How many times do you go out and you might have had a great meal but the dessert just isn’t up there with the meal? I think that happens often. Confluence in Carefree is a small upscale restaurant that serves an ever changing menu of elevated modern American food. This is one of the very few restaurants that I have been to that serves desserts that are just as amazing as the food.
Some say that you can eat with your eyes….So here we go! Get ready to enjoy!
Up above is chocolate mousse. It’s not ordinary. It’s the highest quality and detailed.
It goes a little further here. – caramelized white chocolate pudding, pine nuts, dark chocolate mousse, pistachio, gianduja chocolate semifreddo and hazelnut brittle.
caramelized white chocolate mousse, chocolate mousse, macadamia nuts, bananas and banana bread
vanilla creme brûlée
roasted peach with cheese cream and cocoa (this one was listed as an appetizer)
mixed fruit granite
peanut butter, peanuts, brittle, semi freddo, strawberries and port
The Copper Mule is an American casual restaurant and bar located in North Scottsdale Arizona.
They offer small plates for sharing, single pizzas, salads, sandwiches, street tacos (that come with chips and salsa), burgers, entrees, cocktails, wine and more. They have seating at the bar, table seating and patio seating that also is dog friendly.
We started with the Montauk fried blue cheese olives with sriracha ranch and lemon.
What’s not to like? Ours were fried to perfection. These are very VERY tasty. They are crisp with a meaty olive center that was filled with blue cheese. The sauce is tasty and the lemon just brightens it all up and is that just right touch here. I think that this is very detailed for what it is.
My husband had a pressed pork prosciutto Swiss cheese, dill pickle and mustard sandwich called the Havana. It comes with plantain chips but the nice server said that he could pick any side that he wanted and he went with tater barrels (tater tots).
The sandwich is really good! It has more prosciutto in it than expected. The serving of tater barrels is also very generous and they are fried to a crisp nice golden brown.
I went with the lemon dill salmon that comes with cheese ravioli and asparagus. It seems so wrong. I guess this is what you call a naughty combination……..
The salmon is prepared reasonably well and is seasoned with dill. It taste similar to most other $16.95 salmon entrees out from most places….(what that means is ……..a bit fresher than salmon from my local Fry’s, Safeway or Sprouts) I would call this neighborhood style restaurant fish…(not fish house style fish). The asparagus is freshly prepared…I was very surprised in a good way with the ravioli and cheese sauce. I figured for only $16.95 (subject to change) that the ravioli had to be from frozen…….Well I didn’t ask if the ravioli were frozen but they did taste fresh made (or might be really good purchased stuff?). The pasta seemed like just made and the inside was very fresh tasting with lots of creamy ricotta cheese. I’m so glad that the ravioli were without that filler that packaged ravioli usually taste like. The creamy cheese sauce was unexpected but was really delicious. It had that really rich American cheese kind of flavor. I could taste that this is mostly some sort of American type cheese. We enjoyed dipping the tots in it too. My husband sure didn’t mind eating two of my FOUR ravioli.
We were excited to splurge and try one of the desserts and went with the blueberry rum caramel bundt cake with ice cream. It was a nice light and fluffy cake that wasn’t too sweet embedded with some blueberries with a caramel drizzle. The ice cream seemed similar to Hagen Dazs Vanilla.
A nice sweet ending to a really nice casual meal out.
I’m always coming up with another way to do beets and this is what I’ve come up with for today. Beets are usually on sale and almost never go bad so I often have them in my refrigerator. I’m also growing fresh Thai Basil in my Areo Garden. I happened to be reading someone else’s recipe with Black Garlic Ketchup but it wasn’t anything like mine so I thought I could do a better black garlic ketchup. That is how I got the idea to do that and to add potatoes. I’m happy to say this recipe came out tasting great. My beets are always really great because I cook them different. I roast them with a mixture of sugar, vinegar and water so they are tasty and never too earthy. This makes around 4 smaller sized servings.
