Tag Archives: #PhxFood

Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana in Scottsdale AZ – Newly Opened

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Vic and Ola’s Tavola Italiana is a small restaurant in North Scottsdale (DC Ranch) that serves Italian Style Food.

Pictured above are most of the indoor tables.

Reservations are necessary for a table indoors or on the patio.

If seating is available at the small bar you can sit there without a reservation.

We arrived very early and they were already very busy. We didn’t have a reservation so we sat at the bar on the indoor side because they were the only available seats to us. It’s a loud atmosphere. Not from music but everyone’s chatter.

Fleming’s Steakhouse is next door.

We started out by sharing the Happy Hour Roman Style Artichoke (Carciofi Ripieni ($8.50).

The all edible artichoke was dressed with bread crumbs, pecorino cheese, garlic, raisins and pine nuts. It was the tastiest artichoke that I had in recent memory.

We also shared the cacio e pepe (spaghetti, black pepper and pecorino) ($16.00) (it was accidentally served with the dinners)

The pasta was prepared to perfection. The dominate flavor was butter….I thought the pepper and cheese should be kicked up a notch for balance….

For my main I had the branzino ($28.00).

It was listed under large plates and yes it truly is a large plate and brought half home. The pan seared branzino was moist and flaky. On the side was tasty farro, butternut squash, red pepper, pumpkin seeds, figs and fine shreds of bitter radicchio. This plate was for the most part very good. It did arrive almost cold but the pasta and my husbands meal arrived piping hot so I didn’t complain. ( I don’t send things back….especially if it’s not an open kitchen….that sort of thing gets some cooks very upset and I’ve seen too many of them lose it. I also I didn’t want my husband’s meal to sit and get cold.)

My husbands main was the veal osso bucco ($36.00).

It wasn’t tough….but it wasn’t the most tender or most flavorful osso bocco. Overall it was OK. The spinach on the side was very good. The risotto was slightly under done and not very creamy or developed with flavors. But I do note that you almost will never get a great risotto out anywhere. I think the only great risotto I’ve ever had out was from Binkley’s.

The Roman Artichoke was Great! The Branzino was very good but the kitchen timing was off.

At the time of this posting (November 2019) Vic and Ola’s is a newly opened restaurant and may or may not be still working things out.

www.VicandOlas.com

The Forking Truth

Fe La Cubana Glendale AZ – Limited Selection but FORKING DELICIOUS! – Worth a Fork!

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Fe La Cubana is a small hole-in-the-wall casual Cuban Cafeteria style restaurant located in a rougher area of Glendale. The GPS gets a little screwy here and brings you to the newer side of the shopping center….Fe La Cubana is located behind where the GPS sends you.

I note that this is NOT A FANCY PLACE…and the Latin Music is a little loud. Remember that you are only here to try the food.

This is basically the whole dining room.

You step in and you will see a menu on the wall but I’m not certain if the menu is used.

There is also a pizza menu on the wall but I don’t think they make pizzas here?

The owner wearing a Fe La Cubana Shirt smiles but doesn’t speak English. A youthful looking girl that might be his daughter speaks some English.

We see her here behind the buffet pans and ask what they are serving today.

There are about seven different offerings today three were beef and four were pork. She said that you could have what you pick with either white rice or black beans.

I went with Ropa Vieja with rice.

It’s not much to look at but it taste FORKING GREAT! OMG! It’s delicious! It’s so tender and so flavorful. It’s juicy tender tasty perfection! WOW what a great surprise.

My husband also gets Ropa Vieja but adds on an oxtail and a pota je de garbanzo (pork chick pea soup).

Oxtails are too succulent for me but I did try the sauce from the oxtail. WOW! a BOMBSHELL of flavors with some acidity, brininess and a small amount of gentle heat. It’s incredibly developed with flavors. IT FORKING SCRUMPTIOUS! Crazy CRAZY crazy good!

I heard that the soup is just as great!

Limited selection but – WOW really great food.

When you are ready to pay you wait by the register. We didn’t get a receipt so I don’t know what the individual pricing was but the total for 2 ropa viejas, 1 oxtail, 1 soup and a bottled water came to a total of $32.00.

Parking is easy because there is a lot but you might not be coming from far because there isn’t a restroom.

I haven’t found a website for Fe La Cubana but they are on Facebook.

Fe La Cubana is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

REALLY FORKING DELICIOUS FOOD!

