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Dining
THE 2019
Awards SECRE T INGREDIENTS C hefs’ se c rets that ma ke g reat food g reate r BY MARY BROWN MALOUF PHOTOS BY ADAM FINKLE
People, prices and politics all play a role in the differences diners are seeing in old favorites and new entries. Remember, “This is a bar, not a restaurant; This is a restaurant, not a bar?” Remember “Where’s the beef?” Remember the buzzword “fusion?” Now many restaurants do double duty as restaurant and bar. Now restaurants must include vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free options on their menus.
Most notably, chefs are using ingredients and techniques from ever-more exotic places. However, you feel about globalization, the world is now one big pantry. Salt Lake magazine Dining Award winners pull flavors, ingredients and techniques from cuisines all over the world, becoming ever more particular in the source of their ingredients. Take a peek into the pantries of Utah’s best restaurants.
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LEMON VINAIGRETTE “When we are putting the final elements on a dish at Handle or HSL the same statement reverberates: just finish it with lemon vinaigrette and Maldon sea salt,” says Handly. “That redundant phrase has become our littleongoing joke in both restaurants. The two ingredients add balance, texture and seasoning to any dish. We use a lot of local herbs and greens to garnish everything, so the lemon vin and Maldon salt brighten those up as well. The vinaigrette has just four ingredients— fresh lemon juice, olive oil, simple syrup and salt. We zest all our lemons prior to juicing, then blanch and dry a bit. The zest is then mixed into our version of fines herbs: includes Italian parsley, chives, chervil and cilantro.
HSL
418 E . 20 0 S o u th , S LC , 8 01- 539 -9 9 9 9 , h s l re sta u ra nt.c o m REPEATEDLY NAMED one of the finest chefs in Utah, HSL chef-owner Briar Handly can’t stop playing with his food. The menu changes frequently and Chef plays musical plates as often—the famous fried chicken may be the same but one visit it might be sided with “parsnip bacon,” (a vegetable we’re going to be seeing a lot more of); another time with butternut squash soubise.
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Roasted acorn and butternut squash with pumpkin seed pesto, candied pumpkin seeds, lemon vinaigrette and Maldon salt
73 CENTRAL MILLING OO ORGANIC PIZZA FLOUR “There are three local ingredients I love and feel make a difference in our kitchen,” says Stoneground Kitchen Chef Justin Shifflet. The first is fundamental for a place made famous by its pizzas: Central Milling OO Organic Pizza Flour. “Owner Bob McCarthy, GM Joy Bradford and I went to pizza Expos in Vegas and the National Restaurant Association food show in Chicago looking for the best flour. The best pizza flour we found is made right here in Utah. We use RealSalt, mined in central Utah for our pizza dough and for finishing, and locally made Chili Beak spicy oil to give our pomodoro some backbone and the puttanesca its signature kick.”
Stoneground Kitchen
249 E . 4 0 0 S o u th , S LC , 8 01-3 64 -13 68 , sto n e g ro u n d ita l i a n .c o m I AM SURPRISED when I run into people who still think Stoneground is a pizza place with pool tables—it’s been so much more for years now. Chef Justin Shifflet puts his soul into his cooking and it gets better all the time. I seldom get to il secondo, because the pre-meal dishes (“for the table”) and the pasta is so good. Last year, I raved about the braciole and the focaccino (well, I still rave.) This year I’m nuts about the bruschetta with fried brussels sprouts, honey yogurt, pomegranate seeds and cashews. And the pizza. Always the pizza. I love to be surprised so I order the seasonal one.
Pasta Puttanesca with artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, roasted tomatoes, roasted garlic, Real Salt and Chili Beak Habanero Chili Oil
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74 TIMUR Nepali food, like Indian food, is based on complex fragrance so the spices used must be very fresh. “These spices have to be hand-carried from Nepal,” says Bastakoti. “You can’t get them in any store around here. Whenever our chef or any member of our team visits Nepal they carry home a few pounds.” Timur, or Nepal pepper, is highly pungent, often mistaken for black or Chinese Sichuan pepper, but has an entirely different flavor and is, in fact, not related. There are two kinds of timur growing in the Himalayan Region—the rare, mouthnumbing boke timur is used in lentils, chicken chili, and Nepal’s famous momos. Momos
Himalayan Kitchen
350 S . S tate S t., S LC , 8 01-328-2077, h i m a l aya n kitc h e n .c o m THE FIRST NEPALI restaurant in Salt Lake City, Himalayan Kitchen spawned a lot more. They all serve momos and goat curry, but HK’s is still the most charming and flavorful. Now Surya Bastakoti, a para-glider and the owner of Mt. Pumori Trekking and Expeditions before he settled in SLC, has a second location in South Jordan, an event center and a bar, Chakra Lounge. Himalayan Kitchen’s cuisine is required to be authentic because it’s a gathering place for the Salt Lake City Nepali and the local climbing community. They know Nepal.