Ingredients for around 4 servings
1 lb beets – peeled (cut if you want or leave whole…if you cut they will get done quicker) (I left mine whole and mine took around 90 minutes)
1 potato peeled cut in any shape you like – (chips, fries, waffles)
salt to taste ( a very small amount to season potatoes)
pepper to taste ( a very small amount to season potatoes)
2 Tablespoons oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 Tablespoons minced black garlic (ketchup)
1 teaspoon soy sauce (ketchup)
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar (ketchup)
2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar (ketchup)
3 oz tomato paste (ketchup)
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger (ketchup)
2 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons honey
2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 lime – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 pear – cut in slices
1 handful fresh Thai Basil leaves
Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Get out a roasting pan and add the beets, sugar, red wine vinegar, water and a pinch of sea salt. Put this in middle rack of oven. Your potatoes also go on an oiled baking sheet and put them on either middle rack and drizzle or spray the potatoes with some oil. The beets are done when they are fork tender and the potatoes are done when they are browned then season them with salt and pepper to taste. Timing will differ……depending on size, freshness and oven placement. Most will be done starting in 35 minutes or more.
In a sauce pan heat up the tomato paste well then add the soy sauce, sugar, rice wine vinegar and ginger till the sugar is dissolved. You might want to thin this down with some water and then add the black garlic. Take off heat.
In a small mixing bowl add the soy sauce, honey, red wine vinegar, and sesame oil. (This gets poured on the beets when out of the oven.
Cut up a pear and squeeze lime juice on it.
Put it all together. You can’t see in picture but I stood the potatoes cup in tiny hills of the black garlic ketchup. Arrange anyway you like and add fresh Thai Basil leaves.
You might want to add a few pea sprouts, chives and sesame seeds to jazz it up.
Asian Dressed Beets with Pear, Potatoes, Black Garlic Ketchup and Thai Basil
This is a no recipe – recipe idea I had. I made the FORKING AWESOME Vivian Howard’s Sweet Corn Pudding Soufflé (recipe is here on this site from only a few days ago). The only problem with soufflé is that you should only make what you can eat because the leftovers fall. I cut the recipe in half and still had leftovers that I froze. The leftovers taste amazing. Just take them from the freezer. WEAR GLOVES….and eye goggles and a mask to avoid painful jalapeño mishaps. Cut off enough to fill a jalapeño (after you remove the core).
These are the raw jalapeños stuffed with Vivian Howards frozen corn pudding soufflé
Just throw them in the oven at 400 degrees F until it looks cooked up (around 30-40) Top with fried leeks if you like.
Jalapeños stuffed with Vivian Howard’s Sweet Corn Pudding Soufflé and topped with Fried Leeks
I was gifted with 6 pounds of Tomatillos and around 50 jalapeños and a bunch of other produce. It seemed logical to make tomatillo salsa. I’ve made it a variety of ways over the the years (I made it stove top, I’ve made it gravy style and I made it as a fresh raw salsa). This time I’m charring up most of the ingredients for a different taste. This makes around 10 cups of salsa. The vinegar in the salsa will make it stay fresh for at least 2 weeks. I guessing that this will make around 20 servings.
Ingredients for around 20 servings
6 pounds tomatillos – peeled, washed and quartered
24 jalapeños – remove stem and core and then rough chop (wear gloves, a mask and onion goggles)
4 large onions – chopped ( I used sweet onions but it is traditional to use white onions)
2 small heads of garlic- break down the cloves, don’t bother peeling because you roast them and peel later
1/2 oz epazote leaves – chopped
2.5 oz cilantro leaves and only the tender stems
2 limes (just the fresh squeezed juice)
2 teaspoons sea salt
optional – 5 chiltepin – crushed (or to taste)…you salsa will taste even better if you use chiltepin….but you have to find them first.
1 cup white vinegar
optional – some water to thin some
Directions
Turn on your broiler.