The Forking Truth

azcentral Wine + Food experience November 3rd 2019

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The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held November 2nd and November 3rd in 2019. This event was held in Salt River Stadium Complex in Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona. General Admission pre-sale tickets ran around $50.00 and VIP admission ran around $120.00. Date of event tickets ran $65.00 and $140.00. VIP were entitled to one hour early admission and higher end wines. The headlining demo was by Antoni Porowski (food and wine expert of the reboot Queer Eye TV Show). This attracted a very large crowd that was already there and there was no way I could get in to see that one.

Today we made it a little early and got rounded up in a rope tied area like cattle.

I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. Some of the same food venders were here a second day and served the same food so most of those I skipped.

Nothing Bundt Cakes gave out samples while we were waiting.

First stop was Bella Gusto Urban Pizzeria.

They made TASTY Wild Mushroom Arancini and Salted Caramel Panacottas.

One of the tastiest bites of the day came from Chino bandido.

It was a puffed wheat crisp cracker stuffed with jerk chicken with slightly sweet sauce and a more savory spicy sauce. It really was tasty! They also offered snickerdoodle cookies.

Sweet Republic offered a few desserts but the one I took was this toasted fig/hojicha ice cream cake cone with chocolate shell. Whatever it was it really did taste great!

My picture from Frashers Steakhouse/Mrs Chicken came out blurry but they were serving pulled pork and butter cake.

Next we went on the Bourbon Steak.

They served some sort of raw beef plate and Bourbon Mud Pies.

Frites Street offered some tasty fries.

Another one of the best bites was the tasty Chula Seafood Swordfish Katsu Slider from Chula Seafood.

A very detailed pork stew came from Talavera at the Four Seasons Resort.

Proof at the four seasons made DELICIOUS bourbon pecan pies!

Zak’s offered Guatemalan and Belize Chocolates.

Tacoa Tijuana offered beef and pork tacos.

Blue Clover Distillery offered spirits, chips and salsa.

Match offered buffalo cauliflower and chicken bites.

Detailed corn fritter from Che Ah Chi

Quiessence offered a number of things above is the Chula swordfish ceviche. Below is a fancy toast with house churned butter, radish and bacon.

Also from Quiessence was some sort of detailed pana cotta.

Carnitas and guacamole from Los Sombreros

Famous 48 brought their mac-n-cheese topped with pulled pork.

Bourbon and Bones served little steaks on duck fat corn cakes.

Barillia Pasta was here yesterday and today but today we stopped there.

My husband tried some pasta and I tried a little ricotta tart.

Then I waited in line for a really cool towel keepsake.

Pasta It’s FORKING Delicious! LOL! You know THAT belongs in my kitchen!

Thank you Barilla Pasta! You made my day!

That was most of azcentral Wine + Food experience November 3rd 2019.

Every year does differ and the food and wine vendors always differ some from what was printed in our local newspaper.

www.wineandfood.azcentral.com

The Forking Truth

azcentral Wine + Food experience Nov 2nd 2019

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The azcentral Wine + Food experience was held at Salt River Fields in Pima – Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale Arizona November 2nd and 3rd 2019. Pre-sale general admission was around $50.00 and pre-sale VIP was around $120.00. (after pre-sale $65.00 and VIP $140.00) Your ticket got you bottomless tastings of food, wine, liquor, chef demonstrations and more. VIPs got one hour early entry, the AJ’s fine foods tent and top wines. The headliner guest was chef Alex Guarnaschelli. I caught the end when she was taking questions from the audience.

Our own chef Christopher Collins did a demo too.

Here is some of what I came across. I didn’t try everything but I tried a lot. My husband can eat more than me so he nearly tried everything.

The first tent I got to was made not entirely but was mostly chef Christopher Collins Restaurants.

From chef Christopher Collins restaurant The Macintosh was short ribs over cheesy grits.

Chef Collins – Wally’s American Gastro Pub a very tasty fried chicken sandwich that was cooked to perfection with a really perfect herbed slaw and a sweet mustard sauce.

Chef Collins – Twisted Grove Restaurant – a shrimp noodle salad.

Chef Collins – The Collins

I didn’t try this one so I forgot what it was but I do remember my husband ate the whole thing so it couldn’t be bad. Latter when we got home my husband did say that this was really good.

Next was chef Collins – The Grassroots Restaurant offering tuna poke with cooked shrimp.

Chef Collins also brought his house made ice cream from his dessert shop Sweet Provisions.

Spinatos was cooking off a variety of their frozen pizzas and mushrooms stuffed with herbed parmesan cream cheese.

