Tap & Bowl is a unique small restaurant and bar located by the arts district and on the end of the waterfront near to Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. This restaurant offers appetizers like dips, wings, and fried pickle chips. They also offer a variety of seasonal and some globally inspired bowls. They offer craft beers, cider, cocktails, hand crafted sodas and water filtered by an Italian soda machine.

You can sit inside at the bar, at a high top, on a sofa or booth. Outside on the shaded patio are traditional tables with bench seating.

On my last visit I tried a watermelon cucumber soda.

It was light refreshing and delicious.

This time I went with iced tea.

Both times here I had the Atlantic salmon & cali rice bowl. It is mostly riced cauliflower that is really pretty good and you almost forget that you are eating cauliflower…It’s almost like eating quinoa and it’s studded with edamame, carrots, onions, peppers, mushrooms and maybe some seasonal veggies. It’s all laced with Asian tasting sauces.

The recent Atlantic salmon and cali bowl did differ slightly but was still delicious.

The biggest difference between the two bowls was the salmon. Last time it was served medium-rare and this time it was served well done.

The meal my husband enjoyed last time (the chicken macaroni and cheese bowl has been discontinued so this time he ordered the puerco con masa (masa caked topped with pulled pork with pico, honey and hot sauce.

He said that it was very tasty. He also said that he thought the hot sauce was particularly good.

Tap & Bowl is a nice little stop that maybe you haven’t thought about. On both visits all the food was tasty and not too heavy.

That was just a Little Taste of Tap & Bowl in Scottsdale AZ.

www.TapandBowl.com

Everything is subject to change.

Mesquit Fresh Street Mex is a small local chain of eight (subject to change) casual-quick Mexican Restaurants in Metro Phoenix. They offer tacos, burritos, protein bowls, quesadillas, burritos, sides, Mexican beverages and more! Mesquite Fresh Street Mex has earned awards from the Phoenix New Times for Best Street Taco and Best Tortilla.

It’s very casual.

There is a window that you walk by where they cook the steak, chicken, and vegetables. It was empty when I walked by so there is nothing to see or smell.

Then you order.

It is Chipotle Style and they add sauces or vegetables to what you ordered. You then get either a bottled soda or water or order from the beverage station.

Then you seat yourself.

I went with a chicken bowl with salad instead of rice and beans. I added cilantro, pickled onions, and red and green sauce.

JEEPERS….The red sauce is too hot for me and I usually like hot.

The green sauce is ok……the guacamole sauce is smooth like a smoothie. I like the pickled onions. The chicken is tender and some pieces are seasoned more with a salt seasoning than other pieces. My chicken lacks mesquite taste. It is also cold. I told the person working there that it was cold.Not just cool but actually like refrigerator cold. She said that she took the chicken from the bottom of the pan to try to get the warmer chicken……………. That is an odd thing to tell me. I now know that the food they served me was mishandled. The food should have been properly heated up first before being placed in a steam table. The steam tables function is not to heat up food but to keep food at a proper temperature. It’s going to take a long time for that steam table to get that big pan of chicken hot. I hope they don’t make people sick here. I mean I sure hope that they change their ways and do things the right way next time.

My husband had a chicken and steak quesadilla. He thought it was ok…..It’s wasn’t bad…..but didn’t have much flavor.

That was my trip to Mesquite Fresh Tex Mex – Newly Opened in North Phoenix

www.EatMesquite.com

Everything is subject to change.

Chantico is a Mexican style restaurant, bar, and event space located in Phoenix Arizona close to the Biltmore area. Chantico is a sister restaurant of Ocotillo in Phoenix and Starlite BBQ in Scottsdale. The signs for Chantico are easy to miss when you are driving up Camelback Road to get there but when you see a large building with lots of trees and plants that resembles Ocotillo you are there.

Chantico is large with three main dining rooms, a few patios, a bar (maybe more bars?) and I noticed another smaller dining room. It looks like this when you walk in and you are asked if you want to sit at a table or a booth.

Behind this glass wall are the tables and behind this room is a patio. To the right is a large dining room that was closed at brunch time. The booths are in a bar area.

On the brunch menu are a long list of appetizers that sound like things that you might find on Ocotillo’s menu sometimes such as – a fancy detailed Chantico salad, spicy halibut ceviche, a beet dish, short rib appitizer, charred sweet potato, and grilled cauliflower.

