Triple-D in Triple-A: Not Finished in Phoenix

Steve Klauke, voice of the Salt Lake Bees, spends all 144 games of the Bees season with the team, home and away. Needless to say he's not getting home cooking for 72 of those games. Steve's always looking for a good spot to eat in the 15 cities throughout the league and here, he'll chronicle those visits to his favorites, which also happen to be featured on Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives.

Last spring, I wrote a Triple-D in Triple-A feature titled "Finished in Phoenix", as I had visited all of the restaurants that had been featured on the Food Network hit series "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" located in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Well, as Lee Corso would say on ESPN, not so fast, my friends. It seems that since my 2013 trip to Spring Training, host Guy Fieri and the Triple-D crew took in several new spots in the Valley of the Sun. The good news is that gives me more places to check out during my annual visit to Arizona.

My first stop came on the recommendation of Bees' pitcher Jeremy Berg. He told me that I had to try St. Francis, which is located just north of downtown Phoenix. It wasn't easy to find, but when I arrived, the parking lot was full. Fortunately, we, as new Bees Communication Manager Kraig Williams joined me, were seated right away.

As always, I need to try something that was highlighted on the show, so I went with the Moroccan meatballs. The portion was much more than I expected. I received three meatballs, each of which were the size of a tennis ball. They are served in a bed of pearl pasta, which are little balls about the size of a BB, in a pool of a spicy tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. The sauce really had a kick to it and the meatballs were moist, tender and delicious. This was my second journey into Moroccan food, after having a tasty Moroccan beef kebab in Tacoma last year. The dish was served with a slice of warm bread with olive oil. I have to say that whenever I make my next trip to Phoenix, there's a good chance that I will return to St. Francis for those scrumptious Moroccan meatballs.

Kraig tried a sandwich that was also featured on the show called the "Pig Dip". It was like a French Dip sandwich, but it was filled with roast pork, prosciutto and bacon instead of beef. He gave it a big thumbs up.

My next stop was a true Italian delicatessen. DeFalco's is located in the south end of Scottsdale and is filled with imported goods from Italy. They make their own sausage there, so I had to try the Italian Sausage sandwich. I had the half sandwich and even that was six inches long. The sausage had a great bite and texture to it and may have been the best I've ever eaten. It was served smothered in mozzarella cheese and marinara sauce. The roll it was served on was fresh and a perfect fit for the sandwich. On my first trip there in early March, I also had an aroncini, which is rice, ground beef or spinach and peas formed into a ball about the size of a baseball, coated in bread crumbs and deep fried. It is served in a bowl of marinara sauce. I had never had an aroncini before, but I'd seen them made on Triple-D and had to try it. I became a big fan with my first taste of it. There was a little crunch on the outside and creamy smoothness on the inside.

Kraig was hungrier than I was and had a foot long Italian Beef and Italian Sausage sandwich. He was stuffed by the time he was done, but said he enjoyed every last bite.

The good news is there are still some more new spots to try in Phoenix next spring, as well as some more all around the Pacific Coast League that I will talk about in the months ahead.