Pork buns, pasties, kolaches, pirozhkis, bierocks, the list goes on and on. Every culture, it seems, has their own version of meat contained within bread, all contained in a neat hand-held, portable package.
They are cheap, portable, and filling. Perfect for people who are on the go. I spent a few years living in Buenos Aires, and Argentinean empanadas were my go-to for a quick, delicious meal. Savory meat is enveloped in a flaky, tender crust.
Below you will find my go-to recipe for empanadas. You can find the empanada shells (“tapas”) at any latin market. Make sure you take note when buying: there are tapas for frying and tapas for baking. Be sure to pick the corresponding type depending on how you’re going to cook them. I prefer baking.
Or you can save yourself the trouble and just head over to Argentina’s Best Empanadas in Salt Lake and buy them ready-to-eat.
Recipe
2 lbs hamburger (85/15)
2 large onions
5 tablespoons paprika
2 tablespoons salt
2 tablespoons onion powder
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons cumin
2 teaspoons white pepper (black works as well if you don’t have white)
3 tablespoons whole oregano
6 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 cup green olives, chopped
Tapas (you will want around three to four dozen tapas). If they are frozen, put in fridge and allow to thaw.
Egg white
Cook onions over medium heat with some oil for three minutes, then add hamburger and brown the meat. Add paprika, salt, onion powder, sugar, cumin, pepper, and oregano. Cook until onions are translucent. Remove from heat and chill. Once chilled, add olives and chopped eggs.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Take a tapa and fill it with a couple spoonfuls of the meat filling. Fold the tapa in half over the meat filling, line up the edges and pinch closed with fingers. Take a fork, press down along the edges to form a strong seal between the two edges.
Place the filled empanadas on a baking sheet, and be sure they don’t touch. Either use parchment or a Silpat to prevent sticking. Brush each empanada with egg white. Bake for around 20 minutes or until brown.
These are great to eat fresh out of the oven, or throw them in the freezer to reheat for a quick snack later.
Salt Lake City’s restaurant scene has never been brighter or more vibrant. And not only are our lovely local restauranteurs taking their food seriously, but many restaurant owners understand the importance that design plays in their guests’ overall dining experience. A restaurant’s design begins to mold a guest’s experience and perceptions long before a plate of food even hits the table. Design is a visual appetizer.
Heirloom, fresh, clean, organic, simple, local. I wouldn’t blame you for thinking that these words are used to describe food. You’re not wrong. But these are the same words being used in the context of restaurant design throughout Salt Lake.
I remember the first time I walked into Bambara restaurant: striking black and white was balanced by warm browns. Contrasting tiles and stonework, textured houndstooth seats, and beautiful fixtures evoke a sense of class, and hearkens back to the “good old days” of downtown metropolitan business and banking. The restaurant’s design pays homage to the building’s heritage as the Continental Bank, before it was converted to the Hotel Monaco. Staff circulate efficiently through and around the large, open kitchen (before open kitchens were really even a thing). Bambara’s design is contemporary, classy, and all business. Just like its food. This restaurant has been around for a while, but they knocked it out of the park with the design, and it is just as fresh as day one, in my opinion.
Photo courtesy Bambara
A restaurant’s design, when done right, complements the food. Andrea Beecher of M3LD designed the striking new Table X restaurant, which used to be a cheese factory in Brickyard. Beecher and the Table X owners were able to preserve much of the original elements of the building in order to preserve character and pay homage to the building’s history. When asked about her design inspiration for this unique space, she said:
After having eaten the chef’s food and being inspired by how bright, fresh and vibrant it was, how much of a piece of art every dish was, I thought about a trip to Iceland that I took a couple years ago. I was there in summer where layered on top of what is typically a barren landscape of black, grays and browns, there are colorful wild flowers of all kind and the greens of grasses and moss. The monochromatic landscape allowed these seasonal touches to pop in a huge way. I thought of their food as that foliage and wanted the restaurant to mimic Iceland’s landscape so their food would pop just the same. So their food could be the art in the space. Be the highlight it should be.
