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.

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.

Zy: The Modernist Dinner

It has been a busy season lately but I finally have a chance to post some pictures from the dinner that Chef Matthew Lake put on at Zy last month following the recipes of The Modernist Cuisine.  The dinner was a fantastic experience and at $60 per person it may have been the best food bargain I have ever run across.

We opted in on the drink pairings and while they were all quite good selections - including the relatively new High West Campfire whiskey that I love - one concoction stood out.  This was a gazpacho cocktail - vodka filtered through gazpacho ingredients to create a cocktail that is clear as water but tastes exactly like gazpacho.  I would have paid the $30 drink pairing price tag just to try this - it was amazing.

The first course was a "garden salad:- baby roots cooked three ways (pickled, roasted & poached), raw breakfast radish, white asparagus and edible soil.  As you can see it was beautiful on the plate and opened the meal with a bang.

The next course was ham and eggs.  No big deal - broiled egg yolk atop truffle toast with ham stock, “egg white” and crispy local prosciutto.  Fresh herbs and microgreens finished the presentation.  I wanted more toast, but the dish was interesting.

Halibut brandade with Meyer lemon jam, sugar beet crisp & dried garlic followed the egg.  This dish was a great start to three amazing fish courses.

Just when I was hoping that something on the menu would be cooked sous vide, we were presented with a steelhead trout cooked sous vide and topped with new style sorrel veloute and crispy mushrooms.

My favorite of the seafood was the seared Maine scallop, served with onions cooked in parmesan whey and spring pea shoots.

We moved away from seafood with a bob white quail marinated in black garlic with fava beans and caramelized carrot puree.  Quail can be tricky but this one was near perfect - moist with a perfect glaze and crisp skin.  As much as I hate to admit it this may have been a better preparation than my standard post-hunting trip methodology (which is: clean bird, stick jalepeno inside, wrap in bacon, then grill).

Why do a palette cleanser when you can eat foie-gras filled chocolates instead?  The next course was controversial but I loved it.  A chocolate bon filled with foie gras parfait, meomi agar, coco & sea salt.  I choose to believe that this was Dan Barber foie gras, but either way it was so good because it was such an unexpected combination of flavors.

The crown jewel of this meal was an ember of prime Niemen flat iron with vegetable ash and lamb & veal espanole.  When we spoke with Chef Lake afterwards he talked about the original intent to do this course sous vide, but that the flat iron really needed the eventual preparation choice to work.  The smoke presentation was particularly fun as well and has become a regular feature of most visits to Zy.

The first sweet course was two puddings- one of warm blue berries and a second being cured strawberry & yuzu served with butter crumble.

We finished the night with a superior dessert - a "broken ice cream sandwich" of pine ice cream and sour cherry shortbread with pine and spice vapor.  It was things like the inclusion of pine vapor that kept this meal firmly in the realm of the cookbook that inspired the menu (and blew our collective minds).

Overall this was a great chance for Zy to showcase the talent of Chef Matthew Lake and his crew.  I don't think there are too many chefs in town who could do this and so far the list of those who choose to cook at this level is even smaller.  There is an excellent experience waiting for pretty much anyone at this restaurant, whether you prefer the best brunch in town or an event like this one.  Bless these folks - it just keeps getting better over at 268 S. State Street.

Pago

I spent the first 4 years of my SLC residency within walking distance of what was once one of the solitary bastions of foodie culture in our town, but I have never written up an evening at Pago. So, we booked a table for four last weekend. On the one hand, I currently list Scott Evans' other venture, Finca, in my top 5 SLC favorites. On the other, I have a spotty history with Pago - I've had good experiences and I've had mediocre experiences. Either Pago has been incrementally improving or we just hit the nail on the head and picked a good night to visit (probably a mix of both), but this time the experience was great.

We started things off in a Belgian mode - mussels and frites. The fries at Pago are really good. Perfectly cooked and truffled, they compliment the mussels well. While the preparation on the mussels was good, it was the size and flavor of the things themselves that blew me away. Gigantic and super tender - please insert your own large and tender mussels joke here. Unlike the Finca preparation, which is also a favorite but dominated by the heavy sauce and the andouille sausage, at Pago the dish highlights the quality of the mussels with light accompanying flavors.

One of the unusual (for Utah) features of Pago is that they keep a somalier around - the ever-charming and friendly Evan Lewandowski. No evening here would be complete without picking his brain about something.  I'm not a wine expert but I do know my Malbecs, and the Colome that we ended up with was super interesting.  Nothing like any Malbec you've ever had - it is an excellent choice.  I liked it even more when Evan told us why he picked it and helped me understand what the surprising flavors were all about.  We chose this wine ourselves, but 5 minutes with the somalier made it all the more enjoyable.

