SLC Pop

We decided to try out SLC Pop last weekend on a whim when Chef Katie Weinner posted some avaialbe seats on their Facebook page. It was a really cool experience and I'll mostly just use my iPhone shots to tell the story. The event is held at the Nata Gallery, which Katie and her partner Mike Burtis have leased as a multi-dimensional community space which will host meals for SLC Pop as well as other events. Check out their Kickstarter video for details, but it seems like a space that could be used similarly to the Missio Dei space that The SLC Foodie uses for all of her events. I love people who are trying to build up the food and culture scene in Salt Lake City, so I love the thought behind the Nata Gallery.

When we arrived we got an original take on the BLT - a pork rind topped with tomato, beet green and fry sauce. It was a single bite course, but a fun idea and tasty for sure.

Next course was a raddish and some Amish butter served in a jar filled with applewood smoke. Chef Katie told us that we could wait a while to open the jar if we would like a smokier flavor, so we waited a good five minutes to sample the jar.  The combo of radish with salt and butter is a typical French snack, but usually served over a baguette or crouton in my experience.  Two complaints about this - the smoke just didn't permeate anything for me and without a bread to perch the dish on we basically ended up eating a raddish and then a little fork full of butter.  I dig the creative presentation and I highly support the use of a smoke gun whenever possible, but this was the only flop of the night for me.  

Releasing the smoke was fun!

The next dish was number three on my top three tastes of the night list.  Presented as an "edible rock", we got some Barely Buzzed shortbread (made with a local lavender-and-espresso-rubbed cheese of the same name).  The shortbread was served with honeyed goat cheese stuffed medjool dates (from Trader Joe's!) with cocoa nib salt, butternut squash butter with honey and pepper jam.  The shortbread was killer alone but the flavor combos were all interesting on this plate.

The next dish was the cheese course and the soup course all in one, and I would put this in the running for the best soup I have ever had.  Did you hear that?  True.  It was a smoked mozzarella cream with chunks of smoked fresh mozzarella, topped with a pear and triple creme brie soup.  Forget the photo, this soup may have been worth the price of admission.

We came back to earth for the next course and enjoyed a Sri Lankan beet curry over coconut Daikon noodles and topped with some beet greens.  The Daikon noodles are soaked in coconut milk and end up tasting a lot like they are actually just slices of coconut.  The beet curry was good - I think that there was some coffee involved in the recipe, which makes beets particularly awesome.

The next course rounds out our top three, coming in at number two.  It was a purple polenta (made with blue corn) topped with jalepeno elk sausage and green apple.  Really tasty and the elk was farm raised so it had a very different flavor than most of the elk I've had in the past - much more mellow.  I wish we had received more than a few bites of this one.

The palette cleanser was a citrus granita with agave nectar and violet caviar.  I was glad to see a bit of molecular work its way into the meal with the caviar.  

The next course wasn't really food, but it was fun.  We got a painter's pallet with a variety of edible ink, including violet, yogurt powder, fizzy thingers (?), finger lime caramel (yum), orange curd, chocolate caramel, red wine and beet-buddha hand.  Then we got rice paper and were told to paint a picture and then eat it.  This was all pretty funny and it would have only been better if we would have all shared our art around the room.

Here is my lovely creation.  The eyes are done in pistachio paste, in case you were wondering.

Next we started into the desserts.  The first course was a slow roasted pineapple confit, but since pineapples don't really have their own fat for confit roasting, butter was used instead.  This was served with a tangerine zabaglione with honey comb and amoretti.  It was good and the amoretti cookies were probably the highlight.

The next dessert course was a beet cereal with Kaffir lime milk.  I won't lie - when I saw that one of the previous SLC Pop dinners had featured a cereal I was pretty bummed.  I hate cereal.  But Chef Katie gave us the download on how she had dehydrated then fried up the beet chips, and I do love beets, so I gave it a try.  I did enjoy this dish and the lime milk added a super interesting flavor to the mix.  I just told myself I wasn't really eating cereal and it all worked out in the end.

We finished the night with petit fours: a thyme macaroon, whiskey gummies, red wine meringue, guiness chocolate cake and the house take on a Butterfinger.  The chocolate cake was dry, but everything else was delicious and the coffee was good too!