I.e. restrained design focuses attention where it should be: on the food. Design sometimes needs to know when to get out of the way.
Photo Courtesy Table X
Photo Courtesy Table X
One common denominator amongst restaurants leading down the design path is a focus on textures, and the impact that different materials have. A reinvigorated design focus around various textures complements many chefs’ approaches to a multi-faceted dining experience.
Even hot dog places understand the interplay of restaurant design and the overall guest experience. For those unfamiliar, J Dawgs is a hot dog shop that started as a tiny little shack on the south end of the BYU campus. It has since grown to five locations (four in Utah County, one in downtown SLC).
Immediately upon entering the space, one recognizes the thoughtful approach that the owners took in designing the space. In fact, J Dawgs hired Rapt Studio, a design firm that has worked on projects for Adobe, Google, Apple Youtube, and HBO. Rapt worked with J Dawgs to redesign their brand, and to design their Salt Lake City location with the goal of creating a space that was reminiscent of the original hot dog shack in Provo, but with a more grown-up angle.
Communal tables are intermixed with single seats, counter seating, and a lounge-type area with a TV towards the back of the shop. A giant wall installation utilizing bottles of their signature sauce form a giant American flag. Corrugated steel is tastefully installed to hearken back to the original shack. And the centerpiece of it all is an open kitchen, where guests are afforded a 360 degree view of the entire cooking and dog-building process.
Photo courtesy Rapt Studio
Photo courtesy Rapt Studio
Photo courtesy Rapt Studio
Photo courtesy Rapt Studio
Mollie & Ollie‘s clean design, while it may be viewed as overly sterile or antiseptic by some, also reinforces their focus on “clean” foods–those that are simple, organic, and responsibly sourced. M&O owners invested a small fortune to completely renovate the very long but skinny footprint that stores on SLC Main Street are famous for. I personally enjoy the clean, simple nature of the space that allows diners to focus on what really matters: the food, and the people you are enjoying the food with. I also applaud Mollie & Ollie for realizing that it’s ok to be brave with design (and yes–white is brave). It’s refreshing to walk into a space and not be bombarded with Edison bulbs as far as the eye can see. But I wouldn’t blame you if you felt like you were in an operating room.
Photo courtesy Mollie & Ollie
Photo courtesy Mollie & Ollie
Photo courtesy Mollie & Ollie
The LaSalle Group took things down to very core (literally) with their renovation of the old Baker Motors building on 3rd South in Salt Lake in order to house the new Current Fish & Oyster. The old car dealership building was in serious need of updating, so the owners went in, gutted the place, and started with a clean slate, while preserving the exterior of the building. LaSalle did a similar gut-job renovation on the old Faustina place in order to create the deliciously clean Stanza Italian Bistro.
Current’s interior. Photo courtesy Current.
Stanza’s interior. Photo courtesy Stanza.
Rich, vibrant greens cast a striking, yet comfortable contrast with the grays and whites in the newly-opened HSL. HSL, the second restaurant venture of Chef/co-owner Briar Handly, partnered with real estate and design heavyweight cityhomeCOLLECTIVE, who were involved in designing numerous striking restaurants in the city, including Pallet and Finca. When you enter HSL, you are immediately hit with the impression of life, warmth, and vibrance.
“Melissa (HSL co-owner of HSL) and I talked for a long time about what we wanted HSL to feel like. Where would the magic be? We knew that we wanted patrons to walk into a space that felt alive and conscious…like it had a soul of its own.” -Cody Derrick, cityhomeCOLLECTIVE
So much of Handly’s expertise lies in his ability to raise vegetables to be on par (or many times, exceed) that of the protein, typically the star of the show. HSL’s design, centered around vibrant green plants, complements his approach.