On to the main event - all four entrees were good and each stood out for different reasons. The duck breast with brussels sprouts, squash, wild mushrooms and huckleberry was a mixed experience for me. As you can see below, it is plated in three slices of duck with a perfectly crisped skin on a bed of the vegetables, shredded duck, mushrooms and huckleberry reduction. The largest piece was amazing - and the smallest piece was just OK. This dish was one that I would order again at most restaurants but it was overshadowed by the other three plates so I guess I'd rank it fourth for our evening. To be clear - I'd place Pago's duck on par with the duck breast at Copper Onion, which I love. That rank order speaks to the quality of our food and not to any real deficiency with the duck.

The shocker of the evening was the burger, topped with bacon, gouda, pickled onion and black garlic aioli. I love a few burgers in town - Wild Grape and Copper Onion probably vie for my favorite, but no longer. I'm officially passing the torch and making the declaration: the Pago burger is the best in SLC right now. The crisp bacon atop a perfectly cooked medium temp burger combine with the winter greens and pickled onion to make for a crushingly good experience. Go eat this ASAP, and please, please keep it on the menu Pago.

Next to discuss - the lamb with farro, kale, smoked onion and olive.  I have no idea what that sauce is but it was only bested by the flavor of the lamb itself. Where some of my previous meals at Pago had been spoiled by oversaucing and trying too hard, this plate showed proper restraint and allowed the fantastic piece of meat to be the star. I highly recommend trying the lamb. 

I was really excited about the pork tenderloin cooked sous vide with bacon, polenta apple and turnip. As an unabashed fan of anything molecular, I was bummed when my friend ordered this as it meant that I would have to try something different, but thankfully she shared. Pork may be the ideal meat for sous vide preparation given its tendency to dry out - you get a perfect cut that is moist without any worries that you're taking risks. The bacon wrap allows the meat to be seared crispy on the outside without cooking into the tenderloin. Finally, the polenta was done right - light crunch on the outside and creamy throughout.

We ordered som Charming Beard coffee to accompany our desserts. If you don't know them, Charming Beard is an SLC company that has a remarkably unique product. Ultra light roast botique, single-origin, small batch... yet unpretentious. I love dark roast coffee so I don't often buy Charming Beard, but when I'm in the mood for a light roast I think it is hard to beat!

Let's dissect the desserts in order of how much I liked them. First, we ordered a carrot cake type thing that I didn't like at all. It is ugly on the plate, the cake was dry... not good.

Next, we had a flourless chocolate cake topped with peanut butter nougat. It was good enough - but I wouldn't order again as I expected the chocolate to be richer. The topping dominated the cake here.

Finally, the redeeming dessert - an absurdly good bread pudding with salted caramel and ice cream. Whereas the other two sweets were decidedly sub-par, this one stood out among the best I've had in Salt Lake. We should have just ordered three of them!

The Verdict?  I had not been to Pago in over a year and things seem to have changed for the better - our food ranged from good to outstanding and where I had been annoyed by the pretense in past visits the entire staff was friendly and completely dialed with their knowledge and recommendations.  Back into the regular rotation it goes!

Zy Restaurant - Brunch

I have been a fan of Zy since my first visit, but until a couple weeks ago I had never tried their brunch.  Conditions have to be absolutely perfect for me to make it out to brunch (rather, they need to be terrible outside) as I'd rather be skiing, biking or climbing on any given weekend morning.  But if you never make it to brunch in Salt Lake, you will miss out on a whole different side of what our best restaurants have to offer.

Everyone starts off with the cinnamon and sugar fritters at brunch.  These are a great start to the meal and are so big that you will wonder if you have any room for what comes next.

Zy's brunch menu splits nicely between sweet and savory options.  This actually created a problem for us as it ended up taking two meals to get a full view on what they have to offer.  In our first visit, my wife had the french toast and I had the Chicken and Waffles with bourbon butter and gravy.  If you are only going to make it out to Zy once for brunch, you can stop here:  get the chicken and waffles.  Thanks for reading but you don't need to know anything else.

The preparation on the french toast was their house made sourdough soaked in the the same custard that they use for creme brulle, topped with roasted pears, pecans, maple syrup and whipped creme fraiche.  'Twas great - as you can see.

