Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery is located in North Phoenix Arizona. This is a casual order at the counter Vietnamese Restaurant that specializes in serving about a dozen different Banh Mi baguette sandwiches. They also serve most Vietnamese favorites but DON’T SERVE PHO.
Everything I’ve tried at BMBVE is great and at this time (subject to change) EVERY FORKING THING on the menu is under $10.00 but the $4 $5 dollar menus should be mentioned because they are CRAZY GOOD for less than fast food prices.
You order at the counter, pay, grab a drink and seat yourself.
Every choice is a winner.
But this $4.00 and $5.00 Menu is not to be missed.
We tried most of the $4 and $5 dollar items.
Here are the egg rolls ($4.00)
Three crispy egg rolls with fish sauce and lettuce and vegetables to wrap around the egg rolls.
Fire cracker salmon rolls ($4.00).
My favorite on the $4.00 are the potstickers. These potstickers are better here than from most restaurants in the area. They also come in chicken or pork.
I think my husband’s favorite $4.00 are the pork belly bao buns….(he said they were better than the last bao buns he’s tried)
The $5.00 menu is so much better than any fast food I’ve tried anywhere.
One of my favorite $5.00 plates is the lotus root salad.
It light refreshing, crunchy and herby…….It comes with shrimp but I usually skip the shrimp…He’s a better look.
There is a $5.00 Papaya salad too.
The $5.00 chicken cabbage salad is CRAZZZZZZZZZzzzzy good.
This is a pretty Forking BIG salad for $5.00 and it’s DELICIOUS TOO! It’s more like a Vietnamese herbed slaw that’s lightly creamy lots of marinated slices of chicken in it. It’s light but filling and very satisfying. This might be the best deal in North Phoenix!
Everything at Banh Mi Bistro Vietnamese Eatery is Worth a Fork! ….(but the $4.00 & $5.00 menus are really special!)
Worth a Fork!
www.BanhMiBistroAZ.com
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The Phoenician Tavern is a casual pub kind of restaurant located by the golf course at the Phoenician Resort in Scottsdale Arizona.
When you get to the gate keeper’s booth and stop…then turn right to get to the Phoenician Tavern. Next walk up the steps or hop on the elevator and you’re here.
Reservation or not the hostess will ask your name and you will be address by your name from your server.
We make are way to the dining room.
There are tv’s on the walls, dark furniture, matching wood trim and neutral colors and big windows around the room.
There’s views of the golf course from most of the windows.
They offer a lot of variety on the menu….There are all kinds of snacks like chips, dips, hot chicken and wings. There is fish and chips, macaroni and cheese, prime rib, burgers, salads, soup and more.
Today I went with the warm citrus salmon sandwich on toasted dill bread. ($17.00 subject to change)
Sandwiches are held together with cute golf tee picks.
The sandwich is STUFFED with LOTS of reasonably fresh tasting salmon that cooked around medium well but is still juicy.
Also in the sandwich is peppery arugula and a sweet heirloom tomato slice. The lightly grilled dill bread is also brushed with a lemon curry mayo. Sides that come with the sandwiches are fries, sweet potato fries and the pub salad that comes with mustard vinaigrette. I picked the pub salad and it’s light, tasty and refreshing. I notice that the cucumbers sure didn’t come from Safeway because these are crisp, sweet tasting and also are de-seeded.
My husband tried the smoked wagu tri tip French dip ($16.00 subject to change).
There is caramelized onions on the sandwich. There is also Camelback IPA mustard that my husband said is especially good. The smoked wagu tri tip is flavorful, tender and also is a generous amount. Au ju for dipping completes the French dip.
Service was efficient and friendly
That was my first taste at The Phoenician Tavern in Scottsdale
www.ThePhoenicanTavern.com/Phoenican.Tavern
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
Hush Public House is a small but slightly upscale restaurant located in a strip mall in the north end of Scottsdale Arizona. They offer a full bar and menu of mostly many sharing plates that might be slightly globally inspired but lean slightly towards Italian. They also offer a variety of dinners. On the night of my visit pasta, chicken, seafood and beef were all on the menu.
When you walk in you see a busy and also loud bar.
The music is also kind of loud.
When you are seated you see how this is really a tiny place.
The kitchen is behind half of the bar.
Here’s the other half of the bar.
We decided to start with something salad like but more interesting. We tried the grilled treviso.