“We tried to create a space that feels the way Briar’s food tastes. We wanted the design to be interesting, calming and comfortable. To evoke a sense of nature. Design is a critical component to the guest experience. We believe that for us to be successful we need to have a equal balance of food, service and ambiance. That being said, it doesn’t matter how good your design is if your service and food aren’t exceptional as well.” -Melissa Gray, co-owner
Design is a seemingly endless proposition, framed by finite resources. Budgets limit choices, restaurant layouts limit designs, and city codes can restrict design freedoms. But that challenge brings opportunities.
“There is something I’ve learned to be true in all aspects of design: convenience kills creativity. When you’re given the world–too many choices, an endless budget, no timeline–some key part of the process inevitably gets lost. Perhaps it’s our innate desire to be problem solvers, or our constant inability to be satisfied, but designers and artists in most any capacity seem to thrive in an environment laden with obstacles.” -Lauren Bald, cityhomeCOLLECTIVE, regarding the challenging FINCA design project
Cody Derrick continues:
“We’ve gotten to create a space where we’re inspired to be. It’s something that’s never been done before; something that’s inspired by the space itself. It’s inspired by the food and the chef, the owner, the locals. It’s inspired by all of that, but it’s still here. It’s in Utah. Which is why we have mountains on the walls, and locals in the photos. It’s not trying to be anything other than what it is. Finca is a Spanish restaurant in Salt Lake City, so let’s just celebrate that.”
Indeed, that’s what proper design should be about. It should be inspired by (and should celebrate) the surroundings. Reflect the nuances, talents, and quirks of the chef as well as the food itself. A properly designed restaurant should not distract guests from the meal, and should in fact be the platform upon which the food is allowed to truly shine. Design should be a quiet element of the dining experience, shaping, but not intruding on a guest’s experience. Design should celebrate the personalities of the staff and guests, and make all feel welcome and free to enjoy themselves.
Usually about this time of the year, Utahns are seeking shelter and warmth. With this year’s unseasonably warm November, we may not exactly be feeling that way, but things are about to change.
In anticipation of the imminent colder weather, Alamexo is holding the November Chile Festival from Thursday November 17th through Saturday November 19th. Chef Matt Lake wants to share his love of piquant peppers with inhabitants of SLC by offering numerous dinner and drink specials.
The main event of the festival will be a cooking class and three course lunch. The class is titled “Cooking with the Chiles of Mexico” and Chef Lake plans to show attendees just how versatile chiles can be.
Call to reserve a seat in the class: (801) 779-4747. Cost is $35 (including lunch!)
Numerous restaurants are offering Thanksgiving Day meals in Salt Lake. Here are a few that I have been made aware of:
Bambara
Bambara, located in the Hotel Monaco downtown, will offer a Thanksgiving Day buffet dinner, offering a classic carving station, whole New York strip, oysters, shrimp, salads, and soup. Additionally, an array of desserts will be offered.
Thanksgiving is such a warm, wonderful holiday for people to come together, but it can be so stressful to host, too. Leave the kitchen and preparation and the dishes behind, and bring your friends and family, and join us for a really special dinner this holiday. -Executive Chef Nathan Powers
Cost is $75 per adult, $55 for children 6-16, and $65 for seniors.
Call Bambara for reservations. (801) 363-5454
Cafe Niche
Cafe Niche will host a four-course Thanksgiving dinner featuring executive chef Andy Morrison’s creative take on holiday fare. This dinner will be offered from noon until 8pm.
The menu includes a choice of grilled vegetables with balsamic and parsley sauce on ciabatta; signature Niche salad or sausage and fall vegetable soup; entrée selections of traditional turkey dinner, cherry thyme tenderloin or crispy tai snapper; and dessert of homemade pumpkin and vanilla gelato with graham cracker crust. Wine pairings will be hand selected and are available at an additional cost.
Cost is $35 per person, gratuity and tax not included. Call the restaurant at (801) 433-3380 for reservations.