It is really hard to comment on the SLC Pop experience as an unbiased critic because it is such a personal event.  The chefs really involve you in what they are doing - we went back and checked out the kitchen and even got the backstory on the bathroom sink at Nata.  Overall, the dinner showcases some of the best culinary talent that our city has to offer and for that reason I would put this on your tick list if you care about food in Salt Lake.  The only qualm I have is that we left hungry.  If we had bumped a couple of the portions in size I think the meal would have been perfect, but if you arrive hungry you might consider following your 10 courses at SLC Pop with a hamburger at The Green Pig next door.  The other thing I want to add is that this dinner felt very much like it belonged in Salt Lake City - not sure if that will make sense to anyone but the vibe was local and I loved that about the meal.

The verdict?  I was really glad that I went and felt that every course had something unique and interesting to offer.  For the price ($75 per person), you're also getting bargain access to some of the same folks who can charge a whole lot more at events like Mist.  I'm looking forward to engaging Katie on some other events in the future - she said they are very open to customizing meals for groups so hit them up if you've got an idea.

Plum Alley

Plum Alley has been on my to-try list for a while now.  I had a birthday a couple of weeks ago and the wife decided that we should go to dinner (despite the fact that she had already planned  a surprise whiskey and cheese tasting with some friends for the next night).  Since this was a last-minute thing, we wanted to hit a place with a patio so that we could bring our little one and she wouldn't cause any trouble (outdoor dining is a key to bringing toddlers along).  We decided to check out the Copper Onion patio, but on the way saw that Plum Alley now has outdoor seating.  Done.

The patio is a great space with a few seating configuration options.  I was initially impressed by how small the menu is (this is NOT a bad thing when done well) and by how well-chosen the beer list was.  The only thing we knew coming in was that we'd be trying the pork belly steam buns.  So, we ordered those as well as the sesame corn (sesame aoili and cilantro).

We thought we were ordering the corn for our daughter as an emergency back up item in case the rest of our meal wasn't to her taste, but it was the surprise of the evening.  All three of us fought for it - the charred kernels were a particularly nice touch.

It was a proud moment for me to see my daughter enjoy her first taste of pork belly.  May there be many more of these moments in our future.  The pork belly is sauced with cincalok glaze that would have the potential to overwhelm the flavor of the dish, but it was done well and restraint was the key to a balanced appetizer that I wouldn't ever come back without ordering again.

Green papaya salad came next and was really nice.  Fresh peppers added enough spice to keep it interesting and the papaya was really fresh.  This was a good cleanser between the heavy appetizers and the heavy entrees.

For entrees we ordered pad see ew.  It was great - really amazing flavor to the smoked pork that combined enough asian influence with a light enough sauce to allow the flavors of the meat to come out (something I feel like doesn't happen at your standard Thai joint).  Crisp brocoli rabe was key to rounding this dish out.  I'd do it again.

Our waiter had asked if I like spicy.  Usually, in Utah, spicy means something has pepper on it.  I love spicy food.  I wasn't worried.  So, duck curry.

The primary ingredient in this dish is meanness.  And some sort of heinous peppers that blew out my taste buds for the next two days.  I want to be clear - this dish was not well done.  The spice overwhelmed any flavors that might be hiding underneath the rivers of capsaicin.  We both tried the curry and came to the same conclusion - pain and no flavor.  It was so over the top that I wondered if they had knocked something into the curry accidentally.  Has anyone else tried this dish?  Did we just get unlucky or was what we experienced the intention?

I did my best to put that fire out with a Red Rock Elephino (one of the better double IPAs out there, in my opinion).

The Verdict?  I will go back to Plum Alley as it was a great environment with a mostly well crafted menu.  While I'm going to be gun shy for a while about anything demarcated as spicy from this kitchen, everything other than the curry was a delight - particularly the meats, which fused asian and continental in a way I've never experienced before.

Per Noi Trattoria

When I was living in DC, my wife and I decided that we would become "regulars" at a restaurant nearby our apartment.  We didn't have too much money to spare so we had to find the right mix of price and something we wouldn't grow tired of.  The goal was to eat at the same restaurant once a week.  What we found was a hole-in-the-wall Italian place with incredible, authentic food run by a family who always cared deeply about the experience had by every diner in the room, every night.  It was great for about a year, and then they sold the place to a Korean investor, and things fell apart.  So it goes - we did what we could to make it last.

