An intoxicating aroma of exotic spices  fills the air inside the restaurant and suddenly I get excited to try Indian Cuisine. The dining room is modern and clean. Indian Television and Lively Music are on at the same time…… At the time of this review (October 2016) Taj Mahal Restaurant and Lounge is a newly opened Indian Restaurant and Lounge located in Old Town Scottsdale. Here you park in the street in pull in spaces or in one of the free garages.

The owner is very friendly and welcoming and takes our order.

In reasonable time our plates arrive that we share. The decorative plates look small to us but really held just enough food.

We received Fish Vindaloo (maui maui), Chicken Biryani and Garlic Naan. I’ve had Chicken Biryani at a number of places and although there are endless variations of this dish….. this dish of Chicken Biryani seemed the most complex and interesting that I tried so far. To start out the chicken was above average. It was tasty juicy, flavorful,  boneless chicken thigh meat. This style of Biryani had the just right amounts of sweet golden raisins, toasted almonds and fresh herbs to balance all the spices and heat. It was the best Biryani I remember tasting so far.

The Fish Vindaloo came with potatoes in a spicy, tangy, tomato based sauce. The fish seemed fresh tasting and was flaky and moist. I thought the extra sauce was a yummy treat with the garlic naan.

Service was efficient.

Portions are right on.

Pricing is on the high side…..Biryani $15.99 & Vindaloo $17.99 …..The proteins are either higher quality or were prepared with more expertise than from other similar places I tried.

It’s premature to rate because they are so new but I couldn’t find a thing wrong with anything so it seems that Taj Mahal in Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

I didn’t include this is my review……..

The owner told me that people travel hours to come here for his Specialty Dish the Chicken Masala. He is confidant that he serves the absolute best Chicken Masala that there is out there and he tried to get me to order it..( The truth is that I like Chicken Masala but it’s not my favorite Indian Dish so I didn’t try it this time)….He told me that I must try the Chicken Masala next time. Maybe next time I will try the Chicken Masala and see if I feel differently about that dish after I try it here….

For more information please visit www.TajMahalPrescott.com

 

Lon’s is the restaurant at The Hermosa a Bouquet Resort in the Paradise Valley area of Scottsdale AZ. The weather was perfect for patio dining so we took advantage of the mature trees and desert views on the lovely patio.

Our waiter introduces himself and when we are ready to order we do.

I receive my lunch of fish and chips.

It wasn’t fancy at all but everything on the plate was technically perfect. The Fish was Halibut that tasted fresh and was moist and flaky like it should be. The fish had a light coating of cornmeal that seemed free of oil. I also received house made sauce and fresh cut herbed fries that also were clean tasting and seemed oil free…that really were the BEST tasting fries I had in a long long time.

My husband had the Sort Rib Pizza.

My husband said the short rib was very good and tasty. The pizza was thinly buttered with a house made ricotta cheese that added great flavors to the pizza. I stole one small tomato from the pizza that had a great sweetness and a delicious fresh tomato taste. The only criticism that I can give is….as delicious as I was told that this pizza was……….we both felt this pizza is too small for a man’s appetite….even at lunch time.

I do note typical of resort dining lunch pricing is on the high side. I found service to be EXCELLENT. From host, hostess, waiter, and management. We were attended to often and were made to feel very welcome at Lon’s.

This Boutique Resort is small. There is no self parking so you have to valet.

In my opinion…….Lon’s..was Technically Perfect Food in upscale surroundings with Great Service  and is…….. Worth a Fork!

For more information please visit www.Hermosainn.com

Tonto Bar and Grill is a south west themed golf resort in beautiful Cave Creek Arizona. They serve up American Food sometimes studded with local desert foraged ingredients. They were offering a great sounding three course menu so we decided to go for it.

They offer a beautiful out-door patio.

With beautiful views of the golf course.

The dragon flies are real and are not decorations.

We request a seat on the patio. I ask for a shaded table and they offer a seat in full sun. I try it out and one side blinds my eyes and the other seat burns my back.

I tell them for those reasons this table won’t work for me. Our server tells me the sun is only temporary and will set.

I say I can’t sit there and then she says they can set an umbrella up for me.

