap for our second visit and received this.

The steak was tender, abundant and delicious this time.

www.IAMAFLOWERCHILD.COM

THE FORKING TRUTH is that your experience may indeed DIFFER and FORKING EVERYTHING is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Match Cuisine & Cocktails is located in the Boutique Hotel called the FOUND:RE in down town Phoenix AZ. This small hotel is really part art museum that displays a mostly changing gallery of unique artwork.

This new restaurant Match Cuisine & Cocktails is sort of new again as they have a new chef that is introducing new menu items. I thought this would be an interesting pick for restaurant week and it was…….

We arrived slightly early for our reservation so we were asked to sit in the lounge.

We were hoping to partake in some happy hour food and drink since we rarely ever take advantage of that anywhere.

I didn’t notice any reduced pricing on any of the food but did notice a couple dollars off on a few drinks I wasn’t interested with so we walked around looking at the artworks some more.

Interactive Projection on the floor

We do get seated with menus and both decide to order off the restaurant week menu.

They start us off with wines that pair expertly well with our appetizers.

My Farm House Salad might have been the most detailed salad I ever had anywhere. It must have contained about 50 ingredients. The salad was packed with a whole farm of local shaved baby vegetables, flowers, different sauces, dehydrated items gelled things and even more. It was like a journey around the world with changing seasons. It sure was Forking Interesting. Every bite did taste different. My husband had Fire Roasted Oysters with Chinese Pork Sausage, Takana, Miso Custard and Smoked Soy. It was so different he didn’t know how he felt about it.

Dinner was….Whole Deboned Roasted Sea Bream with Pardon Peppers, Olives, Tomato, Arugula, Fennel and Burnt Lemon Vinaigrette and Wood Roasted Beef Tenderloin with Morels (served after we noticed they were missing), Salted New Potatoes, Ramps and Burnt Carrot Madeira Reduction.

My Fish seemed fresh as could be…..and didn’t taste like most fish you get in Phoenix….more like fresh like fish from California or fresh fish sent to Las Vegas……It was a very large portion that was prepared reasonably well. The only problem was the timing of arrival. My plate arrived well after the fish was prepared and it was near cold…..I figure I took too long eating the salad so the timing was off. My plate also came with a truck full of vegetables. One of the vegetables were the best Heirloom Tomatoes I had in some time. They were so good that if there was such a thing as Jesus these tomatoes I had would make hime weep….Best tomatoes ever! I ate too much and was very full. My husband had the Beef Tenderloin Platter. Even he said the beef was good and he really thought the Ramps were interesting but even more interesting was the Burnt Carrot Madeira Reduction. I think he liked his plate but for him the portion was small. Both dinners also came with generous wine pairings that were amazing with the food.

For dessert we both had the Chocolate Pot de Creme. It was presented in a very non-traditional way.

A sweet ending to an interesting meal.

www.MatchPHX.com

Worth a Fork! Not Perfect but the highest quality fresh ingredients presented in an interesting or non-traditional way…

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

The Forking Truth

Virtu Honest Craft is a very small restaurant located in old town Scottsdale AZ. This restaurant has won and also was nominated for many awards. The menu they serve is considered contemporary European with an Italian Slant. You will be seated on the patio unless you have specified otherwise in your reservation.

We were seated on the patio and were slightly uncomfortable in the 93 degree F heat. Our table was very wobbly but our waiter was able to fix it.

We started with cocktails that were very detailed and contained ingredients I never heard of. Very interesting cocktails that also were delicious.

Our appetizers were a Salad of beeted cheve sformato, micro greens, citrus hazelnuts and Sicilian Rope sausage with garlic potatoes, peppers, onions and charred salsa.

My salad was fine and was greens and citrus over a disk of goat cheese whipped with beets…The Salad was great but I thought it needed a crouton or a slice of bread to spread the cheese on to. My husband enjoyed the sausage.

For dinner I tried the Big Eye Tuna with Sun-chokes.

The tuna is prepared reasonably well and rest above fried sun-chokes in a very sweet sauce and it topped with some thinly sliced fried sun-chokes. The sauce was suppose to be an agro dolce sauce….(a sweet and sour sauce) but the sauce lacked sour and mostly lacked the rosemary that was in the description. (I think one stray leaf made it to the plate) To be honest the sauce  was cloyingly sweet to me ..(and I am a BIG FAN of sweets but this is too sweet)..I started to wonder if it was me……..so I asked my husband to try the sun-chokes. He tried a forkful and said he wouldn’t be able to eat them either. I should have asked the waiter to bring me a lemon to fix the sun-chokes. Oh well now I have more room for dessert!

