If you judge a book by it’s cover then you will be missing out on possibly the very best Oaxaca Cuisine at La 15 Y Salas in Phoenix AZ. I’ve been here several times and La 15 Y Salsas is certainly worth a Fork!

This restaurant has come a long way since my first visit. You used to order at the counter and order from the pictures on the wall  menu in Spanish.  They used to have more Oaxaca Goods for sale including grasshoppers that are used for tacos. I didn’t notice the grasshoppers this time but I guess they still might offer them.  They still do sell Oaxaca Goods but not as many and now have more tables for dining.

Instead of ordering at the counter they now have table service with printed menus. This little dive experienced success because of the delicious reasonably priced foods and has several glowing reviews by local restaurant critics.

They started us off with three salsas and a basket of Mexican Chips.

All three sauces were very spicy. One sauce was a creamy avocado, another might have been made with tomatillo and the third sauce was made with some sort of smoked chile. I asked the last time what kind of chile was the smoked same and I was told the chile used was a Mexican Bird’s beak chile.

We tried an appetizer and it sounded small because it was called Mini Quesadillas Fritas.

This was three folded fried flaky tortillas filled with lots of mild melty cheese and and herb called Epazote, a very strong herb something like oregano with another flavor mixed in. The tortillas were brushed with a black bean sauce laced with anise leaf and topped with shredded mild cheese and lettuce.

We shared our plates.

One plate was the Combo De Chile Relleno.

It’s a spicy green chile stuffed with flavorful tender pulled chicken, raisins and nuts that is batter fried and covered with spicy tomato sauce. This is delicious and is much lighter than it seems. Tortillas are handy to wipe up any sauce you leave behind.

The other plate were Chicken Emmolodas.

Rolled corn tortillas stuffed with that carefully seasoned moist pulled chicken and covered with the most amazing mole I ever tasted. It’s full of flavor from dozens of nuts, chiles and spices but the flavors are very balanced and you can’t really pull the flavors out individually. The texture is smooth and it’s like a blanket covering the emmolodas.

La 15 Y Salsas is Worth a Fork

You might travel across town to dine here. Possibly the BEST Oaxaca Cuisine in Phoenix AZ.

For more information on La 15 Y Salsas please visit www.15ysalsas.com

The Forking Truth

Casa De Falafel is located in a Shell Gas Station Shopping Mart. You can fill your gas tank and your stomach at the same time here. This is a casual restaurant where you order at the counter and seat yourself at a comfortable booth. They serve up Falafels, Burritos and Quesadillas OH MY!

You pick from the Mediterranean Menu, The Mexican Menu or the Burger Menu.

I decided to go with a Falafel Plate off the Mediterranean Menu.

I receive EIGHT falafels, some hummus, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, tahini sauce and I asked for mango pickle sauce because I don’t get to try that very often.

These Falafels are unlike any falafel I’ve had before. They are one of the crispiest and fluffiest.

They are almost bread-like in texture and are made from chickpeas and fava beans (also called broad beans).

Texture-wise the falafels are very good.

Flavor-wise they taste mostly of sesame seeds.

I can’t identify any coriander, cumin, garlic or fresh parsley that you usually taste when you eat a falafel.

These falafels could pass for Chinese Food. They’d be good with some sort of Chinese Sauce.

The sauces that came with them might have been house made but they all are bland and don’t taste like fresh made sauces. The hummus made me feel Hummuscidal. The tahini might go just as well on linguini. After tasting them I felt there is a possibility that the sauces came packaged from the supermarket.

My husband tries the Mexican Chicken Bowl with Hot Sauce.

The chicken is prepared well but this dish also suffers from an allergy of spices, herbs, flavors and HEAT! I tasted the hot sauce. to me it looks and taste just like fresh tomatoes and sweet green bell peppers mixed together with nothing else. This sauce isn’t hot. This food isn’t even hot with temperate. The cilantro rice doesn’t have enough cilantro in it to taste any cilantro.

This restaurant is newly opened so I don’t feel the need to rate it.

I hope your experience will differ from mine. Maybe they just ran out of herbs and spices and will use some next week.

Falafels, Burritos and Quesadillas Oh My!

At the Moment I haven’t found a Website or FaceBook page for Casa De Falafel so for more information you’d have to call them at 623-979-9234.

The Forking Truth

Birt’s Bistro in Surprise AZ is full of Surprises.

Birt’s Bistro is a book store and gift shop that serves food, wine and serves occasional musical entertainment.

Birt’s Bistro is also affiliated with Benvilla that is a charitable organization that provides funds, care and support for the elderly, the disabled, children and families.

