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New Burger at Smashburger

Tonight we had a Yelp event at the West Valley Smashburger location. They are launching a brand new burger on January 17th and they wanted us to try it out first and see what we thought of it.

The Sin City burger is either a 1/3 or ½ pound certified angus beef patty that is “smashed” onto their flattop to sear in the juices (although it’s widely thought that searing meat has absolutely no effect on preserving juices), then topped with American cheese, bacon, haystack onions, and their “Smashsauce.” Oh, and I forgot one more small little thing: a FRIED EGG.

I’ve gotta say: this thing is awesome. But in all fairness, you put a fried egg, fried onions, and bacon on a shoe and I’d think it was delicious. But seriously, this is a tasty burger. One of my favorites.

Here’s a shot of Mel smashing her burger:

The next time you have a craving for a burger, make it a point to head over to a Smashburger joint and ask them for the Sin City burger. But do it quick, because word is that they’re only going to offer it on the menu through February.

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Recipes

Rondos Recipe

Rondos are a little-known Dutch treat. My wife brought a few home from a friend’s house, and once I tried it, I had to figure out how to make them.

The Rondo is a rich, semi-gooey, almondy pastry that has just a hint of lemon zest. The middle half of the Rondo is filled with almond paste to make it extra gooey and rich.

Here’s the recipe:

250 g all-purpose flour
200 g butter, cold and diced
160 g confectioners sugar
½ egg (about 25 g)
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp baking powder

300 g almond paste (The easiest way is to buy it pre-made. Click here for Amazon link. But you can also make your own using this recipe)
25 g water
17 amarena cherries, drained (I didn’t put these in)
½ egg, beaten
Whole almonds

Mix the flour, lemon zest, baking powder, sugar and ½ egg in a bowl. Add the butter and knead this quickly into a smooth dough. Wrap in cling film and place in the refrigerator until firm (overnight is best).

Preheat oven to 380 F. Mix the almond paste with the water until smooth.

Take dough out of the fridge and give it a short knead. Roll out about ½” thick and cut out circles that will fit into a muffin tin.

Place a dough disk on the bottom of the greased and floured muffin tin and scoop about a teaspoon of almond paste in the middle of the disk. You should have about ¼” of the dough disk edges visible. If you use cherries, you would also place a cherry in the almond paste. Put another dough disk on top. You don’t need to smash it on–just place it firmly. Brush the top with egg wash, place an almond on top, and brush again with egg wash. Bake for about 20-25 minutes (mine took about 17, but my oven runs hot) or until golden brown. Take them out of the molds at once and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

I doubled this recipe and it yielded about 13 Rondos. I used a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour. If you roll the dough out a little thinner than ½” you should be able to increase the yield quite a bit. If you make your own almond paste, be sure to blanch your almonds long enough to make it easy to remove the seedcoat. I only blanched them the first time for one minute and it was a tedious experience to remove the seedcoat. Turns out that 2-3 minutes in boiling water is much more effective.

I’m not kidding you when I say that these were one of the tastiest things I have ever eaten. Many of my friends felt the same way when they tried them.

Helpful links:

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Red Rock Brewing Company


I find Red Rock to be just like most other brew pubs: sufficiently adequate. The food at Red Rock is generally pretty tasty, but it always seems to lack any sort of finesse that would set it apart from competitors.

The goat cheese bruschetta was delicious. The bread had a nice texture, and the goat cheese spread was really, really good. I had the chicken schnitzel, which was served topped with gruyere and a delicious demi-glace, but the chicken itself was a bit rubbery. The side of peas was quite tasty, and the horseradish mashed potatoes was the star of the plate.

Denver, our server, was efficient and accurate. She always kept our glasses full and checked up on us frequently to make sure everything was ok.

Overall, Red Rock is a good place to go for a reliable, tasty meal. Just don’t expect to be overly wowed by the food.

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Thompson’s Chili

This recipe is courtesy of our friend, Brent. I’m not a big tomato fan, so I like to switch out the stewed tomatoes with diced. We also love cilantro, so we usually do two full bunches.

1 C. Black Beans
1 C. Pinto Beans
1 lb ground beef
2 cans of stewed tomatoes large
1 onion
4 -6 cloves of garlic
3-4 TB chili powder
2-3 tsp cumin
1 bunch of cilantro
Salt to taste

From Brent:

Soak beans in lots of water overnight then drain the beans of most of the water. Then add the tomatoes and let it simmer. Cook the ground beef in a separate fry pan, drain the grease and then add this to the beans. Then add the onion, garlic, chili powder, and cumin. I then let this simmer to fully cook the beans and to get the right consistency of soupiness. Once it is ready cut the cilantro, add this in to the soup and let it cook for only a few min. and serve. I like to serve it with some shredded cheese and sour cream. 

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The Copper Onion

I’ll preface this post by saying that I am an unabashed Copper Onion fan. I really enjoy just about everything about this place. I love the fact that it is owned and ran by Chef Ryan Lowder and his wife. I love that Chef Lowder worked at a 3-star Michelin restaurant, as well as numerous restaurants throughout the worlds, prior to coming back home to Utah. I love that his restaurant is elevating the culinary atmosphere in Salt Lake. I love the fact that Chef Lowder focuses on sourcing as many ingredients locally as possible (Snake River Farms, Niman Ranch, Creminelli, and Central Milling are a few of the purveyors). I love the fact that the kitchen is out in full view of the diners. For many of us, it’s the highlight of the night to be able to watch the food being prepared, rather than magically being brought out from the back of a mysterious kitchen.

The food at The Copper Onion is honest and much of it is rooted in comfort. At a recent meal, we enjoyed the patatas bravas, which were perfectly-cooked cubes of potato topped with a perfectly-spicy aioli. Roasted cauliflower was perfectly cooked and tossed with a deliciously tangy anchovy-caper cream sauce.

I had the chance to try the newly-added-to-the-menu wagyu beef stroganoff. Made with house-made pappardelle and topped with creme fraiche, it was the epitome of elevated comfort food. The wagyu beef is tender and rich.

If you haven’t been to The Copper Onion, you must try the ricotta dumplings, which is one of the most popular dishes on the menu. Another favorite of many is the pork belly salad, which I have yet to try.

The dessert menu is also very expansive. We had two scoops of the house-made peppermint ice cream, which was slightly disappointing. It was icy and had a grainy feel to it. Their bread pudding is one of my favorite desserts in Salt Lake. And if you catch them on a good day and ask nicely, they’ll even fry the bread pudding for you for an added level of decadence. They used to fry every bread pudding order, but found that it was holding up the fryers and backing up the entire kitchen, so now they only do it upon special request.

Service is also head and shoulders above many other restaurants. Clint (Mr. Moustache) is the head of service and is absolutely accommodating and friendly. Johanna has been our server for the past few times we’ve visited, and she is always gracious, patient, and fully understands the menu and knows ingredient sources.

If you want a special treat, request to sit at the bar which borders the open kitchen. From this perspective you will be able to watch Chef Lowder and his sous chefs work up close and personal. Chef Lowder is a friendly guy and is glad to chat about food across the bar (as long as it’s not 8 pm on a Saturday!).

Be sure to call ahead for a reservation, as the popularity of this New American restaurant is spreading quickly.

111 E Broadway, Suite 170
Salt Lake City, UT 84111
(801) 355-3282 

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