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.

Maxwell's

Thought I would throw up a quick post on Maxwell's since it lives next to our office in Park City and I eat there regularly.  This is outside of the usual WFR vein, but hopefully worthwhile to those looking for a good pizza and beer joint whether you be an out-of-towner or a local.

Maxwell's serves up Fat Kid Pizza - which is SORT OF like an east coast slice but with a much crisper crust.  This ain't no NYC-style pizza.  I believe they actually identify with Philly, which makes sense given the cheesesteak and other dishes that inspire brotherly love.  About their pizza I will say that you can do a lot worse and a lot better.  Here are some shots of the Godfather option (Mozzarella, Provolone, Ricotta, Goat cheese and sun dried tomatoes):

And the Italian Stalion (Pepperoni, Italian Sausage, Grilled Chicken):

As you can see, we enjoyed these pies in the open air, and I HIGHLY recommend that you hit up the Park City location on Thursday nights in the summer so that you can sit on the patio, play some cornhole and watch a free concert while you dine and/or throw beanbags.  Maxwell's doesn't position first and foremost on their food - they are about decent pizza, great entertainment options (lots of TVs and a nice patio) and good prices.  Because of this, I can't ding them for not having the best slices in Utah.  A pie is $20 and as you can see, it is enough to feed 4 hungry people - maybe 3 if you're apres ski and starving.

Last note: if you sit outside, the service will be dreadful.  We usually sit outside anyways in the summer, but know this going in so that you aren't frustrated when you get one glass of water in 2 hours.

The verdict?  Enjoy Maxwell's for what it is: a great place to watch sports, hang out on the patio, have some beers and eat some decent pizza.  Avoid most of the items on the menu that aren't in the pizza section, although the cheese steak and the Italian grilled cheese sandwiches aren't all that bad if you must.

Pig & A Jelly Jar

The wife had a couple of hours off of work today so we met for lunch at one of SLC's newest joints - Pig and a Jelly Jar.  PAAJJ opened up its doors a couple of days ago as the second venture from the folks who brought you Meditrina.  I like Meditrina, and I adore pork, so I thought this had to be a homerun.  Things that I did not get to try today, but that really appeal to me and should be noted are 1) they have chicken and waffles on the breakfast menu and 2) they do a Sunday Supper - $20 three course meal, family style, on Sunday evenings.

We arrived at 2:10 and chose a table.  The decor is puerco nouveau - lots of pig art and really cool open ceiling design.  Nothing super special but it felt pretty cool.

We were invited to order at 2:30, which seemed a bit like a long wait given the mostly empty restaurant.  There was one server on the floor while we were there, and she was stretched pretty thin even with only a few tables.  Given the newness of the restaurant (and likely the POS system, kitchen  staff, etc.) I am inclined to say I wouldn't judge anyone on today's speed of service.

They were not yet offering the daily specials (Friday was hand battered fish and chips - which we had decided on until we were told that they weren't actually available).  So we ordered and food came out in a reasonable time.  I went for the Pig Burger - 1/3 pound of beef, bacon onion jam, bleu cheese and romaine.  The bacon onion jam was somewhere between a gravy and a bacon-based chutney. I wish I could say this burger was as good as it sounded, but it feel short.  I wasn't asked about temperature and the burger came well done, and the bun was dry as can be.  The fries that accompanied the burger were fantastic, however.

The wife went for the chicken apricot rosemary grinder with brie, caramelized onion and lemon aioli.  This sausage was super heavy on curry flavor and was interesting for a couple of bites, but the same dry bread used for a bun and the overpowering curry flavor in the house-made sausage got old quickly.  Same great fries came on the side.

The verdict?  We didn't like Pig and a Jelly Jar.  Given that our lunch was zero for two, I don't know if I'll opt to try out their admittedly tempting breakfast menu or if I'll stick with some of the tried and true options for breakfast, but I definitely won't be back for lunch.

Finca

We decided to finally check out Scott Evans' new venture down the street from our house.  I was pretty hesitant about this place for a few reasons.  First, I'm not a huge Pago fan.  Second, Finca has been getting brutalized amongst the reviewers that I've read in its first couple of months.  But then I heard friends say that they'd been in late May and it was great, so we decided to give it a go.  I also noticed that they redid the menu just a few days before our visit, so I thought maybe they had retooled and ironed out the kinks (I was right in thinking this).

The ONLY way to eat small plates is with as large of a group as possible.  Of the tapas menu, our crew sampled most of the menu.  Unfortunately, with a large group, I only captured about half of those items before they looked too eaten to be shot.  But, I feel like we got a great feel for the menu and I highly recommend ordering the whole thing, just make sure you bring enough friends to make that happen.

I'm going to group things into what we could take or leave (first), and then I'm going to tell you what you should absolutely not leave without trying.  Since I'm going through the less positive part of this review first, I'll give you a preview of the verdict: we had a fantastic night at Finca and will be going back often.  I also need to caveat my grouping by saying that if you asked everyone at our table what was great and what had room for improvement, everyone would answer differently.  There was only one dish that was universally disliked, and several that were universally loved. 