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Himalayan chili
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EGGS Eggs are a staple in any non-vegan restaurant, but they are especially vital at Veneto. “We use organic cage-free brown eggs in almost all our desserts, as well as our egg and truffle crostini, and all fresh pasta.”
Black truffle crostino with fresh egg yolk and Grana Padano
Veneto
370 E . 9 0 0 S o u th , 8 01- S LC , 8 01-359 - 070 8 , ve n eto s l c .c o m THIS COZY RESTAURANT, specializing in food from owner Marco Stevanoni’s native region of Italy, has come into its own. The menu changes often, according to collaboration between Stevanoni and a rotating roster of chefs from Italy, and the traditional seasonal dishes from the Veneto.
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76 CARAMEL FISH SAUCE Fish sauce is an Asian cuisine basic whose intense umami has found its way into all kinds of cuisines around the world. It has ancient origins in several cultures—the Romans used a fermented fish sauce as their main condiment. The difference here is that Chef Jeff Ward makes a basic caramel by cooking together sugar and water until it coats a spoon, then stirring in bottled fish sauce with other seasonings. It's great on roasted vegetables as well as fish and shellfish and even roast duck.
Silver Star
1825 Th re e Ki n g s D rive , Pa rk C it y, 4 35 - 655 -34 56 , th e s i lve rsta rc afe .c o m A DESTINATION in the hills above the golf course, past Park City Hotel, Silver Star is everyone’s secret favorite. Owners Jeff and Lisa Cilva Ward created an elevated oasis— cozy when the snow falls, cool when the sun shines. The menu has changed since Jeff took over the kitchen—he uses locallysourced ingredients like elk and elderberries in dishes that often combine fruit with meat, he seasons brussels sprouts with caramel Vietnamese fish sauce and roasted cauliflower with pickled grapes.
Brussels sprouts with fish sauce caramel, lime and fried garlic chips
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77 VINEGAR When cooking or seasoning food, many cooks, amateur or professional, often overlook the use of vinegar or acidity as an ingredient. "The idea of using acidity in addition to salt to season food is an absolute game changer. Finding the perfect balance between salt and acidity can truly transform flavors from good to exceptional. At Table X we use acidity in one form or another to season everything that goes out of our kitchen. It could be plain old distilled white vinegar to add a kick of acid to a rich dish, red, white wine, cider vinegar to complement the use of other ingredients in cooking, lemon juice to finish a plate with a fresh zip of acidity, or a house made fermented product to add depth and tanginess. Every dish you eat at Table X will feature a balanced acidic flavor.”
Table X
14 57 E . 3 350 S o u th , S LC , 3 8 5 - 528-3712 , ta b l exre sta u ra nt.c o m THE EDGIEST RESTAURANT in the state, this experimental kitchen run by three chefs—Nick Fahs, David Barboza and Mike Blocher—is also one of the most idealistic. That means it’s the strictest, preparing foods using classic techniques infused with forward-thinking imagination. The kitchen makes its own bread, its own butter, has a thriving garden out back and names the sources of all its meat—Jones Creek, Christiansen Farms, Morgan Valley. From pristine ingredients come vivid flavors: dry-aged beets with five-spice peanuts, house-made labneh and sweet and sour beet tops. Fennel-roasted heirloom carrots with white bean puree, beet molasses and fennel pollen. Vegetable “steak,” coconut curried leeks, autumn squash, spiced ghee. Still, when asked about essential ingredients, the trio of chefs agreed on a seldom-mentioned classic.
Farro porridge with fermented mushroom liquid and Clifford egg
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S A LT We know now that all salts are not created equal. There are dozens of types of salt, each very distinctively different from the white processed table salt we grew up on. There’s still a place for that, but chefs like Tommy Nguyen use several sea salts, kosher salt, smoked salts and even other infused salts, “There is not one salt that works for everything,” Nguyen says.
Tiradito Nikkei (ceviche)—albacore tuna tataki with fish roe, green onions, habanero and black Hawaiian salt
Post Office Place 16 W. M a rket S tre et , S LC
CONCEIVED AS A BAR to complement Salt Lake magazine Hall of Fame favorite Takashi, Post Office Place (POP) has become as well known for its food as its cocktails and many are happy to skip the inevitable wait at Takashi and nosh their way through dinner at POP.
