I had to give last weeks round-up a miss for other gustatory pursuits. Las Vegas and its culinary delights beckoned for the thanksgiving holiday. Suffice to say I am very thankful for the likes of Thomas Keller’s Bouchon, Zine in the Palazzo and N9NE steakhouse over at the Palms. I digress. To catch up, this week sees a bumper crop of reviews.
Various Bakeries
Diva’s Cupcakes & Coffee: 1560 E. 3300 South, Salt Lake City UT, (801) 485-0619
Tulie Bakery & Cafe: 863 E. 700 South, Salt Lake City, (801) 883-9741
Les Madeleines Patisserie and Café: 216 E 500 S, Salt Lake City, UT 84111, (801) 355-2294
Food for Thought: 12640 Fort St, Draper, 84020, (801) 576-9161
Review: Salt Lake Tribune review
It seems Vanessa Chang has been keeping careful note of the all the new developments in the bakery world. This week Vanessa conducts a brief survey of old and new alike. Universal praise from Vanessa. If you are in their respective locales, all seem to be worth a stop in, should you be looking for a pastry fix.
Oasis Cafe
151 S. 500 East, Salt Lake City
(801) 322-0404
Review: Salt Lake Tribune review
Website: http://www.oasiscafeslc.com
Vanessa is less enthusiastic in her review of Oasis Cafe. The once vegan/veggie only eatery has now branched into a more rounded menu, serving up food for us carnivores too. Nostalgia tempers her criticism as she finds both the food and service to be inconsistent. It’s been years since I’ve visited Oasis Cafe, so long that I can hardly recall the experience, anyone else been lately?
Zucca Trattoria
1479 E. 5600 South, South Ogden
(801) 475-7077
Review: City Weekly Review
Website: http://www.myzucca.com/
Ted Scheffler of the City Weekly reports on the great success of Ogden’s relatively new Zucca Trattoria. The restaurant is focused on a type of Italian cuisine that may be unfamiliar to many. Gone are the alfredo sauces and meatballs, instead say hello to mouth watering sounding dishes like “monkfish loins in thyme-spiked Bordelaise sauce”. This looks like a sure fire winner to try if you are in the Ogden region.
Tsunami
2223 S. Highland Dr, (801) 467-5545
7628 S. Union Park Ave., (801) 676-6466
10722 River Front Parkway, (801) 748-1178
Review: City Weekly review
Website: http://www.tsunamiutah.com
A big thumbs up from Ted on the ever expanding Tsunami empire. The original location in Sugarhouse has now morphed into a local chain of three, including Union Heights and River Park. Tsunami offers the usual sushi and sashimi fare, with its own fusion twist with items such as fish “poppers”. Ted’s only word of warning is the price, but then, good sushi is never cheap.
Mark Anthony’s
3956 W. 13400 South, Riverton
(801) 253-1731
Review: Deseret Morning News review
Cheaper eats can be found at Riverton’s Mark Anthony’s. According to Stacey Kratz of the Deseret Morning News Mark Anthony’s “serves up lovingly made, high-quality Italian food with plenty of unique twists, at a price point that is significantly lower than I expected”.
Lunaberry
358 S. 700 East, Salt Lake City
(801) 359-0427
Review: Deseret Morning News review
Website: http://www.lunaberry.com/
Stacey’s other review is of Lunaberry. Lunaberry serves up an odd concoction of crepes and yoghurts, certainly a conceptual mix new to me. Still a little confused after Stacey’s review I checked their site out and they seem to be heavily into the healthy vibe popular right now.
South China House
428 E. 900 South, Salt Lake City
(801) 364-9918
Review: In Utah This Week review
William Hampton of In Utah This Week checks out the “affordable; large and varied menu” on offer at South China House. The Chinese options on the menu are bolstered with several Vietnamese options, including the ever popular pho. William concludes that the food is decent enough; yet you might need to ask your server for a few extras to get there.
Bangkok Thai Talay
3142 S. Highland Drive in Salt Lake City
(801) 582-8424
Review: In Utah This Week review
Website: http://www.bangkokthai.com/
In Utah This Week’s other review is from Amy Spencer who waxes lyrical on the virtues of Bangkok Thai Talay. Amy mainly comments on the vegetarian options. I personally have never been partial to Bangkok Thai, indeed a previous visit ended in a surreal Larry David-esque argument over the number of shrimp in a dish. Thai food is certainly a much debated cuisine though, so each to their own.
Sammy’s Cafe
27 N. 100 West, Provo
Review: Your Heart Out review
Website: http://sammyscafe.blogspot.com
Finally this week, Your Heart Out’s Courtney Buell continues the blog’s food reviews outside of SLC. This weeks review is of Sammy’s Cafe in Provo. Sammy’s is a burger and fries kinda place, but offers up the scarily sounding “pieshakes”. For those not in the know a pieshake is “essentially a shake that has an entire slice of pie blended into it” and according to Courtney is “Heaven in a Cup”.
And on that quite frankly disturbing note, I bid you farewell and a great weekend!
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Pish posh. How does pie and ice cream not go together?
I adore this site by the way. I will definitely have to give the Hong Kong Tea House a try.
Thanks for stopping by Courtney. As for the pie, really it just sounds odd to me. Isn’t it kinda grainy all blended up?
I suppose it was a little grainy at parts, kind of like cookies and cream ice cream, but mine had some pleasantly substantial chunks of pumpkin cheesecake in it too. I don’t mind chunky ice cream personally, but I can see how it might seem odd, especially in shake form. Anyway, I was thinking about checking out Szechuan Garden in SLC sometime soon, have you heard anything about it?
I have mixed opinions to be honest. We have probably dined there about four times.
Worthy of note is that they have some really unique items on their ’special’ menu, certainly for SLC at any rate. The head chef has a swathe of awards from his native Szechuan area of China. Make sure you ask for both menus. That way you can get access to all the authentic stuff, and not just pick from sweet and sour or black bean sauce.
Some of the smoked duck dishes I have had there have been excellent.
That said, the last few times we went I found most of the food exceptionally salty. To the point that it really affected my palate.
I don’t know if that’s something common with Szechuan cooking, heck most of us are used to tastes of Cantonese fare.
I haven’t been back since starting this website over a year ago. I’ll certainly be back at some point to see how things have progressed there. It’s inexpensive, so if your in the area it could at least be worth a look in.
Thanks for the info, your expertise is really appreciated. I’ll definitely make sure to ask for their special menu if I end up going. Smoked duck sounds amazing.
Expertise might be stretching things a little!
If I recall they have two types of smoked duck, one tea smoked. I’m sure you will write a review for YHO, but do let me know how you fare there.