A Lotta Matta's

 This Fun Frank Friday is going south of the border to Matta's Grill and Cantina, at Mesa Riverview.  A traditional family restaurant that has been in business since 1953.  We arrived around 6:30 pm with a party of 6 and it was only a brief moment before we were seated in a large booth.  Even though we had a good size party, we didn't feel that we were cramped or shoved into a small area.  These booths were obviously designed to hold 6 large adults.  This quaint restaurant was adorned with rustic Mexican decor.  It had everything from hardwood tables to a Mariachi band that serenades you from the balcony above the dining room.
Our waitress quickly came and that's when I popped my traditional question "do you serve Coke?".  She replied with "No coke, Pepsi" to which I replied "water with lemon, please".  So if you are a Pepsi fan like my co-worker, Peggy, you will be pleased with your beverage, even if it isn't the best.
Once we received our drinks, they placed two orders of chips and salsa.  There are two types of salsa available, mild and hot.  Both are freshly made on site.  I actually prefer the mild because it had more chunks of fresh vegetables including cilantro than the hot one, although the hot salsa was more authentic with a good "kick".  The waitress' hospitality was evident when she didn't even blink an eye at changing out one type of salsa for the other at our request.
Matta's has a good variety of food items on their menu including house specialties, combo plates and yes, even for those who would break our cardinal rule of restaurants, you CAN order off the "gringo favorites" portion of the menu.  Some of the house specialties are names after family members. 



 So we'll start of with Bryce's order, "Matta's chimichanga".  He chose his favorite type of meat in a fried burrito topped with green chili sauce, sour cream and guacamole.

Next was Kirk's "Sandy's Special", which is a fried burrito filled with chunks of pork and cheese and topped with green sauce and sour cream.

Susette ordered the "Robert's Tacos" as a two item combo plate.  This was also our waitress' favorite entree on the menu.  It consists of two deep fried tacos topped with shredded lettuce and tomato and served with rice and beans.

  If you are looking for something large, don't look any further than what Sundee ordered.  She chose the "Tostada Grande".  You get a choice of your favorite meat on top of beans then a layer of shredded lettuce, tomato and cheese.  A dab of sour cream and guacamole finish it off.

Patti and I had very similar ideas.  For starters, we didn't want to have the same thing that someone else had already ordered.  But we both wanted to try their fajita meat.  How would this be possible without ordering the exact same entree?  Well, let me tell you.  Patti ordered the specialty burrito combo which includes your choice of meat and she ordered it with fajita meat.  She had a choice of chicken or steak of course as most fajita entrees do and she chose steak.   The burrito begins with a warm flour tortilla wrapped around sauteed onions, red and green bell peppers and marinated steak.  This was neatly wrapped tight and served on a bed of lettuce and tomatoes with a side of rice and beans.  It has the flavor of a fajita with the convenience of being already wrapped for you.

Mine, I must admit was the best of all.  I ordered the fajitas with a mix of chicken and beef.  The meat was marinated throughout which gave it a distinct fajita flavor.  When paired with the sweetness of the onions and the sharp, crisp flavor of the peppers,  it made me want to join Pancho Villa's gang.  It comes with beans, sour cream, cheese and guacamole on the side.  The tortillas were wrapped in tin foil to stay warm and fresh.  I thought it might be a problem with I only received three small tortillas.  Well, if I run out of tortillas, I figured I could just ask for more.  After snarfing down the first filled tortilla, I did not have a chance to say anything to anyone as I was busy stuffing my mouth with the second one.  The third tortilla went quicker than a blink of an eye.  I did not want to waste precious time waiting for more tortillas, so I picked up my fork and dove into the rest with full gusto.  If I had my choice, this would be something that could be introduced intravenously to save time from all that chewing. 
It was THAT good!

Like we have been doing lately, we decided to finish it off with a traditional dessert.  We chose our favorite, cream-filled churros, which at Matta's they serve with a side of whipped cream.  We had to ask for the side of strawberries but we recommend that you do that as they are well worth asking for.  The great thing about this dessert is the elements of enjoyable eating are there.  You have your crunchy outer churro, the smooth cream center, the granulated sweet cinnamon sugar, the light airy whipped cream, and a firm yet slightly tart strawberry all vying for attention from your taste buds.  None of which overpower each other.  I would be surprised if there was anyone who was disappointed with this dessert.

