A couple weeks ago, Tara picked up some Fresh & Easy Hummus, along with a package of their garlic naan to have it on. It turns out that we really like it. There might be just a touch more tahini in it than we'd prefer, but overall, it doesn't last long. It's only $1.99 for a 10 oz container, and it's the best store hummus we've found. With our two favorite restaurants to get hummus (Shish Kebab House in Peoria and Mr. Greek on Indian School in Phoenix) not exactly close, this is especially a boon. We grabbed some more today, along with a 1/2 off pork loin (for some more root beer pulled pork) and 1/2 off shrimp that Tara's got some plans for.
Another fun fact. I grabbed some relish there last week for $1.18. The exact same bottle at AJ's at Central and Camelback? $2.40.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Scott's Generation Deli - Phoenix
Tara and I were trying to decide where we wanted to go for lunch today. After lots of head-scratching, I suggested trying a place our fellow CHer AZHotdish had mentioned in a thread about where to find the best corned beef sandwich and matzoh ball soup. He mentioned a place called "Scott's". We had to look at the thread to find the full name and location: Scott's Generation Deli, located in the shopping center on the NE corner of 7th Street and Missouri.
The restaurant is a huge seating area divided into two long, narrow rooms. They were slow at 3pm, so we were seated in a large booth in the main room. We ordered a couple of Cokes while we looked over the fairly extensive menu. It took us quite a while to decide what to get, as there were a huge number of items that all looked equally tempting.
We ended up each getting an item from their Specialty Sandwiches section. Tara got the "James Cagney": Brisket of beef, melted swiss cheese, grilled onions, served on a toasted garlic onion roll. I got "Scott's Own Monte Cristo": Batter diped egg bread stuffed with grilled, imported ham, fresh roasted turkey breast and imported swiss cheese. Both sandwiches were served with a small dish of cole slaw, fries, and pickles.
After a very short wait, they sandwiches arrived. Each came on a large oval dish, over-stuffed with meat, topped with a huge mound of American-cut fries. The small bowl of slaw and three pickle spears were also under the mound of fries. I asked for a couple of small plates so we could off-load the fries to make room to maneuver our sandwiches.
My Monte Cristo was excellent. The sweet egg bread had been grilled perfectly and had a great sweet flavor that contrasted nicely with the saltiness of the very thin-cut meats. The amount of meat on the sandwich was daunting and I could only finish one half of it. The fries were nicely fried as well, of various sizes, and great taste. I put a pretty good dent in the huge pile that came with my meal, but was unable to finish them all. The slaw was served in a very small portion, but was quite good. It was on the sweet side, which is how I like it.
Tara really enjoyed her sandwich as well. She loved the grilled onions and strongly flavored bun. The brisket was very good. Like me, she was also unable to finish the whole thing.
We really liked Scott's and plan to return. There are so many other things we really want to try. I have my eye on the Hash Mash skillet scramble, among others. After sampling the bread on my sandwich, their version of American Toast (read French Toast) has me intrigued as well.
Our waitress told us that a lot of people will split a sandwich and we can certainly understand why. We both left stuffed, but still managed to stop by Karsh's Bakery a couple doors down. :)
The restaurant is a huge seating area divided into two long, narrow rooms. They were slow at 3pm, so we were seated in a large booth in the main room. We ordered a couple of Cokes while we looked over the fairly extensive menu. It took us quite a while to decide what to get, as there were a huge number of items that all looked equally tempting.
We ended up each getting an item from their Specialty Sandwiches section. Tara got the "James Cagney": Brisket of beef, melted swiss cheese, grilled onions, served on a toasted garlic onion roll. I got "Scott's Own Monte Cristo": Batter diped egg bread stuffed with grilled, imported ham, fresh roasted turkey breast and imported swiss cheese. Both sandwiches were served with a small dish of cole slaw, fries, and pickles.
After a very short wait, they sandwiches arrived. Each came on a large oval dish, over-stuffed with meat, topped with a huge mound of American-cut fries. The small bowl of slaw and three pickle spears were also under the mound of fries. I asked for a couple of small plates so we could off-load the fries to make room to maneuver our sandwiches.
My Monte Cristo was excellent. The sweet egg bread had been grilled perfectly and had a great sweet flavor that contrasted nicely with the saltiness of the very thin-cut meats. The amount of meat on the sandwich was daunting and I could only finish one half of it. The fries were nicely fried as well, of various sizes, and great taste. I put a pretty good dent in the huge pile that came with my meal, but was unable to finish them all. The slaw was served in a very small portion, but was quite good. It was on the sweet side, which is how I like it.
Tara really enjoyed her sandwich as well. She loved the grilled onions and strongly flavored bun. The brisket was very good. Like me, she was also unable to finish the whole thing.