Food is served at Finca as it comes out of the kitchen, so you begin to receive plates almost immediately after your order goes into the computers.  The Albondigas came out first and were good, not great.  This is a lamb meatball with tomato sauce and manchego cheese.  It tasted like a good meatball but didn't keep me super interested.  One person in our group, however, thought these were the best things she'd ever tried.

We ordered the Almendras - a combo plate of almonds including house smoked honey roasted, marcona and espelette pepper.  No complaints at all, but I might have skipped these.  If you feel like some good almonds, these are good almonds, just wasn't anything beyond that.

The only item that we were all really disappointed with was the empanada.  Look how beautiful it is!  But alas, it was near flavorless braised beef plated with near flavorless sauce.  The good news is that the empanada changes on a nightly basis, so I'm sure they'll scrap this guy and do something delicious soon.  

Finally, we had mixed opinions on the Tortilla Espanola.  My thought was that it wasn't bad but I wouldn't order it next time, but a couple people at the table really loved it.  I did enjoy the greens and would say that if the picture below calls out to you, give it a try and let me know what you think.

Ok now on to the good stuff - one of the specials that our server mentioned was going to be making its way onto the menu permanently was the ceviche.  It is not an orthodox ceviche, but the flavors are all there - sushi grade hamachi, fresh greens, mint, onion, and a few other items that I can't remember.  The fish was awesome and the presentation is very cool.  Came off more like sushi, but tasted like really good ceviche as long as you made sure to include a bit of everything in each bite.

I thought the Tosta Setas was one of the better items on the menu.  It is a toasted thick slice of country bread topped with smoked ricotta then mushrooms and pine nuts.  I really liked this one and will order it every time we go back if it's on the menu.

Calabacin a la Plancha - this was another huge winner for me - zucchini, olive, salsa verde and toasted garlic.

Papas y Aioli: local potatoes, paprika and garlic aioli.  Reviews on this dish within our group ranged from "really good" to "best thing on the menu".  They are super heavy on the paprika but really good and a great addition for anyone who might be worried about needing some filling items to balance out the small plates.

Ensalada de Remolacha - funky little local beets make the presentation on this salad that also includes house made cheese, pickled strawberries, walnuts and honey wine vinegar.  I love beets, so I loved this salad.  It is on my must-order list.

Will I ever go to a restaurant that has pork bellies on the menu without ordering?  No.  These are served over a minted pea puree and "mojo rojo sauce".  What is a "mojo rojo sauce" you might ask?  No clue, but the pork bellies were cooked very nicely and the minted puree was a great accouterment.

The kale (Verdes Estofado) was so good that my wife ate about half of it.  This is a big deal, because when she was pregnant I got onto a soup kick and made a bunch of kale-focused soups.  Given that this was the the nauseated time in her pregnancy, she's ever since avoided kale like the plague.  So, when she turned to me and said, "Mark - I just ate most of a plate of kale, and I think I might want some more", we were both surprised.  Let it be a testament to how good this plate was.

Zanahoria de Asador - the grilled multicolor carrots, cumin honey and saffron butter were great - almost a dessert-like sweetness thanks to the honey and some perfectly cooked young carrots.  The greens are left on the carrots and the sauces were so good that everyone at every single thing on this plate: greens, carrots, sauces and herbs.

We ordered the mussels, but that evening they were out of Mussels so we were offered the same preparation with clams.  This was another must-order.  The sauce is killer - and the chorizo added some body to the really tender and giant clams in the dish.  After the clams were gone, the cava lemon sauce was the perfect excuse to ask for another hunk of bread.

The last picture I have to show off is the croquetas - serrano ham, marcona almond pistou, greens and radish.  I thought this was really good - opinions were slightly mixed but nobody disliked the plate.  We ordered this during our second round so we were just about ready to be done when it arrived, and that might have colored our enjoyment a bit, but I'd order again.

The only item that I didn't photograph that I have to mention is the aspargus.  It was my personal favorite. A nice sized bunch of asparagus topped with a little cornucopia of serrano ham that contains a poached local egg.  Salsa verde and breadcrumbs finished the dish off nicely.  I thought this was a fantastic take on the classic ham or proscuitto and asparagus dish.  The egg yolk that mixed into everything turned a nice veggie dish into a much richer plate.  I'd go back just to eat this one.

The evening was made even better by a $10 corkage fee that is offered at Finca.  So, we all ate until full and drank plenty of wine and the bill came out under $55 per couple.  This felt like fantastic value and was about 1/2 of what I was expecting when I opened up the check.

The Verdict?  I might not go here on a date for two, but Finca will probably be my first thought from now on when I have a larger group.  I was really blown away (in a good way) by the consistency and pricing at Finca - we tried most of the menu and found almost nothing that wasn't good.  Finca would be a great option at twice the price, but the fact that you can go crazy without giving too much thought to the bill pushes Finca over the top for me.