February 21, 2017 - Singing Pandas Restaurant and Bar - Chandler, Arizona

I went on a Las Palmas and Las Palmas Grand trip to this Asian restaurant in Chandler.  It was my first visit.

I ordered the Mu Shu Pork - Chinese cabbage, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts & egg fried in the delicious hoisin sauce – served with flour tortillas.  Delicious!

The service was fast and efficient.  I can not say enough good comments about the wait staff.  The menu was huge with a varity of different dishes...lots of them for vegetarians.

Tuesdays the musical entertainment is The Legends  – Michael Russell – impersonated:  Elvis, Frank Sinatra, George Strait, Johnny Cash, Neil Diamond, Blues Brothers,  etc.  He was excellent!

Also a young lady whose name I didn’t get… sang more earthy songs…and was very good.

Followed by the owner of the business – Sherry – who was a professional singer in China…she sang several songs…some in Chinese…some in English.  I enjoyed the whole performance. 

What a way to spend a lovely evening with dinner and entertainment.  I will be returning because I saw so many entrees that I am dying to try.  I will also bring out of town company to this restaurant because it just a little zing to an outing.

Singing Pandas Restaurant and Bar

757 E. Chandler Blvd.

Chandler, Arizona 85225

(480) 777-5050

Hours:  Tuesday – Friday 11:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

             Saturday – Sunday 11:30 a.m. – 11:30 p.m.

            Monday  - Closed

February 16, 2017 - Anita's Cocina - Wickenburg, Arizona

I visited  on February 16 and February 17, 2017 with Joan Bershok.  Joan ordered the Cheese Crisp.  I order 3 – Rolled Tacos.  We each had two margaritas.  I will start by saying the chips and salsa were marvelous.  The chips were served with two types of salsa…very hot…which I really liked…but the medium was superb.  The best tasting salsa I have tasted in a long time.  They do bottle it…so Joan brought two bottles home.

I loved my rolled tacos.  I even tried a couple pieces of Joan’s  Cheese Crisp…and it was perfect.  She loaded it down with guacamole and sour cream that she ordered on the side.

We were happy girls. 

I will say that it took a long time to be seated.  I think the mistake this business makes there is the hostess also runs the cash register because guests have to pay their bills at the cash register.  The problem is the guests paying bills line backs up and then no one is seated.  It always appears as if there is mass confusion.  I would have a person either be the cashier or have the wait staff handle the paying of the bills.  If the restaurant is slow go to a different mode if needed.  All I am saying is that the situation needs to be evaluated.

Anita’s Cocina

57 N. Valentine Street

Wickenburg, Arizona

(928) 684-5777

Hours:  Monday – Friday 10:00 a.m. – 8:00 p.m.

             Saturday- Sunday 8:00 a.m. – 8 p.m.

February 1, 2017 - Kitchen 56 - Phoenix, Arizona

I visited on January 17, 2019 with Carol Thompson.   I thought I was taking her to where I had dinner one evening with Kelli Jo Welk but it looked completely different…and yet I cannot find another restaurant in the area that looks like the one where we went…so I am thinking they have remodeled.

Anyway I liked this one.  Carol ordered the BLT with fries.  I ordered the special 1/ 2 Caesar Salad and a bowl of Creamy Potato, Bacon and Cheddar Soup….served with toasted Artisan bread.  I thought the soup was too thick but it tasted very good.  The salad looked and tasted as if it had been in the refrigerator for two days.  Carol’s BLT, now was delicious…and the fries were marvelous.

I plan to visit again.  I am thinking it was just a bad day for the Special.

Special - 1/ 2 Caesar Salad and a Bowl of Creamy Potato, Bacon and Cheddar Soup

BLT with Fries

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I visited with my friend, Kelli Jo Welk on F

ebruary 1, 2017.  It was our monthly dinner date.  Off the Happy Hour Menu we ordered the Tomato Basil Bruschetta which we liked.  The tomato and basil mixture was heaped on the slices of bread.  We also liked the bread which was crusty on the outside but soft in the middle.  I have to tell you that Kelli and I went to Italy in 2007.  We traveled through the entire country…eating bruschetta everywhere we went.

We shared the Pepperoni pizza from the wood fired oven (could have been oak…could have been pecan wood) – pepperoni, fresh mozzarella with San Marzano sauce.  We both liked the thin crust of the pizza.  We are not doughy crust pizza eaters.  The pizza had lots of cheese and pepperoni on the crust as well as sauce.  I like that…more ingredients than crust.

Kitchen 56

3433 56^th Street

Phoenix,  AZ 85018

(480) 994-5656

Hours:  Monday – Thursday 11:00 a.m.. – 9:00 p.m.

               Friday 11:00 a.m. – 10:00 p.m.

                Saturday 10:00 a.m. – 10:00p.m.

               Sunday 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m.

This restaurant is set in an old gas station on the corner of 56^th Street and Indian School in the Arcadia District of Phoenix.  The owners were able “to reuse the main building even keeping the original bays to frame the artsy desert light that rolls down” from the “fisheye view of the iconic Camelback Mountain.”