Exploring downtown Phoenix

 Some restaurants will entice you with a rich buttery flavor, while others lure you in with their sweet tantalizing desserts, but Steve's Greenhouse Grill brings you in with the freshness of their ingredients.  Located in the center of downtown Phoenix at Adams and Central, this tavern not only has bar and patio but also surprisingly more dining area than expected.  This is a casual dining so as their website says "If you have reservations, you're in the wrong place".  Of course we are always excited when the answer to our drink question is..."we serve Coke products".  We were even more excited when the Coke comes in a large enough glass that you will not need a refill during your meal.  We started off with the "Chipotle Chicken and Green Chili Quesedilla".  Marinated diced breast of chicken layered with cheese, diced green chiles and tomatoes served with sour cream and salsa.  Wow! to finally bite into a quesedilla that was fresher than homemade.  There was no heavy oil or processed food after taste.  The serving size is large enough to share with two people but you may find yourselves fighting over the last piece.  The tortilla was lightly grilled.  The green chili and cheese were a nice compliment to the mouthwatering marinated chicken.

The menu consisted of a larger variety of grilled sandwiches and burgers (even ostrich) as well as a small section of other entrees such as steaks and pasta.  The one sandwich that caught my eye was the "Drunken Chicken Sandwich".  The first thing that came to my mind was "Foghorn Leghorn" sitting on my plate chugging a bottle of tequila.  In reality, it was a tequila and lime marinated chicken, grilled then topped with pepperjack cheese and ranch dressing.  It was served on a wheat bun with the regular burger toppings such as lettuce, onion, tomato and a spear of dill pickle.  My first bite was a fiesta for my taste buds.  I almost expected the tang of the tequila lime marinade to overpower the taste of the entire sandwich but the spice of the pepper jack cheese soon made me forget about the tang.  The fire ran rampant through my mouth with a kick that was later soothed by the creamy ranch dressing.  If you like Buffalo Wings, you will like this sandwich.  I enjoyed it for the roller coaster of flavors it provided.

Patti opted for my second choice which was the Monterey Chicken Sandwich.   A fresh grilled chicken breast topped with bacon, imported Swiss cheese, and guacamole served on a whole wheat bun with all the other regular fixings.  She expected it to be dry so asked for a side of mayo but was pleasantly surprised that she did not need it.  (Instead we used the mayo to make fry sauce for Frank's french fries).  The sandwich was incredibly fresh without any heavy over tastes of sauces.  Our server talked her into ordering the Grill's potatoes rather than french fries when he said they were grilled with garlic and onions.  The potatoes could have used more garlic and seasonings but were a nice change of pace and when it comes to garlic we believe you can never have enough.

As I have stated before I don't normally like to order desserts from restaurants but for fun we looked at the menu and this one literally jumped out at us.  It is called "Chocolate Monkey".  The main ingredient that sold me was "sliced bananas, deep fried, rolled in cinnamon and sugar".  MMMMMMmmmmmm, can't go wrong with deep fried bananas.  So it is three egg rolls filled with Ghiradelli chocolate chips and sliced bananas which are then deep fried and served with vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce and whipped cream.  The whole thing is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar.  Even if your stomach is full from your sandwich, you can't stop yourself from eating this dessert.  I am almost afraid to tell you have delicious this is for fear you may not invite me to share it with you when you go.  Because there is no way I will be sharing this the next time I go. 

I must say that the dessert was my highlight of the evening.  The most discouraging thing about coming to Steve's Greenhouse Grill, is trying to find a parking spot.  But after this dessert, I am glad we did end up parking a couple blocks away.  There are some treasures to be found in downtown Phoenix.  This is one of them.  If you haven't at least tried fried banana before, try it now.

And now for something completely different....

This Fun Frank Friday starts off at Shooter's World.  After a long week of work, there is nothing more relaxing than ripping a few bullets through something.  It just relieves the stress.  Shooter's World offers a Ladies' Night on Fridays which allows Patti to shoot for free and they will provide free gun rental, eye and ear protection.  They are also supposed to provide additional instruction if wanted but Friday they were short handed so Frank assisted the lady in the lane next to us by answering her questions and being all around helpful.  It is a challenge to keep up with Patti as she is such a "dead-eye" with the .32 cal and .40 cal handguns.  We probably fired off approximately 100 rounds and you see by the picture above, we almost shot the targets head off.