The restaurant has a sort of surprising  library feel to it.

I keep looking around for the card catalog.

All the books are only $1.00@

They also offer outdoor dining.

I noticed that Birt’s Bistro has a 4.5 star average on TripAdvisor and on their website they introduce their formally trained Chef with impressive experience so I thought I’d give this place a try.

I decided on the Baja Grilled Chicken Salad.

After tasting my salad I got a surprise and got the impression the formally trained chef is no longer a part of the Birt’s Bistro team.

The white meat chicken on my salad was tasty but not technically perfect. Some of the strips of chicken were past dry and were crispy like toasted bread. The corn seemed like fresh grown but was far from the flame and didn’t get fire roasted as promised. Tortilla strips were also promised but they were the zero calorie kind and were invisible on my plate. The Birt’s Bistro pico de gallo was  unripe cardboard-like cubes of plain tomato. The menu said my dressing should have been creamy cilantro dressing. I can assure you that my dressing was creamy, it tasted sort of like thinned down mayonnaise. I believe the fresh cilantro was some sort of new variety that is white colored and flavorless. The honey wheat roll was fresh from a plastic bag and It paired well with the salad.

My husband tried the Steak Quesadilla.

There was a generous amount of  steak that was undeveloped in flavor in the quesadilla. This was not a surprise.

Burt’s Bistro in Surprise AZ is full of Surprises.

I should note again this all benefits charity so it’s going to a good cause.

For more information on Birt’s Bistro in Surprise AZ please visit www.benevilla.org

1/2 a Fork….It taste like retirement home food with all the life sucked out to me

Your experience may differ. Birt’s Bistro in Surprise AZ is Full of Surprises.

The Forking Truth

Tratto Restaurant in Phoenix AZ is Worth a Fork!

Tratto is a tiny restaurant that serves up true farm to table dishes. The James Beard Award Winning Chef /Owner and staff actually hand picks the produce served. The bread and pasta they serve is made with heirloom grains that they grind. The menu is limited and changes daily.

The atmosphere is energetic with kitchen action and conversation. Farm fresh white interior and Oil Paintings done by the Chef’s Father are proudly displayed.

We decide on sharing an appetizer, sharing a pasta and sharing a dinner. Our waitress suggested adding on two more plates because according to her we didn’t order enough food. She suggest adding on a Farinata and potatoes to go with our dinner so we did.

They bring complimentary house made crusty chewy bread, flavorful olive oil and house prepared salami and produce. The tiny sweet tomatoes seemed just plucked and had this mild tasting flake salt on them that was delicious. Everything on the plates is  great.

Our waitress described the Farinata as a chick pea crepe with tomatoes and onions so I thought it would be a light little thing.

It was tasty but the Farinata wasn’t a little thing and also was filling so I only tasted a small piece. It was more of a substantial rich pan-cake made with chick pea flour. We had it packed up to bring home.

Next was Roasted Beets in Fig Leaf with Gorgonzola Dolce.

If you like beets this is a must get dish. The beets seemed just picked and do taste different than beets you purchase from the supermarket. These beets are sweeter and have a more melting  texture. The fig leaves infuse another layer of smokey flavor to the earthy beets. Maybe even if you don’t like gorgonzola you still might like the gorgonzola dolce on these beets because the cheese was made sweeter and milder with cream and sugar. It married well with these beets.

Our Pasta Course was called Scarpinocc.

It was a plate of six perfect toothsome raviolis that were stuffed with milky fresh tasting sweet ricotta cheese that sat on nicely seasoned fava beans with crisp sage.

Dinner was a Whole Small Grilled Chicken with Lemon and Bay Leaf raised from Two Wash Ranch and Rosemary Garlic Potatoes.

The tiny Chicken was simplistic but was absolutely perfect. It was moist, juicy, full of flavor and just melted in the mouth. It wasn’t much chicken and I’m guessing I got to eat between 3-and at the most 4 ounces but it really was very good. The Potatoes were creamy on the inside. With a little crisp crust on the outside with essence of rosemary, garlic and nutty tasting browned oil.

No complaints here. Service was attentive. Our table was comfortable and the food was excellent.

Tratto is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork….. You might Travel across Town to Dine Here if you can make it a splurge, are the type that can handle a limited menu, and can appreciate farm to table crafted foods.

For more information on Tratto in Phoenix AZ please visit www.TrattoPhx.com

The Forking Truth

The Vic Bar and Kitchen in Buckeye AZ

I went west to Buckeye AZ and desired to to try some of the amazing sounding food I read about on-line from The Vic Bar and Grill. The Cuisine is New American and is Farm to Table Style so it should be Great! All the sauces and baked goods are made in house. What’s not to like about that!