The brunch dishes offer lots of variety……..You can get entrees like an anchiote chicken or a grilled New York steak. They have blue corn pancakes. They offer Mexican style dishes and some include eggs like burritos, chicken flautas, tyludas, chimiquiles, a shrimp relleno, and a pibil sandwich. If you order the Chantico Breakfast you get birria tacos, broth, scrambled and a beverage of coffee, agua fresco, or horchata. If you order the tacos you get three tacos that come with sour cream guacamole and your choice of sangria, Mexican beer, or a margarita.

Then they serve us fresh hot chips and salsas.

The chips are delicious. One salsa taste like ground tomatillos. The other salsa taste just like enchilada sauce.

We ordered and I picked the crispy chicken tacos and I picked the margarita that came with the tacos.

The margarita is really good! It’s made with fresh tasting juices. It’s better than some $12.00 margaritas from some places and it’s included with the $15.00 tacos..WOW!

We did order a grilled cauliflower appetizer but our brunch items came out first.

My husband tried the pibil sandwich.

It’s anchiote pork, scrambled eggs, grilled onion on a roll. It’s suppose to be spicy with habanero sauce but either they were extra light with the sauce or maybe the sauce might have been forgotten? A-OK here.

I got the crispy chicken tacos.

I got three good sized very crispy tacos with a good amount of sour cream and guacamole. This is a very large portion of food for brunch. The chicken in the tacos is tasty and crispy. (this is a lot of food and drink for only $15.)

It a good amount of breast meat fried crispy with skin topped with some shredded cabbage…..These tacos are kind of plain but you can add some of the salsas from the chips to add some additional flavors.

Then our grilled cauliflower arrives. Our server was very apologetic about forgetting to order the cauliflower. He said he was taking it off our bill. I said that he didn’t have to take it off but he did anyway.

The cauliflower has mole negro, tomatillo pico, cilantro and crispy corn on it. This is tasty and spicy……My husband added that this was much spicier than the pibil sandwich he had.

This was a little taste of brunch at Chantico in Phoenix AZ.

www.ChanticoPHX.com

Everything is subject to change

Original Cuisine is a casual Chinese Restaurant located in Mesa Arizona. They offer mostly Sichuan Chinese foods that run mild, spicy, molten spicy, and also American Chinese Foods. This is not a fancy place. It is very casual here. On our last visit they served our beverages in paper cups.

You walk in and see part of the dining area is used for storage. But to be fare this is a small building that appears to have been a small fast food restaurant. I can tell that by the drive threw (no longer in use) and the floor tiles that look like from Burger King.

In 2017 this restaurant received a very rare 4.5 star rating from the food critic from our local newspaper. I noticed that two of the three plates I tried from that time are no longer on the menu (fried rice balls stuffed with black sesame paste and the sautéed garlic lettuce).

The current menu does differ some but you will find things here that are not found on average Chinese menus like the rabbit meat with bullfrog with pickled peppers and ginger.

Today I wanted to try different menu items so this restaurant would be new and fresh to me.

We shared three dishes.

The chongqing spicy crispy chicken are small but very tender chunks of chicken that are fried crispy but isn’t oily at all. It’s not as fiery hot as it looks if you don’t eat the crispy peppers. This is a tasty dish that I think most people would be able to eat the one I had. But a word of warning….hot peppers run much hotter sometimes…could vary.

This is the most tender beef that I have had in a long time. Zero heat here…..If you blind folded me and made me taste this I’d be veery confused………The sauce and the texture are not shawarma but it taste something like shawarma……The dominate flavor is allspice.

We shared a vegetable dish of stir fried eggplant with green beans.

Not spicy but tasty and not too sweet or oily soaked. The green beans are tender crisp and the eggplant isn’t soggy.

Previously we have tried the house special BBQ fish (catfish).

Now THIS WAS FIREY MOLTEN HOT AS HOT GETS! But it was really delicious. Hope they still make it the same way!

That was a taste of Original Cuisine in Mesa AZ.

www.OriginalCuisineAZ.com

Everything is subject to change and usually does eventually change.

Little Asia Cuisine is a casual Asian restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona. They offer sushi, Hawaiian big plates, ramens, Thai soups, Burmese soup, fried rice dishes, noodle dishes, some American Chinese style dishes, children’s meals, soft beverages and more!