Mowry and Cotton offered the most eye catching plates.

Butternut squash salads and monkey bread.

My husbands favorite plate was one of the plates I skipped…..

A plate from Otro Cafe.

They made their own fresh tortillas.

Otro Cafe Taco (above)

Next was the brisket taco from Stonegrill.

The Clever Koi made a SUPER TENDER -melt in the mouth kind of sweet/hot fried chicken bun. This one was really great!

AJ’s offered cheesy pasta, pasta with tomato sauce and some sort of salad

Beckets Table made a very unusual sort of corn cake with lightly smoked chicken cooked in bacon fat…..It was very unique.

Gadzooks offered an open face version of their award winning chicken tacos with cornbread stuffing. You couldn’t pick them up to eat and they were still good but didn’t give the same effect as when you eat them whole.

Timo gave out lamb and butternut squash soup.

Match offered chicken bites and buffalo cauliflower.

Frank and Alberts made mushroom tostadas.

Famous 48 offered pulled pork topped Mac-N-Cheese.

It was all this and MORE!

That was Nov. 2 of the azcentral Wine + Food experience 2019.

www.wineandfood.azcentral.com

The Forking Truth

My Trip to Flint By Baltaire in Phoenix AZ – Lunch – nice but for smaller appetites

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Flint by Baltaire is an upscale wood fired contemporary mediterranean accented restaurant with great atmosphere, a big exhibition kitchen and an all weather indoor patio.

The indoor patio

The lunch menu is broken down into humus, dips and spreads, salads and vegetables, laffa flatbreads, pizzas, large plates and sides.

We started with a wood grilled artichoke ($14.00).

The artichoke was grilled nicely and salted perfect. It came with a delicious grilled lemon half and a little ramekin of tarragon aioli for dipping.

Our server suggested that we shared plates so we split a Flint laffa flatbread ($13) and a big plate of ora king salmon ($28).

You know the song dude looks like a lady? …well…..This flatbread looks more like a wrap.

It’s served with delicious harissa (a middle eastern condiment made of a roasted pepper base, warm spices, a little hot pepper and something like caraway and also a ramekin of tahini sauce. The laffa bread is nicely charred. My half (the bottom has some cabbage, a slice of egg, a red onion slice, some tahini and a shred of pulled chicken. Fresh greens adorn the plate.

The harissa is delicious on this but this really only appetizer sized. This was only two bites with a small shred of chicken. I think my husband’s half might have had more food in it but not much more. Honestly even if I was here by myself and ate the whole thing this still wouldn’t be much food.

Then we share the BIG PLATE of ora king salmon ($28)

We shared nicely cooked salmon with seasoned crisp skin, a grilled half lemon, a dab of almond-olive relish and maybe the best tasting broccolini I ever had. It was cooked to perfection and had a delicious wood cooked taste to it.

The big plate is not so big.

The food was good, service was good, the atmosphere is stunning but lunch seems to be for people with very small appetites.

Lunch was around $55.00 before tax and tip and we left hungry.

www.FlintByBalltaire.com

Every FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

My Trip to The Larry Restaurant in Phoenix AZ

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The Larry is a casual restaurant located past downtown Phoenix in the warehouse district in a warehouse. You order at the counter, pay, grab your name tent and seat yourself. They offer seating on an officially dog friendly patio.

Or you can sit inside in at the bar or someplace else in the open airy warehouse.

The Larry offers breakfast, a variety of sandwiches that include a vegetarian burger, pizzas, salads, sides, soup, cocktails, wine, beer and more.

We seat ourselves and someone runs us napkins and silverware.

My photo doesn’t show how mirror reflective and crystal clean the silverware appears to be……

Soon we are off to share several things.

We start out with what they call the inside outside grilled cheese sandwich with an upgraded side of bang bang broccoli instead of the Larry Fries ($8.00 + $3.50 subject to change)

We start with the fried bang bang broccoli that is topped with bonito flakes and Asian Seasoning and come with sweet chili sauce. The Broccoli is delicious and amazing….It has such a great meat like texture and doesn’t seem too heavy or too oily. It’s just right! It’s so good that it doesn’t need the sauce…really REALLY yummy! I could eat them all day long.

The inside outside grilled cheese is made with double cheddar and fontina cheese. For me this sandwich is too greasy, taste sort of like burnt cheese and lacks a gooey cheese center. Sorry but if I tell The Forking Truth I can’t stomach this one…..But what is not great to me is magnificent to my dogs and they thought it was tail wagging great!

