December 10, 2017 - Morning Glory Cafe - The Farm at South Mountain

I visited on December 10, 2017 with Mike and Carol Thompson, Sandy Wilts. We had just left the Petersen House Museum in Tempe where we enjoyed the Danish Christmas tour of the lovely house that has been restored by the City of Tempe. 

Sandy, Carol and I ordered the Classic American Breakfast…eggs (scrambled), fried cubed potatoes, crisp applewood bacon and a biscuit.  Those eggs were delicious.  I am saying that is because they are so fresh. I think it was the best breakfast I have ever eaten. 

Our service was wonderful…the coffee was delicious.  The only thing that I didn’t like was that they wouldn’t split checks…that means no separate checks but they will take more than one credit card to pay the bill.  Now that is ridiculous.  It took two people longer to do that than it would have taken one person  to write out three separate checks.  What is management thinking?

We had live music during our breakfast.  Nice!

Morning Glory Cafe - The Farm at South Mountain

6106 S 32nd St, Phoenix, AZ 85042

(602) 276-6360

Hours:  Monday Closed

             Tuesday – Friday 8:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m..

             Saturday and Sunday 8:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.

December 3, 2017 - Pizzeria Bianco - Phoenix, Arizona

Mike and Carol Thompson, Sandy Wilts and I attended the Phoenix Symphony and Symphony Chorus' afternon concert Holiday Pops!  It was marvelous.

We went to Pizzeria Bianco after the concert. 

We ordered a Sonny Boy – tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella, salami, gaeta olives…and a Wiseguy – wood roasted onion, house smoked mozzarella, fennel sausage.  I liked the Sonny Boy more than the Wiseguy..however, both were delicious!

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My favorite pizza is the wood-fired otherwise known as the Neapolitan.  So I loved the crust.  It was thin and crispy.  The wood-fired ovens produce the highest heat (650-1000 degrees) with cook times of 60-90 seconds.

Pizzeria Bianco uses organic red spring wheat, formenting the dough for 24 to 35 hours.  This gives them a high-hydration crusts..and a moist, chewy pie center.

Each pizza has the simplest of ingredients…that starts out raw…and are cooked in the 60-90 seconds of baking in the oven.  The wood-roasted onions were fantastic.  The red sauce was as sweet as a fresh tomato…right out of the garden. 

I will be returning…there are more pizzas to try.  While waiting for our pizzas we were served fresh bread…with the crispy, crunchy crust…and the bread was filled with light soft holes.  It has to be baked in the oven.  I could just go and eat bread which was served with olive oil…yummy!

The staff was friendly.  Service is rapid!  Think of those pizzas coming out every 90 seconds.

Pizzeria Bianco

609 E. Adams Street

Phoenix, Arizona 85004

(602) 528-3699

November 30, 2017 - Jalapeno Inferno - Scottsdale, Arizona

My friend, Carol Thompson was with me when we visited. 

Carol ordered the Tacos “Al Carbon” – flour tortillas filled with char-grilled marinated chicken breast, Monterey, jack and cheddar cheeses, avocado, onion, cilantro and tomatillo salsa.

I ordered the Chimichurri Steak Tacos – garlickly parsley olive oil based sauce on top of charred carne asada, cilantro, onion and jack cheese.

I really liked my entrée.  I ordered mine with flour tortillas so the server told me that since the flour tortillas are larger that I would be served two instead of the three that was listed on the menu.  They were served in a larger aluminum taco holder which was very hot.  I could see that the tortilla had been warmed up before being filled with large pieces of carne asada that tasted wonderful…and the cilantro, onion and cheese – rice that contained pieces of vegetables such as peas, carrots, green beans, etc.- and what the menu described as “fat burning: cole slaw.I liked it.  It contained chunks of apples in it.

I thoroughly enjoyed my meal.  And, I must remark that I loved the chips and salsa.  It was a mixture of corn and flour tortilla chips with a great tasting salsa that did not have a kick to it..but tasted really good.

Later that evening at home I realized that Jalapeno Inferno was a booth at the Notre Dame Preparatory High School Culinary Festival that attended the first part of November, 2017.  Our crowd was raving about the chips and salsa.  I love those flour tortilla chips.  Our waitress told us that we could always tell them just flour tortilla chips and not the mixture with the corn tortilla chips.

Our service was wonderful.  Our waitress was very attentive and helpful.  We asked if they had take out menus and she brought us two...she brought us more chips and salsa...she re-filled Carol's Diet Coke...and brought us doggie bags.

I plan to return because there are other items on the menu that I would like to try.

Jalapeno Inferno Bistro Mexicano

23587 N. Scottsdale Road

Scottsdale, Arizona 85255

(480) 585-6442

www.jalapenoinferno.com

There is also a second location at DC Ranch in Scottsdale.