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Suggestions for Alton Brown’s Road Tour

As part of Alton Brown’s 2015 Road Tour, he will be passing through Salt Lake City, and has asked for suggestions as to which local food places he should visit, using the hashtag #ABRoadEatsSLC. After throwing some suggestions out on twitter, I thought it might be useful to compile what I consider some of Salt Lake’s best food offerings at the moment.

In no particular order:

1. Red Iguana. Of course. Arguably the most famous restaurant in the state, with good reason. Go there and get whatever you want, but make sure it has mole on it.

2. Banbury Cross Donuts. Easily the best donuts in Utah, I have no idea what Banbury does to make their donuts so special, but whatever it is, I hope they keep on doing it. A few of my favorites: the cinnamon sugar donut, the white cake with sprinkles, and the cinnamon rolls.

3. R&R BBQ. These guys are doing BBQ right, and it’s obvious judging by the lines that form every day in twin brother Rod and Roger’s meat shop. Get the brisket and ribs.

4. Penny Ann’s. Family-owned and -run, my favorite stop for breakfast in the valley. Get the hotcakes for breakfast, then stay a few hours and grab a reuben for lunch.

5. Feldman’s Deli. New Jersey natives move to Salt Lake and discover our selection of Jewish foods is a bit, well, lacking. So they open up their own shop and begin importing pastrami and corned beef from one of the most famous delis in New York (I’ve been sworn to secrecy which one). The sloppy joe is the real deal here.

6. The Annex by Epic Brewing. Local brewmaster opens up a restaurant and brings in top cooking talent. Go with the mussels, which are FedEx’d in from the East coast. 

7. Alamexo. We have a lot of Mexican food in Salt Lake, but not a lot of what I consider creative or refined Mexican. Chef Matt Lake continues to crank out some incredible dishes each day. Get the conchinita pibil.

8. Les Madeleines. This patisserie produces some of the best pastries in the city. Of course, their signature pastry is the Kouing Aman, which I would choose as my last meal on earth.

9. Lucky 13 Bar. Famous for their “Breath Enhancer” garlic burger, but you’ll be more than satisfied with anything on the menu. Grab a side of rosemary garlic fries while you’re at it.

10. Chowtruck. Salt Lake’s first (non-roach coach) food truck, Chowtruck brought a new era of dining to the city, with innovative asian cuisine. Chile Verde quesadillas and the elk sliders are ridiculously delicious.

11. Taqueria 27 ushered in the era of $4 tacos to Salt Lake, and they’re worth every penny. Daily specials of various tacos and guacamoles makes this place a fresh adventure every time I go.

12. Hector’s. My favorite carne asada burrito in the valley. The fish tacos are also delicious.

13. Bruges. Pierre got his start slinging Liege waffles at the downtown farmers market, and now has a couple shops throughout the valley. Get the waffles, of course, some fries, and if you’re really wanting a gut bomb, get the Machine Gun sandwich.

14. Eva’s Bakery. Delicious scratch-made bread using Utah’s own Central Milling flours. Wonderful pastries and a beautiful little shop.

What did I miss? Add your suggestions below, or on twitter/FB using the hashtag #ABRoadEatsSLC

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50 West Café opened its doors last week for the lunch crowd. The café is part of the new Wiseguys comedy club located at–you guessed it–50 West 300 South. The menu offers plenty of choices without being overly complicated.

Service was confused. They give each customer a number to take to their tables, and it seemed that the little number tents were pretty useless since each server came out, wandering aimlessly around the café with plates of food, not sure who they actually belonged to.

Execution was less than perfect with a really tasty chicken club and chipotle chicken salad being balanced out by undercooked fries and a medium rare steak that came out basically blue on the inside. I think with a bit more time they will be cranking out consistently great food and the kinks in the service will be ironed out.

At $12 for a sandwich, fries, and drink, I won’t be eating there too frequently, but I’m sure it will make its way into my lunch rotation from time to time.

