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Creminelli Club

I wanted to pass on some exciting news for Utah locals. If you’ve never heard of the Creminelli Club, or have heard but just haven’t pulled the trigger, now’s your chance.

Creminelli is offering Utah locals $15 off any Creminelli Club order. If you aren’t familiar with the club, Creminelli will ship out treats right to your doorstep on a quarterly basis. For example, their next shipment will include 3 Bolzano salami, 1 Zingerman’s Cheese, Italian Fir Tree Honey, and a custom antipasto board. Oh, and the shipping is FREE. 

This is your chance to get 30% off the price. All you need to do is use the code UTCC15 at checkout.

More info can be found here.

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Habit Burger Grill Opening Early 2013

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Habit Burger Grill will be opening their first store in Utah in early 2013 to satisfy the seemingly never-ending need in Utah for burgers, to Utahns just begging for more California chains. Don’t mind me–I’m just a grumpy guy tired of paying $10 for a combo meal at some of these fast-casual burger chains.

To be fair, though, one thing that Habit Burgers differentiates themselves on is their prices. A straight up “charburger” (seriously?) only runs $2.95 and a charburger combo comes in around $6. I’ve never eaten at Habit Burgers, but judging by the prices it sounds like they’re gunning for In-N-Out’s market. Let’s all say a prayer for better fries than In-N-Out’s cardboard sticks.

Habit is a sister-company to Cafe Rio, so if that’s any indication, they’ll do quite well here. I’m glad to see them opening near the old Granite Furniture building. With the recent addition of Bruges, the eventual–maybe–opening of Caterina nearby, and the future trolley stop, it sounds like that area’s going to see its fair share of development pretty soon.

Full press release below:

THE HABIT BURGER GRILL OPENS FIRST UTAH LOCATION IN 2013

Popular California-based burger company opens The Habit Burger Grill in Sugarhouse on

January 10th, 2013

Salt Lake City, Utah – The Habit Burger Grill is opening its first Utah location on Thursday, January 10th in the Sugarhouse/2100 South neighborhood development within the Granite Furniture block. 

The Habit is best known for made-to-order “Charburgers” grilled over an open flame and consistent, friendly service. The Habit’s commitment to fresh, quality ingredients along with reasonable prices has made the fast-casual restaurant hugely successful with families in the Western United States of California and Arizona where there are currently 68 Habit Burger Grill locations.

“The Habit is a truly unique brand that offers customers an overall eating experience not found anywhere else,” says Russ Bendel, President and CEO of Habit Restaurants, LLC.  “We are extremely excited about bringing our famous Charburgers and friendly service to the people of Utah, and specifically to this new development in Sugarhouse,” he adds. 

The Habit is a sister company to Café Rio, another well-known, successful, family oriented, fast casual restaurant in Utah.  Following the opening of the Sugarhouse location, The Habit has plans to open two additional Utah locations within the year.

In addition to burgers starting at just $2.95, The Habit’s menu includes sandwiches made from grilled, marinated chicken and tri-tip along with fresh, line-caught Albacore tuna.  Diners can also choose from freshly prepared specialty salads tossed to order, onion rings, sweet potato fries and a variety of hand-blended shakes and malts made from real ice cream.  Customers at The Habit Burger Grill will also notice the reasonable prices that are less expensive than casual dining or other “gourmet burger” establishments.

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Thyme Pork Loin with Plum Sauce

Adapted from my mama’s recipe

Years ago, my mom put together a recipe book containing my family’s favorite recipes. This is one of those recipes, slightly adapted.

What you’ll need:

1 pork loin (around 1 or 1.5 pounds)
¾ cup orange juice
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons sugar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
¼ cup chopped fresh thyme

Sauce:
3 tablespoons butter
½ cup orange juice 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
½ cup Amour italian plum marmalade 
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Place the pork in a large ziploc or non metallic pan. Combine the orange juice with soy sauce, mustard, sugar, garlic, pepper, and thyme. Pour over the pork loin. Refrigerate overnight, turning occasionally.

Drain meat and discard the marinade. Place the pork in a pan and cook at 325 degrees for about 30-40 minutes or until the internal temperature reads 145.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a small saucepan until melted. Add the orange juice and soy sauce. Cook over medium low heat until sauce is slightly reduced. Stir in the marmalade and mustard, and continue to heat until reduced down a bit.

Let pork rest 5-10 minutes, then slice into thin slices. Top with the sauce, and garnish with fresh thyme. 

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I was invited to try out the “new” restaurant at the Hyatt Escala at The Canyons resort, Escala Provisions Company, or EPC. I put new in quotes because technically the restaurant’s been around for a year, but went through a major overhaul and rebranding a few months ago. The interior was completely redone, and the AAA Four Diamond Hyatt brought in one of their chefs from Atlanta to reinvigorate the menu and start a new, exciting chapter at the hotel.

The design of the restaurant seems to be classy and refined, yet down to earth. Granite tables, fancy fireplace, and heavy silverware are complemented with servers in casual jeans and shirts, and a friendly, welcoming attitude. I felt really comfortable dining here.