The other sandwich we shared was the KFC Korean Fried chicken sandwich upgraded to hash brown fries instead of Larry Fries ($12.00 + $3.50 subject to change).

The hash brown fries had a really delicious potato flavor to them…….They had a mashed potato texture inside that might have been over mixed because they seemed sort of gluey. The KFC Korean Fried Chicken sandwich is an inspiration and lacks the crisp crackly seasoned crunch and the sweet and spicy flavors that real Korean Fried Chicken has. I liked that the sandwich was served on a house made bread that was the perfect size for the sandwich. There were also pickles that seemed like house made. The sandwich gets an A-OK……Could be a little more tender, juicy and more flavorful. It was A-OK.

That was my trip to The Larry in Phoenix.

www.TheLarryPHX.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Persepshen Restaurant Phoenix AZ- Worth a Fork! – Newly opened Farm to Table

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Persepshen (per’sepSH(e)n) is a farm to table type of restaurant that opened in Phoenix Arizona. They locally source as much as possible, serve organic and do whole animal cooking. Everything is made in-house by scratch. It’s a small restaurant that offers a large menu with lots of variety. The menu is broken down into snacks, small plates, big plates, real big plates, kiddos, sweet treats and just a bite treats. They offer local beers and liquors and also offer wines and Italian sodas.

Near the main dining room it looks like this. (nonstop people walking by)

From my seat it looks like this.

It might be a sort of a chic rustic sort of atmosphere.

The bar.

The kitchen.

The menu was pretty darn massive with a lot of variety for a small restaurant.

We arrive and my husband is starving so he tries a “just a pig stick” with hatch chili while we are deciding ($3.00).

It arrives wrapped up and here it is unwrapped. It’s made in house from the whole animal. I keep hearing….”this is really good!”………..”this is REALLY good!”

Our server was very knowledgeable on the menu and gave many suggestions.

We finally decide and here the plates come.

Our first plate is the melon ($13.00)

It’s a nice light refreshing starter with house made pickled peppers, mint, honey, goat cheese, black peppered cashews, micro greens and of course melon. (this could also be a nice light dessert)

Our next plate is the wood roasted carrots ($9.00)

They arrive in a hot skillet on a slice of tree. The carrots are wood grilled and are tossed in bbq sauce with pickled sweet peppers and are also topped with crispy onions. This plate ran on the sweet side. Maybe too much bbq sauce.

Our main plate was the wood grilled sirloin steak ($22.00).

It was prepared medium-medium/rare. It had a nice sear with a well seasoned exterior and a fresh tasting tender delicious interior.

The steak was covered with lots of young grilled black eyed peas. They had a nice wood grill flavor to them and sort of were similar to green beans. Tostones and chimichuri completed the plate.

The sweet ending was a yuzu laced slice of pound cake embellished with poppy seeds, blueberry jam, creme fraiche and candied basil leaves.

I’d say that Persepshen was Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

I haven’t found a website for Persepshen but they are on Facebook.

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork! It doesn’t matter if you are into Paleo to dine here.

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Sapiens Paleo Kitchen is a small French Style, Paleo, gluten free, B.Y.O.B, restaurant located in Scottsdale Arizona. They offer healthy quality Paleo inspired French Cuisine by the experienced French trained master chef Aurore de Beauduy. Paleo is healthy cuisine designed to choose foods for your best health. Many foods such as grains, most dairy sugar, and more are avoided. This is a SMALL restaurant and the whole dining room is pictured above. Reservations are necessary.

The tables are small and are somewhat spaced close together.

It seems like you get more space when you gaze at the Mountain View threw the front window.

We started out with a paleo bread platter ($10.00…subject to change) and the balsamic braised brussels sprouts ($5.00….subject to change).

We received an assortment of thin toasted breads and chunks of bread, smoky tomato jam, artichoke tapenade. Some bread thins were herbed and some contained fruit. The chunk bread seemed richer and all the dips were tasty. Balsamic braised Brussels sprouts had a nice tender crisp texture. The portions ran larger than from a typical French Restaurant.

For dinner I had the branzino special ($31.95….subject to change).

This branzino is seasoned just so and just melts in my mouth. I don’t recall having a branzino that was prepared or tasted this well before. There is also this delicious parsnip puree here and hericot verts, large capers, frilly lettuce, persimmon and a sweet tomato.

My husband went with the rabbit stew in a dijon mustard sauce with potatoes and onions. ($28.00….subject to change).

He said it was really great and just right for him. He also mentioned that for me it might run a little high on salt..