Open 11-3pm Monday through Saturday. More info at www.50westslc.com

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Penny Ann’s Opens Second Location in Draper

Penny Ann’s is now open in Draper! This family-owned and operated shop has been cranking out the best breakfast on Main Street in Salt Lake for a few years now, and have now expanded to a second location at the south end of the valley.

Their food is incredible (make sure you get their “heavenly hotcakes” and try the Reuben for lunch). But what really makes this place special is that everyone there makes you feel like you’re home when you’re there. They are always so welcoming and happy to see you. Oh, and don’t forget to grab a slice of their famous pie while you’re there.

This location is much bigger and spacious than their original location, but it still has the homey feel to it.

If you want the best breakfast in the valley, stop by Penny Ann’s. Open from 7-3 during the week, serving breakfast and lunch, and 7-2 on weekends, serving breakfast only.

The new pie kitchen! (still getting set up)

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The Habit Opens 6th Utah Location

The Habit Burger Grill, one of my favorite quick-service restaurants, has opened its 6th location in Utah. This new location opened in November, and is located at 508 West Antelope Drive, in Layton.

If you haven’t stopped by to check out a Habit yet, you should definitely stop by and try it out. Everything they make is outstanding, and their prices are very reasonable, with burgers starting at around $3. On a recent tour of the kitchen, franchise owner Tom Hartman made sure to point out the lack of freezers in the restaurant. Nothing is brought in frozen. Everything from their tri-tip steak to their sushi-grade albacore tuna is brought in fresh.

For a location near you, check out Habit’s website.

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The Annex by Epic Brewing

Truth be told, I never managed to make my way into The Annex, Epic Brewing’s take on a gastropub, when they initially opened a year or so ago. I never heard reviews compelling enough to sway my meal choice in their direction.

However, Annex shifted gears this Fall, bringing in chef Craig Gerome, who cut his teeth cooking at Le Bec Fin in Philadelphia and Spruce in San Francisco. Chef Gerome completely revamped the menu, basically stripping everything from the old menu and starting fresh with his take. 

I was invited as a guest of Annex to try out the new menu and to meet Craig, and all I can say is that he is doing amazing things. You can tell this guy cares about his food, crowing about the fact that his mussels are FedEx’d daily from a lady named Jan in Maine, and she only sends him her very best, biggest mussels.

We tried the grilled octopus with salsa verde, lime bean and kale brodo, Bouchot mussels with Berliner weiss, poutine with braised cheek, and deviled eggs as starters. You can’t go wrong with any of them, but I’d especially steer you to the mussels. 

For the mains, we tried the herb fried chicken with fried green tomatoes and buttermilk risotto, and the stout braised pork shank. Of the two, I would definitely recommend getting the fried chicken, which was perfectly crispy, moist, and seasoned well. But other items on the menu such as the buffalo short rib pie and steak frites certainly caught my eye.

Dessert was a nice take on the traditional s’more, using house-made marshmallows and Amano chocolate, giving it extra depth and richness.

Sugarhouse continues to evolve, and the recent development occurring on and near the sugarhole continues to impress with new fantastic eateries popping up. There is a fun, electric vibe happening in this area that has been missing for quite some time.

I’m glad that Annex chose to locate here, and can’t wait to come back.

Disclaimer: I was an invited guest for dinner at The Annex by Epic Brewing.

Kale Brodo. Yes, I ate kale. And it was amazing.

Grilled octopus with salsa verde

Steamed Bouchot mussels

Poutine with braised cheek

Herb fried chicken, fried green tomatoes, buttermilk risotto

Stout braised pork shank

S’mores with Amano

Chef Craig Gerome

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Park City Eating on a Kendrick Budget

Hello?

Hello?

Is this thing on? The long national tragedy is over. I remembered my login to this blog and actually went out somewhere to eat so I have something to write about for the first time since October of last year. If I’m being truthful, it’s because interests have shifted to things other than food, and I’m still trying to figure out where food blogging even fits in any more. 

But when I find something truly exciting and remarkable, I’ll be sure to post it here. 

