Friday, October 4, 2013

Freebirds World Burrito


I don't review chains as a rule but Freebirds get a pass on that.  As a long time lover of this restaurant, I want to alert you with a brief admonition to drive out to Taylorsville and get yourself a taste of College Station, Texas.


Before Chipotle, Qdoba or Barbacoa, there was Freebirds.  Stop in and get a burrito done right.  They still have some kinks to work out as you can see in the picture (my burrito was about 3x larger than my friend's, but they were ordered as the exact same thing).  This can be fixed by finding a skilled roller (may I suggest Alan?).


Freebirds differentiates with more selection than just about anyone else - of tortilla, additions and meats.  There is also the plentiful foil sculpture (Utah isn't there yet but give it a couple of months).


The Verdict?  If you care about food rolled in tortillas, you owe it to yourself to stop by Freebirds.  Rumor is there will be more locations before long in the Salt Lake valley, so if you can't make it to the desolate stripmalled wasteland that is Taylorsville, be patient.

Freebirds World Burrito on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Forage Restaurant: Fall 2013

There are a few places where it doesn't make much sense for me to add my opinions on a chef's talent.  Bowman Brown did it again at Forage and I'd like to just present our meal as it came.  I was less than thrilled that our favorite course (the smoked cheddar) was not captured well via my iPhone, but so it goes.  Check out the meal and let me know what you think!


We started with a juniper soda with sorel sorbet in a sugar rimmed glass.


Potato puffs with house soured cream and elderberry caper dust.


Fermented dragon tongue beans.


Elderberry leather with chicken liver mousse.


Tomato crisp with milk skin.


Smoked cheddar from Gold Creek Farms in Kamas, UT, with barley and epic beer batter.  This was probably the best item of the night and I apologize for getting such a mediocre shot.  That being said, the presentation really did look kind of like a stack of delicious charcoal.


Smoked tomato water gel with corn purée and trout roe.


Potato with trout glaze with wheat grass and onion purée.



Charred heirloom tomatoes with sturgeon and coastal plants from the Salt Lake.


Veggies from the Forage farm in Draper,UT topped with chicken vinaigrette.


Smoked Utah wild trout, apples, onions, apple juice and lovage oil.


Poached egg yolk with grain porridge and buttermilk emulsion.


Duck breast with plum and caramelized onion, finished with fermented plum juice and thyme oil.



"Herbs from the garden".  Burnet sorbet with lemon, sorel curd and basil cake.


Rose hip sorbet and meringue with sparkling yogurt.


Peach, with goat's milk ice cream and toasted granola.

The Verdict?  Forage continues to be the best deal in food in Salt Lake City and proves that our best can run with, if not outshine, the best culinary talent from anywhere in the United States.

  Forage on Urbanspoon

Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Brunch at The Wild Grape Bistro

Come for the donut holes and stay for the grits.  I've written about The Wild Grape in the past and it is one of the first places that comes to mind when I'm looking for casual, interesting food.  Until recently I had not tried the brunch options, but I've been twice in the past month.


The 12 minute donut holes are the obvious choice to get things rolling.  While not as delightful as the beignets over at Zy, they are still worth a try, especially if you are a fan of cake donuts.  We usually grab two orders.  The donut holes are served with a vanilla custard and a house-made jam, and the correct application is both - in every bite.


The main plates ranged from decent to great in my experiences with brunch at The Wild Grape.  On the decent side was the biscuits and gravy - house made biscuits and gravy served with two eggs to order and apple wood smoked bacon.  I appreciated the restraint shown on the gravy (more than enough but you didn't have to bob for your biscuits), but overall I'd just say this dish was an average example of a classic.


The shrimp'n'grits was another story: rock shrimp, Spanish chorizo, leeks and peppers all served over cheddar grits was worthwhile.  On a very practical level, it would have been nice if the shrimp had been fully peeled given the cheesy sauce they swam in, but I will order this dish again as it was outstanding.


My daughter (she's 3) had her heart set on French Toast. The brioche french toast on the menu was just the ticket, served with house made sweet ricotta, orange jam and maple syrup.  Having tried I bite I thought this one needed something more to make it onto the list of things I'd order - the ricotta is a great idea but nothing held the dish together - it was just a plate with five separate elements. 


As an avid burrito enthusiast I had high hopes for the Wild Grape breakfast burrito (scrambled eggs, chorizo, breakfast potatoes, ranchersauce, black beans and queso fresco).  Good but forgettable, it was a bit dry and not worth repeating. 


The artichoke chicken salad felt like it was moving back into the restaurant's wheelhouse (savory, non-breakfast dishes).  The salad is wood grilled chicken, marinated artichoke hearts, goat cheese, pickled beets, herb croutons and honey cider vinaigrette on mixed greens.  Really nice combo - I would order this one again for sure, and can also heartily recommend the grape salad if you're in the restaurant and feeling like greens.


The crab benedict is comprised of cornbread topped with tomatoes, avocado, chilled crab, spinach and the obvious poached eggs with hollandaise.  The dish was good, but I was hoping for a bit more based on the ingredients.  I would not order this one again.