It’s casual. They have a counter so we ordered and paid there. People came in after us and the girl at the counter waited on them so it can roll either way.

We started out by sharing an appetizer of chicken dumplings.

They came out a little greasy but were tasty.

I tried the mohinga soup (spicy Burmese fish noodle…..National dish of Burma)

I am not an expert on Burmese Foods but I have had this soup from another restaurant and it differed very much. Although both soups contain a fish broth and noodles there are many differences between the two. The soup below is richer, more savory, and has more textures. What I really liked about the bottom one was that tasty toasted rice taste…..so yummy and more aromatics to counter the fish. Don’t get me wrong…..The top soup is good too. It’s also tasty.

I don’t know if this other one is a different style or just taken further?

Anywho-

The other dish we tried was the spicy chicken fried rice.

It was studded with peas and carrots and it’s ultra spicy. They offered heat levels of one, two, or three. We picked three and that really is too hot for most people. This dish was a very large generous size, a little one note and FORKING hot today…..actually MOLTEN HOT.

Did some take out to try other dishes.

Lemongrass chicken with green salad. Very large portion. For me this is three meals. The salad stayed fresh and crisp. Doesn’t remind me of lemongrass when I eat the chicken…..?It doesn’t taste like anything that I am familiar with……….But I do taste lemongrass in the rice that is under the chicken. This chicken could be more tender. The heat levels differ here greatly. The spicy chicken fried rice was ordered at a #3 heat level and was almost too hot for anyone. The #3 lemongrass chicken has no heat. Maybe it’s. an error?

Teriyaki salmon…..Large amount of food. Well done salmon. …..but it taste good….Maybe a little sweet but the fish isn’t fishy so that is a win!

Curry chicken…..not a beauty here but developed with some tasty flavors. The chicken is tender and the sauce is a little on the thick side but has good flavors. I got three meals out of this one too.

Better and cheaper that fast food. Not all but many of the dinners are less than ten dollars and for most people are more than one meal.

That was a Little Taste of Little Asia Cuisine in Phoenix Arizona.

www.LittleAsiaCuisine.com

Tratto Restaurant is a full service Italian restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona. It is by James Beard Award Winning Chef Chris Bianco. The chef is famous for his pizzas and is well received by celebrities, Food Network TV, magazines, and food critics. Tratto recently made the New York Times list of 50 favorite restaurants in America. The food served is high quality.

Tratto is a small old building with a bar and a patio that is currently not in use. There is exposed brick to see, antiqued furniture and a roof that looks like from a time gone by..

Tables are set with linen.

Tratto has an open shiny kitchen.

The menu is seasonal and does change around a bit. Today they offered a few salads, a seafood crudo, and a chicken liver toast. They also offered three hand made pastas, Three entrees and two vegetable side courses.

Tonight they started us off with a complimentary plate of cured olives, some cheese, and a couple pickled green beans.

Our first course tonight was the seared two wash ranch chicken livers on grilled sourdough bread with quince jam and crispy sage leaves.

We didn’t have it tonight but they also had a farinata as a special – a tasty chick pea crepe made with tomatoes and onions.

We also previously enjoyed a roasted beets in fig leaf with gorgonzola dolce.

Our pasta course was coming next so they gave us the famous Bianco Bread and olive oil.

I do have to note that this bread and this olive oil are either the best or close to the best in all the land.

Tonight we shared the orecchiette pasta with walnut, Pecorino Romano, black pepper, and chiltepin (an expensive but VERY delicious spicy Mexican pepper).

The dish lacks textures but the pasta and flavors are exceptional.

On a past visit we enjoyed the scarpinocc (cheese ravioli with fava beans and crisp sage).

Tonight we shared the snapper special.

It was very fresh and cooked to perfection. It was good but had less meat in it than I thought it would have. It might be too small for two people to share.

We didn’t have it tonight but the grilled two wash ranch piccolo chicken with lemon sage was offered on the menu tonight.

Tonight we had room for dessert so we tried the dark chocolate board.

We had thin slices of the freshest sweetest crisp apple that I have tasted in decades. yummy midnight moon gouda, short bread, and callebaut dark chocolate.

That was a taste of Tratto.

www.TrattoPHX.com

Everything is subject to change.