I hadn't thought about that little place until last Saturday night when I visited Per Noi.  We were greeted by the owner, whose grandmother shares a first name with my wife.  He told us a few jokes and expressed genuine gratitude that we had come in.  We had the treat of dining with Josh and Becky from  theslcfoodie.com and Vintage Mixer.  They had been to Italy recently and were also struck by how much Per Noi carried the same feel as some of the family run joints they found on their trip.  

We popped a bottle of tempranillo (here's to the $7 corkage fee!) and started off with an order of Arancini.  This dish is more commonly seen prepared as smaller nuggets of meat, risotto and peas, but here it was one baseball-sized portion that we split 4 ways, served with marinara sauce.

We shared a mixed greens salad that was great.

And our entrees were the Gnocchi Bolognese and the Linguini Pescatore.  I would say that the Gnocchi was very, very above average and was sauced with a very average (but good) bolognese.  The flavors here were less subtle and complex than you'd find at Fresco, site of my last Bolognese sampling, but I wasn't disappointed.

The Linguini Pescatore was a pleasant surprise.  Sauced with the same marinara base as all the other pastas, the generous helpings of shrimp, scallops, mussels and fish made this entree worthwhile.  It was hearty and none of the seafood detracted from the plate, which is often the case when kitchens make a dish that employs such a mash up of ocean creatures.

After the entrees we split a cannoli four ways and it did not disappoint.  I don't usually dig on cannoli, but this one was delicious.  Here is the kicker, my friends: we split our bill two ways, and after an appetizer, salad, two entrees and a dessert, the total was $29.  We paid about double that for cocktails beforehand at Finca... I was pretty happy and shocked.

The Verdict?  Love Per Noi for what it is: a family-run Italian joint that makes the best gnocchi in town and is 100% devoid of pretense.  They care deeply about the food they are serving and, perhaps even more, about the welcome they provide to guests of all stripes.  I'll be back often!

Ruth's Diner

Ruth's has been an SLC staple for a long time. They tout themselves as the second oldest restaurant in Utah and I highly recommend that you cruise over to their history page and read a bit about the colorful founder herself. This place has survived for a reason. It isn't haute cuisine and it isn't trendy, but it is hard to deny the vibe and the food isn't bad at all. I've eaten at Ruth's a few times and there is a clear issue with their breakfast: the complimentary mile high biscuits that they start you off with before most of their plates are more calories that I normally consume for an entire meal. They are both delicious and beautiful, but most people are full after one such rusk.

This time around I was looking to order off menu, but my out-of-towner sister came through and ordered a classic so that you could get a good idea of what's available at Ruth's. I have heard tale of a polenta benedict, and it sounded great. The menu encourages patrons to ask for anything they're interested in regardless of whether or not your entree of choice is listed, so I asked. Our server said he'd be happy to have them do me up some polenta benedict so I was feeling pretty blithe. Here is what I got:

Two comments. First, the basic elements of eggs benedict are there and done well with a bit of a greasy spoon flair (as they should be). Second, there was no polenta on my plate - just cornbread. The dish wasn't bad at all but I'll admit I felt a little betrayed when I found that my polenta was made of cornbread.

My sis and her soon to be husband stayed a bit more in the wheelhouse at Ruth's and ordered a smoked salmon omelet and the Ruth's combo (eggs, pancakes, breakfast meats and hash browns). Both of these entrees are good but my advice is to lean towards the breakfast combo. Ruth's is as much about the fantastic patio as it is about the food and you won't be disappointed if you come looking for a classic big breakfast. I've never had anything I didn't enjoy here, but I feel like they really do their best on the basics (the coffee is passable for me and will only disappoint those who read this and think "uh-oh").

Speaking of the patio - it is the only way to dine at Ruth's if the weather is even half decent. I'd recommend against sitting inside during the summer as the doors usually stay open and the flies prefer the indoor dining. In the winter, dining indoors is no problem. But if the patio is open, that is where you want to be enjoying great views of Emigration Canyon up and out of the SLC haze. 

The verdict? Ruth's does great at what they have been doing for a very long time. Come looking for breakfast basics done right and you'll leave happy, and be sure to sit outside if you can!