Finally, we all enjoyed the fig and prosciutto flatbread, which is a house-made whole wheat flatbread topped with sweet and spicy fig jam, crispy prosciutto, smoked provolone, blue cheese crumbles, olive oil and arugula.  I would get this as a starter if you're not sold on the donut holes (you're making the wrong choice, but this was great so at least you'll have that consolation).

The Verdict?  The Wild Grape does its best work on non-breakfast items.  While nothing was bad at brunch, I'd steer anyone towards the lunch side of the brunch menu for the best shot at glory.  While the shrimp and grits was fantastic, I have yet to try anything at brunch that rivals the bison burger or braised beef gnocchi from the dinner menu.


Wild Grape Bistro on Urbanspoon

Monday, September 9, 2013

Avenues Proper and Publick House

There are few things nicer than leaving West Valley City, where my office has been temporarily relocated, and driving to the Avenues to eat good food and drink beer on a Friday lunch break.  So much so that I've indulged two weeks in a row at Avenues Proper and Publick House.  At this point I feel like I've tried enough of the menu to give you a pretty good feel for what you should  expect.

First, the patio is just great around lunchtime - plenty of shade and super comfortable seating make you want to carry a business lunch right into an early happy hour.  I would probably head back to Avenues Proper simply for the setting even if the food wasn't stellar.

The menu features some interesting 'Bites' worth trying if you're there.  The obvious choice is the duck fat popcorn, which is popcorn drizzled with duck fat and a bit of fennel pollen.  I wanted this to taste better than popcorn with butter sauce, but really it doesn't.  Still, for $3, it's worth a try and certainly not a bad way to pass a few minutes while you wait for your...


Red Oatmeal Ale on nitro!  This was really one of the best, if not the best, 3.2 beers that I have ever had in my life.  Truly worth a try - I have never before sampled a red oatmeal ale but it combines the smoothness of an oatmeal stout with bitter hops as found in a standard red ale.  Yum.


The house made chips at Avenues Proper are tasty.  They come with sandwiches, but you should probably get an extra order while you're waiting and drinking red oatmeal ale.


As for food, the winner on the menu seems to be AP Burger.  It isn't the best burger in SLC (tip of the hat to The Wild Grape, Pago and The Copper Onion), but it's pretty darn good and it IS the best bun on a burger in SLC.


The Chevre Chaud was lackluster - radish, mixed greens, fried goat cheese and balsamic.  The goat cheese, as the obvious star of the dish, needed a bit more help in order to transform a side salad into a main plate salad.


The only hot "sandwich" on the menu is the Welsh Rarebit.  It isn't a sandwich, it's gorgonzola, raw milk cheddar, bacon, tomato and onion served on something more like a crostini than a slice of bread. This wasn't a bad dish, but I wouldn't order it again.  It is hard to make something that tastes bad when Bacon is the centerpiece.  That being said, if you're feeling like you want a hot meal stick to the burger because cold sandwiches outshine the Welsh Rarebit.


Most of the cold sandwiches at Avenues Proper are somewhat plain - focusing on artisan bread and quality ingredients rather than exotic additions or flavors.  As a lunch option, I thought this style went really nicely as a compliment to the bites and beers available.  The roast beef sandwich was made with grain mustard, arugula, red onion, blue cheese and horseradish aioli.  The demi baguette was the best thing on the plate but the sandwich was overall good.


My favorite sandwich at Avenues Proper is the House Roasted Turkey.  Served on a ciabatta bun and topped with fontina and a healthy dose of grilled kale, this sandwich was the perfect mix of fresh ingredients that play nicely together without getting overcomplicated.  

The verdict? This is one of my favorite places to have a simple sandwich or burger accompanied by some of the best beer on tap in Salt Lake City.  Sit outside if the weather is good.  To date, I can only speak for the lunch offerings, but I would expect a significantly elevated level of creativity and execution at dinner given the prices being asked.  The vibe and drinks at Avenues Proper are enough to make me want to keep coming back, and I hope to report on the dinner menu before too long.

Avenues Proper on Urbanspoon

Tuesday, July 2, 2013

Grand America Hotel: Garden Cafe

I walked into the Grand America hotel for the first time a couple of weeks ago, and while I will give you that it is the most luxurious hotel in Salt Lake City, the decor and general vibe do make me throw up in my mouth just a bit.  Thankfully, that is all changing, at least in the Garden Cafe restaurant.  While the green marble remains on the walls, they have clearly signaled their intent to create a worthy dining experience by bringing on Chef Tom Call (whom I've been touting since before he even moved to Salt Lake) as Chef de Cuisine.  When Chef Tom called up a coworker and said he'd like to cook for us at the Grand America, we quickly cleared our calendars, found babysitters and prepared for genius.

We started out with 'Chips and Dip' - house cured salmon roe, creme fraiche pana cotta and fingerling potato.  This was a fun starter course and got everyone ready for the meal.


Next course was a seared hamachi and number 1 ahi with smoked sea salt, avocado puree and Japanese citrus.


Third, we got an heirloom tomato bisque with microgreens and pecorino basil creme.


