Finca has been garnering a lot of attention lately, and with good reason. It is the second venture of Scott Evans, the creator of the wildly successful restaurant, Pago.
Scott decided to open a Spanish tapas restaurant, and recruited the help of executive chef Phelix Gardner, who spent his childhood in Spain and went on to work at The Grand America and Wild Grape.
Tapas are gaining popularity in SLC, helped along by tapas pioneers Cafe Madrid, Pipa, Meditrina, and Eva (oh, and I forgot about Martine! Thanks for the reminder, Zach). These little three-bite dishes are perfectly tailored for a group of adventurous individuals to try a bunch of different flavors.
Finca is located in a brand-new building located on the corner of 1300 S 1100 E, directly to the east of Liberty Heights Fresh. The space is bright and cheery, with huge southwest-facing windows that bring in tons of natural light. Initially Finca got a bad rap for being extremely loud. They’ve managed to solve some of that issue by adding acoustic panels throughout the cieling. But during our visit we still found it to be a bit too loud to carry on a comfortable conversation. Decoration is minimal, and it’s a shame that they had to hide the bar behind a Zion curtain. Although well-designed, the Zion curtain still looks odd.
We had a large group (9 of us), and one of our more daring dining companions decided to order the entire tapas menu. There were some definite hits.
My favorites
Boquerones-crostada topped with chevre and anchovy
Tortilla Espanola-wonderfully eggy with a lovely romesco sauce
Croquettas-creamy and fried to perfection
Albondigas-really nice, unique flavor to these meatballs
Mejillones-perfectly tender mussels in a deliciously salty broth
Pork Belly-this was our last plate, and it was the perfect way to finish off. Tender, rich, and topped with a nice BBQ-like sauce
Papas y Aioli-perfectly cooked and crispy, these aoili-topped morsels hit the spot for a hearty dish
The shishito peppers dish was simply prepared and presented, and had just the slightest amount of kick
There was also a flatbread/pizza-style dish that I really liked
The olive plate was a hit as well, providing us with a selection of three different olives
We had a cheese plate, which gave us a small, but varied selection of local cheeses (Snowy Mountain), blue cheese that I can’t remember the name of, champagne grapes, and membrillo. Do yourself a favor and put a slice of the membrillo on a crostada and top it will some blue cheese. It was amazing. But for the $13 or $15 that we paid for it, I would probably suggest passing this one up.
There were a number of salads–none of them too memorable except the strawberry and beet salad that everyone seemed to enjoy.
I apologize for the lack of photos. It was dark in there, and I dislike posting blurry, grainy photos of food as much as you dislike looking at them. I guess that means I have a good excuse to go back during the day.
Finca is delicious. I’m glad I finally had a chance to check it out. While it will definitely fall into my “special occasion” restaurant category (with water to drink, plus tip I paid $30 for myself), I can’t wait to find an occasion to celebrate.
Friday night counts as an occasion, right?
Solitude has re-envisioned what outdoor dining should be with the introduction of their 
Forty guests are seated at a long communal table, which provides ample opportunity to get to know new people and better get to know old friends. To my right sat an auto parts salesman who also happened to be a CIA graduate from New York. Across from me was one of Salt Lake’s leading interior designers. Needless to say, while our conversation bounced around from hospitals to car parts to motorcycles and cooking, there was never a lack of interesting topics.
Anyone familiar with Chef Michael Richey’s style knows that he focuses on sourcing as many of his ingredients as close to the kitchen as possible. Many of the ingredients from tonight’s dinner, such as honey vinegar, tomatoes, eggs, and apricots, are sourced along the Wasatch Front. For other ingredients where sourcing locally isn’t an option (i.e. wild King salmon), ingredients are sourced regionally. Tonight’s dinner featured products from M&M Farm (in Richey’s opinion the best produce in Salt Lake City), 
The first were the M&M Farm Yukon Gold potato pillows topped with American Sturgeon Caviar. For those of you who may be caviar novices (like me), let me calm your fears: If you’ve ever had tobiko at a sushi place, you pretty much know what you’re getting into with caviar. This was my second favorite dish of the evening.
The next dish was a bruschetta topped with 
Next up were the Utah pork rillettes with grilled bread. Think chicken or tuna salad, except taken to the next level with pork as the protein.
Our final appetizer was deviled Clifford Farms eggs topped with icicle radish, black truffles, and chives.
Arugula salad with cherries, roasted yellow beets, and the most deliciously smooth house-made ricotta cheese that I’ve ever had. The salad was dressed with a Slide Ridge Honey vinaigrette. 
Maple Torta with braising greens, chevre, caramelized onions, and a balsamic reduction.
Wild King Salmon with snap peas, roasted eggplant, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, basil nage, and corn pone. This dish stole the show with an absolutely killer variety of flavors and textures. Everything about this dish was perfection, from the deeply roasted eggplant to the wonderfully herby nage to the amazingly deep and rich corn pone. And of course don’t forget the tastiest piece of salmon I’ve ever had. Somebody get cracking on legalizing marrying food, because I just found my soulmate. Definitely my favorite dish of the evening.
Stone fruit tart with apricot ice cream and bourbon caramel. Anybody who knows me knows I’m not much of a cooked fruit guy, especially in desserts. Something about the texture that gets me. But I put that aside and I’m glad I did because the tart was wonderful. The tart featured a nice crust and a delicious house-made apricot ice cream.
Chef Michael Richey
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