Tag Archives: #PhxFood

The FANTABULOUS Dish – The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant Scottsdale AZ

The FANTABULOUS Dish means – Top of the line, marvelously good, peachy keen and dynamite.

The FORKING Amazing FnB Restaurant is located in the arts district by Old Town Scottsdale Arizona. The restaurant is co-owned by James Beard Award Wining chef Charleen Badman. She serves an ever changing menu of global farm focused contemporary sharing plates that often feature local vegetables. The menu is vegetable heavy but also features enough meat to please meat eaters. Arizona wines are always featured on the menu.

We enjoyed an amazing meal like we always do at FnB but one dish really stood out. So much so that I actually dreamed about it that night. The flash fried eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots, garlic, pistachios, and honey…….

You can’t make this dish at home because you’d never be able to purchase the speciality farm fresh eggplant that this dish was made with………..and even if you could find such an eggplant who on earth can give you a big slab of eggplant that is very hard to describer but is firm…that you could cut like a potato, but also sort of custardy. This eggplant was extra special….like an eggplant just grown for the GODS……..The flavors were so different and so delicious and unlike anything imaginable with eggplant. They were a genius embellishment. But what was phenomenal was the texture and taste of the eggplant. This eggplant was sweet like white eggplant and seemed seedless. This was really FANTABULOUS eggplant with fresh dill, pickled shallots and pickled garlic. (I think I dreamed fennel was also in it….not sure if that was real or just added on in my dream ?) All that countered with the pistachios and just the right amount of honey was darn yummy. This eggplant was firm almost like a custardy potato with the skin falling off like the way fish skin can fall off. The eggplant was cooked but wasn’t oily…..It was a magical kind of firm texture but almost custardy texture unlike any eggplant that I have ever had anywhere. It was so light and so delicious and was so easy to whoof down.

The Flash Fried Eggplant from FnB Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ is an official FANTABULOUS Dish.

www.FnBRestaurant.com

The Forking Truth

A Taste of Urban Margarita in Glendale AZ

Urban Margarita is an American Restaurant that swings to New Mexican Fusion Cuisine. This restaurant is located in a strip mall in the Arrowhead section of North Glendale that is also known as the Upper West Side of Metro Phoenix Arizona. Urban Margarita was listed in the Phoenix New Times as among the ten BEST restaurants for New Mexican Cuisine in Metro Phoenix.

It looks like this when you walk in. To the right side of the photo is an indoor-outdoor bar with high top tables near the bar.

To the left is the inside dining area.

Behind the main dining area is another room with a bar.

There is also a partially covered outside patio with a indoor/outdoor bar with misters, a fireplace, a big screen TV and heaters.

Today we shared the cheesy corn appetizer.

it came with a bowl of chips. It’s kind of simple…LOTS of tasty melted cheese, sweet fresh corn, some spices a little heat and grassy cilantro. It’s really delicious!

For my main I got the citrus marinated and grilled “Kickin Chicken” in pineapple habanero glaze with black beans and cilantro rice.

The sauce runs a little sweet but it is spicy…..Chicken is tender and the rice is very fluffy.

My husband got the slow braised hatch pork chile verde.

Not all but some of the previous dishes we’ve had at Urban Margarita were-

Baja chop salad is pictured below.

It a mound of spring mix, black beans, fresh corn, red onion, tomato, avocado, poblanos, cotija cheese and Baja vinaigrette. It’s topped with marinated grilled chicken breast. That Baja vinaigrette does have a good amount of acid to it.

Next is the Urban Burrito.

This one was stuffed with carnitas, lettuce, cheese, cilantro rice, black beans and corn. This was topped with what they call Baja sauce. (it looks like green chili sauce to me)

The stuffed Poblano pepper (with queso on the side).

The peppers (TWO) are stuffed with spicy shredded chicken. It came with rice and corn. I liked that this isn’t swimming in cheese sauce like most New Mexican cuisine that I have tried. This is approachable and sensible.

This is the slow braised pork rib in hatch chile verde with rice, black beans and tortillas.

We’ve had other dishes but I can’t find the photos…..I KNOW I had the salmon here.

We tried the bananas Foster ice cream tortas.

These were SINFULLY good.

This was bananas sautéed in Anejo rum, butter, and brown sugar over an ice cream stuffed brioche bun. It sounds weird but was DANG DELICIOUS!