 

 After we left, we headed to Camelback and 35th Ave in Phoenix.  Just around the corner almost from Shooter's World.  Where we arrived at "Fu-Fu Cuisine".  The restaurant seemed empty with plenty of tables, there was only one other table that had customers when we arrived.  This usually tells you one of two things: either the advertisement hasn't been done well or the food hasn't been done well.  The place itself was homey with African artwork and interesting African music videos.  We really enjoyed the atmosphere and immediately felt comfortable here.  Our hostess was also our waitress and by the strong accent I could tell the food was going to be authentic.  Despite the accent, there was no doubt that she understood us perfectly and we had no concerns asking her questions about the menu.

We were happy to hear that they served Coke products so guess what we had to drink and no it wasn't water with lemon!  The first thing that had caught our eye on the menu was Pof-Pofs.  The menu describes it as  :"Fried sweet dumpling: one of my favorite items made with flour, sugar and butter and deep fried"
We figured you can't go wrong with deep fried sugar and butter so we had to try an order of 6.  Surprisingly these are very addictive and an order of 6 was not enough.  We ordered another set of 6 to go home with us.  After much discussion we decided that the best way to describe them is similar to a doughnut but not as airy.  I do recommend them as a dessert rather than as an appetizer as described in the menu.  After eating four of the six by myself, I started getting full and had to stop snarfing them down or there would have been no room for the rest of the meal.

 

We also decided to try an order of the  "Chicken Shish kebab"  Cubes of marinated chicken with red and green bell peppers and onions on skewers.  The chicken was moist and the vegetables were grilled to perfection.  The marinade was a nice "jerk" style that did not overpower any of the flavors on the skewer at all.  I was actually impressed with this as most marinades will overpower everything else and you are unable to taste individual ingredients.

 


Now for those who are brave in the culinary arts, where texture does not rule the day, I would recommend the goat curry.  That's right, I said goat!  I know that most people are used to having cow, lamb, pork or even boring chicken but I went with the goat.  This consists of marinated goat meat mixed with peas and carrots and served on top of white rice and surrounded by slices of fried plantain.  I asked for a medium spice but she initially brought me mild.  She remember later and offered to bring the additional spices to me but I told her it was not necessary.  For those who have never had goat, it is a chewy meat.  The other thing to watch out for is the tendency for small bones to still be present.  Be cautious.

Patti was not as brave as I and settled on the more familiar chicken meat but chose it in the form of the "Yassa Chicken" entree.  She asked if it was from the African or the Caribbean style of cuisine (see restaurant logo) and was informed it was African.  It is a yellow mustard marinated chicken breast served with sauteed onions and red peppers on a white rice.  It was surrounded by green olives with pimentos.  Surprisingly, the green olives made a great compliment to the flavor of the chicken and vegetables.  Overall the best dish of the evening.

This was actually a fun adventure in dining.  I enjoyed the unusual cuisine even though the presentation of the food on the plates wasn't glamorously garnished.  The flavors of the food and the mix of the textures made this a "Fun Frank Friday".  We are looking forward to trying this restaurant again soon.

So if you haven't tried goat, try it now!

Buca di Beppo's

My Italian is very rusty.  I don't even know what "Buca di Beppo" means but this "Fun Frank Friday" we chose an Italian restaurant.  I was looking for something that would be romantic for Valentine's and Italian food felt appropriate dinner for two.  We arrived around 5pm and there was already a 10-15 minute wait before we were seated.  As you walk in the walls are plastered with Italian memorabilia from photos, portraits, statues, and Italian signs.  This gives you something to look at while waiting for your table.  When our name was called our hostess immediately gave us a tour of the kitchen.  It is a simple walk through that shows the efficient and cleanliness of the kitchen line.  There is also a table you can reserve to sit at in the kitchen if you so desire.  I'm really impressed with any restaurant that is willing to show you how and where the food is prepared.  This shows confidence as well as trust.  We  were escorted to our booth and soon after greeted by our waiter.  He asked us for our drink order and when he told us they have Pepsi products we told him "Thanks for playing we will have water with lemon".  While  looking over the menu, we noticed that the size of the silverware is unusually large.  Which is fine by me, just means I can get more food in my mouth with one shovel.  It should have been our first indication of the size of the entrees we would be receiving.  Luckily if I had spilled any, it would have been easily wiped off the plastic table cloth by the paper napkin.... just like at home.