Oasis Cafe
Oasis will be open for Thanksgiving Day brunch from 9am to 3pm. The brunch offers traditional breakfast dishes, soups, salads and sandwiches. Guest favorites include the German buttermilk pancake with blueberry compote or the eggs Benedict Florentine, Chef Efren’s breakfast burrito; the toasted Brie sandwich or a traditional Reuben sandwich
“Once the turkey is in the oven, families can pop over for a leisurely brunch before returning to their kitchens,” said Will Keesen, general manager. “Honestly, this is really self-serving – I just need a place to eat that morning,” he laughs.
Call this family-owned and -run restaurant at (801) 322-0404 for reservations.
Finca is offering a Thanksgiving Day buffet from 10am until 2pm. Finca’s buffet will offer traditional Thanksgiving dishes with their own little spin, such as roasted turkey, harissa baked yams, honey and sherry glazed ham, chestnut and sage dressing, mashed yukon gold potatoes and gravy, as well as house made bread, pastries, and confections.
Large groups are welcome. Cost is $45/person. Call Finca at (801) 487-0699 to reserve your spot.
In celebration of the opening of the new Eccles Theater in SLC, Chef Phelix Gardner is offering a new special at Current. On evenings of a Broadway show at the Eccles, Current is offering a three course special, including an appetizer, main course, and dessert. The meal is $35 and will be offered from 4-7pm the evenings of every performance.
Additionally, bring in your ticket stub for a two-for-one brunch special for Saturday and Sunday brunch. Just go in and show them your ticket stub.
Laziz Kitchen opened this week. The restaurant, located just off 9th South on Jefferson (next to Jade Market), is the next culinary step for Moudi Sbeity and Derek Kitchen, the brains behind the popular Laziz Foods (specializing in hummus, muhammara, and toum spreads). Moudi and Derek have always strived to be active participants in their communities. Their new Middle Eastern-focused restaurant is their next step to further their community involvement.
Over the years we’ve found ourselves in a unique position of bridging our passion for food with community engagement. Whether it’s advocating for social justice, or our involvement in local political office, or to early mornings with our neighbors at the farmers market, we’re driven by our love for the community. We’ve knocked on doors, talked to strangers, and told our story, and now we invite you into our kitchen – to gather around our table. We hope you feel at home. -Moudi and Derek
The space itself is beautiful. As a side note, I am so thrilled with all of the new restaurants popping up that understand the importance of a cohesive dining experience: atmosphere, service, and food. You need all three, and it seems like many of the newcomers get it.
Back to the space. Nice and open, but not too loud. Beautiful copper chairs provide nice contrast to the white, gold, and green found throughout the space. Servers bustle about in beautiful green aprons. Upon entering, you will be greeted by a small area dedicated to selling middle eastern products as well as some products from our very own local producers. Their small marketplace offers specialty olive oils from the West Bank, unique spice blends such as zaatar, and orange blossom water.
They were busy, but not overwhelmed. Our server was very friendly and very happy to explain different menu items to us.
After seeing some photos online, I knew we had to try the fried cauliflower florets, which arrived perfectly golden and cooked just right. The cauliflower was accompanied by a tahini dressing topped with parsley, which could have used a bit more punch. Lemon juice and maybe a hit of salt would have helped boost it up enough to stand up to the cauliflower. I ended up dipping the cauliflower in some toum (an absolutely wonderful garlic sauce), and it seemed a better match.
Laziz offers many different small plate/appetizer options, including hummus (of course), Baba Ghannouj (eggplant), grilled Halloumi cheese, fries, and an olive and pickle plate, among many other dishes.
Entrees range from hummus wraps to Man’Oushe Zaatar, a stone fired flatbread stuffed with zaatar, olive oil, cucumbers, tomatoes, olives, and mint.
My entree of Shish Tawook ($11) was a very nice portion of chicken, rice, and a basic (and forgettable) tomato, cucumber, and lettuce salad. The chicken was perhaps the best cooked chicken I have ever had–perfectly moist, which just the right amount of char and flavor. The rice was cooked well, but needed something else along with it to make it not so one dimensional. The toum, once again, saved the day. You can order the Shish Tawook as a sandwich as well ($10) if you aren’t interested in the rice and salad. I would go that route next time.
