Morning Glory Café at The Farm at South Mountain
When I first heard about The Farm at South Mountain, I thought, “I want to go to there.” A place where you can sit outside and enjoy the glorious mornings and evenings of fall (and let’s be honest here, winter too), a place where you can eat meals made from farm fresh food, a place where I can bring my best four-legged friend. The Farm at South Mountain is a farm-oasis in the middle of the urban city.
The Farm at South Mountain has three amazing restaurants; Morning Glory Café (breakfast and brunch), The Farm Kitchen (lunch), Quiessence (dinner), and a working farm (Maya’s).
I recently had breakfast with some friends at Morning Glory Café. A casual place to have breakfast and brunch, you’ll find all your brunch staples from mimosas and bloody mary’s to self-serve coffee, tea and lemonade. All of the dishes at Morning Glory Café are made from locally grown ingredients and the menu changes seasonally.
The Patio at Morning Glory Café
I ordered the Challah Bread French Toast with organic banana, raisin bourbon syrup, and whipped mascarpone cheese. Delicious and filling. My dining partners were fighting over the last few bites that I couldn’t finish.
Challah Bread French Toast
My husband and one of our friends ordered the Huevos Rancheros made with Arizona tepary beans, corn tortillas, grated cheese, ranchero sauce, fresh avocado and eggs. Our friend cleaned his dish, resisting the urge to lick the plate and promptly asked my husband if he was going to finish his order.
Huevos Rancheros
Our other friend ordered the Cowboy “Breakfast” Chili and Eggs made with ground beef, Arizona tepary beans, cheddar cheese, eggs, sour cream, cilantro and grilled bread. She also declared that her meal was delicious.
Cowboy “Breakfast” Chili and Eggs
After breakfast we strolled by Maya’s Farm and back out to our car, forgetting that we were in the middle of Phoenix and only a few minutes from downtown. Later in the day, when we were back to the hustle and bustle of weekend errands and chores, I smiled when I looked down on my shoes and saw them still covered with dirt from walking around The Farm.
The Farm at South Mountain is located at 6106 South 32nd Street in Phoenix.
The Uprooted Kitchen Food Truck
The Uprooted Kitchen serves vegetarian and vegan food from their 1968 vintage Avion trailer.
While many of the food trucks in Phoenix have some sort of vegetarian option on their menus, food trucks dedicated solely to vegetarians (and vegans) are few and far between. Enter, The Uprooted Kitchen. The truck is run by Chad and Erin Romanoff who wanted to bring healthy food options to their community.
The Uprooted Kitchen's menu changes weekly, however they always have two salad choices, a quesadilla and an un-bun veggie burger. All of The Uprooted Kitchen’s dishes are freshly prepared with local ingredients. I recently tried Uprooted Kitchen at Food Truck Friday and was immediately addicted. I promptly visited them the very next week to get my fix.
The Uprooted Kitchen menu changes weekly, but they always have two salad options, an un-bun veggie burger and a cheese crisp.
The first salad bowl I tried was the soba noodle tofu bowl which came with kale, red cabbage, sesame soba noodles, marinated tofu, carrots, pickled cucumbers, corn, snap peas, and mushrooms served with a spicy lime peanut dressing and a house-made gluten free seeded cracker.
Soba Noodle Tofu Bowl
This noodle bowl was hearty and kept me full for the rest of the work day. You could tell how fresh everything in the bowl was, and as you can see by the photo below I finished every single last bit. Yum.
It's okay to lick the bowl, right?
Now, I was hooked. I went back to Food Truck Friday the next week to visit the Uprooted Kitchen food truck and this time I tried the quinoa kale salad bowl made with tofu, beets, mushrooms, snap peas, avocado, purslane and sunflower seeds with a sesame soy dressing and their signature house-made gluten free seeded cracker. Another win. I look forward to going back and trying one of the un-bun veggie burgers and quesadillas.
Kale Quinoa Salad
You can find The Uprooted Kitchen consistently at Food Truck Friday at the Phoenix Public Market every Friday from 11am – 1:30pm, then at JAM in Old Town Scottsdale from 6-8pm and at the Gilbert Farmers Market every Saturday from 7am – 11am… Make sure to follow The Uprooted Kitchen on Facebook and Twitter to find additional locations and times.
