Tag Archives: #foodie

Twist Hot Chicken in Peoria AZ – Worth a Fork!

Twist Hot Chicken is a small casual chicken sandwich restaurant located in a strip mall in Peoria Arizona not too far from Westgate.

It’s very casual and busy…The little place was packed with a line out the door just ten minutes after they opened.

Again it’s casual. You order and pay at the counter. (complimentary cucumber water is by the counter)

On the menu thy offer five different flavors of chicken sandwiches that can be ordered in different levels of heat. The choices of heat are mild, medium, hot, and can’t touch this. They also offer vegan options, chicken tenders, loaded fries, macaroni and cheese, interesting stubborn sodas, beignets, limited adult beverages like Cider Corps Pog, and MORE!

Here’s the menu.

I missed the sodas on my way in but next time I’ll try one.

Today it took us around ten minutes to wait in line and order. I sat at one of the two tables that they have outside and it took around thirty minutes for our order to arrive.

We shared fries and macaroni and cheese. Most of the food comes wrapped with paper in rectangular white boxes.

The fries are fluffy, crisp, and well seasoned. They also are a generous serving. The macaroni and cheese is not bad…..better than a lot of them out there…..

We also share the Shabazi (medium heat) chicken sandwich.

Shabazi

It’s a BIG Sloppy Delicious sandwich with a crisp exterior and moist delicious white meat chicken. This sandwich is made with spicy green zhoug (Yemenite hot sauce) sauce. red cabbage slaw, and tahini sauce. This is wonderfully flavorful and delicious!

We also share the Twist Hot Chicken (HOT) sandwich.

Twist Hot Chicken Sandwich

The Twist Hot Chicken (HOT) sandwich is another BIG SLOPPY FORKING DELICIOUS Sandwich! This sandwich in hot is not for tenderfoots. This is the perfect hot for hot sandwiches. It is almost too hot for me….I can’t imagine how nuclear the “I can’t touch this” must be…Just like the other sandwich this one has a shattering crisp exterior and a flavorful moist white meat chicken inside. Adorning the sandwich is a creamy twist sauce (similar to remoulade), pickles, and house slaw. All this is packed into a nicely toasted eggy roll that is just the right size and didn’t fall apart.

If you like Hot Chicken Sandwiches this is one that you have to try!

Worth A Fork!

www.TwistHotChicken.com

8386 W Thunderbird Rd Peoria AZ

623-217-2714

Everything is subject to change

The Forking Truth

Umami Ramen at Shady Park Tempe AZ – Worth a Fork!

When an Award Wining Ramen chef runs a ramen restaurant chances are …..that the ramen is a winning bet. Umami Ramen is a build your own ramen and sushi restaurant and bar located in downtown Tempe Arizona. They offer six varieties of ramen broth and various toppings. They also offer vegan options, house bowls, sushi rolls, rice bowls, sushi tacos, drafts, sake, Japanese drinks and more!

The sign is on the side of the building.

They have an indoor-outdoor bar and patio.

outdoor bar and patio

Inside are booths, traditional tables, and a bar.

Today they are playing non-stop Grateful Dead Music.

inside

Both ramens below are shio broth. Shio means salt in Japanese so shio broth are salt based. This is the most difficult type of ramen to make well because the broth doesn’t get covered up with other things like miso or soy sauce to help it out and has to be good on it’s own. It’s also the type of ramen with the most Unami.

Here’s the vegan shio with added grilled chicken, regular noodles, togarashi corn, and spicy garlic paste.

WOW! I can’t believe how flavorful this is….and it is very spicy too! This is very developed with flavors. I think I’m also getting some additional flavor and heat off of the togarashi corn. This is a really good flavor to me. The noodles are nice and chewy like they are suppose to be. They were very generous with the chicken. For me I could have made two meals out of this. But some people do eat more and can finish this.

Here’s the shio (chicken pork broth) with added pork belly and hard egg.

This one is also a very good developed broth. The pork belly also is very good and stayed crispy to the end. Noodles are also good and chewy. They offer soft and hard eggs. My husband went with a hard egg. He said it was slightly marinated.

Umami Ramen at Shady Park in Tempe AZ is-

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

Umami Ramen

I have not found a working website for Umami Ramen.

26 E University Dr Tempe AZ

480-222-2244

Parking might be challenging to some because of location in downtown Tempe. Fortunately a parking garage is next door.

