Friday, October 16, 2015

October 15, 2016 - Old Town Tortilla Factory - Scottsdale, Arizona

I went to Thursday Night Art walk in Scottsdale with Irma Heasley and Lois Rowe...two of my favorite ladies who live in Las Palmas with me.  We decided to go early and have dinner at the Old Town Tortilla Factory.

I ordered the Old Town Tacos – huge grilled shrimp, grilled strips of chicken and strips of grilled beef were served with black beans…rice cortez…pico de gallo….shredded lettuce…with which I could build my own tacos in the flour tortillas that I chose over the corn tortillas.  Served with a green sauce that had quite a bite to it.  I also tried the Treasure Margarita – El  Torso Reposado, Gran Marnier and fresh citrus juice.  It came in my own shaker.  The cost of $12.50 looks high at the onset… but I did get three glasses out of it…so not too bad.

I really enjoyed my meal...and from the looks of them and the comments I would also have enjoyed either of Irma's or Lois' meals.  I would return to the Old Town Tortilla Factory again for dinner.  the only negative comment is that they won't do separate checks and that might keep me away.  Why?  Simply because I believe in Customer Service.  That small rule...printed very boldy on the menu does not convey an interest in my needs as a customer.  Plus the restaurant is in a metroplitan area where many singles live.  Do what fits the needs of your customer.

When the margarita was brought to me our wait staff who was wonderful showed me how to shake the shaker without losing the top..and she brought us hot tortillas with a spicy jalapeno butter.  Very nice.

My Treasure Margarita complete with a shaker.  Irma Heasley is smiling in the background.


The hot tortillas with the spicy jalapeno butter that were served to us with our drinks.


Irma ordered Green Enchiladas – chicken, cheese and corn tortillas covered with tomatillo sauce, sour cream served with rice cortez and black beans. Lois ordered the Tostaditas – 3 mini tostadas covered in marinated beef, onion, tomatoes and lettuce.  Topped with cheese and drizzled with chipotle sour cream.

I don't know if it the excitement of seeing our main entrees...the margarita...or the good conversation...but I forgot to take pictures when we were served our meals.  Darn!


We chose to sit out on the patio…good choice.  It was a lovely patio night plus we were right on the fringes of the young people at Happy Hour

Old Town Tortilla Factory
6910 E. Main Street
Scottsdale, Arizona  85251
(480) 945-4567
Hours:  Sunday – Thursday  5:00 p.m. – 9:30 p.m.
                             Friday – Saturday 5:00 p.m. – 10:00 p.m.

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

October 13, 2015 - PF Chang's - Mesa, Arizona

P F Chang's has a wonderful Happy Hour...from 3:00 - 7:00 p.m.  I met Sandy Wilts, Annette Savory and Mary V there this afternoon after bridge.  They went to the afternoon movie of A Walk in the Woods.  They have a wide variety of great tasting appetizers at a great price.

We ordered Jicama Street Tacos – pork pieces served in crisp jicama shells and mint wrapped in cool rice paper with a sesame peanut sauce…delicious with a little bite to it.  Hand-folded Crab Wontons – crispy wontons filled with crab, bell peppers and green onion, served with spicy plum sauce.


Fried green beans – lightly coated and served with a spicy dipping sauce.


Hand-Folded Crab Wontons


Fried Beans with a Spicy Dipping Sauce


Jicama Street Tacos


PF Chang’s
6610 E.  Superstition Springs Blvd.
Mesa, AZ 85206
(480) 218-4900



Sandy Wilts, Annette Savory, Lois Wenzell and Mary V.
(Isn't it nice that I cut off my friend and neighbor Sandy Wilts.  I think too may Bloody Marys.)


Sunday, October 11, 2015

October 10, 2015 - The Cornish Pasty Company - Tempe, Arizona

I visited the Tempe location on October 10, 2015 with Sandy Wilts and Annette Savory.  .   It has a real pub atmosphere.  The menu is huge.   I started with a cup of homemade soup – Cream of Leek, Potato and Stilton…and served with homemade bread and butter.  The bread was a white hearty bread.  It tasted wonderful.




