I’m thrilled that lighting struck again and another new independently owned restaurant has opened near to Arrowhead in Peoria. A new Vietnamese Restaurant named Pho For Days recently opened in P83 Entertainment District near to the Peoria Sports Center. Pho For Days is a nicely furnished Vietnamese Restaurant with a bar and a wine list and offers indoor and outdoor seating.

I decide to order the Broken Rice Plate with Lemongrass Chicken.

My plate came with tender flavorful white meat chicken that was mixed with sautéed scallions, bell peppers, onions and hot spicy peppers. They were generous with grassy cilantro. The plate also contain crisp vegetables and fresh hot rice. They brought a smokey spicy chili oil and a pork/chicken soup. The Chicken was delicious but the flavors differed from other similar plates I tried elsewhere. Good but very different.

My husband not always but most times orders the Soup called Hot and Spicy. (Bun Bo Hue)

The soup was described as containing beef, well done pork and pork roll.

Look closer and see what I see.

The Blocks in the soup are congealed pork blood.

None of the other Vietnamese Restaurants we’ve been to put congealed pork blood in the Hot and Spicy. I do watch Anthony Bourdain on his food travels and I know congealed pork blood is one of the things he looks most forward to eat. Many people do enjoy congealed pork blood but neither of us find it appetizing at this time.

The waiter was very understanding with my husband and brought him a rare beef and brisket soup that he would enjoy more.

No problems with the rare beef and brisket pho.

Your Vietnamese favorites might have a different spin here!

Pho For Days located next to the Peoria Sports Center.

The website is under construction at this time www.PhoForDays.com

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

 

Rocket Burger isn’t a fancy place. This is the kind of place that you visit if you live nearby for the tasty low priced better and more DELICIOUS than fast food kind of place. This is almost fast food but different…… almost fast …you wait a few minutes…  with quality and value pricing. Fast Food but ELEVATED. The food is never from frozen and is made fresh to order……. Breaded things are hand breaded to order.  Another thing that they do different are the delicious house made sauces that make simple food taste special. I wouldn’t say they offer the absolute best burgers in Metro Phoenix but the burgers are certainly scrumptious and tasty and maybe the most delicious out there for the price point.

Most likely you will order one of the many varieties of burgers they offer. You will get fresh hand patted angus burgers that are thin. You have your choice of single, double or rocket sized. Just  order at the counter and try a Sandwich, a Burger, Hot Dog, some sides and a SODA. Then you seat yourself and look at the wall of sodas till your food arrives.

Did I tell you they offer sodas?

They offer Craft Sodas on tap –  Snozzberry, Shirley Temple, Root-beer, Ginger-Beer, Cola and Black Cherry.

Then there is the great wall of maybe a thousand sodas. Maybe every Root Beer made in America is there ?????????   The flavors are endless. I always see something I never have seen  before. Once you finely decide on your soda you can have it transformed into a float if your appetite can handle it.

Between the two of us we haven’t tried everything Rocket Burger offers yet but we have made a dent in the menu.

Double Bacon Burger with Cheese

New York Burger with Pastrami, thin cut fresh made coleslaw and that tasty Rocket Sauce.

Corn Meal Crusted Onion Rings

You can order a Chicken Salad…..but I wouldn’t say it’s a light healthy meal here….

Fried Zucchini

Double Cheese Burger with a Fried Green Chili

At the moment this is my favorite Sandwich at Rocket Burger.

The Pescado de Cohete. It a hand cornmeal crusted fish (not sure but taste like swai to me) topped with spicy Mexican Slaw and Pico de gallo. The bun is big, really fresh tasting and buttery. I normally don’t like swai…but with that delicious slaw they make….. even an old shoe would taste good. The slaw is sort of fruity and spicy. It just taste great all together.

You just might have a blast at Rocket Burger!

It’s the kind of place where you eat like a local. It’s the place we know about and go to.

www.RocketBurgers.com

As you know..everything is subject to change and your experience may…or may NOT differ.

 

We now have maybe the only independently owned Brazilian Steakhouse in Arizona and it recently opened at P83 in Peoria AZ across from the Peoria Sports Center. This is a big deal because we have very few independently owned restaurants in this area and also very few fine restaurants of any kind in this area. The dining room is formal and is set with tablecloths and wineglasses.

They also offer a full bar and a good sized wine list.

They start everyone off with Brazilian Cheese Bread.

Then you make your trip to the Salad Bar.

They offer many vegetable salads, hearts of palm, chicken salad, cheese salad, potato salad, lunch meat, rice, black beans with pork and several other items.

Everything I tried was very fresh….but also mostly very mild tasting.