It’s covered with finely shredded manchego cheese, cured egg and chives…..I taste some. It’s very bitter…..I knew it would be bitter because treviso is a bitter kind of fancy cabbage…..but this is really bitter. The cheese is very good and gives some relief to the bitterness. This dish is unique and interesting but isn’t for everyone because you have to have a high tolerance for bitterness. ($13.00 subject to change)
For dinner I tried the roasted half chicken.
My half chicken is missing the wing and leg. The skin is notably crisp and is served over Swiss chard, wild mushrooms and is in a rich Madeira laced stock that is stunning and delicious. The Breast is kind if thin for breast and is on the dry side but the thigh is much more flavorful and moist……there just isn’t much of it ($25.00 subject to change).
My dinner might not be typical of what they usually serve…..This dinner has been featured in our local newspaper, other publications and Yelp. I took a photo from Yelp so you can see what I saw from other publications.
www.Yelp.com
Any who-
My husband tried the Italian Beef Sandwich ($28.00 subject to change)
The brioche bun sandwich is served open faced. The slightly over toasted bread is soaking in a pool of rich beefy stock. There’s melted smoked provolone cheese, and a small amount of melty succulent tender beef that is topped with finely chopped giardinara. The plate is almost amazing except for one thing. This $28.00 sandwich only has about 3 ounces of beef on it.
We tried the peach toast for dessert ($16.00 subject to change).
The palisade peaches are especially flavorful and are delicious. House made ricotta is very creamy. There’s hazelnut dukkah, fresh mint and some local honey on a very sturdy toasted grain bread. It’s all delicious here…
That was my trip to Hush Public House in Scottsdale AZ.
www.HushPublicHouse.com
Every Forking THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
Seydi’s Pupuseria and Grill is located in a strip mall in North Phoenix Arizona. This is a casual order at the counter kind of restaurant that specializes in serving Pupusas ……(Salvadorian stuffed flatbreads). They also offer Salvadorian style breakfast such as tamale, rice, beans, plantains and burritos. They offer appetizers, close to a dozen different pupusas, (either meat and cheese or cheese and vegetable) a couple soups, combination entrees and plantain empanadas.
You order at the counter, pay and seat yourself.
We shared two of the combination plates. The first plate we tried was the #12 steak that comes with two pupusas ($9.50 subject to change).
The Pupusas were CRAZY CRAZY GOOD….. (they are under the steak).
The Pupusas are like Salvadorian really great grilled cheeses……..inside of them is LOTS of tasty mild melted cheese. One pupusa has some wild flowers in it that don’t add much flavor but the one with jalapeños is incredibly delicious. The pupusas got crisp ends that are tasty…crispy cheesy buttery grilled and really delicious sort of corn masa flavor….They are also big……I don’t think most people would be able to eat two of them because they have a lot of filling. They also gave us this delicious not-too-spicy but flavorful chili sauce to spike things up a bit and a little cup of very sharp spicy slaw. The steak was just ok and a little tough and chewy but it tasted better with the addition of the sauce.
My husband tried a side of Salvadorian Sausage. He enjoyed the flavors but said the texture was dry.
The Fried Tilapia Plate comes with rice, beans, salad and fried jalapeño and house made corn tortillas ($11.99 subject to change).
The Fish is fried to perfection. It gets a squirt of fresh lime. It’s so moist and flaky. It falls off the bones. It’s a little hard to eat with plastic silverware but we manage. Beans were well seasoned and almost like in a soup. The rice was fluffy and studded with peas and carrots and seemed like it was laced with chicken broth.
The house made corn tortillas are a nice thoughtful touch!
I would say that Seydi’s Pupuseria and Grill is Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
www.Seydis-Pupuseria-Grill.business.site
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The English Rose Tearoom is located in beautiful Carefree Arizona. They serve authentic English foods and loose teas seven days a week 11am-4pm. They are very busy and you usually need a reservation to be seated indoors. They offer English Style Patio seating.
They offer seating indoors in the gift shop.
Seating in the main dining room is the picture below.
The small but energetic restaurant is full of bone china, chandeliers, roses and loose tea. There are glass topped table clothes that protect antique photos lace and other things. It’s sort of a magical atmosphere ladies of all ages from two to a hundred and two go dress up with fancy hats and feel like a princess for a day.
We tried a small pot of darjeeling loose leaf black tea.
It’s sort of floral….but there is something strong to it…..not bitter….but something strong. It’s relaxing.