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HARISSA The essential flavoring in Tunisian, Moroccan and much North African cuisine, the red paste has a more complex spiciness than fresh hot peppers. You can make your own (several kinds of chilies, tomato paste, vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, cumin, etc.) But it's easy to find in specialty food stores and it's so versatile you can use it on meats, vegetables, seafood...anything that needs a little extra zing.
Miso fried chicken with butter mash and harissa sauce
London Belle Supper Club 321 M a i n S tre et , S LC , 8 01-3 63- 8 8 8 8 , l o n d o n b e l l e s l c .c o m
LONDON BELLE'S full name is London Belle Supper Club—referencing Belle London, one of Salt Lake's most notorious madams. One in a row of this new breed of bar-cum-restaurant, London Belle has the considerable advantage of Chef Matt Anderson, who has been cooking in Utah for decades and has created a menu of global snacks with a sophisticated finesse.
80 AJI AMARILLO CHILE “Lately, the ingredient I can’t seem to stop using is Aji Amarillo chile. Whether it’s fresh, dried, or powdered,” says Chef-owner Steve Garner. “It lends so much to anything it goes into! It gives a very fruity, floral, kinda spicy kick to everything. I put it in my sauces, soups, crackers (for our amazing tartare!), huevos rancheros, etc.” With red onion and garlic, Aji Amarillo is one of the three basics of Peruvian cooking.
Huevos rancheros with ajii amarillo chili pepper, pinto beans and Promontory cheddar
Avenues Bistro on Third 564 E . Th i rd Ave., S LC , 8 01- 8 31- 54 0 9 , th i rd ave n u e b i stro.c o m
THIS ULTRA-CHARMING little space has been de-cluttered; it’s now owned by Mike Richey and Steve Garner to whom we owe the delights of Fireside on Regent. The menu on Third is slightly more upscale and makes do without the imposing pizza oven but the lobster beignets and other spiffed-up down-home dishes (rabbit pot pie, duck breast in ras al hanout, chicken hash with vodka cream sauce) make this a comfort food nirvana.
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81 FENUGREEK Fenugreek is one of the most ancient of herbs—charred fenugreek seeds have been recovered from Tell Halal, Iraq (carbon-dated to 4000 BC), and archeologists have found desiccated seeds from the tomb of Tutankhamen. Most of it is grown in Rajasthan, India and fenugreek is an essential part of the Indian five-spice powder called panch phoron, a favorite of Chef Safranek featured in his vegan and gluten free Coconut Cauliflower Soup with Panch Phoron. Of course, you want to know what the other four spices are: cumin, brown bustard, nigella and fennel.
350 Main
350 M a i n S tre et , Pa rk C it y, 4 35 - 649 - 413 0 , 350 m a i n .c o m
Coconut cauliflower soup with Indian 5 spice oil: fennel, nigella seed, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, and fenugreek
THIS MAIN STREET star had faded a little when Chef Matthew Safranek and owner Cortney Johansen, took over. Together they have made 350 Main an exciting place to dine again. Entrees start with the basic— fried chicken, Coho salmon, bison ribeye, venison loin—then surprise with the seasonings and spices: five-spice, pickled mustard seeds, preserved lemon, kamut, curry oil. Appetizers like slow-cooked goat with chabrin cheese, shishitos with cashew yogurt, grilled octopus with yucca fries prepare the palate for what is to come. M A R / A P R 2 0 1 9 | S A LT L A K E M A G A Z I N E . C O M
GUAJILLO CHILE To come up with the ingredient, Chef Ferran convened with his staff. “The consensus regarding unique items seems to be the variety of chilies we use in a restaurant not really known for spicy food. The most ubiquitous in our recipes would be the guajillo chile. It is a primary ingredient in our mole rojo, our smoked chile osso bucco, as well as our ahi tuna poke.”
Cucina
Roasted romanesco cauliflower with mole rojo, grilled nopales, hibiscus cream and fried yucca root.
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WORKING WITH Chef Joey Ferran, owner Dean Pierose recreated his casual Avenues deli into a bistro and wine bar where the mellow atmosphere soothes your spirit while the cuisine excites your taste buds. Pulling together a small world of flavors, Chef Ferran seasons cauliflower with red mole, sweetens a duck breast with saba, finishes a fried avocado with tamarindcoconut curry. This is by no means a Southwestern restaurant and you wouldn’t call the food spicy, but Chef Ferran does rely on some of those flavors.
PHOTO CREDIT TK
10 26 2n d Ave n u e , S LC , 8 01-322-3 0 55 , c u c i n a s l c .c o m
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It's not just what's on the plate R e sta u rate u rs m a ke S a lt La ke C it y a b et te r p l a c e
BREAKING BREAD with another human being is the most basic act of communion at the most basic level. In other words, restaurants are about community. Each year we award our Blue Plate Specials to honor restaurateurs who make more than just great food, they help make a great community.