Chef Jesse McDannell grew up in New York, and has spent time cooking at various restaurants inside and outside the Hyatt brand. As we talked throughout the evening, he mentioned that up until a year or so ago, Hyatt corporate had fairly tight control on the menu offerings at all of their restaurants, but then decided to allow the chefs to run their own restaurants and choose what goes on the menu. This shift has allowed Chef McDannell the opportunity to focus on what is important to him: high-quality ingredients sourced as locally as possible. Provo River trout, Cox honey, Pierre Country Bread and local vegetables are some of the local ingredients used throughout the menu.

Please click the photos to see the accompanying captions to get an idea of our meal. But let me just say: I was so impressed with everything that came out of the kitchen. My favorites from the evening: jumbo lump crab cakes, chicken and pancetta mac and cheese, pan seared scallops, short rib ravioli, and the Willis Farm braised lamb shank were incredible. For dessert, if you’re looking to hit your sweet tooth (or really terrify your doctor at your next blood sugar test) go with the s’more cake or the cranberry brioche bread pudding.

Portions are very generous. My wife and I could have easily shared a couple appetizers and left feeling satisfied. 

You can check out my full set of photos on my Flickr page.

EPC is open for breakfast and dinner. Don’t forget the crab cakes.

Breakfast: Wednesday – Sunday 7am-11am
Dinner: Tuesday – Saturday 5pm – 10pm

3551 Escala Court, Park City, Utah
(435) 940-1234 

Escala Provisions Company Restaurant & Bar on Urbanspoon

Disclosure: I was treated to this meal by the restaurant

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Winter Menu at Pallet

On the western end of Pierpont Avenue, at 237 South 400 West, sits an old building which was built in the early 1900’s and used as a loading dock for a creamery. The owners of Pallet, Drew Eastman and Rocky Derrick, worked tirelessly to preserve as much of the original building as possible, and they did a fantastic job. Drew told me of the many days it took to painstakingly strip the paint off the ceiling of the restaurant in order to bring it back to original condition.

Quite simply, this restaurant is designed like no other restaurant in Salt Lake City, and you owe it to yourself to check it out and get a unique perspective on refreshingly bold restaurant design. Old-time lightbulbs, rough-hewn wood floors, exposed brick, and original doors preserve the charm. I was especially excited to learn that the majority of the design work was done by one of my favorite people in Salt Lake – Cody Derrick of City Home Collective. Cody has an eye for style and design that is becoming more and more rare in a world of beige walls and white vinyl fences.

Pallet invited some local food bloggers to stop in and try out their new Winter menu. There were some definite hits and one unfortunate miss.

The seared scallops dish was very well done. The (huge!) scallops were perfectly cooked and served on top of delicious lentils (the new farro?) and the thick cut, house-smoked bacon was the cherry on top of this dish, so to speak as the savoriness of the bacon acted as a perfect counterpoint to the sweet scallops.

I was able to grab a bite from my dining companion’s plate to try the “Ocean Pasta” dish. Squid ink pasta was accompanied by a menagerie of seafood and rounded out with a lovely curry sauce that really added a unique aspect to this dish. Most people agreed that this was the favorite plate of the night.

The bison osso bucco was the dish I was most excited about. Bison is such a lean meat that I figured that preparing it as osso bucco would help boost the moisture and tenderness that is naturally lacking in this meat. But, unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. I wrote it off as “first night of the new menu” jitters in the kitchen, but I’ve recently heard reports from others that they also found it a bit dry. Perhaps cooking too long at too high of a heat? I hope they can dial this one in because the flavors of the dish, and the polenta it was served on, were spot-on.

We were able to try quite a few of their desserts, and I was very impressed with their warm oatmeal almond shortbread, which was rich and full of chocolate. Our server mentioned that it is their best-selling dessert, and I’m not surprised why. It was fantastic.

Eastman mentioned to me that in a prior life, he traveled extensively for work, and loved it when he found a unique space offering exceptional food in whatever city he happened to be in. When the opportunity presented itself to Eastman to make something similar in Salt Lake City, he jumped at the chance. I admire his passion, and can’t wait for my next opportunity to spend more time in this lovely space.

Disclosure: I was treated to this meal by the restaurant

Pallet on Urbanspoon

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Per Noi Trattoria

Italian dining in SLC seems to only have two gears: cheap, low-end chains, and ultra-expensive, yet tasty establishments. There aren’t too many Italian restaurants in SLC that serve high quality food at the lower price point. Then I heard about a new trattoria that opened in the old Z Pizzeria space on Stratford Avenue in Sugarhouse, and that the prices were very reasonable. It’s been on my “need to try” list for a while now.

Per Noi is located in an older building with a few other businesses next to it. Parking is limited (look in the back for some additional spaces), but this corner oozes character. More than likely, when you enter the restaurant you’ll be greeted by the ever-ebullient owner of Per Noi, Francesco Montino. Francesco is very proud of his little space, and it shows. White tablecloths top the limited number of tables in the trattoria. The space is small, but doesn’t feel cramped. Servers are decked out in all black, and are very professional, milling about as Francesco greets every guest that walks through the door. 