Every thing is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Asian Style Turkey Meatballs with Lemongrass Recipe

This is the recipe for the meatballs I made. I warn you that they are FORKING Scrumptious. The rice and cabbage that went around it was part of a different recipe that I think can be too troublesome. I spoke about it yesterday so if you want more details read yesterday’s post.

Ingredients for around 6 servings

1 lb ground meat (I used turkey 93% lean)

1/2 cup panko (I used Whole Wheat panko)

1 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil

1/2 cup scallions – cut thin

3 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

2 eggs – lightly beaten

1 teaspoon soy sauce

1 teaspoon five-spice powder

1/4 teaspoon Szechuan pepper – toasted and ground

1 Tablespoon (slightly heaping) reduced sodium Better Than Bouillon vegetable soup base (this is instead of salt….less sodium and more flavor)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

2 Tablespoons fresh basil (or other basil) chopped

3 ends of lemongrass – hard outer skins removed – fine chopped

non stick spray.

Directions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Spray a baking sheet (or two) with non stick spray..

Mix all the ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.

Make small scoop sized meatballs…. (about 1.3 ounces each)

You should have around 21 meatballs.

They go in the oven until done. In my oven they took 15 minutes. I put most of the meatballs on the middle rack and the rest on the lower rack.

I served them two different ways. The way you see in the picture with a small amount of vegetable broth. For another meal I just mixed up some hoisin sauce with a small amount of ketchup and that was tasty with them.

Asian Style Turkey Meatballs with Lemongrass Stuffed Cabbage

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

Making Next Level Chef’s Nyesha Arrington’s Five-Spice Meatball-Stuffed Cabbage Recipe

I was watching the Rachel Ray variety and lifestyleTV Show. A featured guest was chef Nyesha Arrington. She is a well trained famous chef that owns at least one restaurant in California and has been featured on many food related TV shows including Top Chef. On the Rachel Ray show she made these adorable….what she called, “SHOW STOPPING” five-spiced chicken meatball stuffed cabbages. I decided that I needed to make them. First thing that I decided that I needed to cut the recipe in half…..Then I made different (my own) meatballs because I didn’t need to add tofu to my meatballs and I wanted to add more flavors….I can make meatballs in my sleep. Got the meatballs made…..

I did have problems with the rice step…..Unless you have a rice cooker or a steamer…I would suggest just to make the rice the way you normally cook rice. The instructions might be misprinted. I did soak and drain my glutinous rice but my rice took far longer than the 12 minutes noted. Mine took at least 40 minutes. Still not such a big deal……Just note that your rice might take longer…Just cook till your rice is sticky.

My last issue was the Chinese Cabbage……..I keep forgetting that chefs get better produce than we get……They get the most stunning fresh local beautiful big produce and we get mostly average produce that is trucked in from far away…..I also didn’t know how many leaves are in large Chinese Cabbages or Savoy cabbage. The cabbage I bought I thought was enormous……THE BIGGEST ONE THAT I’VE EVER SEEN……..But still not big enough for even half of the HALF recipe………Little did I know that I could only use eleven leaves to wrap meatballs and I had 21 meatballs so some we ate unwrapped and I made a nice Asian type sauce for them…….On the TV Show the chef saiid to make the meatballs 1- 1.5 ounces each so I did exactly that….Mine were all 1.3-1.4oz each. I made 21 meatballs. ( do have to mention that chef Arrington also got 18-20 meatballs and hers looks way larger than the 1-1.5 ounces….I know she added a cup of tofu and had twice as much meat..I guess that is why they looked so large…..I think they were MUCH bigger)….I have no idea how she got such big cabbage leaves to wrap hers…..)…..I only got 11 of my meatballs wrapped because I only had 11 leaves big enough to wrap the meatballs………(and my cabbage was the biggest one that I have ever seen at a grocery store……..So you might need to buy two (or FOUR if you didn’t cut recipe in half like I did).

ANYWAY……

Making them was pretty easy. (you. do have to blanch the cabbage)

Add some rice and meatball….This sits on plastic wrap….

Here comes the clever secret to making them……..

You take the wrap and pull it up and kind of use your hand to distribute the rice around the meatball and twist at the end. I chilled mine over night.

If you follow chef Arrington’s directions she suggest to steam the cabbage wrapped meatballs hot in the plastic wrap…….I didn’t do that because I thought mine would take too long to steam. I also couldn’t imagine unwrapping boiling hot plastic wrapped meatballs…My husband would starve by the time I unwrapped them all…….So I warmed mine up in the oven with a little vegetable broth without the plastic wrap and they came out great that way.