I also enjoyed a side of bacon, which is delicious and is used to garnish the Bloody Marys that kept being delivered throughout the restaurant during brunch.  Unfortunately I hate Bloody Marys so I took my bacon straight.

Given that it was just my wife and I, we stopped there, and made a second reservation for the next weekend on our way out the door.

I wanted to try some of the savory items on the menu for the second visit, and I had my heart set on ordering one of my favorite Mexican breakfast foods - Chilaquiles.  However, during the week Zy posted some facebook photos of their new addition to the brunch menu, the bread pudding.  This was a savory bread pudding topped with a sunny side egg, roasted tomatoes, sunflower microgreens and sauce Mornay.  When the time came to order I couldn't resist, and I'm glad I didn't - it was stellar.  Mornay is a Bechamel sauce with cheese added - usually half Gruyere and half Parmesan (thanks wikipedia).  In a nod to the Utah heritage of this dish, the flavor combo of the Mornay sauce and the roasted tomatos, when taken in one bite, sort of whispers "fry sauce".

My in-laws and my newly-relocated-to-SLC sister and her husband were all along for this meal, so they helped us try more than we otherwise could have.  One of us went for the Chilaquiles that I was so keen to try.  They were good - though untraditional.  The preparation is a red version of Chilaquiles and is much dryer (on purpose) than what I'm used to, which would be much more sauce and a sunny side egg, but the flavors were great and I'd order again if I couldn't get the bread pudding.

My brother in law ordered the eggs benny.  A house-made english muffin topped with truffle hollandaise and Cremenili proscuitto cotto.  I thought the truffled hollandaise was really subtle and delicious - it lacked the kick that you get out of a standard hollandaise and replaced it with the best flavor known to man... truffles.

Several in our party wisely opted for the chicken and waffles, so we only tried one other new item - the french toast part two.  The preparation had changed since our first visit and while this one, to me, sounded less interesting on paper, it was the biggest surprise win of the meal.  Same sourdough toast but this time the topping was berries and a goat-cheese creme fraiche.  The goat-cheese and sweetness combined into a breakfast miracle.  Obviously, Cheff Matt Lake knows his cheese, and I'm glad to see that come out across the entire spectrum of the brunch menu where surfacing that knowledge might require the most effort.

We also tried the herb fries.  As I've been thinking about fry power rankings lately, I was surprised by how good these were and they may have advanced my placement of shoestring potatoes a few slots.

My last note is that you'll probably see more Zy on my blog next month as we are attending a dinner on April 28 dedicated to the recipes of The Modernist Cuisine.  I'm incredibly excited about this - call Zy for info by it sounds like it will be a great night and a crazy-good value.

The Verdict?  I love Zy and their brunch made me a bigger fan than ever.  Regardless of what you are in the mood for, Zy puts out a brunch that is complex, filling and will please both the foodie and the diner who would normally default to a greasy spoon joint.

Zest Kitchen & Bar

We wanted to try out the new vegetarian and vegan joint, Zest, as their cocktail menu looked intriguing and they bill themselves as offering "globally inspired seasonal cuisine featuring organic, local, sustainable ingredients, when available".  That sounded like it had potential.  Zest is located in the spot that used to house Acme Burger.  The decor has not changed too much - but about 1/3rd of the space is now evidently a dance floor complete with DJ booth.  

We thought we'd start with a couple of small plates and drinks.  I asked for some ideas and we were told that the parmesan stuffed mushrooms were the most popular item on the menu.  We also ordered the sweet potato fries.  I ordered the jalepeno margarita as well.

We thought that the staff at Zest was friendly.  Unfortunately the food was really, really bad.  The mushrooms really had zero flavor and we had trouble finding any parmesan in them.  The baked sweet potato fries were a stack of baked sweet potato devoid of seasoning.  Off!

So they can't cook - but maybe the mixologist at Zest could save the day?  Restaurants that turn into night clubs perhaps trend towards drink-focused, so I had hopes for the "bar" half of the menu.  Unfortunately, the jalepeno margarita tasted like you had muddled some jarred peppers into a glass of Cuervo margarita mix.  Just a sugary bomb.  Given the skills that are on display lately in the SLC bar scene at places like Pallet, Finca, The Wild Grape and Bar X - it's impossible not to come down hard on Zest.

Given that it was St. Patrick's day, I decided to have a Jameson and call it good.

The Verdict? I like to be constructive with my feedback but sometimes you gotta hope that restauranteurs will just cash it in and make space for someone else.  The space currently occupied by Zest is such a nice location that I'm hoping we'll eventually see a tenant that lives up to its potential.