So if you are thinking of heading south of the border for good food and Mariachi music, I recommend a truly authentic Mexican restaurant.  So if you haven't tried Matta's, try it now.

Why did it take so long for someone to tell me about this?

 Those of you who know me, understand that I enjoy going to zoos all over the country.  Here in Phoenix, one of my favorites is Wildlife World Zoo and Aquarium out on the west end of the valley.  I enjoy that I am able to get nice and close to the animals on exhibit.
 Just be careful and don't get too close to the llamas because they do tend to spit.  And I wouldn't recommend sticking your finger in the fence the pet a sleeping jaguar.

Last summer we ate at the restaurant, Tiburon, inside the aquarium.  The food was so-so at best but we loved the atmosphere.  Since there was no one else there we had our pick of tables next the shark tank.  This week, my co-worker, Mikey D. recommended we try Dillon's BBQ and when we checked the locations, learned that it had taken the place of Tiburon.  Wow!  What an incredible difference!  We headed over towards the restaurant in the early afternoon, hoping to miss the lunch rush and beat the dinner crowd.  I'm glad we missed the lunch rush because at 2pm we still had a 30 minute wait for a table.  

We were surprised to be extremely lucky to get one of the few tables right next to the shark tank.  This helps out in two ways, one it provides a nice conversational topic for you and your dinner partner and two it gives off a blue ambiance lighting which helps soften the mood in a busy restaurant.  If you are not sitting right next to the tank, don't worry, one of the things I enjoyed in the restaurant was the mirrors on every wall.  No matter which direction you are facing you get some of the view of the tank.

I was happy to hear that I was able to get my Coca-Cola fix.  The appetizer we decided to start with was the beef quesadilla.  A smoked beef brisket in between two grilled flour tortillas with cheddar and monterey jack cheese, served with salsa and sour cream.  This was a great starter!  The cheese was a great compliment to the smokey beef brisket.  The tortillas were grilled to perfection.  I saw another table order the portabello mushroom and spinach dip which looked extremely appetizing.  I think I will try that next time.

Patti ordered the two meat combo platter with pulled pork and pulled chicken.  It comes with two sides and she opted for the heart unhealthy loaded mashed potato and the coleslaw as she knew she would be sharing it with me.  Unfortunately, it turns out she ate most of the potatoes without me.   We had a choice of three barbecue sauces to try.  Being the wimp she is, she opted for mild.  She was pleasantly surprised that the chicken was extremely moist.  Most barbecue chicken experiences have been dry and chewy at best.  This was not the case at Dillon's.  The pulled pork was smoked and perfectly seasoned.  The loaded potato was amazing!  Topped with sour cream, cheese, and bacon, it was smooth, creamy and just melted in your mouth.  No wonder she didn't want to share.  The cole slaw was one of my favorite sides.  It was a lightly creamy dressing accompanied by freshly cut cabbage.

I had the 50/50 entree which is a half rack of baby back ribs and a half-rack of St. Louis ribs.  It also came with two sides.  I opted for the BBQ baked beans and the potato salad.  The potato salad was obviously freshly made, creamy potato salad.  I enjoyed being able to actually taste the hard boiled egg that was part of their recipe.  But since I am somewhat known for my own homemade potato salad, I am still partial to my own recipe.  The baked beans were great cowboy beans.  The flavor of the sauce had a little extra kick which made them special.  The waitress asked me for my preference of BBQ sauce for my ribs, I was a little skeptical because I tend to be very particular about sauces covering up the taste of the meat.  So I asked for a little bit of all three types of sauces on the side.  This gave me the opportunity to taste all three.  The first one I tried with the "Sweet Heat", this is a very sweet sauce with a little bit of a spicy kick.  A little too sweet for my taste and a little too spicy for Patti's taste.  The next sauce was the mild, which was the same as Patti had chosen.  The mild is very good barbecue and is a always a good safe bet if you are unsure or unadventurous.  Last but not least, I tried their Cajun.  The thought of a Cajun BBQ sauce did not initially appeal to me.  I don't typically think of Cajun when I think of BBQ.  Boy was I wrong!  This is the sauce that I recommend and the one I will be choosing in the future.  It has a deep smoky flavor with just enough of the Cajun spice kick to accompany the flavor of the ribs.  The ribs themselves were deeply smoked throughout and fell off the bone easily as all good ribs should.  The meat was tender and juicy and it was almost a shame to put sauce on it all.  I've been to many BBQ places.  But I think I found a clear cut winner here in Phoenix.  Move over Bobby Q's, Dillon is the King!  What really tipped the scale in Dillon's favor was the side dishes complimented the meal and were not just a filler like other BBQ places.