Sandy and Annette each ordered the Roast Dinner Pasty – house roasted beef, roasted potato, candied carrots, sautéed brussel sprouts, cheese sauce and rutabaga mash.  Served with red wine gravy and horse radish cream.






Since this was the Phoenix Magazine choice as the best pasty in the Valley because they magazine had identified the pasty as the signature Montana food, I had to try The Oggie (the traditional pasty) – steak, potato, onion and rutabaga (swede) with  a side of red wind gravy. 





The pasties were huge…thick dough…beautifully designed….filled to bursting with contents.

The menu lists fourteen signature pasties – fifteen premium pasties – thirteen vegetarian and vegan pasties.  Nine sides are on the menu and include items like Mushy Peas.  They also offer six different types of desserts that include all of the favorites such as Sticky Toffee Pudding.

I am so happy to have found this pub.  This is the best pasty I have ever eaten.  I will be taking many of my winter visitors here for lunch.

The Company was founded in January, 2005 by Cornwall native Dean Thomas at the Tempe location.

The Cornish Pasty originates from Cornwall (Southwest England) and can be traced back as far as the 13th century.  Mining was once a thriving industry in Cornwall and at that time pasties were baked by the wives and mothers of the tin miners.  Pasties were made with a thick crimped edge along one side so the miners could use the crimp as a handle to hold onto while eating.  The hands of the miners would often be covered in arsenic from the mine, so the miners would discard the handle when they were done.  The crusts were never wasted though, as many miners believed that ghosts, or “knockers”, inhabited the mines and their leftover crusts would keep these ghosts content.

Traditionally, pasties were made with different fillings at each end; one end containing meat and vegetables, and the other end with a sweet filling.  The sweet end would be marked with an initial so the miners knew what side to eat first. Today, Cornish Pasties are filled with steak, potatoes, swede  (rutabaga) and onions.

At one time Cornwall had nearly 2,000 flourishing tin mines, but by the 1880s tin mining had become a rapidly declining industry.  At this time Cornish miners began immigrating to Michigan’s Upper Peninsula for copper mining. Bringing with them the tradition of pasties.  Cornish Pasties are well known throughout mining towns across America as well as the British Isles.


Butte, Montana, was the center of a mining boom in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and at one point, Irish immigrants who came to work the mines composed a quarter of the city’s population.  With them came the miner’s tradition of the meat pasty, which is still extremely popular not just in Butte, but throughout the state.  The Oggie from Cornish Pasty Company is a descendant of the Butte pasty, its flaky crust filled with steak, potatoes, onions and rutabagas.  While folks in Montana might scoff at the rutabagas and insist on beef gravy rather than red wine gravy, the Oggie is otherwise a reasonably close approximation of a Butte pasty.

The Cornish Pasty Company
960 W. University
Tempe, Arizona 85281
Hours: Sunday – Wednesday 11:00 a.m. – 12:00 a.m.
            Thursday – Saturday 11:00 a.m. – 2:00 a.m.

Other locations:
1941 W. Guadalupe Road
Mesa, Arizona 85202

3800 N. Goldwater Blvd.
Scottsdale, Arizona 85251

953 E. Sahara Avenue
Las Vegas, Nevada 89104

Saturday, October 10, 2015

September 21, 2015 - Schloegel's Bay View Restaurant - Menominee, Michigan

I visited on September 21, 2015 with Richard and Roberta Gale.   I couldn’t resist ordering the Peanut Butter and Bacon Burger  - thick slice smokehouse bacon, crunchy peanut butter and crisp lettuce  on their bakery’s pretzel roll.  Smokey and nutty with a hint of salt.  It was different…and I did put mustard on it…and now I wished that I would just have eaten it as it was served to get the full effect.  Served with homemade chips.



This is not the best picture because some of the peanut butter stuck to the crisp bacon.  It looks horrible...but it tasted good.


