I went on a Saturday morning and it was packed…a line of people waiting outside as well as people waiting  on chairs inside.  I had to be back to my hotel at a certain time to get to my event so I was wondering if I would even have time to get breakfast?  The food smelled so good in there, I wasn’t leaving without at least putting my name on the list and giving my all.  I told the hostess it was just a party of one and I got seated  up at the breakfast bar right away, no waiting!  I really felt bad because there must have been about 20 people or more waiting for tables, but that’s just how they roll and I was happy.

I already knew what I was going to get, crazy I know. However, I had read a ton of Yelp reviews on this place and saw many pictures and decided from there what I would have. I think the server was a little shocked that I ordered right away, so I explained I had come from Arizona and was prepared.  I didn’t know when I would ever be coming back here again, the old adage, “go big or go home” came to mind so I obliged.  I ordered the “Raphael Saadiq” good morning breakfast which came with 2 eggs over medium,  grits, wing drumettes, and cornbread which I passed on since I was getting a waffle as well.  In retrospect, I totally should have gotten the cornbread that came with the meal, to try a bite.  I just didn’t want to appear too overzealous.

Im in breakfast heaven

Talk about some perfect grits…these were it.  Loved that they used margarine as a topping instead of butter. I seriously felt like I was sitting down in in my grandma’s kitchen instead of a restaurant.  It was really great.  The wings were unlike any I have ever eaten.  I liked that they were simply breaded, no sauce.  The breading was super crunchy and perfectly seasoned and you could tell it was a homemade batter.  My waffle was a whole other magnificent story.  It was soft and slightly chewy with a light crunch around the outside of the waffle. The sprinkle of cinnamon on top totally rocked it, with a dab of margarine and warm maple syrup…OH MY!

whoa, what a waffle

Before I paid my bill I was running over the weekend plans in my mind to figure out when I could get back here again?  What an amazing, homemade, and delicious meal.  Unfortunately, too much vodka that same evening made it near impossible to return the next day However, I will be back Serving Spoon, mark my words. If you’re in West Hollywood, type their address into your GPS and just go, no excuses or you’re missing out.

Chicken Curry Noodles-comfort in a bowl

Really wish I could have gotten this picture larger for you guys, but enough is enough!  My favorite Thai meal of all time HAD to get on the blog now.  Lemongrass Thai Cafe is a quaint restaurant in a little known strip mall in Tempe.  Located on Broadway Blvd, just past Hardy Dr. , just look for the bright green and yellow signs and you will find your destination.

I came here about a year ago for the first time on a recommendation from my friend Christy who is a Thai food fiend, so I trusted her word.  That night I got to sample a few of Lemongrass’ amazing dishes.  The sheer size of their menu is daunting at first, but if you know what you like you can find it or something quite similar somewhere on their menu.  My second trip in is when I ordered the chicken curry noodles, the dish that ruined me for any other Thai dish  for the rest of my life.

yummy Thai Iced Tea

There is simply nothing in the world like these noodles, even in 110 degree weather.  Like last night, in steep desert temps, I will get in my car and drive from Fountain Hills to Tempe to get my fix. Yes, I said fix because this comforting Thai soup is an addiction that I will never kick.  Imagine a creamy, thin, brothy, spicy, chicken noodle soup.  Next, picture incredible flavor with raw red onion slices, thin sliced chicken, ramen noodles, and a panang broth.  This is fill your soul, curl up on your couch, feel good food.  I order it spicy and get a Thai Iced Tea to drink as a refreshing cool down from the heat of the curry.  Think the lime wedge on top is just useless decoration? Don’t set that baby aside, it is crucial in the final flavor of the dish.  The lime gets squeezed all over the top of these curry noodles that adds the perfect zing to the creamy spicy broth.  I’ll put up a few pics of the dishes that came before the Curry Noodles, and they were delicious, but if I’m driving 28 miles round trip, I am going to get my noodles on.  They are heavenly every single time.  I LOVE Lemongrass Thai Cafe.

green curry and beef

I had the chance to preview this delicious burger the day before it hit the menus on August 3rd.  Emma’s burger will be on all Red Robin menus until September 12th and from now until September 12th children can enter the cook-off for their burger to be in menus next summer.