Upon arrival I gasp at the breathtaking view. I also gasp at the abbreviated menu with few choices unlike the menu I read on-line. We drove around an hour to come here and there are few choices to eat.

I heard that the Chef has worked at prestigious places and has also worked under Restauranteur and Celebrity Chef Colicchio  who is one of the Judges from the Bravo TV Show Top Chef so I thought the food would be pretty darn good.

We decided to start with a few appetizers. The first was a local Blue Sky Farm Duck Deviled Egg.

The egg came from a very tiny duck because it looked hen egg sized. We share the egg and it’s filled with runny and lumpy yolk filling that isn’t flavored so well. I wasn’t sure what the egg was sitting on so I tried some very rubbery unseasoned egg whites. I guess I wasn’t suppose to eat them and possibly they were just used to stand the forking egg up. A mild red sauce topped the egg. My stomach sort of turned after I tried a chopped white and I had reason to worry about the rest of the food after trying this.

We also shared the Seared Shishito Peppers.

The peppers were covered with a sweetened Soy based sauce. They were suppose to come with Blueberry Sugar. The sugar might have been in the sauce.

I ordered the Melon Salad for my Lunch.

It was ripe… aromatic….. flavorful…. and delicious made with, Galia Melon, preserved lemon, micro mint leaves, lavender and goat cheese. It had all kinds of flavors going on that were very right like the lemony preserved lemons brightening everything up. The salad was suppose to also have radish flowers that were missed. Shame because it would have looked amazing with the flowers. This salad was really delicious and is something that inspires me to recreate.

However the Guanciale with the salad was cold and greasy and seemed like it was straight out of the refrigerator.

I do have a hard time thinking of this dish as a salad. It was really more of an appetizer and wasn’t much food. I was still hungry. I didn’t appreciate my server’s sense of humor. He said to me, “You ate all that.” I felt like forking slapping him at that time.

My husband had the Smokie.

My photo doesn’t do a good job of showing you how awkward this sandwich is too eat. It has to be eaten with a knife and fork. Everything on the plate was made in house. The roll the sauces and the sausage. I didn’t try it but my husband said the meat was packed very hard and was grind very fine. He said it felt weird in his mouth.

I do know that this restaurant doesn’t grind their own meat and sends the meat out for someone else to grind. I was going to order the all sirloin hamburger until the waiter told me that. Grinders often don’t get cleaned between grindings and you don’t know what was left behind.

I had room for dessert so I was hoping that the desserts would be delicious. Our waiter suggest two of the six desserts on the menu so I go with one of his choices and it was the Strawberry and Lemon Icebox Cake.

I thought it would be delicious and lemony but it was a thickened Whipped Cream Pie with strawberries on the plate. For the kind of upscale restaurant I thought this was I have to say this pie looks very much like something you’d see at a school or church bake sale and not something a Pastry Chef would create. The gram cracker crust had an added flavor that might have been maple. The pie part was just thickened whipped cream with little flavor of any kind and was topped with more cream that didn’t remind me of real cream.

I took my first bite and I have to pull something from my mouth.

It seemed like a forking piece of SILICON GLUE. It was hard and also like elastic. It was just like silicon.

I showed the waiter and he ran it to the kitchen. He just said it must be some gelatin. I didn’t even get an I’m sorry or anything…..It seemed like they thought that an imbedded object was perfectly fine in a pie they serve.

I had a hard time trying out the dessert after that because my stomach was turning again.

I understand why some people have an aversion to sweets.

This one was awful. The crust was greasy gram cracker with with some sort of flavoring that tasted like maple. The creamy filling was not smooth without a great mouth feel and was sort of gritty and lacked that really perfect lemon flavor I imagined. It was not something I’d ever want to try again.

If you eat with your eyes you will do better than I did because your stomach won’t feel a thing!

Rated 1/2 a Fork because it’s a mix of good and not so good with a Breathtaking View.  Good Luck!

It’s not my intention to write a negative review for the Vic Bar and Kitchen. Your visit might differ. For all I know the Chef or Management might have been on vacation and it is possible the third string workers were holding the place together.

For more information of The Vic Bar and Kitchen please visit www.VicBarandKitchen.com

The Forking Truth

Chompie’s is a New York Inspired Style Deli Restaurant with a few locations through out the metro phoenix area. They are an institution in the area and have been in business for close to forty years. They are well known for all-day breakfast, bagels, breads, sandwiches, desserts and more. They also happen to have the “Chutzpah” to offer deep fried matzo balls with chipotle ranch dressing on their menu. (“Oy Vey”)

This is the 5th location of this newly opened Chompie’s and is in the Arrowhead Town Center by the Macy’s Department Store.