My husband had the Lamb Shank with Melguez Borlotti Beans, Pine Nuts and Mint.

He said the Lamb was prepared well and he liked the taste of the beans.

For dessert we had the Peaches and Cream Olive Oil Cake.

It came as broken cake in a glass with syrupy peaches and loose cream. It didn’t seem the least bit sweet after the sun-chokes.

www.VirtuScottsdale.com

This dinner didn’t hit it out of the park for me. Shame because the last time was awesome….actually better than awesome…more like life changing….

Had this last time all this dishes were very complex crafted with unique ingredients and artfully composed all genius dishes. Better than awesome….life changing.

That SHOWS you that EVERYTHING is subject to change and YOUR experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Huauchinango’s Mexican Food Restaurant is located in Mesa AZ. This isn’t a fancy place and might be considered a little worn. The menu is in Spanish with some English but don’t worry because the family working there can answer questions you might have about the menu. Here the cuisine is authentic Mexican Puebla Food.

You might be wondering what is Puebla Food?

I can tell you that I don’t really know what Puebla Food really is but I can tell you I saw Huachitlacoyos, Chalupas, Tiacoyoes and Molotes on the menu and I believe that they all are made of corn or masa flour and are fried into a different various shapes that are stuffed or topped with fillings.

Dining Room

They started us off with complimentary chips and tomatillo salsa.

My meal came with chicken based and tomato laced soup with added pasta.

I gave my soup to my husband so I’d have room for my meal. He said the soup was very good and our server suggest adding lime and some salsa so he did.

For my meal I tried what is called Pollo en Chittepin con Cachuate. It means Spicy Chicken with Peanuts.

I received a Chicken Thigh and a Leg that were “fall off the bone” and “Melt in Your Mouth Tender.”  The sauce tasted so yummy and sort of like like peanut butter, other spices and was embellished with some really spicy peppers but not too much or too many…The peppers tickled my mouth in a fun way. The sauce was slightly oily but very tasty. The sauce also contained pieces of peanuts.  It was a treat dipping the tender chicken in the tasty sauce. This plate also came with lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, seasoned rice, beans and maybe the best home made tortillas I ever had. They were sort of on the fluffy side and really hugged whatever you put in them.

My husband had the Potato and Chorizo (4) Molotes with ($3) added Steak. (I didn’t think either photo really showed what was on the plate but with the two photos you can see how it was)

He received  Masa Tortillas stuffed with Potato and Chorizo topped with lettuce and shredded cheese. Steak wasn’t the most tender but it was tasty. (but what do you want for only $3.00) My husband said it was all delicious together. He wants to come back to try other things. I want to return to try the Spicy Peanut Chicken again!

A pretty amazing value that’s certainly Worth a Fork!

Not big on atmosphere and lacks a restroom but Authentic Style Puebla food that saves you BIG BUCKs on airfare and a Hotel in Puebla Mexico.

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

No website but you can find Huauchinango’s Mexican Food on Facebook.

The Forking Truth

The 613 Grill is a small kosher restaurant that serves a very limited menu of mediterranean food and hamburgers. The number 613 is very meaningful in Judaism. There are 613 commandments in the Torah. 613 means excellence. This little restaurant has big shoes to fill with such a name.

This isn’t a fancy place but it seems neat and clean. (look at the light fixtures…pretty cool!)

I was hoping to try the Moroccan Cigars…( a seasoned filled pastry that looks like a cigar)……..but they have been popular and they were all sold out so I tried something else I never had before……The Fire Poppers. They were a little different than what I was expecting them to be.

The Fire Poppers were white meat chicken that seemed fried in a mostly sweet sauce with hardly any heat.  On the side is an herbed mayonnaise based sauce.

We also shared the Falafels with humus and fresh hot pita bread.

The falafels have a soft meatball texture. They weren’t the most herby but they were full of good flavors. The Pita was hot and fresh made. We both liked the pita bread and it seemed to have a little chew to it.

We were torn between the Chicken kabob and the pastrami burger….Our server strongly suggested going with the Pastrami Burger so we did.

The kosher beef does have a better beef taste than non kosher beef but this burger as you can see has room for improvement.

Hopefully this newly opened restaurant will offer the Moroccan Cigars again.

The website is unfinished at this time but you can contact them at  www.613Grill.com

That was my trip to 613 Grill in Phoenix AZ.

The Forking Truth is that your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth