Traveling is a wonderful way to expand your worldview, your horizons, and your palate. Way back in 2015, before our travel blogging adventures, Shawn and I visited Phoenix, AZ. We loved it. We saw a lot of cool places, and ate some delicious food.
We like to try to find places to eat when we are traveling that are not chains, are interesting, and that have something to add to our experience of the locale. We hit the nail on the head with The Fry Bread House. Personally, I had never heard of fry bread before.
A little google search, though, and we were convinced that we had to give it a shot.
Here is the basic definition of Fry Bread, taken from Wikipedia
“Frybread is a flat dough bread, fried or deep-fried in oil, shortening, or lard. Made with simple ingredients, frybread can be eaten alone or with various toppings such as honey, jam, powdered sugar, venison, or beef. Frybread can also be made into tacos, like Navajo tacos”
You can read about the fascinating history of this native American food over at Smithsonian.com . Be mindful though that the history associated with this particular food illuminates the struggle of a people forced to relocate from their homes, and the health implications of lack luster ingredients.
It’s been my experience that some of the most delicious and interesting foods have been borne from necessity and limited ingredients. I’m thinking of all the ‘depression era’ and ‘waste not want not’ food my Italian grandma used to make.
I will be honest – when we pulled up to the Fry Bread House, I thought – this place is not for us. From the outside, it was unclear what was inside. But, in true ‘Just Get in the Car’ fashion, we decided to go for it anyway. Inside the restaurant, we were met with friendly staff and a warm environment. It was evident that this was a place for the locals, and that’s just what we were looking for.
Having never eaten fry bread before, we were going in blind. However, we both enjoyed our choices, and got a cultural lesson to boot. We selected a few items off of the menu, and hoped for the best. What we got exceeded our expectations, and here four years later, has stuck in our minds enough to write about it and encourage others to give it a try.
We opted for a few of the fry bread tacos, pictured here:
We also had a lesson in tamales – which neither of us had eaten before. Sadly, we were very naive and had no clue what to do with them. I believe we had to ask how to eat them!
If you are in the Phoenix, Arizona area, you should definitely stop into The Fry Bread House for a delicious meal, with a side of culture and history! Tell them Just Get in the Car sent you!