Honestly I wasn’t expecting much because I already dined at the Paradise Valley Location and was very underwhelmed there. I really only thought I’d try them again because it was near me and they sell real belly lox and I wanted to purchase some. Real belly lox as far as I know is only sold at Chompie’s and one small independent deli called Scott’s Generations.

Perhaps I didn’t taste the real Chompie’s before?

We were welcomed warmly by several people working there. The matronly hostess said your gonna love this to us as she seated us..

Soon someone runs out a complimentary a small tray of kosher and half sour pickles that seem like they might be house made.

I ordered a half pastrami sandwich with matzo ball soup. My husband orders a triple decker sandwich of pastrami, corned beef and brisket.

Soon the sandwiches arrive and here they are……..

My 1/2 sandwich is filled with more meat than most whole sandwiches. To my surprise the pastrami is very good. It’s smokey and balanced with lots of flavors and is also very succulent with the right amount of fat. It’s all grilled and delicious. This is unlike my one and only experience at the paradise valley location were all i tasted was smoke and very little spice or the right succulence. This is much better and so fresh tasting. It’s so much better than what I tried from the other location.

Even the meats in my husband’s sandwich were good and far better than what we remember trying before at the Paradise Valley Location. We were both pleasantly surprised.

I can’t help to wonder if we hit the other place on an off day??……. Don’t know.

Finding good bread in Arizona is like hitting the lottery. It just doesn’t happen.

The bread is not New York or East Coast at all but still is a very tasty bread and better than  much  other of the rye bread you can buy in Arizona. Real New York Rye has a hard crust, is usually cut thin and has this perfect developed flavor of sour against the rye to bring out more flavor. Chompie’s bread is different and is sweeter, softer and milder but this bread is tasty.  If your from Arizona this is very good bread. If your from the East Coast it’s not the same. You must need to know bread in Arizona and California bread is not the same as east coast rye. I don’t know if it’s the water or the atmosphere or a combination of other things. The bread is different but there are a few small artisan bakeries in Arizona and California where you can get something closer to East Coast Style. All that said the bread does hold up to the massive sandwiches that Chompie’s serves so that’s a good thing that must be said.The bagels are tasty but are not like east coast ones either. They are twice the size and lighter and fluffier and don’t have the same chew and structure.

Well this is Arizona so things do differ.

Back to my sandwich. I liked that Chompie’s grilled the bread to perfection in my sandwich. This day it was among one of the better pastrami sandwiches I tasted in Arizona.

The cole slaw was very good. It was fresh and crisp and bright with flavors. I also think the potato salad was maybe the first potato salad I tried that tasted like from what I had from the east coast.

The matzo ball soup was the only thing that wasn’t near the same level to me. Don’t get me wrong it was OK but not what I’d consider a representation of typical matzo ball soup. This is Chompie’s version.

The soup was clearly soup base and could have been better if they didn’t use so much soup base.  What you need to know about matzo ball soup is that it’s all about the matzo ball. It should be light, fluffy, flavorful and is a sponge to suck up a natural light broth. A fresh piece of dill also brightens it up to make it delicious. Well that’s my taste. Not everyone is as picky as me or has an idea what it should be like. I’ll try a different soup next time.

After our meal we visited the deli side and ordered our belly lox.

Belly Lox on a Chompie’s Bagel

I didn’t notice belly lox on the menu but I knew it was there. At the counter they were offering samples of some of the desserts. I tasted a chocolate filled flaky pastry of some sort. It was really awesome. It made me happy because I haven’t tasted anything this good from three  certain nearby bakeries.

Look at this case. The desserts look awesome! My butt widens just looking at the desserts.

Well Chompie’s is a place I can visit again. Hopefully they will stay as good as what I tried.

I wish them luck and mazal tov.

I’m happy they opened here because the food is much better than from the mostly big chains that are found in this part of town.

You are NOT going to drive across town to dine here because you might have a Chompie’s location closer to you. But If your in the neighborhood this place is suggested because they serve sandwiches and desserts that are better than from the big chains that are in this area.

For more information on Chompie’s please visit www.Chompies.com

The Forking Truth

The decor and the cuisine is rustic American that’s slightly modern and slightly Southern American. The cuisine isn’t fancy but is well crafted and always delicious. Craft beer and wine are also on tap.