Takashi

Amelia had a big birthday this last week so we went out to celebrate.  She wanted to do sushi, and we knew that for a special occasion we should do the best sushi in SLC, Takashi.  This was one of the first restaurants we visited when we were new in Utah a few years back and for whatever reason we haven't been back since then.  Due to the special occasion, we sat at the bar and asked for a wide open omakase - and we weren't disappointed.

We started with a seaweed salad (the only item we specifically requested).  It was pretty standard:

First real course was the oysters - they were small (probably from the pacific northwest) and insanely good.  The preparation was pretty standard with some lemon, onion and peppers.  I could have done about 10 more of these guys but we had to move on...

Amberjack sashimi came next with a cucumber garnish, jalepeno and spicy sauce.  Delish.

The torched sablefish nigiri was the best item of the night, hands down.  I've never had sablefish and I really loved it, and the torching adds a great texture to the top of this delicate whitefish.  This is a must-have!

Next we got an evergreen roll, which is albacore tuna, jalepeno, asparagus, cilantro and spicy sauce topped with a jalepeno infused masago.  Surprisingly spicy, and very good.

The next roll was a pounamu roll: New Zealand salmon, kiwi and yellow mango sauce on top with avocado, cucumber and spicy sauce inside.  This was also really good and despite the fruit wasn't overly sweet.

Next we did a mussels course with lemon, peppers and served with a quail egg yolk and avocado.  This is the first time I've done raw quail egg and I'm glad to say I tried it.  This course was probably one I wouldn't repeat, but it was really well done for what it was, just maybe not my thing.

We finished off with a spanish mackerel nigiri course (pictured) and some fresh octopus and seaweed salad wrapped in dried seaweed.  The mackerel was particularly fresh and tasted great.

Instead of doing dessert at Takashi we decided to head over to Zy for an after dinner cheese plate (truffle tremor, triple creme brie and smokey bleu were the selections) and a couple of whiskies, followed by the chocolate souffle topped with fresh raspberry.  Both were great.

The Verdict?  Best sushi in SLC.  The sushi chefs at Takashi are very well trained and should be trusted to create a fantastic omakase experience without hesitation.  I highly recommend that you leave your choices in their hands (providing some guidance on your preferences, if you prefer) as they won't disappoint.

Eggs in the City

A few years back, my wife and I were visiting SLC for the first time as she was checking out a job here.  One of the stops on that trip was at Eggs in the City.  Since then, it has remained my go-to favorite breakfast joint in the city, and I've never been there without ordering my favorite menu item - the Mama burrito.

Given my affinity for Eggs in the City, my wife planned it as the start to Father's Day this year.  This place is nice for bringing the kiddo along because 1) the staff is super chill and seem pretty unfazed by a kid who may want to occasionally throw some scrambled eggs and 2) the setting is always loud enough such that a kid isn't going to disrupt anyone.

We ordered a super representative selection last Sunday: the mama burrito, the brûlée and a strawberry pancake and eggs for my daughter.  The brûlée is a steel-cut oatmeal topped with banana, nuts and brown sugar, then torched to create a nice crisp sugar shell.  If you like oatmeal, you'll dig this one.  The mama is a burrito (I go for the whole wheat tortilla) filled with spinach, egg whites, avocado and peppers, then topped with melted swiss cheese and served with salsa and sour cream.  I love this burrito, though it does require a shot of Cholula to kick up the heat a touch.  The pancakes here are always great too.

If you aren't sure that you want a burrito, here's a couple of other hot sports opinions that you can employ at Eggs in the City: Huevos Rancheros and Biscuits and Gravy.  The Huevos will feed about 4 hungry people, so come prepared, and the biscuits and gravy is a satisfying take on a classic.  The coffee here isn't great, but it's drinkable diner coffee.  From early spring through late fall they open up the garage door windows and the whole restaurant is open-air, weather permitting.  Still, the patio contains the best seats in the house.

The Verdict?  I'm a huge fan of the vibe and the food at Eggs in the City.  It isn't gourmet breakfast, but the prices are fair and there are a few items on the menu that will always keep me coming back.  The fact that it works well with kids is a big plus for us too!