That was a TASTE of Urban Margarita in Glendale AZ

www.UrbanMargarita.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Little Taste of The Americano Restaurant in Scottsdale AZ

The Americano Restaurant is an upscale Italian Restaurant and Steakhouse located in Scottsdale Arizona. Sometime around the end of September 2020 James Beard Restauranteur and celebrity chef Scott Conant and team took over ownership and operation of The Americano.

The Americano has a rich, modern, stunning atmosphere.

hostess station
the bar
1/2 moon booths
traditional tables
main dining area with a private room
open kitchen

They do not serve complimentary bread. Artisan bread and smoked butter is on current menu $6. and is served with a big glass dome for presentation. I think we were the only table that didn’t order bread. I had other plates on my mind so I had to skip the bread.

We started out by sharing the braised wagyu beef cheeks that was accented with a micro green and shaved cheese. It also came with vegetable fregola and pumpkin seed togarashi. ($21.) I did question our server about the pumpkin seed togarashi but they didn’t know what it was. (togarashi is a spice mix made with Japanese hot pepper)

The beef is tender and is developed with rich flavors. The fregola is much softer than I imagined it would be……the sweet peas and the pumpkinseed togarashi gave it the needed texture that was crunchy, nutty, and a little citrusy. It’s an excellent dish!

For my main I went with the seared Faroe Island salmon ($32.).

It was served with the bloodline but there were also fresh herbs and olive tarragon salsa verde for enhancement.

Many things things about the dish that are exceptional. The peeled sweet cherry tomatoes are FORKING AMAZING! All I got out of my server that she knows the tomatoes were marinated. Somewhere there were two tiny pieces of fennel that also tasted amazing….The flavor in the fennel was so concentrated that it was like fennel bombs……The tomatoes and fennel were so flavorful and delicious! They made me happy. The fish is prepared reasonably well……It’s a little past medium but is still moist. The black puree on the plate is called charred scallion puree. It doesn’t taste like scallions….It reminds me of balsamic with another taste something like fish sauce.

We also shared the macaroni tre formaggi ($12.) with added fresh black truffles ($35.) that Scott Conant brought in from Italy.

The macaroni is made in house. WOW! This is one of the best macaroni and cheese dishes that I have ever had in a restaurant. It’s sublimely cheesy. The truffles are not the worst or the best and lack moisture and do have some flavor but are not full flavored….These I would have skipped if I knew what they were like today. But that macaroni and cheese is something that is a must to order. Between paying someone to make the pasta and all that real delicious cheese in there I bet that they don’t make any money on this dish. There is so much cheese in it Holy Chezus!

My husband had the campanelle ai gamberi ($29.).

It’s pasta with prawns, sea urchin (that butter of the sea), Calabrian chili, and breadcrumbs. He said that it was very good. He also said that the cherry tomatoes in his dish were exceptionable.

We were waited on by a team of people. Our glasses never ran dry. Plates were cleared quickly and all the glassware, silverware and plates seemed sparking clean.

That was a little taste of The Americano.

www.TheAmericanoRestaurant.com

Everything is subject to change and it often does change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Bahia De Guaymas in Phoenix AZ

Bahia De Guaymas is a Sonoran Mexican Restaurant located in Phoenix Arizona. They offer mostly seafood items but also do offer meats and chicken. The menu is mostly in Spanish. Here English is the second language but the servers are bilingual.

This isn’t a fancy place but parking is easy since they have their own parking lot.

In the front of the restaurant a bar stretches across the room and behind is a dining area filled with traditional tables and booths along one side.

The tables are set with a bucket of many bottled sauces that don’t look clean or safe to use.

Lets take a peek at the menu….

They start us off with chips salsa and a bowl of limes.

I see marlin tacos on the menu. You can’t find marlin tacos everywhere so we share one.

This marlin taco is served on a fresh made grilled slightly puffy shell and has melted white cheese inside with the smoked marlin and is garnished with a little salad.

For my main I had the filete a la diablo.

It’s a nicely grilled mild white fish covered in a blanket of a chipotle-ee tomato-ee sauce. It’s a little spicy…….The rice is seasoned some with maybe a chicken broth and is studded with a few vegetables like peas, carrots and corn. The refried beans are very loose and soupy. We also got tortillas to share. The corn tortillas were hot and were grilled extra nice. The flour tortillas were maybe the thinest flour tortillas that I have ever had anywhere. I don’t know if they made them but they did taste like home made tortillas.