A kafta wrap (beef and parsley skewers with onions, tomatoes, pickles and hummus) also found itself lacking a bit in flavor. When mentioned, the server quickly went and consulted with the kitchen, and brought out a sauce that rounded out the dish very nicely. I’m excited to return to try their Clifford Farm Egg wrap, the Pepper Tajen, as well as some delicious desserts.
Laziz is a fantastic addition to the SLC dining scene. Derek and Moudi have always created deliciously vibrant and flavorful spreads and dips which have been so very popular, and I think with a bit of time, that same focus on bright, contrasting flavors found in their muhammara, for example, will make their way into the dishes offered at Laziz Kitchen as well.
Laziz Kitchen
Tuesday through Friday 8am-6pm
Saturday through Sunday 9am-4pm
912 South Jefferson Street, Salt Lake City
(801) 441-1228
Fried cauliflower florets, served with tarator tahini dressing and parsley
Shish Tawook plate. Grilled marinated chicken, rice, salad, and toum
Kafta. Beef and parsley skewers, with grilled onions, tomatoes, pickles, and hummus
In conjunction with the opening of the Eccles Theater and the 111 high rise, and in anticipation of the new boutique hotel coming to the corner of Regent Street and 200 S, the RDA has invested funds to revitalize the old Regent Street, which connects City Creek to Gallivan Center.
Soon, this street will be filled with new shops and restaurants. The new dining options will be a welcome addition to busy downtown. I won’t lie, I am extremely excited for this street; they are designing it in a way that is going to be very pedestrian-friendly. I visited the 16th Street pedestrian mall in Denver a few years back, and ever since have hoped for something like it to come to SLC. I think this is it, and I’m super stoked about it.
New restaurants are slowly starting to trickle in. Two I have seen are Pretty Bird and Fireside Pizza and Pastaria. While still far from opening (the insides are still very bare), they should be opening in early 2017.
Pretty Bird
Chef Viet Pham (formerly of Forage) has taken a bit of a hiatus from cooking in the SLC to tend to his celebrity chef TV duties, so I was excited to see a recent post of his on Twitter announcing his upcoming restaurant, Pretty Bird (a play on the Dumb and Dumber scene), which will specialize in fried chicken. The space is tiny–I can’t imagine him fitting more than two or three tables in it–but from the early buzz it’s generating, I imagine he’ll be cranking out tons of chicken in no time.
Fireside Pizza and Pastaria
I have no real info on this space other than the name (Google didn’t pull anything up, either), but this is a large space with signage touting all of today’s top hits buzzwords (artisan, farm, etc.). With a “coming soon” sign, who know when opening will be, but I’m guessing sometime in Spring.
So there you go. I’ll be sure to update with any more developments on Regent Street.
Table X, a chef-owned and operated restaurant, opens its doors on Wednesday, November 2nd. Three chefs, Mike Blocher, Nick Fahs, and David Barboza have been working on the concept for two years to build a space they could call their own.
The restaurant, located at 1457 E 3350 S, in the Brickyard neighborhood, is located in a 1930’s brick storehouse and cheese factory. The three chefs aim to offer a menu that is top-shelf, but missing all of the pretense typically associated with “fine dining.”
We want to present the highest caliber of … food, wine, and service in the most casual and least pretentious environment possible. -Nick Fahs
Come as you are, but you will receive something that is totally unexpected; something that may change your philosophy on the food we eat. -Mike Blocher
We’d like it to be warm and inviting. Like you’re coming into our home and we’re inviting you back time and time again. -David Barboza
The restaurant is open Wednesdays through Sundays for dinner only. Reservations can be made at their website. They have documented their journey through a series of videos, which can be viewed here.
The fifth annual Caputo’s Chocolate Festival is just around the corner. This event sells out each year, and features some of the region’s best chefs and chocolate makers. Additionally, each year one chocolate maker is spotlighted, and this year the spotlight shines on one of our own: local chocolate producer Amano Chocolate.