There are two locations of this restaurant. One in Phoenix AZ and one in Scottsdale AZ. I’ve been to both. The experience is similar except that the Phoenix location has a patio.

It was a perfect day for outside dining so we were seated on the comfortable patio. I ordered the Scottish Salmon with a half salad.

The salmon had a tasty char and was flaky and moist. The salad was an interesting chopped  salad with a lot of crunch textures and flavors.

My husband had the BBQ Brisket with Jalapeño Cheddar Grits. It’s one of his favorites here he’s ordered it a few times.

Jalapeno Cheddar Grits

I tasted a piece of brisket and it was tender and moist with the right amount of smoke. It seemed succulent but wasn’t too fatty. It was seasoned just right. The grits were cheesy with a little heat and a LOT of flavor.

One of the specialties of the house are the house made pies. They offer a pie of the day and always offer the key lime pie.

The key lime pie here is not too sweet but just sweet enough. It’s smooth, tangy and creamy with a great mouth feel. The crust is nice and tasty. It thin and made with graham cracker. It’s the best key lime pie I ever had.

Other plates we tried at The Grassroots Kitchen and Tap were-

Roasted Chicken Waldorf Salad – A very detailed salad with lots of ingredients such as, arugula, spinach, apple, radish, cranberries, raisins, onion, candied pecans. This salad eats like a meal and is very satisfying.

Blackened Fish of the day (Ono) Sandwich with Fancy Tri-Color Cauliflower Salad.

On another day  the Blackened Fish Sandwich was Maui Maui Fish with a green bean salad.

Shrimp Po Boy with Jalapeño Cheddar Grits.

Pumpkin Pie…(forking YUM!)

The Apple Pie was just as Good!

I like that this restaurants offers many fish dishes, lots of salads, interesting side dishes and they offer an assortment of meat entrees too.

Nothing is too fancy that I had so far but everything was prepared well and seasoned nicely.

Service was friendly and efficient on each visit I had.

Grassroots Kitchen and Tap is Worth a Fork

If you don’t have anything decent near you then you might drive across town to dine here. If your in the neighborhood this place is suggested.

For more information on Grassroots please visit www.Grassrootsaz.com

The Forking Truth

Organ Stop Pizza is an attraction in Mesa Arizona that houses one of or the biggest Wurlitzer Organs in the world.

The organ and music playing is the main attraction that’s included when you come in for dinner.  They even provide request cards so you might hear your special song or have Happy Birthday Played for someone special.

Dinner is budget priced and family friendly. You pick from pizzas, salad bar or pasta. They also have an ice-cream stand too.

The Salad Bar

You order at the counter…………

Grade “A” Health Inspection

pay, get your drink and silverware, seat yourself and look to a giant board on the wall for your number to show up.

We made salads at the salad bar to go with dinner.

Everything was crisp and fresh. My salad was similar to a salad I might make at a budget steakhouse salad bar. The only real difference is that everything was fresh. It was kind of fun to sample potato salad, macaroni salad and cole slaw. The salads lacked a house made taste but they tasted very fresh.

At Organ Stop Pizza is plenty of seating. Downstairs is seating for around FIVE HUNDRED PEOPLE on benches and it’s very loud. Upstairs is seating for around two hundred people and isn’t as noisy. All over the restaurant you will see plenty of family party celebrations. You will also see children laughing, singing and dancing along with the organ music.

Our pizzas came.

These pizzas have thin crisp crusts that are coated in cornmeal or semolina flour. The cheese is melted and ok. The sauce could use some flavor because it reminds me of frozen pizza from the super market.

I watch the organ music.

The organ rises swirling up from the floor. It’s loud and powerful. It is in many pieces all around the restaurant. You see drums, tinkering things, all kinds of pipes everywhere. There is a piano hooked up, something else that loos like a piano but makes a different sound maybe it was a harpsichord and a whole lot of horns.

Glass panels open and close to the music. There is so much around that didn’t photo well for me. It’s all this plus 10x more.

The fist tune I heard from the mighty organ was the theme from Star Wars. Next was the Star Trek Theme. Patriotic American March Songs were next and were followed by a bunch of Disney Theme Tunes.

If you get board from organ music you can wander off to the arcade and play some games. They have a small gift store too filled with lots of stuffed animals and recorded music of the organ playing.

We had a fun time here. This place should be on everyone’s Metro Phoenix Bucket List.

Have you tried Organ Stop Pizza in Mesa Arizona Yet?

Your most likely not going to drive across town for the food here but if your in the neighborhood you should enjoy the show!

For more information on Organ Stop Pizza please visit www.OrganStopPizza.com

The Forking Truth