My husbands meal was very similar but was with camaron (shrimp).

That was my trip to Bahia De Guaymas in Phoenix AZ.

This restaurant has an authentic feel to it. The standout dish was the smoked marlin taco.

I haven’t found a website for this restaurant but they are on Facebook

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

A Taste of Squid Ink Sushi in Peoria AZ – Tasty Entrees

Squid Ink Sushi is a Japanese Asian Fusion Restaurant located in North Peoria Arizona. They offer comfortable dining in a sleek modern environment.

They offer a bar up in the front of the restaurant with TVs.

They have a nice long sushi counter.

They also offer patio tables for when the weather is nice.

On the menu is traditional and various non traditional sushi. Squid Ink Sushi offers various appetizers like squid and Nancy (tempura fried squid), Korean sticky ribs, char grilled chicken wings with hot pepper sauce. They offer salads and bowl meals like Squid salad, ginger chicken salad, wagyu beef salad. Some of the entrees they offer are grilled salmon, coconut curry shrimp, a wagyu burger, and pepper crusted filet mignon.

Today we started out with some sushi (a spicy tuna roll, salmon, mackerel, and tuna).

The one thing that is noticeably different was the rice. It was pressed tighter than most places press the rice. That is a good thing. The FORKING Truth is that my introduction to sushi was from the Iron chef himself Masaharu Morimoto when he was the actual working chef at his namesake restaurant in Philadelphia. I didn’t know him personally but ate at his restaurant often enough to get a wave from chef Morimoto when I came in. Getting back to sushi Morimoto’s sushi was the prettiest, smallest and most tight sushi I ever had anywhere. To this day I’ve never had sushi anywhere like Morimoto’s sushi. So the tightness of the rice brought back that memory for me. Today the fish is very similar to other sushi restaurants in the area but the rice is shaped better.

But I am finding out the stand out items to be the entrees.

We split the Japanese Beef Salad made with grilled wagyu steak.

This is a different and really great salad. The beef is tender and flavorful. In the salad are soft greens, red onion, sweet tomatoes, mushrooms, cilantro, wasabi peas, and a sweet and spicy vinaigrette. These are especially good salads.

On a past visit we took out the Thai style chicken fried rice and the Atlantic salmon bowl. These were tasty and good.

But my favorite plate I had was a take out plate when they had Scottish salmon on the menu (not on current menu) On the right side of the photo below.

This salmon was amazing…Like from the best restaurant. So silky fresh and cooked medium like just right with a tasty char. On the left is a beef yakisoba. I didn’t try that one.

GET the Japanese beef salad made with wagyu beef!

Don’t miss the Scottish salmon when they have it.

Well that was a little taste of Squid Ink Sushi in Peoria AZ.

www.SquidInkSushi.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Little Miss BBQ Sunnyslope Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

Little Miss BBQ is a casual central Texas style bbq restaurant with two locations in Phoenix Arizona. The original location is smaller and is located near the Phoenix Airport. It’s Little Miss BBQ University on University Drive. The 2nd location is in North Phoenix in the Sunnyslope area. The Sunnyslope location offers more seating, expanded hours, limited alcohol, and a few more menu items.

First you wait in line. Usually you start by waiting on the porch and get a whiff of BBQ from all the smokers going. Then you look at menus and decide on what you are having today.

The line moves slow soon you will be inside.

Here is a closer look at the front where you order.

You pass some rubs, sauces, canned alcohol, and some other stuff.

Now it’s your turn. Time to decide on what you want.

Then they slice up the meat for you. You get your sides. You pay and seat yourself.

You can seat yourself on the patio.

Or inside.

Today we shared a two meat plate of 1/2 lean and 1/2 fatty brisket (They use the highest quality prime here), turkey with slaw and potato salad. On the upper left corner in the below picture is the pork belly. My husband said his favorite today was the pork belly. …The pork belly was even more succulent than the fatty brisket.

Sometimes the fatty brisket is too succulent for me. But I know that is how most people prefer it.

My husband also tried a burrito.

He got it with the red mole sauce. He liked it for $10. but is a bigger fan of the meat plates.

Once I came on a Thursday and got the Thursday pastrami special…(This was excellent).

The above plate is from a prior visit….They did differ some in taste (turkey and the brisket) but it’s all very good…No complaints.