Since we were going to walk around the zoo for a little bit longer, we decided we could afford more calories to burn. <wink, wink> So we took a look at the dessert menu and Patti swayed me to get the Chocolate Fudge Walnut Brownie.  Warm rich, chewy brownie covered with high quality vanilla bean ice cream, whipped cream, drizzled with chocolate sauce and caramel sauce all topped with a single maraschino cherry.  How can you go wrong when there is a cherry on top?  I think it is a bad habit I am getting into by ordering desserts.  Do I look fat to you?  Be honest.
So if a guy named "Mikey" tells you to try Dillon's don't walk,...RUN and try it now!  Thanks for the recommendation, Mike!

Some days you just need to Indulge.

 There are many burger joints around the Phoenix Valley.  Most of them being greasy fast food chains, that give you little to no options on how it is made.  This leaves few if any choices to the consumer that likes their burger a particular way or those that want to be more creative in how their burger could taste.  Myself, I don't like to go to chain restaurants for a plain "run-of-the-mill" burger.  I finally found a place where I can really "Indulge" my taste buds.  It is called "Indulge Burgers" off Scottsdale Road and Shea.  We were drawn to them when we saw an "Adult Peanut Butter Sandwich" on their menu.  With our curiosity piqued,  we asked a couple of friends to join us in exploring this odd menu choice.  It turns out since they live in the area, they had been there several times before.  Shortly after we sat down, we were excited to learn that they serve Coke products.  Which always starts a restaurant off on my good side.  We had arrived earlier than our friends so opted to start with an appetizer of Cheddar fries while we waited for them.  The fries were freshly cut and cooked to perfection with just enough crisp.  It was topped with a mild cheddar cheese which actually made the fries taste a little bland.  The next time I go I think I am going to opt for the chili cheese fries, maybe that will give it a little more oomph.

The menu gives you two options for ordering.  You can either choose signature burgers that come with their choice of toppings OR you can choose to build your own.  Build your own burger is not as easy as it would seem.  There are actually five separate steps you need to complete to create your ultimate fantasy burger.   These include choosing your meat, your bun, one cheese, one sauce and four regular toppings.  Of course they also have the option of indulgent toppings at an extra cost if you so desire.

The first burger on our list was Jerry's favorite, a Kobe beef burger.  This is a Kobe beef patty that is cooked to order.  It comes as a signature order including cheddar cheese, lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle and red relish.  It is also the only one on the menu that comes with a side of fries.  All the other burgers require that you order sides at an extra cost.


 Maria ordered from the special "Gluten-free" menu.  She also had the choice of a build your own burger and had a difficult time choosing from all the options.  She opted for the turkey burger as a "Burger salad" rather than on a bun with honey barbecue sauce.  For her toppings she included grilled mushrooms, a dill pickle, and red onion. 
Since her entree did not include fries she order it on the side because finding gluten free fries is next to impossible.


Next is Patti's turn.  She decided to go with the artsy-fartsy create your own masterpiece that is equal only to DaVinci.  However, since she also had a difficult time making decisions, she had to ask for my expertise on various flavors.  She wanted to create a "Thai" flavor chicken sandwich.  So she started with a wheat bun for her first choice, then added chicken and swiss cheese.  For her toppings she chose the sprouts, carrot strings, red onion and tomato.  The Bangkok peanut sauce was the "piece de resistance" but for good measure she also added an extra side of peanut butter.  How often do you get to choose peanut butter to go on your burger?  But really the peanut sauce is what really made the sandwich.