They set the umbrella up and then the table is tolerable. I thought it was strange since 90% of the tables looked available and many were shaded.

Well any who……

They start us off with a bread basket with creamy soft butter.

The bread seemed like it might have been house baked and was topped with some interesting seeds.

Our first of three courses soon arrive.

I had a compressed Arugula Salad.

It was delicious with Pecans, Green Apple, Pistachios with Pistachio vinaigrette. The salad also contained Spanish Cheese and Dried Cherries. It was all good.

My husband had theTortilla Crusted Crab Cakes.

The Crab Cakes were unusually good and was a welcome surprise as you very rarely get good crab cakes outside of Baltimore.

Soon our plates are cleared and the watering system starts up.

We get splashed with water a few times but not too bad. I just didn’t want to get lawn water on my food because the outdoor water might contain lead and other impurities.

For dinner I have the Onion Crusted Walleye. It’s served over a potato roesti cake. They served me two generous servings of tarter sauce topped with fried capers some lightly steamed shreds of steamed carrots topped with some fresh spinach. The fish is pretty good until I hit the slightly undercooked rubbery bloodline and the soggy fish skin that was crusted over with onion crust. The potato is seasoned nicely and is a tasty treat.

My husband tried the Root Beer braised Short Rib Dinner.

Our favorite part of the plate was the Sweet Potato Casserole. It was layers of nicely cooked sweet potatoes held together with cheese. Anybody would like the sweet potatoes. For both our taste the rib was too stringy and might be over-cooked slightly for our taste. For me it ran too sweet. For me the green beans were painfully smokey. They were infused with a massive amount of smoke. It was too much smoke for me to swallow and I had to spit the piece I tried out. They were too smokey for my husband too but he was able to eat a few of them.

The desserts were

A decadent Warm Buttermilk Chocolate Cake with Warm Chocolate Sauce, Fresh Fruit, House Pecan Ice-cream with fancy cookies.  So many treats to try on one plate

And Lemon-Lime Sour Cream Pie.

Both desserts were very detailed and also very good! The Lemon-Lime Sour Cream Pie had this citrusy ribbon that hit you with the right amount of tang, sweetness and flavor. Under the ribbon was a creamy layer that was so tasty with nutty tasting crust. This dessert was all good even down to the cute hand made sugar bumble bee.

Tonto Bar and Grill offers a Taste of the South West indoors or on the patio. For sure you can enjoy some lovely appetizers and amazing desserts. I haven’t tried enough of the menu to be clear on a rating.

For more information please visit www.TontoBarandGrill.com

I note that your experience and taste may differ and I just tell the truth about my dinning experience.

The Forking Truth.

Kitchen 18 is among the few kosher restaurants in the metro Phoenix area. At this time 10-4-16 they might be the only kosher restaurant in Metro Phoenix AZ that serves Mediterranean food. They get inspected by Maricopa County and they also get inspected by a rabbi with Chabad. Kitchen 18 only serves fully inspected meats unlike non-kosher restaurants that serve randomly inspected meats. Only disease free animals can be kosher. Beef that is used is grass fed and only comes from the front quarter of the cow. The back end gets sold to non-kosher plants. For these reasons kosher meat is higher in price.

Kitchen 18 is a new restaurant again. Under the last two owners and current owner they served Mediterranean Food. They now have added Chinese Style Food, Sushi, Seafood, American Food and International Specials. They expanded the interior of the restaurant and dressed it up some.

I thought we’d start out with some spicy Tuna Rolls because it seemed like fun to order sushi at a kosher restaurant.

Our Spicy Tuna Roll has arrived with low sodium soy sauce, a sweet teriyaki kind of sauce, and a creamy sauce that is sort of sweet and slightly spicy. I taste one piece and I’m happy because the tuna is clean tasting but it isn’t spicy at all. I don’t always enjoy sushi tuna because half the time it isn’t clean tasting and I can’t eat it but here it was ok. If your into sushi you will go to a well known sushi restaurant. The Asian food they offer here really is for people that are kosher and can’t go to a Chinese or Japanese Restaurant because they don’t serve kosher foods.

We shared a Mediterranean Sampler Appetizer.