We ordered an appetizer sampler so we could try a variety of flavors.  Our trio included calamari, mussels and shrimp scampi.  As we waited for our appetizers to come out, our waiter brought out some sourdough bread and small dish which was empty.  At first I thought that it was for some invisible butter but our waiter seemed to be a little distracted or absent minded and after we had eaten a slice or three of bread, he realized that he had forgotten to pour olive oil into our empty dish.   Our appetizer arrived.  My heart had been set on the calamari because you can always tell what kind of Italian chef you have by the calamari.  It can be either very tender or very chewy, depending on the quality.  As I started on the calamari, it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside, like good calamari should be.  The spicy marinara dipping sauce gave it just the right kick.  The smaller pieces with the squid tentacles tended to be overcooked and too chewy for my liking.

So I have mixed feelings about Buca's calamari.  Next I attacked the mussels.  Surprisingly, they were better than I expected.  They were tender, smooth and cooked to perfection in marinara sauce.
The shrimp scampi is the one you can't go wrong with.  The shrimp was tender, the garlic was strong surrounded in a the buttery wine sauce.  After tasting the scampi, I realized the sauce would make a perfect compliment to anything you dipped in it.  So let's try an experiment, take your left-over scampi sauce (once all the shrimp is gone) and mix it into your dipping olive oil.  Now dip your bread into our experiment and voila, you have just changed a bland olive oil into a flavorful dipping sauce.

 

When we were ordering our entree, we noticed the two choices of small versus large entrees.  Our waiter explained that a small entree feeds two people and a large feeds four.  All the entrees are served family style so they are easy to share.  Our first choice was the Prosciutto stuffed chicken.  This consists of chicken breasts stuffed with cheese and prosciutto, breaded and baked, then served on top of a pesto sauce.  Topped off with marinara and Parmesan cheese.  I enjoyed the different flavors of the dish.  The breading gave it a crunch while the prosciutto and cheese was a smooth compliment.  This would make good meal in itself but we needed something more.

If you go to an Italian restaurant you should always try and get some type of pasta.  We chose a shrimp Florentine, which our waiter indicated was a new addition to their menu.  This was a fettuccine pasta with shrimp, spinach, and tomatoes in a light garlic sauce topped with Parmesan cheese.  The colors and texture were brilliantly put together.  The flavor seemed to be lacking some sort of "oomph".  I think it might have needed a little more garlic/tang/kick to get the taste buds really going.  Don't get me wrong, it was good just not great.
  After eating our fill, we still had enough to take home and enjoy left-overs for at least two more meals.   You certainly could easily feed two or more people with one entree.  The downside is that the prices will reflect the amount of food that you receive.
So if you are looking to feed your family around a large table, this is definitely the place to be.  If you are looking for a quiet, romantic evening, you may want to choose another restaurant.
For the Italian food that your mama cooked at home, if you haven't tried Buca di Beppo's,  try it now.

Throw your plans out the window and ...KABUKI!

Throughout this week I was thinking of going to a gourmet hamburger place or a Mexican place and even considered an African/Caribbean restaurant. But for this Fun Frank Friday, I threw a dart at the map and it landed at the Tempe Marketplace. There are many types of restaurants to choose from but sushi always gives me a warm feeling. There is a restaurant there called "Kabuki".  They have many traditional rolls but I have always enjoyed the specialty rolls.  We started off the evening by sitting in a booth and received our drink order.  FINALLY!  A good restaurant that serves Coca-Cola products!  I have been eating sushi for a very long time, so I am not a novice by any means.  If you are thinking about trying sushi, I recommend that you consult an expert so you will have an enjoyable dining experience.  There is nothing worse than watching someone trying sea urchin for the first time and not wanting to eat sushi again.  We decided to order 6 rolls to start with.  Yes we usually order A LOT of rolls!  Typically, we can put away between 7 and 10 rolls between the two of us.  Lucky for us it was happy hour and some of the rolls were discounted.  While we were waiting we were surprised when our server brought out a complimentary bowl of edamame.  A very nice touch, though typically served steamed warm with a dusting of salt, our order was served cold.

