Firenza00's Profile
Amazing thai cuisine at Soi 4 in Scottsdale
I had the braised pork shoulder on our visit. One of my favorite dishes in the Valley. Our only quibble is they charge for rice. Really?
Banh mi around the Biltmore?
Da Vang and Pho Thanh definitely lack ambiance but they make some damn good Vietnamese at a great price.
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Pho Thanh
1702 W Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85015
Lunch spot: 51 and 101
Tea Light Cafe is at Scottsdale and the 101. Their food is a bit more expensive than most Vietnamese, but I do like their banh mi and spring rolls. Viet Kitchen isn't bad. My biggest hits against them are they list banh mi on their menu, but are one of those places that run out of them. Also, their soup spoons are tiny compared to the large pho bowls.
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Viet Kitchen
20235 N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85024
Lunch spot: 51 and 101
Viet Kitchen is at Cave Creek and the 101. That's probably who you are thinking of.
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Viet Kitchen
20235 N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85024
good bbq (PHX)
Joe's is still a great as ever. We were just there Friday night.
There really aren't many scenic roads in Phoenix metro. Mostly highways and 2-3 lane side roads.
Review: Zaytoon Kabob Bistro - North Phoenix
I asked when I was picking up lunch today. They do make their own gyro meat in-house.
Review: Zaytoon Kabob Bistro - North Phoenix
One thing I forgot to mention. Tara accidentally tried to pay with an expired credit card. The owner said no problem, you can pay on your next visit. That caught both of us by surprise. Luckily we had our other cards so it wasn't a problem. I haven't heard a store/restaurant owner say that since I left my small town in Maine.
Review: Zaytoon Kabob Bistro - North Phoenix
The guy we spoke to said everything is made in-house, but I didn't specifically ask about the gyro meat. I think it was darker than the gyro meat I usually have at other places, so it's possible. I'm sure you can call and ask.
Review: Zaytoon Kabob Bistro - North Phoenix
We recently moved to a new house. Some of the first mail we got at our new place was a ValuPak of coupons. One was for a local, fairly new Middle Eastern place called Zaytoon Kabob Bistro. They are located in one of the small strip malls on the southwest corner of Greenway and Tatum. Since we moved farther from the large cluster of restaurants at 7th St/Bell, we've been looking for new places that are closer to home.
Zaytoon is a five month old restaurant. You order at the counter and they bring your food out to you. As the name implies, most of their menu is kabobs, either in wraps or entree form. Ground beef, chicken, shrimp, lamb, veggie, and a few others. They also have daily specials. On my first visit, the friendly and helpful girl at the register explained that the owner is Iranian and the specials are all Iranian specialties. They are unique on the menu and not just discounted regular items. I think that's a great idea.
On my first visit, I got the gyro wrap to go, along with an order of hummus. These are my usual measuring sticks for a new Middle Eastern restaurant. The gyros wrap was huge. A large quantity of gyro meat (beef and lamb), along with veggies and sauce, all wrapped in a fresh, house-made tandoori bread. It was very good. The hummus was excellent. There was an added flavor I couldn't identify, but it was obviously made in-house as well. This was evidenced by a few whole or nearly whole chickpeas that escaped processing. Tara and I ranked this as our second favorite hummus after Z's Greek on Thomas near 40th Street.
On my second take-out visit, I got the chicken kabob entree (marinated boneless chicken, breast or thigh), which came with basmati rice and 1/2 a piece of tandoori bread. The chicken was also very good, with a nice marinated flavor. It came with a massive side of rice, easily enough for two or three people. The rice was OK. It was basic basmati rice, nothing special. For that, you head to Eden's Grill just down Tatum at Thunderbird. Their rice is amazing, but a different review.
Tonight, Tara didn't feel like cooking and suggested we go to Zaytoon, as she hadn't tried it yet outside of the hummus. Surprisingly, they were nearly packed on a Wednesday night. They have around 15 tables and most were taken. A huge group was ordering at the register when we arrived, but the owner let his son deal with them and took our order at the other end of the counter. He was incredibly friendly and helpful. Tara got the ground beef kabobs (ground beef mixed with onions and Zaytoon seasonings). I got the daily special: Eggplant Stew (A stew of beef, yellow split peas, and eggplant in a saffron tomato sauce, served with steamed basmati rice.
