Ever since we drove up the hill to Park City to dine at The Nelson Cottage, I haven’t stopped talking about the meal with encountered.  Did you know High West Distillery just opened up a new pre-fix menu restaurant??  It’s easy to miss but its stealth is part of its charm.  The cute blue bungalow is just one door down from the popular, and often times hard to get into, High West Distillery restaurant and saloon.

Though we’ve still been eating well and enjoying our great city to the fullest, our little blog here hasn’t had much attention.  We’ve been spending more time photographing some of the lovely establishments than writing about them.  Our latest project was photographing Pago for their website.  Visit PagoSLC.com to see more of our work, or better yet, go have a meal there!

One of my favorite breakfasts spots is now open for dinner.  Desserts, drinks, and a full on dinner are all now available in the evening hours at Eva’s Bakery and now through November they are offering 20% off when you mention #EvasBakery4Dinner. I’m imagining the perfect downtown experience, perhaps tickets to a ballet or a musical, an early dinner at Eva’s Bakery or post performance dessert and drinks.  Their menu changes but a few things you can count on – decadent desserts, reliable wines and the salads and soups that we all enjoy there at lunch time. The entrees I’ve tried were both ones worth returning for, but instead I’ll go back in hopes for new flavors coming from the Eva’s Bakery kitchen.

Pecan Crusted Chicken with Currant Tomato Relish, seasonal veggies and a dijon cream sauce.

Braised Local Pork Roast with Potato Gnocchi.

Chocolate Molten Cake

We’ve had a couple of really nice meals since having Everett and they both happen to be from Pago.  We actually were spoiled when a friend brought Pago take-out to us right after Everett was born.  As I often remember seasons of life with the food we enjoyed, I think I’ll look back on these first few months of Everett’s life and remember sitting around the table with Josh, Everett in my arms, slightly sleep deprived, and tasting some truly amazing flavors that are being offered at Pago.

Here are some of the tastes that will be forever linked in my mind with summer and fall 2013:

Carrot Tasting: an assortment carrots- raw, confit, pickled, and pureed with mascarpone.

Gnocchi with Smoked Tomato Nage, Corn, Mushrooms and Parmesan Cheese. (I also learned that a nage is a emulsion or reduced & enhanced liquid)

Utah Morgan Valley Lamb with bright green pea falafel, carrots roasted in chermoula (a spicy Middle Eastern sauce), and lime marinated cucumbers with citrus yogurt.

And as a special treat the chef brought us out something he’s trying for the upcoming season – Caramelized fennel and figs with lamb bacon over popcorn grits.  If you frequent PAgo enough the chef often sends you samples of his latest creations (more reason to be a regular diner at Pago).

Peach Pie with Brown Butter Ice Cream.

For more details on our dinner at Pago pick up the latest issue of In Magazine.

Pago
878 South 900 East
Lunch: Monday – Friday 11am – 3pm
Dinner: Monday – Sunday 5pm – 10pm
Brunch: Saturday & Sunday 10am – 2:30pm
Closed 3pm-5pm daily.

I’m a little embarrassed by how much I like Finca in Salt Lake City.   When the opportunity arose to taste the summer menu, of course I jumped at it.  I tried to play it cool like the jr. high guy who doesn’t want to let the cute cheerleader know that he has a crush (don’t hate the player, hate the game).

Anyways, gushing aside, Finca’s new menu was impressive.  Becky spent a summer in Spain a while ago.  She said Finca’s bocadillos and croquettes are better than the ones she had in Spain.  While Finca’s food is fantastic, Salt Lake Magazine believes that you should go there for the booze.  They received the 2013 awards for best ‘mixologist’ and wine list.

Finca’s summer menu includes pintxos, or small bites, at crazy cheap prices along with new items on the asador menu (wood-fired grill)! I recommend the artichokes or tri-tip on the asador menu and the croquettes on the pintxos menu. If you’re looking for a patio, summer cocktails and wines, summery-Spain-like food – make a trip to Finca this summer.

Here’s the rest of the story in photos:

This article is written by Hannah Wright.  She’ll be writing a series called “Salt Lake City Date Night” for SLC Foodie.

One of my favorite things about food is its ability to bring people together.  Early in our marriage my husband and I decided to institute a weekly “date night” for intentionally spending time together.  This special time has become increasingly more important to us as we’ve gotten busier with our respective careers.  My husband, Phillip, and I share a mutual love of food so we take care in selecting a place to go for dinner.  This past week we chose Frida Bistro for our date night.

I love all of the colorful décor in Frida Bistro, and their creativity is also very apparent in their menu.  To start we both ordered margaritas and the ceviche de atún.  I really enjoyed Frida’s grilled pineapple, jalapeño and cilantro margarita and Phillip felt the same way about the “El Jefe” margarita with Vida Blanca and Grand Marnier.  Ceviche is a popular seafood dish that often features a raw fish flavored with citrus juices and spices. With its fresh taste, this particular ceviche provided a great appetizer while we browsed the menu and chatted.