I decided to try the soup and sandwich selection ($14.00 subject to change)
I start with the soup of the day creamy tomato basil. I like the fresh basil flavor in the soup. It’s not too heavy but flavored very nicely. I start with a English cucumber and orange mint butter sandwich. This sandwich is trimmed of crust. It has some texture to it but doesn’t fall apart when you eat it. The cucumber is the main flavor in the sandwich. Next I try the smoked salmon, lemon cream cheese. It’s on a darker bread with trimmed crust. It’s very smooth but with small flecks of fish. Last is the chicken, nutmeg and tarragon on walnut edged bread.
The chicken filling is very smooth and laced with nutmeg and tarragon….The nuts add interest to the bread. The plate also includes a bunch of small sweet seedless red grapes, a strawberry and orange slices.
My husband tries the cottage pie ($16.00 subject to change)
He recived a crock of lean ground beef cooked with vegetables that was topped with piped mashed potatoes with a mixed green salad on the side.
We decided to try a dessert and went for the house specialty…..The scone with jam and cream. ($10.00 subject to change)
The scone is almost like a substantial rich denser cake with less sweetness. The Devonshire Cream is sort of like a milky butter and strawberry jam gives the scone that just right strawberry flavor.
This was fun and different….a little magical…….in a lovely atmosphere.
English Rose Tearoom in Carefree is Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
www.CarefreeTea.com
Every Forking THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
Hello Vietnam is a Vietnamese Restaurant that just opened this week in North Peoria Arizona. They serve most of the usual Vietnamese favorites – fried and fresh rolls, cold noodle bowls, rice plates, banh mi and pho. The atmosphere is different and interesting. They have two dining rooms and a semi open kitchen. The restaurant is decorated with Vietnamese kitchenware around the kitchen counter. There’s an illustration on some walls of a Vietnamese village. There are seashell– like fixtures and a wall of wood that looks Vietnamese.
Uptop reads “Cook like a local in Vietnam”
We started off with the Lemongrass Beef Steak Fresh Rolls ($5.99 subject to change).
The rice paper rolls are stuffed with flavorful steak, minty herbs and lots of vermicelli noodles. They are delicious on their own but also came with a peanut sauce today. Possibly due to the soft opening we didn’t receive the toppings for the rolls listed on the menu. (scallions, pickled medley, cucumber and mint…….crispy twist)…..unless it’s a misprint?
For my main I tried the Grilled Chicken Rice Plate ($10.99 subject to change)
I received a generous amount of marinated chicken thigh, pickled vegetables, fish sauce and rice. This plate differs slightly from every other Vietnamese restaurant. Everything is good!…….Chicken is tender, salad is pickled, rice is fresh. Here the fish sauce really brings the chicken to life. The fish sauce is particularly good here.
My husband goes for the Special Pho ($12.99 subject to change)
Here the Pho is an eighteen hour beef oxtail bone broth unless you order your pho with vegetable broth. I don’t often eat pho so I didn’t try it but my husband thought it really was a good bowl of pho.
This restaurant is brand new and was very busy at an off time. Service was a bit slow and we weren’t checked on till we were done but the food was good so to me that means –
Hello Vietnam is Worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
I haven’t found a website for Hello Vietnam but they are on Facebook.
Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.
Elements Restaurant is located at the Sanctuary Camelback Mountain Resort and Spa. This resort is on the north face of Camelback Mountain on fifty three acres in the beautiful Paradise Valley Section of Scottsdale Arizona.
The executive chef is celebrity chef Beau Macmillan. He been be seen on many various Food Network TV Shows. The food served at Elements is mostly changing menus of seasonal Asian Inspired American and Global Foods. Upon arrival you stop at the valet and then make your way to the restaurant.
They offer formal dining seating.
They also offer booths on the end of the dining room with views of Paradise Valley that you still can see even when the sun screen is in use.
They started us off with delicious super crusty locally made MJ sour dough bread and seaweed seasoned butter.
Today I went with the Miso Scottish Salmon Bento Box ($26.00 subject to change)
I received a very tender grilled salmon with nice grill marks. The fish was very buttery in texture and just melted in my mouth. The miso glaze went really great with the quality salmon. Off in the left hand corner are steamed organic vegetables. I’m reasonably sure that some of the vegetables were an Asian Broccoli that has an edible stem similar to asparagus and it was mixed with a flavorful mushroom that tasted like shiitake to me. To the right was a cucumber salad that ran very acidic today for me. On the bottom left was Asian seasoned chewy brown rice.