I took a peek into the kitchen….looks like the meats are cooked here.

Back at the table they bring us tasty caramelized bananas and garlic mashed potatoes.

After our salads we turn our red cards on our table on the other side to green to alert the Gauchos (meat servers) that we are ready.

All kinds of meat on screwers comes our way.

The meats offered to us were-

Chicken Legs

Chicken wrapped in bacon

Rib Eye

Bottom Sirloin

Filet

Filet Wrapped in Bacon

Parmesan Pork

Pork Sausage

Pork Ribs

Lamp Chops

Leg of Lamb

Garlic Beef

and

The Signature Picanha Top Sirloin pictured below

We both thought the Signature Picanha Top Sirloin was by FAR the best of what we tried. It was tender, juicy and delicious!

We didn’t try every meat that was offered but we did find a few that were short of perfect.

This restaurant at the time of this review is newly opened and may still be working things out.

www.SerraGauchaUSA.com

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

 

 

You might not be aware that there was an Arizona Breakfast Weekend this past Thursday 27th-Sunday the 30th 2017. It didn’t seem to get as much hype as Arizona Restaurant Week. This was the third annual breakfast weekend.  Over 20 participating restaurants came up with $7.00, $10.00, $15.00 menu items and some included alcoholic beverages or beverage specials.

I decided to try the Soul Cafe in North Scottsdale. They offered several breakfast choices for $10.00 a plate. The restaurant is cute and stylish with an energetic atmosphere. Colorful artwork graces the walls and the restaurant has an unusual look of lots of clean drapery….(very unusual as drapery in a restaurant tends to get very dirty) ((drapery also isn’t popular in Arizona …….it’s more an East Coast Thing))

I soon received my Salmon over Corn Cakes with Spicy Jalapeño Cheese Sauce and Asparagus.

The eggs were poached nice and I liked that the corn cakes are light and fluffy and seemed grease free. They used a lot of black pepper on the asparagus and I kept coughing from all the pepper. However they did poach the eggs nice. The sauce is smooth and creamy. Salmon is a little chalky. Not as flavorful as I expected but OK.

My husband tried the Tres Locos.

Three corn tortilla cups. One stuffed with seasoned beef, another with pork and yet another with spicy beans over scrambled eggs. The plate also contained a very generous amount of red, white, blue and sweet potatoes. I was told the favorite tortilla cup was the beans because they had the most flavor and were a little spicy.

Our server was speedy and efficient.

www.SoulCafeAZ.com

That is what I tried 2017 Arizona Breakfast Weekend.

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or May not differ.

 

Bobby Q’s is unlike any restaurant I’ve been to in Metro Phoenix. It has old fashioned charm and character. The building is accented with mature plantings and real old trees that you seldom see in Phoenix. This place looks like it’s always been here. It’s like stepping back in time…..or maybe being transported to another place. Your asking well what do they serve? They serve barbecue.

Here’s my latest trip to Bobby Q’s.

We hopped on the highway and at around 70MPH (or more or less…I got these photos. I see the sign…getting excited!

Now I see the other side of the building.

Now we are pulling in.

You see this on the side of the building.

They are full early in the evening and we get sat at a table in the bar. (***There is a man at the bar with a sweater????? WTFork is a FORKING 118 degrees F (FORK) today! WTFORK needs a FORKING Sweater?)

I turn around and snap a photo of the dining room.

The room is much larger than my photo shows and there are many antiques all around. Vintage signs, fans, fixtures and all kinds of stuff.

They start us off with tasty slightly sweet Johnny Cakes with soft creamy butter.

I’ve been here a bunch of times so I know what most of the food usually taste like. They are pretty famous for the tender falling apart brisket but I am not carnivore enough to appreciate the succulence….and I do know that is the texture that BBQ Brisket is suppose to have but It’s too fatty for me but a JOY to most people. I actually enjoy the super succulent buttery salmon here the most.

The salmon is brushed with something a little sweet and has these delicious caramelized grill marks. The fish is cooked all the way but is so moist and succulent. You can only achieve these results from a slow cook or water bath. It’s simple but it doesn’t really need anything when the fish is prepared this well. I had many choices of sides but went simple all the way with grilled fresh seasonal vegetables and a plain baked potato. The vegetables are nothing fancy and are just fresh grilled. The baked potato has a salted skin and is big and fluffy and soaks up the melted butter like a sponge. You might not be able to tell by my photo but this is a very large portion of food….I eat half the salmon and half the potato and I take home a meal for latter. This plate might not be a win over with professional food critics but I admit I am humble and can enjoy a good plain piece of salmon and a plain fluffy baked potato. I don’t always mention pricing but a similar tasting salmon at the seafood restaurant sort of  across the highway cost nearly twice as much.