Onwards. We spent a really nice weekend up at Deer Valley, and while my spouse and I didn’t spend more than $50 for any given meal (because we’re cheap and I believe in the law of diminishing returns when it comes to food), I wanted to share with you some great food spots that we really enjoyed.

First stop: Sammy’s Bistro. I will admit that I never heard of this place before Guy Douchieri stopped by to feature them on his show. We stopped by on a Friday night on our way up from Salt Lake, and the place was busy, but not packed. Service was great and very friendly. I went with the cumin lime Mahi Mahi tacos, which were topped with a nice slaw as well as a chilled mango salsa. I guess from the description I was hoping for a little bit more bang, but while the tacos were cooked perfectly, I found myself reaching for the Cholula to kick the flavor up a bit. But overall, a very good dish. 

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We finished the meal off with a really nice pecan caramel bread pudding, topped with vanilla ice cream, which was just as rich and moist as you would expect. Why do people hate the word moist so much? Moist. moist.

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Sammy’s is a great little place for a meal, and the menu is full of delicious sounding items at very reasonable prices. My tacos were $14 and the bread pudding with ice cream was probably around $8.50 or so. I’ll be back to check out the NY Strip Sandwich, and the Savory Chicken Bowl With Rice, which I believe was featured on Guy’s show.

Next stop: lunch at Vinto. Vinto is one of my favorites in SLC, and it’s no surprise it’s one of my favorites in PC. The PC shop is located at the very bottom of Main Street, which makes parking a little bit tricky. I had the daily special of fettuccine with roasted corn, mozzarella, basil, and sea salt. And while the pasta was cooked to perfection, the dish as a whole was a bit bland.

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My wife’s choice of fettuccine with mushrooms and artichokes was spectacular, and will be my dish of choice the next time we go. Service was ok, but we seemed to be forgotten a bit by our server who had his hands full with larger tables in addition to ours. Our starter dish of asparagus arrived at the same time as our entrees, so we had the privilege of choosing whether we let our main go cold, or the app. A diet coke that was ordered never materialized, and by the time the server checked in halfway through the meal, we just skipped it. But Vinto is like Tom Hanks. Even though he has his flops from time to time, you just love the guy and keep coming back to him because when it’s right, it’s just right.

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And finally, we stopped at the brand spanking new Bird & Barley. While we were at Sammy’s Bistro, our server asked if we had heard about Sammy’s new restaurant five doors down, Bird & Barley. We had not, and she encouraged us to check it out, as they only opened a couple days before.

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Bird & Barley focuses on fried chicken and beer (I’ll leave it to you super sleuths to figure out which refers to which). And while they have their liquor license, they’re waiting to get their taps and lines installed, which they think will happen soon. B & B will offer some private-label beers, which Sammy the owner developed in conjunction with Wasatch, such as jalapeño cream and other beer that I can’t remember because I don’t really pay attention to beer. But jalapeño cream sounded intriguing.

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You can order a “plate” meal for $10, which comes with either rotisserie chicken, fried chicken, or baby back ribs. You then get to choose two sides among the selection of mac and cheese, green beans, broccoli slaw, mashed potatoes, fries, roasted beets (why would you pay to eat these?), corn on the cob, or sweet potato fries. I went with the fried chicken, which was as perfect as you can get fried chicken. Nicely crisp, with their own special mix of rosemary and just the right amount of spice in the breading. Just what you would expect from a restaurant specializing in fried chicken.

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Other selections are a variety of salads (pear and beet, chopped Caesar, or quinoa. The also offer a crab cake Po’ Boy and a Hawaiian Grilled Chicken sandwich, which was really tasty. 

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Sadly, our sides of mac and cheese and mashed potatoes arrived maybe not even at room temperature, but once we made it known to the manager, he was quick to get two new sides fired and brought them out piping hot. So kudos for resolving this issue so quickly.

Park City is always in desperate need for quality food in the $10-$20 range, and B&B is a very welcome addition to the PC dining scene.

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moist.

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Spitz, a new restaurant specializing in the Döner Kebab, opened this week in the former Lenny’s Sub Shop space at 35 East Broadway.