Roberta ordered the Beef ‘n Rye Melt…served with homemade chips.



The view of Green Bay is fantastic from this dining room.  It is just one of those old family dining restaurants that looks worn…but feels comfortable.  There is also a patio out on the deck with seating.

There is a separate bakery and gift shop…but we were too full to try any of the desserts.

Schloegel’s Bay View Restaurant
2720 10th Street
Menominee, Michigan 49855
(906) 863-7888
Hours:  Monday – Sunday  6:30 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

September 20, 2015 - Luigi's - Green Bay, Wisconsin

I visited on September 20, 2015 with Richard and Roberta Gale.  We shared the Luigi’s Special Pizza – Italian sausage, onions, green peppers, black or green olives, mushrooms and pepperoni…all of my favs…on a thin crust…dessert:  cannoli…then chocolate from Perguia, Italy with lemoncello chips.

It was just as I like it...thin crust.  My pizza always has to have a thin crust.

Luigi’s
2733 Manitowoc Road
Green Bay, Wisconsin 54311
(920) 468-4900
Hours:  Monday – closed
             Tuesday – Thursday – 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.
             Friday – 11:00 a.m. – 11:00 p.m.
             Saturday – 12:00 p.m. – 11:00p.m.

September 16, 2015 - North Water Bakery and Deli - Algoma, Wisconsin

I visited on September 16, 2015 with Richard and Roberta Gale.  I chose the kaloches…one strawberry and cream cheese…one cream cheese…and one cherry….they were delicious.  I am now researching recipes.  I would love to try making my own.

Keep your fingers crossed that I am successful.  I will be sharing the recipe if I am.



North Water Bakery and Deli
133. N. Water Street
Algoma, Wisconsin 54201
(920) 487-5306
Hours:  Monday-Friday 4:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
             Saturday 4:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.
             Sunday – Closed

September 16, 2015 - Al Johnson's Swedish Restaurant - Sister Bay, Wisconson

I visited on September 16, 2015 with Richard and Roberta Gale.  . I ordered the Swedish Meatballs with mashed potatoes.  Dutch Potato and Ham Soup.  It was delicious.  It was served with the most delicious Limpa Swedish Rye bread…with a hint of anise….plus lots of different types of rye crackers.  We were also brought a dish of lingonberries.  The waitress told me to put some of that on my meatballs..yes…it really added to the taste of the meatballs.


Limpa Swedish Rye Bread


Dutch Potato and Ham Soup


Swedish Meatballs and Mashed Potatoes


Roberta ordered the Meatball sandwich and it was served with sweet and sour cabbage.




Fun dinner.  The waitresses were all dressed up in Swedish folk dresses.

And yes…we went outside and checked the roof to see if  the goats were up there noshing on the grass roof…yup! They were pretty cute.




Real Live Goats Up on the Grass Roof



Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant
10698 N. Bay Shore Drive
Sister Bay, Wisconsin 54234
(920) 854-2626
Hours:  Monday – Sunday  6:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.



September 17, 2015 - White Gull Inn - Fish Creek, Wisconsin

I visited on September 17, 2015 with Richard and Roberta Gale.  I ordered the Door County Cherry Stuffed French Toast – two golden brown slices of egg bread with pockets of Wisconsin Cream Cheese and Door County Cherries, served with Door County Maple Syrup…and crisp slices of bacon.  It was very good but I should have gone with my instincts and only ordered a half order.   I love cherries…and this was just too tempting to pass up.


Winner – Best Breakfast in American Challenge – Good Morning America.



This restaurant is set in the White Gull Inn - a stately and charming  Victorian guesthouse, since 1897, with five suites in the main house - four suites in the Welcker House - four suites in the Cliff House - two cottages as well as the Lundberg House and the Foster Olson House.  It is located in Fish Creek - the soul of Door County.  "...with it's back to a rock and its face to the sea."

White Gull Inn
4225 Main Street
Post Office Box 160
Fish Creek, Wisconsin 54212
1-888-364-9542