My husband tried the House made Cavatelli with Duck Confit. ($22.00 subject to change)
Look at all those hand made cavatelli! They are mixed with duck confit, peas, pea tendrils, pearl onions, garlic and parmesan.
We shared a dessert because the last two we had here were very good.
Today we tried the Cherry Ice Cream Sundae.
I tell The Forking Truth and this dessert wasn’t the best for me because I am super picky when a dessert has chocolate in it…..This chocolate tower is sort of waxy like like a coconut oil coating. But The ice cream inside is unusual, not so creamy but more fruity also lighter and nicely flavored with the tart cherry compote that I like. Candied pistachios, fresh raspberries and a chocolate coated gold accented dark cherry adorned the plate.
From previous lunch visits we had-
Tea Brined ChickenFive spice beef tenderloin Lemon Meringue PieA different variation of tea brined chickenFive spice duckKey lime pie
Everything here was delicious and top notch in a great environment with the greatest service and amazing atmosphere.
Only a couple things weren’t perfect for me but for the most part Lunch at Elements is certainly worth a Fork!
Worth a Fork!
www.SantuaryCamelback.com/dining/Elements
Every THING is ALWAYS subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The Creek Patio Grill is located in Cave Creek Arizona. This is a casual full service American Neighborhood-Type Restaurant. They offer TWO patios (one patio is dog friendly) and indoor seating with personality.
The dog friendly patioThis patio entrance is from the inside of the restaurant
The middle of the restaurant has seating around a pizza oven.
There’s curved bench seating that circles the pizza oven and bar seating is located behind the pizza oven.
There are multiple dining areas and levels. (not pictured)
Glowing rock decor
My husband started with a cup of chili.
It was meaty with lots of beans and a generous amount of cheese. My husband said It was a little spicy and could taste cinnamon in it.
I had the walleye.
It wasn’t the meatiest walleye but then again this whole dinner only cost $21.00. The last time I came across walleye at AJ’s Fine Foods if I’m not mistaking the walleye was going for $40.00 a pound. This isn’t the same but was prepared reasonably well. It was covered in a lemony bur blanc sauce. Blistered tomatoes, fresh sweet basil and rice pilaf completed the plate.
My husband had the shrimp Alexander.
The grilled lemon elevated the dish. My husband thought the dish was good but could have been seasoned a little more for his taste.
The menu that The Creek Patio Grill offers is large and has a lot of variety. They offer many appetizers such as multiple sliders, kung pao chicken, burgers, sandwiches, pizzas and entrees.
That was today’s trip to The Creek Patio Grill in Cave Creek. It’s a nice neighborhood type restaurant. You visit it if you are in the neighborhood and not from across town.
www.TheCreekPatioGrill.com
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
True Food Kitchen is a full service casual restaurant located in Phoenix at the Biltmore Fashion Plaza in Arizona. They have another location in Scottsdale Arizona and around forty locations in the United States with the largest amounts of restaurants in California and Texas. The foods offered at True Food are based on the science to maintain your best health by choosing foods that don’t contribute to chronic inflammation by celebrity doctor Dr. Weil. He is famous for his alternative medicine. True Food Kitchen offers vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and they are happy to customize meals for you. A few locations of True Food Kitchen also offer healthful yoga brunches.
The Phoenix location of True Food Kitchen offers a foliage accented front patio.
A side patio.
Indoor is bright, woody and accented with green. There are large modern light fixtures. They offer seating at traditional tables, bar seating, half bench tables –
and by food preparation tables. The restaurant is busy and noisy. Music also fills the air.
Today I tried the Limited Summer Red Fish with sweet corn, edamame, onion, scallion, achiote and cilantro. (480 calories, gluten free and $26.00)
The red fish is very soft and moist and seasoned in a delicious way with achiote and other spices. The corn just might be the most delicious corn I ever had in a restaurant. It’s like you bought it from a farm and just grilled it. The corn is so sweet and so flavorful. Everything they mixed into it is delicious….I mean it really delicious!!!!! I liked that it seemed like the perfect amount of food too and it’s really rare that a 480 calorie plate is so satisfying.
My husband tried the Limited Summer Spinach and Mushroom Pizza. (970 calories vegetarian and $15.00)
This pizza was made with mushrooms, organic spinach, garlic, onions, lemon almond ricotta and seasoned with Aleppo pepper. The mushrooms are very flavorful but the spinach is just wilted. The cheese has a really light but grainy texture. My husband is slightly grumpy now and scraps off the lemon almond ricotta cheese that he mistook for regular ricotta with added lemon and almond. I told him to leave a small amount of the cheese to use as glue to hold some of the delicious corn to help remedy the taste and the corn is so good it makes the pizza delicious. He said, FORK some more corn over.”