Spicy Honey Glazed Bacon Burger w/Havarti cheese

I’ve always been a fan of Red Robin, from their Red Robin Royal burger with the over easy fried egg on top, to the bottomless steak fries, you simply can’t go wrong.  I have to honestly say, that this spicy honey glazed burger thought up by a four year old, is the BEST burger I have ever had at Red Robin.  No joke, it was more than good, it was fantastic! I think it all has to do with the honey cayenne mayo that is on the bun.  This sweet,  spicy, and creamy sauce adds so much character and extra moisture to the taste of the burger itself.  You can’t get a Red Robin burger medium rare like I normally order my burger, but you can get it with “some pink” and with the glaze it was very juicy.  The bacon and the havarti cheese were a perfect combo also to accompany the burger.

Another great thing about the Kid’s Cook-Off burger is that fifty cents of each burger ordered will go to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children.  NCMEC is an organization that Red Robin is passionate about fundraising for.  Since 2006, Red Robin has donated over $310,000.00 to this cause through the Kids’ Cook-Off as well as other programs.

The Food Tramp Diaries and Red Robin would like to give one of my readers a chance to win a $10.00 giftcard to Red Robin as well as a burger cookbook, “50 Gourmet Burger Creations From Kids Across the Country”. This will give you a chance to go in and try out Emma’s burger for yourself and give to a great cause.  I know you’ll LOVE this burger.

cookbook and giftcard

I will be running this giveaway until Saturday midnight.  Entry is per usual, follow ALL of these steps and you may enter as many times as you like.

1) Fan Red Robin on Facebook & follow them on Twitter (if you have Twitter)

2) Fan Food Tramp Diaries on Facebook and follow her on Twitter (if you have Twitter)

3) Suggest Food Tramp Diaries to two friends on Facebook

4) Leave a comment after this post of what you top your favorite burger with.

Good Luck!!!!!!!

Some of the highlights of this year’s festival include:  170 Wine & Spirit Purveyors , 70 of San Diego’s Top Chefs Celebrity Chefs, Cooking & Wine Tasting Classes, Big Bottle Auction, Continuous Food and Wine Tastings, Over 800 Wines and the $50,000 Chef of The Fest Competition. 

Click here to see a schedule of events

Click here to purchase tickets (Last year’s events were TOTALLY sold out)

To get up to the minute information on the festival, fan them on Facebook  AND follow them on twitter!!

Last year I was suppose to attend this event, but had to back out last minute due to my daughter’s illness.  I am excitingly looking forward to attend the 2010 San Diego Bay Wine & Food Festival this year with no snafus.  I will be keeping you up to date on Celebrity Chefs attending, new up and coming restaurants getting ready to strut their stuff at the festival, and anything else related to the November event.  Many people attend this festival from out of state, so if this is you, click here for hotel and travel information.

Phoenix Resident, Jaclyn Douma has released her first cookbook containing a collection of her own recipes specifically designed with couples in mind. 

As a newlywed herself, Jaclyn knew she wanted to organize a book with helpful tips, party suggestions and many of her favorite recipes for couples who couldn’t necessarily make/afford those “Filet Mignon” recipes in many of the cookbooks given as wedding gifts.  Jaclyn’s dream of providing a useful tool in the kitchen, as well as, passing along recipes of her own on a newlywed budget has finally come true.

 I’ve gone through this book and it is really fantastic!! Simple and delicious recipes, and most of them make more than two servings.  So a newlywed couple, or a young couple with small children could easily benefit from this cookbook and possibly even have leftovers.  I love the list in the front of the book of pantry essential items, it’s a great tool if you’re needing to build a pantry, but don’t quite know how.

