Phoenix Blog

Richardson's Cuisine of New Mexico offers flavorful fares of the Southwest. The restaurant's known for smothering just about everything with green chile, and while its celebrated New Mexican meatloaf is no longer on the menu, Richardson's does offer such carnivorous culinary delights as chicken, beef, and shrimp skewers; pork enchiladas; and our new Richardson's favorite, rack of lamb.



Rack of Lamb at Richardson's
Even cooked medium-well, the meat was very pink inside (it had a slightly tangy iron taste, but wasn't downright bloody). The lamb tasted delicious -- all three shanks were very tender and had a rich, smoky flavor (all Richardson's meats are smoked over pecan wood). The rack of lamb tasted like filet mignon steak, but with a lighter, more pork-like taste. It was slightly fatty around the edges, but the grilled, double-cut Colorado chops were surprisingly lean overall (and not surprisingly, they were basted in green chile jelly). The meal costs $29, and includes a sweet potato and grilled vegetables, all served over a flour tortilla. -- Niki D'Andrea

The Dubliner All-Day Irish Breakfast
This hearty dish consists of black and white pudding, two fried eggs cooked to order, rashers (slabs of bacon), potatoes, sausages, tomatoes, and brown bread. Black pudding (sometimes known as blood pudding) is a staple of a traditional breakfast in England, Scotland, and Ireland. The sausage is made by cooking blood with a filler until it thickens. Common fillers include oatmeal, barley, and sweet potatoes. The Dubliner's black pudding (the circular sausage in the front of the image above) was very rich and flavorful. It smells like traditional pork sausage but has a sweet and spicy taste. White pudding (behind the black pudding above) is an important addition to the Irish breakfast, and doesn't contain any animal blood. Instead, it's made with pork meat and fat. Like the black pudding, the white pudding was very flavorful, but had a spicier kick. The sausage links were decent, but had a somewhat soft texture and bland pork taste. For protein fiends who don't mind trying some different types of sausage, this is one heck of a day-starter. -- Niki D'Andrea 

Landjager is a traditional, dried German sausage made in Southern Germany and Switzerland. Though the name literally means "country hunters," there's nothing gamey about the taste of landjager. It's a popular snack food in Germany and Switzerland (like beef jerky for the U.S.), and also a popular meal for soldiers because it requires no refrigeration -- landjager can be eaten cold, right off the deli rack, or taken home and cooked (to reduce fat, cut holes in the sausage casing before boiling). Landjager usually comes in pairs of fat, flat sausages -- like Slim Jims on steroids, but with a heartier, meatier taste.



German Sausage Company's Landjager
Equal parts beef, pork, and lard, the landjager sausage is very chewy. It's got the same inner texture as summer sausage, and tastes like a blend of summer sausage and salami, but much headier and much, much smokier. These links taste like they were just pulled off the smoker a couple of seconds ago. Unlike some other landjagers, which can be too sweet or too salty (depending on how they're seasoned), the German Sausage Company's landjager is the perfect balance of beef and spice. The rich, smoky flavor and beefy taste work beautifully alongside a dark German beer. -- Niki D'Andrea

Liver's not a very popular dish, but liver lovers know a good grilled organ when they see, smell, and taste it. Once people get past their prejudices (whether it's a childhood aversion to liver for dinner, or the oft off-putting idea of eating organ meat), they might find that liver, when cooked and flavored properly, is actually quite tasty.

The Stockyards Restaurant on Washington street has been around for more than 50 years, making liver the right way. The establishment serves a variety of meats, from lobster and steaks to wild boar and buffalo, and their calf's liver (superior to chicken liver because it's meatier and harder to overcook) is wonderful.



The Stockyards' Calves Liver
Served as grilled fillets seasoned with salt and pepper, the calves liver was very tender and smooth, easy to swallow and requiring little mastication. When cooked to medium well, the edges of the liver can scorch and taste chalky, but cooked to medium, it's perfect. The liver was served on a bed of mashed potatoes and smothered in caramelized onions and smoked bacon strips, which helped offset the somewhat funky and heady taste of the liver. The sauce was rather sweet and tasted of beef broth, red wine, melted butter, and honey, a perfect palatable contrast to the metallic aftertaste of the liver. For fans of liver, this may well be the pinnacle of liver dishes. For foes of liver, this may well be the entree that makes them reconsider. -- Niki D'Andrea

Blood, or "black" pudding -- that crusty, congealed animal blood dish so popular in England -- used to be on the menu at the George & Dragon, the Valley's celebrated British pub. The term "blood sausage" is British, referring to a sausage made by cooking blood with a filler (usually meat, fat, bread, or potatoes) until the blood becomes thick and coagulates as it cools. It's a typical part of a traditional breakfast in the U.K. and the basis for a variety of sausages throughout Europe.

But alas, the G&D doesn't have black pudding on its menu anymore. Like haggis, this is one ethnic meat dish that nobody in Phoenix seems to serve. So after perusing the "traditional fare" section of George & Dragon's menu, we went with the Steak & Kidney Pie.