L AVA N YA M A H AT E O w n e r of th e S af fro n Va l l ey g ro u p of re sta u ra nts LAVANYA was an immigrant herself when she came to Utah in 2001. Now, her aim is to give back and help the folks who are going through the same difficulties she did as a newcomer. So working with the Utah Refugee Training and Education, she has opened a culinary kitchen to train refugees and immigrants in culinary arts and food business. Beyond hands-on cooking, students receive access to internships and help with job placement.
EARL FREDRICH MOESSINGER O w n e r of C af fe M o l i s e a n d BTG
R YA N L O W D E R O w n e r of C o p p e r O n i o n , Copper Common, Copper Kitc h e n a n d Th e D a i ly WHEN TASTE of the Wasatch announced it was going to renege on its pledge to fund Utahns Against Hunger, leaving the non-profit short of the money it needs to accomplish its mission, Chef Ryan Lowder stepped up to fill in the gap, donating a portion of proceeds to the cause. Not only that, but he rallied other chefs to do the same.
EARL WAS TOLD by the city he had to move his popular restaurant and wine bar for new construction. Instead of moving to Cottonwood Heights or Holladay, Chef Moessinger looked inside the city and made the bold decision to renovate and rehab the old Eagle building, an architectural beauty that seemed destined for demolition. Preserving old places is part of what gives a city true character; we thank Moessinger for giving us this piece of the past.
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Readers’ Choice Awards
WE ASKED you, dear readers what you thought about where to eat around the state. Our survey got a huge response, with more than 600 of you responding. There are some old favorites and newcomers and even one tie among your choices which, thankfully, did not include any chain restaurants. B E S T R E S TA U R A N T S A LT L A K E C I T Y
BE S T JA PA N E SE
6451 Millcreek Canyon Rd., SLC 801-272-8255
18 W. Market St., SLC 801-519-9595
Log Haven
B E S T R E S TA U R A N T PA R K C I T Y
Silver Star Café
Hall of Fame
1825 Three Kings Dr., Park City 435-655-3456
B E S T R E S TA U R A N T R E D R O C K
EACH RESTAURANT in Salt Lake magazine's Hall of Fame has received consistent awards for excellence over a period of years.
Hell's Backbone
Log Haven
Tona Sushi Bar & Grill
Takashi
B E S T R E S TA U R A N T P R O V O
6451 Millcreek Canyon Rd., SLC 801-272-8255
18 W. Market St., SLC 801-519-9595
Aristo
224 S. 1300 East, SLC 801-581-0888
Hell's Backbone Grill 20 UT-12, Boulder 435-335-7464
Red Iguana 736 N. Temple, SLC 801-322-1489
Mazza Cafe 1515 S. 1500 East, SLC 801-484-9259 912 E. 9th South, SLC 801-521-4572
Squatters Pub Brewery
147 Broadway, SLC 801-363-2739
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20 UT-12, Boulder 435-335-7464
B E S T R E S TA U R A N T O G D E N 210 25th St, Ogden 801-622-8662
Takashi
BEST MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EASTERN
Mazza
912 E. 900 South, SLC 801-521-4572
BEST MEXICAN
Red Iguana
736 W. North Temple, SLC 801-322-1489
BEST SOUTHEAST ASIAN (TIE)
Sawadee
754 E. South Temple, SLC 801-328-8424
Communal
Somi
B E S T R E S T A U R A N T S T. G E O R G E
BE S T BRE A K FAS T
2 W. St. George Blvd., St. George 435-634-1700
4160 Emigration Canyon Rd., SLC 801-582-5807
102 N. University Ave., Provo 801-373-8000
Painted Pony
1215 E. Wilmington Ave., SLC 385-322-1158
Ruth's Diner
B E S T R E S TA U R A N T I N U TA H
BEST LUNCH
390 N. 500 West #100, Bountiful 801-292-2425
390 N. 500 West, Bountiful 801-292-2425
Plates & Palates
Plates & Palates
BEST UNDISCOVERED/DISCOVERY
B E S T QU I C K E AT S
1513 S. 1500 East, SLC 801-532-3372
850 E. 900 South, SLC 801-441-2845
Trestle Tavern BEST INDIAN
Bombay House 2731 Parleys Way, SLC 801-581-0222
BEST CHINESE
Mandarin
348 E. 900 North, Bountiful 801-298-2406
East Liberty Tap House BEST COMFORT FOOD
Silver Star Café 1825 Three Kings Dr., Park City 435-655-3456
BEST WINE LIST
Pago
878 S. 900 East, SLC 801-532-0777