We really liked Scott's and plan to return. There are so many other things we really want to try. I have my eye on the Hash Mash skillet scramble, among others. After sampling the bread on my sandwich, their version of American Toast (read French Toast) has me intrigued as well.
Our waitress told us that a lot of people will split a sandwich and we can certainly understand why. We both left stuffed, but still managed to stop by Karsh's Bakery a couple doors down. :)
Monday, May 19, 2008
One way to lose weight
Last weekend (the weekend of the 9th), Tara and I tried a host of new places. All of them were quite good. Sunday afternoon, however, we both started feeling a bit off. Upset stomachs and associated symptoms. Tara got over hers by Wednesday, but I was still out of commission through this past weekend. I was living off toast, Gatorade, ginger ale, and on a good day, some chicken noodle soup. My system seems close to normal today. I weighed myself and I'm a good 13lbs less than I was the last time I checked a few weeks ago. Luckily as Homer put it, "I'm drought and famine resistant." It's not a diet I'd recommend.
Monday, May 12, 2008
How much is gas where you are?
While calling home yesterday, Mom told me that they paying $4.66/gal in Mid-Coast Maine. We paid $3.42 on Saturday. I'm just curious what the three or four people who read my blog outside of AZ are paying. :)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Fresh & Easy
The Fresh & Easy supermarket chain has invaded the Valley in a big way. One opened across the street from my gym (stop laughing) and I usually stop in after my workout to see if they have anything good marked down. They have a very aggressive freshness policy, and in the afternoon, they mark items expiring on that day half-off. One day last week, Tara and I didn't have any ideas for dinner, so I hit F&E to check what they had. I scored two sushi rolls (spicy tuna and california rolls) cheap, as well as a chicken salad sandwich.
The maki was actually pretty good. I generally don't like supermarket rolls, since the chilled rice can get rather hard, but at $2 and $2.25, I figured why not. Tara really liked the chicken salad sandwich, which was a big bonus.
I grabbed some hamburger buns tonight for Tara's homemade sloppy joes and they were quite good.
I've also tried their huge Belgian milk chocolate bar. VERY good. Their organic milk chocolate, not so much.
The maki was actually pretty good. I generally don't like supermarket rolls, since the chilled rice can get rather hard, but at $2 and $2.25, I figured why not. Tara really liked the chicken salad sandwich, which was a big bonus.
I grabbed some hamburger buns tonight for Tara's homemade sloppy joes and they were quite good.
I've also tried their huge Belgian milk chocolate bar. VERY good. Their organic milk chocolate, not so much.
Monday, April 28, 2008
Recent Eats
It's been a pretty slow past few food weeks, but here are some highlights...
Culver's has opened a couple stores recently in the Valley. One is somewhere in Mesa and the other is in our neck of the woods, at Deer Valley Rd and 19th Ave. So far I've been twice. Once on their opening last Thursday and again on Sunday with Tara. Service Thursday was laughable and about what you'd expect on opening day. The counter staff couldn't run the ordering system without their trainers and I could order stuff (relish) that they didn't actually have yet. Still, my burger wasn't bad. The fries ranged from floppy to a couple crispy ones. Definitely nothing remotely special. I got a concrete (frozen chocolate custard with a couple mix-ins) but that was a bad idea after the double burger. I barely ate half of it.
On Sunday, Tara and I stopped in. The original plan was for her to get a burger and some fried cheese curds (it's a Minnesota thing). After that, we were going to go to the new Lee Lee Supermarket in Glendale and I planned on getting something at a Vietnamese place called Pho-Licious across the street. Well, her bacon burger arrived with no bacon but an extra meat patty. I took it back and the manager said he couldn't take it back, but he'd get me some bacon, OR he'd make the correct burger and we could keep the wrong one as well. I opted for the second choice, since it would be a waste just to toss a perfectly good burger. So I got a free meal, just not what we'd planned. Tara liked the burger, but the cheese curds were breaded, so not the ideal way she likes them . The GOOD fried cheese curds at the Minnesota State Fair have more of a tempura-like batter. These were more like the fried cheese you'd get as an appetizer at an Italian joint or something. Not bad, but not the good stuff. They also didn't come with any type of sauce, which they needed.
After lunch, we headed to the new Lee Lee's at 75th Ave and Cactus. The long-time Chandler favorite opened the West Valley outpost on Thursday. It's in an old Albertsons (and you can recognize the layout as such) but it's definitely an Asian market. It doesn't seem quite as extensive as the original location, but it's still a great addition to the West Valley food scene. The shelves aren't quite fully stocked yet, but it's coming along. The in-store restaurant is still being finished but a small snack bar is open. Even though it's about 13 miles closer, we rarely find ourselves on the West Side, so we'll still make the trek to Chandler. The original location is only a few miles from Vonhanson's Meat Market, where we go all the time. Tara liked the new store, but I prefer the original for some intangible reason.