5 Spice Turkey Meatball Stuffed Cabbage

Chef Arrington’s recipe is called Five-Spice Chicken Meatball – Stuffed Cabbage and can be found on Rachel Ray TV Show Recipe Site. A few others claim to have wrote this recipe but I don’t think they did because they used chef Arrington’s photo.

A Special. THANKS!!!! to chef Nyesha Arrington for sharing her unique recipe so I could make what you see here!

The Forking Truth

Spicy Asian Inspired Eggplant Recipe

I have a large pantry and have more spices and ingredientsnthan most people. I was going to make a Sichuan type of eggplant dish and when it came time to do the recipe I realized that I didn’t even have half of the ingredients…….So I made my substitutions and some things I cut out and some things I added and I wound up with something delicious but not authentic. Serving size is difficult to judge…My guess is that you will get between 2-4 servings depending if you want a side serving or if you want to make this into a full meal.

Ingredients for around 3 servings

1 eggplant – cut in half long ways and scored one the top in diamond shapes

2 teaspoon red chili oil

2 oz gochujang

1 Tablespoon black bean paste

2 Tablespoons Shaoxing wine

2 Tablespoons red wine vinegar

4 teaspoons sugar

non stick spray

1 Tablespoon sesame seeds (for finishing)

1-2 scallions – cut thin diagonal (for finishing)

Directions

In a small mixing bowl mix together the oil, gochujang, black bean paste, Shaoxing wine, red wine vinegar, and sugar. Mix well. All this to a gallon Ziplock bag and place eggplant halves that have been scored cut side down win the bag. Leave this sit out on the counter for around 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Spray a baking sheet with non stock spray.

After 30 minutes place the eggplant halves cut side down on the baking sheet but reserve the liquid in the bag and put the bag to thee side.

The eggplants on the baking sheet go on a middle rack for 25 minutes. After 25 minutes the eggplant halves need to be turned to cut side up. Now pour reserved liquid over and into the eggplant halves. Put back in the oven till caramelized. (around 30 minutes)

Finish with sesame seeds and scallions.

Spicy Asian Inspired Eggplant

Enjoy!

The Forking Truth

K Scoop Korean Restaurant Scottsdale AZ – Fast Casual Buffet 60 Cents an Ounce – Worth a Try!

K Scoop is a fast casual Korean Restaurant located in the Promenade in Scottsdale Arizona. It’s set up like a buffet and you scoop all you want from the buffet.

Then they weigh your plastic tub of goodies, grab a beverage, pay, (tips are donated to charity) and seat yourself inside or on the patio.

This is what I took from today’s buffet.

Today I took vegan chewy noodles. They were really delicious….(I would have took more if I knew) The kimchi rice was tasty. The onion ring was shattering crisp. The vegetables (cauliflower, carrot, broccoli was very plain and almost still raw but ok. under them was a kimchi pancake that was tasty but hard to eat with just a plastic fork. (today they only had forks and spoons) I also took a tempura piece of broccoli that was tasty. The fried thing next to the onion ring was very unusual…….It was marked mashed potato but it taste like potato salad in a fried crust……Up top are the meats I took. Beef Bulgogi, and spicy beef with a little kimchi. Both are very tasty and tender with different flavors. The spicy beef is tasty but isn’t spicy today. I also took a chunk of maui maui fish, battered fish with sauces, and chicken teriyaki. The tastiest of that group was the battered fish with sauces but nothing was bad.

My husband took some things that I didn’t take.

He took a different pancake, shrimp, and a few dumplings. He liked everything for the most part. Today the dumplings were. marked beef but he thought that they were something else?

Lunch was inexpensive today. We had a combined total of 39 ounces so lunch out at K Scoop was only around $26 today for the two of us.

Worth a try!

www.K-Scoop.com

16459. N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale AZ

480-247-8708

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The FANTABULOUS DISH – The Stuffed Grape-leaves from Alzohour Market Bakery & Restaurant Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

The FANTABULOUS Dish means……..Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and DYNAMITE!

There is no need to hop the Marrakesh Express since we have Alzohour Market Bakery & Restaurant here in Phoenix Arizona. It’s around the south/east corner of 27TH and Northern. Allzohour is a casual Moroccan-Middle Eastern restaurant, small market, bakery, Islamic Clothing store, and a little more.

