Taqueria 27

I found Taqueria 27 on Twitter and made a mental note to stop in since I drive by the restaurant almost every day.  I didn't take the time to check out their website so I wasn't sure what to expect but was pleasantly surprised.  Taqueria 27 does quick takes on some pretty complex ideas, then wraps them in a tortilla and calls it a taco (sometimes it is, sometimes that is a stretch, but it was always delicious).

Our meal progressed from decent to mind-blowing.  We started with the roasted guacamole, which was one option among six guacamoles.  Good flavor with roasted chiles, garlic, lime and cilantro, but it certainly could have benefitted from more of those ingredients as it was super mild.

We also grabbed some house margaritas, which were mixed with blood orange, citrus and agave nectar.  A bit tangier than I'm used to, I really appreciated that they had tried something new (if only slightly) for their house recipe.  If it weren't for all of the other appealing drinks on the menu I would say I'd order these again.  Can't go wrong with a house marg here.

The tequila menu was fairly extensive although you're not going to find anything too exotic outside of the "extra anjeos".  I would love to see some of the reposados and anejos built out with a few boutique options, but was pleased to see some favorites on the menu for sure.

Our tacos all came at once.

I'll work up in order of what we enjoyed.  The fish taco was a grouper that was "flash fried" and topped with slaw, cilantro-lime crema and jalepeno tartar sauce.  This was a perfectly fine fish taco, but I would note that it is deep fried, not exactly flash fried, in grease that was nearing the end of its useful life.  I can't complain because the result was a perfectly cooked fish taco, but be ready for fried if you order fried.

Both of the other tacos we ordered were fantastic and we were split on which was best.  The special that day was a pork skirt steak marinated in sriracha and soy sauces then served with an asian slaw.  I was skeptical about pork skirt steak but it was every bit as lean and tender as the more commonly seen beef skirt.  The asian flavors were cool, but it still pretty much felt like a taco - so kudos to Taqueria 27 for making everything work together without creating a tortilla-wrapped spring roll.  This one was a flour tortilla, and I might go flour on them all next time as it was particularly good.

The last two tacos to mention were the duck confit.  Given the time requirements around traditional confit methods (cooking the duck in its own fat), I thought it was pretty unique to find a taco joint able to create this.  The taco is finished with fire-roasted veggies, leeks and chipotle crema.  By far my favorite item of the night.

The Verdict?  Taqueria 27 is haute cuisine made into tacos that span the cullinary gambit at a reasonable price.  I haven't found the unique mixture of well-executed interesting cooking, price and quick, casual atmosphere anywhere else in SLC (yet).  The environment is fun for a date but also friendly to kids.  The drinks are good.

Note: hopefully this is the last post where you see dreamy photos with a light haze around them - I ordered a new lens for my iphone camera, which should fix the issue.

Eva

I've been to Eva once before and had a decent experience but wanted to document the latest visit here.  I was with a couple of friends and we had a chance to try quite a few menu items.  Here's the rub with Eva: if I'm paying you to create food for me, it should be better than what I can do for myself, or less expensive (in terms of time, money or both).  I'm not sure that Eva met that hurdle for us.  The photos are really poor this time due to bad lighting and my continued unwillingness to carry a proper camera to the dinner table... sorry.

We started out with the roasted beets and goat cheese topped with garlic chips, mint and hazelnut vinaigrette.  If this looks good to you, I have good news - you can go to costco and purchase the cooked baby beets, slice them up, throw some goat cheese on there and you will have this dish!  Honestly, it wasn't exciting at all.

We also tried out the Brussels Sprouts, the "most popular item on the menu".  The preparation is a shredded sprout with toasted hazelnuts and cider vinegar.  I thought the flavor was pretty good though I  wasn't blown away.

The best dish of the night was the tri-tip bruschetta - a thin-sliced tri-tip steak bruschetta with lemon, parmesan, aioli and radicchio.  My only critique on this one is that I'm used to a medium or mid-rare preparation on a tri-tip steak, and the steak in this dish is cooked well done.

The oink-oink-oink was the final dish in our first round of small plates.  This is a skewer with pork belly, bacon and pork tenderloin.  Anyone who reads this blog knows that I love pork belly, which is why I was so frustrated to receive the overcooked skewer of pork that came out with this order.  The tenderloin was rubbery and burnt and the pork belly was a sub-par cut of meat made worse by too much cooking.  Off.

We went around a second time and the first arrival was the wood-fired flatbread served with truffled white bean, arugula pesto and olive tapanade.  This plate was OK - the flatbread had tons of potential but I felt like the pesto wasn't very balanced and the truffled white bean was underwhelming.

I wanted to try the calamari and it was probably the number two most disappointing item on the menu behind the oink-oink.  It was served with a few fried jalepeno chips, but really had zero flavor going on.  Think about how Long John Silver would cook calamari and you get the jist.

We had the spanish organic green salad with manchego, marcona almonds, red peppers and honey truffle vinaigrette.  This salad was pretty good - I would definitely repeat it if I was back at Eva.

The grilled asparagus topped with a poached egg, romano cheese, chopped proscuitto and jalepeno aioli was pretty good as well and stood out as one of the better items of our night.  Maybe I'm spoiled by Finca's take on this dish, which is infinitely more well-executed, but I was a bit let down by Eva's asparagus.

Lastly, I have to mention that I ordered the Eva's whiskey - which is a wood-fired lemon muddled in Maker's on the rocks.  Maybe just a function of Utah liquor laws, but this is basically a water with a spritz of whiskey and a charred lemon.  Not a fan.

I would tell you how the crab cakes were that we ordered, but they never came.

The Verdict?  Eva's has a super interesting menu but is foiled by terrible execution on all fronts.  I don't recommend it but I suppose there is hope for the joint if they import some chefs.  Nice beards, plaid, checkers, paisley and vintage floral only cover up so much.  If you're thinking about Eva - do yourself a favor and head over to Finca instead.