Oregano's

On the SE corner of Elliott and Priest in Chandler, near Costco, there was a building that at one time was an Atlanta Bread Co and several other failed restaurants. Well, it looks like it finally has a successful occupant. Oregano's, a Chicago style pizza joint, has moved in and it's busy. We arrived at about 7PM on a Friday evening. We were told that there was a one hour wait for an inside table. We opted for the well misted patio and had a table within 10 minutes. 

My first hint that it was going to be a good meal was that they served China Mist Tropical teas. Always good when it's China Mist.

Alan and I both chose the Build Your Own Pan Pizza. The menu and the waitress do warn you that this pizza takes up to 45 minutes to bake. We knew but we wanted to try it. Alan got a meaty pizza with sausage, pepperoni and sun dried tomato. I opted for the artichoke hearts, caramelized onions and sun dried tomato. We didn't order any appetizers while we waited. That would just be too much food! There are tons of other options on the menu that don't take nearly as much time. We'll have to try some of the quicker dishes next time and save the Pan Pizza for take out.

http://www.oreganos.com/menu.html

Our waitress, Morgan, was great. Entertained us, kept our glasses full and provided us with periodic time estimates. We were on the patio on the east side of the building so with the misters we were very comfortable. I wandered the restaurant a bit and it's a whole lot bigger than any other Oregano's I've been in. Very clean and sparkly new. They only opened two weeks ago. All of the staff are psychotically enthusiastic and very attentive. Even while we waited for our table they offered us drinks and served pizza samples.  We'll see how long that lasts!

Our pizzas finally arrived and they were very yummy. The deep dish crust is flaky good. Not as good as Uno's but with all the Uno's gone from AZ, this will have to be my alternate. I'm not a big Marinara fan but their pizza sauce is really good. Has a bit of a bite. I enjoyed it so much that I forgot to take a photo until the waitress had boxed it up. Sorry! 

Alan had about half his pizza left. I had about two-thirds. So we had another meal left over. The 8" pizza is big enough that two mildly hungry people could share it.

Alan wanted  to order their Original Pizza Cookie for dessert. It's a half pound of chocolate chip or white chocolate macadamia nut cookie lightly baked and served with three scoops of vanilla bean ice cream! For our cookie we chose half chocolate chip and half white chocolate. We ordered it to go and ate it the next day. As expected, it was fabulous. So much better than a Pizookie! It's so good it's the only dessert on the menu.

Well the waitress offered to give us to-go drinks. Who does that? Of course, I want China Mist tea to-go. Thank you very much.

So here's the total. Two drinks, two 8" Pan Pizzas and an Original Pizza Cookie with ice cream for about $39. And enough food left over for the next day. All in all a nice, slow, relaxing evening. We will be back.

Too funny!

Coal Burger - Chandler AZ

This evening we tried a new burger place at Casa Paloma mall in Chandler. It's in the upscale strip mall on the southeast corner of Ray and 54th Street. There is also one in Scottsdale near Kierland that opened earlier this year. They are owned by Grimaldi's Pizzeria which, coincidently, opened right next door and, supposedly, they share the same brick ovens.

The menu is very healthy. They advertise that they use healthy, fresh ingredients; hormone free, pasture raised beef; hormone and antibiotic free chicken and they even have gluten free buns available. All the fries are cooked in rice bran oil. The sodas were all by Boylan's. All pure cane sugar sweetened natural sodas. Even the soda cups are corn based.

I had the Bacon Blue Burger 1/4 pound. The blue cheese had a great flavor and I definitely could taste that coal fire flavor. It also had a roasted tomato on top. Very different. Good flavor. Nice touch. The burger was good but a little small. I know Alan will get the 1/2 pound burger next time. The sweet potato fries were crispy and fabulous. Some of the best I've had. The tea was China Mist. Any restaurant that serves China Mist teas is all right by me.

Alan had the Classic Coal  Burger with Cheddar Cheese and a side of fries. He also had the Hazelnut Milk Chocolate Gelato Milkshake. OMG. So good. I kept stealing sips.

http://coalburger.com/menu

The staff was really helpful. Oh and it was a little pricey. It was good and I'll go back for the shakes but I think Smashburger is a better deal. And I can get a fried egg on my burger at Smashburger!

Something is always first.

It's all Mike's fault. He's the one who started posting photos onto his Facebook page of all the dinners he created. I then started to post pictures of some of the great food that we were having while vacationing in London and Paris. Now it seems that I can't have a meal out without taking a picture and posting it to Facebook.


I've become a Foodie. A bon vivant. A bon viveur. A connoisseur. A gastronome, gourmand, gourmet. Whatever you want to call it. I love great food. I'm willing to try anything. I wish that I could eat out at every meal. Not possible but one can hope.


My old friend Therese suggested that I become a food critic and make millions. I don't think that will be possible since I am not as critical of the food as I think the position would require. And millions doesn't really seem reasonable in this economy. But I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea on a much smaller scale. Hence this blog.


Well off to feed the dog and then to try a new burger restaurant that just opened in Chandler. I'll let you know.