 Jaclyn is doing a giveaway on the blog for one lucky reader to win this book for themselves.  Follow these simple steps to enter, and enter as many times as you’d like.  I will let random.org choose a winner on Thursday night!

 1) Make sure you are a fan of Food Tramp Diaries on facebook and twitter if you’re a fellow tweeter.

 2) Fan Our First Year on facebook and follow them on twitter if you’re a tweeter.

3) Leave a comment on what your favorite food to make at home in your kitchen is!!  Good luck, I will post a winner on Thursday.

Even though Open Table didn’t seem to have any reservations left for the evening, I figured there’s always room at the bar for a party of one.  I went pretty early, about 7:30pm and the restaurant was almost entirely empty.  I bellied up to the bar, ordered a dirty martini and my relaxing delicious evening had begun.  The bartenders there were awesome, fun to talk to and totally let me park there for 3 hours while I tried a little bit of everything and watched the restaurant fill up and come to life.

half eaten popover

Of course, first thing’s first.  If you are at BLT Steak, you need to start your meal with a delicious, airy yet rich popover with butter and sea salt.  They are complimentary and simply delicious.  They even include the cutest little recipe card on the plate so you can attempt to make your own at home.  I will include this near the end of the post.  I haven’t made my own yet, but I can’t wait to try.

Next, the chef de cuisine, Brian Moyers sent out an array of small bites for me try.  Marinaded olives, beautiful charcuterie, grilled cheese bites, and chicken livers were all delicious with the chicken livers and charcuterie being my favorite.  Growing up amongst a family of butchers may have swayed my picks, but their pate was so delicious and simple, pretty much just ground livers with a very light seasoning.  It was so delicious smeared on a piece of the warm popover.  The charcuterie was also very elementary, but the meat was superb and the dry salami was my favorite.  It has the  perfect texture and bitterness to it.

yummy chicken livers

a little taste of their charcuterie

 Next came my most favorite dish of the evening, their mussels.  Not sure if this item is on their menu any longer, but, when I was there it was on their dinner menu as well as their Happy Hour menu.  These mussels were steamed perfectly in a delicious savory broth that had bits of the holy trinity (onions, celery, and bell pepper) as well as thin slices of chorizo sausage.  This dish changed me for all other mussel dishes I will ever have.  Since my trip to BLT Steak L.A., I have had mussels twice and they don’t even come close to being as good as these mussels were.  I hope if I stop in at BLT Steak Scottsdale, they may have them as well, one can only dream.

no words to describe how good these were

After all of this delicious food I was getting full, but I couldn’t give up yet, as I really wanted to try their lamb.  Since I wasn’t sure when I’d have the money or the chance to return to BLT…I was going big or going home!! After taking a break and sipping on a cocktail for awhile, Iordered the Rack of Lamb ($40.0) medium rare and under recommendation of my bartender paired it with the red wine sauce.   This lamb was out of control good.  Perfectly cooked, easy to cut, melted in my mouth and served with a whole bulb of roasted garlic! Did they know that garlic is one of my favorite foods? I don’t know, but all I had to do was gently squeeze the garlic out of it’s skin and smear it on the lamb, pour on a little red wine sauce and viola!  It was so perfect.

whoa, what a rack!

Already planning a trip back to BLT Steak, this time at the Scottsdale location for my husbands birthday in January.  BLT Steak L.A. was just fantastic.  Amazing food, kind and friendly service, and a beautiful atmosphere.  They also have a great location on the Sunset Strip, you can’t miss it.  Remember, Monday thru Friday they have a fabulous $5.0 Happy Hour from 5pm-7pm.  I highly suggest you stop in on your next trip to Los Angeles.  Tell them the Food Tramp sent you