Sometimes, there's just nothing better than masticating with a good wiener. Being Italian, I grew up watching my father make his own sausage. I was fascinated with the way he combined a variety of spices with ground beef and pork, and I loved helping him push the beef through the sausage machine into the natural casings.

So when I heard about Schreiner's Fine Sausage -- a family-owned business that's provided Phoenix with fine meats since 1955 -- I was ecstatic. As I approached the unassuming red-and-white building with retro-looking signs on Seventh Street, I felt like I was on a school field trip. Once inside, I gazed with salivating wonder at all the homemade meats in the deli case and fired off questions with carnivorous enthusiasm: "Is the Cajun Boudin sausage beef and pork?"; "Do you make your own veal loaf?"; "How spicy is the Jalapeno cheese sausage?" (The answers: No, yes, and not very).

Chains of yummy sausage links hang in the Schreiner's Fine Sausage factory.

In the end, my girlfriend and I decided to try three different sausages: the Bratwurst, the Jalapeno Cheese Sausage, and the Cajun Boudin sausage. The Bratwurst was not bad, but kind of bland, saved by sauerkraut and spicy mustard. The other two sausages were absolutely delish.

Schreiner's Fine Sausage
This super sausage shack carries more than 60 different kinds of homemade sausages, many made from traditional German family recipes and regional recipes from England, Mexico, Poland, Portugal, and Spain. They also have slab bacon, smoked hams, and homemade lunch meats. All meats are hand-boned, ground, and stuffed into natural (intestine) casings on-site, and no preservatives are used.

Jalapeno Cheese Sausage:
This juicy wiener exploded with flavor. Made from pork and beef, the sausage has a subtle spicy kick that's zippy but not overwhelming, thanks to the balance of spices (garlic, salt, white pepper) and abundant melted cheese (a mild cheddar, like a Colby Longhorn). Recommended for people who like a little bit of spice, but who don't want their taste buds lit on fire.

The Jalapeno Cheese sausage from Schreiner's.

Cajun Boudin:
My girlfriend was the authority on this one, being Southern and having eaten Boudin many times in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. We bought the sausage uncooked, and after a quick steaming and microwaving (you can also fry it), my girlfriend gave it rave reviews. Compared to the Cajun Boudin she's had in Baton Rouge, she said Schreiner's was "Right on the same level. When I ate it, it made me think of Louisiana." A pork sausage made with a variety of ingredients -- green bell pepper, cayenne pepper, green and yellow onions, fresh parsley, bacon, and most importantly, cooked rice -- the Boudin is like a complete lunch in a single link.

I'll definitely be returning to this charming little deli, but this time, I'll be bringing a box. Mmmmmeat! -- Niki D'Andrea

So Thanksgiving has come and gone, and if you're like me, you'll be eating turkey, Bubba Gump-style, for the next month: turkey sandwiches, turkey stew, turkey casserole, turkey loaf, turkey gumbo, turkey salad, turkey sausage - you get the picture (for more than 900 turkey recipes, check out www.eatturkey.com).

But one can only handle turkey served so many ways, and one can only stay awake for so long after ingesting so much tryptophan (the amino acid in turkey that everyone says makes ya sleepy). So I decided to mix up the excess poultry with some tasty pork - namely, the "Pratt's" Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich from Alice Cooper'stown, the "rock and jock" restaurant on 1st street and Jackson owned by namesake shock rocker Alice Cooper.

"Pratt's" Pulled Pork BBQ Sandwich
Named for Phoenix radio personality Dave Pratt back when he was rockin' 98 KUPD (he's now at country station KMLE), this sandwich is bursting with tender, shredded pork (take one bite and a quarter of the meat falls out the bottom). Not only was the Iowa, corn-fed pork delightfully chewy, but I didn't find a single piece of fat or gristle in the whole sandwich. The smoked pork has a rich, slightly sweet flavor, and it was lathered in tangy Carolina sauce. There were hints of paprika, garlic, and vinegar in the sauce, but all the flavors blended so well that no single ingredient dominated the taste. It's no wonder that Cooper's BBQ pork is oft-touted as "award-winning." I definitely give it two thumbs up (or four pig's feet up, in this case). The sammy will only set you back $8.99, and comes with two sides. -- Niki D'Andrea

By Niki D'Andrea

“If you don't eat yer meat, you can't have any pudding! How can you have any pudding if you don't eat your meat?”

I love meat. I eat meat every day. Nothing can thwart me. I've had militant vegetarian friends lecture me about cholesterol, send me gory slaughterhouse photos, and give me the whole “meat is murder” spiel. It doesn't matter; my carnivorous lust shall not be moved. I've even had friends grossly describe the contents of my meat while I was eating it, and it didn't make those Slim Jims or Vienna Sausages taste any different to me. Scrapple? Menudo? “Mechanically separated chicken”? Bring it on.