For our entrees, I chose Callos al Tamarindo, which was a lovely seared scallop dish with tamarind sauce, leeks, and shitake mushrooms. My husband opted for the Puerco en Escabeche, citrus glazed pork carnitas and pork belly with chipotle mashed potatoes, and asparagus.  I love scallops and Frida did not disappoint: the scallops were just the right consistency.  Sometimes scallops and shrimp are so overcooked that they are just rubbery little seafood pods.  With just the right amount of flavor and texture, these scallops showed me that there is good seafood in Salt Lake City.  My husband was impressed by the flavor of his dish, particularly the chipotle mashed potatoes.

If you and your significant other are looking for a fun, creative restaurant to re-connect from a busy work week and enjoy some margaritas on the patio, please check out Frida Bistro at 545 West 700 South.  They have lunch and dinner hours and a Saturday brunch.  Frida’s food and service make it easy to enjoy some quality time with friends and family!

Pago is special.

I feel like this whole post could be summed up in those three words, but I’ll expand for posterity’s sake.

I’m not sure where to begin – the owner (Scott Evans), the way they source their food, from whom they source it, their wine list, their sommelier(s), dining aesthetic, their manager/sommelier/wine-maker (Evan Lewandowski), the risks they’ve taken on young brands (Charming Beard, Amour Spreads, many more) or their chef.

Honestly, all of its worth mentioning on some level, though I think I’ll just hit some of the high points and focus on Becky’s favorite meal of the week, brunch.

As Becky and I were in the waiting-for-the-baby-to-be-born days of her pregnancy, we found our Sundays a bit more available than usual so we wandered up to Pago for brunch.  One of the sweet servers saw Becky’s round belly and brought over a Dutch Baby Pancake before we could even order our coffee.  It’s a great way to start a meal and even better idea as way to  to coax a reluctant child out of the womb.  It didn’t work, but the house made strawberry rhubarb jam gave its best effort.

As we finished the Dutch Baby and waited for what we ordered, a nice French Press of Charming Beard Coffee’s Rwanda MIG Buremera found its way to our table.  There are only two places in town right now (we know of, do you know of any other?) that serve coffee in a French Press, Zy and Pago.  We love it when a restaurant puts a little more effort into their coffee regardless of who the coffee roaster is.

After the coffee came a wonder taste of Becky’s Pago Scramble and my Croque Monsieur.  I’m on a never ending quest to remember my 2012 trip to France. I’ll take absolutely any reminder possible.  The Croque Monsieur did a fine job.

As local food lovers, we’re immensely grateful for the risk Scott Evans took on Pago (and Finca).  We hope for many more free Sundays (with child) will find us at a table in the 9th and 9th District served by the wonderful folks at Pago.

Copper Onion is bringing something new to Salt Lake City.  Some of you may not agree.  If you disagree, likely you’ve been around food and fine-dining for a long time.  You see Copper Onion’s menu and think, “how nice, they’re doing this or that.”  Then you taste it, like it and come back again in the near future.

But if you haven’t been around fine dining, you’ve probably still eaten at Copper Onion.  It’s drawing the masses right now.  And somehow, Copper Onion has the masses eating bone marrow.

When I asked Mary Malouf from Salt Lake Magazine why she thought Copper Onion deserved best restaurant in Salt Lake City, she pointed out that Salt Lake residents would have never eaten bone marrow.  Owner/Chef Ryan Lowder developed a devoted fan base with some somewhat inside the box dishes, then started to turn them on to things once only for the daring dining elite.

Our server kindly gave us directions on how he thought the marrow was best enjoyed – on a sliced French baguette smooth the marrow on the bread and top with greens provided then sprinkle with a bit of sea salt.

They’re also doing wonderful twists on American classics like beef stroganoff.  It’s so ridiculously hearty and tasty and the Wagyu Beef melted like butter in the wonderful sauce topped with a creme fraiche and chives.

Copper Onion’s vibe is wonderful and their menu will make you come back, not to mention that their wine list is one of the best in town and all of their servers are well-trained to help with pairings.  They draw you in with something you recognize then unapologetically push you to try something you might have never tried.  If bone marrow intimidates you, go to Copper Onion and get over it for just one night.  Please.

Sometimes we don’t learn from the past.  What great restaurants don’t have rough beginnings?  I remember when Copper Onion first opened and the general consensus was, “too much salt!”  Now, many on the too much salt train rave about the greatness of Copper Onion.  I think/hope a few months from now the naysayers of Pallet will put this, one of the most stunning dining rooms in Salt Lake, on their top ten restaurants list.

We had dined at Pallet once before for lunch, but this time we went to try their summer menu.  There’s great seasonal produce and seafood to choose from.  When we walked in we could smell the fresh seafood.  And their portions of meat we’re small and light (in a good way), perfect for summer dining on a patio.