BLT Popovers

makes 12

Ingredients

4 Cups Milk, Warmed
8 Eggs
4 cups flour
1 1/2 heaping tbsp salt
2 1/4 cups grated gruyere cheese
Popover Pan

Directions

Makes 12. Place the popover pan in the oven. Heat oven and pan to 350 deg. Gently warm the milk over low heat and set aside. Whisk the eggs until frothy and slowly whisk in the milk (so as not to cook the eggs). Set the mixture aside. Sift the flour with the salt. Slowly add the dry mixture to the eggs and combine until mostly smooth. Once combined remove the popover pan from the oven and spray with non stick vegetable spray. Fill each popover cup 3/4 full and top each with 2 1/2 cups of gruyere cheese. bake at 350 deg for 50 minutes, rotating pan half a turn after 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

It only helps you to fan Arizona Restaurant Week on facebook  and follow them on twitter, as you can get the latest details on participating restaurants as well chances to win gift certificates to attend the restaurant of your choice!!  Foodies Like Us will be the “official” blog of Arizona Restaurant Week, and watch for a guest post by the Food Tramp with them later this month. 

Also, stay tuned to the Food Tramp Diaries as I will be posting my personal reviews of the places I choose to check out for restaurant week.  My hardest decision is always, “where to go” as all of the menus already look excellent.  Being a stay at home mom, living on one income with a growing family, this is always an excellent chance to experience champagne tastes on a beer budget so to speak.

Living in Arizona, I’m always singing praises about our all year round farmer’s markets here, but Hollywood Farmer’s market was the coolest market I have ever been to. I toured the whole market which was about four different aisle ways of  fresh produce, flowers, food, and gourmet goodies.

On my way back to the car port I saw the cutest little orange bicycle with a freezer cooler hooked to the front.  Two people were passing out mysteriously wrapped packages out of this cart and there was a line…I was curious.

I get closer and I see that it’s a popsicle bike/cart!!! “OMG, how freaking cool;” is what I’m thinking in my head.  Also cursing myself because I had just had a mint chocolate cacao chip ice cream sandwich from the Carmela Ice Cream stand.  I really couldn’t eat anything else, my stomach was in a bad place already, being hungover, but I still wanted to get the scoop on this awesome popsicle making duo!

Chef Michelle Sallah has been in the food arena her whole life having parents who owned a diner. She’s worked in the restaurant world since she was 12 years old,  so culinary school and fine dining was the next logical step.  After awhile she decided to become a freelance chef to have more freedom to work on her own projects and this is how Popcycle Treats came about!

The “legs” of this project is John.  He rides the bike around everywhere toting these delicious handmade gourmet pops. He even designed and constructed the whole bike himself which I believe is quite an amazing feat!

Michelle makes the pops and she offers many different flavors, depending on what fruits and veggies are in season in their area.  When I spotted them they were carrying salty cucumber lime, peach ginger, and lemon mint blueberry organic popsicles.  I really wish I would have found them before I found Carmela, but now I have something to look forward to next time I am in L.A.  Even as I was  speaking to them they quickly sold out, as they do on every trip out.  I know they frequent the Hollywood Farmer’s Market, Silverlake Farmer’s Market and the  Cinespia screenings in L.A.   Just like a food truck, if you want to know where you can find them simply follow them on twitter or fan them on facebook. 

salty cucumber lime, orange blackberry

coconut milk chocolate, raspberry Arnold Palmer

I really wanted to show you guys this unique foodie find, I just thought it was the coolest thing EVER…wish we had one at the Scottsdale Farmer’s Market…hmmmmm???

this is legit!

After the official greeting from Dole employees as well as celebrity chef, Ben Ford, we were paired off and got to cooking.  Of course I was ecstatic when I got paired with Laura who had the bacon wrapped scallops…gotta love cookin up some bacon!  The five dishes to battle for the big win were: pineapple glazed bacon wrapped scallops with pineapple macadamia nut quinoa, ginger mandarin orange rice with cashew tofu, orange and avocado crowed black Thai grilled chicken thighs, turkey and pineapple infused stuffed peppers, and mandarin chicken burger. 

This was my favorite, thought she would win for sure!