My husband went for the Two Meat Plate.

Here’s Pulled Pork, Hot Links, Macaroni and Cheese and Meaty Baked Beans. All the meat was tender and it was abundant! I didn’t try the macaroni and cheese today but in the past it tasted like Velveta to me….My husband was a happy camper with this plate and that’s all that matters.

I never ordered dessert here before so I thought we might try the apple cobbler as it seemed like a safe choice.

It’s just like a relative or neighbor made the dessert…………and it’s topped with economy tasting ice cream.

It’s best to filler-up on the BBQ and Sides here!

We get the bill and they give us complimentary Thank “Q” Doughnuts.

The doughnuts are hot and tasty….

Bobby Q’s is Worth a Fork for the tender tasty BBQ!

www.BobbyQ.net

EVERY FORKING THING is subject to change and your experience may or may NOT differ!

 

 

Pars Persian Cuisine offers a wide variety of Persian Foods. This is a full service restaurant with easy close parking. The atmosphere is sort of formal but you can come as you are. Nothing we tried was spicy. Nothing was flavored weird. The food was just flavorful and good. I think Persian Food would appeal to most people.

They start you out with hot pita bread, creamy butter and sweet sliced onions.

It was very hard to decide on what to try because they offer so many interesting sounding dishes I never seen at other Persian Restaurants I’ve been to.

One of the plates we shared was Zereshk Polo with Chicken.

We received two nice meaty chicken legs that were falling off the bone tender. The meat was flavorful and delicious. It was balanced and no particular flavor stood out. The legs have been slow cooked with apple, carrots, garlic, onions and seasonings. The plate also came with a very generous portion of fluffy basmati rice that was mixed with tart barberries, almonds and saffron. The tart barberries make the rice sort of sparkle and made the flavors more interesting.

The other dish we shared was a Stew called Fessenjan and a special upgraded rice called Shirin Polo.

The Shirin Polo is a specialty Basmati Rice dish. It does run sweet because it’s made with candied orange peels, carrots, almonds, pistachios, a sweet syrup and saffron. It’s a tasty rice…I think it would be fit in on most American dinner tables for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Behind the rice is the Fessenjan. Here Fessenjen is made from fried walnuts, pomegranate sauce with chicken that’s slow cooked in the sweet and sour fruity sauce. The plate doesn’t look pretty but the chicken is tender and tasty.

We got some of the food boxed up so we could try the Saffron Pistachio Ice Cream.

The ice cream is wonderfully creamy and was served in a chilled glass. It’s not too strong in flavor and is delicious!

Our server was really welcoming, helpful and efficient.

I’d say Pars Persian Cuisine is Worth a Fork!

www.ParsPersianCuisine.com

Everything is subject to change and your experience may or may not differ!

 

Tacos Jalisco is located in South Scottsdale and serves mostly Jalisco Style Mexican Food. This is not a fancy place. I can tell you the food is legit and you don’t have to “peso much” here. (excuse the bad pun) But honestly speaking your dollar truly stretches very far here and the food is good..The two rarely happen together.

This is what it looks like when you walk in.

It’s busy and it’s hard to take pictures.

Here’s the dining room.

Tacos are only $1.51 EACH and are made with in-house made tortillas and slow roasted meat. I thought for $1.51 how big can they be? I thought they would be bite size with very little meat but boy was I wrong.

Just like in Mexico they double shell the tacos and they are generously packed with seasoned meat, cilantro, sauce and onions. They also gave us chips and we picked up some house made condiments from the salsa bar.

The tacos were both moist and flavorful. I still can’t get over the $1.51 price for each taco. It seems a BOATLOAD of blue-eyed taco restaurants have mushroomed all over metro Phoenix and not all but many of them sell much smaller lesser filled not as tasty tacos for around $5.00 each!

Since we didn’t imagine getting so much food we also decided to share a Chile Relleno Plate ($7.78)

Not one but TWO stuffed mild but tasty battered poblano peppers stuffed with mild milky gooey Mexican Cheese. The hefty platter also came with house made creamy refried beans, flavorful rice, salad, creamy avocado sauce, chips and house made tortillas. These Chile Rellenos were a lot tastier than some others I’ve tried at other places that cost much more! Tastier real roasted poblano instead of a canned chili like some places do and the real cheese not a pre-shredded blend that doesn’t taste as good.

Much Cheaper and much better than not all but a lot of places!

No website you just have to visit them at 3060 N 68th St Scottsdale AZ open 7 days a week starting early at 8am and open not all but some holidays.

 

Tacos Jalisco is Worth a Fork!

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