The tomatillos, jalapeños, onions, and garlic all go on baking sheets and go under the broiler till charred.
This get blended with the epazote, cilantro, lime juice, salt and vinegar and if you are using chiltepin.
Seoul BBQ & Sushi is located in Phoenix Arizona. They serve a variety of Korean and Asian foods. Seoul BBQ & Sushi is well known for serving Korean BBQ. They also offer Korean and Japanese appetizers, noodle dishes, hot pots, house specials, stews, sushi, all-you-can-eat dinners and more.
They do have a patio but it is not in use.
Inside is a long bar and several dinning rooms.
Today we just did take out. We took out a bibimbap (Korean mixed rice dish with egg, vegetables, beef and a chili paste called gochujang and a spicy dak bulgogi (marinated bbq chicken).
They gave us a complimentary vegetable pancake and 16 side dishes called banchan!!!!!!
Here’s a better look at the pancake.
WOW it’s mighty tasty, stuffed with veggies and is very generous in size.
Here’s a better look at the side dishes.
We got eggplant salad, fish cakes, sweet peanuts, cucumber salad, potato salad and potato noodles. All are tasty.
Here the bibimbap. Below it is rice for the other entree.
You are suppose to mix the rice, beef, egg, vegetables with kimchi (fermented cabbage) and the gochujang (chili sauce). It’s delicious!
Here’s the spicy dak bulgogi (marinated bbq chicken).
It’s delicious and so tender. The chicken is full of flavors. The sauce is spicy but not too spicy and has sweetness to it. The rice is also nicely seasoned. I think they accidentally gave us extra food here. Even half is a very large portion.
The take out we just did was a great value and Wroth a Fork!
Worth A Fork!
Here are some previous dishes we tried from Seoul BBQ & Sushi.
Pizzeria Bianco is nationally well known for pizza. The owner is the James Beard Award winning chef Chris Bianco. Pizzeria Bianco has earned a positive recognition from various celebrities, Food Network TV, various magazines and by food critics.
I most often go to the Town and Country location in Phoenix.
The atmosphere looks like it’s been here forever. I’ve heard that many of the paintings inside where done by the chef’s father.
There is another dining room behind this one.
Today we will sit on the patio.
They start us up with shattering crisp bread and high quality olive oil.
We share the market salad.
It’s made of radicchio lettuce, sliced Asian pears, gorgonzola cheese and pecans. It’s very balanced. The bold cheese, the nuts and the sweet pears counter the bitter radicchio just so.
My husband had the pappardelle with bolognese sauce.
I had the chicken cacciatore with risotto.
Everything was flavored nicely and the chicken is cooked to perfection but The FORKING Truth is that the risotto is dry and not creamy. I know that it is very rare to get correctly made risotto out so we let this go.
Here are some of the previous dishes we had here.
chicken salad plattermeatball sandwichnutmeg & chocolate Italian iceSwiss Chard LasagnaMarket SaladAranciniGrilled Mortadella SandwichPasta E Fagioli
I’ve had many of the pizzas but as of today I still haven’t had a pizza from this location. I want to include the famous pizza so here is a page I saved from a 2012 Food & Wine Magazine.
Za’atar is something delicious that you might not be familiar with. The spices in za’atar that I use are oregano, sumac (sort of lemon-like), cumin, sesame seeds, salt and pepper. These flavors also taste amazing on bread with olive oil. The recipe is low-fat because I made the pickled onions and they were an extra tasty batch that I just threw over the potatoes……They were pretty good just that way…Then I just added the artichokes, olives and feta cheese……..My idea of serving might differ from your idea of serving size. To me this make 6 small servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 red onion – sliced extra thin on a mandolin
1 cup white vinegar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds
2 sprigs fresh thyme
1 1/2 lb potatoes – cut into chunks (I used small purple potatoes that were all different sizes….some I cut in half, some quartered, some got cut up more than that)
1 Tablespoon salt (to boil with)
optional – I – Hungarian pepper – cut in half (Hungarian peppers give a nice flavor to boiling potatoes…I just use the pepper to boil the potatoes with and then throw them out…I buy them at Asiana Market and keep a few in my freezer)
1 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice
1 Tablespoon za’atar
1/2 cup artichokes – jarred marinated – rough cut
6 olives – cut across in slices
2 oz feta cheese – crumbled
1/4 cup fresh parsley leaves – chopped
2 teaspoons urfa pepper (or to taste)
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (or to taste)
Directions
You need to make the pickled onions about 4 hours before you make the potato salad or make the onions the day before.