We also got a hummus appetizer with two extra pieces of tandoori bread. The owner even asked the kitchen to do our order in front of the large group so we wouldn't have to wait for twelve dishes to be done before ours.
The hummus arrived before I even made my way to the table after getting my drink. I let the extremely hot bread cool before dug in, but Tara didn't way as she has a higher pain threshold. The hummus was still as good as we remembered. It was a very large portion and we found we couldn't stop eating it. As we did, we noticed the large group started to get their meals. That was fine, as they were there before us and we had a ton of hummus to keep us very happy.
After about half of the large group had their meals, our came out. Immediately after we got them, the owner came out and apologized for our meals taking longer than normal. This caught us by surprise as it didn't seem to take long at all. We assured him that we didn't even notice and were just finishing the hummus in any case. Sometimes you can't beat the service at a Mom and Pop place.
Tara's ground beef kabobs were excellent. She even went so far as to say there were better than the ones she used to get when we frequented Shish Kabab House in Glendale. High praise indeed.
My stew was very good, although I'm not sure I'd get it again. The saffron tomato sauce had a very interesting flavor, and I'm sure people love it, but it was right on the border of my tastes. I didn't DISlike it, but I'm not sure it's something I'd order again. What I did love is that it DID have a distinct flavor and didn't seem to be too toned-down for the general public.
All the plates and utensils are plastic and the interior is very clean if not too special. All of the staff has been very friendly on all my visits and the owner even more so tonight. The best part is that the most expensive items on the menu (the lamb and the shrimp entrees) top out at $9.99. The generous portion of hummus was only $3.75. My daily special was only $7.99. It's a great alternative to Chili's or other chains down at the Cactus and Tatum area. Judging by the large mid-week crowd and owner greeting many patrons like regulars, they have quite a following already
Zaytoon is located at 4757 E Greenway Rd, Phoenix, AZ.
http://www.zaytoonkabob.com/index.html
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Zaytoon Kabob Bistro
4757 E Greenway Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85032
Looking for Arabic Loose Leaf Tea (Rose - not rosehip flavored)
There's also a place called Teavana Tea Store in the Biltmore Fashion Park at Camelback and 25th Street.
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Biltmore Fashion Park
2502 E Camelback Rd # 216, Phoenix, AZ
Moon Valley restaurants that are chow worthy?
Viet Kitchen is at Cave Creek and the 101. Food's good but a bit more than your usual Vietnamese. My biggest peeves are TINY soups spoons for the pho and intermittent availability of the banh mi at lunch. Always on the menu, but sometimes they are out of bread.
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Viet Kitchen
20235 N Cave Creek Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85024
Moon Valley restaurants that are chow worthy?
One of our favorites ALMOST in that area is Eden's Grill at Thunderbird and Tatum. Portions are huge and they serve some amazing Meditteranean food. Their rice is some the best around with almonds and raisins mixed in (although I skip the raisins). Seth Chadwick reviewed them on his site a few years back and from our most recent visit, it's still an accurate review.
http://feastinginphoenix.com/?p=292
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Eden's Grill
13843 N Tatum Blvd Ste 29, Phoenix, AZ 85032
Richardsons?
Richardson's full menu is available at Dick's Hideaway (in the same building as the original Richardson's, but on the 16th St. side) and Rokerij, his other restaurant. The food is as good as Richardson's, so even if the rebuild isn't done by your visit, you can still enjoy the food. Especially the amazing carne adovada.
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Dick's Hideaway
6008 N 16th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Rokerij
6335 N. 16th St., Phoenix, AZ 85016
Queen Creek Olive Mill
Bring a cooler so while you are in the area, you can head over to The Pork Shop and stock up on some great bacon. Some of the best in the Valley.
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The Pork Shop
3359 E Combs Rd, Queen Creek, AZ 85242
Chandler / Vietnamese -- Hot Spots
I think I went to Tu Do once. I never went back, so it probably wasn't as good as Davang, one of my favorite Vietnamese places in town. Maxim is good (I love their fried spring rolls), but they don't have banh mi. Pho Thanh is pretty good as well. I've only been once a week or so ago, but it got a great review in the New Times this week.