After everyone ordered their sandwiches, the one thing that popped into my mind sat there at the top of menu.  It was one word "Indulge".  So I did.  Curiosity got the best of me so I started off with the Adult Peanut Butter Sandwich.  That's right, I think there should be an age restriction for eating this sandwich.  You need to be an adult to understand the effects of how many calories must be in this sandwich.  With all due respect to Elvis, as the menu says "The King would be proud" of this one.  This consists of creamy peanut butter, banana, bacon and onion strings on a multi-grain bread that is toasted.  As soon as you take the first bite, you whisper to the sandwich "where have you been all my life".  Everybody knows that peanut butter and banana compliment each other, but when you add the salty bacon and the crispy fried onion strings, you have found heaven.

For my second indulgence, I tried the "Vesuvius Volcanic" burger.  It comes with lettuce, tomato and onion.  The unique quality of this burger comes in the patty itself.  Two patties cooked medium well stuffed with American cheese.  I'm not a big fan of medium well burgers because they normally come out dry and crumbly.  But I took one bite of this one and an explosion of flavor and cheese burst from it's center.  At first it was extremely hot, temperature wise, but the juicy flavors kept me going back for more.  To help explain how this works in your mouth, I've included the video.  When I was finished, I had definitely felt "overindulged".  I really enjoyed the menu, because I could return often and have something different every time.  But I must say my highlight was the Adult Peanut butter sandwich.  So if you haven't indulged yet, try it now.

Pleasure feast

 After a bout with the bubonic plague (or a close facsimile of it), I take you back to a time of merriment and bad puns.  Anyone who has ever been to a renaissance festival knows exactly what I am talking about.  This Fun Frank Friday was actually done on Saturday at the Arizona Renaissance Festival in Apache Junction.

The Pleasure Feast has two sittings per day, one at noon and the other at 2:30.  If you are planning to go, reserve ahead as some times do sell out.  We were actually lucky that we did because both times on this Saturday were sold out.  Since we had the 2:30 reservation we actually had time to wander the fair.  If you haven't been, there are a few shows I would like to recommend.  "Hey Nunnie Nunnie" is a classic that has been at this fair for 13 seasons.  For the kids, I recommend the "Wyld Men" so they can see how much fun it is to play in the mud.  I also recommend the "Ded Bob Show" as long as you don't have children with you or mind the adult oriented humor.

As time for our reservations grew closer, we moved over to the Hall that hosts the Feast.  The building resembles a medieval village tavern.  This is where we were greeted by "Motley Crew" or group of king's fools who certainly know how to act the part.  They serenaded us with silly songs and made us groan with their punny jokes.  The fools were interrupted by the heralding trumpeters, which signaled the arrival of the Sheriff.  He stepped up on the platform and introduced our hosts for the feast, which he didn't speak to highly of.  Our hosts were known as the Feastmaster and the Lord of Leftovers (lol).  The Feastmaster is a Scotsman and the LOL is an English gentleman.  These two characters were true to their stereotypes with the Englishman making cracks about the Scotsman and his sheep while the Scot made jokes about how the Englishman was light in the loafers with a dainty bell he called a "ding-a-ling".
The Feastmaster called out the names of diners and instructed them as to which side of the dining hall they were seated on.  As you enter the large hall, you saw long tables along each of the walls with a large center area left open.   Along the tables, each group's place cards indicated your seat.
The menu for this year's feast was Italian cuisine.  So the first of five courses was the Antipasta which consisted of a handful of grapes (which I promptly traded to Patti's plate for a handful of cheese),  white cheese slices, a cherry tomato stuffed with green olives, a soft green onion cheese ball and a handful of pinenuts on top of leafy lettuce.