The interior is everything you’d expect from their interior designer, CityHome Collective. Clean, welcoming, warm, and funky.

Döner meat is roasted on a spit similar to tacos al pastor, or the pastrami at Crown Burger. Surprisingly, Spitz doesn’t have their centerpiece attraction on display, instead relegated to hiding behind closed doors in the back.

Admittedly, I am a neophyte in all things Döner, so I naturally associate the Döner Kebab to something of a mishmash between a wrap and a Greek gyro. I tried the Street Cart Döner, which is a traditional sandwich or wrap with a zesty garlic aioli and fried lavash chips added. It had the right amount of meat, sauce, and lettuce, and is a generous portion. I quite liked it.

Sweet potato fries are good, but are like every other sweet potato fry you’ve had elsewhere. Don’t expect anything groundbreaking, although the aioli the fries were served with was especially delicious. The fried pita strips served with hummus are great, and I’m curious to try the crispy garbanzo beans with olives on my next visit.

Service is a bit unusual for the downtown lunch crowd. You order up front, they bring out your food and bus tables, but drink refills are also handled by the staff, which seems to be a bit clunky when they get overwhelmed with the lunch rush. But I’m sure they’ll work these glitches out over time.

Spitz adds some lunchtime diversity to a city brimming with traditional sandwich shops. And judging by the big crowd they had on day one, I think a lot of people are excited to see this new place open up.

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Alamexo has recently opened in the space previously occupied by one of my favorites, ZY. In fact, Alamexo has the same owners, staff, and even the same chef: Matt Lake.

Matt moved to Utah a few years ago from New York, where he worked as chef for one of New York’s premier Mexican restaurants. After a few years operating the contemporary American restaurant, ZY, Chef Lake decided to go back to his culinary roots and switch to Mexican.

After an incredibly quick menu and restaurant decor switch (Lake didn’t want to close down for three months and have to lay off staff) which took only a few days, ZY has now transformed to Alamexo. And while I’m sad to see ZY go (Lake was adamant that we will see ZY once again in Salt Lake), Alamexo is a very welcome addition to SLC.

You won’t find any other Mexican food in Salt Lake in such a contemporary, modern environment. But don’t equate “contemporary” and “modern” to “expensive.” Entrées range from $13-$25 with sides and appetizers filling in the $3-$12 range.

Go with the guacamole, made tableside by your server in a molcajete. For $10, it’s a little on the pricey side for one avocado’s worth of guacamole, but worth the show.

My favorite side dish was the Mexican corn. Sweet, fresh corn accompanied by hints of chile, lime, and cotija. My mole poblano enchiladas were rich, complex, and the pork was cooked perfectly. Lake has always said the he doesn’t choose his signature dishes; his customers do. And I have a feeling that these will be on the menu for a while.

A dining companion’s steak dish was equally tasty and cooked spot-on.

As we went during their soft opening week, desserts were not on the menu, however, the kitchen brought out the best churros I’ve had. Don’t leave Alamexo without ordering some.

I’ve always viewed Matt Lake and ZY as a bit of a sleeper in the SLC dining community. I attribute part of this to Lake’s low-key demeanor. He is a guy that cooks because he loves to cook. He’s not in it for the fame. But if he keeps doing what he’s doing, he won’t remain a sleeper for long. Salt Lake’s lucky to have him.

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A new restaurant will be opening soon on Gallivan Avenue across from Bangkok Terrace.

From Scratch will focus on just that: fresh breads, pizzas, and baked goods made from scratch. So much so, that the owner has imported his own wooden flour mill from Austria to mill his own flour. Tables are made from old butcher blocks, art was commissioned from a NY artist, and lights are custom creations.

I really like the look of this place. It has a certain “San Francisco” styling that you don’t see much in SLC. As a downtown worker, I’m especially excited about the bar where single diners can plop down for a quick lunch.

From Scratch will be open for breakfast and lunch only to begin with. A special section of the restaurant will serve take-out items like espresso, in-house pastries, and house-made ice cream.

The owner hopes to open for dinner later in the year, and plans to pursue a liquor license.