BBQ in PHX? I'm from Texas
Joe's Real BBQ in Gilbert is my favorite in the area. I can't remember how it compares to the places I went to when I lived in Dallas, but it's got some really good meat and their pit beans are amazing.
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Joe's Real Barbecue
301 N Gilbert Rd, Gilbert, AZ 85234
Fun post: Fav dishes at Rokerij/Richardson's?
Carne Adovada. I still have dreams of the plate I had at Dick's Hideaway.
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Dick's Hideaway
6008 N 16th St, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Where's the best Cheapinese?
I"m also incredibly picky about fat/gristle and I usually have no problems at Chino. Maybe you hit them on a bad night. We love their food, but the gutbomb after effects usually send us into catatonia. I love the carnitas and mahaca myself. And I'm always surprised how well the fried rice and beans taste mixed together.
Five Guys Burgers Phoenix
I have noticed that some of the workers at the Bell store are more helpful than others. My first visit I ordered a burger and got the two patties. My second visit, a different girl asked which burger I wanted and explained the difference (# of patties, which I didn't know). If they could perfect those fries, I'd probably be there every day for lunch. Until the heart attack, that is.
Five Guys Burgers Phoenix
Hohokam can only tell us apart because we met once or twice. :)
Five Guys Burgers Phoenix
I live just down the road from the new one on Bell. I tried them a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I love the burgers and usually get one with bacon. The fries have potential, but they have never been cooked crispy enough for my tastes. I agree that the fries come in an absurdly huge portion. My first visit the average sized brown paper bag was full with fries and my burger was trapped way down at the bottom. I've been back quite a few times and usually just get a burger to go and eat at home.
What is the single best restaurant in Phoenix?
I was going to suggest Binkley's, Kai, and noca. I haven't been to Binkley's or Kai, but friends who have loved it. They along with FnB are on my list to visit.
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Binkley's
6920 E. Cave Creek Rd., Cave Creek, AZ 85331
FnB
7133 E Stetson Dr, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
Gee's Garden for Dim Sum - Tucson
They serve dim sum until 3pm. I'd recommend going earlier, though. We got there yesterday at 1:30 and pickings were pretty slim. What we had was very good, though. It's on our list to try again the next time we are in Tucson.
Review: Modern Steak - Scottsdale, AZ (w/ photos!!!)
Then again, your perspective is always skewed to the positive side when J is around. :)
Review: Modern Steak - Scottsdale, AZ (w/ photos!!!)
Noca DOES have floor to ceiling glass looking out onto the Safeway parking lot. And I could care less. The food is outstanding. I've eaten in gorgeous stand-alone restaurants that had horrible food and roach-trap taco shops in strip malls that had amazing food. Guess which I prefer?
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Noca
3118 E. Camelback Rd, Phoenix, AZ 85016
Vanished(?) Phoenix-Scottsdale restaurants
The Taylor's in Scottsdale at FLW/101 closed quite a while ago. A place called Breakfast Joynt is in that location now. It didn't impress us at all on our visit.
Near Thunderbird and Tatum
Sala Thai at Shea/32nd St is pretty good.
johnseberg is correct about Thai House. I've had good luck at their FLW/101 location, unlike him. I've been to the new one once and it was fine.
Some people really like Little Rangoon at Shea/70th St(ish). I thought it was "meh" but we may have ordered the wrong dishes.
Floyd's Kitchen at Cactus/Tatum was really good when we went last week. It surprised us how much we enjoyed our meal there.
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Sala Thai Restaurant
10880 N 32nd St Ste 29, Phoenix, AZ 85028
Little Rangoon
7000 E Shea Blvd Ste 1580, Scottsdale, AZ 85254
Weekday lunch on 20th St. and Thomas?
I second El Nopalito. Great cheap Mexican.
Stacey's BBQ at 17th St/Indian School has great meats, but it's probably best to order ahead as service can be glacial. Their sides are pretty "meh", though.
The Ranch Market at Roosevelt and 16th St has a huge indoor food court that has tons of Mexican goodies.
Baby Kay's Cajun Kitchen at 20th St/Camelback has some really good food too. I love their gumbo and jambalaya.
yasu, so so.
Shoulda gone to Hana. They have ALWAYS made sure our meals are perfect. I last went to Yasu for a lunch that was a huge disappointment after we really enjoyed our dinner there.