Beverages were limited to beer, wine, ice tea or water. But you do get to keep that cool blue goblet as a souvenir.  Each course was first announced by the feast herald and we were expected to stand when the servers entered the room.  This was difficult to do as we were crowded together at the tables and the stools we sat on did not move easily.  The table and stools did give it more medieval authenticity despite being difficult for us modern folk to maneuver them.  Each course was also accompanied by entertainers.  During the Antipasta it was Feastmaster and the LOL cracking jokes at each other until the Sheriff showed up and explained the rules of the feast.  The fun part of this were that we were encouraged to bang on the tables and make a lot of noise.  Reminded me a lot of my younger days.

The next course was the Soup.  It was a fresh tomato bisque.  I'm not a fan of tomato soup, mainly I tend to find it boring and bland.  But this soup was surprising delicious.  The chunks of fresh tomato gave it texture while the white wine and herbs in the cream complimented the flavor.  Our entertainment for this course was traditional folk dancers with sticks.  That's pretty much all I want to say about them.  I wasn't that impressed with them despite the attempts at slapstick humor as they hit each other over the head with foil pans.



 The next course was our salad.   A basic lettuce with too much Cesar dressing.  I must compliment them on the croutons which were well made and obviously fresh rather than the stale hard chips that you find in most restaurants.  With the third course also came our third round of entertainment.  The royal family and court led by the Queen paraded around the Hall and spoke with each of the guests, making sure that the diners were treated well and enjoying their meal.  It was great to see the queen lead her court out in a conga line.

By this time, I actually started feeling a little full.  I didn't think I had eaten that much earlier but then again it could have been the slices of bread that I indulged in from the bread basket.  So here we go for course number four, the Entree.  Not a choice of Prime Rib OR chicken but rather you get both, served with sides of bowtie pasta in a tomato sauce and a serving of sauteed carrots and zucchini.  The highlight of the entree for me,  I must admit was definitely the chicken.  The breast of chicken was moist and tender topped with sauteed olives, tomatoes, onions and a dash of white wine and herbs.  The mixed vegetables were excellent as well (Patti could not get enough of the carrots so I gave her mine).  Throughout this whole meal I actually expected to food to be more processed (for example from a can or a bottle) but was pleasantly surprised at how fresh the ingredients were.  It actually made this meal.  With this course the entertainment was exotic belly dancers.  Patti quickly told me to stop staring at the belly dancers.  I told her I was only watching their feet {wink wink}.

So out comes the herald to announce our final course which is dessert.  I think this was my favorite course.  A yellow cake with chocolate mouse, chocolate frosting topped with whipped cream and strawberries.  A small drizzle of cherry sauce accompanied it all on the plate.  The cake was very light and sweet but not too rich or filling.  The tartness of the cherry and strawberry was a good balance for the sweet mousse and frosting.  With our final course we also had our final entertainment, the bagpipes and drum group called Tartanic.  Since I had a chance to gawk at belly dancers, Patti had an equal chance to gawk at men in kilts.  She adeptly distracted me from this fact by giving me half of her cake.

The musicians played traditional Scottish tunes on the bagpipes accompanied by two large drums which gave it an almost rock and roll sound as well.  The last five minutes of their set, the serving wenches decided to borrow peoples digital cameras and take covert pictures of what was truly under the kilts.  To get an idea of what they sound like, click on the video.  Disclaimer though, the clip doesn't do justice to the richness of the drums.


 So if you are in the mood to wear a silly hat and can indulge a pun or two, take some friends and head out to the Pleasure Feast at the Arizona Renaissance Festival.  If you haven't tried medieval yet, try it now.

An Occasion for Cajun

For the past five years, I have been intrigued by a restaurant just off the I-17.  It didn't seem to matter what day of the week or what time of day, the restaurant's parking lot was always full.  Even the name didn't give me a clue what type of restaurant it was, mainly because I was stumped at how to pronounce it.  The sign reads "Pappadeaux".  So those of us who took Spanish rather than French in high school are clueless as to what type of food might be served.  But this Fun Frank Friday, the crowd drew me.  We arrived just before 5pm and it was already difficult to find a parking spot.  Obviously a lot of people enjoy this restaurant for it to be that busy that early.  We walked past the patio where they were setting up for a live band and when we reached the hostess stand we were surprised that we could be seated immediately.  After passing several full tables, we arrived at our table, received our menus and were asked for our drink order.  And kudos to the restaurant the serves Coke products.  So naturally, I had a Coke.