I got freshly made HOT Fluffy Pita Bread. tasty stuffed grape leaves, creamy hummus, AMAZING Baba Ganoush, salad and very good above average Falafels.

Here is a close up of the Falafel.

A good Falafel looks like this inside and is full of herbs. This one has great flavor and is like a crunchy meatball style like the way most places in this area make them.

An ok Falafel looks like this.

A not so great Falafel looks like this one. This one is fluffy but lacks fresh herbs.

Some people do judge the Falafel by fluffiness and crispness. Some people do say they like the falafel to be shattering crisp. I judge Falafels by flavor because the crisp falafel is nice but in a pita bread as a sandwich I sort of like the meatball texture falafels because they seem better with pita to me.

I haven’t tried a better Baba Ganoush at any of the other Mediterranean Restaurants I’ve been to in the metro Phoenix area. This Eggplant dip had the eggplant running threw it with that perfect char taste that this dip is suppose to have. It was delicious and very creamy. This eggplant dip had great flavors and texture.

We also shared the Shawarma Plate.

The Shawarma Plate contained Chicken, Hummus, Tehina sauce, Shrug sauce (spicy hot pepper sauce) Grilled Vegetables, salad and fluffy hot fresh made pita bread. Everything on the plate was really great especially the Shawarma. By a long shot this was the best shawarma I tried in years. The chicken was so moist and juicy and seemed succulent. I liked that it wasn’t over seasoned. The grilled vegetables were great. It’s very rare that you can get such nice vegetables with Mediterranean plates. The spicy red pepper Shrug sauce was HOT and tasty but is a different style than other shrug sauces I had before. This one is made from dried peppers with an oil base. The fresh baked fluffy pita is very good too.

On one visit I didn’t try enough of the menu to give a full review but just from this one visit I can say for sure that for Mediterranean Style Food this place pulls it off better than most that I tried.

Service was also friendly and efficient.

For Mediterranean Food Kitchen 18 is worth a Fork!

For more information please visit www.TheKitchen18.com

 

Quiescence Restaurant is located in Phoenix Arizona and is considered among the best restaurants the metro Phoenix Area has to offer. This is a high end special occasion type of restaurant that serves farm to table kinds of foods. Many of these are grown on these grounds that once were a pecan farm from about a 100 years ago. What ever isn’t grown here are mostly locally sourced. They do try to source the highest quality foods possible presented in an stylish way. At Quiescence you dine in one of the farm houses that is from around 1920. The building’s air conditioning doesn’t function as well as it should in spots so be prepared for perspiration. I also should mention again that this is a farm and you walk across a gravel lot to make it to the restaurant so it might be hazardous to wear heels. Outdoor dining is available and a special lone table with a wood burning stove is available for extra special secluded dining.

You order either a la carte, 5 and 6 course tasting. If you pick the tasting then it’s up to the chef on what you’ll get. We went with 5 course tasting because we’ve done that a number of times before and always enjoyed it.

First they present us with baked in-house bread, local olive oil and an herbed butter.

One bread was crusty ciabatta and the other is focaccia with zucchini chips.

Next an amuse bouche comes our way.

House cured steelhead trout with herbed cheese and dill. Just delicious. I could have eaten three of these and considered it a meal.

First of the five courses is Chef’s pick- Corn and House Made Miso Soup with Caramelized Eggplant, Squash Blossom and Basil.

The soup was served table side. This soup was so silky and smooth. The flavors in it were amazing.

Second Chef’s Pick course for me was the Hamachi Crudo.

Fish, Kimchi, Watermelon, Tomato Vinaigrette, Cilantro, Finger Lime, Garlic Chips to eat in three amazing bites. This dish was worth driving across town for as it was astoundingly amazing.  Just full of textures and all kinds flavor. Finger limes were like Exploding POP Rocks Candy. watermelon added the right balance of sweetness against the fish, vinaigrette and kimchi. This was my favorite dish of the evening.

My husband had the Octopus and Cannelloni Bean Salad with house made and grown pickled watermelon.

My husband said it was the best Octopus he’s ever had.

Chef’s Pick Course Three we both had.

More Corn Soup that they are calling a pasta dish…….?