This plate has the jalapeño cheesy grits, meaty beans, fatty brisket, pulled pork, and sausage.

Little Miss BBQ is Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.LittleMissBBQ.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

Chino Bandido Phoenix AZ – Around 90,000 Combinations of Food for around $10.00 or Less – Worth a Fork!

Chino Bandido is a casual one of a kind unique restaurant located in North Phoenix Arizona. According to Food Network Chino Bandido is one of the top places to eat in the country. A quote from Guy Fieri of Food Network, “One of the most original on DDD” (TV Show Diners Drive-Ins and Dives) The menu offers food that is sort of American Chinese style, some food is Mexican-ish, and some food is Jerk Style. You can pick your pan of food as a single entree with a side or for only a little over a dollar more get a combo with two sides. Then you have even more choices. You can upgrade and burrito-ize any entree. You can also quesadilla -ize any entree. There are almost endless combinations. (according to Food Network they calculated nearly 90,000 combinations)

Here’s the menu the rest is up to you.

When you come in you fill out your order on a slip of paper on a small desk by this wall near the door you just came threw.

Then you wait in line.

It’s always busy.

When you get closer it looks like this.

The menu is up on the wall and the TV on the right plays Food Network shows with Chino Bandido.

You almost don’t see the mascot unless you look for him.

He’s in a corner of the main dining area.

After you order and pay. You get your beverage and seat yourself. When your meal is ready someone will run out of the kitchen calling your name with your tray of food and run it to you.

I got my usual Chile Relleno with emerald chicken with white rice and black beans and my husband got the carnitas quesadilla with hengrenade chicken, jerk rice and black beans.

It’s a lot of food. For me this is two meals but my husband eats his whole pan. We share one cookie for dessert. The Chile Relleno is very large and it’s packed with lots of cheese. The coating is a lot of crushed saltine crackers. I always like the emerald chicken. It’s white meat chicken that is always tender and moist and it’s topped with fresh ginger and scallions. I think it goes with the white rice and black beans.

The snickerdoodle is always a perfect sweet ending.

Hey I got two tasty meals that are better than fast food anywhere and are also cheaper than fast food.

I have to say-

Chino Bandido is Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.ChinoBandido.com

Everything is subject to change. (I bet the prices will have to go up a little sometime) Also a dog friendly patio is posted on the door but on the day of my visit they didn’t have patio tables yet.

The Forking Truth

Pizzeria Bianco Phoenix AZ – Worth a Fork!

Pizzeria Bianco is a nationally known pizzeria with two locations in Phoenix Arizona. Many celebrities, Food Network TV, magazines, and food critics give Pizzeria Bianco much positive recognition. The chef and owner is James Beard Award Wining chef Chris Bianco. The menu is limited but is all very high quality. They offer a few small plates, sandwiches, salads, and six pizzas. Part of what is special is the wood fired fermented dough made from locally grown heirloom grains. The mozzarella is house made. The canned tomatoes are California grown Italian style grown by Bianco. The produce is fresh plucked local and is sometimes actually plucked by Chris Bianco.

Inside is small, industrial looking, and loud.

If you can’t find a table inside there are tables outside and a few seats at the bar.

Today we went for pizzas.

I got the rosa pizza.

It looks much different than my last pizza from here. I haven’t been here in years…..mostly because I used to wait two hours to be seated. By the time I got seated I think we were usually on a second bottle of wine. Then when we finally got a pizza we were starving and my pizza from this location was charred so much that it tasted burnt to me and was extra light with toppings. For a few years after that I would get Bianco Pizzas from Pane Bianco (a sister restaurant) because they didn’t char the pizzas as much and went slightly heavier on the toppings……But again this pizza is very different from what I remember from this location. (It’s more like the Pane Bianco pizzas that I enjoyed)

This pizza has a crunch, a chewiness and crispness like no other. The outer crust is almost like a shattering crisp cracker. This crust does have a different taste to it that isn’t like flour. It is unique and is not like any other pizza out there…….

My pizza today has a delicious layer of parmigiano reggiano cheese.

Each bite does taste different. Some of the local Arizona pistachios have a nice rich fresh pistachio flavor and other pistachios are chewy. The red onion goes well with these flavors. My favorite bites are the ones with rosemary that brighten and freshen everything. Some pieces don’t have rosemary. I confess that I wish that this pizza came with slightly more rosemary. But it is great the way it is…that is just my taste.