The stuffed grape leaves are filled with rice, parsley, lemon, and spices but these are far different than any other that I have tried before. They are far MORE DELICIOUS! They are not the usual……These are lighter, more. tender, and FAR MORE flavorful and far FORKING MORE delicious!!!!! These grape leaves just melt in your mouth. I can taste that the lemon is preserved lemon…but either it’s the spices or maybe it almost seems like the grape leaves might have been braised in something really delicious….They were an unexpected really great surprise!

The Stuffed Grape leaves from Alzohour in Phoenix are one FABTABULOUS Dish!

I must mention to those who do not know that Alzohour offers several FANTABULOUS dishes. I have tried many of Alzohour’s dishes but I haven’t tried every dish that Alzohour offers…..However I can recommend these FANTABULOUS dishes.

B’stilla

B’stilla- Is made in house phylio dough with chicken, cinnamon, sugar and almonds. It’s like dessert and lunch. at the same time. It’s also big so you need to share.

Fish Tagine

The fish (cod). tagine is our favorite dinner from Alzohour. It’s just so delicious!

Hot Tea

It sounds crazy to list hot tea as a fantabulous dish but seriously this tea served here is the best tea that I have tasted anywhere. You MUST get the tea here.

Kashke Bademjan

Another FANTABULOUS dish is the kashke Bademjan. It’s roasted eggplant with herbs, fresh mint, garlic, onions, and bread. You eat it like fajitas and it. is just another great surprise because it doesn’t look exciting but it taste exciting in your mouth. You eat it like a fajita. (this dish doesn’t take out well so order it when you dine here)

Kunafa

It’s this delicious house made noodle pastry stuffed with cheese and topped with sweet syrup and pistachios and it fresh made to order. It’s really scrumptious…….among the best desserts around in Phoenix.

Alcohol is not served and service is very limited and might see slow to some.. Zhor herself does mostly everything herself. She cooks and waits on people at the same time. Not always but sometimes she serves the appetizers with the dinners. She also runs late sometimes with the opening hours.

Alzohour is a gem of Phoenix and is Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.AlzohourMarket.com

www.Alzohour-Market.business.site

7814 N 27TH AVE Phoenix

602-433-5191

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Cold Roasted Vegetable & Fruit Salad with Lime Fish Sauce Vinaigrette Recipe

I’m not a big fan of grapefruit. If it is plain grapefruit usually taste like vomit to me. But I do know that if grapefruit is a supporting player in a dish it can be wonderful. I read about a top chef dish that contained grapefruit and was amazing…..The recipe is nowhere to be found and mine isn’t close to what the top chef did but I did use some of the same ingredients and it became magical. I added a can of sardines to mine so it would be a complete meal. I think any fish or chicken would go well with this salad. This recipe makes two meal sized portions. You can add protein if you desire it.

Ingredients for 2 servings

4 carrots – peel if not organic, cut in long planks no more than 1/2 inch thick

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 Tablespoon Aleppo red pepper

3 Tablespoons canola oil

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon granulated garlic

1/2 pound beets, peeled and sliced in 1/4 inch slices

3 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 teaspoon ground star anise

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

1 onion – peel, cut in 1/4 inch slices

smoked salt (I used alder smoked salt)

ground pepper to taste

1 grapefruit – peel and supreme (you cut thee segments out of their skins…you can only do this with a sharp knife) ((P.S. the grapefruit will be less sour/bitter w?o skin))

1 apple (or pear) cut in thin slices

1 cucumber (if regular remove skin and seeds) cut in long slices

1 medium/small avocado – cut in thin slices

2 limes (one to squirt on apple and avocado slices) (the other is for the dressing)

2 Tablespoons Red Boat Fish sauce (dressing)

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar (dressing)

2 Tablespoons date syrup (substitute honey) (dressing)

1 garlic clove – ground to paste (dressing)

1 Tablespoon lime juice (dressing)

2 Tablespoons – Add a fresh herb – either or a combination of mint, basil, Thai basil.

Directions

Set your oven to 425 degrees F with an oiled grill pan on the middle rack.