The first ones that came out were the Aladdin roll.  It was a spicy albacore and lightly battered shrimp tempura.  This one definitely has a kick to it, make sure you have enough to drink after each bite.  Unfortunately for Patti, the server was so efficient that he kept taking her drink for a refill and she had to wait for its return which although it was only momentarily, it seemed like an eternity after taking a bite of such a spicy roll.  The Goldrush roll was described as a "lightly battered California roll served with eel sauce".  Lightly battered is not how I would have described their tempura, it seemed more like a thick caking of batter rather than "lightly".  This roll was bland for us.  It served a great taste relief balance to the spicy Aladdin but on its own would have been a disappointment.  Next was the Alaskan roll-artfully baked salmon on top of a California roll. This roll was prepared better than it was described.  They start off with a regular California roll, which is cream cheese, crab and cucumber inside rice, then added salmon slices on top and drizzled a hollandaise-type sauce overall.  The combination of flavors and textures, topped by the tang of the hollandaise made it the hit of the evening.

The Dragon roll -freshwater eel on top of a California roll- was a definite because it looked so cool! (at least in the menu pictures and at the table next to ours).  Ours looked like it had been rushed and could have been from a nuclear melt down as it had three eyes (made from octopus tentacles), it only had one carrot ear/horn thing instead of two and it nearly lost it's maraschino cherry nose.  This fresh-water eel roll still tasted great.  The eel was tender and placed well over the rest of the roll.  The snout and the tail were each so large that I was not able to eat them in one bite.  Even though it was a mutant dragon it was still an excellent roll of sushi.  Next was the spider roll.  The spider soft shell crab and avocado in a crab roll topped with smelt egg.  This one has always been one of my favorites.  It has the exciting texture of smelt eggs with the delicacy of crab meat.  This is one that I would recommend to anyone trying sushi.  Here at the Kabuki in Tempe, the roll was so large it could not even fit into my big mouth.

The Kabuki roll was a regular roll with slices of raw fish artfully arranged on top.  A spicy crunch roll individually topped with favorite premium fish selection.  Those who have not tried a lot of sushi, normally think that raw fish might be the worst thing to try and swallow.  But it is quite the opposite.  The flavor, if done right, is not fishy at all.  In fact if you eat tuna from a can, you can eat sushi.  I normally judge the freshness of sushi by the non-fishy taste.  With that being said, the Kabuki roll was topped with raw salmon, tuna, crab, salmon eggs, smelt eggs, whitefish, spicy salmon and a spicy tuna.  These were prepared well but Patti disagreed with the description of "artfully arranged".  This roll may not be for the novice but is for those who are ready to adventure out from the typical sushi roll.

As if that wasn't enough, we also decided to take it to the next level and ordered three types of sashimi.  A seared yellowfin tuna, a seared tuna, and flying fish eggs.  Both the tunas were tender but seemed to have been seared with a propane blow torch.  This actually gave them more of a chemical taste than would have been if the fish were grilled or left raw.  The flying fish eggs are definitely not for novices and should be reserved for sushi experts only!  I loved the snap, crackly pop of the fish eggs when you bite into them but it had a horseradish wasabi flavoring added that left it overpowered and an overwhelming after taste in your mouth.

Even though we didn't order an excessively large number of rolls, by our standards, our tummies were extremely full and satisfied at the end.  And surprisingly we were able to take some of the sushi home as left-overs.  Not typically recommended with the raw fish but is do-able for those that have been cooked such as the tempura rolls and the eels.  We saved part of the dragon and the Alaskan and one piece of the Goldrush for our left overs and surprisingly they were just as tasty on Saturday as they were Friday night.

So if you haven't tried sushi, try it now.