The food truck craze has exploded in Phoenix with many opportunities to eat from these rolling gourmet “restaurants." We’ve eaten from many of the food trucks throughout Phoenix and wanted to highlight them individually for you. You can find the food trucks on a regular basis at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market on Wednesday evenings from 4-8pm, Fridays from 11am – 1:30pm and on Saturdays from 8am – 1pm. At the North Central Farmers’ Market on Saturdays from 9am – 2pm, the Third Thursday of the Month at the Whole Foods Raintree location from 11:30am – 1pm. There are always many more opportunities that you can find by following your favorite truck individually or by following the Phoenix Street Coalition. Bon Appétit!
Breakfast at Gallo Blanco
Vegetable Chilaquiles Verdes
Chilaquiles is a magical breakfast dish. Part breakfast, part lunch and part dinner, you (ok, I) could eat Chilaquiles any time of the day. Chilaquiles is a traditional Mexican dish typically made with fried corn tortillas, vegetables or chicken, eggs, cheese and then smothered with rich salsa. Luckily, I live and work near Gallo Blanco, a restaurant that arguably has one of the best Chilaquiles dishes in Phoenix.
Located inside The Clarendon Hotel, Gallo Blanco is a modern, Mexican food restaurant that has adopted the farm-to-table philosophy. Dishes are made from seasonal ingredients sourced from local farms. In fact, when you visit Gallo Blanco the specials and seasonal items are written on a blackboard, with exactly which farms provided the ingredients. Pretty cool (and makes for delicious food and drinks).
Gallo Blanco serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. In fact, they have an all-day breakfast menu, which includes my beloved Chilaquiles, so I can literally have them for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Gallo Blanco is located at 401 W. Clarendon Avenue in Phoenix.
Downtown Phoenix: It’s Cooler Than You Think (VIDEO)
Savvy locals know that downtown Phoenix is filled with independent restaurants, live entertainment, cultural attractions, and great hotels within walking distance of it all. But some visitors still manage to wander around in a state of blissful grumpiness.
Cartel Coffee Lab – Downtown Phoenix
“This will be the most epic veggie sandwich you have ever had.”
This is what the chef at Cartel Coffee Lab said to me as he handed me my order. It seemed like a bold claim. I had watched him roast the veggies and carefully construct my sandwich while I stood in the tiny coffee shop waiting for my order. It sure smelled good. When I got back into my office, I bit into my sandwich. Yep, epic. It had a variety of roasted veggies; zucchini, yellow squash, tomato, potato and cheese. The fresh fruit was a nice accompaniment. Normally a fruit side means a standard melon mix with maybe a grape or two, but fresh apples and strawberries came with my sandwich from Cartel. A refreshing change.
My "epic" veggie sandwich and fruit.
Cartel Coffee Lab has two locations in Phoenix. One is located downtown, walkable from most downtown hotels and the Phoenix Convention Center. The other is located in Tempe. The downtown location (which is where I visited for this blog post) is currently expanding in the space next door and will eventually serve a larger breakfast and lunch menu. For now they do serve a few breakfast items, lunch and coffee, of course. If you stop in after 12:30 all of their baked goods are 50% off, sweet!
Cartel Coffee Lab in downtown Phoenix is located at 1 N. 1st Street.
Angels Trumpet Ale House
Angels Trumpet Ale House exterior, beer list, and door. The broom on the door indicates that ale had been freshly brewed there. The practice dates back to Saxon times when wayside taverns or ale houses erected on Roman roads were identified by means of a long pole.
Last year when the word got out that a brew house would be opening in downtown Phoenix I, along with the rest of downtown Phoenix, got very excited. Fast forward to the last week in August 2012, the much anticipated Angels Trumpet Ale House finally opened its doors. The craft brew house/restaurant is located just across the street from Filmbar, on 2nd Street just south of Roosevelt.
Salads at Angels Trumpet Ale House. Radish (L) and avocado (R).
Angels Trumpet Ale House has only been open for two weeks and I’ve already been twice. With over 35 craft beers on tap (and several wines on tap too), I’ll be in many more times to sample the local and not-so-local beers as they change. I’ve also had the chance to sample several items off the eclectic menu with friends. Not your typical menu, Angels Trumpet Ale House has sandwiches, flatbreads, salads, tacos, burritos and other seasonal items that you normally wouldn’t expect at a brew house. The standouts for me are the salads, which are made from fresh ingredients; including herbs to add an interesting flavor, and the seasonal pop tarts (we tried the strawberry rhubarb, yum).
Sandwiches from Angels Trumpet Ale House. Grilled cheese, vegetable meatloaf, PB&J with bacon and chicken.
Angels Trumpet Ale House recently started serving Sunday brunch and since they have a great patio – I’m really looking forward to trying it this fall.
Don't forget dessert!
Prost!
Angels Trumpet Ale House is located at 810 North 2nd Street in downtown Phoenix.