Zy

I've heard lots of mixed things about Zy but their menu was pretty undeniable, so I knew that we'd eventually have to check the place out. Zy is literally the border of development on State Street - kudos to them for setting up shop in a risky locale. We sat on the patio (which has only been around for about a week now) and had a bottle of their Curtis Heritage Blanc. We felt like a refreshing wine would be the ticket after a long day of climbing in American Fork, and so we let the wine choice dictate most of our selections for the rest of the meal. I'd be very happy to return and check out the meat courses at Zy in the future.

We started out with a selection of three cheeses. I asked the waiter to build us something with one soft and two hard options, and he came back with the Truffle Tremor (Cypress Grove Arcata, California, Goat milk), Butter Bound (Beehive, Utah, Cow milk) and Gold Bear Dry Monterey Jack (Vella Cheese Co, California, Cow milk). The Truffle Tremor was a hands-down winner - one of the better cheeses I've ever had. I'm a fan of the Butter Bound but my wife wasn't - Beehive uses Sierra Nevada cultured organic butter and hand rubs their cloth bound Promontory the day after making it, then open-air ages it until the buttery, nutty and irresistible flavors come to life. The last cheese was a dry-aged monetary jack that was good but nothing super special. We both enjoyed it.

Then, the best thing ever happened. Our waiter brought us a plate of the buttermilk fried oysters on a leek puree topped with leeks, aged pancetta, lemon and herbs. The oysters are just flash fried so they retain their smooth texture and flavor, but the 24 hour buttermilk bath makes them about 2x bigger than a normal oyster. The may be the best appetizer I've had in Utah, and it pairs perfectly with the Heritage Blanc (or any Sauvignon or Fume Blanc). I would go back to Zy just to have this again.

We also ordered a salad - the asparagus and arugula salad topped with shaved dry jack, pesto and truffled olive oil. This was a good dish but probably could have used just a touch more flavor. Certainly a good way to add some green to our meal, it just had a hard time competing next to the oysters.

After we had finished our cheese and starters, the entrees arrived. I ordered the filet of true cod topped with brown buttered crab and served over pearl couscous with green garlic and beach mushrooms. This dish was actually very tasty - the white wine based sauce added enough flavor to really make the dish interesting. I wish that they could create a presentation to match the flavor profile here, because, as you can see, the dish was pretty poor in terms of appearance on the plate. Next time I'll probably order one of the other fish entrees (our waiter recommended the steelhead with roasted pepper puree and spring ramps - and his recommendations were always good).

My wife ordered the beer brined Mary's chicken served with skillet potatoes, beans and bacon and topped with a grain mustard glaze. This was a very nice chicken dish - similar to what Copper Onion does with their cast-iron chicken but with a very unique set of flavors thanks to the mustard glaze. I also thought that the presentation here was great - the green beans added some color to the dish and the flavor matched the appearance.

For dessert, we got the strawberry and rhubarb shortcake with creme fraiche and it was killer. My photo isn't the best but this was a great dessert that really presented the rhubarb well (instead of just sugaring the hell out of it as some recipes tend to do with fresh rhubarb). The shortcake is a more traditional recipe - so it ends up somewhere between biscuit and shortbread in consistency. The crisp crust and light crumb were perfect and the creme fraiche was also really well done.

We also tasted the creme brûlée and it was a good take on a classic. The only real differentiator here was a much thicker than usual top shell. Given that this is everyone's favorite part of this dessert, I think that will be a plus for the Zy iteration of creme brûlée.

Zy promotes themselves on whiskey, wine and cheese. I think that they are doing a great job of providing a curated wine and cheese list that isn't extensive, but leaves you with nothing but good options. If you think that a good wine list needs to be the size of the phone book, look elsewhere, but I appreciated the thought that went into compacting the list as Zy has done. The whiskey list was a bit low-brow for my tastes, but there were plenty of good options there too. I suppose I just want to try new and interesting whiskey when I'm out instead of drinking what I likely already have at home, and Zy's whiskey list features mostly staples of any enthusiast's collection.

The verdict? Zy is not cheap, but the experience was worth the price. Food ranged from very good to brilliant, portions were huge, and with a few very small tweaks our meal would be in the running for one of the best we've had in Salt Lake. Service was also top notch and the best items of the night came at the recommendation of our server.