We decided to share the daily made les chocolates ($10.00…..subject to change).

At first taste you know that you are eating high quality chocolate. I sort of wish I had a big box of this to take home. It’s really Forking Good! Some chocolates have fruit, some have nuts and one is filled with coconut. This is a generously sized plate and we shared it with two other people at our table.

High quality, reasonably priced, masterfully prepared food that is healthy.

Sapiens Paleo Kitchen in Scottsdale AZ is Worth a Fork!

Worth a Fork!

www.SapiensKitchen.com

Every thing is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ.

The Forking Truth

Bamboo Cafe Glendale AZ – Asian Food – Different and Double Sized Portions and Low Prices

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The Bamboo Cafe is located on the boarders of Glendale and is across the street from the Peoria boarder and Phoenix but actually is listed as Glendale on the Upper West Side. This is a small Asian Restaurant that serves a mix of Chinese Take Out Foods and OTHER foods. When you walk in you see a cluttered hostess desk that blocks the view of the restaurant and doubles as a storage and pick up area. A waiter just tells you to seat yourself.

We start with cucumber salad. ($3.00 subject to change)

We received a large portion of seed free cucumbers and carrot slices in a sweetened vinaigrette. The carrots were crisp but the cucumbers might have seen better days.

For my main I got the yellow curry chicken. ($9.50 subject to change)

I receive an extremely large plate of food. I got a lot of bamboo and onion slices, very tender sliced chicken breast, falling apart over cooked potatoes and soggy French fries. For what it’s worth the sauce is actually delicious and even has fresh Thai Basil and fresh lemongrass in it. There is even some heat here…….

My husband had the blackened shrimp and chicken. ($12.50 subject to change)

The chicken and shrimp are tender. There’s lots of nicely prepared green beans, carrots and onions. This one doesn’t taste Asian at all.

Both plates came with an enormous bowl of fresh steamy fluffy rice.

You are not going to drive across town to dine here but if you’re in the neighborhood you might want to give Bamboo Cafe a try.

If you are in the area then you might want to give them a try. Large portions, tender chicken, low prices and a little different.

I haven’t found a website for Bamboo Cafe

I also haven’t found a Facebook page.

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may indeed differ.

The Forking Truth

My Visit to Zinburger Phoenix AZ Sept 2019

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Zinburger is a casual full service burger restaurant chain with many locations across the country. They started off as a Phoenix Based Fox Concept Restaurant but have recently been purchased by the Cheesecake Factory. I went to the Phoenix location at the Biltmore Fashion Plaza.

The specialty of the restaurant are burgers. The standard burger here is fresh ground two times a day and is portioned at six and a half ounces. The standard burgers are made from certified Angus beef or you can upgrade to American Kobe for $5.00 extra. Other choices are all natural chicken and turkey. They also offer salmon, veggie patty, salads, sides, milkshakes, children’s menu and more are available.

Outdoor seating on patios that wrap around the restaurant.

Indoor seating at the bar or standard tables.

This picture in the restaurant sort blocks my burger craving today.

When you look at the beautiful cows it’s easy to feel guilty about eating beef……………for me…maybe not you.

Today I tried the seared salmon salad ($16.50 subject to change)

My salad is made with some fried Brussel sprout, radish, carrot, romaine, other greens and was tossed with lemon mustard vinaigrette. I also got a few sunflower seeds and my salad is missing the avocado. The salmon is seasoned nicely and is juicy. It’s a decent salad as is………….Last time I did have the Bruce Lee Burger and that was memorable and really delicious. It was also some sort of prize winning burger from a burger battle.

Zinburger – Bruce Lee Burger

My husband had the El Diablo Burger again just like last time. ($11.50 subject to change).

The burger is nicely caramelized and was prepared to a perfect medium rare (on one side). This burger came with pepper jack cheese, jalapeños (that taste canned) and caramelized onions. This burger is missing lettuce today and looks like it was made with less cheese than before. Still a very good burger. It’s fresh ground in house, nicely caramelized, prepared reasonably well.

Here’s a El Diablo from a prior visit.

Zinburger’s El Diablo Burger

Zinburger in general prepares good food but the service that I experienced runs very average. Servers should be aware of what they are serving and should check to see that the dish leaves the kitchen correctly.

I do need to note that the management adjusted our bill generously each time an error was reported. (on a prior visit we ordered a salad to share that never arrived)

That was my September 2019 visit to Zinburger.

www.ZinburgerAZ.com

Every THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ.

The Forking Truth