The sliced onion goes in a small tub or bowl. Put a sauce pot on medium high and add the vinegar, salt, sugar, bay leaf, black pepper, mustard seed and thyme sprigs. Bring this to a boil. Reduce to simmer…Let it simmer about 5 minutes and pour over onions. Leave the onions sit out until they get to be around room temperature (remove bay leaf and thyme sprigs) and then put them in the refrigerator for around 4 hours or more….till you are ready to complete the potato salad.
When you are ready-
Medium boil the potatoes with salt (and optional Hungarian pepper if using) till fork tender (around 15 minutes).
Drain potatoes. Throw out Hungarian pepper (if used). Put potatoes back in pot. Add za’atar and the container of pickled onions. Mix carefully without breaking the potatoes. Let this sit out around 30 minutes for the liquid and flavors to absorb into the potatoes.
Then add the artichokes and olives. Squeeze the lemon juice on to it.
Top with feta cheese, parsley, urfa pepper, drizzle with olive oil. (if it needs salt or pepper for your taste add that too!)
Low Fat Za’atar Blue Potato Salad with pickled Red Onions, Artichokes, Olives and Feta Cheese
I’m always looking for different ways to do cauliflower. I came across Taiwanese Popcorn Cauliflower by George L ( www.ChezJorge.com ). It looks like a really great recipe but I wanted to make it a little healthier by removing all the flour and frying. Instead of flour I replaced it with ground peanuts and instead of corn or potato starch I used an egg to hold everything together. The flavors are CRAZY AMAZING GREAT!******* I DO NOTE that this doesn’t come out very crispy*******so if you don’t like a roasted cauliflower texture than this is not for you. My idea of serving size may certainly differ from your idea of serving size. This makes around 6 smaller servings.
Ingredients for around 6 servings
1 + 1/2 cauliflower – cut in bite size florets
1/2 teaspoon granulated garlic
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 Tablespoon soy sauce
1 cup coconut milk
1 egg – lightly beaten
8 oz roasted salted peanuts – ground into chunky powder (I used spice grinder)
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (finishing seasoning)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (finishing seasoning)
non stick cooking spray
Directions
Set oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a baking sheet with non stick spray and set it to the side. You will need a second baking sheet for the basil.
In a large bowl mix together the garlic, salt, cayenne, white pepper, ginger, soy sauce, coconut milk, egg, and ground peanuts. Mix well. Add cauliflower and gently mix. The coated cauliflower florets go in a single layer spaced out a little on the baking sheet. Put the baking sheet inn the middle rack of the oven. Cook until cauliflowers are lightly browned and are cooked threw. Timing may differ but mine were done in 30 minutes.
Make the finishing seasoning.
In a small bowl combine the salt, garlic, five spice, Sichuan pepper, white pepper and cayenne. Set to the side.
By around now the cauliflower is almost done.
Lightly spray a sheet pan with olive oil. Spread out the basil leaves on the sheet pan and lightly spray with olive oil. Put in the oven when the cauliflower is done or almost done. Turn down the oven to 300 degrees and cook about 5 minutes.
Cauliflower gets seasoning with the finishing seasoning and sprinkled with the crisp basil leaves.