Thy are calling this dish Ricotta Cavatelli. Anyway this dish is delicious so who cares. This is composed of smoked hatch chile, CORN, watercress, basil oil, parmesan cheese and few handmade micro-tiny pieces of delicate pasta. The pasta was so delicate and tiny it was doll house sized. I think the soup only contained about 8 pieces but I wasn’t counting. This pasta dish was like an Italian corn soup to me.

Chef’s pick dinner for me – Course Four-

Halibut with CORN TWO WAYS. Corn as a relish and CORN as a puree.  Corn was served to me two more times. As amazing as all the previous corn dishes were….and they WERE…… I didn’t plan on a corn themed dinner this evening and my dinner suddenly became slightly disappointing to me.

Then I go to taste the halibut.

Then I am next to speechless………..I would never imagine I’d get served a plate like this at such a fine restaurant……WOW I’m MORE disappointed. The FORKING TRUTH WAS that I can’t cut threw the fish. I need a steak knife. Oooh it’s dry and very salty. It more salty than a salted pretzel. It’s like sucking a spoonful of salt and it’s over cooked. The salt filled sea beans on top of the fish only add more forking salt…..BAH! Not sure what was worse Chewing on tough Halibut or all that salt…….This is forking disappointing.

I tell the waiter about the overcooked salty halibut. He did offer to have something else made for me. It might be hard for you to tell but this is a very tiny piece of fish. After I sawed off a small piece to taste I only had less than an ounce of fish left. Then I sawed off a small piece for my husband to sample.  It seemed ridiculous to send back such a small piece of fish and I didn’t want to hold up my husband from enjoying his meal so I just kept my plate.

My husband had the Chicken Scallopini Special.

It’s very good and made with outstanding farm raised chicken but this dish is not the type of dish we’d expect here…….

Last course is dessert.

Out come THREE FULL SIZE DESSERTS that seem out of place after all the small or tiny tasting plates.

My favorite of the Desserts was the Complimentary (given for Celebrating a special occasion) Non-Traditional Apple Cannoli. It had a whisper thin light shell and the light airy filling had a refreshing crisp apple taste.

The dessert that didn’t fare as well was…..

Bread Pudding. This dessert was very rich and heavy. I couldn’t eat it because it was just too rich and heavy for me but my husband ate it because he was still hungry.   (Forking Truth!)

The Sweet Potato Cake was the most attractive dessert and was GOOD.

Right amount of sweetness with balanced flavors. The cake had a nice light smooth texture.

The First three courses were Astonishing Amazing.

I loved all the plates before my main entree.

I can’t help that I’m still thinking of the main entree……..I note that I am surprised that they just didn’t replace both my dinner entree (since it was over-cooked and over salted and my husband’s entree plate because this is a high end restaurant. You don’t just eat here…you dine here. That’s the kind of thing fine restaurants do.

Would I return?

YES….. but I will only order a la carte and skip the tasting menu. I feel things would work out better than Chef’s Picks Tastings. Because after four rounds of corn and a tiny dried out salty dinner and getting stuffed with too much dessert ….all Chef’s Choice……I’ll take my chances making up my own tasting with ordering full size plates off the menu.

For more information on Quiessence please visit www.QATTHEFARM.com

Quiessence is still Worth a Fork……..It’s just not a perfect Fork!

and YES I do drive across town to come here.

Deseo is Modern Upscale Latin Cuisine located in the beautiful Westin Kierland Resort and Spa in Scottsdale AZ. They offer a comfortable traditional looking dining room with large windows to view the beautiful desert plantings that surround the resort. They have an open kitchen and you might be able to get a seat at “The Rail” (seats that loop around the open kitchen) to see the kitchen action and make conversation with the Chefs.

We were seated at “The Rail” and got to see the action.

The started us off with hot steamy out of the oven yucca rolls and soft creamy butter that melted right into the roll.

We started with what was called “Rainbow” on the menu.

It was a mix of fresh tasting fish, salmon, tuna and another mild fish that was in white soy citrus and pickled jalapeños. It was refreshing and light. At the time it seemed like the best ceviche I ever had.

We also shared a Wagyu Beef Empanada that was very detailed.

The Empanada sat in spiced tomato sofrito and was garnished with green apple slaw. The purple dots are some sort of huitlacoche sauce. This was the most high end empanada I ever had anywhere for sure.