We brought our own Tempranillo the night we dined at Pallet.  Why?  Becky and I review a lot of restaurants and sometimes, sadly, it just feels like work.  We had been to a few other restaurants in the past week so I wanted this one to feel like a date night by doing something a little different.  I’m not sure if my Tempranillo was the best wine pairing out there, but let’s just say I won’t have my sommelier certification any time soon.

The food is, well, the food is worth it – light and fresh, creative and simple.  The chef went to the farmer’s market that morning and designed the specials with the fresh produce in mind.

I mean no disrespect whatsoever to the chef, but even if the food was awful I could sit in that room all evening in awe of the design detail.  How detailed is the design?  The design-hungry patron could spend hours in the bathroom admiring the work, a place usually left by the wayside in the design expense category.  As Salt Lake continues to grow in it’s attention to food, I hope the restaurant owners will take a page out of Pallet’s book of vibe.  Amazing.

Our scallops we’re so fresh and light, not overly sauced, served over black rice studded with bright red cherries.  Pallet chooses quality ingredients and really allows the natural flavor to come through their dishes.

If you’ve been dissatisfied with Pallet, give it some time to settle in.  It would be ideal if every new business could be great from day one and have all the kinks worked out in their service, menu and operations.  If we demand local, we’ve got to allow it be local, which means sometimes it doesn’t our feed consumer-driven-make-this-right-or-else attitude.  Pallet will be great if it’s not great already.  If you were dissatisfied, go back and try again.  We will certainly go back. And when we do we’ll be ordering their deconstructed cheesecake again!

Here is our first review of Pallet for lunch.

Pallet

237 South 400 West

There’s a new restaurant that I’ve mentioned a few times but I must tell you more about it.  Pallet sits on the fringes of downtown in a renovated old warehouse space and serves up modern American cuisine. This Salt Lake City restaurant stands out to me in one area.. atmosphere.  And I’m a sucker for a restaurant with good atmosphere.  Pallet just does it right with designer lighting, interesting art on the walls, a mix match assortment of vintage pitchers for water, long dark stained wood tables, comfy private booths, and an old-world style bar.

check out this article for info on one of the paintings chosen for Pallet.

I’ve only visited Pallet once thus far and it was a meager effort in trying their cuisine since I went in for lunch and only dined with one friend, but it was still worth a write up.  I ordered the spinach and salmon salad served with a grapefruit vinaigrette.  The salmon was perfectly blackened and spicy on the outside and still tender on the inside. The salad was simple with a touches of fruit. My lunch date, Carol, ordered the tuna sandwich, which was kind of ordinary but her truffle fries were pretty tasty… I admit to sneaking a few from her plate.

Mostly, I was underwhelmed by their food but I need to taste more for a just review.  Here are some more photos as well as highlights of what others are saying online about Pallet from Urbanspoon and a few other online sources:

“SLC has been dying for more of this type of restaurant. It has the feel of a Portland eatery. Warm, cozy decor and every detail is well thought out right down to the old fashioned Borax dispenser in the bathroom.”

“For lunch the grilled cheese is insanely good. It’s not your typical greasy cheese-heavy sandwich, it’s light and delicious with arugula and pear.”

“We had the venison with an INCREDIBLE risotto, the short ribs melt in your mouth with a perfect balsamic glaze, the scallops cooked to perfection with a decadent cauliflower puree. My dish was, in my opinion, the best of them all. The mushroom ravioli was to die for. The sauce was creamy but not too rich, with a lovely hint of truffle. We will be back again. And again.”

“Mojitos in mason jars, fine wines served alongside PBR tallboys wrapped in the requisite brown bag, and enough mustache wax to waterproof the Santa Maria….We had a great meal at Pallet.  It stands out because they are doing creative things at reasonable prices and seem to not take themselves too seriously – a rare mix in the SLC.  Pallet has room to grow on the execution front, but we will likely add it to our regular rotation and give it a thumbs up. ” – from Wasatch Food Review

“The owner, the staff, the look of the restaurant, the location and the vibe of the place. Food-wise I enjoyed how there was a story behind some of the dishes (salmon all the way from Scotland) and the fresh in-season combinations. I was very impressed with the food, goat cheese mousse under a bed of beets, perfect alioi with the fries, scallops seared to perfection, delightful.” – from Sassy Scoops

“Recently opened Pallet is already creating a buzz with its warm oatmeal shortcake dessert. Pastry chef Jeffrey Stone sandwiches a housemade salted caramel-walnut filling and ganache between oatmeal-walnut shortbread for a seriously scrumptious dessert. Scratch vanilla bean ice cream and a schmear of warm chocolate ganache complete the dish.” – from the Salt Lake Tribune

If you’ve tried it for yourself, let me know what you think!  Also, what should I try when I go back there for dinner??!

Pallet

237 S 400 E

lunch 11am-3pm, dinner 5-10pm

online reservations for Pallet