Taiwanese Flavored Peanut Crusted Cauliflower with crispy basil leaves
Enjoy!
A special THANKS!!! to George L at www.ChezJorge.com for the amazing Taiwanese Popcorn Cauliflower Recipe so I could come up with what I got here.
I tried many great dishes in 2020 in Metro Phoenix Arizona this year. I haven’t been everywhere but I’ve gone to lots of places. Most of the food I did this year was take outs because that is how we rolled most of the year. Here are the best that I’ve tried in no particular order. I do warn you that I live around the upper west side of the valley so it’s not logical to bring back food from too far away. I also might have forgotten a few great ones. It’s hard to remember a whole year. I note that I do happen to fancy fish when I go out because it is hard to get fresh fish to cook or eat near my home. Chula Seafood and Nelson’s are 40-45 minutes of mostly highway driving for me.
Combo with Jerk Chicken and Curry Chicken from Desert Island Eatery in North Phoenix
The Combo with Curry & Jerk Chicken is so good from Desert Island Eatery that I can’t move on to try something else. I must note that this food is always good. The take out version is slightly drier because all the sauces soak in…..but it is always very good. During the pandemic Desert Island Eatery installed a patio but are converted to take out only. Maybe that will change in a few months????
From Confluence is Carefree I got an amazing dinner. Everything is perfection and delicious but that special bit of magic is the way that way that everything is so flavorful and the way goes together. It’s like here’s a green bean…WOW I never tasted a green bean like this before…………but then the magic really happens when Parsnips, sweet potatoes, sweet peas, red quinoa and pomegranate go together so amazingly well. It’s just magical.
Flaming cheese from Greek Palace in Peoria
The Flaming Cheese from Greek Palace is Peoria is Awesome! I’ve had flaming cheese before but this one is the next level…YUM!
I have to give another to Confluence for their Lunch Fried Chicken with Chilitepin Honey sauce……I’ve had this one a few times and the sides do get changed up now and then but that fried chicken is among the Yummiest Tastiest Best. YUM!
Tacos are not part of my heritage but I’ve tasted many tacos. I tasted many tacos on several trips to Mexico. I’ve also tasted many tacos from many of the taco festivals in metro Phoenix and then some. The mild chicken habanero taco from Taco Fusion in Glendale is one of the BEST chicken tacos that I have ever tasted. It’s served on a hand made flour or corn tortilla (your choice). You do have to ask for the salsas….I think the chicken taco is best with the pineapple salsa.
OMG These sandwiches are a THOUSAND Times better tasting than they look. The smoked corned beef special from Naked BBQ is a wonder of the world. It’s a crime that this isn’t on the menu. It’s so great that I would tell a vegetarian to eat it.
🙁 🙁 🙁 Sadly we lost the really great fast but unusually delicious food from CHZBURGR in Glendale. This sandwich was a million times more delicious than it looks. Crispy well seasoned delicious juicy super flavorful breaded chicken THIGH, a special bun from Philadelphia, crafted pickles, mayo, honey mustard (I added Calabrian peppers) Was just awesome. My husband used to enjoy the flat style CHZBURGR. (It was greasy in a good way type of cheeseburger.
The Bianco Pizza (middle) is among the best pizzas in Metro Phoenix from La Piazza Al Forno in Old Town Glendale. It is made with hand pulled in house mozzarella, creamy rich ricotta, Sicilian oregano, garlic, fresh basil, extra virgin olive oil (I add on Calabrian peppers). It’s just a taste sensation!
All the food from Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery always makes us happy. Here are those tasty pot stickers and the lotus root salad. This great lunch was also only $9.
The salmon from Twist Bistro & Gallery in North Scottsdale was unusually great! It’s pretty rare to get salmon cooked to such perfection. I enjoyed this a few times and several other dishes from Twist Bistro and Gallery.