After being seated, we were given a basket of delicious house-made bread, which was light and had a nutty, perfect crust. The balsamic was nice and fruity, and the olive oil had a strong peppery taste. We started our meal with the Arancini – a ball of rice, peas, and mozzarella perfectly fried and served along with a lovely tomato sauce. About $6. Don’t let this picture fool you–it’s about the size of a baseball. For the entree I chose the Spaghetti Pescatore (Francesco later told me it is his favorite dish), and true to his word, it was fantastic. Spaghetti is cooked with a deliciously complex, nutty tomato sauce, mussels, scallops, calamari, and shrimp. The shrimp were a tad overcooked and a bit on the rubbery side, but it wasn’t a deal breaker due to the exceptional flavors. This is one of those dishes that will make it difficult to order any other entree during future visits, because I’m confident it will be hard to beat. The dish was around $13. Melissa went with the Pollo Marsala, which is chicken served in a marsala wine sauce and topped with mushrooms. I wouldn’t get this dish again. The chicken was a bit on the tough and dry side, and the sauce wasn’t anything that I would order again. The dish was beautifully presented, but it just didn’t get along with my taste buds.

I’m not sure what their corkage fee is, but we did see a couple bring in their own wine. It seems they’ve raised their prices about 20% since they opened, but it is still very reasonable.

I remarked to Mel during our meal that this place reminds me of a small neighborhood trattoria that you would find in NYC or Italy. Small, family-run, with an owner who is extremely proud of the food coming out of his kitchen. And he has good reason to be proud of Per Noi.  Per Noi Trattoria on Urbanspoon

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R&R Headed to Bentonville

R&R BBQ, who recently won the Reserve Champion award at the Dana Point Barbeque contest in California, are headed to Bentonville, Arkansas, to compete in the Sam’s Club National BBQ Contest. The total purse is $50,000, and each team competing in the national contest had to win a Sam’s Club regional cookoff in order to qualify to attend the national event. Needless to say, the country’s best BBQers are going to be in Bentonville this weekend.

R&R is based out of Alpine, Utah, and brothers Rod and Roger Livingston are cooking up what I think is the best BBQ in the State. Best of luck to R&R! We know you’ll do Utah proud.

To stay updated on the contest, you can follow R&R’s twitter account.

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Dinner at ZY

Well, I didn’t get around to many restaurants for the Dine O Round, but I knew there was one I couldn’t miss: ZY. ZY serves upscale, yet approachable modern American cuisine. Luckily they extended their Dine O Round deal an additional week, which gave me time to wrangle a group of buddies together to check it out.

They changed the interior around slightly, mainly by adding some walls made out of wood slats. Miles, the general manager, explained that the redesign was partially due to the Zion Curtain laws, and partially because they were ready to change things up. I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the new walls–I’ve always though of ZY as having a modern, hip atmosphere, and adding walls made out of rough-hewn timber didn’t exactly fit, in my opinion. 

On to the food. Chef Lake treated us to an amuse-bouche that was really fun. He wouldn’t reveal much about the dish, so when we all dug in and half of us said “pear” and the other half said “potato,” we began to seriously doubt each others’ sanity. Turn out this dish had two potato balls and two pear balls sitting atop a delicious pumpkin sauce. It was a really nice, well-executed dish.

For the appetizer, I went with the buttermilk fried oysters. After trying oysters on the half-shell in the Ferry Building, I swore them off for good (gotta try things at least once, right?). However, the allure of cooked oysters was too much to resist. These oysters were indeed tasty, with just a hint of spice and a nice crunchy texture on the outside. I was really pleased with this dish.

On to the main course. Beef short ribs served with grits and collared greens. One thing that’s always impressed me about ZY is that Chef Lake understands the value of presentation. The short ribs were presented in a very fun, if not a bit over-the-top manner, with the servers carrying the dish out, topped with a glass container. As they lift the container off the dish, you immediately smell the beautiful scent of smoked wood, which lightly carries through the dining room.

The short ribs were cooked to perfection, fork tender and deliciously moist. The sauce which topped the ribs is a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce that brings the whole dish together. This one is a winner. I asked Chef Lake if he’d be willing to share the recipe, and he said “of course.”

I went with the lemon cake and huckleberries for dessert. The cake had a lovely consistency, almost shortcake-like, and the tart berries were a nice counter to the sweet cake and sauce.

Chef Lake surprised us with a fun drink at the end of the meal. It was simply hot apple juice with a bit of honey, grilled grape, and rosemary. Four things I would never think of to make a drink out of. But it really worked well. The rosemary would waft into your nostrils as you sipped the drink, creating a sweet, yet savory experience. 

Service was excellent as usual. Brady, our server, was very knowledgeable about the menu. The pace of the meal was steady, and it seemed he always stepped in at just the right time throughout the evening.

ZY Restaurant on Urbanspoon