Tom knows Italian, so he threw in an extra course last minute to get our take on a potential addition to the permanent menu at the Grand America.  This was a wild shrimp ravioli in pressed leeks and lemongrass.


The final seafood course was an Idaho trout with compressed celery and onion with yellow curry and greek yogurt garnish.


I failed to snap a shot of the intermezzo course, a lemon chamomile sorbet that was perfect for the moment.  Next, the crown jewel of the meal was without question the meat course: a prime New York strip with truffled spinach, Boulanger potatoes, cabernet reduction and a mustard chip.


The cheese course that followed was candied figs, house made lavash and what has become one of my favorite cheeses in the world: Timpanogos Peak.


With coffee, pastry chef Jeffrey de Leon prepared several treats for us.  First, a platter of small bites that included a root beer marshmallow.


And second, we enjoyed the main dessert - a stawberry pistachio semifreddo with French meringue and fresh strawberry.


I would also be remiss not to mention that the Director of Restaurants, Kasey Dubler, played Sommelier for us and paired up each course with a fine selection from the massive cellars at The Grand America.  Absolutely reach out to him next time you stop by.

The verdict?  Forget everything you've heard in years past, The Grand America hotel is getting quite serious in their intent to provide a first rate restaurant.  A meal with Chef Tom Call is one of the better ways to spend your dining dollars in SLC.  While I'm still not sure about the gold-leaf furniture that crowds the hotel, I have heard that the restaurant will be undergoing a full renovation, after which the decor will match the skill that is recently on display at the Garden Cafe.  Highly recommend.

Garden Cafe on Urbanspoon

Monday, July 1, 2013

Franck's

I had been hearing good things about Franck's for a while and finally got the chance to stop in last week.  The menu at Franck's teases foodies with a mashup of French, new American and molecular treats - and the biggest worry I had going in was how I was going to narrow choices down to a reasonable amount of food.

On a Thursday night at 6:30 the restaurant was mostly empty.  Although Franck's has a big parking lot directly adjacent to the restaurant, valet parking is required.  I get annoyed when valet parking is offered as a jobs program instead of a needed service (the friendly valet parked my car about 8 feet from where I left it with him), but no big deal.  The staff was out front working on garden boxes in which summer herbs would be grown when we came inside.  This made me happy.  Given the heat wave, we decided to sit inside despite a very nice outdoor dining area.

Once seated, we found the service to be friendly and attentive, though not perfectly informed.  The waitstaff (ours and others whom we overheard) didn't really possess a superior knowledge of food or wine so you're pretty much on your own there.  What we were told was that Franck is known for his soups and sauces, and that "everything on the menu was amazing".

We started off with a cheese fondue - a mix of gruyere, emmentaler and Swiss cheeses.  The flavor was good if a bit boring, and the portion was huge.  The cubed bread served with the fondue was dry and overall this appetizer was filling but not inspiring.  I would say it comes in a notch below what you would find at a national fondue-themed chain that rhymes with pelting rot.  I was also a bit shocked at the amount of food which came out with this and every course - a clear departure from the French tradition of slight to moderate portions.


Entrees are served with soup or salad at Franck's, so we split and tried both.  This was the low point of the meal - the BLT soup was truly awful.  It tasted like a blend of tomato and fry sauce topped with a few ribbons of lettuce and some bacon bits.  Off.


The salad was not better than the soup as it was an overdressed and wilted pile of greens that reminded me of the salad course I dreaded as a child when drug to the most amazing and horrible steak house in west Texas.


At this point in the meal I was really confused.  Clearly Franck has vision because his menu is legitimately exciting (despite the erroneous mention of both Kobe and Waygu beef), and the recommendations of this place came from trusted fans of good food.  Thankfully things improved (a bit).

I ordered the roasted Utah rack of lamb, served on a Japanese pancake with edamame-mint pudding and plum red wine sauce.  Two pieces of meat came on the plate and though both were cooked to perfect temperature, one was absolutely perfect while the other was not tender at all.  Flavors of the meat were great, but the plum sauce was sweet to the point of cloying and far too plentiful.  The edamame-mint pudding had no flavor.  None the less - the lamb was good and I enjoyed this dish after some de-saucing.  Despite the "reputation" for soups and sauces, the soup and sauces were without questions the biggest points of weakness in the meal.


My wife had the fried chicken - topped with a caramelized watermelon emulsion  and served with watermelon jalepeno salad with a side of gruyere-infused grits.  The chicken was breaded and fried perfectly, but again rendered disappointing by a sugar-sweet sauce.  As an avid fan of cheese grits I was excited for this twist on the southern classic, but result was near flavorless and disappointing.  Probably coloring my final opinion of the meal is also the fact that we both felt a touch ill afterwards - probably just too much sugar and heavy sauces.


The verdict?  Franck's manages to harpoon truly well-prepared main courses with calamitous sides and sauces that overshadow the positive elements on the plate.  I lump Franck's in with Log Haven as a joint that would have been among the best in SLC ten years ago but will struggle to find a place amongst the wave of talent that exists today in our city.


Franck's on Urbanspoon