I was expecting this restaurant to be a typical upscale, "Red-Lobster"-type, fish market but the culinary delights in the restaurant have more of a cajun influence.

 So the first appetizer that really jumped out at me and I had to try was naturally the frog legs.  Deep fried and served with french fries next to sides of ketchup and tarter sauce.  The frog legs had a a light batter with a slight Cajun spice that was noticeable but not overpowering.  The meat of the legs were moist and tender to the point of falling off the bone and melting in your mouth.  A lot of people will tell you that frog legs taste like chicken.  It does have the texture of chicken but there is more of a fresh water fishy flavor to it.

The next appetizer that we had to try was the alligator.  Most of my past experiences with alligator would be described as tough and chewy.  Few people know how to do it really well.  Pappadeaux is one of those few that have it down to a perfection.  The alligator is served with a Creole dipping sauce and crispy potato strings.  This is an appetizer that I would have chosen as a full course meal if it were an option.  I could have eaten the large order and then some.  Too bad I had to share with Patti.  It was lightly battered and deep fried but without a heavy oil aftertaste that tends to happen to most deep fried foods.  The meat itself was sweet and tender, I'm now thinking about raising some gators in the back yard just so I could have more of my own.

 Shortly after our appetizers were served, our waitress brought us some bread.  A lot of restaurants will bring you a few slices of warm baked bread, a few rolls or maybe just a tiny loaf that serves maybe two people.  To my surprise, they brought us an entire foot-long loaf of warm baked bread.  I'm not a fan of most restaurant bread but this loaf's crust was soft and tender with a slight crisp but not overfilling or too chewy.  

The menu had excellent variety of choices but few descriptions, from crawdads to lobster.  I had a difficult time trying to choose just one entree.  I finally decided on the "Big Bay Platter".  This consisted of two skewers of grilled shrimp, a carribean grilled lobster tail and two shrimp montage.  That's right, I said, shrimp montage.  And no, I don't know what a montage is either.  So let me explain that is starts off with a butterflied jumbo shrimp, stuffed with a crabcake filling and topped with light mayo and parmesean cheese.  Is your mouth watering yet?  And yes, it IS as fantastic as it sounds.  The grilled lobster, though it was a little difficult to pull clean from it's shell, the tender meat inside was worth every effort.  The flavor of the grill was such that I did not feel the need to ruin it by dipping it in butter.  The grilled shrimp on the skewer had a wonderful carribean sauce but it was not able to hide the fact that the shrimp was a tad overdone and more chewy than I had expected based on how wonderful the other items had been.  The entree is usually served with green beans and dirty rice but our waitress reminded us that we were free to substitute any side dish if we so choose.  I opted for the garlic bread rather than dirty rice.  I was expecting a slice or two of bread with garlic and butter on it but lo and behold out came another foot-long loaf of bread sliced lengthwise and toasted with butter, garlic and slight sprinkle cheese.

Patti chose the Costa Rican Mahi Alexander and substituted spaghetti squash for the dirty rice.  A large Mahi fish filet grilled and blackened surrounded with scallops, shrimp and craw-fish in a creamy white wine sauce.  For the size of the filet, I expected it to be dry but in actuality it was flaky and tender throughout.  The scallop, shrimp and craw-fish actually gave the fish extra complimentary texture with each bite.  While the blackened spice gave the fish a kick, it was softened by the creamy sauce.  I was reluctant to try the spaghetti squash with it.  I thought it an odd choice and not a good fit with this entree.  But I have found it was just the opposite.  When you think outside of the culinary box you can be pleasantly surprised.

By the time we finished we were too full to even consider dessert and still took enough home for a left-over meal.  Surprisingly the food was just as great a second time.  So if you are looking for a good time on the bayou, and you haven't tried the frog legs or alligator yet, I recommend you try it now.