The winning dish!

these were yummy!!

the cilantro mayo was awesome on this burger

After careful contemplation by Iron Chef competitor and famed chef,  Ben Ford, a winner was chosen; Janice Elder and her chicken thighs took the prize!!  Next on the agenda was cosuming the copious amounts of food we had prepared.  However, eating the meal came about two hours after the food was completed so everything was cold

Dole in the house!

Besides the five competing dishes, each team also made a side dish if you will, to add to our dinner.  Laura and I made an “angel lush” cake and boy was it delicious! I’ll be posting the recipe later on in this post.  Since I’ve been home from this trip I have already made it twice for my family because they love it so much. 

This was the first annual cook-off for Dole.  I found it super fun, entertaining, interesting, educational and I couldn’t have been happier to be a part of it.  If there is any constructive criticism I could give it would be one simple suggestion; have the event next year in a larger space so the dining area can be already set up.  That way food can be eaten when it is still hot or even somewhat warm.  I was super excited to try all of the dishes, which were all hot entrees, but having them cold, two hours later was a little disappointing to the taste buds.  However, even despite the cold food, this event was a major hit and I know we all had a great day together with Dole and Ben Ford!

Angel Lush Cake

1 angel food cake (I recommend the sour cream angel food cake found at Kroger/Fry’s/Ralph stores)

1- 3.4 oz package of instant vanilla pudding

1- can Dole crushed pineapple

1 cup cool whip

Mix dry pudding mix and can of pineapple (undrained) together.  Do not add milk to the pudding, simply use the dry powder.  Carefully fold in the cool whip.  Cut your angel food cake into three layers and add pineapple mixture between each layer.  Refrigerate.

I recently came here for a “tweet up” and had a great time with foodie friends, enjoying 25 Degrees Happy Hour specials and eating some of their delicious food.  While sipping on my dirty martini I decided to order some bacon wrapped dates ($8.0).  In my bacon loving life I have wrapped a lot of things with bacon, but haven’t had the pleasure of dates.  They were delicious, soft and sweet in the middle with the smoky salty crunch of the crisp bacon on the outside.  Another item I recommend that I tried of a friends was the tempura green and yellow beans ($9.0).  The beans were fresh and not over fried with the tempura, they still had a great crunch and came with a yummy dipping sauce.

bacon wrapped dates

yum, tempura green beans!

After a couple martinis my hunger was substantial as I saw lots of burgers and dogs coming out of the kitchen.  I decided it was time to order up a burger to see for myself.  Granted, this is not your $5. burger, so if  you’re coming here, be ready to spend about  $10-$15 on a burger alone.  Everything is a la carte, so it can certainly add up, but it’s worth it in the end.  I decided to build my own burger when I learned that you cannot make any substitutions to their 4 specialty burgers on the menu.  So, here is what I ordered,  that I so lovingly dubbed, “The Food Tramp” : ground sirloin, smoked mozzarella, jalapeno bacon, caramelized onions, fried egg over easy, and thousand island dressing ($14.5). 

The Food Tramp in all her glory!

alternate view, check out that egg yolk situation!

I don’t quite know what to say about this burger, as it was just so damn good!  The burger itself was cooked medium with tender juiciness in every bite.  The additions I had on the burger added the perfect blend of spicy, salty, cheesy goodness.  Definitely up there on my list of top burgers along with Umami Burger , BLT Burger, and The Raft Burger.  The only thing I would change next time, is that I would get the garlic aioli instead of thousand island.  I am  a lover of garlic and didn’t notice it on the list when I ordered the other dressing.  I also had a bite of my friends bacon wrapped Sonoran Dog ($10.5) which was also super delicious and I am eager to order one of those as well the next time I am there.  Oh, and did I mention that they even have adult milkshakes??!! I didn’t get one, but I tried a sip of the “bourbon bacon” milkshake and it was just cool, creamy and yum-E!!! 

I throughly enjoyed everything about 25 Degrees.  From the atmosphere, to the beautfiul wallpaper of half naked sexy ladies in the bathroom, to the food.  It’s really a great place to go for a drink, for a burger or both! Check it out SOON.