Ladee's Travels

This appetizer plate was good for a meal, and a few left over take home treats for the next day. I am hoping to join the tradition of using this as a stop over when going or returning from the airport.

Vietnamese bistro. Love the pho. Ordered shrimp, crab. (7) The wait staff is good, and they allow us to stay for hours and chat. This is a must do when I visit my sister.

Rise is a lovely little restaurant, tucked away in a plaza off of Lover's Lane and Inwood. French bistro focusing on souffles. We started with a selection from the Pour commencer section of the menu and ordered Marshmellow Soup (9). A lovely tomato basil soup, with puffy balls of white cheese on top, broiled to make them look like toasty marshmellows. Pesto and a little basil oil are dribbled on top for a great finish. It was wonderful. For the main course we ordered two savory souffles and shared: Sun-dried tomato & Pesto Chevre (14) and Crabmeat & Boursin (20). They had two totally different tastes, and complimented each other. For desert, we shared two items off of the Sweet Souffles section: Chocolate (10) and Grand Marnier (12). The souffles arrived and the waiter pierced a hole in the top and poured wonderful warm chocolate sauce in one and a white Grand Marnier on the other. Soooo good. Topped it all of with a nice French press coffee. Marvelous meal and ve...

New arrival on the chef scene. Chef Lendy prepared incredible fajitas and yummy Key Lime pie for desert.

ASU Alumni offered free tickets to see "Sunday in the Park with George". I decided to accept the two tickets and take the Light Rail to Tempe for dinner and a show. I had several ideas in mind for the pre-show meal, but we walked past those choices, pulled on by new adventure. We crossed the street to go to a sushi restaurant, only to discover that it had closed. As we stood looking up at the darkened restaurant windows, we spotted a new restaurant. Well, new to me. I had eaten in the "sandwich shop" when I had classes in the engineering classrooms as ASU. The outdoor seating looked very inviting, but the interior drew us inside. La Bocca , billed as an "urban pizzeria and wine bar", is far from a pizza joint. We were seated right away and approached immediately by Matthew, our guide for the night. He explained the menu, and proudly pointed out that many of the items used locally produced items. Several of my favorites were prominantly placed on the menu: ...