Amano was part of the first wave of craft chocolate makers in the US. When they got started there were only about 14 other chocolate makers, including giants like Hershey’s. Now there are hundreds. Amano’s chocolate making style is one of a kind. One the scale from loud, brash American to sophisticated European, Amano achieves what makes each style great, without sacrifice. -Matt Caputo
This year’s culinary lineup includes Briar Handly and Alexa Norlin of HSL, Courtney McDowell of Pallet, Akane Nakamura of Naked Fish, Amber Billingsley of Amour Cafe, and Alicia Pacheco of Publik Kitchen. Amazing chocolate will be the main player in all of their creations.
Wine will be supplied by Libation, beer by Avenues Proper, craft cocktails mixed by Water Witch Bar, and coffee by La Barba.
The chocolate festival takes place on Thursday, November 17th. Doors open at 7pm at Caputo’s Deli downtown (314 W 300 S). Admission $35, plus $15 for the optional alcohol beverage pairings. Tickets must be purchased in advance by calling (801) 531-8669 or visiting Caputo’s Deli online.
All proceeds from this event will be donated to the Heirloom Cacao Preservation Initiative.
Let me just get this out of the way: the new George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater in downtown Salt Lake is going to be something special for downtown SLC. Gathering place. Community center. Banquet rooms for rental by the public. Terraces with incredible views. More bars than I could count on every level of the venue. Encore Bistro and catering throughout, ran by Cuisine Unlimited. A small 200 seat black box theater for smaller community events. And of course, the theater itself, the Delta Performance Hall, with a star-filled ceiling and red/orange colors that immediately remind the guest of the striated red rock formations of southern Utah. The theater seats 2,500, yet feels closer in size to the Capitol Theater than Abravanel Hall. Right next door (and partially hanging over the theater thanks to unique cantilevered engineering) sits downtown’s latest high rise, 111 Main St. And behind the theater is Regent Street, which itself is in the middle of a multi-million dollar renovation, and designed to be the new connecting pedestrian corridor between City Creek mall and the Gallivan Center. New restaurant spaces and shops are being built as you read this, and soon enough (October 21st), thousands of theater goers will be traveling to downtown to enjoy performances ranging from the Utah Symphony, The Book of Mormon musical, and Ballet to Elvis Lives and Neil deGrasse Tyson.
The building itself is a stunning piece of architecture. Clothed in gorgeous white stone on the outside, the theater is located in the heart of downtown, and was designed by world-renowned architect Cesar Pelli in conjunction with local firm HKS. The theater features a sky-high six story lobby, with retractable glass walls that will open the lobby completely to the outside. Several stories up, a large terrace opens up to the outside for visitors to soak in the sights and sounds of downtown.
Encore Bistro, located at ground level, is ran by Cuisine Unlimited, who is the exclusive provider of food and beverages for the theater as well as all events that happen there. The bistro will be open for breakfast and lunch Monday through Friday, and will be open before and during performances with menu items tailored for specific performances. The Bistro menu features unique offerings, such as vegetarian breakfast wraps ($5), daily quiche ($5), and fruit ($4) for breakfast, among other items. Lunch features items such as the Off Broadway Salad (romaine roasted tomatoes, bacon and Roquefort – $7.50), beef sliders ($10.50 for three), and a Thai chicken wrap ($10), among others. The Bistro also offers products from local purveyors C. Kay Cummings (chocolates) and Ruby Snap (cookies), to name a couple. I work downtown, and am always looking for great new spots to freshen up the lunch routine. I think that the Encore Bistro will find a place in the rotation on a regular basis.
Am I perhaps being a bit too ebullient with my praise of the theater? Perhaps. This place wasn’t free, and it wasn’t cheap ($119 million, most of it taxpayer money). But despite my misgivings, this beautiful building is easily on par with other large downtown projects which have played key roles in the continued rejuvenation of Salt Lake City (Gateway, Gallivan, City Creek Mall, downtown Harmon’s, to name a few). My first impression of the new theater is that it was designed to be a centerpiece and a celebration of the city. And I think they nailed it.