The Halibut special from Fabio On Fire in Peoria was amazing. It might be the very best fish that you can get on the west side of metro Phoenix. The gelato…especially the strawberry is also the best…maybe in the whole darn country. That little ear pasta is also pretty darn special.
I got an amazing Forking Delicious feast from The Barrio Cafe in Phoenix. Everything was Forking Great! I sure wish her fabulous smoked salmon was still on the menu. I loved it so much!!!! Everything was FORKING delicious even down to the spicy ketchup condiment.
The Fried Chicken Take Out Special from FnB in Scottsdale was incredible. Even all the sides were EXTRA SPECIAL….I never had such GREAT sides with great fried chicken before.
This dessert from Confluence in Carefree was incredible. It’s yuzu curd with angel food cake, nuts and sake poached pears. It was incredible. It was just as spectacular as the food from Confluence.
The other BEST dessert (and Fabio’s gelato) was this noodle cheese pastry from Alzohour Market in Glendale. Actually most of the food from Alzohour Market is incredible.
My first take out from Stratta Kitchen in Scottsdale was completely amazing. The salmon was one of the best that I had in Metro Phoenix….The bread was Noble Bread and is great, The Caponata was the best I’ve had and that chocolate fudge cake was a really awesome treat. Since my first visit prices were cut and some things are not the same. You get smaller amounts of bread and appetizer. The fish is now smaller pieces cooked to well on a skewer. It’s still really REALLY good but not Phenomenal like it was.
The salmon from Tarbell’s Tavern is maybe the best salmon that you can get in metro Phoenix. Everything here was delicious. There is this Indian spiced cake that came with it that also was memorable.
The sand dabs from Lure Fish House were crazy fresh and delicious.
The beets with Smoked Salmon from FnB in Scottsdale was well crafted, detailed and delicious. You can almost taste it just by looking at it. Actually everything we had from FnB was incredible. It was had to pick one plate from that visit because EVERY FORKING PLATE is deserving for here.
Lemon sole in a basil white wine broth with fennel salad and house made noodles from Twist Bistro and Gallery in North Scottsdale. It was all prepared to perfection and was also interesting and a little different.
The salt crusted whole striped bass from Bandolero Cocina de Mexico is as good as fish can get. The fresh flavor and texture was incredible. The mojo sauce was also really extra great!
My husband said that this pork shank he got from Ocotillo needs to be on this list. He really enjoyed it. I enjoyed a salmon meal that was pretty darn good too.
Desi Fusion
I just started going to Desi Fusion in Peoria. I forgot to photo the South Indian Fish Curry. That was really great! Really everything I tried so far was great from Desi Fusion. Sometime next year I will know what dishes I like the most.
My take out from Seoul BBQ and Sushi in Phoenix also blew me away. Everything was delicious and they might have made a mistake and accidentally gave us too much food. They gave us a complimentary vegetable pancake and 16 side dishes. Our mains were a chicken bulgogi and a bibimbap. Everything was delicious!
The market salad from Pizzeria Bianco at Town and Country was amazing. This was the BEST bitter greens salad that I have ever tried. It was the only one that tasted balanced to me. The gorgonzola and the sweet Asian pears help to tame the bitterness of the radicchio leaves. Bravo!
From Bottega Pizzeria Ristorante on Glendale/Arrowhead/#UpperWestSide I got this incredibly delicious tender falling off the bone Chicken Cacciatore that was laced with DELICIOUS Calabrian Chili Peppers. Underneath it all was creamy cheese polenta.
My take out from Mrs. Chicken in Phoenix is deserving of a SPECIAL MENTION. They are a Nashville Style Chicken Restaurant. They do deserve a special mention because Mrs Chicken is a 40 minute drive for me and the chicken had a shattering crisp exterior and a juicy perfectly cooked interior when I got it home. (I brought home a lot of chicken this year…even from some closer places the chicken came home dry.
We both got the two piece dark meat on the bone.
The Better Dishes I tried from Metro Phoenix Restaurants 2020