In pan with raised edges add the three tablespoons of oil, ginger, red pepper, salt, cayenne, a carrots. Mix them together well so the carrots are coated with all the spices. They go in thee oven for around 7 minutes on each side. Take out of the oven when done. (put to the side or refrigerate for tomorrow)

In a small mixing bowl mix together three Tablespoons oil, star anise, salt and the beet slices. The beet slices go on the grill pan. Turn them every 15 minutes until they are done (I turned them 3 or 4 times) (Put to the. side or refrigerate for tomorrow)

You should have room with your beets to also. do. the onions. The onion slices get coated with oil. on each side and sprinkled with smoked salt and pepper to taste. They go in the oven till caramelized on both sides. About 15 minutes on each side. (Put to the side or refrigerate for tomorrow)

Make the dressing. In a small bowl mix together the fish sauce, vinegar, date syrup, garlic, and lime juice and either use or refrigerate.

When ready assemble the salad with all the ingredients. Add a protein. if you like. Dress with the dressing and top with a little bit of a fresh herb.

Cold Roasted Vegetable & Fruit Salad with Lime Fish Sauce Vinaigrette

Enjoy! It’s FORKING Delicious!

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Santorini’s BBQ Grill in Glendale AZ

Santorini’s BBQ Grill is a casual budget type restaurant that offers a mixed menu of Greek Food, some Barbecue, and Fried Fish. They are located in Glendale Arizona only a few. miles from Old Town Glendale. Did you know that Santorini is the name of a large Greek Island where one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history happened……….Anyways- I was in the area and this place sounded interesting so we gave it a try. It’s not a fancy place but seems clean inside. It looks like hit might have been some sort of fast food place at one time.

We walk in and I see the lunch specials.

Then I see the full menu on the wall.

We order, pay, and seat ourselves.

We start by sharing the hummus.

The hummus is extra creamy and glistens from olive oil. The pita bread was warmed up for us.

I had the chicken kabob Greek Salad that came with more warmed up flat bread and tzatziki sauce.

The salad. is a generous size and was fresh made with crisp romaine, tomato. wedges, olives, pickled spicy peppers, feta cheese, and marinated chicken breast. It’s reasonably. good.

My husband got the gyro. Greek salad with a sides of hot links and macaroni and cheese.

It’s kinda average and A-OK!

It cost slightly more than fast food and is better than. fast food.

That was my trip to. Santorini’s BBQ Grill in Glendale.

www.SanntorinisGrill.com

5010. W Olive. Ave Glendale AZ

623-847-0522

Everything is. subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Fried Green Beans with Potatoes, Chermoula and Fried Almonds Recipe by In The Kitchen with Great British Chefs

This recipe is by Great British Chefs dot com (I rounded some ingredients slightly). It’s called Charred Green Beans with SautĂ© Potatoes, Chermoula, and Fried Almonds. I didn’t call it Charred Green Beans because my green beans were kind of hallow (maybe old?) so when I took mine to char they got all soggy. This recipe is tasty and is a more epicurean version of green beans almandine. Here you fry up the almonds in oil and use the infused almond oil to fry up the potatoes and then fry up the green beans. To make things more interesting you toss the green beans in chermoula (a Moroccan pesto made with preserved lemon). Serving size is difficult to judge. For me this makes a little more than 4 side servings. You will also have extra chermoula leftover that would taste amazing in a tuna salad or on top of grilled fish.

Ingredients for around 5 servings

1 cup almonds

3 Tablespoons olive oil

pinch sea salt

pinch sugar

2 potatoes – peeled (original recipe suggest a dice cut but I cut mine into long thin fry shapes ….do whatever. you want)

flaky sea salt

black pepper

1 lb green beans – trimmed

3 Tablespoons chermoula

1 cup cilantro chopped

1/2 cup parsley leaves chopped

2 garlic cloves – ground to paste

1 preserved lemon (just the rind scrape out the segments and white from rind as much as you can) – chopped fine

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1/2 lemon – just the fresh squeezed juice

Directions

Make chermoula and set to the side. In a large bowl combine the cilantro, parsley, garlic, preserved lemon, oil, salt, paprika, cumin, cayenne, and lemon juice. Set to the side

Fry up the almonds. Put the oil in a fry pan on medium high heat. Fry up the almonds till they turn light brown. Remove almonds without removing the oil and drain on towel lined pan. Sprinkle the almonds with sugar and salt and seed to the side.

Fry the potatoes till they are golden brown. Drain and then season with salt and pepper and set to the side.

Fry up the green beans to desired wrinkle…..Drain green beans when done. Add the green beans to the big bowl with the potatoes and chermoula and toss. Top with the almonds and serve and enjoy!

Fried Green Beans with Potatoes, Chermoula and Fried Almonds

A special THANKS!!!!!!! To Greet British Chefs so I could come up with these amazing green beans!

The Forking Truth