My husband had the Sonny boy today.

This pizza was made with Bianco tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, salami, and gaeta olives.

It was nice to get seated soon after we arrived.

These pizzas were much better than what I remember from many years ago. These pizzas are also unique with a lot of work that goes into them and these pizzas don’t taste like any other.

Pizzeria Bianco is –

Worth a Fork!

Worth A Fork!

www.PizzeriaBianco.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

The most popular restaurant in Peoria AZ might be Mercer’s Restaurant – They must be doing something right

Mercer’s Restaurant is located in Peoria Arizona. They are a family owned and operated restaurant since 1987. They serve comfort foods at reasonable prices and are open seven days a week from 6am – 8:30pm. They serve breakfast, lunch, and dinner and also offer daily specials.

Every table is full and people keep coming. Many people are here for take out too!

Mercer’s Restaurant is on the end of a mostly deserted mall.

The menu reads that salmon is a favorite here so I should get it?

So I ordered it.

Dinners come with salad or soup.

The above salad is what you get with dinners.

The baked potato is light and fluffy and I like the soft butter that goes with it. I also think that the tartar sauce is unusually good……The salmon taste similar to the frozen salmon from my local Safeway. The texture of the fish has a lack of succulence. It also contains that fishy taste……………………The carrots are not tasty to me. I can’t identify what is on them.

My husband got the chicken fried steak with potato salad. He said, “It’s ok but not the best.”

I tried the potato salad. It’s a little too creamy for me but does have good flavorings to it.

Why critique this?

Some people judge restaurants by the amount of business that they have.

Apparently Mercer’s is doing something right.

www.MercersRestaurant.com

Everything is subject to change.

The Forking Truth

My Trip To H Mart Korean American Supermarket in Mesa AZ

H Mart is the largest Korean/American Supermarket Chain in America. They have around 85 locations nationwide and also have a few locations in Canada and London. We took a trip to our closest H Mart in Mesa Arizona and these are only a few of things we came across.

Interesting melons

fresh durian fruit

red skinned passion fruit

jujube crunch

fresh wood ear mushrooms and lots of other interesting mushrooms

fresh lily bulb

ginseng

The largest scallions

wagyu beef

yellow chives

garlic stems

green radish

salted egg salmon skin

wasabi pea crackers

live fish …actually the fish section was very large and didn’t smell either. They also offered a lot of frozen fish too..

dried fish

wafu dressing

After we shopping we decided to have lunch in the Market Eatery also known as the H Mart Food Court.

Here is Paris Baguette. Lots of baked goods.

Food Garden

Sogongoong Tofu & BBQ – This was my first choice but they were out of the mackerel I wanted to try.

Jeong’s Noodle

Meisen Katsu – breaded cutlet meals

Korean Fried Chicken

Da Pan …This one seemed interesting to me. I thought I’d like the spicy chicken topaki and my husband thought he’d like the bulgogi Risotto. They also have some weird sounding dishes like Dorito Mac and Cheese here.

This is pretty weird…..It looks like a pizza but it is without crust. I didn’t know that they would sprinkle cheese on it. It’s made of chicken, chewy rice cakes, fish cakes, cabbage, carrots in a sweet but medium spicy sauce….The sauce taste something like that sweet sauce that goes on cabbage rolls. This is weird to me…….It’s a lot of sweet sauce….It came radish kimchi with a soup that frightened me….because I thought looked like urine so I didn’t even try it. Good thing this chicken dish was a big portion because me and my husband ate this because the other dish we both couldn’t stomach.

We thought we would be getting something like this because it is the picture of the dish from the business posted as menu on www.Yelp.com It looks good doesn’t it? I also remember our last food critic from our local newspaper wrote about how great this dish was…..I guess Da Pan made him this version.

www.Yelp.com menu

But we got this instead.

I tell The FORKING Truth so I have to say that……..It’s really grosser than it looks. Honest to GOD!>>>It’s like they took a brick of cream cheese and put the bulgogi in a blender with the cream cheese with not much else and mixed it with rice.

It’s like vomit on a skillet.

I did better with some of the vegetables that I picked up at H Mart.

Endives fried in chicken fat with lime, peanuts, basil, mint, yellow chives

Bok Choy Garlic Stems & Chestnuts in Banchan Sauce

That was my trip to H Mart in Mesa AZ

www.HMart.com

The Forking Truth