For dinner I had the Big Eye Tuna Encebollado.

Now this dinner was different than I expected. I was expecting a cumin crust. But got a Black Cumin Crust that doesn’t taste the least bit like cumin. Black cumin looks and taste very similar to caraway seeds. Actually I enjoyed the light sprinkle of Black Cumin over the sweet tomatoes. That’s a new taste for me that I will remember.

The fish tasted good in the light refreshing fruity tomato consommé and the accents of pickled shallots, and mini yucca dumplings added more interest to the dish.

My husband had the Duroc Pork Chop.

The pork chop was covered with a reddish mole that wasn’t bitter with lots of flavors. All kinds of interesting garnishes surrounded the plate such as spiced pepita brittle, a corn tamale, shaved baby carrots and apple.

Sadly I was too full for dessert 🙁

Yes Deseo is Worth a Fork and YES You would drive across town to dine here.

Dishes I had at Deseo on my last visit were-

Kapalhi

Pan seared Halibut with Fideo.

For more information on Deseo at Westin Kierland please visit www.KierlandResort.com

FnB restaurant of Scottsdale AZ is located in the Arts District of Scottsdale. This is a contemporary restaurant that serves a farm focused, globally inspired Foods and Arizona’s most notable wines. On the one end of the restaurant they have a tiny store section where they sell some local organic produce, local artisan goods and Arizona Wine. The food this restaurant serves is among the best that Arizona has to offer as the Co-Owner and Chef has been nominated several times for a James Beard Award.

I’ve been to FnB dozens of times over the years because I forking love the food and good service. It’s a little thing but this is the only restaurant in the metro area of Phoenix that actually will give you a black linen napkin if your wearing black. That is an example of classic service.  I have to say I didn’t get that at places I spent twice as much to dine at this past year.

When I dine at FnB not only do I enjoy a delicious meal I also become a better cook myself by learning more about food from dining here. Every time I come here there are always things on the seasonal menu I learn about. On my most recent visit they had Bagna Cauda(a warm hot Italian dip), Shiraz Salad (Persian Tomato and Cucumber Salad), and Sauce Gribiche (French Cold Hard Yolk Sauce) on the menu.

The menu changes with the season and is usually broken down into selections of small cold plates to share, small hot plates and entree plates.

They started us off with Noble Bread Heirloom Grain Bread, a locally made bread that’s considered to be the best in Arizona that made from stone ground local heirloom grains and quality olive oil that’s flavorful.

We picked a small cold plate of Melon, Mango, Jicama, Cucumber, Lime, Chile, Feta Cheese and Purslane.

Everything worked together like magic. It wasn’t in the description but small rich pieces of ripe avocado brought a satisfying richness to the plate. The Purslane gave off a crisp juicy text and a slight bit of mild sour and saltiness to balance things out. I’ve never actually eaten purslane before. It’s a common weed here in the U.S but in this fruit bowl the Purslane works really well with food.

We also shared House Cured Salmon with Citrus Labne, Heirloom Tomatoes, Aleppo Pepper and Radishes.

The Star of this plate was the really perfect Salmon. There wasn’t much of it and it almost got lost among all the lovely vegetables in the tasty citrus Labne but the Salmon was the memorable part. The Salmon just melted in my mouth. It was sliced with expert precision and the gentle perfect flavors that didn’t over power the fish and were perfect accents.

For Dinner I had the Halibut.

The Fish was prepared in a masterful way as it was perfection. The halibut had a nice seasoned crust and was ultra moist and flaky. The Sauce Gribiche with Mustard was simply delicious. I had no idea that these sauces would be so delicious on fish. That was an inspiring combination.

My husband had the Duck with Summer Herbs and Ancient Grains.

I didn’t try it but my husband said it was savory and nicely seasoned.

I was stuffed but managed to share some dessert because desert is always good here.

We shared a Berry Short Cake served with Sweet Republic Vanilla Ice-Cream. The berries were sweet and very flavorful. The cake part seemed very rich with butter, not too sweet and harmonized well with everything.

Yes FnB of Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

For more information on FnB of Scottsdale AZ please visit www.FnBRestaurant.com