Even though I wasn't very hungry, we crossed Cactus so I could try Pho-Licious. The restaurant has a very nice interior, with granite table tops and a cool ceiling. Tara really like the interior treatment. She wasn't hungry and also isn't a fan of Vietnamese food, so I just opted to get an order each of spring rolls and egg rolls. Like a lot of Vietnamese places, service is somewhat brusque, but unlike most of them, it was also not very good. We weren't given any plates or utensils to eat with, despite one of the waiters just sitting in a booth zoning out and a waitress cleaning the table and floor near us but not noticing. I ended up going over and basically grabbing them myself. I did enjoy the food, though. The basic shrimp and pork spring rolls were fresh and had good flavor. The egg rolls were fried to a dark brown and once cooled, were very good as well. I wished they had a bit more filling, though. Still, they met my craving and for $7.00, the various rolls made a good snack.
Culver's has opened a couple stores recently in the Valley. One is somewhere in Mesa and the other is in our neck of the woods, at Deer Valley Rd and 19th Ave. So far I've been twice. Once on their opening last Thursday and again on Sunday with Tara. Service Thursday was laughable and about what you'd expect on opening day. The counter staff couldn't run the ordering system without their trainers and I could order stuff (relish) that they didn't actually have yet. Still, my burger wasn't bad. The fries ranged from floppy to a couple crispy ones. Definitely nothing remotely special. I got a concrete (frozen chocolate custard with a couple mix-ins) but that was a bad idea after the double burger. I barely ate half of it.
On Sunday, Tara and I stopped in. The original plan was for her to get a burger and some fried cheese curds (it's a Minnesota thing). After that, we were going to go to the new Lee Lee Supermarket in Glendale and I planned on getting something at a Vietnamese place called Pho-Licious across the street. Well, her bacon burger arrived with no bacon but an extra meat patty. I took it back and the manager said he couldn't take it back, but he'd get me some bacon, OR he'd make the correct burger and we could keep the wrong one as well. I opted for the second choice, since it would be a waste just to toss a perfectly good burger. So I got a free meal, just not what we'd planned. Tara liked the burger, but the cheese curds were breaded, so not the ideal way she likes them . The GOOD fried cheese curds at the Minnesota State Fair have more of a tempura-like batter. These were more like the fried cheese you'd get as an appetizer at an Italian joint or something. Not bad, but not the good stuff. They also didn't come with any type of sauce, which they needed.
After lunch, we headed to the new Lee Lee's at 75th Ave and Cactus. The long-time Chandler favorite opened the West Valley outpost on Thursday. It's in an old Albertsons (and you can recognize the layout as such) but it's definitely an Asian market. It doesn't seem quite as extensive as the original location, but it's still a great addition to the West Valley food scene. The shelves aren't quite fully stocked yet, but it's coming along. The in-store restaurant is still being finished but a small snack bar is open. Even though it's about 13 miles closer, we rarely find ourselves on the West Side, so we'll still make the trek to Chandler. The original location is only a few miles from Vonhanson's Meat Market, where we go all the time. Tara liked the new store, but I prefer the original for some intangible reason.
Even though I wasn't very hungry, we crossed Cactus so I could try Pho-Licious. The restaurant has a very nice interior, with granite table tops and a cool ceiling. Tara really like the interior treatment. She wasn't hungry and also isn't a fan of Vietnamese food, so I just opted to get an order each of spring rolls and egg rolls. Like a lot of Vietnamese places, service is somewhat brusque, but unlike most of them, it was also not very good. We weren't given any plates or utensils to eat with, despite one of the waiters just sitting in a booth zoning out and a waitress cleaning the table and floor near us but not noticing. I ended up going over and basically grabbing them myself. I did enjoy the food, though. The basic shrimp and pork spring rolls were fresh and had good flavor. The egg rolls were fried to a dark brown and once cooled, were very good as well. I wished they had a bit more filling, though. Still, they met my craving and for $7.00, the various rolls made a good snack.
Wednesday, April 16, 2008
Does Little Rangoon deserve a second chance?
Howard Seftel reviewed Little Rangoon today. After reading it, it might offer a good guide on what and how to order. Tara ordered the garlic noodles and found the garlic flavor lacking, while Howard seemed to have some that had strong flavor. And now that someone has clarified they spicy levels relative to a cuisine I'm intimately familiar with (Thai), we can be more confident in taking a chance and possibly getting some actual flavor.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