I thought our server was trained particularly well. She had a great attitude, was helpful about the food, checked on us at the perfect time, offered desert and when I declined she dropped the check. That is perfect service.
I thought the healthy Summer Special of Redfish with the Corn Mixture was Worth a Fork!
www.TrueFoodKitchen.com
That was my trip to True Food Kitchen in Phoenix.
Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
The Mekong Plaza is an Asian Shopping Center that is a mall with a dozen Asian restaurants, an Asian/International Grocery Super Market gift shops and more. Today we thought we’d do some exploring here and mostly tasting.
We started with a full service Vietnamese Restaurant called Com Tam Thuan Kieu.
We shared a dish that is seldom found at most Metro Phoenix Vietnamese Restaurants called Com Do Ga Roti (fried Cornish hen with tomato paste red rice). Today they were out of Cornish hen so chicken was offered.
First came out a cup of broth and chunks of very developed soft pork.
Next we moved on to the main event.
We received a generously sized plate of very moist tender delicious bbq chicken thigh made with house made bbq sauce. I picked fish sauce as the dipping sauce and it went together to make something mighty tasty. The plate also came with pickled vegetables, a fried over easy egg and tomato paste red rice. I’ve had Vietnamese red rice before and this differed as they do from home to home or restaurant to restaurant. Here the rice was on the dry side and contained very little tomato.
Below is com do ga roti from Thao Sandwiches now closed for business. You can see the texture and tomato and seasoning does differ.
Thao Sandwiches (now closed for business)
Moving on next stop was suppose to be a Filipino Restaurant called Wholly Grill for Grilled Tuna with Eggplant Salad but that wasn’t on the menu today so we stopped at Heng’s Kitchen in the food court instead to share a Szechuan Spicy Boiled Fish.
Soon we are served and they are nice enough to split the rice plates for us. The fish is very tender and mild and cooked to perfection. We receive a good amount of bean sprouts and fresh chopped cilantro. There is some heat from hot chili and some Sichuan peppercorns but this is the least spicy Szechuan Spicy Boiled Fish that I’ve ever had…….I saw the chef looking at me when I ordered it……..It’s possible that he thought I looked like someone that can’t handle spicy foods and it’s a possibility that he was trying to spare me too much mouth numbing painful heat?????? I don’t know…..but that’s what I thought. This dish was still very good but super mild for the kind of dish that it is.
The last time I had Szechuan Spicy boiled fish it looked like this from Szechuan Cosine in Glendale.
from Szechuan Cusine in Glendale
See all the peppers…..now this was ultra spicy and mouth numbing.
Now we take a break and walk around Mekong Market. Lets see what we see.
Chestnut Kit Kats!
WOW Sake KitKats too!
Boiled corn with colorful kernels.
Faux fish.
LOTS of real fish. (near the middle is rabbit fish…..rabbit fish?……does it hop?)
Much more fish..thought the moon fish look attractive…..they shine much more than the photo shows.
Lay’s tomato and cucumber flavor chips.
Togarashi
Lay’s Spicy Hot Pot flavored potato chips that actually DO contain Szechuan pepper.
Asian gefilte fish…..who knew?
Fermented mudfish in rice……….?
Best Wild Jelly Fish Head.
Yellow Rock sugar…….I don’t know about yellow sugar??????? Makes me think of a Frank Zappa song.
A whole world of produce and herbs.
We decide we can hit one more restaurant and go to Happy Baos.
They are packed and we have to wait outside.
In reasonable time we are called in to sit at a table.
This is a tiny restaurant that is very packed with tables close together.
I don’t know if they are short on help or just very unorganized today. We’ve had ordering problems and waited abnormally long for our food while others around that came in latter had multiple plates. But this restaurant was written about in the Arizona Republic recently and might be busier than usual????? We finally get served.
Chicken Cabbage Dumplings and a Tofu Vegetable Bao.
The Bao is ok….
There is a possibility we waited so long because they rushed out a batch of dumplings for us. These dumplings seemed rushed because they lack seasoning and the cabbage they were suppose to contain.
That was my trip to Mekong Plaza in Mesa.
www.MekongPlaza.com
Every FORKING Thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.
